Candid Critics at Court.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 19, 6 November 1912, Page 57

Candid Critics at Court.

PRETEX KER’S SEARCH FOR A BRIDE. ' STORIES FROM THE KING’S MANUSCRIPTS. Another fadcina>ttng volume of liisd »ry has been i-isued by the JLLstoruoal Manu scripts Coin mission (says the London "Daily News’’).. It deals with the Stuart Papers belonging to the King, and preserved at Windsor Cattle, and tells, inter alia, of the plots of the Old Pretender,, ott her wise known as James 111.. and th* Earl of Nlar and other adherent.?. Tn 1717, when James, then 29 years of age, was in exile on the (’onl-inenX after his defend in Scotland, his adherents began to urge the importance of h a speedy marriage, and that a Protestant wife should be found. Courtiers thereupon began a series of vL-its to, various Continental Courts, and their outspoken descriptions of the eligible ladies they • —;to put it plainly—-•had been sent to inspect form delightful reading. Why a Princess Would Not Do. The Princess of Hesse was one of the earliest princesses on the list. But we find the Earl of Mar reporting to the Bishop of Rochester that he has sent “one whom he can trust’’ to see the lady, and Chat “they tell us that she is not at all that agreeable person we were told by some; that she is fat, and appears likely to grow very much so; that she has bad teeth . . . ’’and so on. Besides, the •King of Sweden had designs on the lady. My lord of Mar comments that “this thing is very unlucky, and the more that it is hard to tell where the King can sot on next." A Bride of Thirteen. Buit other ladies were ofl’ered. Ono de Wilda suggested a niece of the Emperor of Austria, and was straightway asked to see the lady, while later a spoil taueous offer came from the Czar of on* of his daughters, probably the eldint, Anna, afterwards Duchess of Holstein, who was irit then grown up. She was said ito be 13, and her sister, afterwards the Empress Elizabeth, IL Queen Mary was much in favour of the union with the Czars family, and sun-o-ested that. two trusty persons should be°sent to see the little lady. “The main point." wrote the Queen, is to know exactly her age. temper, and constitution, if it be possible, and if sac .s liealthv and good humoured. Two months later the Duke of Or monde, to whom the Queen had written, replied that the Czar’s eldest daughter was said to have been born before the marriage of her parents, and in the nex month the tzar withdrew the oiler. A Candid Connoisseur. In the meantime, Charles Wogan h.id been instructed by the Earl of Mar _ to go to Germany "to look out for eligible princesses, and particularly to report upon the daughter of Prince Lewis of Baden and a princess of Saxony, rtmsm to the King of Poland.” The former had been recommended by the King of Sieilj. Wogan travelled under the name of Germain, giving out that his journey w is one of diversion or curiosity. His report was scathingly outspoken. Of neither of the two ladies suggested did lie speak in favour. Of Prince Lewis's daughter he declared that she was “about thirteen . . . but of the size we generally find m seven or at most eight." She danced ’but indifferently, which with her extreme littleness aiid womanly erabbedness at. the same time, would make one imagine she is or has been ricketty.” There i.> more of the same kind ill this amazing letter. Pimples a Bar to Marriage. But Wogan recommended the twe daughters of the Countess <d Furstem burg, whom he saw at Rastadt. t*f the-e ladies he wrote: — "The elder ... is about 23, tall, well shaped and graceful, with tine eyes and no disagreeable features, but as 1 observed some redness about her nose and the upper part of her cheeks, proceeding from some small pimples, my attention was drawn upon the other. “This young lady is of a very advantageous size, about 18, straight, finely shaped, but a little lank about the hip which 1 reckon to bo owing to the diposition she still seems to be in of growing taller. . . .Further letters on Hie subject of th--Pretender’s search for a wife, and mtu-li interesting comment on the history of the time, are to be found in this entrancing volume.