1745, having raised and commanded one of the battalions of Lord Lewis Gordon’s brigade.  The portrait of Prince Charles Edward, taken about the same age as Comte Itterburg, and no doubt also the marked analogy existing in the circumstances to which they had been each reduced, seemed much to engage his notice; and when the ladies had retired he begged me to give him some account of the rebellion, and of the various endeavours of the Stewarts to regain the Scottish crown.  The subject was rather a comprehensive one, but having done my best to put him in possession of the leading features, it seemed to have taken very strong hold of his mind, as he frequently, at our subsequent meetings, reverted to the subject.  Upon another occasion by degrees the topic of conversation slipped into its wonted channel—­the rebellion of 1745, its final disaster, and the singular escape of the Prince from the pursuit of his enemies.  The Comte inquired what effect the failure of the enterprise had produced upon the Prince’s character, with whose gallant bearing and enthusiasm, in the conduct of his desperate enterprise, he evinced the strongest interest and sympathy.  I stated briefly the mortifying disappointments to which Charles Edward was exposed in France, the hopelessness of his cause, and the indifference generally shown to him by the continental courts, which so much preyed on his mind as finally to stifle every spark of his former character, so that he gave himself up to a listless indifference, which terminated in his becoming a sot during the latter years of his life.  On turning round to the Prince, who had been listening to these details, I perceived the big drops chasing each other down his cheeks and therefore changed the subject, and he never again recurred to it.”—­Reminiscences.

Count Itterburg, or Prince Gustavus Vasa, to give him the title of an old family dignity which he assumed in 1829, entered the Austrian army, in which he attained the rank of Lieutenant Field-Marshal.  His services, it is needless to say, were never required by the Swedes, though he never relinquished his pretensions, and claimed the throne at his father’s death in 1837.  He died at Pillnitz on the 4th August 1877, leaving one daughter, the present Queen of Saxony.

Notices of his visits to 39 Castle Street and Abbotsford are given in the 6th vol. of Life.

[509] This refers to the Miscellaneous Prose Works, forming 24 vols., the publication of which did not commence until May 1834, although, as is shown by the Journal, the author was busy in its preparation.  The “criticism on Defoe” will be found in the fourth volume, pp. 247-296, forming a supplement to John Ballantyne’s Biographical Notice of Defoe in the same volume.  The “Essay on Border Antiquities” appeared, notwithstanding Scott’s misgivings, in the seventh volume.

[510] Lord Pitmilly.—­See ante, p. 125.

MAY.