Note 791 — Chapter XXVIII

Letter to Sempil, 16th March, 1740,—Stuart Papers. Drummond was not the only person employed by the Chevalier about this time to visit his friends in England. A Colonel Bret, and afterwards a Colonel Cecil, with both of whom James corresponded, made frequent journeys to England. The Duchess of Buckingham made many unsolicited trips to Paris to hasten Cardinal Fleury’s motions, but James was by no means satisfied with her officiousness. In writing to her on 20th July, 1741, he cautions her as follows:—“I must seriously recommend to you not to importune the old gentleman too much. When you have given him what lights and information have come to your knowledge, all the good is done, for in the present situation one would think he should want no spur to befriend us, and in all events he will go on in his own way, while teazing him can serve for nothing but to make him peevish and out of humour.” The duchess must have been possessed of some important papers, as James, in a letter to Sempil, (2d May, 1743,) written shortly after her death, expresses his concern lest her papers should fall into the hands of the government.—Stuart Papers.