e was inclined to favour their cause. This we
find by intelligence given at a subsequent period by the Jacobite
spies."

The following addition to the above-stated remark of Dr. Coxe is even
yet more astonishing:

"On the death of Lord Sunderland the secret of this correspondence
became by some means known to the Regent Duke of Orleans, and he
hastened to make so important a communication to the King of England.
The letter written on this occasion by the British agent at Paris, Sir
Luke Schwaub, and the reply of his friend Lord Carteret, then Secretary
of State, are highly curious, because they prove, not only the
correspondence, but the fact that it was known and approved by the
King."[155]

How near were the unfortunate Stuarts to that throne which they were
destined never to ascend!

Upon the disgrace of Bolingbroke, and on his return to England, the
Seals had been offered by James Stuart to Lord Mar, who refused them on
the ostensible ground that he "could not speak French." The actual
reason was perhaps to be sought for in a far deeper motive.[156]

In 1714 the celebrated Lord Stair had been sent as Ambassador to France,
chiefly to watch over the proceedings of the Jacobites, and to cement a
friendship with the Duke of Orleans, on whom King George could not rely.
The brilliant and spirited manner in which Lord Stair executed this
commission, the splendour by which his embassy was distinguished, and
his own personal qualities, courtesy, shrewdness, and diligence,
contributed mainly to the diminution of the Jacobite influence, which
declined under his exertions. It was from Lord Stair's address that
Bolingbroke, or, as Stair calls him in his correspondence, Mr. York, was
confirmed in his disgust to the Jacobite cause.

Between Lord Stair and the Earl of Mar an early acquaintance had
existed. Agreeably to the fashion of the period, which led Queen Anne
and the Duchess of Marlborough to assume the names of Morley and
Freeman, Lord Stair and Lord Mar, in the early days of their confidence,
had adopted the familiar names of Captain Brown, and Joe Murray.

Lord Mar had remained in Paris until October 1717; he then went into
Italy with the Duke of Ormond; but previous to his departure he called
on Lord Stair, and remained in the house of the Ambassador for four or
five hours. He appears to have declared to Lord Stair that he then
looked upon the affairs of his master as desperate. "He flung out," as
Lord Stair wro