Cameron, the widow of his victim. Yet the breach between James and
his little Court, on one side, and Prince Charles on the other, was
then so absolute that the Prince was dining with the spy, chatting
with him at the opera-ball, and presenting him with a gold snuff-box,
at about the very time when Pickle's treachery was known in Rome.
Afterwards, the knowledge of his infamy came too late, if it came at
all. The great scheme had failed; Cameron had fallen, and Frederick
of Prussia, ceasing to encourage Jacobitism, had become the ally of
England.

These things sound like the inventions of the romancer, but they rest
on unimpeachable evidence, printed and manuscript, and chiefly on
Pickle's own letters to his King, to his Prince, and to his English
employers--we cannot say 'pay-masters,' for PICKLE WAS NEVER PAID!
He obtained, indeed, singular advantages, but he seldom or never
could wring ready money from the Duke of Newcastle.

To understand Pickle's career, the reluctant reader must endure a
certain amount of actual history in minute details of date and place.
Every one is acquainted with the brilliant hour of Prince Charles:
his landing in Moidart accompanied by only seven men, his march on
Edinburgh, his success at Prestonpans, the race to Derby, the retreat
to Scotland, the gleam of victory at Falkirk, the ruin of Culloden,
the long months of wanderings and distress, the return to France in
1746. Then came two years of baffled intrigues; next, the Treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle insisted on the Prince's expulsion from France; last,
he declined to withdraw. On December 10, 1748, he was arrested at
the opera, was lodged in the prison of Vincennes, was released, and
made his way to the Pope's city of Avignon, arriving there in the
last days of December 1748. On February 28, 1749, he rode out of