PRINCE IN SEARCH OF A BRIDE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1563, 5 October 1912, Page 7

PRINCE IN SEARCH OF A BRIDE.

'■' HUMOURS OF QUEST OF OLD PRETENDER. IRESE LIGHT FROM WINDSOR CASTLE KECORDS. Some fresh light is now thrown by tho Windsor records on the tortuous negotiations that; accompanied tho Old Pretender's search for a bride. Tho son and heir of James II of England, he was bom a. few months before his father fled tho country before William of Orange (William IH).'. During the whole of his life the Pretender, who was known by tho -Jacobites as James 111, was the centre of attempts to regain tho English throno for the Stuarts. ' The importance of James's speedy marriage was frequently insisted ..on by his adherents, as is manifest.in their cor- • respondence. Many interesting letters bearing on this subject are found in the Calendar of the Stuart Papers belonging to the King and preserved at Windsor Castle, which was issued on August 12 by the Historical Manuscripts Commission (published by his Majesty's Stationery Olhce; price 3s. Id.). ' ■ ■In 1717-18 tho affair of the Princess of Modena, daughter of the Duko of Modena, to'whom the Pretender seems to have been ' genuinely attached, was quite at an end. There was next a proposal that the Pretender, should marry the Princess Emelin of Hesse. In Match 1717 ttoo Earl of Oxford'' sent • "instructions" to Elizabeth Swift ■■ or ; vMrs; .Ogilvie, eaying: "I can never-advise him to marry a. subject of his own, for there are few or none in England but -what the blood is adulterated by matching with citizens," merchants, lawyers,'..' or '.worse, which would bring the Royal Family into contempt." , "■'.. Too' Fat a Princess.. But Sir Henry Stirling gave a bad report of the Princess. She i was fat and appeareddikely to grow moro 60. And she had bad teeth. Moreover, the King of Sweden, was supposed to' have designs on her himself. Yet the all-important quest for a bndo •was not relinquished. 'The Tsar in October 1717' spontaneously offered one of his . in marriage with James. The daughter in question, known as "tho Princess of the North," was probably the eldest—Anna, afterwards Duchess of Eolstein. Though she.was said to be only thirteen, the Pretender himself was anxious for the marriage. He wrote to the Duke of Ormonde: "For God's sake get me soon out of this desert- and well engaged with the Tsar, marriage. I long with impatience to hear from yon about that/for I'daily-like it better. I find it more and more'to bo of the last consequence for the. trade." Yet, in spite of tho efforts- of tho Pretender's .adherents, the project did not reach a satisfactory conclusion. For m March, 1718, the Tsar withdrew his offer. Tour of Inspection, . Meanwhile, the Duke of Mar, who had not' received news of the proposal that the .Pretender should marry the Tsar's daughter, had instructed Charles Wogan, a zealous Jacobite, to go to Germany in search of eligible princesses. In January 1718,. Wogan started ' from Paris on ■'.;«• long travels .in search of a wife for the Pretender. He visited.tho Courts .cf Baden Baden at Rastadt, and Baden Durlach at Durlach. To the. Duke of Mac he wrote stating .that at first he. had little hope of-seeing Prince Lewis of ; Badon's daughter "in 1 her nursery"; she was only thirteen—"of !' tho sizo we generally find in seven or at most eight." When finally he did seo-her Wogan described her as a. "complete miniature in flesh and blood." She "had fair'hair, pretty eyes, features and shape, but all little to a degree that" it is not reasonable nor scarce natural for any man to think of her." She danced "but' indifferently, which with her ex- - tremo littleness and womanly crabbed- . uess at-the same time, would mako ono imagine she is or has been rickettv." In short, her" sniallness made her. unsuitable, as a wife.'-", •■■ •■ ..■>■'•.".:•-. But' Wogan 'recommended the. ' two 'daughters of the Countess of Fnrstenberg, whom he saw at RastadK The only draw-■ . back .to the,' elder,ivhc w/vs" was,'that there "was some redness, about her hose and thei.upper part of her cheeks, proceeding from some small pimples.'-''-.The younger girl was "a little lank, but she. was "plump ;,.'enoiigli.". 'He a'ddedV "Slio.l hasjight brown hair, and very good skin, her'"eyes, .black, very"; fine ;an'd'- lively,' her• features: agreeable and her fate rather lengthy.". She had a "great deal of wit and-conversation," and danced extremely •rail;..: ' . •. ■ .-■•■'■'■' | The"end .of the search is described by Mr. A. B. W. Unson'm his novel "Clementina." . The beautiful young princess Marie Clementina Sobieska, grand-daugh-ter of John Sobieska, the.warrior king of Poland, was selected :to marry the Pre-"- , tender. In spite,of Well-nigh insuperablo obstacles Wogan conveyed her from Innsbruck Tyrol, where she was kept a virtual prisoner, to Italy, where,on.September 1, 171!), she was married to James.' She.bore him two sons, one heing Charles Edward Stuart, the young Pretender, or "Bonnie Princß Charlie."' '