that was going on in the English Court.

Immediately after the Queen's death, Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester,
proposed to Lord Bolingbroke to proclaim James at Charing Cross, and
offered, himself, to head the procession in lawn sleeves. But
Bolingbroke shrank from the enterprise; and, with an exclamation of
passion, Atterbury exclaimed,--"There is the best cause in Europe lost
for want of spirit." The boldness of the proposition, and the ardent
temper from which it originated, recall, with regret, the remembrance of
one who, as Lord Hailes in his notes on Atterbury's Correspondence has
remarked, was "incapable of dark conspiracies."[57]

The Chevalier was then residing at Barleduc, with a suite of sixty
persons; some of whom boasted of having taken part in the conspiracies
against William the Third, and were proud of having compassed the death
of that Sovereign. From time to time, Englishmen of distinction
travelled from Paris to Barleduc, under pretext of seeing the country,
but in fact to proffer a secret allegiance to the Prince. The individual
to whom these attentions were addressed, is described by an anonymous
emissary of the English Court, as leading a regular life,--hunting when
the weather permitted, and hearing mass every day with great precision
and devotion. "Il est fort maigre," adds the same writer, "assez grand;
son teint est brun, son humeur et sa personne ne sont pas desagreables."
In another place, it is added, "Il paroit manquer de jugement et de
resolution:" an opinion, unhappily, too correct.[58] On the question
being put by Bolingbroke to the Duke of Berwick, whether the Prince was
a bigot, the answer was in the negative. "Then," said Bolingbroke, "we
shall have no objection to place him on the throne." This anecdote,
which was told by the Chevalier himself to Brigadier Nugent, probably
gave countenance to the rumour spread in England, that James was likely
to renounce the Catholic faith, and conform to the English Church.[59]

The Earl of Mar and his brother, Lord Grange, were now the two most
considerable men in Scotland. Lord Grange had been made Lord of Session
in 1707, and afterwards Lord Justice Clerk, during the three last years
of Queen Anne's reign. His character presents traits even more repulsive
and more dangerous than the time-serving and duplicity of the Earl of
Mar. Lord Grange was one of those men whom the honest adherents to
either party would, doubtless, gladly have turned over