ch disposed
the Prince toward him as the confidence--real or pretended--with which
he looked forward to the restoration of the exiled family, and the
return of the Stuarts to the throne of England. The prophecies of
Nostradamus and the predictions of Kelly fostered hopes that survived
every discomfiture, and survived when there was really not even a chance
for their accomplishment. This friar had become, in fact, though not
formally, the head of the Prince's household, of which he affected to
regulate the expenditure and watch over the conduct. The reckless waste,
however, that prevailed; the insubordination of the servants; and the
utter disorganisation of everything, were far from being complimentary
to his administrative powers.

The income of the Prince was small and precarious. The sums contributed
by Spain came irregularly. The French contingent was scarcely better
paid. The Roman portion alone could be relied upon to maintain the cost
of a household which, for its ill-management and profusion, was
the scandal of the city. There were many rumours current of Kelly's
financial resources--traits of pecuniary strategy which might have
shamed a Chancellor of the Exchequer; but these, of course, were
difficult to prove, and only natural to prevail on such a subject.
Although there is abundant evidence of the man's debasement and
immorality, it is equally well known that he amassed no wealth in the
service of the Prince. We have been somewhat prolix in this reference
to one who is not a chief figure in our picture, but without whom any
sketch of the Stuart household would be defective. The Fra Laurentio,
as he was called, was indeed a person of importance, nor was any name so
often uttered as his on the eventful morning we have referred to.

Soon after ten o'clock, a certain movement in the streets, and the
appearance of the dragoons waving back the populace, showed that
the visitors were about to arrive; and at last a stately old coach,
containing some officials of the Pope's household, drove into the
courtyard. This was quickly followed by the judges of the superior
courts and the secretaries of the tribunals, to whom succeeded a long
line of Roman nobles, their sombre equipages broken occasionally to the
eye by the scarlet panels of a cardinal or the emblazoned hammercloth
of a foreign ambassador. Despite the crowd, the movement, the glitter
of uniform and the gorgeous glare of costume, there was an air of
indescrib