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Pickle the Spy; Or, the Incognito of Prince Charles
Pickle the Spy; Or, the Incognito of Prince Charles
‘I knew the Master: on many secret steps of his career
I have an authentic memoir in my hand.’The Master of Ballantrae
PREFACE
This woful History began in my study of the Pelham Papers in the Additional Manuscripts of the British Museum. These include the letters of Pickle the Spy and of James Mohr Macgregor. Transcripts of them were sent by me to Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson, for use in a novel, which he did not live to finish. The character of Pickle, indeed, like that of the Master of Ballantrae, is alluring to writers of historical romance. Resisting the temptation to use Pickle as the villain of fiction, I have tried to tell his story with fidelity. The secret, so long kept, of Prince Charles’s incognito, is divulged no less by his own correspondence in the Stuart MSS. than by the letters of Pickle.
For Her Majesty’s gracious permission to read the Stuart Papers in the library of Windsor Castle, and to engrave a miniature of Prince Charles in the Royal collection, I have respectfully to express my sincerest gratitude.
To Mr. Holmes, Her Majesty’s librarian, I owe much kind and valuable aid.
The Pickle Papers, and many despatches in the State Papers, were examined and copied for me by Miss E. A. Ibbs.
In studying the Stuart Papers, I owe much to the aid of Miss Violet Simpson, who has also assisted me by verifying references from many sources.
It would not be easy to mention the numerous correspondents who have helped me, but it were ungrateful to omit acknowledgment of the kindness of Mr. Horatio f. Brown and of Mr. George T. Omond.
I have to thank Mr. Alexander Pelham Trotter for permission to cite the MS. Letter Book of the exiled Chevalier’s secretary, Andrew Lumisden, in Mr. Trotter’s possession.
Miss Macpherson of Cluny kindly gave me a copy of a privately printed Memorial of her celebrated ancestor, and, by Cluny’s kind permission, I have been allowed to see some letters from his charter chest. Apparently, the more important secret papers have perished in the years of turmoil and exile.
This opportunity may be taken for disclaiming any belief in the imputations against Cluny conjecturally hazarded by ‘Newton,’ or Kennedy, in the following pages. The Chief’s destitution in France, after a long period of suffering in Scotland, refutes these suspicions, bred in an atmosphere of jealousy and distrust. Among the relics of the family are none of the objects which Charles, in 1766–1767, found it difficult to obtain from Cluny’s representatives for lack of a proper messenger.
To Sir Arthur Halkett, Bart., of Pitfirrane, I am obliged for a view of Balhaldie’s correspondence with his agent in Scotland.