DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

Cor) ~ In 1807, with the death of Prince Henry, Car- dinal and Duke of York, the House of Stuart became extinct. The Old Pretender and his sons he in- terred in the Cathedral of St. Peter's at Rome, where King George IV. raised a monument to their memory. Posterity is prone to be indulgent in its judg- ment of prominent personages. We prefer to linger in the glow of their brighter qualities than to dwell in the dark shadow of their vices, and are occa- sionally tempted to attribute to an inscrutable cause the doom which was but the natural penalty of their failings. The malignant influence of an evil star has been held responsible for the misfortunes of the Princes of the House of Stuart. An impartial critic, however, must admit that they brought those mis- fortunes on themselves and on their descendants, and that they were but a just retribution for a century of misrule. Prince Charles may have been the innocent victim of circumstances. He may have suffered for the faults of others. But there_ is no reason to suppose that on the throne he would have proved himself an exception to his race. In his maturer years he failed to fulfil the promise of his youth. He learnt nothing from the lessons of adversity, He lost the chance of rehabilitating the character of his house.