have put unpublished matter at my
disposal, or helped me to collect various information, is a large one.
In the first category, I wish to express my best thanks to the Director
of the Public Library at Siena; to Cavaliere Guiseppe Porri, a great
collector of autographs, in the same city; to the Countess Baldelli and
Cavaliere Emilio Santarelli of Florence, who possess some most curious
portraits and other relics of the Countess of Albany, Prince Charles
Edward, and Alfieri; and also to my friend Count Pierre Boutourline,
whose grandfather and great-aunt were among Madame d'Albany's friends.
Among those who have kindly given me the benefit of their advice and
assistance, I must mention foremost my friend Signor Mario Pratesi, the
eminent novelist; and next to him the learned Director of the State
Archives of Florence, Cavaliere Gaetano Milanese, and Doctor Guido
Biagi, of the Biblioteca Vittorio Emanuel of Rome, without whose
kindness my work would have been quite impossible.

Florence,
March 15, 1884.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.--THE BRIDE 1
CHAPTER II.--THE BRIDEGROOM 14
CHAPTER III.--REGINA APOSTOLORUM 25
CHAPTER IV.--THE HEIR 33
CHAPTER V.--FLORENCE 46
CHAPTER VI.--ALFIERI 57
CHAPTER VII.--THE CAVALIERE SERVENTE 72
CHAPTER VIII.--THE ESCAPE 80
CHAPTER IX.--ROME 91
CHAPTER X--ANTIGONE 102
CHAPTER XI.--SEPARATION 120
CHAPTER XII.--COLMAR 134
CHAPTER XIII.--RUE DE BOURGOYNE 142
CHAPTER XIV.--BEFORE THE STORM 155
CHAPTER XV.--ENGLAND 166
CHAPTER XVI.--THE MISOGALLO 176
CHAPTER XVII.--CASA GIANFIGLIAZZI 190
CHAPTER XVIII.--FABRE 199
CHAPTER XIX.--THE SALON OF THE COUNTESS 207
CHAPTER XX.--SANTA CROCE 220

ILLUSTRATIONS

ALFIERI AND THE COUNTESS OF ALBANY

_From the original portrait in the possession of the Marchesa A.
Alfieri de Sostegno_

CHARLES EDWARD STUART

_From a pastel, painter unknown, once in the possession of the heir
of the Countess of Albany's heir Fabre. Now in the possession of
Mrs. Horace Walpole, of Heckfield Place, Winchfield, Hants_

LOUISE, COUNTESS OF ALBANY

_From a pastel once in the possession of the heirs of Fabre, now
in the possession of M