YHE 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
‘No. 106.] 
OcToRER 1, 1803. 
[3, of Vo. 16. 
— 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
For ihe Monthly Magazine. 
€ORRESPONDENCE concerning the RE- 
LIEF afforded by HIS PRESENT MAJES- 
TY to the CARDINAL of YORK, the only 
SURVIVOR of the unfortunate HOUSE 
of STUART, uever before publifhed. 
Cardinal Borgia to Sir Fohn Coxe Hippif- 
ley, Bart. 
(Tranflation.) - Padua, Sept. 14, 1799. 
‘> MOST WORTHY SIR, 
"Ee friendfhip you honoured me with 
at Rome, encourages me to lay be- 
fore you a cafe worthy of your moft ma- 
ture reflection ; which is, that among the 
other Cardinals who have taken refuge in 
Padua, here is alfo the Cardinal Duke; 
and it is greatly affliCting to me to fee fo 
great a perfonage, the laft defcendant of 
his royal houfe, reduced to fuch diftreffed 
circumftances, having been barbaroufly 
ftripped by the French of all his property ; 
and if they deprived him not of life alfo, 
it was through the mercy of the Almighty, 
who proteéted him in his flight, both by 
fea and land ; the miferies of which, ne- 
verthelefs, greatly injured his health, at 
the advanced age of feventy-five, and pro- 
duced a very grievous fore in one of his 
legs. 
Thofe who are well infcrmed of this 
moft worthy Cardinal’s domettic affairs, 
have aflured me, thdt fince his flight, hav- 
ing left behind him his rich and magnifi- 
cent moveables, which were all facked and 
plundered, both at Rome and Frafcati, he 
has been fupported by the filver plate he 
had taken with him, and which he began. 
to difpofe of at Mefiina ; and I underftand 
that, in order to fupply his wants a few 
months in Venice, he has fold all that re- 
mained. 
Of the jewels he poffeffed, very few re- 
main, as the moft valuable had been facri- 
ficed in the well-known contributions to 
~ the French, our deftru&tive plunderers ; 
and with refpeét to his income, after hav- 
ing fuffered the lofs of forty-eight thoufand 
Roman crowns annually, by the French. 
Revolution, the remainder was loft alfo by 
the fall of Rome, namely, the yearly fum 
ef'ten thoufand crowns, affigned him by 
the Apoftolical Chamber, and alfo his par- 
sicular funds in the Roman Bank. The 
Montruty Mac, No, 106, 
only income he has left is that of his bene- 
fices in Spain, which amount to fourteen 
thoufand crowns ; but which, as it is only 
payable at prefent in paper, is greatly re= 
duced by the difadvantage of exchange ; 
and even that has remained unpaid for 
more than a year, owing perhans to the 
interrupted communication withthat king- 
dom. 
But here it is neceffary that I fhould 
add, that the Cardinal is heavily burthen- 
ed with the annual fum of four thoufand 
crowns, for the dowry of the Countefs of 
Albany, his fifter-in-law ; three thoufand 
to the mother of his deceafed niece* ; and 
fifteen hundred for divers annuities of his 
father and his brother ; nor has he credit 
to fupply the means of acquitting thele ob~ 
ligations. 2 
This pigture, neverthelefs, which I pre- 
fent to your friendfhip, may well excite 
the compafiion of every one who will reflect 
en the high birth, the elevated dignity, 
and the advanced age of the Perlonage 
whofe fituation I now fketch, in the plain 
language of truth, without reforting to the 
aid of eloquence. I will only intreat you 
to communicate it to thofe diftinguifhed 
_perfons who have influence in«your Go- 
vernment, perfuaded as I am, that the 
Englith magnanimity will not fuffer an 
illuftrious perfonage of the fame nation tea. 
perifh in mifery ! But here I paufe—not 
withing to offend your national delicacy, 
which delights to act from its own gene- 
rous difpofition, rather than from the im-. 
pulfe and urgency of cthers. 
We have here not only the Cardinal 
Duke, but other Cardinals, viz. the twa 
Dorias, Caprara, and Livizzani:; and per- 
haps very foon they will be all here, as it 
is probable the conclave will be held ia 
this place, as it has pleafed God to deliver 
from all his labours the fo eminently un- 
fortunate Pius the Sixth, who cherifhed 
for you the moft tender affectian, and who 
was pleafed, when he was in the Carthu- 
fian convent at Florence, to inve& me with 
the charge of the Pro-prefecture of the 
Congregation of Propaganda Fide. My, 
paper fails me, but I fhall never tail being 
Your true friend and fervant, 
STEPHEN CaRDINAL Borcia.’” 
* The Ceuntefs Alberftorf, — 
Dd From 
