gluttons of antiquity are eclipsed by his horrible achievements. Once, it is related, the burghers of Dantzig presented him with a thousand China apples, and before night he had devoured them all. Oliva, like a prudent general, attacked this monarch at his weak point. A quantity of the finest chocolate has been sent to him from Mexico, and he straightway despatches one of his fathers to lay it at the feet of the King of Poland, "impelled," he says, "by a reverent solicitude to minister as well as I can to the weakness of your stomach, which has already been fortified by drugs of this kind." On the whole, then, it is most probable that James Stuart is not the subject of the General's letter to the nameless correspondent ; and comparing his letters written to the two kings it is more likely to have been sent to John Sobieski than to his respected but inglorious predecessor.
The manuscripts I have quoted, most of which I owe to the industry and kindness of Father Boero, librarian of the Gesù,[1] by whose care they have been brought to light
- ↑ I subjoin a list of the documents for which I am indebted to Father Boero. They are manifestly too long to be published in extenso in a Review.
1. Lettre de la Reine Mere (Henrietta) au Card. Orsini. De Londres, October 30, 1662.
2. Lettre de la Reine Catherine au même. De Londres, October 25, 1662.
3. Voto in favore della promozione al Cardinalato del Signor d'Aubigny.
4. Favori e benefizi fatti ai cattolici d'Inghilterra dal Re presente (in sixteen articles).
5. Bellings to Father Thomas Courtenay, October 22, 1662.
6. Lettera dal Card. Orsini al Card. Sforza Pallavicino. 24 gennaio 1663.
7. Oblatio ex parte Caroli II. Magnae Britanniae Res;is pro optatissima trium suorum regnorum Angliae, Scotiae et Hiberniae cum Sede Apostolica Romana reunione.
8. Certificate of Charles II. in favour of Sieur James Stuart, his natural son.
9. Another certificate of the king to the same.
10. Certificate of Christine Queen of Sweden concerning the same, on his conversion at Hamburg.
11. Letter of Charles II. to the General of the Jesuits, Oliva, at Rome. Whitehall, August 3, 1668.
12. Letter of Charles II. to his son James Stuart at Rome. Whitehall, August 4, 1668.
13. Letter of Charles II. to Oliva, General of the Jesuits, at Rome. Whitehall, August 29, 1668.
14. Letter of the same to the same, without date.
15. Reply of Oliva to the king's three letters. Livorno, October 14, 1668.
16. Certificate of Charles that he will pay the expenses of his son's voyage. November 18, 1668.
17. Letter of Charles to Oliva. Whitehall, November 18, 1668.
18 and 19. Two Memoirs written by Charles II. on the Catholic religion.
