The Quarterly Review, Volume 162, No. 324, April, 1886Various
History
The Quarterly Review, Volume 162, No. 324, April, 1886
Various
Periodicals
historical importance is very slight. The long series of George III. is
almost entirely occupied by noting the yearly increase of his family.
The autographs of the ministers who countersigned the letters, form
their greatest attraction. The late Mr. Rawdon Brown has published
facsimiles of these autographs down to the year 1659; but after that
date we find such interesting endorsements as those of Lauderdale,
Arlington, Bolingbroke, Carteret, Pitt, Halifax, Henry Conway,
Shelburne, and Charles James Fox. On a loose parchment among these
letters is one very curious document. It is dated Bologna, 21st
February, 1671, and begins 'Carlo Dudley per la gratia di Dio Duca di
Northumbria et del Sacro Romano Impero, Conte di Woruih e di Licester,
et Pari d'Ingliterra.' The document goes on to state that Charles
Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, in consideration of the affection and
partiality always shown towards his person and house, grants to Ottavio
Dionisio, noble of Verona, the title of Marquis to him and to his eldest
son, to his younger sons and to his brothers and their sons the title of
Count, in perpetuity; and this in virtue of the declaration and
authority of His Holiness Pope Urban VIII., which conferred on Charles
Dudley and his eldest born the right to exercise all the privileges of
an independent prince. At the date which this document bears, 1671,
there was no Duke of Northumberland; that title had lately been bestowed
by Charles II. on an illegitimate son, and had perished with him. This
Charles Dudley was probably some pretender to the honours of the Dudley
family who once held the dukedom of Northumberland. The document is
curious, for the noble family on whom Charles Dudley conferred this
title of Marquis still exists, and we do not know if any British
subject, either before or after, has even claimed to be a fountain of
honour. But Charles Dudley is not the only English pretender who figures
among the papers at the Frari. Filza 8 of the loose papers, titled
'Miscellanea Diversi Manoscritti,' contains the marriage certificate and
will of James Henry de Boveri Rossano Stuart, natural son of Charles
II., and seven letters from his son James Stuart, dated Milan, Gemona
and Padua, 1722 to 1728. The majority of these letters are addressed to
Cardinal Panighetti, from whom this 'povero principe Stuardo,' as he
calls himself, hoped to receive money and support in some imaginary
claims on the Crown of England. The letters are full of a certain
pathos--the pathos which cannot fail to attach itself to fallen royalty.
The handwriting is that of an uneducated man; and James Stuart, in these
letters, certainly shows no signs of the ability required to meet so
trying a situation. He appeals to the Cardinal first on the grounds of
his creed. It is 'for the Faith that he finds himself in the miserable
little town' of Gemona. Failing upon this line, James Stuart abandons
himself to astrology, in the hope that the stars may give an answer
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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