er named Pusignan. Five hundred thousand crowns in
gold, equivalent to about a hundred and twelve thousand pounds sterling,
were sent to Brest, [166] For James's personal comforts provision was
made with anxiety resembling that of a tender mother equipping her
son for a first campaign. The cabin furniture, the camp furniture, the
tents, the bedding, the plate, were luxurious and superb. Nothing,
which could be agreeable or useful to the exile was too costly for the
munificence, or too trifling for the attention, of his gracious and
splendid host. On the fifteenth of February, James paid a farewell visit
to Versailles. He was conducted round the buildings and plantations with
every mark of respect and kindness. The fountains played in his honour.
It was the season of the Carnival; and never had the vast palace and
the sumptuous gardens presented a gayer aspect. In the evening the
two kings, after a long and earnest conference in private, made their
appearance before a splendid circle of lords and ladies. "I hope," said
Lewis, in his noblest and most winning manner, "that we are about to
part, never to meet again in this world. That is the best wish that I
can form for you. But, if any evil chance should force you to return,
be assured that you will find me to the last such as you have found me
hitherto." On the seventeenth Lewis paid in return a farewell visit to
Saint Germains. At the moment of the parting embrace he said, with
his most amiable smile: "We have forgotten one thing, a cuirass for
yourself. You shall have mine." The cuirass was brought, and suggested
to the wits of the Court ingenious allusions to the Vulcanian panoply
which Achilles lent to his feebler friend. James set out for Brest; and
his wife, overcome with sickness and sorrow, shut herself up with her
child to weep and pray, [167]

James was accompanied or speedily followed by several of his own
subjects, among whom the most distinguished were his son Berwick,
Cartwright Bishop of Chester, Powis, Dover, and Melfort. Of all the
retinue, none was so odious to the people of Great Britain as Melfort.
He was an apostate: he was believed by many to be an insincere apostate;
and the insolent, arbitrary and menacing language of his state papers
disgusted even the Jacobites. He was therefore a favourite with his
master: for to James unpopularity, obstinacy, and implacability were the
greatest recommendations that a statesman could have.

What Frenchman shou