of Barclays accomplices, was now comfortably settled as prior of a religious house in France.  Lewis denied or evaded all these charges.  “I never,” he said, “heard of your Harrison.  As to Barclay, he certainly once had a company; but it has been disbanded; and what has become of him I do not know.  It is true that Berwick was in London towards the close of 1695; but he was there only for the purpose of ascertaining whether a descent on England was practicable; and I am confident that he was no party to any cruel and dishonourable design.”  In truth Lewis had a strong personal motive for defending Berwick.  The guilt of Berwick as respected the Assassination Plot does not appear to have extended beyond connivance; and to the extent of connivance Lewis himself was guilty.

Thus the audience terminated.  All that was left to Portland was to announce that the exiles must make their choice between Saint Germains and fifty thousand a year; that the protocol of Ryswick bound the English government to pay to Mary of Modena only what the law gave her; that the law gave her nothing; that consequently the English government was bound to nothing; and that, while she, her husband and her child remained where they were, she should have nothing.  It was hoped that this announcement would produce a considerable effect even in James’s household; and indeed some of his hungry courtiers and priests seem to have thought the chance of a restoration so small that it would be absurd to refuse a splendid income, though coupled with a condition which might make that small chance somewhat smaller.  But it is certain that, if there was murmuring among the Jacobites, it was disregarded by James.  He was fully resolved not to move, and was only confirmed in his resolution by learning that he was regarded by the usurper as a dangerous neighbour.  Lewis paid so much regard to Portland’s complaints as to intimate to Middleton a request, equivalent to a command, that the Lords and gentlemen who formed the retinue of the banished King of England would not come to Versailles on days on which the representative of the actual King was expected there.  But at other places there was constant risk of an encounter which might have produced several duels, if not an European war.  James indeed, far from shunning such encounters, seems to have taken a perverse pleasure in thwarting his benefactor’s wish to keep the peace, and in placing the Ambassador in embarrassing situations.  One day his Excellency, while drawing on his boots for a run with the Dauphin’s celebrated wolf pack, was informed that King James meant to be of the party, and was forced to stay at home.  Another day, when his Excellency had set his heart on having some sport with the royal staghounds, he was informed by the Grand Huntsman that King James might probably come to the rendezvous without any notice.  Melfort was particularly active in laying traps for the young noblemen and gentlemen of the Legation.  The Prince of Wales was more than once