Stuarts

2i 8 THE STUARTS
the rising of 1715, no doubt the most momentous event in his career. It
cannot be said that James distinguished himself in this affair. Green terms
him "a sluggish and incapable leader." Disguised as a servant, he left Bar
le Due, and reached the coast near St. Malo. Thence, finding it impossible
to obtain a passage, he journeyed, disguised as a sailor, through Normandy
to Dunkirk, whence he sailed to Peterhead, passing through Aberdeen still
in disguise. By this time the indecisive battle of Sheriffmuir had been
fought, and the Highlanders under Mar were beginning to melt away. When
Argyle advanced northwards James deserted his army and took ship back to
France. Thus ignominiously ended the incident of 171 5.
When James arrived at the age of thirty, it was thought desirable that
he should marry, and accordingly, in 17 18, he sued by proxy for the hand
of a Russian Princess, but without success. An agent of his, one Wogan,
discovered in Silesia Prince James Sobieski, who had three daughters : their
grandfather being the famous John Sobieski, King of Poland : Cassimira,
"bristling with etiquette"; Charlotte, "beyond all measure gay, free, and
familiar"; and Maria Clementina, "sweet, amiable, of an even temper and
gay only in season." She, the youngest and the fairest, was destined to be
the bride of the Old Chevalier. Political difficulties arose before the marriage
was consummated, and being threatened with a breach of the Quadruple
Alliance, the Emperor arrested Clementina, in September 17 18, at Innspruck,
on her way to Italy. Wogan then set out from Bologna on the romantic
enterprise of rescuing the Queen that was to be. He found his way to her
in the Tyrol, and, after some time had passed, he formed a plan at Strasburg
with three countrymen (Wogan was an Irishman), which was as ingenious as
it was daring. A maid of the wife of one of these was persuaded to per-
sonate Clementina, who, disguised as the servant Jeanneton, made her escape
from the hotel one stormy night, whilst the maid, under a plea of illness,
remained in bed representing the Princess. After a number of adventures
and some hardships, in which the fugitive grand-daughter of the King of
Poland displayed the utmost gaiety of heart, the party reached Bologna.
On May 9, James and Clementina were married by proxy, but it was not
until September, when he returned from Spain, that the wedding was cele-
brated at Rome.
The Earl of Rosebery owns an original picture of this marriage by Carlo
Maratti. The painting was presented by the Old Chevalier to the Bishop
of Montefiasconi, who performed the ceremony in 17 19 ; afterwards it hung