Read Online Bonnie Prince Charlie: A Biography by Carolly Erickson - Free Book Online
Authors: Carolly Erickson
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urbane company anywhere in Europe, and to prepare him to enter the world of politics and to succeed in it.
Every well-bred man should cultivate politeness, Chesterfield wrote, avoiding the English propensity to be either shamefaced or impudent and behaving in an easy and natural way, attempting to please yet never pressing himself on others in an irritating fashion. The politeness of an elegant man puts others at their ease, is comfortable rather than tense, and is above all unobtrusive.
Indeed unobtrusiveness is a primary virtue in a genuinely polite man, according to Chesterfield. He ought never to call attention to his own social superiority, particularly with servants, and he ought to avoid talking about himself as much as possible. In fact, he ought not to talk very much at all, for to be reserved while appearing candid is the first lesson of diplomacy.
On the potentially treacherous arena of politics, Chesterfield had a good deal to say. It would be naive, he counseled, not to assume that every man involved in politics is out to gain his own ends; indeed one ought to be suspicious of anyone who feigns disinterest. It would be equally naive to expect logic and rationality to prevail over irrationality and subjectivity in the dealings of power-seeking men; they are fallible, emotional, excitable, and can often be swayed by judicious flattery or by the influence of their mistresses. Flattery is particularly effective, though it requires tact, for the more important the personage you wish to flatter, the more careful and indirect your flattery has to be.
Chesterfield's advice about sex was worldly and practical. He advised the polished young man to seek out the erotic company of well=mannered women, for they could be useful to him in advancing himself as they often had the ear of important men. Seduction, like dancing and music, was a necessary accomplishment for a man of the world. Chesterfield's view of women in general, though, was unflattering. He thought them weak-minded and inconstant, like overgrown children, incapable of solid reasoning or good sense.
One wonders just what instruction Charles was given in manners and conversation, and on the subtler points of manipulating and influencing others without becoming manipulated by them. He had ample opportunity to learn by doing, for when still a child he was taken to Carnival balls where reportedly he "bore his part ... as if he were already a man." 5 He met the guests at the Palazzo Muti with a graciousness that greatly impressed them, and showed no awkwardness as he approached adolescence. His childish prettiness became youthful princeliness, and his strong arms and legs were becoming manly. Portrait painters now portrayed him as a self-possessed, statesmanlike youth, determined and ready to carry on his father's cause and to make it his own.
If he was to begin to do this, he needed to make a military reputation, for as Murray pointed out, he ''had no fortune in the world but what he must gain by the point of his sword." His opportunity came in the summer of 1734, when he was thirteen.
The army of Spain, accompanied by the nineteen-year-old Don Carlos, heir to the Spanish throne, was besieging the fortified town of Gaeta on the coast midway between Naples and Rome. The siege was an episode in the prolonged confrontation between the forces of the emperor Charles VI, who ruled Naples and Sicily, and Philip V of Spain, Don Carlos's stepfather, who sought to seize the territories. With the help of the French, the Spanish armies under the command of the Duke of Montemar were slowly winning over the imperialists, and by July of 1734 they were advancing toward Naples. Calling himself "King of Naples," Don Carlos anticipated victory and expected that the emperor's soldiers, who had taken their stand at Gaeta, would not be able to hold out for long.
One of those intending to take part in the siege was Charles's cousin the Duke of Liria, who had recently become Duke of
Every well-bred man should cultivate politeness, Chesterfield wrote, avoiding the English propensity to be either shamefaced or impudent and behaving in an easy and natural way, attempting to please yet never pressing himself on others in an irritating fashion. The politeness of an elegant man puts others at their ease, is comfortable rather than tense, and is above all unobtrusive.
Indeed unobtrusiveness is a primary virtue in a genuinely polite man, according to Chesterfield. He ought never to call attention to his own social superiority, particularly with servants, and he ought to avoid talking about himself as much as possible. In fact, he ought not to talk very much at all, for to be reserved while appearing candid is the first lesson of diplomacy.
On the potentially treacherous arena of politics, Chesterfield had a good deal to say. It would be naive, he counseled, not to assume that every man involved in politics is out to gain his own ends; indeed one ought to be suspicious of anyone who feigns disinterest. It would be equally naive to expect logic and rationality to prevail over irrationality and subjectivity in the dealings of power-seeking men; they are fallible, emotional, excitable, and can often be swayed by judicious flattery or by the influence of their mistresses. Flattery is particularly effective, though it requires tact, for the more important the personage you wish to flatter, the more careful and indirect your flattery has to be.
Chesterfield's advice about sex was worldly and practical. He advised the polished young man to seek out the erotic company of well=mannered women, for they could be useful to him in advancing himself as they often had the ear of important men. Seduction, like dancing and music, was a necessary accomplishment for a man of the world. Chesterfield's view of women in general, though, was unflattering. He thought them weak-minded and inconstant, like overgrown children, incapable of solid reasoning or good sense.
One wonders just what instruction Charles was given in manners and conversation, and on the subtler points of manipulating and influencing others without becoming manipulated by them. He had ample opportunity to learn by doing, for when still a child he was taken to Carnival balls where reportedly he "bore his part ... as if he were already a man." 5 He met the guests at the Palazzo Muti with a graciousness that greatly impressed them, and showed no awkwardness as he approached adolescence. His childish prettiness became youthful princeliness, and his strong arms and legs were becoming manly. Portrait painters now portrayed him as a self-possessed, statesmanlike youth, determined and ready to carry on his father's cause and to make it his own.
If he was to begin to do this, he needed to make a military reputation, for as Murray pointed out, he ''had no fortune in the world but what he must gain by the point of his sword." His opportunity came in the summer of 1734, when he was thirteen.
The army of Spain, accompanied by the nineteen-year-old Don Carlos, heir to the Spanish throne, was besieging the fortified town of Gaeta on the coast midway between Naples and Rome. The siege was an episode in the prolonged confrontation between the forces of the emperor Charles VI, who ruled Naples and Sicily, and Philip V of Spain, Don Carlos's stepfather, who sought to seize the territories. With the help of the French, the Spanish armies under the command of the Duke of Montemar were slowly winning over the imperialists, and by July of 1734 they were advancing toward Naples. Calling himself "King of Naples," Don Carlos anticipated victory and expected that the emperor's soldiers, who had taken their stand at Gaeta, would not be able to hold out for long.
One of those intending to take part in the siege was Charles's cousin the Duke of Liria, who had recently become Duke of
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