of Northumberland. The document is
curious, for the noble family on whom Charles Dudley conferred this
title of Marquis still exists, and we do not know if any British
subject, either before or after, has even claimed to be a fountain of
honour. But Charles Dudley is not the only English pretender who figures
among the papers at the Frari. Filza 8 of the loose papers, titled
'Miscellanea Diversi Manoscritti,' contains the marriage certificate and
will of James Henry de Boveri Rossano Stuart, natural son of Charles
II., and seven letters from his son James Stuart, dated Milan, Gemona
and Padua, 1722 to 1728. The majority of these letters are addressed to
Cardinal Panighetti, from whom this 'povero principe Stuardo,' as he
calls himself, hoped to receive money and support in some imaginary
claims on the Crown of England. The letters are full of a certain
pathos--the pathos which cannot fail to attach itself to fallen royalty.
The handwriting is that of an uneducated man; and James Stuart, in these
letters, certainly shows no signs of the ability required to meet so
trying a situation. He appeals to the Cardinal first on the grounds of
his creed. It is 'for the Faith that he finds himself in the miserable
little town' of Gemona. Failing upon this line, James Stuart abandons
himself to astrology, in the hope that the stars may give an answer
favourable to his hopes. But to all his appeals the Cardinal replies
with cold reserve, and when he hears of astrology, he adds a sharp and
crushing reprimand.

Leaving the Lettere Principi we come to the last two series of State
papers of which we shall speak, the Espozioni Principi, or record of
all audiences granted to ambassadors and of the communications made by
them in the name of the Power they represented; and the Libri
Ceremoniali, or record of the great functions of State, coronations and
funerals of the Doges, the elections of the Grand Chancellors, the
reception accorded to ambassadors, princes and distinguished travellers.
The Republic of Venice was as punctilious as any Court of Europe upon
the points of precedence, ceremony, and etiquette. The reader will not
have forgotten the amusing account, given by the elder Disraeli, of the
long struggle between the Master of the Ceremonies and the Venetian
ambassador at the Court of St. James. The Government required from its
representatives a minute account of every detail of etiquette observed
towards them, and replied in kind in