Free Bonnie Prince Charlie: A Biography by Carolly Erickson

scene of fighting as a showy and meaningless gesture, was impressed with what he had heard about Charles. "Everybody says that he will be in time a far more dangerous enemy to the present establishment of the Government of England than ever his father was," he wrote. And while this was not saying much, given James's dismal record as a would-be conqueror, still it attested to the extent and degree of favorable comment that was making the rounds of the European courts.
    While Charles was advancing his reputation Clementina, who had sent him off to Gaeta with her blessing and her prayers, was pursuing the austere regimen which had prematurely aged her. She was no longer, in her own mind, Mme. de St. Georges, she would never be Queen of England, nor would she survive to see her charming Carlusu become king. Her asthma prostrated her, her prolonged fasting weakened her and left her hollow-eyed and pasty-faced. Beyond her children, nothing gave her satisfaction but her endless devotions. She did not dine with James and his guests any longer, and was rarely seen outside the Palazzo Muti. She stayed secluded in her darkened apartments, growing weaker and yet continuing to fast until her body was wasted and her gums bled from scurvy. Spies ill the household reported all this to the English agents, who drew the unkind conclusion that Clementina was trying to mortify her flesh past endurance so that through her early death she could earn canonization. If she could not be Queen of England she could at least be Saint Clementina, a martyr to her faith.
    Charles and Henry were summoned to their dying mother's bedside. Her final wish was for them never to renounce their faith, no matter what political pressure might be placed on them, not "for all the kingdoms in the world, none of which could ever be compared to the Kingdom of Heaven." With her sorrowful sons and husband near her she died in January of 1735, and her thin embalmed body was dressed in queenly purple for the funeral. Thousands of wax tapers surrounded her bier in the Santi Apostoli church adjacent to the Palazzo Muti where the funeral was held. James was so distraught, Murray reported, that he nearly fainted, while the two boys were "almost sick with weeping and want of sleep, and on all sides there was nothing but lamentation." Huge crowds assembled to watch as the funeral procession went on its way to St. Peter's. Clementina was indeed venerated, and mourned. In accordance with her wishes the purple robe was laid aside and she was buried in the habit of a Dominican nun. Her heart was placed in an urn in the Santi Apostoli church. It was not long before people began to claim that miracles were being performed at her tomb.
    Afterward, James developed the habit of praying for an hour each morning in Santi Apostoli. It may have been a sort of penance for his shortcomings as a husband, or it may have been a simple tribute to Clementina's memory, performed by an exceptionally methodical and conscientious man. Certainly James changed, no longer playing the hearty Englishman but subsiding more and more into a semi-reclusive life. He continued to hold court for visitors in the mornings, and invited them to stay to dinner afterward, but he did not put forth the effort to be an effusive host, and he spoke little during the meal. As soon as he sat down at the table his sons approached him and knelt down, asking him to bless them. This ritual completed, the servants came in with the meal. There was a good deal of strained silence as the food was served, and much consternation was caused by the fact that, as James did not drink any wine, the guests had to refuse it also, for to drink before their royal host did would have been the height of bad manners. To the relief of the thirsty company, James did not linger at the table but retired immediately after he finished his meal. In the evenings James occasionally went with his sons to social gatherings, but only stayed an hour or so. His