ncided warmly in the efforts
of her husband for the restoration of the Stuarts.[12] Five children
were the issue of this marriage.

The course which public affairs were now taking checked, however,
completely all hopes of domestic felicity. After several unsuccessful
negotiations in Paris attempted by the agents of James Stuart, and in
London by Lord Elcho, the scheme of invasion languished for some time.
Whilst all was apparently secure, however, the metropolis was the scene
of secret cabals and meetings of the Jacobites, sometimes at one place,
sometimes at another; but unhappily for their cause, the party generally
wanted compactness and discretion. "The little Jacobites," as those who
were not in the secret of these manoeuvres were called, began to
flatter themselves that a large army would land in England from France
that summer. Nor was it the policy of Government to check these reports,
which strengthened the hands of the ministry, and procured a grant of
the supplies with alacrity. The Jacobites, meantime, ran from house to
house, intoxicated with their anticipated triumphs; and such chance of
success as there might be was thus rendered abortive.

The year 1743 ended, however; and the visions of the Jacobites vanished
into air. Donald Cameron of Lochiel, the elder, who visited Paris for
the purpose of ascertaining what were the real intentions of the French
cabinet, found that even the Cardinal Tencin did not think it yet time
for the attempt, and he returned to Scotland disheartened. The death of
the Cardinal Fleury in 1743 added to the discomfiture of his hopes.[13]
Above all, the reluctance of the English Jacobites to pledge themselves
to the same assurances that had been given by the Scotch, and their
shyness in conversing with the people who were sent from France or
Scotland on the subject, perplexed the emissaries who arrived in this
country, and offered but a faint hope of their assistance from England.

But, in the ensuing year, the affairs of the Jacobites brightened;
France, which had suspended her favours, once more encouraged and
flattered the party. A messenger was dispatched to the palace of Albano,
to acquaint the Chevalier that the day was now arrived when his views
might be expected to prosper; whilst at the same time the utmost pains
were taken by the French Government to appear to the English averse to
the pretensions of James Stuart. It affords, indeed, another trait of
the unfortunate tend