s will, he left this same Duchess
of Albany, of his own constitution, all that he possessed, with the
exception of a small bequest to his brother the cardinal, and a few
trifling legacies to his attendants. To the duchess he bequeathed his
palace at Florence, with all its rich furniture, all his plate and
jewels, including those brought into the family by his mother, the
Princess Clementina Sobieski, and also such of the crown jewels of
England as had been conveyed to the continent by James II. If the
claimant to the British throne had had a son, would he have alienated
from him not only his Italian residence and the Polish jewels which he
inherited from his mother, but also the crown jewels of England, which
had come into his possession as the descendant of a king, and which
were, by the same right, the inalienable property of his legitimate
son?

The Duchess of Albany very evidently knew nothing of the existence of
her supposed half-brother. She survived her father Prince Charles
Edward for two years. Before her decease she sent to the cardinal the
whole of the crown jewels, and at her death she left him all her
property, with the exception of an annuity to her mother, Miss
Walkinshaw, who survived her for some time, and who was known in
Jacobite circles as the Countess of Alberstroff.

The conduct of the Princess Louisa, the reputed mother of the child,
was equally strange. When she left her old debauched husband, she
found consolation in the friendship and intimacy of the poet Alfieri,
who at his death left her his whole property. Cardinal York settled a
handsome income upon her, and her second lover--a Frenchman, named
Fabre--added to her store. She survived till 1824, when her alleged
son must have been in his fifty-first year; yet at her death all her
property, including the seal and the portrait of Prince Charles
Edward, were left to her French admirer, and were by him bequeathed to
an Italian sculptor.

Cardinal York, also, betrayed no knowledge that his brother ever had
had a son. When Prince Charles Edward died the cardinal adopted all
the form and etiquette usual in the residence of a monarch, and
insisted upon its observance by his visitors, as well as by his own
attendants. He published protests asserting his right to the British
crown, and caused medals to be struck bearing his effigy, and an
inscription wherein he is styled Henry the Ninth, King of Great
Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c