Date Due 1 W^'^^^ M»^ MAY 3 :53AT ■tf*-^ 1 fiAt-ir?n» ^itii?'' |!.#* "H^srSi ; - r^ ^ 1 t ' df f 23233 1 Cornell University Library DC 137.3.M59 1868 The authentic historical memoirs of Loui 3 1924 024 291 639 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024291639 THE AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, AND COMMENTARY. Pamphlets Published by the same Authors, respecting the veritable Louis XVII. PRISONER OF THE TEMPLE. Published in i860. LOUIS XVII. . Published in 12,67. The Authentic Historical Memoirs OF LOUIS CHARLES, PRINCE-ROYAL, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, SECOND SON OF LOUIS XVI. AND MARIE ANTOINETTE, Who, subsequently to October i"] q^, personated through, supposititious means, AUGUSTUS MEVES. The Memoirs, written by the Veritable Louis XVII., ARE Badicated to the Wt-^n^h UKixan. The Compilation and Commentary BY HIS TWO ELDEST SONS, WILLIAM, AND AUGUSTUS MEVES. LONDON: WILLIAM RIDGWAY, 169 PICCADILLY, W. 1868. [The Copyright is reserved.'\ EDINBURGH : T. CONSTABLE, PRINTER TO THE QUEEN, AND TO THE UNIVERSITY. PREFACE. The object in writing the Authentic Historical Memoirs of Louis Charles, Prince-Royal, Dauphin of France, firstly, is to place on record an authentic historical fact, which, on the part of the French Republic, has been pm-posely falsified, and tacitly acquiesced in by the European Powers, for political motives. Secondly, parental consanguinity involv- ing us in this monarchical mystery, thereby holding us responsible to dispel the error which has hitherto surrounded the second son of Louis XVI., it would be impolitic, ungenerous, and pusillanimous on our part, to refrain advocating the cause here bequeathed to us as an heirloom. In promulgating the truth which surrounds the second son of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, we shall have fulfilled a duty devolved upon us by filial ties, for were we to remain silent on this hitherto historical mystery, it would be a continual self-reproach and dishonour to our name and descent while living, whilst, for such silence, posterity would award us naught, but an inglorious and ignoble epitaph. Our aim has been to divest this historical question of all mystifica- tion. It irrefutably proves the Dauphin's deliverance from the Tower of the Temple, and the only question remaining to be decided is, whether sufficient proof is brought forward to guarantee the recognition of Louis XVII. in the author of the present Memoirs. Let our critics before passing judgment on the present work, atten- tively scrutinize its contents, and not assign, previous to reading it, either their condemnation or acquiescence, but resolutely adhere to equity in pronouncing their opinion on the claims advanced. The only desire sought is an impartial investigation of the question now brought vi PREFACE. under notice, and that its accuracy or inaccuracy may be attested to, by reason and justice. The Dauphin's escape from the Tower of the Temple is no longer a mysterious problem. The truth that has hitherto been enveloped in a labyrinth of obscurities is now substantially removed. The demise of the son of Louis xvi. and Marie Antoinette in the Tower of the Temple was but a Republican assertion and not an historical fact, which has benefited the ruling sovereigns of France, since the sacrifice of Louis XVI., to acquiesce in, namely. Napoleon Bonaparte, Louis xviii.,* Charles x., the Dukes of Angoul^me and Berri (the sons of Charles x.), Marie Th^rfese (the daughter of Louis xvi. married to the Duke of Angou- leme, consequently in the interest of the house of Charles x.), le Comte de Chambord, the acknowledged legitimate sovereign of France (son of the Duke of Berri), Louis Philippe, the Orleans Family, and, lastly, Louis Napoleon — all have had, and still have, an interest in recognising the authenticity of the Republican announcement, that the son of Louis XVI. died in the Temple. Nevertheless, with all this apparent antagon- istic array of political influence, with its attendant legions, to annihilate truth, such will be impotent and ineffectual, for sooner or later it will manifest itself; and though it may be lulled to sleep for a while, time will eventually dispel the illusions, that chicanery and artifice have invented. The Memoirs are written by the Claimant to the Throne of France, as the legitimate heir, and were completed during his life. A sequel is now added, so that all particulars connected with this hitherto historical mystery should be thoroughly explained. WILLIAM, AND AUGUSTUS MEVES. London, September 1868. * See subject " Under what Auspices Louis xviii. ascended the Throne of France," page 291. ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECTS Authentic Historical Memoirs of Louis Charles, Dauphin of France, and Commentary. PAGE I. RECOLLECTIONS AND CAREER OF THE DAUPHIN TILL THE YEAR 1823, i IL INFORMATION RESPECTING THE CROWLEY FAMILY,' AND MARIANNE CROWLEY'S CAREER, AND AC- QUAINTANCESHIP WITH MR. WILLIAM SCHROE- DER MEVES, AND CONTINUATION OF AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS, WITH INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION, . . ... 40 in. COMMENTARY TO THE AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, 97 IV. EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS REVIEWED, . .173 V. THE DAUPHIN'S RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PALACES OF VERSAILLES AND TUILERIES, . . .235 VL THE DAUPHIN'S RECOLLECTIONS OF THE TOWER OF THE TEMPLE 239 viii ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECTS. PAGE VII, HOW THE DAUPHIN WAS BROUGHT UP AFTER HIS ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND TILL THE YEAR 1823, . 244 VIII. THE DAUPHIN'S CONVERSATIONS WITH THE PRE TENDER NAUNDORFF, ..... 250 IX. AN OUTLINE OF THE PUBLISHED LIFE OF THE PRE TENDER NAUNDORFF, ..... 252. X. COMMENTARY AND INFERENCES 'ON THE PUBLISHED LIFE OF THE PRETENDER NAUNDORFF, . . 264 XL THE COLOUR OF THE EYES AND HAIR OF LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, . . . 277 XIL A WORD TO HISTORIANS : WHAT PROOFS AUTHENTI- CATE THE DAUPHIN'S DEMISE IN THE TOWER OF THE TEMPLE? ....... 288 Xin. UNDER WHAT AUSPICES LOUIS XVIIL ASCENDED THE THRONE OF FRANCE 291 XIV. RECOGNITION OF THE SON OF LOUIS XVL AND MARIE ANTOINETTE BY PERSONAL IDENTITY, 293 XV. REASONS WHY THE DAUPHIN DID NOT PROCLAIM HIMSELF, 304 XVL CONCLUSION: WHAT IS THE DECISION? . . . 307 CONTENTS. RECOLLECTIONS AND CAREER OF THE DAUPHIN TILL THE YEAR 1823. I'AGE Recollections of the Tower of the Temple and La Rotunda, . . I Recollections of Simon the shoemaker and his wife, ^ Incidents and Recollections at the Temple, . . . . 2 Attempt to release the Queen from the Conciergerie, .... 4 Tom Paine's request, ... . . . 4 Means employed to rescue the Dauphin, ..... 4 Augustus Meves is substituted in his place, ..... 4 The substitution of a deaf and dumb boy in order to relieve Augustus Meves from the Temple, . . . . . S How the Dauphin's escape was effected, . . . 6 His first introduction to Mr. Meves, . . 6 His leaving France for England, . 6 His arrival at London, ... 7 His first meeting with Mrs. Meves, 7 Incident which occasioned his return to the care of Mr. Meves, . . 7 His being placed at school, his illness, and being placed at a boarding-school at Wandsworth, .... . . 8 Incident at the Wandsworth school, .... .8 Return to the care of Mrs. Meves during the vacation at Wandsworth, . g Illuminations in commemoration of Lord Howe's victory, in June 1794, . 9 His first meeting with Miss Meves, . . . . 9 His return to the boarding-school, . . . .10 Information respecting Mrs. Meves, . . 10 Return to the care of Mr. Meves, . . 11 His musical study, ... - 1 1 His portrait taken by Mr. Meves, .... 12 His first appearance in public as a pianist, . . 13 His return to London, and new occupation, . 14 His return to the study of music, . . . . 14 His progress, and reception in society, . . -14 His new musical career, . . IS His entering the Volunteers, .... 15 An early reminiscence, 16 CONTENTS. His opinion respecting this reminiscence, His quitting the pursuit of music, and speculative career. His visit to Calais, ...... Incident at the Argyle Rooms in iSlJ, His visit to Paris in i8i6. His visit to the Palace of Versailles, .... Reflections on the visit to the Palace of Versailles, His leisure time^— how occupied whilst at Paris, His visit to the Tuileries, An incident in Paris, He resolves leaving Paris, .... His visit to the Luxembourg, ..... He quits Paris en route for England, . . . ■ His pursuits on returning to England, .... His resentment of an insult on Mr. Meves, Illness and demise of Mr. Meves, Mr. Meves's Will, ...... Reading of Mr. Meves's will, and disclosure of Mrs. Meves, Effect of the disclosure, ..... His resolution respecting the late Mr. Meves, . His indisposition, consequent on over-exertion, . Incautious treatment, . .... Its effects, . . . . Conduct of the attendants, ..... His convalescence, .... His speculations at the Bank of England, A transaction at his bankers', ..... Repeated assertion of Mrs. Meves in declaring the Dauphin of France to be her reputed son Augustus Meves, .... Her request, censure, and advice how to make himself known to the Duchess of Angouleme, . . ... The demise of Mrs. Meves, Her will. PAGE i6 17 17 18 18 19 20 22 23 23 23 24 24 2S 29 29 30 30 30 30 31 31 31 33 34 36 37 38 39 INFORMATION RESPECTING THE CROWLEY FAMILY, AND MARIANNE CROWLEY'S CAREER, AND ACQUAINTANCE- SHIP WITH MR. WILLIAM SCHROEDER MEVES. Account of the family of Cornelius Crowley, Esq. (father of Mrs. Meves), Miss Crowley, a pupil of Signor Sacchini, ..... Cornelius Crowley takes his daughter to Paris with the object of placing her at a Convent, ..... Note from the Abbess, Letter from Mr. Crowley to his daughter in France, Miss Crowley's return to England, Miss Crowley's first acquaintance with Mr. Meves, Her return to Paris, Birth of Augustus Meves, 40 41 41 41 42 42 43 43 43 CONTENTS. xi I'AGE Letter from Mr. Davenport, . . . .43 Description of Mrs. Marianne Crowley Meves, . 44 Mrs. Higginson, ....... 44 CONTINUATION OF NARRATIVE. A transaction on Change, .... . 44 The sum of money placed to his accoimt at his bankers', . . 44 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION CONCERNING MR. AND MRS. MEVES, AND AUGUSTUS MEVES. Miss Powell, . . 45 Mrs. Spence, . 46 Mr. George Meves, . . . 48 Mrs. Fisher, ..... 51 Property inherited from Mrs. Higginson, 57 157 157 158 158 158 CONTENTS. XV Cgnditions entered into, Spain's efforts in behalf of the Captives, Result of the negotiation, .... Report made on the condition of the Captive, Harmand, Mathieu, and Reverchon's official visit to the Captive, Hzurmand's published report thereon, Harmand sent from Paris on a mission to the Armies, Biographical notice of Harmand, Lam-ent quits the Temple, .... Lasne appointed keeper of the Captive, Illness of the Captive, ..... Desault appointed to attend the Captive, Condition of the Captive, Desault's disclosure respecting the Captive, Result of such, ... Bellanger at the Temple, ..... Desault's and Choppart's sudden death, . . . . Popular belief regarding the end of Desault and Choppart, Statement of Abeille (a pupil of Dr. Desault), AU supplication on the part of Princess-Royal to see and attend the Captive refused, ......... Hue petitions the Committee of General Safety to be permitted to attend the Captive, ....... Appointment of Dr. Pelletan to attend the Captive, Condition of the Captive, ....... Dr. PeUetan demands the co-operation of another member of the profession, Dr. Dumangin appointed, ....... Their opinion on his health, and astonishment at the solitary confinement to which he was subjected, ...... Demise of the Captive, .... Lasne's statement respecting the end of the Captive, . The sudden change of manner in the Captive after Desault's demise, . Attestation of the Captive's demise, ..... On what proofs they testify such, .... Interment of the Captive, . The Princess-Royal informed of the fate of the Royal Family, The Princess released from the Temple, ..... PAGE 159 1 60 160 160 1 60 161 165 i6s 166 166 166 166 166 166 167 167 167 167 167 167 168 168 168 168 168 168 169 169 169 169 170 170 170 171 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS REVIEWED. Mrs. Meves. Reasons which elicited the disclosure, . ... 1 72 Early life of Mrs. Meves, . . . . . . .172 Through whose influence Miss Crowley gained her appointment at the Court of France, . . . . . . . -173 Biographical notice of Signor Sacchiui, . . . ■ '73 Mr. Meves's promise to the Queen, ..... 1 74 Possible reasons for Mr. Meves placing Augustus Meves in the Temple, ^ 174 xvi CONTENTS. PAGE Complexity and subsequent indisposition of the Dauphin through the dis- closure of Mrs. Meves, . . . . ■ • '77 Explanation and remarks thereon, . . . . ■ ■ ' 7° Origin of error in the letters to the Duchess of Angouleme, . . -179 The Archbishop's of Paris knowledge, of the Dauphin's liberation from the Temple, '79 The practicability of the Dauphin coming under Mr. Meves's charge, . i8o Mrs. Spence, Mrs. Fisher, and Miss Powell. When seeing the applicability of their information, . . . . i8o Paine and the deaf and dumb boy, . . . . l8i Paine's opinion of Louis XVL, . . . i8i America and Louis XVI., ... 1 82 Paine's doctrines and position in France, . 182 Louis xvi.'s aid to America, . . . ... 182 Paine's pusillanimity and ingratitude, ... .183 Toulan solicits the aid of Marat, Robespierre, and Danton in a meditated plan for effecting the Royal Family's escape from the Temple, . . 183 Mirabeau — ^his corruptibility, . . . . . . .183 Louis XVI. and Mirabeau, . . . . . . .183 Mirabeau in the King's pay — his plans, . . . 1 84 Danton's character and venality, . . . . . .186 Marie Antoinette's remark to Hu^ on the venality of the Revolutionary leaders, 187 Was Paine incapable of duphcity ? . . . . . 188 The Dauphin's conclusions after reading Harmand's report, . . l88 A deaf and dumb boy enacts the Dauphin's part at the Temple — particulars respecting such, ........ 189 The name of Schroeder, and of Madame de Courville Schroeder, as being connected with the Court of France, . . -193 The colour of Augustus Meves's eyes and hair as a boy, . 193 Mr. George Meves. Recourse to Mr. George Meves for information, . . . 154 The colour of the eyes and hair of Augustus Meves, . . 19J Additional information received, .... . ig6 Adapting to recollections the dates as received from Mr. George Meves, . 196 Explanation of erroneous statements on the Dauphin's part, and origin of such, ■••••.... ig6 The colour of the eyes and hair of Augustus Meves, and Mr. George Meves's opinion thereon, ... • . . . . 204 The importance of the question respecting the colour of the eyes and hair of the Dauphin, •■...... 204 Mr. George Meves's knowledge of his brother's movements, . . .205 He frustrates the proposed interview with the Duchess of Angouleme, . 206 Was it the Dauphin, or a substitute, in the Temple after October 1793? 207 . CONTENTS. xvii Monsieur Lassleur, and Colonel Bigault DESFoucHfiRES. PAGE What attracted their notice, ....... 208 Their proposed plan, ....... 208 Letters to the Marquis Lafayette, and Prince Perigord de Talleyrand, . 209 Le Comte Fontaine de Moreau. Occasion of his visit, . . . . 210 His special direction to the marks and scars, . 210 Result of his visit, ... 211 Le Comte de Jouffroy. The Count's opinion respecting the Allied Powers, and their policy in respect to the Dauphin, ..... . 212 Public credence and decision on questionable assertions, . 212 Captain Curten and Monsieur Rogiers. Their message from the Cardinal de Latil (confessor of Charles X.), . 213 Explanation of the mystery surrounding the Dauphin subsequent to October I793> 214 The cause which deterred the Duchess of Angouleme from not acknowledging officially the existence of the Dauphin, ..... 215 The incident of the enamel box, . . . . . .215 The knowledge of Marianne de Courville Schroeder at Holyrood, . . 215 The sum of money placed to the reputed Augustus Meves's account by the Duchess of AngoulSme, . .... 216 Opinion respecting the sum of money, . . 216 Reflection on the above, .... 217 Lord William Pitt Lennox's description of Rowland Stephenson the banker, 217 The policy of Charles x.'s adherents in respect to the Dauphin's claim, . 217 Monsieur Latour. His statement, . . . . . . .217 Opinion on such, ... .... 218 His statement respecting the offer made to the Queen in the Conciergerie, 219 Monsieur Chermant. Petit Bossu and Latour's statement, . . . .219 Marquis of Bonneval. Attempts in favour of the Royal Family, The flight from the Tuileries, By what coincidence the King was recognised. The Royal Family arrested at Varennes, Reflections on such, . . . i 219 220 221 222 222 226 226 227 227 228 xviii CONTENTS. PAGE The practicability in releasing;the Dauphin from the Temple contrasted with the journey to Varennes, ...••• 2^" Attempts to relieve the Royal Family from the Temple, • • 226 Mrs. Atkyns and the Marquis of Bonneval, The Marquis's attempt in favour of the Dauphin, By what means the Dauphin's release was effected, Hebert's visit to the Dauphin at the Temple, Reflection on such, The Marquis escorts the carriage that contained the Dauphin to the coast of Normandy, .....••• 228 The Dauphin crosses the Channel and assumes the name of Augustus Meves, 228 The Marquis's uncertainty as respected the destination of the Dauphin, . 228 The possible part the Marquis took in escorting the Dauphin to the coast, and assurance that the carriage contained the Dauphin, . . . 229 Explanation and rectification of incorrect dates, . . . 229 The scar on the Dauphin's left wrist, — how occasioned, . . . 231 The marks and scars on the Dauphin, .... 232 Doctor Riofrey Bureaud. Harmand's report appended to the Duchess of Angouleme's work entitled ^^ The Events of the Temple" ...... 232 Its importance, ..... . . 233 Conclusion thereon, ■ . . . . . ' . . . 233 Meeting of the Dauphin and Louis Napoleon at Dr. Riofrey Bureaud' s, 233 Mr. Franks. Mr. Franks' position at the Court of France, and acquaintance with Mr. Crowley, ........ 233 His seeing Mr. Crowley and daughter in Paris, and for what object, . 233 Miss Crowley in tlie service of Marie Antoinette, .... 233 To whose influence attributable, ...... 233 Mr. Crowley's letter to his daughter in France, . . . 234 Miss Crowley in 1784 at the Court of France, as Madame de Courville Scliroeder, ........ 234 The scar on the Dauphin's right arm from the operation of inoculation, 234 Remark on the preceding, .... . 234 THE DAUPHIN'S RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PALACES OF VERSAILLES AND TUILERIES. Means adopted in order to confuse the Dauphin, . . . 235 Visit to the Palace of Versailles, ..... 236 Recollection of le Grand I'Escalier des Ambassades, . 236 Questioning Mr. and Mrs. Meves respecting this reminiscence, 236 Remark thereon, •-.... 215 Recollection of la Salle du Theatre k Versailles, . . 216 Entertainment to the Fliinders Regiment in 1789, . . 236 CONTENTS. xix PAGE The possible period that occasioned the reminiscence, . 237 Visit to the Tuileries, ... ... 237 The procession by water, .... . . 237 The probable procession witnessed, . . . . . .238 THE DAUPHIN'S RECOLLECTIONS OF THE TOWER OF THE TEMPLE. The wound occasioned by Simon with the towel, . . 239 Remark thereon, .... ... 239 Incident in the upper room of the Temple, . ... 240 Recollection of a visit to one of Simon's friends, . 240 Incident that occurred during the visit, . . 240 The return to the Temple, ...... 240 Report of the Dauphin's release from the Temple, . . . 241 A deputation visit the Temple to ascertain the safe custody of the Dauphin, . 241 The occasion of this report fully accounted for, .... 241 Visitors of Simon at the Temple, ..... 242 The brutahty of Hebert occasions a scar over the Dauphin's left eye, 242 How the release of the Dauphin from the Temple was effected, 242 Madame Simon's disclosure to M. Remusat, .... 242 Remarks on the events of the Temple, .... 243 HOW THE DAUPHIN WAS BROUGHT UP AFTER HIS ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND, TILL THE YEAR 1823. Incidents on his arrival in England referred to, with origin of mistakes and full elucidation of such, ....... 244 His study of the pianoforte, ... .... 244 His portrait taken by Mr. Meves, .... . 244 His first appearance in public as a pianist, . . . . 245 His reception, . . . . 245 His return to London, and new occupation, . . 245 His introduction to Mr. John Broadwood, . . . 246 His progress, ... . 246 New vocation in music, ... . 246 He quits musical pursuits, . . 246 He becomes a speculator, . . 246 Visit to the Argyle rooms, . . 246 He re-enters the musical profession, . . 246 Practical joke on Mr. William Meves, . . 246 Its resentment and consequence, . 247 Disclosure of Mrs. Meves, . 247 Anxiet^ caused by such, . .... 247 His indisposition, ... ... 247 Repeated assertion of Mrs. Meves, in declaring her reputed son to be the Dauphin of France, . . . . . . . 247 Her advice how to make himself known to the Duchess of Angoul6me, . 247 Mrs. Meves's promise to Maria Dodd, ..... 248 Reflections, .... . 248 XX CONTENTS. THE DAUPHIN'S CONVERSATIONS WITH THE PRETENDER NAiJNDORFF. Conversations with Naiindorff, . . ■ Through what means error had arisen on the Dauphin's part, His conduct towards Naiindorff, . . _ • His opinion respecting himself, and the difficulties to contend agamst, Supposed recognition of Augustus Meves, PAGE 250 250 250 250 251 AN OUTLINE OF THE PUBLISHED LIFE OF THE PRETENDER NAUNDORFF. A sketch of Naiindorff 's published life, . . . • 252 COMMENTARY AND INFERENCES ON THE PUBLISHED LIFE OF THE PRETENDER NAIJNDORFF. Inference on Naiindorff, and possible reason for his pretensions, . . 264 Release of the Dauphin from the Temple in October 1 793, . . . 264 Treatment of the substitute Captive, . . ... 264 The Captive no longer roams about the Temple, 264 Simon quits the Temple, ... . 265 The Captive placed in solitary confinement, . . . 265 Treatment pursued towards the Captive, . . 265 The reason for such solitary confinement, .... 265 Fall of popular revolutionists during his vile incarceration, . . 265 Opening of the cell that contained the Captive, . . 265 The colour of the Captive's eyes and hair, ... . 265 Why imagining Naiindorff to have been the Captive at this date, and conse- quently the true Augustus Meves, ..... 265 Laurent and the Captive of the Temple, ... . 266 Naiindorff's modified statement, .... . 267 A deaf and dumb boy enacts the part of the Dauphin at the Temple, and Naiindorff empanelled in an upper storey of the Temple for eight months, 267 Desault's detection of the Temple- captive not being the Dauphin, . . 268 Sudden death of Desault and Choppart, ... . 268 Pelletan and Dumangin appointed to attend the Captive, . . 268 Another substitution effected, ...... 268 Routine as regards solitary confinement observed towards the captive, 269 Demise of the Captive, ■■..... 269 The medical attestation as to their identification of the Dauphin, 269 Opinion respecting Naiindorff, ... 270 Probable instigation for his pretensions, . . . .270 History of a chair, ...... ' 271 St. Didier's interviews with the Duchess of AngoulSme, . 272 The letters, etc., forwarded to the Duchess of AngoulSme by the reputed son of Mr. Meves, .... , .272 CONTENTS. xxi i'AGE Political reasons which obviated the Duchess of Angouleme acknowledging the existence of her brother, ...... 272 Public opinion respecting the release of the Dauphin from the Temple till the year 1852, ...... 274 A work published purporting to clear up the mystery that surrounded the Dauphin, ...... . 274 Conclusion thereon, ..... 274 Pretenders who have laid claim to the title of Louis xvii., . 274 Government policy and conduct towards such, . . 275 Naiindorff and the Government, . . 275 Remark thereon, ... .... 275 Public scepticism respecting the identification of Louis XVII. accounted for, 276 THE COLOUR OF THE EYES AND HAIR OF LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. Introductory remarks as to the colour of the eyes and hair of the Dauphin, . 277 Authority as to the probability of eyes and hair changing their colour, . 278 Visit to Dr. Hancock (ophthalmic physician) to ascertain the possible change the eyes and hair of a boy are subjected to, . . 278 Letter respecting such, ... . 278 Dr. Hancock's reply, ........ 278 Inference as to how the mistake originated in respect to the colour of the eyes and hair of the second son of Louis xvi. , .279 Colour of the eyes of Louis Charles, the Dauphin, . . 279 Description of the colour of the Dauphin's eyes from Hanson's Lost Prince, 279 Description of E. M. Ward's, R.A., historical picture of "The Royal Family of France : Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette in the Prison of the Temple in 1792," ......... 280 The colour of the Dauphin's hair as represented by E. M. Ward, R.A., . 281 Description of A. Elmore's, R.A., historical picture of the attack on the Tuileries, the 20th June 1792, . . . . 282 Napoleon Bonaparte witnesses the attack, ..... 283 The colour of the Dauphin's eyes and hair as represented by A. Elmore, R.A . . . 283 Remarks thereon, ....... 283 Beauchesne's description of the colour of the Dauphin's eyes and hair, 284 Lamartine's, ...... . . 284 E. M. Ward's, R.A., . . . .285 A. Ehnore's, R.A., . . . . . . 285 Extracts from The Lost Prince, ...... 285 Madame Simon cuts off the Dauphin's long ringlets, .... 285 Colour of the eyes and hair of the prisoner of the Temple when coming under Laurent's charge, ....... 285 When visited by Harmand and colleagues, ..... 285 When attended by Pelletan and Dumangin, ..... 286 Remarks thereon, .... ... 286 CONTENTS. A WORD TO HISTORIANS : WHAT PROOFS AUTHENTICATE THE DAUPHIN'S DEMISE IN THE TOWER OF THE TEMPLE ? PAGE On what authority is the Dauphin's demise in the Temple guaranteed ? . 288 Interrogatories and remarks, . ... - 20s UNDER WHAT AUSPICES LOUIS XVIII. ASCENDED THE THRONE OF FRANCE. The secret treaty in 1814, . . • .291 On what terms Louis xvill. reigned, . .291 Proclamation of le Comte de Provence, ■ .291 Remarks on the above, . ... 292 RECOGNITION OF THE SON OF LOUIS XVL AND MARIE ANTOINETTE BY PERSONAL IDENTITY. Birth and baptism of the second son of Louis XVI., . . 293 Marks and scars known to have existed on the Dauphin, . . . 293 Certificate of marks and scars from Edward Newton, F.R.C.S., . 294 Demise of the true Dauphin, ..... . 294 Official attestation of the marks and scars, .... 295 Statement made in Court, ....... 296 Certificates by Edwin Andrew, M.D., F.R.C.S., and Sydney Ringer, M.R.C.S., 296 Interview and letter to Dr. Andrew, . .... 297 His reply, .... . 298 Letter to Mr. Wakley, ....... 299 His reply, . . . . . . 300 Remarks on identity, ........ 300 The reason for writing the introductory account entitled " The Prisoner of the Temple," ......... 301 The Press reviews, ........ 302 REASONS WHY THE DAUPHIN DID NOT PROCLAIM HIMSELF. Explanation, .... . . 304 Remark, ....... 306 CONCLUSION : WHAT IS THE DECISION ? 307 CONTENTS. APPENDIX. PAGR Note A. — Medical Certificates, .... 313 Note B. — The Abbe Morlet's letter to Mrs. Meves, . . 315 Note C. — Biographical Notice of Augustus Meves, . 318 Note D. — Voltaire's remains removed to the Pantheon, 319 Note E. — Francis Turner Blythe's will, .... 321 Note F. — Letter from Mr. Davenport to Mr. Augustus Meves, . . 322 Note G. — Letter from Mrs. Crovifley to her Daughter, . . . 323 Note H. — Lord William Pitt Lennox's description of Rowland Stephenson the banker, ... ... 324 Note I. — Narrative written by the Dauphin at the request of the Marquis of Boimeval and the Abbe Prince Charles de Broglie, . 325 Commentary on the Narrative, . 330 Note K. — The Atkyns Family, . -332 Note L. — Last Will and Testament of Louis xvi. , . 333 Note M. — Letter from Mrs. Meves to Mr. Meves, . 337 Note N. — Letter from Mr. Meves to Mrs. Higginson, . 338 Note O. — Character of Danton, . . 339 Note P. — Reflections on the Death of Louis xvi., . . . 340 THE AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. [N placing my Narrative before the world, my only wish is to solve the truth, and circumstances of my chequered life, commencing with my recollections of the Tower of the Temple ; but it must be distinctly understood, that all recollections, as much as possible, have been destroyed in me regarding such a place. I well remember in my boyhood being at a strange kind of place, surrounded with high walls. There were • several houses, and a large garden divided into squares or quarters, in which were trees, and flowers in a wild neglected state. Near the garden was a building, "La Rotunda," rounded at each end, in which was established a school where several boys attended. I attended this school for a while. The teacher sat at one end of the schoolroom, and I sat alone at a desk. Opposite me were two firelocks, the muzzles of which pointed into the garden, and the butts were supported on a table or desk. When I left the schoolroom two boys used to accompany me across a piece of ground to a strange kind of high square tower, like a turreted building, when I ascended a flight of stone steps with an iron railing, and at once entered a good-sized dark parlour, in one corner of which was a cupboard, and on the opposite comer was a door, which led to a circular winding staircase connected with the upper part of the building. On entering the parlour I was received by a well-dressed portly woman. A 2 A UTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF This, I suppose, was Madame Simon, who v&ti to give me slices of brioche, a kind of cake made with flour, eggsl and honey. I have no recollection of this person ever having ill-used me. Her husband was many years older than herself. He used to take me up the winding staircase, into which the door led from the parlour, to a large-sized room at the top of the building. The middle of this strangely built room was remarkably high in the centre, being of a conical shape, in which a swing was placed to a beam, and here it was where this dark-faced old man, " with furrows in his cheeks,'' used to swing me, and make me run round the room as fast as I possibly could. It was there, likewise, that I used to get on a chair, and mount a table fixed against the waU, and jump on the pavement of the room, which was not boarded, but had a kind of stucco or plaster-of-Paris flooring, of a duU red colour, I have no recollection that ever this person ill-treated me. Once when he was showing my dexterity and swiftness of running to some of his friendsy whom he was entertaining in the parlour, he had a handkerchief, or possibly a damask napkin, in his hand, with which he was stimulating me, when the napkin swung round my face, and tore the skin from my left cheek, and occasioned a wound, which was some time in healing. A surgeon attended me, and Madame Simon used a kind of white powder to heal the wound. Upon one occasion I recollect seeing an entertainment given in the Palace of the Temple, where a kind of play was performed with Marionnette figures. Some person read the drama, and I was seated on the stage, next to the person who had the care of me, from where I saw all the movements on the stage, and could observe the company. I also recollect being taken out one afternoon by Simon and his wife to the house of some friend of theirs — I think a Marchand Chapelier,— whose^wife took me into her petit cabinet, and gave me some delicious comfiture, spread on a slice of brioche, and upon her leaving the room she placed the jar containing the comfiture on the upper shelf of the cupboard, and left me in the room to do as I pleased. After she had been gone some time, I got upon a chair to get some LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 3 more of the comfiture, but being unable to reach it, I mounted a high round mulF-box, and in attempting to reach the shelf I over- turned the muff-box, and fell down on the floor. The noise brought the company into the room where I was ; the muff-box was then examined, which contained a quantity of large white feathers, which were found not in the slightest manner injured by the fall. Upon leaving the house, I was mounted on Antoine Simon's shoulders, and began singing. This attracted a crowd of persons, who followed us across the Pont Neuf, in La Rue du Temple, cheering us until we came to the entrance of the Temple. As regards the Small Tower, the only part I recollect is the parlour, where a great deal of company, friends of the Simons, used to visit, most of them persons of repute as political men. HAert and Danton were constant visitors. I am quite sure DantoB was in the habit of frequenting the parlour occupied by Antoine Simon, for whenever I examine the portraits of the characters of the French Revolution, that of Danton always strikes me as having been familiar to me in my youth, as his features strike me as being those of the person who used to take me from the parlour to the step of the door on a starlight night, and explain the mysteries of the planetary system to me, and the course of the moon over the earth in its monthly orbit. I think I was taught astronomy according to the theory of Descartes, as his system agrees with my notions. The only instance of extreme ill-usage that strikes forcibly my imagination, is that which regards the person who had the chief power over me at the Temple. This person was a very tall, powerful man. " Jacques Rdn^ Hubert is the person I allude to." On one occasion he was desirous of my signing some papers which contained accusations of an infamous character, reflecting on the virtue of the most innocent and amiable of women, whose virtue is without a stain. I refiised to obey the infamous commands of this man, when he, in his rage and disap- pointment, seized me by the hair of my head, and burst the door open leading to the upper chambers on the stone stairs, where I received a 4 A UTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF wound over the eye on the left temple. "This scar is still visible."* From this cruel treatment of Hubert I date the determination of Madame Simon to save me, whenever a fair opportunity occurred to do so. On the ist of August 1793, the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, was removed from the Tower of the Temple to the prison of the Conciergerie. This being a public prison, a greater chance existed to save the Queen than when she was confined in the Tower of the Temple. A'lady of the name of Mrs. Charlotte Atkyns, of Kettringham Hall, Norfolk, went to Paris, acconjpanied by the Marquis of Bonneval, Avith the object of saving the life of the Queen of France, by extricating her from the prison of the Conciergerie, previous to her trial, in October 1793. The Queen refused her proffered service, unless she could be accompanied by her children. This being impossible to accomplish^ Mrs. Atkyns returned to England for safety, and the Marquis of Bon- neval took refuge at the chateau of his mother, the Dowager Mar-, chioness of Bonneval, in Normandy, September 1793. About this time a letter was addressed to a lady of the name of Carpenter by Tom Paine, the author of the Rights of Man. He was a member of the French National Convention. His letter con- tained a desire for a youth to be found answering the description he gave, and to be brought to France, " to Paris," for purposes required by him. Mrs. Carpenter was a friend of Mrs. Marianne Crowley Meves. These two ladies went in search of the youth, as required by Paine, but it was found not to be so easy a task to accomplish. Mr. William Meves, who resided in London, at 44 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury Square, with his son, who was born in France, the 1 6th of February 1785; and this youth answering in many instances the description required, his father determined to take him to Paris. This was accordingly done ; and on Mr. Meves's arrival in Paris, he obtained an interview with the Queen, in the prison of the Conciergerie, and it was agreed that he should introduce his son into the Temple at » See Appendix, Note A, for Medical Certificates. LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 5 Paris, and place him under the care of Antoine Simon, till a good opportunity occurred to extricate Louis xvii. from the Temple. A strong resemblance existed between Augustus Antoine Cornelius Meves and Louis Charles, " the Dauphin," in point of features, except in the eyes and hair^"Ztf«w Charles having brown eyes and hair^' and Augustus Meves having blue eyes and light hair. In the month of January 1794, Mrs. Schroeder Crowley Meves went to Holland, to the Abbd Morlet, " who had emigrated to the house of his brother, Claude Morlet, a Chevalier of the Order of St. Louis," who had taken refuge at a village called Buren, near Utrecht,* having taken with her a deaf and dumb boy, the son of a poor woman, named Maria Dodd, who gained her livelihood as a charwoman, in the parish of St. Martin's. With this boy Mrs. Meves penetrated to Paris, for the pur- pose of extricating her son from the Tower of the Temple. On the 19th January 1794, Simon obtained his discharge from the Municipality of Paris, from his position as Concierge du Temple, and quitted the Tower with his wife. When Mrs. Meves arrived in Paris in January 1794, she stayed at the Hotel, de Bussey, Rue de Bussey. She was attended by the Abb^ Morlet.. She then set about obtaining the release of her son. Her desire was to release him by introducing into the Temple the deaf and dumb boy she had brought with her to Paris. How this was accom- plished I cannot tell, but that it was accomplished is positively true, as certainly a deaf and -dumb boy was introduced into the Tower of the Temple. This boy was the son of Maria Dodd, and was the boy seen by. Messrs. Harmand, Reverchon, and Mathieu, when they were sent by the orders of the French Directory to report the state of health of Louis .Charles, the Dauphin. Monsieur Harmand published in 181 5 a brochure, in which is a description of his commission to the Tower of the Temple, February 27th, 1795, which account is appended to a work written by Her .Royal Highness the Duchess of Angouleme, published .at the Royal Printing Office at Paris, in 181 7, entitled * See Appendix, Note B, for Letter from the Abbe Morlet to Mrs. Meves. 6 A UTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF " R6dt des Ev^nements arrives au Temple."— See Commentary, Bzs- torical Records.* The son of Maria Dodd died in the Temple, the 8th June 1795. The authentic proofs of his death, and the examination of his body by the surgeons Pelletan and Dumangin, will be found in a work published at Paris in 1834, called " Preuves authentiques de la mort du jeune Louis XVII." — See Commentary, Historical Records* As regards my first introduction to my most excellent and worthy reputed father, Mr. William Meves, it seems to my reflective powers that I was lying on the sofa, in the parlour of the Small Tower of the Temple, and was awakened by the female who had the care of me, "Madame Simon," saying, "Votre pfere est arriv^ votre pfere est arriv^ "— " Your father has arrived, your father has arrived." She then aroused me from the sofa, and took the pillow therefrom, and placed it into a kind of hamper-basket, such as milliners use to carry ladies' dresses in. After placing me on the pillow she covered me with a light muslin dress, and carried the wicker-basket, with me in it, across the ground, where a coach was waiting at the gate, in which she placed the basket, and then got in herself, when we were driven to the street where Mr. Meves was residing. On our entering the room where Mr. Meves was, " who was then at supper," Madame Simon retired, and I remem- ber seeing a well-dressed gentleman; but as he was not the person I was led to expect to see, I burst into tears, when he consoled me by giving me some of the delicacies of which he was partaking. After which I recollect being alone in an open boat, which was lashed to the shore, with a wide expanse of water before me ; and the motion of the boat, from the tide coming in, alarmed and frightened me, and I cried out, when a stout woman on the shore seemed to give notice to some men who were near the shore to hasten to my help. When the men came, and got into the boat, and I was placed in the folds of a large travelling cloak, the boat was then loosened from the shore, and a sail hoisted, when we proceeded across an immense expanse of water, towards the hospitable coast of England. * Refer to Table of Contents, under heading Historical Records, for page. LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 7 I next remember being in a post-chaise with Mr. Meves ; and, on our arriving in London, the post-chaise stopped at the house of Roger Palmer, Esq., at the top of Oxford Street, opposite the wall of Hyde Park J and, on our alighting, we passed through the hall, and went up a flight of stairs into the drawing-room, where Roger Palmer was at breakfast In this room there was a side-table on which was placed a beautiful set of ivory chessmen, " red and white," with which I amused myself. During the time I was thus occupied, Mr. Meves and Roger Palmer were in earnest conversation, carried on, I suppose, in the German language, as I could- not understand one word they said. I had something very nice given me for breakfast ; and after some time Mr. Palmer's household steward announced the post-chaise was ready waiting. On re-entering the post-chaise we proceeded to the house where Mr. Meves had apartments — 44 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury. The house was kept by an elderly man, " a Mr. Page ;" and was managed by his eldest daughter, " a Mrs. Johnstone," and a young lass, a daughter of Mr. Page's. It will be now necessary to give some account of my reputed mother, Mrs. Marianne Crowley Meves, who then resided at 15 Lower Maiylebone Street, " exactly opposite Welbeck Street," where, the fol- lowing evening after my arrival at Great Russell Street, I was taken in a hackney-coach, by a maid-servant, " a tall person of the name of Milley," to see Mrs. Meves. On the coach arriving at her residence I followed the maid-servant up-stairs to the second floor, and on my entering the room she ran to embrace me. This rather alarmed me, as Mrs. Meves was then an entire stranger to me ; but her kind and gentle manners soon restored confidence in me. Towards the dusk 01 the evening she went out for some time, and upon returning she brought with her a fine bunch of grapes, which she gathered from the stalk, and threw into the air ; and, as they fell upon the carpet, I scrambled to pick them up, and ate them. The next morning, when I was dressed. I went down-stairs, and whilst the housemaid was busily engaged clean- ing the step of the door, I passed into the street, and amused myself 8 A UTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF by looking into a stationer's shop-window ; and when I left the shop- window to return home, I passed the house where my amiable reputed mother resided, and strayed to the next door, where the housemaid was engaged cleaning the doorway. I mounted the stairs to the second floor, but on finding myself amongst strangers I began crying, which brought a gentleman to my assistance, who kindly took me by the hand and led me to the next door. This little incident made it necessary for me to be returned to the care of Mr. Meves. On my return to Great Russell Street, I was placed at a girls' day- school, 25 Museum Street, and was left at the school by Miss Page, who likewise fetched me home when required. Here I was regularly taught the pronunciation of the English alphabet. After a time I ua- fortunately caught the measles. I was nursed by an elderly woman, who treated me very kindly. On my recovery, Mr. Meves placed me at a boys' boarding-school at Wandsworth, kept by a Mr. Tempest. I was taken there by Mrs. Johnstone, and placed as a parlour-boarder, as I required extra atten- tion on account of my not understanding the English language. Accord- ingly, a bed was made for me in the same room where the daughters of Mr. Tempest slept. I had nothing to complain of as far as regards the school, but I certainly did not like the diet. What I longed for was that which I had been accustomed to, namely, brioche. I remember, during the morning school-hours, the boys were served with bread and cheese, or bre.ad and milk ; and, upon the servants leaving the schoolroom, they used to go into the kitchen, opposite the parlour-door, and empty the fragments of bread, etc., into a high window- cell, which was at least four feet from the ground-floor of the kitchen, 1 knew this ; and when the servants were engaged preparing the beds for the boys, I used to go into the kitchen, in order to find a Uttle bread, which I did by putting my hands into the high cell of the window, and pull down whatever my hands came in contact with. Upon one occasion, instead of pulling down pieces of bread, I pulled down three shillings; and, not being able to replace the money, unless LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 9 I threw, it into the window-cell, which would have attracted notice, as they would have heard me in the parlour, in this dilemma I put the shillings into my pocket, and when I went into the schoolroom I threw two , of them under the usher's desk, amongst the cuttings of the quills; and. the other I threw under Mr. Tempest's desk, in a similar manner. When the boys were questioned who had taken the three shillings, I at. once , confessed, and said what I had done with them. The two shillings under the usher's desk were easily found, but the shilling I had thrown under Mr. Tempest's desk, which was raised about a foot higher than the, flooring, had gone so far back amongst the rubbish that it could not be found at the time. For this involuntary fault I was severely „ punished by Mr. Tempest. Towards the latter end of May 1794, 1 was taken fromMr. Tempest's boarding-school by my reputed mother. We walked from the Wands- worth, school to Battersea, where we got into a boat and landed at Hungerford Stairs. We then went to the Strand, to the. house of Mrs. Jane Higginson, where we drank tea and, supped, after which we went in a hackney-coach to Mrs. Meves's residence, i6.Vere Street, Oxford Street, where I well remember seeing from the windows the illumina- tions and rejoicings in honour of Lord Howe's victory, the 1st of June 1794- The, house where Mrs. Meves lived was kept by a hosier. "The man and, his wife were dressed like Quakers." On the, opposite side was Parmentier's, a large confectioner's shop ; there my reputed mother gave orders for the cake called " brioche " to be made for me. During my, stay in Yere Street, I went with the servant " Milley " to . fetch home Miss Cecilia Meves, who was placed at a preparatory school at Craven Hill, Bayswater. We went as far as the Edgeware Road, when we crossed some fields to, Craven Hill, and I saw for the first time -my reputed .little sister " Cecilia," who was about five years of age. We returned, home to Vere Street, — Mrs. Meves's entire affection being devoted to CeciKa : with her she was kind and indulgent, with me, strict 10 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF and severe. She gave me instruction on the harpsichord, and how to read music in a proper manner. After I had been about a fortnight under her care, I returned to Mr. Tempest's to finish my half-year's education, which upon com- pleting, I left, with many of my school-fellows, at the Midsummer quarter. On my arrival at the White Horse Cellar, Piccadilly, Milley was there waiting to conduct me to my reputed mother's care, who then resided at the corner of Woodstock Street and Oxford Street I was given to understand — " that is to say, about twenty or thirty years after the period I am now writing upon, for then I was entirely ignorant of any such person as Mrs. Davenport, or that any such lady was interested in my welfare, more particularly as regarded my respected reputed mother, or the name of Marianne Crowley, or that of Madame Schroeter or Schroeder, which was a family name used by Mr. Meves when he followed the profession of a miniature painter " — that when my reputed mother came from France, in May 1794, that Mrs. Davenport had remitted from Shropshire four twenty-pound notes to Mrs. Jane Higginson for the services of Mrs. Meves ; and also that Mrs. Daven- port had given directions for a suite of rooms to be properly and substantially furnished for Mrs. Meves, with a power of attorney, made in Mrs. Jane Higginson's name, for her to receive, at Messrs. Hoare and Barnett's, bankers, of Lombard Street, London, ;^ioo per annum, in quarterly payments of ^^25, for the services of Marianne Crowley Meves. This, together with Mrs. Meves's musical talent as a teacher of the harp and singing, made her quite an independent lady, she having a number of pupils amongst the highest circles of the English nobility ; and from her superior education and manners, she was always well received in society. She spoke English in the most refined manner, she was a classic Italian scholar, and could translate the most difficult Italian poets into French or English without the slightest hesitation ; but she could not speak the Italian language or converse with the same fluency as Mr. Meves, the difference being, Mrs. Meves having a theoretical knowledge through study, and Mr. Meves a practical LO UIS CHARLES, DA UPHIN OF FRANCE. 1 1 knowledge — he having resided a considerable time at Portici, near Naples, where his friend and patron, Roger Palmer, Esq., resided for some time. Peace being concluded between England and America in 1782, Roger Palmer returned to England with Mr. Meves as his travelling companion. I well remember Mrs. Meves intrusting me to the care of old Mr, John Baptist Meyer, a teacher of the harp, to take me to 49 Wilson Street, Moorfields, where Mr. Meves resided, in July 1794. He received me with great kindness, and the next morning took me with him to the Rotunda of the Bank of England, and introduced me to a Mr. Abraham Osorio, a stockbroker, who recommended him to place me at a Mr. Vale's day-school, in Old Bethlehem, Bishopsgate, where his nephew, Master Aaron Brandon, went to school. The schoolroom was at the back of Broad Street Buildings. At this day-school I was placed by Mr. Meves, who usually came for me about three o'clock, after he had finished his transfers at the Bank of England. We then used to cross Moorfields, and return to his residence in Wilson Street. Mr. Meves made me practise the pianoforte very attentively; and when he observed me lost in thought, he would question me as to what I was thinking about. He then got into the habit to engage my atten- tion whilst I was practising the scales, by reading entertaining works, such as TAe Arabian Nights' Entertainment, The History of England, and parts of the Bible. Certainly he treated me in my youth with marked and extreme kindness. Mr. Meves being extremely fond of music, he used to have violin quartetts played by some German gentlemen, whose acquaintance he formed at Mr. Bett's, of the Royal Exchange. Here it was that he met with a young German musician, " Herr Leichter," a native of Leipzig, who played the violin in a very superior manner. Herr Leichter was engaged to attend me in my musical studies, and to accompany me on the violin, in order to make me keep my time correctly. We used to go out together into the Shepherd and Shepherdess Fields at Hoxton. Thus I passed my time ; and through being so much in company with 12 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF Herr Leichter, I acquired the art of speaking 'the German language by ear, and could converse when I was a young lad very well upon all common subjects ; but when I went to hear the worthy pastor preach at the German Chapel, St. James's, I could not understand what he said. After Mr. Meves had heard the sermon we left the Chapel, and crossed St. James's Park to iRay's Orange Coffee-house, Chelsea, near Ranelagh Walk, where Mr. Meves usually dined. Thus passed my time until the latter end of 1797. Before the end of the year 1797, Mr. Meves took lodgings at 39 Goodge Street. The master of the house was a sergeant in the St. Pancras Volunteers. He placed a gun into my hands, and taught me how to handle it in a soldier-like manner. At that time Mr. Meves gave up having quartett parties at his house, and amused himself in painting pictures, both in oil and water-colours. I remember him taking a full-length portrait of me, with a gun in my hand, in his camera-obscura. I never saw Mr. Meves paint the picture. He may have done so whilst 1 was in Edinburgh, in 1802, where I stayed for about three months. About the year 1805, I went one afternoon to the house of a Mr. Facius, an engraver in mezzotinto, who lived in Macclesfield Street, Soho ; and, from what passed between them, I have always since imagined that Facius engraved the above portrait which Mr. Meves took of me. Likewis^ I am highly impressed that a coloured engraving I possessed, entitled "L'Espoir des Fran9ais," was taken from the portrait which Mr. Meves drew in the first instance for me, as the char- acter of the above portrait and that of " L'Espoir des Frangais " were identical in idea ; but in this I may be mistaken, both as to who engraved the print, and of Mr. Meves's picture of me having been the origination of the engraving entitled " L'Espoir des Frangais." The print was an oval, representing a youth in the garden of the Tuileries, near the Terrace, with a gun in his hand, and as possessing brown eyes and hair, the latter hanging in abundance over his shoulders. In 1802 I made my appearance . at the Edinburgh Concerts-r- LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 13 " Urbani's Concerts "—at the George Street Rooms, as Master Augustus. Mr. Paul Alday was the Musical Director. He, having heard me play at Mr. Tomkinson's, in Dean Street, London, had induced me to go with him to Edinburgh. I obtained Mr. Meves's consent, but he would not allow me to use his name, remarking, as your mother says, " I am keep- ing- you in trammels, and as Mr. Alday seems to be satisfied with your musical talent I have not the slightest objection for you to go to Edin- burgh; but mind, sir, I will not permit you to appear in the name of Meves, but only that of Master Augustus." On my arrival at Edinburgh, Mr. Alday introduced me at a party given at Lady Betty Cunningham's, who lived in a chateau near Leith Walk. I played a trio, accompanied by Mr. Alday and Signor Bigghi LoUi, " violoncello player." I also played a sonata of Steibelt's with Mr. Yaniewicz, who accompanied me on the violin. The following day a compliment was paid me, in a critique upon Urbani's Concert, namely: "Master Augustus, the Piano Concerto Player. — This young gentleman's fine touch; taste, and execution, is only to be equalled by the great Mozart."* At Lady Cunningham's I met a lady of the name of the Countess Lally, or " Lilley," who complimented me highly on my performance. One evening at the George Street Assembly Rooms, I played Steibelt's concerto of "The Storm,'' and i in the andante movement on the air of " The Yellow-Haired Laddie " I met with an encore. After which, as I was passing down the concert-room, the lady whom I call the Countess Lally spoke to me. Next to her sat a stout French gentleman. The Countess paid me a flattering complinlent on my per- formance, and the gentleman took me politely by the hand and likewise complimented me. Upon my seeing Mr. Alday, he said : " Mr. Augustus, as you were passing down the room, after you had finished your con- certo, you spoke to the Countess Lally, whilst she was in conversation with the King of France." I. said, " Was that gentleman really the King of France who spoke to me?" He answered, "Yes; although he, does * See Appendix, Note C, for Biographical Notice of Meves' " Augustus.' 14 A UTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF not take the title of King of France, nevertheless he is so since the death of his brother. He paid you a very high compliment, saying : ' that you played like an angel, and that truly you were full of talent.' " On my return to London Mr. Meves seemed to have lost all desire to make a superior musician of me. A Mr. Possin, who, up to the time I went to Edinburgh, had been giving me lessons on counterpoint and composition, no longer instructed me ; and Mr. Meves thought fit to place me in the counting-house of a friend of his, a Mr. Beland, to whom he said he had advanced a sum of money. The firm was that of Beland and Beckman, 9 Budge Row, Cannon Street. Here I was employed for some time, with the intention otmy being brought up as a merchant. The dull monotony of the counting-house greatly fatigued me, and Mr. Beland found great fault with me for writing so badly. Certainly my handwriting was sadly neglected in my youth, my whole time having been devoted to the study of the pianoforte. My education was alto- gether indifferent ; and I almost think it was designedly done, in order that I might feel a diffidence in my own resource of knowledge as I grew up in life. Being disgusted with Mr. Beland's rude manner, and the routine of the counting-house, I complained to Mrs. Meves, who at that time resided at 32 Great Pulteney Street, next door to Messrs. John Broad- wood and Son, the celebrated pianoforte manufacturers. When she introduced me to Mr. John Broadwood, this worthy gentleman was very kind to me. I frequently dined at his hospitable table. He introduced me one day, whilst I was practising, to the Dowager Duchess of Leinster, who was pleased to compliment me on my piano- forte-playing. Subsequently, he introduced me to other families of dis- tinction, to whom I gave instructions on the pianoforte. My amiable reputed mother one evening took me with her to Lady George Stuart's, Dover Street, Piccadilly. Lady George Stuart intro- duced me to the Dowager Marchioness of Lansdowne, in Albemarle Street, who gave me a general invitation to her Sunday parties, where I usually played duets for the pianoforte and harp with Lady George LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 15 Stuart, who was Mrs. Meves's favourite pupil. The Miss Giffards, daughters of the Dowager Marchioness of Lansdowne by her first marriage, were also her singing pupils. One evening when I was leaving the drawing-room. Lord Lauder- dale requested I should stay to supper, saying, " It is the Marchioness's command, and you must obey." I conducted the Miss Giffards to the supper-table, and sat next to Captain Chadd. Opposite to me were Sir George Warrender and Captain Mellish, all young persons at that time: At the head of the table sat the Marchioness, on one side of her lady- ship sat His Royal Highness Prince Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, and on the other sat my Lord Lauderdale, who acted as chaperon to the Marchioness. / On another occasion, as I was entering the drawing-room, an elderly pale-faced gentleman rose, and made me a polite bow. I observed on his breast the insignia, " Le Saint Esprit." I returned his salutation, and then retired to the grand piano to join the young ladies. The Count de Cogneau, the adjutant of a French royal regiment established in London, in which Captain Grammont had a commission, who was in company with Mrs. Meves at the time, said it was the Duke de Bourbon who had made me the polite bow. I observed that I thought I had seen him before at a party at Dowager Lady Dalling's, in Harley Street, and that I thought the gentleman was a teacher of the French language to Miss Dalling, as when I had previously seen him he was without his order of knighthood, and in familiar conversation with Mr. Louis von Esh, who taught Miss Dalling music. Mr. Meves had a great dislike to my frequenting such society, remarking I should never gain any money by it, and thought it would be much better for me to teach at schools, and gain a settled income. Accordingly a walk in the musical profession was purchased for me, from a Mr. Lord, which occupied me incessantly for six days in the week, and thus it was that I was taken from forming a fine connexion in life. In a few years I amassed above ;^6oo in Mr Meves's hands. In 1802, after my return from Edinburgh, I entered the St. 1 6 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF James's Volunteers. On one occasion, in the court-yard of Burlington House, where the regiment usually paraded, I, with many others in the regiment, took the oath of allegiance before His Grace the Duke of Portland : and Colonel Lord Amherst, on account of there being so many disloyal characters that frequented debating-societies, etc. In 1809, when I resided with my reputed father at 44 Rathbone Place, I entered the Loyal. British Artificers, upon the recommendation of Adjutant Orr, as an officer. I had, after about two years' service, a commission granted me as Captain. The commission was dated in 181 1, and signed by His Grace Scott Duke of Portiand, as Lord-Lieutenant of the county of Middlesex. In 1809, I determined to go through a course of medicine. Ac- cordingly I placed myself under the advice of a celebrated surgeon, and as I lay in bed, thoughts of former occurrences came to my mind. I remembered having seen a wonderful display on the water, and that I was sitting on some terrace in a garden, from where I saw a large gilded barge coming down the stream. When it came near to where I waSj the boat stopped, and I saw several characters habited like Druids, who were near an altar engaged throwing perfumed incense before a marble bust. Clouds of smoke filled the air, and numbers of dancers with garlands in their hands approached the bust, and hung their garlands in festoons, and knelt before the bust. The Druid priests then sang hymns of praise, when a female dancer ran with a crown of laurels in her hands up to the bust, and crowned it with garlands. I saw the oars from the portcullis, " below the stage erected on the boat," move the boat, which passed through the arches of the bridge and disappeared from my sight. I told my reputed father of this, and asked him where I had wit- nessed this representation. He replied this must have taken place on some occasion of the opening of the season at Vauxhall, when we were sitting on the terrace of the Apollo Tea-Gardens at Vauxhall, where they generally gave soine grand display on the water, representing the genius of the Thames. Upon reflection, I think what I have just related was the funeral LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 17 obsequies of Voltaire, when liis remains were removed to the Pantheon for the illustrious dead, as when I read the account in Prudhomme's Journal, it seemed to correspond in many instances with my own recol- lections of the above event. The Remains of Voltaire. " Twelve white horses, three abreast, drew the triumphal car of four wheels, which should have been of equal size, the more so in order to approach the Greek or Roman style ; likewise they should have con- tei^ited themselves with a sarcophagus, and not to have crowned it with a figure of Voltaire lying on the bed of death. The ancients were more chaste in ornamentation, and from the most simple objects knew how to obtain great effect. Voltaire seated in the curule chair would have pro- duced more effect, and should have been complied with, for the people, by instinct, prefer nature to art. Arrived at the point which leads to the Quai Voltaire, the procession was obliged to make a halt under the windows of the Palace of the Tuileries. The hosts of this chiteau so positioned themselves behind their lattices, in order that they might con- template at leisure this spectacle so strange to them, — this movement not being the most agreeable in their lives. Louis Capet took every pre- caution to observe this spectacle without being observed himself. Tlie plaudits given to the remains of Voltaire by the people alarmed Louis, as he conjectured seeing the people already crowding into the Palace, in order to cany off his inviolable person, and oblige him to follow on foot the triumphal car, along with his chaste half. The daughter of the Caesars that day was dressed in sky-blue, and had taken refuge in the entresol, in order to lose nothing of the cortege, every circumstance of which was a torture to her.' — Prudhomm^ s Journal, 4th July 1791.* In 1 8 13 I took a dislike to the musical profession, on account of the monotonous and wearisome sameness I had experienced, " as my pupils were not all finished players," when I took to speculating in the funds at the Rotunda of the Bank of England, buying with my money omnium, on which I made a considerable amount of money. In 18 14 I lost considerably in speculating in the consols. At the restoration of the Bourbons, in 1814, I went to Calais with Mr. Meves and a Mr. Henry Page, who held an appointment under the Lord High Chancellor, "Lord Eldon." At Calais I was introduced to * See Appendix, Note D, for Lamartine's description of this procession. E 1 8 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF a Mr. Palyart, " Chef de Duanne." This led to an introduction to a Madame Grancourt Mates and to a Mr. Pigault MoubiUiarque. Places had been taken for us to proceed to Boulogne-sur-Mer, but after being about ten days or a fortnight in Calais, Mr. Page received orders from the Court of Chancery to return to England. Mr. Meves likewise returned to England with Mr. Page, but I remained at Calais for some time, as I had received an invitation from a Mr. Laloutre, whom I had met at Mr. Halgous's, who kept the Maison roulage at Calais, to go with him to Dunkirk, where his daughters were on a visit. In a few days I returned to Calais, where I remained for about six weeks, spend- ing my time very agreeably amongst the inhabitants. The return of Napoleon Bonaparte from the Island of Elba in 1815 prevented my going to Paris. After my return to London in 1815, Mrs. Meves and I went together to the Old Argyle Rooms, in Regent Street, where French plays were performed. We sat together in the front row of the boxes. During the performance Mrs. Meves left the box, but before leaving she desired me not to leave the seat in which I was seated until she returned. During the interval she was away, I saw a lady looking' very attentively at me, and shortly after I went down-stairs, when I observed several ladies and gentlemen bow and curtsey to the same lady whom I had before noticed observing me. Upon making inquiry of some persons, whom I had noticed curtsey to the lady, who it was, I was informed it was Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Angoul^me. At the time I did not take any notice of this, but in after years I could not help thinking that I was taken intentionally to the Argyle Rooms by Mrs. Meves, in order that Her Royal Highness might see me, and be convinced that her brother, the once prisoner of the Temple, was saved, and in trustworthy custody. In 1816 I took a trip to Calais. Mr. Pigault MoubiUiarque, "of Calais," brother to Pigault le Brun, gave me a letter of introduction to Talma, the celebrated French actor. I proceeded to Paris about the latter end of August 181 6, and resided k la Rue de Cldry, near La LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 19 Rue Montmartre. I used to frequent the house of a Mr. Freuden- thaler, a celebrated pianoforte manufacturer in La Rue Montmartre, who received me in a very hospitable manner. I called at Sebastian Erard's manufactory, where I became acquainted with Mr. Herold, " the operatic composer," who gave me an invitation to meet him on the following Sunday at Mr. Erard's country-seat, at S6ve, near St. Cloud. I dined with the family of the Erards, and slept at their house on the Sunday night. After breakfast on the Monday morning, when I was about to leave to return to Paris, Mr. Sebastian Erard desired me to avail myself of the opportunity, and pay a visit to the Palace of Versailles. This I did ; and on my arrival at the long avenue leading to the Palace, I met with a guide, who offered his services to attend me. I procured an order of admittance in the court-yard of the Palace, and viewed the various grand apartments, and observed the exquisitely painted ceihngs by Le Brun ; and entered La Grande Salle des Ambassades, and observed the magnificent gardens. An old Swiss, attached to the service of the Palace, attended me ; and at the end of the room he led me to the Grand I'Escalier des Ambassades, the staircase of which is made of the most exquisite and rare marble, or porphyry — " a red mottled Italian marble." Wliilst looking over the balustrade of the staircase, and attending to the conversation of the old Swiss, who was recounting to me the attack the populace made on Versailles, the 5th and 6th of Octo- ber 1789, suddenly I looked around very attentively, and observed the ceiling, the stairs, and the hall below, when it appeared to my recoUec- tive powers that I had been there before ; it seeming to me that, at such a place I then beheld, was the one where, in my youth, I was in the lap of some lady, from where, looking over the balustrade, I saw a band of music, of some cavalry regiment, who were performing various pieces of music; and thus recalling to my mind the place that had often struck my reflective powers, where I had seen in my youth a man with a kettle-drum fixed on his back, and a musician beating the kettle- drum. The play of the drumsticks rebounding from the drum attracted ra^ attention, and made a powerful impression on my boyish mind. 2 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF I turned to the guide, and asked him how it was that one of the stairs was of a different kind of marble. He replied : " As the populace were forcing their way in from the doors entering the hall, the guards, with their muskets, in defending the staircase, destroyed one of the stairs, and the marble being of so rare and expensive a quality, another kind of the same colour had been substituted." The Swiss then took me into the theatre of the Palace, where the entertainment was given by the Queen of France to the regiment from Flanders, who were on duty at Versailles. He told me the theatre, and the tables, which were covered with a kind of deep red baize, were exactly in the same state as when the Queen of France gave the entertainment. He then nar- rated the circumstance of the Queen having brought her son, the Prince Dauphin of France, from Meudon, in order to present him to the regiment from Flanders ; and on their seeing the young Dauphin, they, being intoxicated with joy at the Queen's kindness and conde- scension, in the height of their loyalty tore the tri-coloured cockades from their caps, and trod them under their feet. This it was, he said, that had occasioned the populace to attack the Palace of Versailles, in order to resent the insult offered to the national colours. He then said : " From the time the Royal Family had quitted Versailles, the Palace had been uninhabited by any branch of the Royal Family." He then took me into the grounds of Versailles, to see the gardens and the mag- nificent fountains. I strolled across the park, listening to the remarks of the guide, when I beheld the Marble Palace, once the residence of the Marchioness of Pompadour. We entered the grand hall of the chateau, but I took little notice of what I saw, except a beautiful ivory model of a ship of war. We continued our walk across the park of Versailles to the entrance of the Petit Trianon, when I felt fatigued, and returned to S^ve. When left to myself, I walked leisurely along, ruminating on what I had seen ; and the more I reflected, the mort I felt assured I had seen L'Escalier des Ambassades before, for it appeared to me the very balustrade over which I had, in my childhood, witnessed the incident of the band playing, and of the drummer's drum- LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 21 sticks rebounding from the drum, thereby making a lasting impression of such on my recollective powers. It likewise appeared to me I had been in the Salle du Theatre before, and of being caressed, and seeing fireworks displayed there by some soldiers. In this state of mind I returned to the chateau of the Messrs. Erard, and the next morning returned to Paris. Talma used to send me orders to see him in many of his' characters; as Hamlet, also in a tragedy of Corneille's, and in Racine's "Andro- mache," when I saw him perform with Mademoiselle Deschendis. He also sent me orders to see the celebrated French comedian Fleury, and Mademoiselle Mars, in Molifere's comedy of " Tartuffe." I frequently went to the Opera Frangais, to hear Gluck's " Iphigenie ; " and to the Opera Italien, to hear Mademoiselle Sessi and Madame Pasta in Mozart's opera of " Figaro ; '' and also witnessed the exquisite dancing of Mademoiselle Biggottini in the ballet of " Nina." I passed my leisure time at the house of Herr Freudenthaler, and in the society of a Miss Willett, who resided in the Place Vendome, under the care of a lady of the name of Prior. An elegant carriage was kept for their services. I frequently dined at the table-d'hote in the Place Vendome, with Miss Willett and Mrs. Prior. Miss Willett was a ward in Chancery, and a pupil of Mrs. Meves. After dinner I frequently expressed my opinions regarding French manners in too forcible language, remarking^ that Frenchmen, who had suffered so much for the cause of freedom, were in fact a set of slaves, — that at every table where mixed society frequented were to be found agents and persons connected with the French police, who reported what they heard, and the sentiments and feelings of parties who frequented the table-d'hdte, — that a lady from Bath, a friend of the Baron de Bode, had been before a commissioner of police, for having expressed herself rather too freely on some political subject. The Baron de Bode, who ressided in Rue de Pare Royal, invited me to pass my disengaged evenings at his house, as his daughter, Miss 2 2 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF Adelaide de Bode, was a very accomplished musician. Miss Willett had sent her an order, signed by the Baron S^gur, to view the Palace of the Tuileries, and the .private apartments of Louis xviii. As she had no desire to see the Palace, she gave me the order, and I visited the Tuileries ; but I saw nothing which reminded me of any object I might have seen before. I asked if I might be permitted to touch the organ, but was informed that no person was allowed to do so, except the organist, " Signer Cherubini." From the chapel I went into the private apartments of Louis XVIII. His bed was on a mattress in the comer of his bedroom. Opposite the windows, by the side of his bed, was a large easy-chair, and a bearskin muff was lying on the seat. On my questioning a valet, who was in the bedroom, " Is this the bed of his Gracious Majesty?" he replied, " Yes, sir ; his Majesty, who is unfortunately troubled with the gout, cannot get into a higher bed." I observed the simplicity and unpretending character of the furniture. Every article was useful, but no appearance of grandeur or royalty was displayed. On leaving the apartment I entered the room of the Garde de Corps. I there observed a large painting, and examined it carefully. This picture I thought I had seen before. At Mr. Freudenthaler's I met with MM. Mugnie and Mezot, whom I had known formerly in London. One morning, however, Mugnie came into the room, where I was playing the pianoforte, accompanied by a stout French gentleman, in a kind of military costume of light blue with silver epaulets. Mugnie commenced a dispute with me about my pianoforte-playing, and finished by saying, " If you do not leave Paris within twenty-four hours, you will be thrown into prison ; I tell you the truth, I tell you the truth." I defied his threat by saying, "Sir, I shall place myself under the protection of the British ambassador, and on my leaving this house I shall at once go to the Hotel de Sebastiani, and demand protection as a British subject." This I accordingly did. On my arrival at the residence of the English embassy, I was shown into the room of the chief secretary attached to the service of the embassy, and saw my friend the Honourable Captain LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 23 Dawson, whose sisters, the Lady Anna Maria and Lady Louisa I had the honour to give lessons to at their residence in Grosvenor Street, London. Captain Dawson advised me to leave Paris, as my object of establishing myself as a professor of the pianoforte at Paris would not be crowned with success. On my leaving I called at the Place Vendome, and saw Miss Willett. I told her my intention to leave Paris and to proceed at once to Calais ; she consented likewise to leave Paris the next day, and requested me to get a passport for her and her friend. On my return to my apartments I reflected on the occurrences of the day, and could not account for the strange behaviour of Mugnie. I ascribed it to the manner I had expressed myself at the pubhc dining- table at the hotel in the Place Vendome. What I had seen at the Palace of Versailles, together with the incidental narration of the old Swiss, awakened imperfectly in me early reminiscences. I felt quite certain that the Escalier des Ambassades was familiar to me ; my first introduction to Mr. Meves then came to my mind, and I resolved to quit Paris. The next morning I made application for my passport at the Duke of Richelieu's office, and at the same time obtained one for Miss WiUett and her friend. Some French gentlemen who were resid- ing in the same house with me desired me to visit the grave of Marshal Ney in the gardens of the Luxembourg before I left Paris. We all proceeded to the Luxembourg, where I saw in a detached part of the garden a mound of earth, which contained the remains of that brave French officer. I lamented much the end of the brave Marshal. The same afternoon, I, in company with Miss Willett and her female friend, took our seats in the diligence, and proceeded en route for Amiens. On arriving there a considerable time was allowed the pas- sengers to get their dinner. I availed myself of the opportunity to view the city and the magnificent cathedral, and saw the celebrated marble statue of Le Petit Plurcier. I arrived at Calais, but greatly fatigued with, the journey, and felt seriously ill. I took quarters at the Hotel de Kingston. The next morning I conducted the ladies on board the packet-boat for Dover, but I really felt too unwell to accompany them. 24 A UTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF and I remained for about a week at Calais to recover from the fatigues occasioned by the dull heavy motion of the diligence. After taking a farewell leave of my friends at Calais, who had treated me with so much hospitalit}', I went on board the packet, and arrived at Dover. The next morning I proceeded on by coach to London, and paid my respects to Mr. Meves, who received me with expressions of great satisfaction at my cautious conduct and general behaviour during my stay in France. I then entered with determination the musical profession, and pubHshed several pianoforte compositions which I had written whilst in Paris. They became very successful. I dedicated one of Berton's, elegant melodies, from his opera "L'Alene," to my friend Mr. Latour.* This rondo became highly popular. At times I frequented the Bank of England and the Rotunda. One afternoon I was sitting on a subscription form in Capel Court, near the Stock Exchange, whilst Mr. Meves was transacting business with some gentlemen, " members of the Exchange," and upon his leaving to return to the Rotunda to make his transfers, a Mr. John Henderson took the liberty, as he was passing him, to knock his hat off — " a usage then very common at the Stock Exchange." Mr. Meves, who was a very proud man, said, " How dare you presume to knock my hat off? take liberties, sir, with men of your own stamp." As Mr. Meves passed me I said to him, " Dear sir, I am sorry to see you so angry and so much offended, but I certainly will not allow such conduct to pass without a proper apology." With this I returned up Capel Court to Mr. Henderson, stating that Mr. Meves had complained to me of his conduct in frequently taking liberties with him. This he denied, and said, " Wliat does your father mean by saying, ' Take liberties with men of your own stamp?' I am just as respectable a man as Mr. Meves, and pay my differences with as much promptitude as your father." I then said, " Sir, you frequently, when Mr. Meves comes from his painting-Uble, take the liberty to unbutton his coat, and expose him in his painting •» A music publisher of Bond Street. LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 25 dress." This he denied, and used a vulgar expression. This insult I immediately resented, and struck him a slight blow, upon which he dealt a most violent blow at me, which I luckily warded off; neverthe- less it grazed the skin, and brought some blood from my cheek, where- upon I retreated, and then ran in and gave him a violent blow, which knocked him down. Some of his friends who were standing by carried him into the subscription room next to the Stock Exchange. A German Jew, a man of considerable property, who saw the whole affair, ran across the street to the Rotunda, and said to Mr. Meves, " Your son has thrashed Henderson." Mr. Meves then came and spoke to me. We then went into the room where Henderson was, when I said, " Sir, I do not regret having resented the rude conduct you were guilty of towards my father; but believe me when I say, that I am sincerely sorry to find that I struck you in so violent manner." I then went home with Mr. Meves, and he promised to pay several expenses I was at. He placed about ;^3ooo in our joint names in the Bank of England, and other share property, he to receive the dividends as long as he was living. From that time nothing particularly transpired until about the latter end of the month of July 18 18, when I went into the City, and sold to Mr. Meves ;^i5oo omnium, on which 20 per cent, had been paid. It had cost me, with the premium, about £,2>%'^ > I sold them at about the same price. I dined that day with him ; Mr. George Meves was also there. Mr. Meves made his dinner on craw-fish, of which he ate very heartily. I told him I thought it was very dangerous food, and requested him to. take some brandy after it, which he declined. We had a few glasses of Cape wine, and as I had to give some lessons iri Bond Street the next day, it was agreed that Mr. George Meves should leave the ;£^isoo omnium at the Exchequer Bill Office, as there was 10 per cent, further payment to make. Mr. Meves gave the proper instructions for what his brother had to do. It being a remarkably fine afternoon, Mr. Meves walked with me to the west end of the town. On our coming near Bemers Street he complained of feeling rather unwell, 26 A VTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF when we rested for some length of time. I was very desirous of his accompanying me home to my residence, 54 Great Marlborough Street, where Mrs. Meves lived, and partake of a glass of brandy, in which a quantity of peach kernels were steeped, which made it a very powerful stomachic. All my persuasions were of no avail. He said he felt quite well, and was determined to return home ; but he promised me he would take a glass of brandy-punch at the Furnival Inn Coffee-house, and read the evening newspapers. I left Mr. Meves at the corner of Museum Street, Holborn, as I had promised to spend the evening in Bond Street, which I accordingly did. The following morning I was awakened at an early hour by the bell ringing rather violently, when the servant of the house ushered into my bedroom the patrol from Cushion Court, Broad Street, who informed me that Mr. Meves had taken dan- gerously ill, and that I was to come with all convenient haste to see him. On my arrival in the City, I observed he looked greatly exhausted. He then told me that during the night his stomach became greatly disordered, and gave him dreadful pains. In the course of the day he became much worse, and I went for Dr. Meyers, who said Mr. Meves was attacked with cholera morbus. He gave him some medicine, which seemed to do him good. Late in the evening my amiable reputed mother came to inquire the cause of my lengthened absence. She gave the necessary orders to the housekeeper for Mr. Meves's comforts ; and the adjacent room was prepared for her. During the night Mr. Meves was seized with violent cramps. I gave him his medicine, which seemed to quiet and relieve him. Towards the morning, when the servant came to prepare the fire for breakfast, my kind protector, and more than father, had ceased to exist. About ten o'clock I went to the Bank, and told the porter to call Proctor Davis. When his partner, Mr. Taylor, came, I informed him of the decease of Mr. Meves, and that I was to put his will as early as possible into Mr. Davis's hands. On my return to Cushion Court with Mr. Taylor, upon searching the bureau, " part of my late reputed father's bookcase," I found in the upper drawer a will, open, but not signed. I LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 27 put it into Mr. Taylor's hands. Mr. George Meves said, " This will is not signed." I replied, "That does not signify; my late father told me that I should find his will in the bottom drawer of this bureau." I then opened the bottom drawer, and found a will, on the outside of which was written : " The Last Will, and Testament of William Meves. A copy of this will, properly executed, will be found in the hands of Mr. Henry Page and Sons, of 8 Southampton Buildings, Holborn." Mr. Taylor then observed, " The will in Mr. Page's hands is the last will executed by the late Mr. WiUiam Meves." We all proceeded to Southampton Buildings, when Mr. Taylor partially read the will, and said, " This is an exact copy of the will in Cushion Court." On my return, Mrs. Meves was desirous of my leaving, and giving the key of the room to Mr. George Meves, which I did, and said to him, " I wish my late father to be buried on Wednesday next, ' he having died on Saturday, the ist August 1818,' which is four clear days from his decease." This he consented to, if the parish authorities allowed it. I then accompanied Mrs. Meves home to Marlborough Street, having placed my late reputed father's pocket-book, with about twenty pounds, into her hands. I locked up the bureau and bookcase, and then gave the key to Mr. George Meves ; and left the entire direction of the funeral in his hands. I then conducted Mrs. Meves to a coach, arid returned to our residence, 54 Great Marlborough Street. I retired to rest early in the evening ; and on the following morning, whilst I was at breakfast, Mr. George Meves came, and desired me to accompany him to Cushion Court, as it was necessary for me to see the searchers. Upon our arrival, two elderly women came and carefully examined the body. They said to me, " Sir, has not this gentleman died rather suddenly?" I replied, "Yes; he was in perfect good health last Thursday;" when one of the women said, "There are strange appearances about the body of this gentleman. Who attended him at the time of his decease ? " I replied, " Dr. Meyers of Broad Street Buildings ; " to which they said, " It is all right, sir," and they made me a curtsey. I then remarked, "Are you both satisfied?" 28 A UTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF They replied, " O yes, sir ; O yes, sir." I then observed, " If you are satisfied, it is more than I am, as I must see Dr. Meyers on the sub- ject, or have the body properly examined by a surgeon, before I can allow it to be interred." On my leaving the house with Mr. George. Meves, I met Dr. Meyers, and told him what the searchers had said, respecting the strange appearances on the late Mr. Meves's body. He answered by saying, " Your father died of cholera morbus, which will take off the strongest man in twenty-four hours." In the course of the afternoon I called on a Mr. Brooks, a surgeon, of Blenheim Street, and requested him to examine my late father's remains, which he agreed to do. I told Mrs. Meves what I had done, which she considered quite unnecessary, as it was quite certain Mr. Meves had died a natural death. Early the next morning Mr. George Meves came, and stated, as Mr. Meves had died of a most dangerous malady, his funeral was to take, place that very morning — " Monday morning." I said, " Sir, consider my good father dying on Saturday morning; such haste seems like; hurrying him into his grave." All that I could say was of no avail ; and at last I consented, and entered a coach, and we. drove into .the City. , On our arrival, it being then rather late, we at once proceeded,; as the burial was to take place at St. James's Church, Piccadilly. Some days after the funeral, my amiable reputed mother desired me to write to Messrs. Davis and Taylor, " the Proctors," and request a copy of the will to be sent to 54 Great Marlborough Street; and, by her advice, I consented not to interfere or do anything regarding; my late respected father's aifairs, as Mr. Taylor had already taken me. to Doctors' Commons, where I was sworn to execute the testator's will as the sole executor. It was then agreed I- should go into the country, in order to divest myself entirely of all painful recollections respecting my late father ; and that I should not go into the City to administer to the funded property or shares for at least a month. To this proposal I agreed, as my reputed mother ha,d great power of per- suasion over me, LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 29 A copy of the will was sent to me in due course of time, according to request. " In the Name of God. Amen. " I, Augustus Anthony William Meves, ' but for the brevity of the many transactions at the Bank, always subscribe by my last Christian name, William Meves,' living, at this time of making my last Will, and Testament, at 49 Wilson Street, in the parish of Shoreditch, in perfect health, and understanding, first recommending my soul to the mercy of the Almighty, desire a plain, but decent, burial. My property — which will be found in the Three Per Cent. Consols, Three Per Cents. Reduced Long Annuities, New Five Per Cents., and the cashiers of the Bank with whom I keep my cash : my clothes, furniture, etc., shall be pub- licly sold, except those things which I shall separately mention — shall be disposed of in the following manner : — " Firstly, I leave to my natural reputed son, Augustus Antoine Cor- nelius Meves, born in the year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, and baptized in Saint James's Church, the half of all my property ; a quarter part to his sister Cecilia ; an eighth part to my brother, George Meves, now living in the service of Mr. Drummond Smith, in Piccadilly. The eighth remaining part, in equal shares, to a brother, and sister at Brunswick, in Germany," etc. etc. On my reputed mother reading the will to me, she exclaimed : " What could have induced Mr. Meves to make such a will as this, dis- gracing me, by naming you as being his natural reputed son, and making you appear to be his illegitimate son. You, my dear Augustus, are the fruit of lawful wedlock ; you are not the son of the late Mr. Meves, nor are you my son, for you, Augustus, owe your existence to the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. She was your mother, who, in your infancy, intrusted you to my care; and I have done mxire than a mother's duty to you. For you I have become estranged from society, in my determination to protect you; and have lost every one that was dear to me. Never let this disclosure escape your lips whilst I am living. Remember, two attempts have been made on your life, which nearly took fatal effect; and the third might be decisive. The circumstance of your conveyance to England is known to the Archbishop of Paris; and, should it hereafter be required, your identity can be proved as positive as the sun at noonday. The late Mr. Meves, at 30 A UTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF the hazard of his life, went to Paris, and obtained an interview with the Queen of France, in the prison of the Conciergerie, where he made the Queen a promise regarding you, which he kept to the latest hour of his existence!' This disclosure kept preying on my mind. I then well remembered my first interview with Mr. Meves, and the woman who left me in the room where he was sitting at supper, and my bursting into tears at seeing an entire stranger, instead of the person I was led to expect to have seen, which was my beloved father. I well remembered Mr. Meves's great kindness to me, and his giving me some delicious wine to drink, and his striving to comfort me in my sad affliction. All this came in rapid succession to my mind, which, from the intensity and depth of my thought on these subjects, brought on a fever of the brain. I now became more determined in having a post-mortem examina- tion of the body of the late Mr. Meves, and called on Mr. Brooks for that purpose. He advised me to see the magistrate at Bow Street, and to ask for an order for the disinterment of the body. I did as I was directed. The chief magistrate, " Mr. Connant," said that he had no power to give the order, but that I must apply for such to the Lord Mayor and the magistrates sitting at the Mansion House, as the decease took place in the City, and that I should take a surgeon with me at the time I made the application. This I accordingly did, and obtained the order for the disinterment, which was placed in Dr. Brooks's hands. I now felt quite relieved, having obtained my earnest desire. The fatigue and anxiety I underwent from the opposition I had ex- perienced to my proceedings, brought me into a bad state of health ; so much so that I requested Dr. Brooks to attend me. He advised my being cupped, which was accordingly done by a Mr. Mapleson ; and I found a great relief therefrom. Towards the evening Mr, Brooks sent one of his assistants with a bottle of medicine and a large blister, which was to be applied to my back. The medicine, I afterwards ascertained from a Dr. Gower, an esteemed friend and medical adviser of mine, contained a quantity of laudanum, which, unfortunately for me, flew to LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 31 the brain. Under these circumstances a Dr. Tuthill of Soho Square was called in, who directed that I should be taken to a private lodging. Apartments were taken for me in Park Street, Upper Baker Street, and in the course of the afternoon I was removed from Great Marl- borough Street to there, by two men who were appointed by Dr. Tuthill as my attendants. During the afternoon Dr. T*hill came to see me. I fully expected to see Dr. Brooks, and was astonished to see Dr. Tuthill, who then was a stranger to me. He conversed with me some time, and questioned me in English, and in German such questions he did not wish the men, who were in the room at the time, should under- stand. Towards the evening a Mr. Viner came, and cupped me by order of Dr. Tuthill. I remember his saying, when he saw my back, " Mapleson has so lacerated him that I do not know where to place the glasses." After he had cupped me I went to bed, and my attendants retired into the front room. I think I fell asleep for some time, but was awakened by the noise and laughing of the two men. I got up and went into the front room, and said to them, " It is the doctor's order that I should be kept quiet, and you are making such a noise that I cannot sleep." While I was speaking, one of the men came behind me, and thrust his hand between my legs, and upset me, and carried me into the bedroom. I protested against such conduct, but uselessly. They at once placed me in bed, and then one of the men, " Richardson," jumped across the bed, and confined my legs to the bed-post, by tying them with his handkerchief, which he took from his neck, and the other man-^" his name was Press " — held a pillow over my mouth to prevent my cries being heard. I shall now cast a veil over my sufferings, which were caused more from neglect than ill-usage, as 'I became perfectly unconscious of what was done to me. I understood from Dr. Gower, the fever, " so he was informed by Dr. Tuthill," lasted nine days, during which time I was at the point of death. However, on the ninth day the fever turned, when Dr. Gower attended me with the assistance of Dr. Tuthill. Subsequently a carriage 32 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF was hired, which came every day, morning and evening, to take me fot a drive in the Park, and by degrees I was allowed to eat animal food. After about a month I was permitted to go to the Bank to administer to my late reputed father's effects, as all the money in my amiable reputed mother's hands was entirely exhausted. A day was appointed by Dr. Gower for Mrs. Meves to come and see me, when we went to the Bank of England together, accompanied by the attendant Press> where I drew a cheque for about ;^2o. We dined in the City, and after paying the expenses, I put the change out of one of the notes into my pocket, and the remaining notes I gave into my reputed mother's hands", together with my French gold watch, which had nearly occasioned a quarrel between me and the attendant " Press " in the morning, for when he handed me my watch it fell from my hands, when he said to me, ■" You cannot be trusted with your watch yet." I answered him verjf ■cautiously, " Probably not, sir." After we had dined, we drove to my mother's residence, and Press left us, stating he should return late in the evening. After he left us I entered into a conversation with my reputed mother, and told her of the danger of my remaining in Press's hands, as he wished me to reside with him at his house. My reputed mother then recommended me to a house, 3 Crawford Street, near Baker Street, where I could get furnished apartments. The next day I took apartments at 3 Crawford Street, from where I wrote a letter to a medical friend of mine, " a Mr. Armstrong, residing in Baker Street, Portman Square," whom I requested to attend me pro- fessionally, as I was just recovering from a dangerous illness, and that I required his immediate attendance. Mr. Armstrong returned with the messenger, and after some conversation he left me. During the day he sent me a composing-draught, and a bottle of medicine to take at night My reputed mother came during the afternoon, and greatly approved of what I had done. My attendants also came, when I requested- Mrs. Meves to pay them their demand, which she accordingly did. I now became regularly installed in my new residence, and continued LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 33 to improve in my health, but my constitution was most dreadfully shattered, so much so, that little hope was entertained of my ever recovering, but, thanks to Providence, I did recover, though it took two years at least before I was myself again. I then partially resumed the musical profession. In 1821 I frequented the Rotunda of the Bank of England, where I did business chiefly in the Five Per Cent. Navy Stock. I also attended the House of Commons to hear the debates respecting the Reduction of the Navy Five Per Cents. In 1 8 2 2 I invested nearly the whole of my property in Spanish dollar bonds, called " Hope of Amsterdam's Loan." By the immense rise which took place in these bonds, I cleared above 30 per cent., nearly doubling my property, and on the sale of them, I invested the whole amount in the purchase of Holdimand's New Spanish Loan, and took on the account day ;^is,ooo stock, or rather fifteen bonds ot ;^io2o each, which I paid for in bank-notes. As I transacted the whole of my business in the Royal Exchange, I took no cheque for payment, only bank-notes for my stock. After paying for my bonds, and placing them into my bankers, Messrs. Remington, Stephenson, and Toulmin, of 69 Lombard Street, I was advised by Mr. Toulmin to go out of town for at least a week or ten days, as the rise was inevitable. This kind advice I took, and went down to Canterbury to see the cathedral and the ancient city, and spent my time very agreeably there. The Courier and Globe newspapers gave a full account of the stock transactions at the Royal Exchange, and I saw the Spanish bonds were the favourite stock for speculation, which were rising about 2 per cent, every day. When they reached near 75, or about ^^750 per ;^i02o bond, I thought it high time for me to return to town, which I accord- ingly did. On my arrival at the Royal Exchange I sold my fifteen Spanish dollar bonds. After paying the moneys I received to my account with the cashiers of the Bank of England, and to my bankers in I^ombard Street, I found my profits to amount to a sum above ;^i6oo. This was the most fortunate period of my life as regards stock transactions. Before leaving the City I purchased three thousand 34 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF Spanish bonds, after which I sauntered down Cornhill as far as the' Mansion House, where I took a chariot to Bond Street, Piccadilly. On my arrival at 30 Conduit Street, where Mrs. Meves and I then resided, I told her my intention of investing a large sum of money in the purchase of bonded shipping rums, which at the time I could have purchased at an unprecedented low price, as I had intended to give up all speculation in the Spanish bonds, for at least some time. Mrs. Meves strongly advised me not to enter into any speculation in West India produce, particularly rums, as I knew nothing whatever about the nature and habits of the business. Her advice prevailed ; but had I invested my money in this speculation, I should have tripled the original amount invested. I had spoken to a West India agent of the probability of my investing about ;£^3ooo in rums, " the purchasing price being then at eighteenpence per gallon." When I went into the City I informed the agent I had not fully made up my mind what I should invest, and that therefore he would defer acting for me till I communicated with him. I found, by consulting the newspapers, the Spanish bonds were falling daily, and a large army was formed on the French side of the Pyrenees, called, " Le Cordon Sanitaire." This name was soon altered into that of " L'Arm^e d'Observation." The Spanish bonds had fallen to about fifty-eight per cent., when I went into the City, and purchased on 'Change ten bonds, of ^£1020 each, which cost me ^^5800. Here I must take an antecedent date, and narrate an incident that occurred in the year 182 1, when I was residing with Mrs. Meves, at loi High Street, Marylebone. The incident was a transaction I had with Rowland Stephenson, Esq., banker, 69 Lombard Street, from whom I received the following : — "Lombard Street, March 6. " Dear Sir, — If you happen to be coming into the City in a day or two, will you favour me with a call ? I have an instrument left with me, belonging to a most particular friend, for whom I am anxious to have your opinion. — Yours very truly, " Rowland Stephenson. "A. Meves, Esq., loi High Street, Marylebone." LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 35 I called as desired ; and my visit ended in his requesting of me a loan of ;^i6oo, as he was about to be proposed as M.P. for Romford, in Essex. As I had not a balance of ^1600 in their, Messrs. Reming- ton, Stephenson, and Toulmin's hands, I directed him to sell ;^isoo of my India bonds to make up the amount required. This was accord- ingly done ; and I requested him to fill up a cheque for the amount of ;^i6oo, and I would sign it. He began to fill up a cheque, and wrote as far as " Rowland," when he said, " Mr. Meves, it would be better for you to write the amount, as I should not like the firm to know, that I had been borrowing money." So I wrote : — "Lombard Street. "No. No. 69. — \jyKaQrs., March 13, iSzi.^Messrs. Stephenson, Remington, and Co., pay Rowland Stephenson, or bearer, Sixteen hundred pounds. . , , , u r c >i Augustus Meves. ";4i6oo. As I passed through I paid into their cashier's hands ;^is6o. Mr. Rowland Stephenson gave me a memorandum, stating he held ;^i6oo at five per cent, returnable at any time required, on three days' notice. I informed him I should require the money upon the opening of the Five Per Cent. Navy Stock, after the payment of the dividends. He then said, " I shall not require the money longer than six weeks." Upon my coming home, Mrs. Meves blamed me for what I had done, and advised me to get the money out of his hands as early as possible, observing : " Although the firm, as a bank, is enormously rich, nevertheless Mr. Rowland Stephenson himself is a very poor man." Upon the opening of the Navy Five Per Cents., after the dividends were paid, I wrote a short note, and requested the ;^i6oo, with interest due, to be paid to my account. I put the letter into the post-office early on the Monday morning, and on the following Friday I called upon Mr. Stephenson, to know whether he had paid the amount to my credit, as I had to pay for ;^6ooo stock, entered against me in two transfers. Mr. Stephenson affected to be very much surprised at my conduct, and said, " Sir, when I borrowed your money, did you think I 36 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF did so merely to look at it? I bought Exchequer bills, which have depreciated amazingly in value ; and t shall be a severe loser by the transaction." I then said, " Please keep the interest due, and merely pay the ^1600 to my account." He then observed, " Can't you put off the stock, and destroy the ticket ?" I replied, " No, sir, the tickets were put into the box early, and the transfers are gone forwarded into the inner office, and the brokers have applied for the receipts for me to pay them, for the transfer of the stock into my name ; and I must have the money paid forthwith." Mr. Stephenson, finding all his evasions useless, rang the bell for his confidential clerk, " Mr. Lloyd ; " and said, " Bring up ^^1600 short, and make out the amount at five per cent, for two months." This was accordingly done, and I received ;^i6oo in bank-notes. I was paid the interest in cash by the clerk, and I paid the bank-notes into their bank as I passed through. In January 1823 my reputed mother was gradually becoming very feeble, and her constitution was giving way to natural decay. I gave up, for her accommodation, the second-floor at 30 Conduit Street, New Bond Street, which consisted of three rooms. The upper floor was occupied by an old woman, " a nurse," and " a Miss Powell," an old trust- worthy companion of my reputed mother's. These persons were, as I supposed, in constant attendance on Mrs. Meves, they having received my orders never to leave her by herself, as she had become very feeble and tottering, and required assistance in crossing the room, and in being waited upon. Upon giving up my rooms I took apartments in Park Street, Regent's Park. One day, after I had dined with my reputed mother, Miss Powell having retired to her own room, she again informed me, that the Queen of France was the mother of two male children — ^the Dauphin and the Duke of Normandy ; adding, " The Dauphin, you know, is dead, but the Duke of Normandy is alive and well, and in sound understanding to this very moment" She then placed her hands upon me, in confirmatim of what she said, and looked me full in the face, saying, "You, Augustus, are that very person" LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 37 She continued by saying, " Augustus, at the period of the decease of the late Mr. William Meves, after I had read his will to you, in which he leaves the sum of ;^ioo to his sister, ' Mrs. Bouer,' if she should be living, otherwise it was to come to you ; but you promised me, if Mrs. Bouer was not living, you would give me the ;^ioo, and I refused to accept it, as I did not require the money at the time. But now, Augustus, I require it, and will you give me the ;^ioo ?" I said, " For what purpose do you want the ;^ioo at the present time?" She replied, " Miss Powell has been very long and faithful in her kind attendance on me, and I wish to reward her for the services she has rendered me during my long and painful illness." I replied, " Dear mother, I should be happy to give you the .;^ioo for your own services, but my giving so large a sum of money for the purpose of giving it to Miss Powell — upon my honour, I cannot comply with your request ; but I will give you whatever gold I have in my bureau, so that you may not be in want of money ; and I promise you to present Miss Powell ^'h ;^5, for her kind attention to you." I then went to my bureau and took out about ^20 in gold, which I gave to my reputed mother. I then told her I had invested my property in the Spanish bonds, at fifty-eight per cent., and, on their depression to fifty-two per cent, I purchased bonds nearly to the extent of my whole property. She then severely blamed me for my want of prudence, and said, " I thought you had faithfiilly promised me not to have any more dealings in the Spanish bonds." She then observed, should I ever have occasion to write to the Duchess of Angouleme, all I had to write was this : " That I had, on the instep of my left foot, a cicatrice,* which was occasioned by a prong of a buckle wounding me, when a child with her in France; " adding, " Mind, Augustus, not to enter into any particulars, for, if I did, I should be lost. Neither to be induced to read any private memoirs of the Queen of France, as it would only set my mind woolgathering ; for how was it possible that circum- stances could be known to historians, which were necessary to be kept secret ? " Some one coming into the room prevented any further conversation. * See Appendix A, for Medical Certificates. 3,8 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF The next morning, before I went into the City, I called in Conduit Street to see Mrs. Meves. When I came to the house, I rang the house, door bell gently, and went up-stairs. On my entering the room she got up from her chair, and endeavoured to run to meet me, when, unfor- tunately, she fell to the ground. I called the nurse to come down immediately to her assistance. My heart was ready to burst at seeing her in so dejected a state. Shortly after, I went down-stairs and spoke to the proprietor of the house, after which I left, and proceeded to the City, having determined to sell my Spanish bonds if possible, at any loss, however great, rather than keep them. This determination, unfor- tunately, I could not put into practice. On my arrival in the City, I found the price below fifty per cent., and there were no longer any dealers in the Spanish bonds on the Royal Exchange. I took, rather late in the evening, the stage-coach to Piccadilly, and went to Conduit Street; but observing lights passing to and fro, and persons moving about in the second floor, I felt I might disturb my reputed mother by calling at so late an hour, so I went leisurely on towards my own residence. The next morning, whilst I was at breakfast, a gentleman called, who wished to see me immediately. On his entering the room I saw it was Mr. Vollottin, " the landlord of the house in Conduit Street, where Mrs. Meves resided." He informed me that my respected reputed mother was no more, and that Miss Powell was having all the late Mrs. Meves's trunks removed to the Hanover Square Rooms ; that there was a man with a truck at the door when he left, and he thought it his duty to apprise me of it. I lost no time, but went immediately to Conduit Street. On my arrival I went up-stairs, where the body of my most excellent, devout, amiable, and reputed mother was. I knelt beside the bed, and took her hand, and kissed it. I tlien turned to Miss Powell, and said, " By what authority have you presumed to take pos- session of my late mother's trunks ? " " By Mrs. Meves's authority, as every one in this room can attest." I said, " If the trunks are not restored to me, I shall apply to the magistrates of Marlborough Street" LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 39 I then said, " Miss Powell, what does that box contain ? " She replied, "It contains my linen, sir." I then observed on the table a small writing-desk, which had belonged to my late reputed sister Cecilia. I opened the desk by means of a small key I had in my pocket. On examining which, the first paper I read contained the following : — "London, April 12, 1820, High St., Marylebone. " Being in my perfect senses, I make my will and testament, giving and bequeathing all I die possessed of — clothes, etc. etc., — to Caroline Read, proclaiming her my sole heir, as witness my signature, " Marianne Crowley Meves. " JF«/«firf— Elizabeth Collins." This singular paper quite overcame me, and I asked Miss Powell what were Mrs. Meves's desires previous to her decease % She replied, " Mrs. Meves wished her remains to be kept above ground for at least five days, and not to be buried on a Saturday." I then said, " As my mother has placed every confidence in you, I wish you to take upon yourself the whole management of the funeral, and to give what orders you think fit to Mr. Loudon, of Great Marlborough Street." In due course of time the trunks were returned to Conduit Street. I then examined the papers, which were in rather large quantities. I selected a letter written by the Abb^ Morlet, who had emigrated to Buren, a village near Utrecht, dated November 9th, 1793, to Mrs. Meves, 16 Vere Street, opposite the Chapel, as I did not know what this letter* might lead to. On the 25th January I had my pictures and furniture removed to a suite of apartments in Newman Street, Oxford Street. * For letter referred to, see Appendix B. 40 A UTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF II. INFORMATION RESPECTING THE CROWLEY FAMILY, AND MARI- ANNE CROWLEY'S CAREER, AND ACQUAINTANCESHIP WITH MR. WILLIAM SCHROEDER MEVES, AND CONTINUATION OF AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS, WITH INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION. foRNELIUS CROWLEY, Esq., resident of the city of Bath, was the father of Jane Ehzabeth Crowley and Mary Anne Crowley, by his wife Mary Ellison, daughter of Francis EUison, Esq., of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Jane Elizabeth Crowley was bom in 1742, and married Francis Turner Blithe, Esq. of Broseley Hall, Shropshire. In 177 1, Francis Turner Blithe died; and by his will, proved at Doctors' Commons, he left the whole of his valuable estates, called the Broseley estates, to his wife Jane Ehzabeth; and an estate at Colebrook Dale; called the Whiteley estate. This estate, the widow Jane Elizabeth Blithe ordered to be sold, to pay off a debt of ;£7ooo created on the Broseley estates. The sale realized ^^10,000.* In 1772, Jane Elizabeth Blithe contracted a marriage with William Davenport, Esq. of Davenport House, Shropshire. Previous to her marriage with William Davenport, Esq., Mrs. Jane Elizabeth Blithe placed ;^3ooo on mortgage on Mr. William Davenport's estates in Shropshire. Over this ^^3000 she had the power of appointment, under her marriage settlements, together with ^^200 a year allowed her as pin-money — over this income Mr. Davenport had no right, — also to a large sum in East India bonds, which were found in Mrs. Davenport's writing-desk, with many years' accumulated interest, after her demise. • See Appendix E, for Francis Turner Blithe's will. LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 41 Mrs. Jane Elizabeth Davenport died in 181 1. Her will is proved at Doctors' Commons. The East India bonds produced a Chancery suit after her decease, between Francis Turner Blithe Harries, Esq. of Benthall, in the county of Shropshire, " who was the heir by appoint- ment under Mrs. Davenport's will," and Mr. William Davenport, "her husband," Francis Turner Blithe Harries claiming the right over the India bonds, as being the residuary legatee under the will.* Marianne Crowley, the second daughter of the said Cornelius Crowley, was bom in the city of Bath, and baptized at the parish church of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, at Bath, the nth of April 1754. She was educated at the convent of St. Omer, in the Holy Catholic Faith, and on her return to the house of her father at Bath, she studied music under Mr. Linley. In January 1777, Miss Marianne Crowley came to London,f and became the favourite pupil of Signor Sacchini, " the celebrated Italian composer. "J Whilst studying music under Signor Sacchini, the affecting news arrived of the death of her mother at Bath. Her father then came to London, and took his disconsolate daughter to Paris, for the purpose of placing her at a convent. They resided whilst at Paris at Madame Gregson's, in La Rue Dauphine, as appears from a letter addressed to Mademoiselle Crowley, at Madame Gregson's, La Rue Dauphine, k Paris, from Madame I'Abbesse de I'Abbaye aux Bois, which ran as follows : — "The Abbess of the Abbaye ux Bois is very sorry at not being able to receive Miss Crowley into the interior of the convent. She suggests to her an apartment outside, at 400 fr., on condition that she shall have a housekeeper, or lady's-maid, of mature age, and that she * See Appendix F, for letter from Mr. Davenport to Mr. A. Meves, explanatory of Mrs. Davenport's conduct + See Appendix G, for Mrs. Crowley's letter to her daughter Marianne, in London. + LADIES INSTRUCTED IN SINGING, AND ON THE PIANOFORTE, OR HARP, BY MRS. MEVES, Pupil of the late Mr. Linley and Signor Sacchini. 42 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF shall receive the visits of those only approved by her father, and of whom the Abbess shall have the list." Mr. Crowley shortly after returned to England. In June 1781, Mr. Crowley being ill, he wrote the following letter to his daughter " Marianne," in Paris, acquainting her with such : — " BA.TH, 2d June 1781. "My darling Marianne, — Come to Bath with all convenient expedi- tion. My state of health is too weak, and too much reduced to admit of hopes of a tolerable recovery. Come then, my affectionate child, and take possession of all my effects. Your worthy sister came here from London to see me, stayed two or three days at Miss Pember's, and then returned to town, promising to come again to Bath the zd of this month, to comfort me. This day I received a letter from her, that Mr. Davenport and herself must set out for the country, and cannot make Bath in their road, but will come for me the beginning of August, and take me down to Davenport House. I do not intend answering your sister's letter, therefore desire you will prove yourself the most loving daughter of Cornelius Crowley. " R.S. — If it is the will of God that I should survive this illness, I will return along with you to France, and spend the remainder of my days in the bosom of the Holy Church. I have fully decided the point in my own mind. I keep Lord Southwell in ray eye." Miss Crowley at once journeyed to England ; but upon her arrival at Bath, she found her father had succumbed under his illness, and was buried. In January 1782, Miss Marianne Crowley was in London, residing at 3 Little Maddox Street, Hanover Square, when she accepted ah invitation from the Dowager Caroline, Countess of Harrington, to reside with her ladyship, in Curzon Street, Mayfair. " Dear Miss Crowley,— I was writing to know how you did to-day, and hope you did not increase your cold. I have had but a bad night, and am not out of bed. We were very comfortable yesterday, and, if you think so, I shall hope to be so soon again.— Your sincere friend, „ „ , , " C. Harrington. "Sunday, 12 clock. Miss Crowley." LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 43. " Lady Sefton presents her best compliments, and many thanks to Miss Crowley for her very obliging inquiries. She is pretty well, and hopes Miss Crowley is the same. " Hill Street, Monday morning.'" " To Miss Crowley. " Give me leave to thank you, dear madam, for the music you sent me — the songs you had the trouble of writing out for me. You have added much to my amusement by it. Could I hear you play them, I think I should like the music better afterwards. I rejoice extremely Lady Harrington has added so agreeable a person to hef society, as all accounts agree in making you ; and I hope some day or another to be presented to you ; and, in the meantime, beg you will believe me, your very humble servant, "A. M. Lincoln." In the year 1783, during the time Miss Crowley resided with Lady Harrington, she became acquainted with Mr. Meves von Schroeder, who arrived in England as travelling companion to Roger Palmer, Esq. of Rush House, near Dublin ; and soon after it was reported that Miss Marianne Crowley was privately married, according to- the ritual of the Roman Catholic Church. At the death of Lady Harrington, in June 1784, Mrs. Meves von Schroeder left England, and went to Paris, where she was delivered of a son, the i6th of February 1785, by a surgeon-accoucheur of the name of Vincent d'Etionville. The following is a letter from Mr. Davenport : — "Davenport House, dth August 1836. " Dear Sir, — I have had the perusal of a letter from you to ray niece, Mrs. Davenport of Worfield, in which there is some inquiries relative to your late mother, and which, had it been in my power to have given a satisfactory account, it would give me great pleasure; but it is so many years since any conversation on that subject might have taken place between Mrs. Davenport and myself, that I cannot bring anything to my recollection in respect to time, or any particular circumstancd, more than I know she went to France under the patronage of Lady Harrington, in the name of Schroeder ; and I know likewise, that she 44 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF was very partial to her, and proved her great friend, but farther than this, I have no knowledge. —And remain, dear Sir, yours truly, « -r ^, TVT " W. Davenport. " To Mr. Meves, 8 Bath Place, New Road, London." Mrs. Marianne Crowley Meves was about the middle stature of women, about five feet in height, rather stout, full dark eyes, fine teeth, a fair complexion, and a profusion of dark hair. Mrs. Jane Higginson was cousin to Mrs. Jane Elizabeth Davenport, of Broseley Hall, Shropshire, and to Marianne Crowley ; the relationship was by Mr. Simpson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, marrying Barbara Ellison, eldest daughter of Francis ElUson, Esq., of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Upon the death of her brother, William Ellison Simpson, who was in partner- ship with Mr. John Higginson, as watch and cock-spur makers in the Strand, Jane Simpson married Mr. John Higginson. In continuing my narrative of events : shortly after my removing to Newman Street, I had a transaction with a Mr. Frederick Spackman on 'Change, in the Spanish bond market, by which I was a loser of several hundred pounds. Shortly afterwards I opened an account with Messrs. Hammersleys, Brookbank, and Clark, of about ^^3000 in cash, and left in their hands ;^6ooo in Spanish bonds. After which I left my bank-book with the Messrs. Remington, Stephenson, and Toulmin, in order to have it made up, on account of my having many transactions with Messrs. Hoare and Barnett, of Lombard Street, who received the money I was entitled to unddr Mrs. Jane Elizabeth Davenport's will. Upon my book being returned, I found an item of an amount placed to my credit with the banking house, amounting to ;^47So, and as I had not paid in so large a sum, when I went into the City I called at the Messrs. Remington, Stephenson, and Toulmin, and inquired of the cashiers how so large a sum was placed to my credit. The cashier referred me to the inner office, to the bankers themselves, to give me the information. I spoke to Mr. Remington, who said, " That sum, sir, has been placed to ypur account, and we have entered it in our ledger, and you can write for LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 45 whatever portion of the sum you may require in your transactions." Mr. Toulmin then remarked, " Do you not expect money to be placed to your account from Mrs. Jane Higginson ?— ;^iooo was paid in here from Messrs. Hoare, Bamett, and Co. to your credit." I answered, "That is all right; I inherit that sum under my sister's will, being part of a mortgage of ;^30oo on Mrs. Davenport's estates in Shropshire, and certainly I am entitled to the whole of Mrs. Jane Higginson's property ; but she is alive and well; but about this sum of money, 'the ^£■4750,' I am really quite ignorant of its source." "Well, sir, we can only say the money has been placed here to your credit, and you can write what- ever cheques you may require in your speculations in the funds, and we shall be proud to honour them." Some time after, when I left my bank-book to have the various sums placed to my credit, and my cheques returned to me, whilst I was making inquiries of the cashier for my book, Mr. Rowland Stephenson's confidential clerk, " Mr. Lloyd," came down to the counter and said, "Sir, we have made inquiries respecting the ;^47So placed to your credit, and we find it was an error. The ;^475o ought to have been placed to the credit of a Mr. William Meysing." I fully believed what was told me, and Mrs. Meves being deceased, I had no one to consult on the subject.* Whilst I was residing at 13 Air Street, Piccadilly, Miss Powell called on me respecting the bill for the interment of my late deceased reputed mother, which amounted to £,$2. I considered the charge too exorbi- tant, as I had paid for a similar one for Miss Cecilia Meves ;^i4. I said, " What excuse does Mr. Loudon make for sending me so extravagant a bill ?" " On account, sir, of there being so many attendants. Moreover, sir, I received your late mother's orders respecting her interment ; and you have no reason to complain, for Mrs. Higginson paid you the half- yearly dividend due to your late mother, and I received Mrs. Meves's orders that the whole sum due to her from Mrs. Higginson was to be expended in her funeral, and I have only obeyed her request." I * See Appendix H, for Lord W. Lennox's description and acquaintance with Rowland Stephenson, the banker. 46 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF changed the conversation saying, " Tell me, Miss Powell, when did you' first know my mother ?" " I first knew her, sir, in 1787, she having just come from Boulogne-sur-Mer with you, then a little boy. Your mother,' '. Mrs. Meves,' at that time was called Madame Schroeter ; she resided ih Suffolk Street, Haymarket." I remarked, " Why, Miss Powell, my mother's name was Meves, not Schroeter." She replied, " Your mother's' name, sir, in 1787 was Schroeter, and you were called Augusta' Schroeter. I remained in Madame Schroeter's service till 1788, when Madame left England, and returned to Boulogne-sur-Mer. I then pro- cured a situation in the family of Sir John Cosbey, of Portland Place. When Lady Cosbey died, she left me an annuity of j[,/\a for my length of service. I then came to London to reside with my niece, 'Mrs. Field,' who was housekeeper at the King's Concert Rooms, in Hanover Square. This was in 1814. I then made inquiry about Madame Schroeter, a musical lady, and could hear no tidings of her.^ A friend of mine, a Mr. Seguin, said the only lady he knew who answered the description I gave, was a Mrs. Meves. One day, when I was walking with Miss Seguin in Oxford Street, she pointed out your mother as the probable lady. When I accosted her, and said, ' Have I the honour of speaking to Madame Schroeter?' she answered 'No, my name is no longer Schroeter, but Meves.' She then invited me to take tea with her, and I went to 54 Great Marlborough Street, and was introduced to Miss Cecilia Meves, who at the time was very ill from a violent cold on her lungs. I attended poor Miss Meves untU the day of her decease, and always found a true and kind friend in Mrs. Meves. " At the time of your return from Calais, I was astonished when you came into the room to see what an alteration had taken place in you, for when you were a child you had blue eyes, and light-coloured hair, and was a stout little fellow ; but when I saw you in Great Marlborough Street, you had brown eyes, and dark brown hair." Some time after Miss Powell's visit, Mrs. Spence called on me to know whether I would favour her with ;^io, as she wished to send her daughter to Bath to see her aunt. I complied with her request, and LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 47 before she left, I asked her whether she knew my mother by the name, of Schroeter, and at what time she first knew heir 1 She replied, " Sir, when I first came to live with Mrs. Meves, her name was Schroeter ; she lived in Dartmouth Street, Westminstef. In the year 1789, Madame' Schroeter engaged me as nurse-maid to her daughter Cecilia. You, sir, were at that time residing with Mr. Meves von Schroeter, who followed the profession of a miniature-painter, in Margaret Street, Cavendish Square. You were then called Auguste Schroeter, and were about five years old, and had '■blue eyes and light-coloured hair up to the year 1793.' If you inquire of Mr. George Meves, he will testify the truth of what I have stated. " When I entered Madame Schroeter's service, she but had just arrived' from France, from Boulogne-sur-Mer. She to my certain knowledge received remittances from France. Mrs. Davenport, ' her sister,' like- wise reduced an annuity she allowed from jCioo a year to ;^4o a year, when she found that her sister had married contrary to her desire, and was the mother of two children. Mrs. Vital, who was your mother's most intimate friend, informed Mrs. Davenport of the fact, after which your mother went down to Davenport House, in Shropshire, in order to induce her sister to increase the annuity to what she had been ac- customed to receive. This Mrs. Davenport determinedly refused, and said, ' Marianne, as you have made your bed, so you must lie upon it, therefore, you must make use of your talents for your support, as I shall allow you only ^^40 a year.' " On Madame Schroeter's return from Shropshire, she taught singing. As Madame had always been accustomed to live as a lady, Mrs. Vital frequently came to her aid, observing how ungenerous it was for Mrs. Davenport to act so unkindly towards her sister, as to her certain knowledge Madame Schroeter was a married lady, and could produce her marriage certificate in any court of justice." I then observed, "Was this Mrs. Vital the wife of Mr. Vital, of Rupert Street ?" She answered, " Dh no, sir j Mrs. Vital was of a very high family ; her brother, Mr. Dickenson, was M.P. for Cheshire ; but respecting the name of Schroeter, 48 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF if you inquire of Mr. George Meves you will find that Mr. Meves's name was Schroeter ; it was the family name. " In the year 1792, Madame 'your mother ' came into difficulties, she being indebted to her landlord for rent, and was arrested at the suit of Mr. Squires. My father, Mr. Waterhouse, bailed Madame when I was living as nurse-maid to Miss Cecilia. My name was Elizabeth Waterhouse, and I was called Betty. "In 1792 Madame took furnished apartments in Lower Marylebone Street, and she said, ' As the name of Schroeter was the occasion of so many misfortunes to her, she was determined for the future to live under the name of Meves, as her husband was following his business at the Bank of England only under his name of Meves.' " I believe, sir, a marriage between Madame Schroeter and Mr. Meves took place in 1792, in the Protestant Church, to please Mrs. Davenport, who, after the marriage, paid all Mrs. Meves's debts, and settled ;^ioo a year upon her, which was paid by Mrs. Jane Higginson, in quarterly payments of;^2S. In 1793 I married William Spence, a surgeon in His Majesty's navy. My husband was son to Dr. Spence of Lower Marylebone Street. I then left Mrs. Meves's service, when Madame engaged a maid-servant, called Milley." Mrs. Spence then said : Whilst she was in Mrs. Meves's service a letter came from France, written by Thomas Paine, the author of the Rights of Man. The letter was addressed to a Mrs. Carpenter, who was an intimate friend of Mrs. Meves's, which letter expressed a desire that a deaf and dumb boy, of about eight years old, should be sent to him, for purposes he required. Mrs. Carpenter and Mrs. Meves made every search and inquiry to obtain the sort of boy required by Paine, but were unsuccessful— the only chance they had being the son of a poor woman, named Maria Dodd, " a charwoman,'' who formerly lived in Marylebone Court ; but she having removed, they were unable to gain information where she then resided. I now called upon Mr. George Meves, in order to ascertain the particulars respecting the name of Schroeter. Upon questioning him, LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 49 he said, "You do not pronounce the name correctly: it is Schroeder, not Schroeter ; but I will satisfy, with pleasure, your inquiry respecting the name of Schroeder. When my brother followed his profession as a miniature-painter,* he called himself William Meves von Schroeder. Meves is the father's name, which is plebeian. Schroeder is the mother's name, which is patrician, the family holding landed property in Ger- many. Upon my brother first establishing himself as a miniature- painter, in Half-Moon Street, Piccadilly, he called himself Meves von Schroeder, which means, in German, a man of noble family, or gentle- man by birth. "As respects my brother's marriage, he may have married Miss Crowley in the name of Meves von Schroeder, but he did not allow her to live under his name of Meves, as she was so extravagant. When your mother came from France to have you baptized, she stayed at Hart's, ' a perfumer in Piccadilly.' My brother being from I^ondon at the time, your mother sent for me to stand as sponsor. I called upon a friend of mine, a Mr. Kranke, to stand as sponsor with me ; and you were baptized at St. James's Church, Piccadilly. After ^arly morning prayers, I gave the name at the baptismal font, as Augustus Antoine Cornelius Mevis. My brother adopted the manner of spelling the name Meves. The reason of your being baptized in England was to give you the right of inheriting landed property, as your mother was the heiress-at-law to immense estates in Shropshire, belonging to her sister, Mrs. Davenport, of Davenport House. The baptismal register states : 'Bom, i6th day of February 1785 ; and baptized, 25th day of March 1785.' After the ceremony your mother went directly to the Tower Stairs, and took the packet for France." I then consulted him respecting his knowledge of me in my youth, and especially as respected dates, and my early life, when he stated that the first time he saw me after my baptism was in 1792, in Great Russell Street, at the house of a Mr. Page, where his brother was residing, I ■ » We have a memorandum of Mr. William Meves's, giving a list of upwards of 200 persons, whose portraits he has taken. D so A UTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF having just arrived from a boarding-school, where my mother had placed- me, and on which occasion he gave me half-a-guinea to encourage me. I observed, I did not recollect his ever having called upon Mr. Meves at the time he was residing in Wilson Street, Finsbury Square. To which he replied, " No ; certainly not. How could he call upon his brother when he was living in the service of Sir Drummond Smith ? When he wished to see him he went to the Bank of England, or to the Long-Annuity Office." In 1802, when his brother lived in Goodge Street, at the time of his brother Dederick coming from Germany, he gave me two guineas as a present. In 1805 he came frequently to see his brother, at the time his sister came with her husband, Mr. Frederick Bower, to London. I then asked him this question : " Pray, sir, what coloured eyes, and hair had I when you saw me in 1792 ? " He replied, " You had blue eyes, and light-coloured hair; but there is nothing extra- ordinary in that, as children's eyes and hair change their colour as they grow older." I then remarked, " That might be the case, but I really thought I had brown eyes at my birth, and that they, as well as my hair, were always of a brown colour, up to that day, only, as I had advanced in years, my hair had grown darker." I then said, " Have fhe good- ness to inform me what you know respecting my early youth, and information respecting Mr. and Mrs. Meves, as it is right that I should know after what has transpired." He replied, rather angrily, "Your mother was living at Boulogne-sur-Mer until the breaking out of the French Revolution, when she came to England for safety ; and it was then agreed that you were to be under my brother's care, and that Cecilia was to be under her care. My brother, in the autumn of the year 1789, went to Lord Stamford's, in Cheshire, but, previous, to going, he placed you under the care of an old woman at Battersea; but during the time he was absent, your mother got possession of you from the nurse, and took you over to France ; and on her return mth you to England, she placed you at a school at Horsham, in Sussex; and it was from this school my brother brought you, when I first saw you in 1792, • meaning, the first time after his baptism.' My brothel's LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 51 visit to Lord Stamford's was professional, being engaged taking like- nesses of the family, and copying several portraits. Upon leaving Lord Stamford's he called on his friend Captain Lee, of Coten Hall, Shrop- shire, and passed about a month with him." " What you state, Mr. George Meves, as regards myself, I acknowledge to be true, as I well remember my father, when we lived in Rathbone Place, in 1809, showing me a music-book. On the outside cover was written : ' Augustus Meves began to learn the pianoforte in August 1792.' This was written in my father's handwriting, at the time he was living at 44 Great Russell Street, therefore its genuineness I cannot for a moment question." Subsequently a Mrs. Fisher called on me, in Air Street, Piccadilly, respecting her son, a young man who was studying music, and requested my opinion regarding his abilities as a musician. After complying with her request I said, " Mrs. Fisher, how did you first become acquainted with the late Mrs. Meves 1" She replied, "When I lived with my mother, who did needlework for Mrs. Meves, at the time Mrs. Meves lived in Lower Marylebone Street. I was then an apprentice in Jerrayn Street, Piccadilly. When I was out of my time, in 1805, I called on Mrs. Meves, in Broad Street, opposite Dufour's Place, and she engaged me as companion to Miss Cecilia Meves. Do you not remember, Sir, Maria Dodd, a charwoman ? " I answered, " No ; I did not ; but I remembered a woman called Kitty, who used to do all that kind of work." " Well, Sir, Maria Dodd was the mother to Caroline ; and when she was dying in the workhouse, she sent for Mrs. Meves, and begged of her to protect her poor child Caroline, which she con- sented to do. When Mrs. Meves was residing in Vere Street, Oxford Street, she went to Holland, accompanied by Mr. Joseph Frike, in the month of January 1794, and took with her, to fill up her passport, a deaf and dumb boy, a son of Maria Dodd's, and went on to Paris with this boy, and was detained there through some cause or other, that she did not return to England till about the middle of the month of May 1794, by which she lost the teaching of Mrs. Warner's ladies' boarding- school, at Wandsworth, which produced Mrs. Meves above ;!^8o a year 52 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF regularly. On Mrs. Meves's arrival in London, Mrs. Davenport sent four twenty-pound notes from Shropshire ; and Mrs. Higginson, who received the remittances, paid the money into Mrs. Meves's hands.'' In 1824 I went to reside with Mrs. Jane Higginson, an old widow lady. She was cousin to the late Mrs. Davenport, of Broseley Hall. In 1828 Mrs. Higginson died, when I inherited the whole of her property, which consisted of a freehold estate in the parish of Shoreham, in Kent, and the lease of her house, 38 Southampton Street, Strand. The estate called Romney Street Farm, of 160 acres of freehold-land, I sold to Captain Ryder Burton, in 1834. At the time I was residing in Southampton Street, I made acquaint- ance with a Captain d'Oliviera, who said his father had been an ambas- sador to England in the reign of Louis xv. On my making some inquiries of him, he stated he had been appointed Page of Honour to La Princesse de Lamballe, and he well remembered the Queen of France introducing Madame de Courville Schroeder to La Princesse de Lam- balle at the time the Princess came to England on the private affairs of the Queen, in 1787. I said, " Did you accompany La Princesse de Lam- balle to England?" He replied, "No, he did not; for, through his father's influence, he obtained an appointment in the Portuguese Embassy." In the early part of the month of June 1830, I observed, in going along the Strand, a French tavern, near Wellington Street ; and on my return from the City I went up-stairs to the coffee-room, and gave orders for several dishes, and some bottles of French wine, to be sent to my house, 38 Southampton Street, Strand, as I expected some friends to dine with me on the Sunday. I afterwards made inquiry, and found that at five o'clock an excellent dinner was served up there. This being the case, I made up my mind to dine there occasionally on my returning from the City. . One day, after I had dined at the French tavern, a Monsieur Lassleur, who had been dining there, and who I had noticed on several occasions, threw a French half-crown piece on the table, and observed, " Que cet LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 53 gentilhomme ressemble k Louis Seize " — " How much that gentleman resembles Louis xvi. ! " This observation was taken up by other French gentlemen present, amongst whom was a Colonel de Bigault Des- fouch^res, who gave me his card, on which was engraved, " De Bigault Desfoucheres, Chef de Battalion ." These gentlemen I invited one evening to come, and take coffee with me at my house. When they came, I showed them my collection of pictures, left me by my late reputed father, after which we entered into conversation regarding myself. They were very desirous of knowing whether I had any portraits of Mr. or Mrs. Meves, but I told them I had no portrait of either, at which they seemed somewhat surprised, and shortly after took their leave. Some days after. Monsieur Lassleur, Colonel de Bigault Desfouchferes, and some other French gentlemen, called on me, and after having ocular proof as to the marks and scars on my body, and entering into conversation with me, they made me a proposal to accompany them to France. The spokesman was Monsieur Lassleur. I told them I had no objection, only at that time I was about selling an estate I had in Kent, also, that I was in treaty with the Bedford Office for the sale of the lease of my house in Southampton Street ; and I having only a short time previously become a father, it was my duty to make arrange- ments for my child's welfare and happiness, in the event of anything happening to me, therefore it was impossible for me to go to France until such business was settled. I then remarked, " Gentlemen, sup- posing I were to go to Paris, what are your intentions?" "Sir,"' they replied, " our intentions are, on your arrival to provide you with a suite of apartments, where you will have everything you may require; in return, all we have to request of you is to remain as silent as you possibly can, and not to enter into any conversation or explanation with any persons, except ourselves : for the proof of your identity must rest with us. We know perfectly well who you are, as your proof exists on your own person, and we are fully convinced you are the true Louis xvii. Moreover, when you were in Paris in 1816, the great resemblance you bore to Louis xvi. caused much conversation." In continuation they 54 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF said, " Our wishes are to take you on some particular evening to the theatre, when it will be well filled with our adherents. You will be seated in some conspicuous box, when some one will rise in the pit, and observe to his friend, 'Que cet gentilhomme ressemble k Louis Seize ' — ' How much that gentleman resembles Louis xvi. ! ' — ^when his friend will answer, ' Comme deux gouttes d'eau ' — ' Like two drops of water.' This will be repeated and re-repeated in the theatre, when an old French gentleman, of the highest rank in France, whose veracity is unquestionable, will be appealed to for his opinion. He has a knowledge of your person, and is sure to be at the theatre in his box the night we intend taking you, and if he answers, after well observing you, that he fully believes you to be the son of Louis xvi., the true heir to the throne of France, we shall all raise the cry of 'Vive Louis xvii. ;' and we shall carry our point, as the whole of Paris at the present moment is ripe for a change of Government, since the days of the Carlist party are at an end, and the consequence of which, is : there will soon be in France a change of Government." In reply, I said, " Gentlemen, to tell you the positive truth, I assure you I have no ambition to die the death of Prince Murat. The gseater chance would be, were I to go to France with you, that I should be either destroyed or incarcerated where no one would be able to trace what had become of me, and I assure you I am too fond of my personal liberty to risk it on the chances of such a scheme. No, no, gentlemen, this will never do for me ; what I require is to be invited to France by influential persons, when I will at once arrange my affairs in England, and come to France as speedily as possible. I am ready to do my duty to the best of my ability, but do not think, gentlemen, I am so ignorant of myself as you imagine, or that I shall act in a manner to make the French nation think lightly, or indifferently, of my character." Monsieur I^assleur then said, " Trbs bier, Monsieur, mais la plus belle trone de I'Europe ne veut-il pas vous tenter?" — " Very good, sir, but will not the most beautiful throne in Europe tempt you?" In reply I said, "Gentlemen, I assure you no temptation in the world would induce me to leave a certainty for an uncertainty. LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 55 Here I am happy, contented, and independent, and have the full enjoy- ment of social liberty. What more can I desire on earth, so long as I have the means of supporting myself independently?" After the breaking up of the party I considered over the events of the day, and shortly after I received from Mr. Healy, of the Bedford Office, the sum of £,2>^o, for the remaining term of my lease of the house in Southampton Street, and before the 25th of June 1830, I removed the whole of my pictures and furniture to 8 Bath Place, New Road. By this time the whole party of French gentlemen had dis- appeared from the French hotel in the Strand. The days of July ushering in such startling events, made me request a friend of mine, "a Monsieur Jules Hurel," to write a letter in the French language to the Marquis de Lafayette, and also one to Prince Perigord de Talleyrand, " Bishop of Autun," simply stating my existence. He did what I requested, and wrote a letter of his own dictation, which he read to me, the tenour of which I approved, excepting such parts ' that reflected on the character of the former Government of France, as I did not wish the letters to be political, but only to give them the information where I lived, and for him also to state his own private opinion respecting me. Shortly after the arrival of the Royal Family in England, I made inquiry at the banking-house of the Messrs. Wright, in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, for the town address of Cardinal Weld. I was referred for information to Portland Place, where I was informed that Cardinal Weld was at Rome, and . that the ex-Royal Family of France had chosen Lulworth Castle as a temporary residence. I now determined to address a letter to La Duchess d'Angoul^me, and in September 1830 I wrote a letter, which I enclosed in a small parcel, containing two or three pieces of music of my own composition, likewise a lithographic portrait of myself, painted by Cause, and engraved by Gaucy, which I had done while I was residing at 38 Southampton Street. These I forwarded addressed to Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Angoul^me, Lulworth Castle. The letter ran as follows :— 5 6 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF " To the Duchess of Angodl^me, Lulworth Castle." '"■ September zd, 1830. "Your Royal Highness, — Circumstances having arisen which emboldens me to address your Royal Highness, an imperative duty seems to impel me, which I hope your goodness will pardon, when I call your attention to the following memorial. "It was my misfortune to lose my good father in the year 1818, and in reading over his will to my mother, after some bequests to his relatives in Brunswick, he leaves the remainder of his property to me, as his reputed son, Augustus Meves. That my father, to whom I had ever shown the most affectionate duty, should have thus named me in his will as his reputed son affected me greatly, when my mother overcame my affliction by stating what I now write, and humbly request your serious attention to, — namely: 'Augustus, Mr. Meves was not your father, nor am I your mother, but you owe me a greater duty than if I were your mother. For you I have been estranged from society in my determination to protect you, and have lost every one that was dear to me. You, Augustus, were born in France, and owe your existence to the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. She was your mother, and the circum- stance of your being conveyed to England is known to the Archbishop of Paris. Remember, two attempts have been made on your life, which nearly proved successful, the third may be entirely so, therefore be cautious, and never let this disclosure escape your lips so long as I am living. Should it hereafter be required, the circumstance of your being alive is known, and your identity shall be proved as plain as the sun at noon-day.' " This disclosure greatly affected me, which, together with my severe loss, brought me into a high state of fever, so much so, that I could not administer to my father's effects for nearly two months after his decease. During this melancholy period, my mother possessed herself of my father's letters, as my medical attendants stated to her that some circum- stances connected with my father's decease weighed heavily on. my mind. "In January 1823 I lost my amiable mother. Word was brought me that a Miss Powell, a friendly attendant of hers, was giving direc- tions for the removal of her trunks to the Hanover Square Rooms. Upon my arrival at her residence in Conduit Street, Miss Powell stated to me, that Mrs. Meves's wishes were, ' that no papers of hers should be opened until after her interment,' and that in obedience to her desire she had taken Mrs. Meves's trunks under her care, and in due time they should be returned to me, — through which means I have hitherto LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 57 never been able to ascertain the particulars of my mother's residence in the Court of France, from written documents. " I have since learned that my. mother, whose maiden name was Marianne Crowley, shortly after my birth we^nt to France, under the name of Schroeder, which name is my deceased father's maternal family name, Meves being the paternal family name, which circumstance I never ascertained till very lately. Likewise ; that to Madame Schroeder's care was intrusted the Duke of Normandy, and that the Queen of France had the greatest esteem, and confidence in her, and introduced her to the Princesse de Lamballe when she came to England in July 1787. "What I know concerning myself is this : I remember in my early youth having been extremely unwell, and that during a severe illness, on my arrival in England, where persons about me appeared as strangers. That on my recovery I was placed at a Messrs. Thornton's boarding-school, at Horsham, in Sussex, about the year 1790; and I well remember my unhappiness in not being able to understand what was said to me, as I only understood the French language at that time. Here I remained for nearly two years, and was kept at school during the holidays. On my return to the care of my father, in 1792, I had lost all knowledge of the French language, which my father completed by teaching me the German language. I have lately found a paper containing the baptismal register of Augustus Meves, together with some light-coloured hair, and a description of the moles and marks about his person, ' not one of which moles or marks I have! The moles and marks about my person are a mole below the chest, ' on the middle of the stomach,' and a cicatrice on the instep of my left foot, which my mother said was occasioned by the prong of a buckle wounding me when a child in France. Should any of these circumstances here related bring any recollection to the mind of your Royal Highness, and should you be pleased, on due reflection, to allow me the honour of an interview, I shall, on the receipt of your commands, wait on you, and whatever the result may be, I hope your goodness will pardon my presumption in thus addressing you, as I cannot help believing that my mother was too honourable to have deceived me, as to my knowledge the strength and abihty of her mind were ever pre-eminent. — I remain, with the most profound feeling of respect, your Royal Highness's devoted, and obedient servant, Augustus Meves. "F.S. — A variety of occurrences, and conversations with persons who were acquainted with my mother in early life, would be better related than communicated by letter, and should your Royal Highness conde- scend to jiermit me an interview; it would at once set the matter at rest." 58 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF Not having received any answer to my letter, I imagined possibly it may not have reached the hands I had directed it toj and it being current that the Royal Family would shortly quit England, I determined to address another letter to the Duchess of Angoul^rae, which ran as follows : — " To Her Royal Highness The Duchess of AngoulSme. " London, Junei, 1831. " Having lately read in the newspapers a report that your Royal Highness is about to quit England, to reside on your estates in Hun- gary, and under the impression that, by some mischance, a letter I addressed to Lulworth Castle may not have reached its destination, and some circumstances relating to me may still remain unknown to your Royal Highness, I therefore at once recur to the object of my addressing you, and hope your kindness and urbanity will pardon me. "At the death of my father, in August 1818, my mother disclosed to me, that I was not the son of Mr. William Schroeder Meves, or her son, but that I was the son of the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, the Queen having, in my infancy, confided me to her care, and the circumstance of my being conveyed to England was known to the Arch- bishop of Paris; and that she, in her determination to protect me, had been estranged from her family. Within a few days of Mrs. Meves' s death, in January 1823, she again more fully related to me the fact, that the Quern was the mother of two male children, the Dauphin, and the Duke of Nor- mandy, the latter of whom was still living; and she then, in the most solemn manner, declared to me, that I was that person. She reminded me of two attempts that had been made on my life, and of a singular circumstance that happened to m£ in Paris, where I was for a short time, in the year 1816. " I have, since her death, been informed that, shortly after my birth, in 1785, she went to Paris, under the name of Schroeder, and was engaged by the Queen of France to nurse a child the Queen had at that time given birth to; and that she received a pension from the French Court till 1792 ; and that the name of Schroeder was the family name of my father, on the female side. "In the month of June 1830, when I resided at 38 Southampton Street, Strand, I became acquainted with several French gentlemen, who were very urgent in their invitations for me to accompany them to Paris. They remarked upon my great resemblance to the Bourbon family, and that my likeness to Louis xvi., was such : that I should LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 59 Excite the greatest attention, from the resemblance I bore to that unfor- tunate monarch. " A French officer, Colonel de Bigault Desfouchferes, who was intro- duced at my house, was pressing in his polite attentions to me. ;. " A Captain d'Oliviera, whose father had been ambassador to Eng- land in the reign of Louis xv., on my making some inquiries of him, stated : that he had been Page of Honour to the Princesse de Lam- balle, and that he well remembered Madame Schroeder, and that the Queen introduced her to the Princesse de Lamballe, to accompany her when she came to England, in July 1787. " I lately had occasion to write to Shropshire, to Mr. Davenport, and he, in a letter to me, states that Mrs. Meves went to France in the name of Schroeder, under the patronage of the Countess of Harrington.* " I cannot suppose my mother deceived me, as she was a lady of the highest capacity, and honour ; and this belief, joined with corro- borative evidence, makes me imagine that some peculiar mystery sur- rounds me. " On my own part, I can trace my being in England to the year 1790, when I was placed by my parents at Messrs. Thornton's school, at Horsham, where I remained for at least two years, " The extraordinary events which have lately taken place lead me to consider it a solemn duty to inform your Royal Highness of these circumstances ; and could an interview be brought about, or some con- fidential person be appointed to investigate the affair, some clue would doubtless be found, and the happiest result be the consequence. — I remain, with the most profound respect towards your Royal Highness, your respectful, and humble servant, "Augustus Meves. "8 Bath Place, New Road." About this time a Carlist newspaper was established in London, en- titled Le Pricurseur. One of the editors, Le Comte Fontaine de Moreau, called at my residence one morning, and sent up his card requesting to see me. On his entering my drawing-room, he asked me, '' If I was the gentleman who had communicated to Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Angoul^me, at Holyrood ? " I replied, " Yes, sir, I am the gentle- man. What may your business be with me ? " He answered by saying, " Will you allow me, sir, to examine your hands ? " I complied * See page 43, for Mr. Davenport's letter. 6o A UTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF with his request ; and after he had carefully examined them, he said, " By what means did the scar on the wrist of your left hand occur V I replied, " Upon my word and honour I do not know, but I imagine it must have been from some tumour that afflicted me in my childhood."* He then requested me to take off my neckcloth, and to permit him to see my bbsom: To this I rather objected, and said, " I had some blood- spots on my chest, and a dark-coloured mole on my right breast, and that his seeing them could not possibly be of any particular conse- quence ; " when he remarked, " You will pardon me, sir, when I tell you that I am like St. Thomas. I must see, before I believe. I then took off my neckcloth, and allowed him to examine the dark-coloured mole on my right breast, and my bosom, on which are several singular small blood- spots, which in appearance: resemble a constellation in the heavens.^ These he carefully examined, after which he said, " Sir, if you are disengaged this evening, will you accept an invitation to the house of Monsieur le Camus, a professor of music, who has some friends to dine with him to- day; and in the evening there will be a little musical party, and you will there meet Le Comte de Jouffroy, a gentleman of the highest talents as a political writer ; also the Chevalier de Vernieul, who is also engaged with me in writing various articles for Le Prkurseur newspaper ; and possibly you will also meet Le Comte de Crouy, who is attached to the service of Charles x. I answered Le Comte by saying : I should have much pleasure in availing myself of his invitation, when he respectfully took his leave. I called that evening on Monsieur le Camus, who received me very politely, and entertained me with great hospitaUty. When I entered the room I was introduced to Le Comte de Jouffroy, who seemed to be a very intelligent gentleman ; and also to Le Chevalier de Vernieul. Upon another occasion I was introduced to Le Comte de Crouy, by Le Comte de Jouffroy. I frequently visited Le Comte de Crouy at his resi- dence, IS Cambridge Street, Edgeware Road. He appeared to me to be a nobleman of high honour, and respectability. The day after the party at Monsieur le Camus's, Le Comte de Jouffroy favoured me with a * See Medical Certificates, Appendix A. LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 6i morning call, and wrote down his address, 21 AUsop's Terrace, New Road, where he invited me to come and see him. Upon my calling, I was introduced by him to his friend the Abbd Prince Charles de Broglie, who, the Count said, was the paymaster to the gentlemen employed in writing articles for Le Frkcurseur, which paper was devoted to the interests of Charles x., and his party. Upon one occasion when Le Comte de Jouffroy called on me, he began the following conversation, and said, " Sir, upon due reflection, my opinion is, the British Government is perfectly well aware that at 8 Bath Place lives the true Louis xvii.; but, sir, the danger lies in acknow- ledging you, as, from the energy of your character, you might put the whole of Europe into a state of fermentation, as you are not only King of France in right of your birth, but you are also heir to Maria Theresa, Empress of Germany ; therefore, if you were acknowledged to be the King of France, you would have a right to interfere in the affairs of Germany ; and you could also claim the title of Emperor of Austria, as being a descendant of Marie Antoinette, the daughter of Maria Theresa, therefore entitling you in right of birth to the throne of Austria, as the rightful, and hereditary heir. You thereby see the difficulties, and dan- gers that might occur were you to be acknowledged as the rightful heir to the throne of France." I answered Le Cpmte by saying, it might possibly be the case what he had stated, but nevertheless I thought the Powers of Europe would settle what degree of power and authority Louis XVII. would be entitled to, were such a circumstance to take place, of my being acknowledged the rightful heir of Louis xvi. The Count then observed, " Sir, I see no way so ready to make your claims known to the world as the press. You should therefore devise some means, and pubhsh a work, when I will commence a disputation on it. This will doubtless raise the question as to the existence of Louis xvii. ; like- wise, I advise you to leave London, and take a trip to Jersey, as soon as you conveniently can, and there see the French parties, as their coming to London, and seeing you would be of little use, on account of your being known in London for so many years as a professor of music. 62 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF and your habits and manners being so much, in consequence of your professional career, at variance with your assumption of so great a char- acter, as that of Louis xvii. It would therefore be greatly to your advantage to see persons in Jersey, where they are totally unacquainted with you, and thereby could judge by seeing you personally, there being thousands of French families in La Vendue, Normandy, Brittany, and Gascony, who fully believe in the existence of the son of Louis xvi. They know perfectly well that the Prince-Royal of France did not die in the Tower of the Temple, therefore : the striking resemblance you bear to the Royal Family of France, and the marks and scars which are known to have existed on the person of the Prince-Royal being found so accurately corresponding on your person, these will form a convincing argument as to whom you really are* " Respecting the incidents, and accidents that occurred to the Prince during the period he was in captivity under Antoine Simon, and his wife, these are all duly registered and known, therefore it is impossible for any pretender to gain credence, as there were many youths and boys residing within the precincts of the Temple at the time the Royal Family were confined there, who could easily assume the character, and pass themselves off as being Louis xvii. Hubert, who was appointed the chief commissioner by the municipality of Paris, had two sons who resided with him in the Palais du Temple; these youths, and many others, must have known the Tower of the Temple much better than the unfortunate captive Prince." I now thought it advisable to call upon Mr. Latour, at Craven Hill, Bayswater, as my reputed mother told me he knew many circumstances regarding me. I accordingly paid him a visit, when he observed: "What induced you to call on me to-day?" I replied, "My late reputed mother informed me you knew many circumstances regard- ing me." When he replied, he certainly did, as he knew Vincent d'Etionville, a surgeon, and accoucheur, who was attached to the service of the hospital of St. Omer, and who delivered my reputed mother of * See Appendix A, for Medical Certificates. LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 63 a son, born in France in February 1785. This boy was taken to Eng- land by her to be baptized, so as to entitle him to the privileges, and rights of an Englishman, and enable him to possess landed property as a British subject. Vincent d'Etionville and he were boys together, both being bom at St. Omer. Vincent d'Etionville's real name was Vincent de Bette, but he married a lady of the name of d'Etionville, after which he called himself Vincent d'Etionville. Mr. Latour then said, " Tell me, Mr. Meves, the maiden name of your late reputed mother." I replied, " It was Marianne Crowley." He then said, " Marianne Crowley was called Marianne de Courville at the Court of France. She was appointed one of the ladies in attendance on the Queen of France at the Petit Trianon, where your reputed mother chiefly resided, nevertheless she was at times in attendance at the Palace of Versailles." He then kindly invited me to stay and dine with him, which invitation I accepted. After dinner we retired to his music- room, in order to converse on the subject for which I had called upon him, he remarking, " No one comes into my music-room unless I ring the bell, therefore, we shall not be disturbed here." We then seated ourselves at a table, where a small dessert was already prepared. He then related to me that the Queen of France was the mother of three male children, Louis Joseph, the Dauphin of France, who was bom at Versailles in October 1781, and who died in 1789, previous to the French Revolution. Likewise, that the Queen gave birth to a son in 1783, who was named Louis Auguste, who was subsequently created by the King, Le Due de Bourgoyne — this child being known at Meudon as Le Petit Bossu. A proposal was made to Marianne de Courville to adopt Louis Auguste, Due de Bourgoyne, and a large quantity of jewels and diamonds of great value, the property of the crown of France, were given to Madame de Courville, in order to elevate and bring up Louis Auguste. He then remarked, " If you go to the British Museum, and make inquiry for L' Affaire du Collier, — ' the transaction of the necklace ' —-you will be able to trace your reputed father, Mr. Meves, who sold the diamonds intrusted to his care, under the name of Valois, in the 64. AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF months of April and May 1785 ; but, my dear Mr. Meves, be very cautious you do not confuse yourself, in examining the papers and documents, by mixing up the diamonds that were given to your reputed mother with the aifair of the diamond necklace, which necklace probably exists to this very day in a perfect state, it having been purloined for political purposes.'' Mr. Latour then said, "What did Mrs. Meves state to you at the period of her last illness ? did she make any disclosure to you f I replied, " She did. About two days previous to her decease, whilst we were sitting together, in the course of conversation she said, ' Augustus, ■ the Queen of France was the mother of two male children, the. Dauphin and the Duke of Normandy,' adding : ' The Dauphin, you know, is dead, but the Duke of Normandy is alive and well, and in sound understand- ing at this very moment." She then placed her hand on me, and said : ' You, Augustus, are that very person.' " I then requested Mr. Latour to tell me when and where it was he first saw me. He replied, he first saw me when Mr. Meves was living in Wilson Street, Moorfields, in the year 1794, and he knew whea he saw me, that I was not his son Augustus, as he had previously given instruction on the pianoforte to Mr. Meves's son, at the time he lived in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury^ Mr. Latour continued the con- versation by saying, " Mr. Meves, in my youth I was attached to the service of the Chapel of Versailles, and attended the priests in their duties at the Palace, and was present at the baptism of Louis Auguste, in 1783, with the incense; and also at the consecration of the infant when he was made a Knight of the Order of the Holy Ghost, and created by the King, " Le Due de Bourgoyne." When very young I took a dislike to the clerical life, and entered the office of Monsieur de Calonne, in 1786, and was appointed his private secretary in 1787. .1 came with him to England, when he lost his position as Minister of Finance, Necker having been appointed in his stead, through the influ- ence of the Queen of France. This interference on the part of the Queen, Monsieur de Calonne never forgave ; nevertheless, after the LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 65 death of the King his heart relented, and he sent me to Maestricht, to the house of Monsieur Gretry, ' a woollen draper,' who was the brother to Gretry, the great musician, when I became acquainted with all the branches of the family of the Gretrys, and I obtained a passport from the Prince, Bishop of Li^ge, in the name of Gretry, and travelled with a knapsack on my back, with plenty of money in my pocket, as Jean Gretry. I have the passport, Mr. Meves, and will show it you, and you will find therein all the peculiarities of my countenance and person named. On my arrival at Paris, in 1793, Beurnonville advised me to enter the. National Guard, which I accordingly did, and at the Tower of the Temple I have done duty as a sentinel, where it was impossible to relieve any one from confinement, as it was so strictly guarded ; but v/hen the Queen was removed to the Prison of the Conciergerie it was a much easier task, the Conciergerie being a public prison. At this prison I came on duty in the passage, near the door of the chamber where the Queen was confined. Beaugerard was at the gate, and I passed word into the Queen's room for her to make her escape ; but she declined, unless accompanied by her children. This was a total impossibility. The Queen herself might have escaped at that time, had she availed herself of the opportunity, but her only request was, ' That when I next came on duty I should conceal about my person, pen, ink, and paper.' The Queen then gave me a pen ; the nib was of gold, and the quill part was made of crystal, with a gold top to secure the ink, the crystal part contained sufficient ink to supply the nib for a moderate-sized letter. " When I jiext went on duty at the Prison of the Conciergerie, I con- cealed the pen and paper about my person, which I handed to the Queen, who then commenced writing, and when the ink was expended she punctured her arm, and drew sufficient blood to finish the letter, after which the Queen gave me the pen, and I will show you it in the same state as when I received it. At the present moment it is at my bankers, Messrs. Wright's, with other valuable property, but I will get it from them, and show it you the next time you do me the favour to call on roe." I then asked Mr. Latour what became of the letter. E 66 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF He replied, " I brought it with me when I came to England, and it is now in the possession of the Royal Family at Holyrood." The servant then announcing the arrival of the physician who then attended Mrs. Latour, I wished Mr. Latour good evening, and left with a very heavy heart, at the sad misfortunes of the Queen of France. I called a few days after on Mr. Latour, who showed me the pen, which was in a shagreen case, exactly as he had described it. He then said, " The Due de Polignac is coming to town from Holyrood, and on his arrival I will introduce you to him ; probably he may recognise some feature in your face by which he may possibly recollect you, as he was one of your playmates in your infancy." In the year 1832 I was in the habit of visiting in Frith Street, Soho, a Monsieur de Chermant, who was about eighty years of age. He was married to an English lady many years younger than himself. ■• He told me that his uncle, " Monsieur de Chermant," was Clerk of the Kitchen to Louis xv., and that he had seen, and well remembered Louis, the Dauphin of France, " son to Louis xv.," to whom he thought I bore a very strong resemblance. One evening whilst in conversation with him I said, " Dear sir, do you recollect any one belonging to the late Royal Family of France called Le Petit Bossu?" He replied, " Certainly I do. Marie Antoinette gave birth to a male child, who, from weakness, became iossu. This child was known as La Fausse Couch^e de la Reine. He was nicknamed Petit Bossu, and lived until he was about four years of age, when he died. There is a work pub- lished, which gives a full account of Petit Bossu up to his death at Meudon. I frequently went to the gardens at Meudon to see the Dauphin of France, and his brother, the Prince-Royal of France, where I have seen the two brothers playing together in the gardens of the chateau." He then described the Dauphin of France as being a very fine youth, but of delicate constitution ; and remarked, that the Duke of Harcourt, who was appointed governor to the Royal children, had made the Dauphin study too much. This produced a malady of the spine, from the effects of which he died, at Meudon, in the year 1789. He Z UIS CHA RLES, DA UPHIN OF FRANCE. 6 7 remembered the funeral of the Dauphin, which he saw pass through the Bois de Boulogne ; and that the Dauphin was most sincerely regretted by every true and loyal Frenchman. I then told Monsieur de Cher- mant the conversation I had with Mr. Latour, respecting his service in the Chapel at Versailles, and his attendance with the priests, and his conversation relative to the Duke of Bourgoyne — here remarking, I had never known that such a child as the Duke of Bourgoyne, belonging ta the family of Louis xvi., had existed ; when he said, " My dear Mr. Meves, take care Mr. Latour does not confuse you in what he relates, as he has the greatest friendship for the late Due de Berri, and is no doubt highly interested in the cause of Henri, Due de Bordeaux, the son of the Due de Berri." He then rose from his chair, and went to his book-case, from which he brought a small octavo volume, out of which he read a letter from a royalist to his friends in La Vendue, giving an account of the writer having been at the Tuileries, and having seen the Prince-Royal in the apartment of Madame Elizabeth ; and describes him as having small laughing brown eyes, and a profusion of brown curly hair, and as possessing remarkably strong limbs, and as being a strong, healthy boy. Monsieur Chermant then observed, " Here, sir, is a per- fect description of yourself; and if you are not the Prince-Royal of France, then I believe he must have died in the Tower of the Temple." He then placed the book in my hands, from which I read the descrip- tion given of, the Dauphin. Whilst residing at Bath Place, Mr. George Meves usually dined with me on Sundays, and previously spent very frequently his dis- engaged evenings with Mrs. Meves and myself, when I have often entered into conversation with him respecting the disclosure of my late reputed mother; but he attached no credence to Mrs. Meves's dis- closure, therefore I did not press upon him too frequent conversation respecting this perplexing question ; for I must confess it was perplex- ing, on account of the contradiction I met with when I was surrounded by several gentleman, who seemed very much interested in me, but who felt much surprised when I stated I arrived in this country in 1789., 68 A UTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF Therefore, I requested Mr. George Meves to write me a letter, and therein state what he knew respecting Mr. and Mrs. Meves and myself, as then I could form my own opinions. The following is the letter written by Mr. George Meves : — " 128 Long Acre, February 22, 1832. " Dear Sir,— At your request I have looked over some papers I have, and from my own recollection give you the best information I can relative to your late mother. Where my brother formed Miss Crowley's acquaintance was in Maddox Street, in 1783. He afterwards visited her at the time she was living with Lady Harrington. I delivered some tea and grocery to Miss Crowley in 1784, at Lady Harrington's. Some time after, my brother told me she had left Lady Harrington's, and had gone to reside in Piccadilly. From there she went to France. My brother was at Lord Stamford's in the autumn of 1788, taking likenesses of the family. On his road through Shropshire he called on Captain Lee. The following year he went to Captain Lee's, in the autumn of 1789, and spent some months with him at Coten Hall. Where I saw- you, on your return from boarding-school, was at Mr. Page's in Great Russell Street, where my brother was residing, in 1792, and I gave you half-a-guinea to encourage you. I remember taking some wine to Dartmouth Street, Westminster, at the time of the birth of Cecilia. Your mother was then living under the name of Mrs. Schroeder. When your mother, ' Miss Crowley,' formed the acquaintance of my brother, I knew very little of their proceedings. My brother might have married her in the name of Schroeder, at the time she was living with Lady Harrington, as she had good expectations at that time. A separation between them took place shortly after the birth of Cecilia, In 1785 I gave up the grocery business, and entered the service of Sii: John Shaw, and travelled with him abroad. I afterwards entered the service of Sir Drummond Smith, and remained in his service for a number of years. Further than this, I cannot at the present time charge my recollection. — I remain, dear sir, your true and affectionate friend, " George Christopher Meves. " Mr. Augustus Meves, 8 Bath Place, New Road." Shortly after, I was informed by the gentlemen connected with h Pr'ecurseur newspaper, that two gentlemen were about to proceed to Edinburgh on the affairs of Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Berri ; and they could therefore take any message I wished to send to the LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 69, Duchess of Angoul^me. I called, and saw a gentleman of the name of Curten, "called Captain Curten, a French officer;" also, a gentleman of the name of Rogiers, an agent to the Duchess of Berri. Both these gentlemen resided at the French hotel in the Strand ; and the same evening I was introduced to them they paid their passage-money for Leith Harbour, and early the next morning they went on board for their voyage to Edinburgh. On their return to London they called at my house, 8 Bath Place, New Road. Upon their entering my drawing-room, Captain Curten addressed me in the French language with these words, " Monsieur, votre nom est en bon odeur k Holyrood " — " Sir, your name is in good odour at Holyrood." He then stated, that the communication he had to make to me did not come direct from the lips of the Duchess of Angoul^me, but from the Cardinal de Latil, " confessor to Charles x.," who said, that the Duchess of Angoul^me desired him to state that the gentleman who had written to her was mistaken, when he asserted that an exchange of persons had taken place in October 1789, as she, "the Duchess," was quite positive it was her own brother that got into the carriage with her when the Royal Family left Versailles ; and that she had never lost sight of him from that time, until their unfortunate separa- tion in the Tower of the Temple. The Duchess assures the gentleman who wrote to her, that nothing on earth could afford a greater consola- tion to her heart, than to know that her brother was still in existence ; but she believes he died, and, that his death was accelerated by poison in the Temple. She confesses she did not see her brother in death, but the proof was so positive as not to leave the slightest doubt on her mind ; but, respecting the circumstance related of her brother having broken a small enamel box, which was beautifully painted, was true. Captain Curten then observed, " But, sir, the circumstance you have related of your having destroyed a beautiful enamel box in your youth, which you believe belonged to Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Angouleme, very probably, sir, you may have heard of the circumstance from Madame your mother." I replied, " Oh no, gentlemen, I assure you it comes entirely from my own recollection j besides which, when I was a 70 A UTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF young man, I spoke to my reputed mother respecting this circumstance, when she replied, ' Augustus, that must have occurred when you were' at the Messrs. Thornton's boarding-school, and very likely the enamel box belonged to one of the Miss Thorntons, for which, no doubt, you? were punished.' I said, 'No, I was not punished; for I remember! putting the lid of the box into my pocket, and the box part I threw over a high wall' On my honour, gendemen, I tell you the truth, as I certainly broke a beautiful enamel box in my early youth, which occa- sioned great distress at the time, but to whom it belonged I have quite forgotten ; and respecting the Tower of the Temple, during the time the Royal Family were confined there, I assure you I never as yet have read any work relating to that portion of the history of France." They then resumed their conversation, and said, "The name of Marianne de Courville Schroeder is known, and there are now persons at Holyrood who remember such a lady as being in the service of Marie Antoinette, as a confidential friend, in whom the Queen placed great trust and confidence." They then observed, " Pray, sir, did you not, shortly after the decease of your reputed mother, receive a large sum of money ? " I replied, " No, gentlemen ; I did not." They, then in- formed me, that a large sum of money was left for my services in such hands, that it must have come into my possession, as the Duchess, con- sidering that I might by possibility have some claims on her, directed that a sum of money should be placed where it was certain to come into my hands. I then informed them that I had never received any sum of money; nevertheless, I did not doubt the kind intentions, or the goodness of heart, of the Duchess of Angouleme. Monsieur Rogiers then showed me some small packets containing the hair of the young Due de Bordeaux, with his signature of " Henri " on the papers ; and, in conclusion, said, " They should both leave London the next day for France, en route for La Vendue." I then wished them a safe and pros- perous voyage, and we parted in a very friendly manner. One morning I called on Le Comte Fontaine de Moreau, and the Chevalier de Vernieul, at 6 Grafton Street, when they informed me that LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 71 I^ Pricurseur newspaper was about to be given up, as the Royal Family of Ffance were going to leave Holyrood for Germany, and that I had therefore better make up my mind and go at once to Edinburgh, and endeavour to see the Duchess of AngoulSme herself, and should I think fit, either of them would accompany me and procure me a proper intro- duction to Her Royal Highness, through the medium of the parties with whom they were in the constant habit of corresponding. I then arranged for Le Comte Fontaine de Moreau to accompany me, and named Tuesday in the following week as the probable day. This determination I disclosed to Mr. George Meves, when we were at coffee in the evening, telling him it was my intention to leave London for Edinburgh in about four or five days. He endeavoured to persuade me against such a resolution on account of the great expense I should incur, to which I replied, " Probably I shall go alone, when I get letters of introduction from the proper parties," as it was my full determination to seek an interview with the Duchess of AngouMme if possible. He, find- ing he could not dissuade me from proceeding to Edinburgh, said no more on the subject, but to my great astonishment, the next morning before I went out, a medical gentleman called on me, and said, " Sir, I have been sent here by Mr. George Meves to take blood from your arm." I said, " I shall not allow you to do anything of the kind, and I request, sir, you will do me the favour to tell Mr. George Meves not to trouble himself about me or my business.'' On the following Sunday Mr. George Meves dined with me, but I said nothing further on the subject of my going to Edinburgh. During the evening I went out, and on my return home, when I was about undressing myself to go to bed, a Mr. Knight, of Hope House, Hammersmith, walked into my room with a paper in his hand, and saidi " Mr. Meves, I have authority to take you under my charge for a short time ; here is my authority, which you can read if you please ; there is a carriage at the door, and you had better follow me without any opposition, or you may probably get into hands that might ill-treat you." I remonstrated at the illegality of the proceeding, but being fearful of 72 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF disturbing my family, and frightening them at so late an hour, as they had all retired to rest, I thought under such circumstances it was best to submit to this unwarrantable proceeding, and watch my opportunity to escape and make a statement before a magistrate of the illegality of being taken from my own home, and my detention without having committed any act contrary to law, beyond that of my desire to go to Edinburgh in order to procure an interview with the Duchess of Angouleme. Upon my entering the carriage, Mr. Knight gave orders to be driven to his son's house at Brook Green. I had a good bed^ chamber on the first floor, which looked out upon a garden. Not the slightest compunction was used towards me. The next morning I breakfasted with young Mr. Knight and his wife. In the course of the day I walked about the garden to observe the locality, and saw that the gate was securely barred and well locked, except when the tradespeople came to deliver the necessary articles for the service of the establish- ment. Here I was placed, having been taken from my own house, and from the bosom of my family, which I considered a most shameftil proceeding on the part of Mr. George Meves, especially so in his pre- venting my seeking an opportunity of an interview with the Duchess of Angouleme. After I had been there a few days I watched my opportunity, and as some articles were being delivered at the door,' I at once made the best of my way through the gate, and ran towards the Hammersmith road, and hid myself in a passage. My pursuers passed down the road running after an omnibus, supposing that I had entered one, after which I saw an omnibus approaching, when I left my hidingT place and walked up the road to meet it, and seated myself very quietly inside, when my pursuers mounted the step and claimed me, upon which the ladies became very much alarmed, but luckily a French gentleman, " a drawing-master," was in the omnibus, with whom I was acquainted, who said, " I will become answerable for the good conduct of this gentleman, who has been kidnapped from his house and family." After the omnibus had proceeded some distance, I said, " I trust, ladies and gentlemen, you will have the goodness to pardon the abrupt manner in LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 73 whicH I entered the omnibus. This gentleman knows the cause which occasioned my detention, and I shall now, go as far as Southampton Street, Strand, and at once proceed to Bow Street, and lay my com- plaint before the magistrate for my illegal detention." This I accordingly did, but first I called and requested two trades^ people to come as witnesses before the magistrate, and the French drawing-master likewise accompanied me. The magistrate approved of my conduct, and said/ "You have no right to detain this gentleman unless he has committed a breach of the peace, or misconducted him- self; therefore you detain him at your own peril, and he can bring an action at law against you, unless you can show good cause for his detention." I then left the office and called in the Strand. The man,' "my pursuer," said he would not leave me. I then called a coach, and told him he could ride outside with the coachman, and I then returned to Mr. Knight's. When I entered, Mrs. Knight was much vexed at my having ran away. She informed me Mr. Knight had gone to town to iny house. I then said, " I am not in the slightest degree angry with Mr. Knight; he only obeyed the orders he received ; the man who attended me will explain my conduct, likewise the magistrate's opinion respecting my illegal detention." Shortly after, Mr. Knight returned, and was much provoked at my laying the corriplaint before a. magistrate. He then said, " Sir, you are entirely your own master. Mr. George Meves will be here to-morrow, and you must leave ; and as to the complaint you laid before the magistrate, that you were kidnapped from your house and your family, that is not correct, for you came here of your own free-will, and never made the slightest resistance when I showed: .you my authority to take charge of you.'' I answered, "Of course, I knew you would not act unless you had proper authority, and under such circum- stances I submitted, on account of not desiring to create any disturbance at my residence." After some further altercation I retired to rest, and the' next morning I left Mr. Knight's. A few days after, the Royal Family of France arrived in London, 74 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF from Holyrood. The ex-King, Charles x. and suite, put up at Grillion's Hotel in Albemarle Street, Piccadilly, and her Royal Highness the Duchess of Angouleme, " daughter of Louis xvi.," with her Royal High- ness Mademoiselle d'Artois, and his Royal Highness Le Due de Bor- deaux, stayed at Grillion's Hotel in Charles Street, Grosvenor Square. At about eleven o'clock I contrived to procure the use of a first floor in Charles Street, from where I wrote the following note : — " lifth September 1832, 8 Bath Place, New Road. " Mr. Augustus Meves respectfully presents his congratulations on the safe arrival of Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Angouleme in London, and earnestly requests that Her Royal Highness will con- descend to allow him the honour of an interview, previous to her departure from London." I then delivered the letter to one of the attendants at the hotel, and said, " should my request be granted, I should be waiting at apart- ments opposite." I then returned and seated myself near the window, and observed the various carriages that came. Amongst the visitors to the Duchess of Angouleme were Le Comte de Jouffroy and Prince Charles de Broglie. The window I was at was directly opposite the antechamber, from where I observed the company, but the room where the Duchess of Angouleme was in was too distant for me to see minutely their features. His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland came with his Duchess to pay their respects. After a short levee I could just see Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Angouleme take leave of her numerous friends, and pass from her room to her chamber. I then descended to the street, and saw the Due de Guiche enter his carriage, and recognised him, as I had often seen him when he was Captain Grammont, at the parties of the Dowager Marchioness of Lansdowne. I made inquiry at Grillion's Hotel, and was informed that the Duchess would leave England en route for the Continent early the next morning. Nothing particular occurred to me until the year 1835, when, one afternoon while I was walking in Regent's Park, I accidentally met the LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 75; Abb^ Prince Charles de Broglie. We entered into conversation ; and he then informed me Le Comte de Jouffroy had been appointed banker to the Pope of Rome, and that a friend of his, the Marquis of Bonneval, was very desirous of being introduced to me. Shortly after I received a letter from Prince Charles de Broglie. The following is the trans- lation : — " Str, — Monsieur le Marquis de Bonneval having appointed Wednes- day, ' to-morrow,' to take tea with me at my house, wishing to meet you together, if you have no other engagement, I shall be delighted if you will be there with him. Should it be agreeable to you, I shall expect you between eight and nine o'clock. — I beg you to accept the renewed assurance of my distinguished consideration, " Prince Charles de Broglie. "This 13M, P.M. Monsieur Meves, Bath Place, New Road." I went according to invitation, and was introduced to the Marquis of Bonneval ; and, before leaving, I invited both gentlemen to honour me with a visit at my residence. The Prince de Broglie said, he would write -and let me know the evening the Marquis would appoint. A short time after I received the following note : — " Prince Charles de Broglie has the honour of presenting his compUments to Mr. Meves. He has been waiting for an opportunity of meeting the Marquis before replying to his invitation. The latter unites with the Prince in thanks, and if Tuesday evening be convenient to Mr. Meves, they will be at his house about eight o'clock. " This i^h October:^ They came, and we passed a very agreeable evening. I did my best to entertain them, and played several elegant compositions. The Marquis before leaving gave me an invitation to breakfast with him at his house, 90 Norton Street, Portland Place. Accordingly I paid the Marquis a morning visit ; and after breakfast he narrated the following : — " Sir, during the process against Louis xvi., L'H^ritier passed from the Tower of the Temple into La Rue du Temple, and the guards at the gate presented their muskets, in order to prevent him passing into 76. AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF the street, when he cried out, ' Laissez moi passer, pour qUe je demande. grace pour mon pfere '—'■ Let me pass, that I may ask pardon for my. father;' and in his agitation, while throwing, his arms about and wring- ing his hands, he accidentally struck his left wrist on one of the points of thfe bayonets of the guards at the gate, and consequently wounded his left wrist.* Now, sir, it is extraordinary, but you have on your left wrist a scar corresponding with such that must exist on UHerilier. This scar, and particularly your features and general appearance, which so exactly correspond with those of L'Heritier, — -these to me are the most convincing proofs, and not your conversation, as apparently you. are quite ignorant of the circumstances which regard yourself .^'' The Marquis then said, "What do you recollect of your arrival in England, and when have you been led to suppose that you first came under your reputed father's care ? " I replied, " I was led to believe I first came under his care in 1792, from a boarding-school at Horsham, in Sussex, called the Messrs. Thornton's boarding-school, which school I had been given to understand had formerly been a county prison, and on a new county prison being built, the Messrs. Thornton had taken the old county prison, and converted it into a large boarding- school for boys ; and, in consequence of Mrs. Meves getting into pecuniary difficulties, Mr. Meves came to Horsham and paid for my schooling, and took me with him to Great Russell Street, where he was then residing : but, respecting my own recollection, I am quite positive of being placed at a boarding-school at Wandsworth, kept by a Mr. Tempest, and that I was a parlour boarder at this school. I used to sleep in the . same bedroom as the daughters of Mr. Tempest ; likevnse, when my schoolfellows during the holidays went home to their parents, I remained at this school. It was during this vacation that Mrs. Meves came to Wandsworth and took me from school to her residence, 16 Vere Street, Oxford Street; and it was from the windows of her apartments that I saw some illuminations, which illuminations I have since been fully assured were those given in honour of Lord Howi s victory in Jum * See Medical Certificate in Appendix, Note A. LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 77 1794." These incidents I declared to the Marquis I knew were positive, for they emanated from my own recollective powers ; therefore I had not to depend, nor had I gained the knowledge of these incidents from any other person, who might have misled me on the subject. The Marquis then requested me to write a short narrative of what I thought the truth, and give it to the Abb^ Prince de Broglie. He then gave me an invitation to call On him any morning before twelve o'clock, when he should be always most happy to see me. I wrote a short, memoir comprising the subject of the letters, as written to the Duchess of Angouleme, and what I had stated to Charles x.'s party, and adopting the dates I had received from Mr. George Meves, from the information he had given me respecting my reputed father and mother, to my recollections, which I left with the Abbd Prince de Broglie. The occurrences I had stated were in themselves correct', but the dates were incorrect, on account of having been misled as regards time and place, of which I was under a misconception at the time* Some time after, I received the following note from the Prince de Broghe :^- "SiR, — I beg you to be kind enough to accept my excuses. I cannot possibly fall in with the proposal you have made me at this moment, to come to tea at your house, on account of the coldness x)f the evening. I am compelled to take great care of myself in conse- quence of my fall. I shall endeavour to compensate myself for it as soon as I can, and it will be with great pleasure. I avail myself of this opportunity to send you back the interesting papers that yoii confided to me, and trust you will accept my thanks. — I have the honour to be, sir,' your very humble and obedient, , " Prince Charles de Broglie." One morning I called on the Marquis, when we entered into con- versation, during which the following transpired :• That he had emigrated to England in the year 17 91, he having left his mother, the Dowager ■Marchioness of Bonneval, with his brother, the Count de Bonneval, at the family chateau in Normandy, near Elboeuf; and in 1793, during the time the Queen of France was confined in the Prison of the Con- * See Appendix, Note I, for Narrative. 78 AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF ciergerie, he accompanied an English lady, a Mrs. Atkyns, to France, who proceeded on to Paris, and he for safety took refuge at the chateau of his mother in Normandy, as he was fearful of being recognised in Paris, on account of his being known to be a royalist. The cause of her going to Paris was to aid and assist the Queen of France to escape from the Prison of the Conciergerie, and make her way if possible to England. The proffered service of this noble and intrepid lady the Queen declined to accept, unless she could be accompanied by her children, who were confined in the Tower of the Temple. This being impossible to accomplish, the lady returned to England, as it was dan- gerous for her to remain in Paris.* The party to which the Marquis of Bonneval belonged, finding all their endeavours ineffectual in delivering the Queen, now determined to use all their efforts to save the heir. They had access to Simon, " in whose custody the Dauphin was," and Hubert, whom they bribed, as any sum of money required was at their command. The escape of the heir from the Temple was effected, and he, the Marquis, had guarded the carriage which contained the heir, with a guard of undoubted courage, through a certain pass in Nor- mandy leading to the coast ; and upon arriving on the coast in safety, he spurred his horse and returned to the chateau of his mother, and soon after came to England, on account of the danger he laid himself open to by remaining in France. I then said, " My dear Marquis, at what time did this occur, and to where did the carriage proceed ? " He . replied, " During the process against the Queen ; and the carriage pro- ceeded on to La Vendue, for Charette to certify the identity." I then asked the Marquis whether he saw into the carriage, to which he answered. No, he did not ; but he knew perfectly well the carriage con- tained the heir, with a guard of undoubted courage. The Marquis then made me a very kind offer, saying, " There is a very fine house to let in Norton Street, with a good-sized garden attached to it," and desired to know whether I should like to live there, as he thought it would be more comfortable for my children, on account of the garden attached to * See Appendix, Note K, for account of the Atkyns family of Kettringham Hall. LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 79 it, as where I resided in Bath Place there was no garden. I returned many thanks to the Marquis for his kind offer, but I thought the rent of the house would be more than I could conveniently aiford ; when he observed, If it is too expensive,he should feel proud, if I would permit him, to pay for it. I thanked him for his kindness, and said, " I could not think of accepting such ; " when he observed, It was not for me, but for the advantage of my children. Upon another occasion when I called to see the Marquis, he asked me if I had read the trial of Mathurin Bruneau ? I replied, " No, Mon- sieur le Marquis, I have not." He then said, " Have you ever read the trial of the Baron de Richemont ? " I answered, " No ; really I have not, nor any works of that kind." He then gave me two French newspapers, Le Constitutionnel, dated the ist and 2d of November 1834, containing two days' trial of the Baron de Richemont; and he read some portion of the trial to me, and observed : There was a paper pub- lished at Paris, established by a person of the name of Thomas, for the purpose of receiving any evidence concerning the Prince-Royal, Dauphin of France, and that an aged person had given the following information at the office : That he had been in the service of Her Royal Highness Madame Adelaide at Versailles, and had frequently been in the apart- ments of the nurses, and held the Prince-Royal in his arms, and saw the child quite naked when the nurse was washing him, and had observed that the Prince-Royal had an appearance on his right breast resembling two teats. The Marquis then said, " Sir, have you any such mark, as it will be a singular proof? " I replied, " I have certainly many singular marks on my chest, but I have riot two teats on my right breast, nevertheless — . prisoner with him in the HStel de la Force. He perished on the scaffold.' LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 141 the most unfeeling manner, nevertheless these brave hearts did every- thing in their power to ameliorate the sad condition to which their suffering Queen had fallen, assisted by their loyal daughter, who attended the Queen. "One day, 'the 19th August,' Simon, as was his .custom, was being served at table by the young Prince. Simon was drunk, and being dis- pleased with the manner in which the Royal child obeyed his orders or interpreted his intentions, he very nearly put out one of his eyes with a blow with a napkin.'" — Beauchesne's Louis XVII., vol. ii. p. in. Monsieur Alphonse de Lamartine, in speaking of the above treatment the Dauphin received from Simon, says : — " He made the child wait upon him at table, himself seated, the former standing. One day in cruel sport he nearly tore an eye from the Dauphin's head, by striking him on the face with a ktiotted towel." — History of the Girondists, vol. iii. p. 142. The following is from Madame the Princess-Royal's Private Memoirs : — "On the 2ist September, at one in the morning, Hubert arrived with several officers to execute an order of the Commune, that we should be confined more strictly than heretofore ; that we should have but one room ; thai Tison, who did the coarse house-work, should be put in prison in the turret ; that we should have nothing but what was strictly necessary ; that there should be a kind of slide made in the door of our room, by .which our victuals were to be conveyed to us ; and finally, that, except to bring us water and firewood, no person should be allowed to enter the room. The slide in the door was not made, and the officers still continued to come three times a day, and examine very carefully all the bars and bolts, and every kind of furniture. We were obliged to make our own beds and sweep the room. This was a long work at first, from our awkwardness at it, but we were obliged to do it, for we had at last absolutely no one to assist us. Hubert told my aunt that equality was the first law of the French republic, and other prisoners not being allowed attendants, we could have no longer Tison. In order to treat us with all possible severity, they deprived us of even the most trifling accommodations — an armed chair, for instance, in which my aunt used to sit, and several other little matters of the same kind. Nay, things of strict necessity were denied us. "When our meals came -the doors were suddenly clapped to, that 142 HISTORICAL RECORDS TO THE MEMOIRS OF we might not even see the persons who ferought them. We no longer heard any news except by the hawkers, whose cries now and then reached us, but, in spite of all our attention, indistinctly. We were forbidden to go on the leads, and were deprived of our large sheets, lest, notwithstanding the gratings, we should escape from the windows. This was the pretext alleged, but the real cause of the change was — a desire to substitute coarse and dirty sheets. " I believe it was about this time that the Queen's trial began. I have learnt since her death, that there was a plan for eifecting her escape from the Conciergerie, which unhappily failed. I have been assured that the gendarmes who guarded her, and the wife of the gaoler, had been gained over ; that she had seen several well-affected persons in the prison, and amongst others a clergyman, who had administered the sacrament to her, which she received with the utmost devotion. " The opportunity of escape failed, once because, instead of speaking to the second sentinel, as she had been desired to do, she addressed the first. Another time she had already got out of her dungeon, and had passed one of the corridors, when a gendarme obliged her to turn back, and the whole scheme failed. These attempts will not surprise us if we recollect that all honest men took an interest in the Queen's fate, and that (with the exception of the vile and ferocious wretches, who were, alas ! too numerous) every one who was permitted to speak to her, see her, or approach her, were touched with pity and respect, so well did her affability temper the dignity of her manners. We knew none of those details while they were passing. We had only heard that a Chevalier de Saint Louis had given her a pink with a note concealed in it, but, as we were confined closer than ever, we could not learn the result." — Private Memoirs of what passed in the Temple, by Madame Royale, Duchess of Angouleme. " On the 2 1 St September, after Hubert and his party had visited the Princesses, they went down into Simon's room. It will be seen that the object of his visit was more the little prisoner than the captive ladies. He had a long conversation with Simon, looked at the child without speaking to him, took leave of the Master with the words, ' Very soon', and withdrew. " No official order or direction was given on that floor. ' Very soon; is the sole portion of the visit that we have heard of; a farewell word, simple and common enough, but which, under these circumstances, seems frightfully significant."— Beauchesne's Louis XVIL, vol. ii. p. I2Z. On the 3d of October the following decree was passed:— "The LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 143 National Convention, on the proposition of a member, decrees that the Revolutionary tribunal proceed without delay or interruption to the trial of the widow Capet." But the materials for the trial were wanted ; it was necessary to invent a foundation. The following is from Madame the Princess-Royal's Private Memoirs : — " At noon, on the 8th October, while we were employed in dressing ourselves, and arranging our bedroom, P§,che, Chaumette, and David, members of the Convention, with several officers of the municipality, arrived. My aunt, who was not quite dressed, refused to open the door till she was. PSche, addressing me, begged me to walk down stairs. My aunt would have followed, but they stopped her. She asked whether I should be permitted to come up again. Chaumette assured her that I should. ' You may trust,' said he, ' the word of an honest republican; she shall return.' I embraced my aunt, who was greatly affected, and went down, greatly embarrassed at finding myself for the first time in my life alone with men. I did not know what they wanted with me, but I recommended myself to the protection of God. On the stairs Chaumette affected to offer me certain civilities. I made him no answer. I found myself in my brother's room, whom T embraced tenderly, but we were soon torn asunder, and I was obliged to go into another room. Chaumette desired me to sit down, which I did. He sat down opposite to me, while a municipal officer took out his pen. Chaumette asked me my name, but Hubert continued the interrogatory. " ' Tell me the truth,' he said, ' it is not intended to affect you or your friends.' " ' Not to affect my mother?' " ' No, but some other persons who have not done their duty. Do you know the citizens Toulan, Lepitre, Breno, Brugnot, Merle, Michonis % ' " ' No, sir.' " ' "f hat is false — particularly Toulan, that little young man who used to come so often on duty at the Temple ? ' " ' I know nothing of him, nor of the rest.' " ' Do you remember that you were one day alone with your brother in the turret ? ' "'Yes.' '"Your parents had sent you thither that they might be more at their ease to speak to these people ? ' " ' No, sir, but to accustom us to cold.' " 'What did you do in the turret?' 144 HISTORICAL RECORDS TO THE MEMOIRS OF " ' We talked, and played with one another.' " ' When you came out, did you not observe what these men had brought to your parents ? ' " ' I did not see anything.' " Chaumette then questioned me about a thousand shocking things of which they accused my mother and my aunt. I was so shocked at hearing such horrors, and so indignant, that, terrified as I was, I could not help exclaiming that they were infamous falsehoods, but, in spite of my tears, they still pressed their questions. "There were some things which I did not comprehend, but of which I understood enough to make me weep with indignation and horror. " He then asked me several questions about Varennes and other things, to all which I answered as well as I could, without implicating anybody. I had always heard my parents say, that it was better to die than implicate anybody. " At last, about three o'clock, the examination was finished. It had lasted from noon. I entreated Chaumette to let me rejoin my mother, saying, with truth, that I had often made the same request of my aunt. ' It is out of my power,' said he. ' What, sir ! could you not obtain this favour from the General Council ? ' ' No ; I have no authority there.' He then sent me back to my apartment with the municipal officers, desiring me not to speak of what had passed to my aunt, whom they were going to examine also. When I reached my room I threw myself into her arms, but we were soon separated, and she was desired to go down stairs. " They put the same questions to her as they had done to me, relative to the men before mentioned. She answered that she knew the persons and names of the officers and others, but that she had no kind of intercourse with them. She denied having any correspondence without the Temple, and she replied with still more contempt to the shocking things about which they examined her also. " She returned at four o'clock. Her examination lasted but an hour, though mine had lasted three, because the deputies saw that they had no chance of intimidating her, as they had hoped to be able to do a young person, by the length and grossness of their inquiries. They were, however, deceived. They forgot that the life which I had lived for four years past, and, above all, the example shewn me by my parents, had given me more energy and strength of mind. " Chaumette had assured us that this interrogatory had no concern with my mother, nor even ourselves, and that they were not thinking of trying her. Alas ! he deceived us. She was immediately after put upon LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 145 her trial and coniiemned to death, but we were aware of neither." — Madame Royal Duchess of Angouleme's Private Memoirs. They had, previously to examining the Princess-Royal and Madame Elizabeth, interrogated the young Dauphin, endeavouring by threats to make him comply with their demands ; but in this they failed, as the child resolutely refused to comply with their infamous requests ; where- upon the brutal Hubert turned his spleeii on the defenceless and harm- less youth, and ill-treated him. After which, Simon gave him intoxicat- ing drink, by which foul means they obtained what they had failed to do by threats and blows. "On the 13th of October, Fouquier-Tinville came to notify to the Queen his Act of Accusation. She listened to it as a form of death, which was not worth the honour of discussion. Her crime was, being a queen, the consort and mother of a king, and the having abhorred a revolution which deprived her of a crown, of her husband, her children, and her hfe. To love the Revolution, she must have hated nature, and destroyed all human feeling. Between her and the republic there was no legal form ; it was hatred even to death. The stronger of the two inflicted it on the other. It was not justice ; it was vengeance. The Queen knew it, the woman received it. She could not repent, and she would not supplicate. She chose, as a matter of form, two defenders — Chauveau-Lagarde and Tronson-Ducoudray. " These advocates, young, generous, and of high repute, had secretly solicited this honour. They sought, in the solemn trial of the Revolu- tionary Tribunal, not a despicable salary for their eloquence, but the applause of posterity. Nevertheless, a remnant of that instinct of life, which causes the dying to seek a chance of safety even when impos- sible, occupied the Queen the remainder of the day and the following night. She noted some answers to the interrogatories to which she had to submit. "The following day, 14th of October, at noon, she dressed herself, and arranged her hair with all the decorum which the simplicity and poverty of her garments permitted. She did not aifect a display of the rags which should have made the republic blush. She did not dream of moving the regards of the people to pity. Her dignity as a woman and a queen forbade her to make any display of her misery. " She ascended the stairs of the judgment-hall, surrounded by a strong escort of gendarmerie, crossed through the multitude, which so K 146 HISTORICAL RECORDS TO THE MEMOIRS OF solemn a vengeance had drawn into the passages, and seated herself upon the bench of the accused. Her forehead, scathed by the Revolu- tion and faded by grief, was neither humbled nor cast down. Her eyes, surrounded by that black circle which want of rest and tears had graved, like a bed of sorrow, beneath the eyelids, still darted some rays of their former brilliancy upon the faces of her enemies. The beauty which had intoxicated the Court and dazzled Europe was no longer discern- ible ; but its traces could be still distinguished. Her mouth sorrowfully preserved the folds of Royal pride, but ill effaced by the lines of long suffering. The natural freshness of her northern complexion still struggled with the livid pallor of the prison. Her hair, whitened by anguish, contrasted with this youth of countenance and figure, and flowed down upon her neck as in bitter derision of the fate of youth and beauty. Her countenance was natural, — not that of an irritated queen, insulting, in the depth of her contempt, the people who triumphed over her, — nor that of a suppliant who intercedes by her humility, and who seeks forbearance in compassion ; but that of a victim whom long misfortune had habituated to her lot, who had for- gotten that she was a queen, who remembered only that she was a woman, who claimed nothing of her vanished rank, who resigned nothing of the dignity of her sex and her deep distress. " The crowd, silent through curiosity rather than emotion, contem- plated her with eager looks. The populace seemed to rejoice at having this haughty woman at their feet, and measured their greatness and their strength by the fall of their most formidable enemy. The crowd was composed principally of women, who had undertaken to accompany the condemned to the scaffold with every possible insult. The judges were Hermann, Foucault, SelUer, Coffinhal, Deli^ge, Ragmey, Maire, Denizot, and Masson. Hermann presided. 'What is your name!' demanded Hermann of tlie accused. ' I am called Marie Antoinette of Lorraine, in Austria,' answered the Queen. Her low and agitated voice seemed to ask pardon of the audience for the greatness of these names. ' Your condition % ' ' Widow of Louis, formerly King of the French.' ' Your age 1 ' ' Thirty-seven.' " Fouquier-Tinville read the Act of Accusation to the Tribunal. It was the summing-up of all the supposed crimes of birth, rank, and situation of a young Queen^ — a stranger, adored in her Court, omni- potent over the heart of a weak King, prejudiced against ideas which she did not comprehend, and against institutions which dethroned her. This part of the accusation was but the act of accusation of fate. These crimes were true, but tliey were the faults of her rank. The Queen could no more absolve herself from them than the people from accusing LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 147 her of them. The remainder of the Act of Accusation was only an odious echo of all the reports and murmurs which had crept, during ten years, into public belief — of prodigality, supposed licentiousness, and pretended treason of the Queen. It was her unpopularity converted into crimination. She heard all without betraying any sign of emotion or astonishment, as a woman accustomed to hatred, and with whom calumny had lost its bitterness, and insult its poignancy. Her fingers wandered heedlessly over the bar of the chair, like those of a woman who recalls remembrances upon the keys of the harpsichord. She endured the voice of Fouquier-Tinville, but she heard him not. The witnesses were called and interrogated. After each evidence, Hermann addressed the accused. She answered with presence of mind, and briefly discussed the evidence as she refuted it. The only error in this defence was the defence itself. " Many of these witnesses, taken from prisons in which they were already confined, recalled other days to her, and were themselves affected at seeing the Queen of France in such ignominy. Of this number was Manuel, accused of humanity in the Temple, and who gloried in the accusation ; Bailly, who bent with more respect before the downfall of the Queen than he had done before her power. The answers of Marie Antoinette compromised no one. She offered her- self alone to the hatred of her enemies, and generously shielded all her friends. Each time that the debates of the trial brought up the names of the Princesse de Lamballe, or the Duchess of Polignac, to whom she had been most tenderly attached, her voice assumed a tone of feeling, sorrow, and regard. She evinced her determination not to abandon her sentiments before death, and that if she delivered her head up to the people, she would not yield them her heart to profane. The ignominy of certain accusations sought to dishonour her, even in her maternal feelings. The cynic Hubert, who was heard as a witness upon what had passed at the Temple, imputed acts of depravity and debauchery to the Queen, extending even to the corruption of her own son — ' with intention,' said he, ' of enervating the soul and body o that child, and reigning in his name over the ruin of his under- standing.' The pious Madame Elizabeth was named as witness and accomplice in these crimes. The indignation of the audience broke out at these words, not against the accused, but against the accuser. Outraged nature aroused itself. The Queen made a sign of horror, not knowing how to answer without soiling her lips. A juryman took up the testimony of Hubert, and asked the accused why she had not replied to this accusation. ' I have not answered it,' said she, rising with the majesty of innocence and the indignation of modesty, ' because 148 HISTORICAL RECORDS TO THE MEMOIRS OF there are accusations to which nature refuses to reply.' Afterwards, turn- ing towards the women of the audience, the most enraged against her, and summoning them by the testimony of their hearts and their com- munity of sex, ' I appeal against it to all mothers here present,' cried she. A shudder of horror against Hubert ran through the crowd. The Queen answered with no less dignity to the imputations which were alleged against her of having abused her ascendency over the weakness of her husband. ' I never knew that character of him,' said she ; ' I was but his wife, and my duty, as well as my pleasure, was to conform to his will.' She did not sacrifice by a single word the memory and honour of the King for the purpose of her own justification, or to the pride of having reigned in his name. She desired to carry back to him to heaven his memory honoured or avenged. " After the closing of these long debates Hermann summed up the accusation, and declared that the entire French people deposed against Marie Antoinette. He invoked punishment in the name of equality in crime, and equality in punishment, and put the question of guilty to the jury. Chauveau-Lagarde and Tronson-Ducoudray, in their defence, excited posterity without being able to affect the audience or the judges. The jury deliberated for form's sake, and returned to the hall after an hour's interval. The Queen was called to hear her sentence. She had already heard it in the stamping and joy of the crowd which filled the palace. She listened to it without uttering a single word, or making any motion. Hermann asked her if she had anything to say upon the pain of death being pronounced upon her. She shook her head, and arose as if to walk to her execution. She disdained to reproach the people with the rigour of her destiny, and with their cruelty. To suppli^ cate would have been to acknowledge it ; to complain would have been to humble herself; to weep would have been to abase herself She wrapped herself in that silence which was her last protection. Ferocious applause followed her even to the staircase, which descends from the tribunal to the prison." — Lamartine's History of the Girondists, vol. iii. p. 148. The Queen was re-conducted to her loathsome cell, but her mag- lianimity and self-possession never forsook her, and in the depths of the dungeon, with the condemnation of death sealed on her, the forgivuig and noble Marie Antoinette, at half-past four in the morning of the i6th October, wrote for the last time to her sister. She therein recalled the King's injunction to his son, and forgives her enemies the injustices they had heaped upon her. Thus wrote the noble Marie Antoinette :— LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN 01 FRANCE. 149 " Let my son never forget the last words of his father, which I repeat to him here on purpose that he may remember them : ' Never let him think of avenging our death, for I forgive all my enemies the injuries they have done me.' " The guillotine terminated the sorrows and the indignities the troubles of the time, in its rancour and malignity, had unjustly and ungenerously heaped on the heroic and noble Marie Antoinette. She expiated such by the sacrifice of her life on the scaffold, the i6th October 1793, and thereby left a monument of eternal opprobrium to the craven-hearted and detestable monsters who then constituted the authority of France. On her road to immolation, royalists, dressed so as to avoid suspi- cion, followed the Queen from the Conciergerie to the foot of the scaffold, in the hope that some signal might be given to liberate her from the hands of her assassins. The spirit of chivalry guiding the pencil of genius has left the follow- ing portrait of Marie Antoinette at the period of her accession to the throne : — " It is now," says Mr. Burke (in a passage which will live as long as the English language), " sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the Queen of France, then the Dauphiness, at Versailles, and surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her, just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she just began to move in, glittering like the morning-star, full of life, and splendour, and joy. Oh what a revolution ! and what a heart must I have to contemplate without emotion that elevation and that fall ! Little did I dream when she added titles of veneration to those of enthusiastic, distant, respectful love, that she should ever be obliged to carry the sharp antidote against disgrace concealed in that bosom ; little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fallen upon her in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honour and of cavaliers. I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calcu- lators has succeeded, and the glory of Eiirope is extinguished for ever. Never, never more shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank and sex, that proud submission, that dignified obedience, that subordination ISO HISTORICAL RECORDS TO THE MEMOIRS OF of the heart, which kept alive, even in servitude itself, the spirit of an exalted freedom. The unbought grace of life, the cheap defence of nations, the nurse of manly sentiments and heroic enterprise, is gone. It is gone, that sensibility of principle, that chastity of honour, which felt a stain like a wound, which inspired courage whilst it mitigated ferocity, which ennobled whatever it touched, and under which vice itself lost half its evil by losing all its grossness." — Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution of France, p. T49. We must here draw attention to the fact that the Dauphiris escape was effected from the Prison of the Temple during the Queen's trial, which we shall fully substantiate in a subsequent chapter. On marched the reign of tyranny, with all its attributes of dishonour, sacrilege, heartlessness, and corruption, whilst, as reported by the Revolu- tionary Government, the Dauphin was under the sole care of Simon. On the 2nd of January 1794 the municipal body passed a decree, which prohibited the duties of a member of the Council-General being performed by any person holding a paid office under Government Simon became affected by this decree, as he was a member of the Council, and in accordance with such, he tendered his resignation as tutor to the Dauphin, which was accepted. A decree was then passed that the Dauphin should thenceforth have no preceptor. Chaumette and Hubert, who had the direction of everything con- cerning the Temple, agreed to this resolution, by which no interme- diate power was appointed between the Temple and the municipal authority. On the 20th January 1794 the captive was placed in solitary con- finement. The door of his room was fastened up with nails and screws, and grated from top to bottom with bars of iron, in which, half-way up, was placed a shelf on which the bars opened, forming a sort of wicket, closed by other moveable bars, and fastened with an enormous padlock, through which his coarse food was passed. " On the 20th January, the evening before the anniversary of the King's death, the Dauphin was entirely sequestered, like a wild animal, in a high chamber of the Tower, wherein no one entered. Simon, LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 151 alone, threw to him his provisions, half opening the door. A flask of water, seldom replenished, was his beverage. He never got out of his bed, which was never made. His clothes, his shirt, and his shoes had never been changed for more than a year. His window, closed by a moveable fastening, opened no more to the air without. He continu- ally inhaled his own infection. He had neither book, nor plaything, nor tools to occupy his hands. His active faculties, repelled in him by idleness and solitude, had become depraved. His limbs stiffened. His intelligence became suspended under the continuance of his terror. Simon appeared to have received orders to try to what degree of brutality and misery it was possible to make the son of the King descend. " The aunt and sister, also prisoners, incessantly deplored and wept over this child. Their interrogatories respecting him were always answered with insult. During Lent, they brought them only coarse, fat viands, to force them to violate the precepts of the prescribed religion. They ate nothing during forty days but the bread and milk reserved by them from the superfluity of their breakfast. They deprived them of candles in the very first days of spring, from national economy. They were compelled to retire to repose at the close of day, or to watch in darkness. This savage captivity, nevertheless, did not alter the dawning beauty of the young Princess, nor the serenity of her aunt's temper. Nature and youth triumphed in the other over mis- fortune. Their mutual affection, their conversation, and their suffer- ings, felt and comprehended mutually, inspired them with a patience which almost resembled peace. " The order to try Madame Elizabeth was a challenge of cruelty between the ruling men, as to who would be the most pitiless towards the blood of the Bourbons. " On the 9th of May, at the moment when the Princesses, half- undressed, were praying at the foot of their bedsj before retiring to slumber, they heard such repeated and violent blows at the door of their chambers as made it tremble upon its hingee. Madame Elizabeth hastened, to dress herself, and to open it. ' You must descend instantly,' said the turnkeys to her. * And my niece ? ' repHed the Princess. ' We shall attend to her by and by.' The aunt foresaw her fate, rushed towards her niece, and encircled her in her arms, as if to dispute this separation. Madame Royale wept, and trembled. 'Be tranquil, my child,' said her aunt to her ; 'I shall come up again, without doubt, in an instant.' ' No, citoyenne,' rudely replied the gaolers ; ' you will not re-ascend. Take your bonnet and come down.' As she delayed, by her protestations and embraces, the execution of this order, these men loaded 152 HISTORICAL RECORDS TO THE MEMOIRS OF her with invectives and injurious apostrophes. She uttered her last adieu and pious exhortations to her niece in a few words. She invoked the memory of the King and Queen, to give more authority to her words. She bathed the face of the young girl with her tears, and went out, returning to bless her for the last time. Having descended to the wickets, she there found the Commissaries. They searched her anew. They made her ascend a carriage, which conducted her to the Conciergerie. " It was midnight. It has been said, that the day did not contain liours sufficient for the impatience of the Tribunal. The Vice-President awaited Madame Elizabeth, and interrogated her without a witness. They left her afterwards, to take some repose upon the same couch where Marie Antoinette had slept out her agony. On the following morning they conducted her to the Tribunal, accompanied by twenty- four accused, of every age, and of both sexes, selected to inspire the people with the remembrance and resentment of the Court. Of this number were, Mesdames de S^nozan, de Montmorency, de Canisy, de Montmorin ; the son of Madame de Montmorin, aged eighteen ; M. de Lomdnie, the former Minister of War ; and an old courtier of Versailles, the Count de Sourdeval. " ' Of what should she complain ? ' said the public accuser, on seeing this cortege of women of the most illustrious names grouped around the sister of Louis xvi. ' In seeing herself at the foot of the guillotine, surrounded by this faithful nobility, she may imagine herself again at Versailles.' " The accusations were derisive, the answers disdainful. ' You call my brother a tyrant,' said the sister of Louis xvi. to the accuser and to the judges. ' If he had been what you say, you would not be where you are, nor I before you.' She heard her sentence without astonish- ment, and without grief The only favour she asked, was a priest faith- ful to her faith, to seal her death with the Divine pardon. This con- solation was refused her. She suppUed it by prayer, and the sacrifice of her life. A long time before the hour of punishment, she entered the common dungeon, to encourage her companions. " They then cut her long fair hair, which fell to her feet, like the crown of her youth. " The females of her funeral suite, and the executioners themselves, divided it among them. " They bound her hands. They made her then mount upon the last bench of the car which closed the cortege. They desired that her punishment should be multiplied by the twenty-two blows which fell upon these aristocratical heads. The people, assembled to insult, re- mained dumb upon her passage. The beauty of the Princess, angelic LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 153 by interior peace ; her innocence of all the disorders which had rendered the Court unpopular ; her youth, sacrificed to the affection she bore to her brother ; and her voluntary devotion to the dungeon and the scaffold of her family made her the purest victim of Royalty. It was glorious to the Royal Family to oifer up this spotless victim ; impious in the people to exact it.- A secret remorse gnawed every heart. The executioner pre- sented in her, relics to the throne, and a saint to Royalty. Her com- panions already venerated her before heaven. Proud of dying with innocence, they all humbly approached the Princess before ascending one by one to the scaffold, and asked the consolation of embracing her. " The executioners dared not to refuse to females what they haii refused to Hdrault de S^chelles and to Danton. The Princess em- braced all the condemned as they ascended the ladder. After this funereal homage, she yielded her head to the axe. Chaste in the midst of the seductions of beauty and of youth, pious and pure in a frivolous Court, patient in the dungeon, humble in greatness, proud upon the scaffold, Madame Elizabeth bequeathed by her death a model of inno- cence upon the steps of the throne, an example to affection, and admiration to the world, and an eternal reproach to the republic." — Lamartine's Girondists, vol. iii. p. 420. During the time that marked the captive of the Temple's incarcera- tion in solitary confinement — " when commenting on this period, we shall prove it was a substitute confined in the Temple, and that it was on this especial account that the captive was placed in solitary confinement, so that no one should detect this substitution" — many and bitter were the crimes of the Convention, and many Revolutionary favourites forfeited their corrupt lives. The slightest suspicion or attachment to Royalty sufficed to open the prison and lead the proscribed to the scaffold. Terrible v/ere the events that transpired ; all classes were indiscriminately con- demned to death. Irrepressible must b'e the indignation of humanity against the atrocities of the French Revolution ; for what acts have the perpetra- tors of that sad epoch placed on record but insatiable thirst for blood and self-aggrandizement, which has, and will re-echo and re-echo, with bitterness and dishonour to their memories, to the remotest posterity ? Wisdom and prudence forsook their unfeeling hearts, and barbarity 154 HISTORICAL RECORDS TO THE MEMOIRS OF and desolation reigned supreme. What has been the track of their footsteps but ambition, fostered to crush and annihilate each other, their hearts being shut to justice or pity. Their liberty and constitu- tional ideas were to crush and despoil every idea that honour was attached to. The friend of the day was but the enemy of the morrow, for the proscribed found no advocate. His hours were numbered, the guillotine his fate. Horror after horror followed the reign of fanaticism. Nothing could expiate the conduct of the accused. Its sole interpreta- tion was death, and tHe cry was — instant vengeance. Thus, the detestable Hubert and the Hdbertists were suddenly arrested, and were condemned to death on the 24th of March r794. The ruling party in the Convention accused them of a plot between Madame la Comtesse de Rochechouart and Hubert, for the escape of the. Royal Family; that Hubert, as a reward for joining this plot, had already received one million, paid by the Allied Princes, and that another million would be bestowed on him after the successful issue of the enterprise. Couthon accused Hubert, at the Tribunal of the Con- vention, for attempting to send a letter and a packet of fifty gold louis to the children of Capet, for the object of facilitating the escape of the Dauphin. On the 5 th April 1794, Danton was sent to the scaffold, with four- teen of his companions, for endeavouring to re-establish Royalty in France. Danton had established the Revolutionary Tribunal on the Sth July 1793; and this Tribunal, in conformity with a peculiar rule introduced by himself, had the right of commanding the accused to be silent when such silence suited the judges. When Danton was endeav- ouring to justify himself, the judges, and jurors, and members of the Committee, who were present watching the proceedings, being fearful that if Danton was allowed to continue his defence, the voice of the people might decide in his favour, they enforced the very law which Danton himself had so much contributed, in his popularity, to render effective— namely : that whenever prisoners had rebelled against the Tri- bunal, the trial might be closed at once by the summary condemnation L UIS CHARLES, DA UPHIN OF FRANCE. 1 5 5 of the mutinous parties. Thus Danton and his followers' doom were sealed as it were from the mouth of Danton himself. On the 13th April 1794, Chaumette and Arthur Dillon, with nine- teen others, were sent to the scaffold ; — the accusation brought against them, that of "the conspiracy of the prisons." On April 22nd and June 17th, 1794, sixty-six persons perished on the scaffold ; — the crime of which they were accused, "that of attempting the re-establishment of Royalty." Alarm, embarrassment, and depression reigned triumphant. France was frantic. Terror was on all sides. Nobles, generals, clergy, citizens, and peasants, perished together. Anarchy was supreme ; commerce and progress at a stand-still ; France deserted by its ablest men ; no opinion tolerated which did not coincide with the Revolutionists. It was dangerous to utter an opinion. All was exaggeration. On marched the reign of folly, and where would it have ended had not that heartless, unmerciful, and execrable horror " Robespierre," in company with several of his demoniac supporters, amongst whom was Simon, the once guardian of the Dauphin, ascended the scaffold, and forfeited their corrupt lives. Whilst popular they used their influence in creating insurrection and crime, instead of ennobling the cause and prestige of the Revolution and France. Their courage, audacious in authority, forsook them with their fortune. Imprecations and reproach followed them on their road to expiate their polemical follies, by that same multitude who had once apparently adored them. They had taught the people to systematically revile men, majesty, misfortune, and worth, and to cancel from their hearts pity, clemency, and justice. The day came when many of those excessive monsters of the Revolution experienced the wage of their fanatical delirium, and were themselves hailed with that brutal derision they had engendered whilst popular with the misguided populace. They saw their error and repulsive policy too late, and lived to see their once enthusiastic partisans become their most strenuous and implacable enemies. On the 29th July 1794, Laurent, a member of the Revolutionary Com- 156 HISTORICAL RECORDS TO THE MEMOIRS OF mittee of the Temple section, was appointed keeper of the imprisoned captives. On his repairing to the Temple on the evening of his appoint- ment, the municipals received him in the Council-room, and it was not till two o'clock in the morning that they conducted him to the door of the captive's apartment. On reaching the door, and peering through the wicket into the dungeon, one of the municipals summoned the child ; but no amount of threatening could make the captive rise from hi.s miserable pallet to come to the wicket, and it was thus, at the wicket, by the light of a candle turned upon the incarcerated innocent, that the municipals presented the unfortunate captive to the charge of his new keeper. Laurent, seeing the condition the child was in, and knowing the responsibility of his office, the next day addressed a request to the Committee of General Safety, that an examination should be made to ascertain the child's condition. His official request was attended to. On the 31st July 1794, several members of the Committee of Gene- ral Safety, accompanied by municipals, repaired to the Temple to examine into the state of the captive. On arriving at the door of his room, they called him, but he answered not ; they then ordered the door to be opened, when one of the workmen attacked the bars of the wicket, which soon enabled him to put his head into the room. And seeing the unfortunate child, he asked him why he had not replied. The child still remained silent. The fastenings of the door were removed, and the visitors entered this deplorable kennel, which had contained the captive from January till July, when he was found all but dead, and in the most deplorable condition ; and, as recorded by Beauchesne in his work of Louis XVII., vol. ii. p. 224, "his discoloured lips and hollow cheeks had a sort of greenish tinge, in their ghastly paleness, and his blue eyes, enlarged by the thin- ness of his face, but from which all brightness was gone, now that they no longer reflected the azure light of heaven, seemed to have taken a greyish, greenish, tint in their immobility ; and his beautiful fair hair, once destined to wear the crown of France, was now, to the shame of France, given up to the attack of vermin." LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 157 Respecting the colour of the eyes and hair of the captive, we shall have Occasion to comment thereon in a subsequent chapter. Laurent appears to have behaved very kindly to his cliarge ; not- withstanding, the captive remained almost entirely silent.* The duties being too onerous, and he not desiring to have the entire responsibility of the captive, he complained several times to the Commissaries, and requested that the Committee of Public Safety would appoint in con- junction with him a colleague. In October, Laurent addressed himself directly to the Committee of Public Safety, when his request was granted. On the 8th November 1794, the Committee of Public Safety, on the presentation of the Administrative Committee of Police, selected citizen Gomin to be attached to the Temple. " He entered on his duties the 9th November, when Laurent asked him 'if he had ever seen the Prince-Royal,' to which he replied, ' I have never seen him.' ' In that case,' replied Laurent, ' it will be some time before he will say a word to you. The municipal on duty and his keepers had imperative injunctions not to permit the brother and sister meeting, or take their walks at the same time.' " — Beauchesne's Louis XVII., vol. ii. p. 239. The following is the routine observed towards the prisoner of the Temple : — " About nine o'clock every morning the two keepers and the Com- missary usually went up together into the Dauphin's room, accompanied by Gourlet. The latter dressed the Prince, and while the child was at breakfast, made his bed, and swept the room, in presence of his superiors. " The breakfast, consisting of a cup of milk, or of fruit, was brought in by Caron, the kitchen assistant. " When the room was arranged, and he had taken his breakfast, the Prince was left alone until dinner-time, that is, about two o'clock. The keepers then went up again, accompanied by the new civic Commis- sary. The dinner cpnsisted of soup, a small piece of boiled meat, and a plate of dry vegetables, usually lentils. The child was then left alone till eight o'clock in the evening. "When the evening came, one of the keepers, generally Gomin, * The condition of the prisoner of the Temple was ameliorated imder Laurent's charge. Nevertheless, up to June 179S, the captive of the Temple was subjected to almost solitary confinement. For routine enforced at the Temple towards the captive see pp. 157 and 168, Historical Record.^. 158 HISTORICAL RECORDS TO THE MEMOIRS OF went up with Caron or Gourlet to light the lamp, which was placed in the front room, and which lighted the bedroom through a glass window. "Supper was brought at. eight o'clock, and was the same with the dinner, except that there was no boiled meat. After this the child was put to bed and left alone until nine o'clock next morning." — Beauchesne's Louis XVII., vol. ii. p. 241. " On the 14th November 1794, six days after Gomin's entrance into the Temple, there came a Commissary on duty named ' Delboy.' His manner was blunt, and his speech brief. He had everything opened for his examination, with almost brutal despatch, but under this dis- agreeable and arrogant outside, there was soon visible a certain eleva- tion of sentiment, for he expressed his indignation at the conduct pursued towards the imprisoned captives ; and when he saw the diet the captive boy was subjected to, he reproved his keepers by saying, ' Why this bad food ? if they were at the Tuileries we might contend against them having any food, but here, in our own hands, we should show clemency towards them ; the nation is generous.' ' Why exclude the light under the reign of equality, the sun shines for all, and they ought to be allowed their share of it ? ' ' Why prevent the children from seeing each other under the reign of fraternity 2 ' Then addressing the child, he said, ' Would you not, my boy, be very glad to go and play with your sister ? T do not see why the nation should recollect your origin, if you forget it yourself! Then turning towards Laurent and Gomin, he said, ' It is not his fault that he is the son of his father ; he is nothing but an unfortunate child, therefore do not be hard upon him ; the unfortunate belong to humanity, and the country is the mother of all her children.' But it had been expressly forbidden to allow of any meeting taking place betrjueen the children of Louis XVI. Mathieu had signified this prohibition in the most formal manner, and for this reason no fiotice was taken of the philosophizing Delboy. Since their separation on the 2,rd July, and iJieir meeting on the ph October 1793, Madame Royale had not once seen her brother.' — Beauchesne's Louis XVII., vol. ii. pp. 243 and 245. All were not as Delboy, for generally the municipals' hearts were incapable of the smallest degree of moderation or pity, for the suffer- ings of the captives. Proposals were made to the Convention by foreign Powers, and the chiefs of the Royalist army of La Vendue, for the release of the children of Louis XVI. " Several members of the Convention, who had not voted for the LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 159 death of Louis xvi., were employed in carrying on negotiations with the chiefs of the Catholic and Royal Army. Le Chevalier de Charette and his brave companions in arms, lacking the most necessary war stores, skilfully profited by the overtures made by the Committees of the Convention, and concluded with them a treaty of peace — at least an armistice. Hostilities ceased, and at a stated period the young King and the Princess-Royal were to be given up to the Vendeans. Some people assert that shortly before the death of Louis xvii. the Committee of Public Safety had treated with the chiefs of La Vendue, and had engaged themselves to place the heir and his sister in their hands before the 15th June 1795 at the latest. These persons positively assert that M. Dessotteux, Baron de Cormatin, Major-General in the Catholic Royal army of Britta,ny, had the honourable mission to go to Paris for the children of Louis xvi." — Eckard's Memoires Historiques sur Louis XVII, p. 278. - " The published Articles of the Armistice stipulated that the Ven- deans should be allowed the free exercise of the Catholic religion, that the sequestrations imposed on the estates of the insurgents should be taken off, and that the republican Government should reimburse notes to the amount of two million francs, mostly bearing the head of Louis xvii., which had been signed and circulated by the chiefs of the Royal army. " At the conclusion of this suspension of arms, several chiefs of the Vendeans, having at their head the celebrated Chevalier de Charette, repaired to Nantes, where they assisted at the Assembly with their white cockades and their Royal uniforms. All was to remain thus until the secret articles, settled between the Vendeans and the deputies of the Committees, had been ratified by the Convention. % " These Articles stipulated, between other things, that Louis xvii., and Madame his noble sister, should be given up to the Catholic and Royal army of Vendue and Brittany, and that the re-establishment of the Catholic religion should be proclaimed in France before the 15th June." — Eckard's Memoires Historiques sur Louis XVII, p. 435 ; likewise, Beauchesne's Louis XVII, vol. ii. pp. 303 and 367 ; and Hue's Last Years of the Reign and Life of Louis XVI, p. 501. Spain had demanded the liberation of the prisoners of the Temple as the preliminary condition of peace. Simonin, a Government com- missary, who had been sent to Madrid to treat for an exchange of prisoners, had listened to the following proposals, which he transmitted to the Government :— i6o HISTORICAL RECORDS TO THE MEMOIRS OF " The King of Spain is disposed to treat of peace on the following terms :— ist, Spain will recognise the French republic. 2nd, France will give up the children of Louis xvi. to his Catholic Majesty. 3rd, The French provinces bordering on Spain will form an independent State for the son of Louis xvi., which he will govern as King of Navarre." The Committeie of Public Safety immediately recalled that agent in the following terms : — " Simonin to be recalled instantly ; he com- promises the dignity of the French people." When the Government, on the 22nd January 1795, resolved to retain the rallying-point and the hope of the Royalists in their custody, fear- ing there would be much to be apprehended were they to set the imprisoned children at liberty. The captive boy's health becoming in an extremely dangerous state, " a municipal, who was a surgeon, and had been employed to attend the young invalid, made a report to the Council of the Commune respecting his condition, and they judged it expedient to acquaint the authorities. On the 26th of February, several civic Commissaries repaired to the Council of General Safety to inform them of the danger of the prisoner's life. Upon being interrogated as to the nature of the danger, the muni- cipals replied, 'that little Capet had swellings at all joints, particularly at his knees, and that it was impossible to extract a word from him ; and that always, either sitting or in a recumbent position, he steadily refused to take any sort of exercise.' Upon being interrogated as to the period from which this obstinate silence and systematic inactivity might be dated, they answered, 'Ever since the 6th October 1793, that day of dis- graceful memory, when Simon had induced the son of Marie Antoinette to sign the horrible interrogatory invented by Hebert.' " — Beauchesne's Zouis XVI I, vol. ii. p. 264. The Committee of General Safety directed Harmand "of the Meuse,'' one of its members, who was attached to the police section of Paris, to proceed to the Temple, with two of his colleagues, and satisfy himself as to the real state of the case, and make out a detailed report of everything relating to the imprisoned child. The next day, " 27th February," the Commissaries, Messrs. Har- LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. i6i mand, Mathieu, and Reverchon, repaired to the Temple to see the suffering captive. The following is M. Harmand's published report of this visit : — " We arrived at the doors, the bolts of which confined the innocent boy, the only son of our King — our King himself. The key turned with a grating noise in the lock, and on the door being opened, we dis- covered a small anteroom, perfectly clean, with no other furniture in it but an earthenware stove, communicating by an opening in the wall with the adjoining room, and which stove could be lighted only in the anteroom. The Commissaries observed to us that this precaution had been taken in order not to leave a fire in power of a child. " The room so adjoining was the Prince's chamber, containing his bed ; the door was fastened on the outside, and we had again to wait for its being opened. These sounds of locks and bolts inspired a gloom, the more painful from being increased rather than dispelled by reflec- tion. " The Prince was sitting near a small square table, on which were scattered a number of playing cards, some turned up into the shapes of trunks and boxes, and others raised into houses. He was occupied with these cards when we entered, and did not leave off his play. He had on a sailor's dress, new, and made of slate-coloured cloth ; his head was uncovered, and the room was clean and well lighted. The bed was a small wooden one, without curtains, and the bedding and linen seemed to us to be good, and of a fine quality. The bed was behind the door, on the left hand on going in, and farther on the same side was another bedstead without bedding, placed at the foot of the first. Between them there was a door which was shut, leading into another apartment, which we did not see. The Commissaries told us that the second bed had been that of the shoemaker Simon. " After having become acquainted with these preHminary details I approached the Prince, but our motions did not appear to make any impression upon him. I told him that the Government, informed too late of the bad state of his health, and of his refusal to take exercise, or to answer the questions put to him upon that subject, as well as his rejecting the proposals made to him to take some remedies, and to receive the visit of a physician, had sent us to him to ascertain these facts, and, in its name, to renew all those proposals ; that we hoped they would be agreeable to him, but that we should take upon ourselves to offer him advice, and even to add reproaches, if he should persist in remaining silent, and in not taking exercise ; that we were authorized to 1 62 HISTORICAL RECORDS TO THE MEMOIRS OF offer him such objects of diversion or recreation as he might desire ; and that I requested he would tell me whether that pleased him. " While I was thus addressing him he looked at me steadfastly without any change of position, and he listened to me apparently with the greatest attention, but not one word in reply. " I then began afresh my proposals, as conceiving that he had not understood me, and I detailed them pretty nearly in these words :— " ' I have perhaps explained myself badly, or perhaps you have not understood me, Sir. I have the honour to ask whether you wish for a horse, a dog, birds, toys of any kind whatever ; or one or more com- panions of your own age, whom we will present to you previously to their being permanently attached to you ? Will you, at the present moment, go down into the garden, or ascend the turrets ? Do you wish for sweetmeats, cakes, etc. ? ' " I exhausted in vain the list of all the things that are usually wished for by children of his age. / did not receive a word of answer, not even a word or a motion, although his face was turned towards me, and he looked at me with an amazing fixedness, denoting the most utter indifference. " I then took upon me to assume a more decided tone, and I ventured to say to him, ' Sir, so much obstinacy at your age is a fault that nothing can excuse. It is the more surprising, since our visit, as you must perceive, has for its object the affording some relief to your situation, some attentions and succours to your health. How can we attain this object if you persist in refusing to answer, and to say what is agreeable to you? Is there any other way of making the proposal? Have the goodness to state it, and we shall adopt it.' " Still the same fixed look and the same attention, but not a word. I resumed : — " ' If your refusal to speak, Sir, involved none but yourself, we would wait, not without pain, but with more patience, until you might be pleased to speak, as we must conclude that your situation is less dis- pleasing to you than we imagined, since you will not change it ; but you do not belong to yourself, all those about you are responsible for your person and your condition. Do you wish that we ourselves should be blamed ? For what answer can we give to the Government, of which we are only the delegates? Have the goodness to answer me, I entreat you, or we must finish by commanding you.' " Not a word, and always the same fixedness. I was in despair, as well as my colleagues ; that look had especially so strong a feature of resigna- tion and indifference that it seemed to say, ' What does it matter to mel Despatch your victim.' LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 163 " I could bear no more ; my heart was full, and I was near giving way to tears of the bitterest grief, but some steps which I took about the room jecovered me, and I resolved to try the effect of a tone of command. I tried it accordingly, placing myself close, on the Prince's right hand, and saying to him, ' Give me your hand.' He gave it me ; and extend- ing mine up to his arm-pit I felt a swelling at the wrist, and one at the elbow. It seems that these swellings were not painful, for the Prince gave no sign of their being so. " ' The other hand.' He gave it me likewise, but there was nothing. " ' Allow me to touch your legs and knees.' He rose, and I found the same swellings under both knees. " In this position the young Prince had the appearance of rickets and a bad formation. His legs and thighs were long and thin, his arms the same ; his neck short, his chest raised, his shoulders high and narrow ; his head was in every respect finely formed, and beautiful ; his com- plexion clear, but without colour ; his hair long and handsome, well kept, and of a light chesnut colour. " ' Now, have the goodness to walk.' He did so immediately, going towards the door, and returning at once to his seat. " ' Do you think. Sir, that that is exercise ? And do you not perceive, on the contrary, that this apathy is alone the cause of your ill-health, and of the disorders with which you are threatened % Pray believe in our experience and regard for you. You cannot hope to recover your health but by attending to our proposals and advice. We will send you a physician, and we trust that you will consent to answer him ; at least make us a sign that it will not be disagreeable to you.' " Not a sign, not a word. " ' Be so good. Sir, as to walk again, and for a little longer time.' " Silence and refusal. He remained on his seat, his elbows resting on the table; his features did not change for an instant, not the least motion apparent, not the least mark of surprise in the eyes ; just as if we had not been present, and as if I had not spoken. I must observe that my col- leagues said nothing. " We looked at each other in amazement, and we were advancing towards each other to exchange our reflections, when the Prince's dinner was brought. " A new scene of grief, — it should have been seen and felt to be believed. " A porringer of red earthenware contained a black soup, on the top of which floated a few lentils, and on a plate of the same material lay a small bit of boiled meat, also black and shrivelled, the bad quality of which was sufficiently apparent. There was a second plate of lentils, and 1 64 HISTORICAL RECORDS TO THE MEMOIRS OF a third, in which were six chesnuts, rather burnt than roasted, a pewter fork, but no knife. The Commissaries told us that this was by order of the Council of the Commune. And there was no wine. " Such was the dinner of Louis xvii., of the successor to so many kings ; and such was the treatment suffered by innocence. "Whilst the illustrious prisoner was eating this shameful meal, my colleagues and myself expressed by our looks to the Commissioners of the Municipality our astonishment and indignation ; and in order lo spare them, in the Prince's presence, the reproaches they deserved, I made them a sign to come into the anteroom. There we explained our sentiments, but they repeated that it was the order of the munici- pality, and that it was worse before their time. We ordered that this execrable system should be changed for the future, and that they should begin that moment to improve his dinner, and particularly to give him some fruit. I desired that grapes, which were then scarce, should be procured for him. " Having given these orders we went back into the room, and found that he had eaten everything. I asked him whether he was satisfied with his dinner ? " No answer. Whether he wished for some fruit ? No answer. Whether he liked grapes ? No answer. " Shortly after the grapes were brought they were placed on the table, and he ate them without speaking. " ' Do you wish for more ? ' No answer, "We could then no longer doubt that every effort on our part to induce him to speak would be useless. I told him the conclusion we had come to, and I said to him that it was the more painful to us, as we could attribute his silence towards us only to our having had the misfortune to displease him. I added, that we should in consequence propose to the Government to send other Commissioners who might be more agreeable to him. " The same look, hut no reply. ' Do you wish, Sir, that we should withdraw V No answer. " After these words we retired. I have stated that the motive to which the Commissaries attributed the obstinate silence of the Prince, was his having been forced by Simon to give evidence against his mother and his aunt T ittquired of them in the anteroom, whetkr thai silence really began on the day upon which that atrocious violence had compelled him to sign the odious and absurd deposition against the Queen. They repeated their assertions on that point, and protested that the Prince had not spoken since the evening of that day. " My colleagues and I agreed that for the honour of the nation, LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 165 which was ignorant of these unhappy circumstances — for that of the Convention, which indeed knew them not, but which ought to have known them, and for that even of the criminal Municipality of Paris, which knew all, and which caused all these evils — we should confine ourselves to the ordering some steps of temporary alleviation ' which were immediately carried into effect ;' and that we should not make a report in public, but in a secret committee,^ and it was so done'' — Harmand's Report, f After the authorities heard the report of the Commissioners, no physician was employed to endeavour to restore or alleviate the con- dition of the suffering captive. Harmand, a few days after his visit to the Temple, was sent from Paris on a mission to the Armies, which hindered him from seeing adopted the measures he had recommended to improve the state of the neglected captive of the Temple. Doubtless the authorities sent him away from Paris on account of his report, and the measures he had recommended, for they did not desire to ameliorate the condition of their prisoner, as they had resolved on his death. * This accounts for the extraordinary circumstances stated in this report being only to be found in M. Harmand's publication. t John Baptiste Harmand, one of the Commissioners of the Convention appointed to inquire into the state of the son of Louis xvi. Few men in the Revolution have suffered greater vicissitudes of fortune than J. B. Harmand. He was of a respectable family, and an advocate at bar- before tlie Revolution. In 1 792 he was elected to the Convention, where he voted for the exile of the King, which was equivalent, under the circumstances, to a vote of acquittal. Though he sat on the Mountain, he was really a Modere, not to say a Royalist. After the fall of Robespierre he became a member of the Committee of Public Safety, in which capacity he made an official visit to the prisoner of the Temple. Harmand became a member of the Council of Ancients, and secretary of that body; he was afterwards elected to the Council of Five Hundred, and when the accession of Bonaparte began to produce a regular Government, M. Harmand was appointed Prefect of a Department, and created successively a Member of the Legion of Honour and a Baron of the Empire. He, however, does not seem to have been a more cordial partisan of the Usurpation than he was of the Revolution, for he seems to have been deprived of his Prefecture and reduced to an obscure and severe, but not dishonourable poverty. In 1814 he published a pamphlet on the treatment of the Royal Family in the Temple, from which his visit to the captive is an extract. Towards the end of 1815, this man, who had sat in all the Legislatures of regenerated France, was found, in December 1815, starving of cold and hunger in the streets of Paris, and lived only to be conveyed to the public hospital. 1 66 HISTORICAL JtECORDS TO THE MEMOIRS OF Laurent resigned his position as keeper of the captive, and on Sunday, 30th March 1795, he quitted the Temple. On Monday'the 31st March 1795, Etienne Lasne was informed of his nomination as keeper of the Temple captive by a message from the Police, and as he did not immediately obey the order by repairing to the Temple, two gendarmes proceeded to his residence, and conducted him to his new occupation. " After Lasne enters on his duties, he reports he had not been able to extract a single word from the Dauphin during three weeks he had been at the Temple." — Beauchesne's Zouis XVII., vol. ii. p. 294. The captive became worse and worse in health, and the keepers wrote on the register, "Little Capet is unwell." No notice was taken of this. The next day they wrote, " Little Capet is dangerously ill," which was still unheeded. They then added, " It is fearpd he will not live." On Wednesday 7th May 1795, three days after their first report, they were informed of the decision of the authorities, who appointed M. Desault to attend the captive. On Desault arriving at the Temple, after having written down his name, he was admitted to see the captive. He made a long and attentive examination of the unfortunate invalid, whom he considered attacked with the germ of a scrofulous affection.' He asked the captive many questions, without being able to obtain an answer from him, and without giving an opinion as to the captive's state before the Commissaries, he left the Temple. He did all in his power to recruit the health of his unfortunate patient, and proposed to the authorities that he should be removed from the Temple to the country, where he thought the healthy air, together with assiduous treatment, and constant care, might possibly succeed in pro- longing his life. This advice on the part of the physician met with no attention. " /'' is stated that he did not recognise in his patient of the Temple the Dauphin, but a substitute who was enacting the Dauphin's part, which discovery he disclosed to the apothecary Choppaii." LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 167 On the 30th May, Desault visited his patient, when the doctor was well in health. The next morning, at the hour he should have arrived to attend the captive, he did not come to the Temple. The Commis- sary for the 31st May was Bellanger, an artist, who remained with the captive alone, awaiting the arrival of Desault. On the ist June, De- sault again failed to attend at the Temple, and on the 2nd June, when the Commissary for the day arrived at the Temple, and hearing the keepers of the captive express their astonishment, that Desault did not come to attend his patient, he informed them that Desault was no more, he having died on the ist June. Consequently, there were six days that the invalid was without medical treatment, as a surgeon did not attend the young sufferer till the sth June, his guardians in the interim being his two keepers, and the Commissary for the day. It is asserted that the authorities caused the assassinations of the physician Desault and the apothecary Choppart, who both died sud- denly, and within four days of each other, whilst the captive was under their medical treatment. The reason assigned for the authorities in- stigating such, was on account of Desault having expressed himself, that the captive he was attending in the Temple was not the Dauphin, and that they, in fear of being denounced, caused the medical men's death, as they could not rely on their silence.* There seems something very mysterious connected with this strange coincidence, which we shall point out in the proper place. No notes were found, " we should say, not made public," amongst Desault's papers, respecting his attendance on the captive. The Princess-Royal again and again supplicated the authorities to permit her to see and attend her brother during his illness, but with no * The following may be read in a pamphlet published in 1831, by M. Labreli de Fontaine, formerly librarian to the late Duchess Dowager of Orleans :— " M. Abeille, medical pupil under Dr. Desault at the time of his violent death, declared to whoever would hear it, in France, and in the United States, where he has since sought refuge, that the death of that doctor immediately followed the report which he made, to the effect, that the child to whom they had introduced him in .the Temple, was not the Dauphin, whom he knew perfectly well. The American Bee, edited by M. Chaudron, mentions this fact in an article inserted in 1817." 1 68 HISTORICAL RECORDS TO THE MEMOIRS OF avail ; the order was imperative, that no meeting, under any pretence, should be allowed to take place ; the reason is conclusive why the order was so. " The Dauphin's state grew more and more alarming. The affec- tion of Madame Royale for him increased. One might have said that she guessed his danger. She was continually questioning the keepers and commissaries without being able to obtain anything from them but vague words, which, though intended to reassure her, only alarmed her the more. Her entreaties to see her brother, and to be allowed to nurse him, were always refused." — Beauchesne's Louis XVII., vol. ii. p. 307. Monsieur Hue, formerly valet-de-chambre to Louis xvi., thus writes respecting his petition to be allowed to attend the captive of the Temple : — " Being informed of the declining state of Louis xvii., I petitioned the Committee of General Safety as a favour to be allowed to shut my- self up again with the Prince to take care of him. My prayer was rejected, on pretence that the Commissioners of the Temple took care of him." — Hue's Last Years of the Reign and Life of Loicis XVI, p. 501. On the 5th June, M. Pelletan, head surgeon of the Grand Hospice de I'Humanitd, was appointed by the Committee of General Safety to continue the medical treatment of the son of Louis. He went to visit his patient at five in the afternoon. He was entirely (so it is stated) unacquainted with the Dauphin. He found the captive in a most distressing condition, that he demanded instantly the co-operation of another member of the profession, as he did not wish to bear such responsibility alone, and desired that the captive might be removed into another room where light and air was. His request was attended to. On the 7th June, M. Dumangin, chief physician of the Hopital de I'Unit^, was appointed to attend the captive in conjunction with M. Pelletan. They both repaired to the Temple to see their patient, and saw that his death was inevitable. They expressed their astonishment at the solitary state in which the captive was left during the night and part oj LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 169 the day, and strongly insisted in their bulletin that the captive should be allowed a nurse to attend him.* The Committee next day complied with this request, but, alas ! poor child, this day was his last, as he passed from the power of his tor- mentors ; and, according to the testimony of Etienne Lasne, "his last keeper," the captive Prince died in his arms at half-past two in the fore- noon of the 8th June 1795 ; and upon visiting his lifeless prisoner, at his supper hour, he says : — " His eyes, which, while suffering, had half closed, were then open, and shone as pure as the blue heaven, and his beautiful fair hair fell like a frame around his facer — Beauchesne's Louis XVII, vol. ii. p. 324. According to the testimony of the guardians of the captive, " Gomin and Lasne," as recorded in M. Beauchesne's Louis XVII, an entire change takes place in the manner of the captive after the death of the physician M. Desault, for up to the entrance of M. Bellanger, the acting Commissary at the Temple, the 31st May, "the first day M. Desault missed attending the captive," it had been impossible to elicit any word or conversation from the imprisoned invalid (M. Harmand's report like- wise testifies this systematic silence), but, subsequent to the entrance of M. Bellanger at the Temple, "the 31st May," the captive, who had hitherto been dumb, and who had an aversion to strangers, all of a sudden finds his tongue, and instead of waiting to be spoken to, he at once begins to converse with the strange physicians. This will be commented on hereafter, which may throw some light on the mysterious movements surrounding the imprisoned captive. The captive's death is attested to in the following extraordinary manner : — "We, the undersigned, Jean-Baptiste-E^genie Dumangin, head physician of the Grand Hospice de I'Unitd, and Philippe-Jean Pelle- tan, head surgeon of the Hospice de I'Humanitd, assisted by citizens * For description of the lonely condition to which- the captive of the Temple was subjected, see page 157, Historical Records. 170 HISTORICAL RECORDS TO THE MEMOIRS OF Nicolas Jeanroy, professor in the medical schools of Paris, and Pierre Lassus, professor of legal medicine in the Ecole de Sante of Paris, whom we associated with ourselves, in obedience to a decree of the Committee of General Safety of the National Convention, dated yesterday, and signed Bergoing, president, Courtois, Gauthier, Pierre Guyomard, for the purpose of proceeding together to examine the body of the son of the late Louis Capet, and verifying its state, have acted as follows :— " Having, all four, arrived at eleven o'clock a.m. at the outer gate of the Temple, we were received there by the Commissaries, who admitted us into the Tower. On attaining the second floor, we found, on a bed — in the second a suite of rooms there, — the dead body of a child, ap- parently about ten years old, which the Commissaries declared to be that of the son of the late Louis Capet, and which two of our number recognised as that of the child they had been attending for several days. The said Commissaries declared to us that this child had expired at about three o'clock P.M. the day Before, on which we proceeded to seek for the signs of death, which we found in the general paleness and coldness of the entire body, etc. etc. '.' This report was made and closed at Paris, in the above-mentioned place, by the undersigned, at half-past four p.m., above-named day and year. " J. B. E. Dumangin, p. J. Pelletan, P. Lassus, N. Jeanroy." The remains of the captive were interred, or were reported such, in the cemetery of Saint Marguerite, on the night of the loth June. No persons were allowed in the grounds but the authorities. " Mystery was the watchword, and strict watch was kept over the resting-place of this unfortunate child, till no trace was visible where he had been interred." The Princess-Royal had not seen her brother since October 1793, therefore it was no more difficult for her to believe in his death than in that of her mother, Marie Antoinette, and her aunt, Madame Elizabeth, as she was informed from the same channel of all that had befallen her -relatives ; thus the same tongue pronouncing her " motherless, brother- LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 171 less, and that of her martyred aunt, the devoted Elizabeth, long after those sad events had taken place." Therefore it was no more difficult for her to believe one than the other. Sad indeed, was such deplorable news to fall on the ears of a young, persecuted, and imprisoned daughter of France, and pitiless were the times that had occasioned such. The Princess now alone remained in the Temple. Negotiations were ratified between Austria and France for an exchange of (prisoners, the result being that the Princess regained her liberation from the Tem- ple at midnight on the 19th December 1795, and repaired by coach en route for Vienna, thus escaping from the power of the heartless oppressors of the family. Having reached that period of French History which is connected with our late father's Memoirs, we will now comment on his work, and on the preceding Historical Records, and then leave it to public opinion to decide whether the Dauphin died in the Temple, or escaped therefrom. END OF THE HISTORICAL RECORDS. 172 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF lOUIS IV. EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS REVIEWED. MRS. MEVES. |T is seen, antecedent to the demise of Mr. William Schroeder Meves, that both Mr. and Mrs. Meves had never alluded in any way that our father was the Dauphin, for they had done all in their power, if his thoughts reverted to circumstances of his youth, to quell suspicion, or to give him the slightest clue which may have brought any light on his real origin ; and it was not till after the decease of Mr. William Schroeder Meves, and on his will being read, wherein he designates him as his natural reputed son, that makes Mrs. Meves make the declaration that our father was not her son, but the son of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. Unquestionably, no person could have known better than herself, whether she was addressing her own son, or the son of another person. It is seen, page 41, in the Memoirs, that Marianne Crowley was educated at the convent of Saint Omer, and on her return to her father's at Bath, she studied music under a Mr. Linley. In 1777, she went to London, and studied music under Signor Sacchini, " the cele- brated Italian composer;"* and whilst there, pursuing her studies, her * See Appendix, Note G — Mrs. Crowley's letter to her daughter in London in January 1777, thereby showing that Miss Crowley was residing in London during .Signor Sacchini's sijoiir in England. CHARLES, DA UPHIN OF FRANCE, RE VIE WED. 1 7 3 mother died. Mr. Crowley then took his daughter to Paris for the purpose of placing her in a convent. Whilst in Paris, it appears that a certain Mr. Franks (a page appointed to attend at the King's, " Louis XVI.," writing-table), who was acquainted with Mr. Cornelius Crowley, states that he saw Mr. Crowley in Paris, with his daughter, Mr. Crowley having come there for the purpose of placing her in a convent. There can be no doubt but Miss Crowley was in. Paris for this pur- pose, for the note of the Abbess, directed to " Miss Crowley, at Madame Gregson's, La Rue Dauphine, Paris" (see Memoirs, page 41), decides positively that it was so. Admitting Mr. Franks filled the functions at the Court of France, as stated in his evidence, and of his acquaintance with Miss Crowley, who he states was afterwards in the service of the Queen, she having obtained her admission into the service of Marie Antoinette, through the influ- ence of Signor Sacchini, whose pupil Miss Crowley had formerly been in I^ondon, and he, knowing her qualifications, had procured her an appointment. This seems highly feasible, for Signor Sacchini held a high position as a maestro of music, his operas being played at Versailles, under the patronage of the Queen, therefore, his recommendation could have obtained all that Mr. Franks has stated.* * Signor Sacchini, a celebrated Italian composer, born in 1735 at Naples, studied under Durante at the Conservatory of Saint Onofrio, in that capital. On quitting this seminary he soon raised himself into notice, and in 1762 obtained an engagement as composer to the principal theatre in Rome. This situation he filled about seven years, when he proceeded to Venice, and in 1 769, succeeded Galuppi in the superin- tendence of the Conservatory of I'Ospedaletto. In 1772 he came to England, where he remained nine years. His dramatic works, amounting to seventy-eight in number in 1778, and his superior talents, were acknowledged, but a cabal was formed against him through jealousy of his superior abilities, and in the summer of 1781, Sacchini went for the first time to Paris, where he was almost adored. In 1782 he returned to London, and in 1784 he took a final leave of England and settled in Paris, where he not only obtained a pension from the Queen of France, but the theatrical pension, in consequence of three successful pieces. In 1786 this talented musician died in Paris, and was honoured with a public funeral, and with every mark of respect and distinction which sensibility and gratitude could bestow on a person who had contributed so largely to the public pleasures." 174 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS Thus, then, Miss Crowley's, "Mrs. Meves'," appointment in the service of Marie Antoinette was apparently attributable to the influence of Signor Sacchini. Mr. Crowley's letter to his daughter in Paris, in 1781, shows that his daughter was at Paris at this period. In the postscript he writes :— " If it is the will of God that I should survive t^is illness, I will return along with you to France," etc. — Memoirs, p. 42. Respecting the statement of Mrs. Meves, that Mr. Meves, at the hazard of his life, had made the Queen a promise, whilst she was incarcerated in the Conciergerie, regarding the Dauphin, which he kept to the latest hour of his existence — this promise assuredly was, never to let the son of Marie Antoinette know his real origin. The likelihood of Mr. Meves parting with his son, and placing him in the Temple as a substitute of the Dauphin, and of bringing the Dauphin to England and adopting him as Augustus Meves, seems, at first, a very improbable resolution. This we shall etideavour to explain. The decease of Mr. Crowley in England brings his daughter from Paris to England to administer to his effects. Subsequent to Miss Crowley's arrival in England she became acquainted, whilst residing at Lady Harrington's, with Mr. Meves, in the year 1783. It was supposed Miss Crowley had been privately married to Mr. Meves. After which, she quitted England and returned to Paris, in 1784, as a married lady, and re-entered the Queen's service, and was known there by the name of Madame de Courville Chroeder. Mrs. Meves gives birth to a son on the i6th February 1785, which son is brought to England to be baptized, in order to guarantee to him the right of inheriting landed property, as Mrs, Meves's sister, Mrs. Davenport, possessed much landed property, and she having no issue, the probability was, that he would be heir to her property. In March 1785 the Queen of France gave birth to a son, the Duke of Normandy. Mrs. Meves in 1818, and again before her decease, CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 175 assured the subject of the present Memoirs that he was in reality this same Duke of Normandy, and that he had been intrusted to her care in infancy, and that she had been more than a mother to him, and telling him by what means to make himself known to the Duchess of Angoul^me, namely, " a cicatrice on his left instep," * as this would be a convincing proof to the Duchess in recognising him. This, then, points out her connexion with the Court, and accounts for the interest of both her and Mr. Meves in the affairs of the Royal Family of France. Respecting Mr. Meves taking his son Augustus to Paris, with the idea of placing him in the Temple and of extricating the Dauphin, this seems assuredly an unnatural course for a father to adopt : this we admit, and the only reason we can account for his having done so is, "that Augustus Meves appears to have been, from the evidences of the Memoirs, an illegitimate child." We must state our reasons for inferring such. Did we consult our own feelings we should omit doing so, but our duty is to unveil this mystery, howsoever unpleasant the task may be. After the supposed marriage of Miss Crowley and Mr. Meves, it is seen Miss Crowley adopts the name of Madame Schroeder, being the family name on the mother's side of Mr. Meves. After the birth of a daughter, " Cecilia Meves," according to the evidence of George Meves, a separation, or something similar, took place. Mrs. Meves has the care of her daughter, and Mr. Meves that of his son. Subse- quently they always seem to be living apart, for right through the evidences of the Memoirs there is no one place where they appear to be living together as husband and wife, for each, although residing in England at the same time, appear to have lived at different residences ; now, whatever was the occasion for such we know not.f A sister of Mrs. Meves had married a Mr. Blithe of Broseley Hall, Shropshire, and upon the decease of Mr. Blithe she inherited his property, and * See Medical Certificates, Appendix, Note A. t See Appendix, Note M, for letter from Mrs. Jleves to Mr. Meves. 176 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS afterwards married a Mr. Davenport of Davenport House, Shrop- shire. Upon Mrs. Davenport learning her sister Marianne had formed a connexion with Mr. Meves, and was the mother of two children, she was much displeased, and curtailed an annuity she had hitherto allowed her from j£2oo a year to ;£^40. Apparently this reduction was on account of her not being thoroughly convinced of her sister's marriage, for when requested, Marianne would not show her marriage certificate. In Mrs. Spence's evidence it is seen a marriage was contemplated between Miss Crowley — " Mrs. Meves '' — and Mr. Meves, according to the ritual of the Protestant Church, in order to please Mrs. Davenport, and the letter subjoined to the Commentary * seems, by its tenor, to allude to something of such a nature, the handwriting being that of Mr. Meves. Whether such was carried into effect, or ended with contem- plating, we know not. However, it appears Mrs. Davenport subse- quently augmented the allowance to her sister to ;^ioo a year (see Memoirs, page 47). On the widow Mrs. Blithe's marriage with Mr. Davenport, it is seen she sold the Whiteley estates to pay off a mortgage of ^£'7000 on the Broseley estates. The sale realized ;^i 0,000. The surplus, ^3000, Mrs. Davenport placed on mortgage on Mr. Davenport's estates, over which Mr. Davenport had no power, likewise over ;^2oo a year pin-money. Subsequently she called in _;^iooo from the ;^3ooo, and invested such in East India Bonds. Subsequently a disagreement took place between Mr. and Mrs. Davenport respecting the coal and iron mines, which being out of lease, she desired Mr. Davenport to let them for their lives to a Mr. Harries, her adopted heir to the property. Mr. Davenport objected to this proposal, as it would have been against the interest of Harries, her adopted heir, to work the mines like a person whose sole interest was in embracing every possible advantage in well working the mines, during the time of his tenure. Therefore, as a great deal of money would * See Appendix, Note N, for letter referred to. CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 177 accrue to Mr. Davenport by the mines being well worked, he thought it highly detrimental to acquiesce in Mrs. Davenport's proposal. The issue of this was, that a misunderstanding arose between them, which ended in Mrs. Davenport altering her will, and she left all she possibly could to Harries, her heir by appointment. Mrs. Davenport died without issue, and her property came to her adopted heir "Harries." She left ;£iooo to each of her sister's children, Augustus, and Cecilia Meves. Whether Mrs. Davenport's wishes were unattended to by her sister land Mr. Meves, that remains undecided, but it seems Mrs. Davenport had no satisfactory proof in concluding that the marriage of her sister was bonci fide. The question then is : was Augustus Meves an offspring of legitimate wedlock, or no ? and if not, would this account for Mr. Meves parting with his son in order to extricate the Dauphin from the Temple ? The question may be asked, can you account for your father not asking, even insisting, upon receiving more information from Mrs. Meves, than the statement at the reading of the will in 1818, and the similar one in 1823 ! The following is the answer : — After the disclosure of Mrs. Meves in 18 18, her reputed son, much against her own wish and that of the family, and likewise those who had been professionally employed to attend the late Mr. William Meves, had the body disinterred, in order to have a minute examination made, as he was not satisfied as to the real cause of his death. The fatigue and anxiety he underwent consequent on this resolution, together with the revelation of Mrs. Meves, brought him into a nervous state, when he called in medical advice, as he thought a composing-draught and quietness would soon restore him ; but, unfortunately for him, he was prescribed for incautiously, and the medicine instead of giving him relief flew to the brain, the consequence of which was, that it laid him on a bed of sickness for some time. He was placed in hands, as he has explained, from whom he received abominable treatment. All sup- plication on his part was unheeded by those under whose immediate M 178 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS care he was placed. He remained in this state for some time, and upon his convalescence, Mrs. Meves closed her lips on this subject until 1823, when she again reiterated his true origin. Had not such a revelation come from Mrs. Meves, and had not his reputed father so strangely alluded to him in his will, he would never had thought to have had such an examination ; but different ideas entered his head, and even lent import to the remark of the searchers ; but certainly the only real import that can be attached to their remark is, their endeavour to ingratiate themselves into his favour, in the hope of receiving pecuniary consideration. Thus, then, this illness after the reading of Mr. William Meves's will was caused unquestionably directly through the revelation of Mrs. Meves, for that unsettled him, together with the excitement he consequently underwent in ascertaining precisely and conclusively the cause of his reputed father's demise. Therefore, his determinate resolution was compatible, when the circumstances are considered which gave rise to the course he adopted. Certainly what Mrs. Meves revealed intrinsically was a substantial basis to work from, but it was insufficient testimony to guarantee it solely on such a, revelation. Had she felt inclined, doubtless she could have made it more than clear, but apparently she was disinclined to reveal further information on this point, possibly on account of the suffering her revelation had already caused her reputed son. Many may remark, had they been placed in similar circumstances, the result would have been different; that is, from 1818 to 1823 they would have gained more information, howsoever disinclined Mrs. Meves would have been to give it. Those who read have the advantage to accumulate without much trouble the experience of those who have worked. Had they been the actual working party, and similarly posi- tioned, they would have found their theories impracticable. Willing- ness alone on Mrs. Meves's part would have been the only inducement for her fully revealing the mystery surrounding her reputed son, and this willingness, it is seen, did not exist in Mrs. Meves. Mrs. Meves's reputed son was of a sensitive disposition. He could CHARLES, DA UPHIN OF FRANCE, RE VIE WED. 179 not bring his feelings to be antagonistic to woman ; he could not tor- ment or persecute ; he preferred to suffer rather than give pain ; he was the essence of delicateness with woman ; kindness found no tyrant in him ; and upon Mrs. Meves he looked as one he ought never to give pain to. Gratitude is a virtue of inestimable value. If we possess it not, let us not condemn such. It is apparent in his writing to the Duchess of Angouleme, how he had been misled by his reputed parents' misrepresentation as to time and place occurrences had happened to him. His errors have arisen solely from this source. As regards the cicatrice on his left instep,* this must have been characteristic of some incident happening to the Dauphin, and well known to the Royal Family; and the existence of such on our father must have been a more convincing fact in establishing to the Duchess's mind who in reality her correspondent was, much more so than the recapitulating recollections ; for did the Dauphin receive such an incision on his left instep in his infancy, as Mrs. Meves stated, this must have been indisputable evidence to the Duchess. la his letters to the Duchess, which every reader we think will admit to be candid and upright on his part, the scar on his left instep is the only one he mentions, in conformity to the directions of his reputed mother. We have every reason to conclude that the Duchess, long prior to Mrs. Meves's demise, knew perfectly well that our father was her brother, through the medium of Mrs. Meves. Respecting what Mrs. Meves stated, that the Archbishop of Paris was aware of the liberation of the Dauphin from the Temple, and of the circumstance of his being conveyed to England, the plausibility of this is apparent, for after the restoration of Royalty in France, the head of the Galilean Church did not commemorate the annual obsequies in memory of Louis Charles the Dauphin that his birth demanded, which were celebrated in memory of the martyred King Louis xvi. Probably, the obstacle in the head of the French Church not openly recognising the existence of the Dauphin was, " that he was a Protestant ; " therefore * See Medical Certificates, Appendix, Note A. i8o EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS there was a probability, had the Archbishop revealed the secret of the existence of the Dauphin, that possibly he may have raised a dangerous antagonist to the established faith ; likewise, it was uncertain what might come to light in showing the Church were cognisant of the existence of Louis xvii., consequently the expiatory service was omitted. Without a shadow of a doubt, the Historical Records prove the Dauphin's liberation from the Temple. From some people it is impossible to gain any clue to a secret, which you know they possess ; neither threats, violence, or death itself can induce them to alter their determination. Sometimes the secret is held in revenge, or from obstinacy, etc., and at other times from the oath of secrecy. And apparently Mr. William Meves's secret was held in obser\'ance of the latter, for, as Mrs. Meves said, " He made the Queen a promise in the Conciergerie, which he kept to the latest hour of his existence.'' MRS. SPENCE, MRS. FISHER, AND MISS POWELL. At the time our father received the communication from Mrs. Spence, Mrs. Fisher, and Miss Powell, respecting Mrs. Meves, he did not attach much importance to their information, on account of his not then seeing how intricately he was interwoven with such mysterious movements on the part of his supposed mother, and it was not till he had read the work that Dr. Riofrey Bureaud had presented him with, in the year 1835, entitled, Les Evinements du Temple, which contained M. Harmand's report respecting the captive the Convention delegated him, in com- pany with two other commissioners, to visit at the Temple, and report upon,* that he was aware of the importance, and likewise the appli- cation of the evidence of Mrs. Spence, Mrs. Fisher, and Miss Powell. In referring to Mrs. Spence's statement (page 48, Memoirs), it is seen * See Harmand's Report, page 161 Historical Records. CHARLES, DA UPHIN OF FRANCE, 'RE VIE WED. 1 8 1 whilst she was in the service of Mrs. Meves, in 1793, that a letter was sent from France to London by Tom Paine to a Mrs. Carpenter — " this lady was a friend of Mrs. Meves's," — requesting that a deaf and dumb boy, of about eight yeai;s of age, should be brought to Paris for purposes he required. His wish could not be complied with, as a boy answering the description could not be found. It seems a singular resolution on the part of Paine to have desired to adopt, if this deaf and dumb boy was really required by him in order to extricate the captive Prince from his imprisonment by such a substi- tution ; nevertheless sufficient indication exists to warrant the conclusion that such in reality was the case, on account of what transpired subse- quently in the Temple, of a deaf and dumb boy enacting there the part of the Dauphin.* As regards Paine writing such a letter as Mrs. Spence states, there is every probability of his having done so, with the inten- tion as above attributed. Though Paine was an inveterate and inflexible foe to Royalty, or any form of government that was aristocratical or hereditary, his opinions, nevertheless, were that Louis xvi. was a good man, and meant well to his country, and had he been otherwise the Revolution would never have gained the acme it did — therefore in reality it was not against the integrity of the man, but the title of King, where his animosity was directed. "It was not," says Paine, "against Louis xvi., but against the despotic principles of the Government, that the nation revolted. These principles had not their origin in him, but in the original establishment many centuries back, and these were become too deeply rooted to be removed, and the Augean stable of parasites and plunderers too abominably filthy to be cleansed by anything short of a complete and general Revolution. When it becomes necessary to do a thing, the whole heart and soul should go into the measure, or not attempt it. That crisis was then arrived, and there remained no choice but to act with determined vigour, or not to act at all. The King was known to be the friend of the nation, and this circumstance was favour- able to the enterprise. Perhaps no man bred up in the style of an absolute King ever possessed a heart so little disposed for the exercise * See Harmand's Report, page 161 Historical Records. i82 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS, OF LOUIS of that species of power as the present King of France, but the principles of the Government itself still remained the same. The monarch and the monarchy were distinct and separate things, and it was against the established despotism of the latter, and not against the person or principles of the former, that the revolt commenced, and the Revolution has been carried." — Paine's Rights of Man, p. 20. When it is considered the aid Louis xvi. rendered to the Americans in gaining their independence, every patriot of America should honour his memory. As Paine then was a stanch republican, could he not have been susceptible to some degree of mitigation for the sufferings of the imprisoned captive Dauphin, whose martyred father had given such signal proof of his sincerity for freedom, as it was in a great measure through the countenance Louis xvi. had given to the American struggle that its independence was realized, and by being susceptible to reforms in France, had caused his own overthrow ? Thus lyamartine writes of Tom Paine : — " Thomas Paine, bom in England, the apostle of American inde- pendence, the friend of Franklin, author of Good Sense, The Rights of Man, and the Age of Reason — three pages of the new evangelist, in which he had brought back political institutions and religious creeds to their primitive justness and lucidity. His name possessed great weight among the innovators of the two worlds. His reputation had natura- lized him in France — for that nation, who thought, who combated not for herself alone, but for the whole universe, recognised as countrymen all those zealous in the cause of reason and liberty. The patriotism of France, like that of religion, was not in the same language, or the approximation of frontiers, but in the fellowship of ideas. Paine, the friend of Madame Roland, Condorcet, and Brissot, had been elected by the town of Calais. The Girondists consulted him, and had placed him in the Comitd de Surveillance. Robespierre himself affected for the cosmopolite radicalism of Paine the respect of a neophyte for ideas that are but dim and indistinctly understood. Paine had been loaded with favours by the King at the time when he had been sent to Paris to entreat succour from France for America, and Louis xvi. had given the nascent republic 6,000,000 francs (;^25o,ooo). It was into the hands of Franklin and Paine that the King had confided this gift, and grati- tude for past kindnesses should have sealed the lips of the philosopher, but he had neither the memory nor the dignity befitting his station. CHARLES, DA UPHJN OF FRANCE, RE VIE WED. 1 83 Unable to express himself in French at the Tribune, he wrote and read to the Convention a letter, ignoble in its language as cruel in its inten- tions, a long series of insults, heaped, even in the depths of a dungeon, upon a man whose generous assistance he had formerly solicited, and to whom he owed the preservation of his own country. ' Considered as an individual, this man is unworthy the notice of the republic, but as an accomplice of the conspiracy against the people, you are bound to judge him,' said Paine. 'As regards inviolability, that must not be men- tioned. Only look upon Louis xvi. as a man of limited abilities, badly brought up, like all kings, subject, it is said, to frequent fits of intem- perance, and whom the Constituent Assembly would imprudently re- establish on a throne for which he was never fitted.' " It was in these terms that the voice of America, freed by Louis XVI., resounded in the dungeons of that monarch. An American, a citizen, a philosopher, demanded, if not the life, at least the ignominy of the King who had sheltered with French bayonets the cradle of liberty of his country. Ingratitude expressed itself in outrages, and the philosopher degraded himself below despotism in the language of Paine. Madame Roland and her friends loudly applauded the republican rude- ness of this act and these expressions, and the Convention unanimously voted the impression of this letter ; but public feeling was indignant — it was rather the world that should hate Louis xvi., than the apostle of America and the friend of Franklin." — Lamartine's History of the -Girondists, vol. ii. page 284. In referring to the Historical Records, page 107, it will be seen that Marat, Robespierre, and Danton were, to a certain degree, implicated, or cognisant of a plan to effect the Royal Family's escape from the Temple. Mirabeau, the firebrand orator and leader of the Revolutionary party, the foremost in striking at the power of the monarchy, whose eloquence had inflamed the masses against the monarchy, and hurried on the Revolution, who would suppose that such a man as this at last repaired secretly to nocturnal conferences with the King and Queen, and that he was pro- fusely paid by the King, and allowed a monthly income from the Court, to undo what he himself had so greatly contributed to enforce ? The following account of Mirabeau will partially explain the above ; — "Since the month of February 1791, the King, who had the most entire confidence in the Marquis de Bouill^, had written to this general that he wished him to make overtures to Mirabeau, and through the i84 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS intervention of the^ Count de Lamarck, a foreign nobleman, the intimate and confidential friend of Mirabeau. ' Although these persons are not over estimable,' said the King in his letter ; ' and although I have paid Mirabeau very dearly, I yet think he has it in his power to serve me. Hear all he has to say without putting yourself too much in his hands.'. The Count de Lamarck arrived soon after at Metz. He mentioned to the Marquis de Bouill^ the object of his mission, confessed to him that the King had recently given Mirabeau 600,000 francs (^^24,000), and that he also allowed him 50,000 francs a month. He then revealed to him the plan of his counter-revolutionary conspiracy, the first act of which was to be an address to Paris and the Departments demanding the liberty of the King. Everything in this scheme depended upon the rhetoric of Mirabeau. Carried away by his own eloquence, the salaried orator was ignorant that words, though all-powerful to excite, are yet impotent to appease. They urge nations forward, but nothing but the bayonet can arrest them. M. de Bouille, a veteran soldier, smiled at these chimerical projects of the citizen orator ; but he did not, however, discourage him in his plans, and promised him his assistance. He wrote to the King to repay largely the desertion of Mirabeau. 'A clever scoundrel,' said he, ' who perhaps has it in his power to repair through cupidity the mischief he has done through revenge.' " — Lamartine's His- tory of the Girondists, yol. i. p. 50. " Mirabeau plainly perceived that his popularity was on the wane- not because his eloquence was less powerful, his arguments less cogent, his energy less commanding than when he reigned the lord of the ascendant, but because he no longer headed the popular movement, and now strove to master the passions he had excited among the people. The failure of the Duke of Orleans to take advantage of the revolt of the 6tli October had entirely alienated him from that pusillanimous leader, and he sighed for the offices and favour of the Court. Already the cry had been heard in the streets : ' Grande trahison du Comte Mirabeau ! ' and the populace followed the career of less able but more reckless leaders. Disgusted with the fickleness of the multitude, and foreseeing the sanguinary excesses to which they were fast approaching, he had, since the beginning of February, made secret advances to the Constitutional party, and entered into correspondence with the King, for the purpose of restraining the further progress of the Revolution.* * In the beginning of February he opened these communications by the following note to M. Malouet, one of the King's ministers : — "I follow more your advice than you think, and whatever opinion you may entertain of me, mine has been unalterable to you. It is time that sensible people should approach and understand each other. CHARLES, DA UPHIN OF FRANCE, RE VIE WED. 185 He received for a short time a pension of 20,000 francs, or ;^8oo a month, first from the Comte d'Artois, and afterwards from the King ; but it was not continued till the time of his death, from its being found that he was not so pliant as the Court party expected. He was even ■honoured with a private interview with the Queen in the gardens of St. Cloud, who was with reason most anxious to secure his great abilities in defence of the throne.* Her fascinating manner secured his unsteady aifections, while the Royal bounty provided the supplies for his extra- vagance. His style of life suddenly changed. Magnificent enter- tainments succeeded each other in endless profusion, and his house resembled rather the hotel of a powerful minister than that of the leader of a fierce democracy. Yet mere venality was not the motive for this great change. He allied himself to the Court, partly because he saw it was the only way to stop the progress of the Revolution. He took their pensions because he regarded himself as their minister to govern the Assembly; and he would have rejected with disdain any proposi- tion to undertake what was unworthy of his character. His design was to support the throne and consolidate the constitution by putting a stop to the encroachments of the people. With this view, he proposed to establish in reality, and not in name, the Royal authority, to dissolve the Assembly, and re-assemble a new one, restore the nobility, and form a constitution as nearly as possible on the English model — a wise and generous object, entertained at different times by all the best friends of freedom in France, but which none were able to accomplish, from the flight of the great and powerful body by whom it should have been supported. " The plan of Mlrabeau was to facilitate the escape of the King from Paris to Compifegne or Fontainebleau j that he should there place himself under the guidance of the able and intrepid M. de Bouill^, assemble a Royal army, call to his support the remaining friends of order, and openly employ force to stem the torrent. He pledged him- self for the immediate support of thirty departments, and the ultimate adhesion of thirty-six more. Between the contending parties he Would you "have any reluctance at being present with me at the house of a friend of yours, M. de Montmorin ? Acquaint me with the day, and let such be after an evening's sitting." — Bertrand de Moleville, vol. iv. p. 1 74. * .So charmed was Mirabeau with the Queen's manner, that he took lea.ve of her with these words : — "Madame, when your august mother admitted any of her subjects to the honour of an interview, never did she dismiss them without first presenting her hand for them to kiss." Mirabeau knelt, and then raising his head, he said, with an :accent full of soul and pride, " Madame, the Monarchy is saved." — Campan, p. 127, and Weber, vol. ii. p. 37. i86 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS flattered himself he should be able to act as mediator, and restore the Monarchy to the consideration it had lost, by founding it on the basis of constitutional freedom. ' I would not wish,' said he, in a letter to the King, ' to be always employed in the vast work of destruction.' And, in truth, his ambition was now to repair the havoc which he him- self had made in the social system. He was strongly impressed with the idea, which was in all probability well founded, that if the King could be brought to put himself at the head of the Constitutional party, and resist the further progress of democracy, the country might yet be saved. 'You know not,' said he, 'to what a degree Fi'ance is still attached to the King, and that its ideas are essentially monarchical. The moment the King recovers his freedom the Assembly will be reduced to nothing. It is a colossus with the aid of his name. With- out it, it would be a mountain of sand. There will be some movements at the Palais-Royal, and that will be all. Should Lafayette attempt to play the part of Washington at the head of the National Guard, he will speedily and deservedly perish ? ' He relied upon the influence of the clergy, who were now openly committed against the Revolution, with the rural population, and on the energy and intrepidity of the Queen, as sufficient to counterbalance all the consequences of the vacillation of the King. But, in the midst of these magnificent designs, he was cut off by death. A constitution naturally strong sank under the accumu- lated pressure of ambition, excitement, and excessive indulgence." — Alison's History of Europe, vol. ii. p. 63. The inveterate and corruptible Danton, who embraced the extremes! principles of the Revolution as the means of raising himself from ob- scurity, was always available to the highest bidder. The following will speak for itself of the venality of this demagogue trickster : — " Danton was the first leader of the Jacobins who rose to great eminence in the Revolution. Born poor, he had received, as he him- self said, no other inheritance from nature than ' an athletic form, and the rude physiognomy of freedom.' He owed his ascendency not so much to his talents, though they were great, nor to his eloquence, though it was commanding, as to his indomitable energy and dauntless courage, which made him rise superior to every difficulty, and boldly assume the lead when others, with perhaps equal abilities, were begin- ning to sink under apprehension. As was said of Lord Thurlow, self- confidence, or, in plainer language, impudence, was the great secret of CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 187 his success.* At first ambition was the mainspring of his actions, indi- vidual gratification the god of his idolatry. Situated as he was, he saw that these objects were to be gained only by a zealous and uncom- promising support of the popular party, and hence he was a Revolu- tionist. But he was ambitious, not philanthropic ; a voluptuary, not a fanatic : he looked to the Revolution as the means of making his fortune, not elevating or improving the human race. Accordingly, he was quite willing to sell himself to the Court, if it promised him greater advantages than the popular side ; and at one time received no less than 100,000 crowns (;^25,ooo) from the Royal Treasury, to advocate measures favourable to the interest of the Royal authority — an engage- ment which, as long as it lasted, he faithfully kept.f But when the cause of Royalty was evidently declining, and a scafi"old, not a fortune, promised to be the reward of fidelity to the throne, he threw himself without reserve into the arms of the democracy, and advocated the most vehement and sanguinary measures.''^: — Alison's History of Europe, vol ii. page 135. || Thus said the noble Marie Antoinette to the devoted attendant Hue, during her captivity in the Tower of the Temple, on the return of the Royal Family from ' their walk in the garden, in which the notorious Santerre had accompanied them : — " ' That man,' said she to Hue, ' whom you now see our jailer, has several times solicited and obtained of the King considerable sums * "A moderate merit with a large share of impudence is more probable to be advanced than the greatest qualifications without it. The first necessary qualification of an orator is impudence, and as Demosthenes said of action, the second is impud- ence, and the third is impudence. No modest man ever did, or ever will, make his fortune in public assemblies." — Lady M. Wortley Montague, in Southey's Edition of Cowper, p. 254. t Through the hands of Durand, Danton had received more than 100,000 crowns, to propose or support different motions at the Jacobins' Club. He fulfilled faithfully enough the engagements he undertook in this respect, as he stipulated in reserving to himself the liberty always of employing the means that he judged best to attain the passing of his measures. His ordinai-y mode of accomplishing his ends in this respect was to advance his motions with the most abusive invectives against the Court and the Ministry, in order to avoid arousing suspicion of his being sold to them. — Bertrand de Moleville, Memoires, vol. i. p. 354 ; Lamartine's Histoire des Girondins, vol. i. p. 139. See Lamartine's History of the Girondists, Bohn's English Edition, vol. i. p. 83, and vol. ii. p. 10. % See Bertrand de Moleville's letter to Danton, threatening to expose his venality, by forwarding the proofs of such to the President of the National Assembly. — His- torical Records, p. 114. II For Lamartine's description of Danton, see Appendix, Note O. i88 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS from the funds of the Civil List. How many others in the National Guard, and even in the Assembly, have under various pretences obtained pecuniary assistance, and yet are at this moment our mortal enemies ! Before the loth of August, the conduct of Dumouriez, the pusillanimity of M. de Lafayette, and the errors of the Duke de Lian- court, having disappointed our hopes, of what use to us were the large sums * distributed by our friends to Potion, Lacroix, and other con- spirators? They took the money and betrayed us.'" — Hue's Last Years of the Life and Reign of Louis XVI. , p. 394. The above gives some insight into the principles of a few prominent Revolutionists, and thus it was that many who in public denounced the Royal Family, in private, through the stimulant of gold, planned to serve them ; whilst others, animated by nobler and more chivalric sentiments, who had been inveterate against the Royal Family at a distance, when brought in immediate proximity with them saw the fallacy of their opinion as regarded the conduct of the Royal Family, and thenceforth became secretly their confidential and devoted friends, thereby showing their secret principles were opposed to their open or public avowed protestations ; therefore there can be no great strain of imagination in supposing Paine to have entertained the desire to liberate from the Tower of the Temple the son of the King who had sheltered with French bayonets the cradle of American liberty. Duplicity in the leading men of this direful Revolution is apparent throughout. Why then should we hesitate in drawing our conclusions as to the duplicity of Paine, as the Revolutionary area was but a struggle for precedency % and we see no reason to discredit that Paine wTote to Mrs. Carpenter for her to send him a deaf and dumb boy to Paris, especially as subse- quently such a boy was introduced into the Tower of the Temple, as we will now proceed to prove. Monsieur Harmand's report then opens our father's eyes as to the importance of what Mrs. Fisher had communicated to him, namely, "that Mrs. Meves, in the month of January 1794, went to Holland * These large sums were advanced principally by the Procureur-General of the Order of Malta (Bailie d'Estourmel), by the Duke du ChStelet, M. Bertrand de Mole- ville, and some other faithful subjects. CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 189 accompanied by a Mr. Frike, and took with her, to fill up her passport, a deaf and dumb boy, the son of a Maria Dodd, and went on to Paris with this boy, and was detained there from some cause or other, that she did not return to England until about the middle of the month of May 1794. There is every reasonable probability to infer that Mrs. Meves did make this journey to Holland and Paris, as stated by Mrs. Fisher, with a deaf and dumb boy. On referring to the Appendix, Note B, it will be seen that Mrs. Meves received a letter from the Abbot Morlet in the month of November 1793, whilst residing in Vere Street, and it is to the Abbot Morlet, who, in January 1794, was residing at the house of his brother Claude, at Buren, near Utrecht, that Mrs. Meves proceeded with the deaf and dumb boy, " the son of Maria Dodd," the same lad that Mrs. Carpenter and Mrs. Meves went in search of, after the letter that was received from Paine. This boy was now taken to Paris by Mrs. Meves, to make use of him, in order to extricate her son Augustus from the Temple, for it is seen that he, "Augustus," was taken to France by Mr. Meves, unknowingly to Mrs. Meves ; and upon her learning this she went in quest of the deaf and dumb boy, as had been pre- viously required by Paine, whom she finds, and he is placed in such hands at Paris, who, at the most convenient time, places him in the stead of Augustus Meves at the Temple. Through whose hands the deaf and dumb boy passes, that is impossible for us definitely to say, but it is most apparent that a deaf and dumb boy was confined in the Temple when Harmand and his colleagues made their official visit. It is stated in the pretender Naiindorff's work that the Empress Josephine and Barras carried this into effect,* but on this we offer no * "J — P — was employed to attempt my deliverance from the Tower of the Temple, for which purpose some individuals, high in the Revolutionary Govern- ment, had received large sums from a powerful personage. J — . P — presented him- self, and received not me, but the dumb child in my stead. In accordance with the orders which had been given him, he took the child to Madame Josephine Beauhamais, who became afterwards Empress of the French. On seeing the child, she exclaimed, ' Unhappy man, what have you done ? By this mistake you have given up the son of Louis xvi. to his father's murderers.' Josephine had been well I90 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS opinion. The only remark we have to make is, — there is every reason to suppose that it was a deaf and dumb boy confined in the Temple at the period when Harmand and colleagues made their official visit ; and we naturally conclude that this deaf and dumb boy was the son of Maria Dodd, for the evidence of Mrs. Fisher respecting Maria Dodd's son, and the journey of Mrs. Meves with a deaf and dumb boy to France, previous to the apparent substitution of such a boy in the Temple, gives ample reason for such a conclusion. The full particulars of Harmand's report is given in page i6i, where it is seen that, when the deputation entered the room where the captive was confined, they found him amusing himself with a pack of cards. He did not give up playing as they entered. Harmand approached him, but the captive took no notice of him. He then spoke to him, but he answered him not. He promised him toys, etc., but tie still stared with steady and vacant indifference^ and to all the questions Harmand put to him, he answered him neittier by gesture, expression, 7ior word. Harmand tlien tried peremptory commands, after which he pro- posed that a physician should be sent to him, and trusted that he would consent to answer him. He then requested the captive to make a sign, whether it would be disagreeable or otherwise, to which he neither answered by sign nor word. Harmand then desired him to walk again, to which request the captive remained silent on his seat, his elbows resting on the table. His features did not change for an instant, not the least mark of sitrprise in the eyes, not the least motion apparent; his demeanour was just as if the deputation had not been present, and as if Harmand had not spoken. Harmand, in his report, here observes, that his colleagues Rever- chon and Mathieu said nothing. They looked at each other in amaze- ment, and they were advancing towards each other to exchange their reflections, when the captive's dinner was brought, at which Harmand acquainted before with the real Dauphin, and ako with the dumb child, for it was she who had procured him for Barras, when he was substituted in the place of the wooden figure. The truth of these facts will be undeniably proved in a court of justice."— Naiindorff s Misfortunes of the Dauphin, p. 67. Translated from the French by the Hon. and Rev. C. J. Perceval. CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 191 and his colleagues expressed by their looks to Laurent and Gomin their astonishment and indignation. They made a sign for the keepers to retire with them to the anteroom, where they expostulated with ' them on the inhuman system exercised towards a helpless child, and ordered that such a vile system should be changed for the future, and that the captive should have fruit given to him. They having given all the necessary orders, etc., again returned to the captive, and found that he had eaten all that was brought him, when Harmand asked him, " Whether he was satisfied with his dinner % " He gave him no answer. " Whether he wished for fruit ? " No answer. " Whether he liked grapes?" Still no answer. Grapes were then placed on the table, and the captive ate them without speaking. Harmand then requested to know whether he wished for more. The young captive still gave no answer. Finding all his efforts in vain to induce the captive to speak, he added, that he and his colleagues should in conse- quence propose to the Government to send other Commissioners, who might be more agreeable to him. To these threats, says Harmand, " the captive neither changed his look nor gave an answer, or any indication oj an answer." Harmand then resumed : " Do you wish that we should withdraw?" He still answered not. The Commissioners then with- drew. Harmand then inquired of his keepers in the anteroom, whether such silence had commenced, as they had reported to the Committee of Public Safety, from the 6th October 1793? They repeated their assertions on that point, and protested, " That the child had not spoken since the a'ening of that day.'' Evidently this was the deaf and dumb boy Mrs. Meves had taken with her to Paris in the month of January 1794, and explains at once why Harmand and those who approached the captive could not gain any response from him. No child could have carried such a resolution into actual force, as described and reported to the Committee of Public Safety — of a child not having spoken for so many months, on account of such a ridiculous deposition being extracted from him. This is too much to believe, and could not have been carried into effect by any 192 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS child who had the use of his tongue and ears, for kindness such as Harmand exhibited would have sufficiently interested any child who had the power of speech, to have given some kind of answer in token of thankfulness ; but as this was the deaf and dumb boy, the son of Maria Dodd, it was physically impossible for this child to answer the Commis- sioners, or understand them. Therefore the authorities, who were in the secret of the Dauphin's liberation, were assured that no secrets would be divulged by the then captive of the Temple. Laurent must have been personally aware of the substitution of the deaf and dumb boy in the place of Augustus Meves, as this must have been effected after his appointment at the Temple, and previous to Gomin's appointment. Mark the singular interrogatory Laurent placed to Gomin upon his installation at the Temple, namely, — " Have you ever seen the Prince-Royal ? " " I have never seen him." " In that case,'' replied Laurent, "it will be some time before he will say a word to you" which seems to be quite correct by the admission of Gomin to the Com- mittee and the Commissioners. As he, " Gomin,'' did not know the Dauphin by sight, as a matter of course any one who was introduced to him as the Dauphin, him alone would Gomin recognise as such, but as for either one or the other saying the Dauphin had not spoken since October 1793, that was impossible for either of them to know positively, because they could be only certain from the time he had been in their custody ; nevertheless, it seems to amount to certainty, not probability, that it was a deaf and dumb boy who was confined in the Temple upon the visit of Messrs. Harmand, Reverchon, and Mathieu, for it is un- deniable that the keepers of the captive and the Commissaries, in their report to the Committee of Public Safety, acknowledged that the young captive never even sfoke to them, and it is seen that Harmand and his colleagues were unable to obtain from him a word in reply to questions, and that Laurent and Gomin acknowledged to the Commissioners when on their visit, that the captive never spoke; therefore there can be little difficulty in arriving at a definite conclusion as to who the captive really was. CHARLES, DA UPHIN OF FRANCE, RE VIE WED. 193 As regards the name of Madame de Courville Schroeter, it appears Mrs. Spence, Mrs. Fisher, and Miss Powell first knew Mrs. Meves under the name of Madame Schroeter, and Mr. George Meves explains from whence the name of Schroeter was derived. Captain d'Oliviera also states that Madame de Courville Schroeter accompanied the Princess de Lamballe to England in 1787, which year is seen to be that in which Miss Powell in her information states that Mrs. Meves came from France to England, and that Mrs. Meves at that time was known by the name of Madame Schroeter. Latour also states, that Mrs. Meves went by the name of Madame de Cour\'ille at the Court of France, and Mr. Franks the same, with the addition of Schroeder or Chroeder, on her return to the Court of France as a married lady. Captain Curten, on his return from his visit to the ex-Royal Family at Holyrood in 1832, stated that the name of Madame de Courville Chroeder was well known at Holyrood, as a confidential friend in whom the Queen of France, " Marie Antoinette," had placed much confidence. Mr. Davenport, in his letter, also states, that Mrs. Meves went to France, under the patronage of Lady Harrington, in the name of Schroeder ;* therefore, in speaking of the lady who was known as being in the private and con- fidential service of Marie Antoinette, as Madame de Courville, or Madame de Courville Schroeder, the above shows every probability of Mrs. Meves having been that lady. Respecting the information relative to the colour of the eyes and hair Augustus Meves possessed as a child, as stated by Miss Powell and Mrs. Spence, namely, blue eyes and light-coloured hair, and on their seeing him in manhood possessing brown eyes and brown hair, to such there is attached much importance. In the important particulars regarding the colour of the eyes and hair, will be found to exist essential testimony in proving the subject of the present Memoirs to have been the Dauphin, for it will be found, on investigating authentic sources, 'that the Duke of Normandy possessed in reality brown or hazel-coloured eyes and chestnut-coloured hair, up * See Mr. Davenport's letter, page 43, Authentic Memoirs. N 194 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS to the period of his separation from his mother, in the Tower of the Temple 1793, and the error that many have fallen into, in represent- ing the second son of Louis xvi. as having possessed blue eyes and light-coloured hair, has arisen on account of the many substitutions that were effected in the captive of the Temple subsequently to October 1793- Having devoted a special chapter to this subject, under heading, " Colour of the Dauphin's Eyes and Hair," to which we refer our readers for full particulars, wherein it is shown that the colour of the prisoner of the Temple's eyes and hair, subsequent to October 1793, will prove positively that the Dauphin was liberated from the Temple, and that substitutes thenceforth enacted his part MR. GEORGE MEVES. In respect to Mr. George Meves's particulars we shall have much to say, for after the demise of our father's reputed parents, he being as it were in great perplexity how to proceed in this business, the most likely person he concluded to have recourse to for information was his reputed uncle Mr. George Meves, as most probably he could acquaint him with the movements of his late reputed parents, and the places of their residence, with the dates. Mr. George Meves then is the person upon whom, on his setting out in this perplexing path of establishing his claims as the lineal descendant of Louis xvi. of France, to whom he applies for information ; and, moreover, on whom he relied for the dates he has assigned he arrived in England from the kingdom of France. We will now summarize the dates and circumstances of Mr. George Meves's letter, namely, — " That his brother formed Miss Crowley's acquaintance in 1783, in Maddox Street, and visited her when she was living with Lady Harrington. After a time his brother ' William ' told him she had left Lady Harrington's and had gone to reside in France. CHARLES, DA UPHIN OF FRANCE, RE VIE WED. 195 At the time his brother made Miss Crowley's acquaintance he knew very little of their proceedings, and as regards his marriage with Miss Crowley in the name of Schroeder, that he did not know. In 1785 Mr. George Meves entered the service of Sir John Shaw, and went abroad. On quitting Sir John Shaw's service, he entered that of Sir Drummond Smith, in whose service he remained for many years. At the time of the birth of CeciUa Meves, Mrs. Meves was living in London under the name of Schroeder, and shortly after the birth a separation took place between Mr. and Mrs. Meves. In the autumn of r788, his brother was professionally at Lord Stamford's taking likenesses, and in 1789 at Captain Lee's of Coten Hall, Shropshire." He then says he saw our father, in the year 1792, in Great Russell Street, on his return from boarding-school, on which occasion he gave him half-a-sovereign, having written the above in his letter. We will give the particulars of his evidence, which are as follows : — " Mr. William Meves von Schroeder followed the profession of a miniature painter, and on the occasion of his son being baptized, Mrs. Meves having brought him from France for this express purpose, she sent for him to stand as sponsor for her child, in consequence of the father being in Derbyshire at the time. The baptism took place at Saint James's Church, Piccadilly, and after the ceremony Mrs. Meves at once proceeded to France with her son." The next time Mr. George Meves saw his brother's son was in 1792, in Great Russell Street, Mr. William Meves having just brought him from a boarding-school, where Mrs. Meves had placed him. Upon the subject of the present Memoirs asking him what coloured eyes and hair he had when he saw him in 1792, he replied, " You had blue eyes and light-coloured hair; " adding, " but there is nothing extraordinary in your eyes and hair having changed their colour to brown, as eyes and hair change their colour as people grow older." He then asked Mr. George Meves to favour him by writing a letter, and therein state what he knew respecting the name of Schroeder, which is entered above, as several gentlemen, who then surrounded him, doubted the time that he sup- 196 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS posed he arrived in England from France. To which Mr. George Meves replied, — "That Mrs. Meves was living at Boulogne-sur-Mer until the breaking out of the French Revolution, when she, for safety, came to England. Mrs. Meves then took her daughter, Cecilia, under her charge, and Mr. Meves that of his son. In 1789, previous to Mr. Meves going to Lord Stamford's, he placed his son under the care of an old nurse at Battersea. During his stay from London Mrs. Meves got possession of the boy, and took him with her to France, and on her return to England she placed him at a school at Horsham, in Sussex, and it was from this school his brother brought his son in 1792.'' It is upon the above statement that our father, in the first instance, based the period of his arrival in England from France. In commenting on Mr. George Meves's statement, it will be well to observe, in the first instance, that it was through our father having depended implicitly on all his dates for authority, that he was in his outset in this, to him, perplexing question led astray. The statements as respects dates when he wrote to the Duchess of AngoulSme, and during the period he was surrounded ■ by the adherents of Charles x. till after his acquaintance with the Marquis of Bonneval, were not narrated as having originated from his own recollections, but were the adapted dates as received from Mr. George Meves, thinking by adhering to such he should not go astray ; therefore, it was upon Mr. George Meves that he relied as a warranty for affixing dates and place to his recollection. We will now account why the Duchess of AngoulSme and Charles x.'s party was attached to his person, " as undoubtedly they thought very highly of his claims," but repudiated his statements, that is, in respect as to when he stated he arrived in England from France. In his writing to the Duchess of Angouleme, in 1830, it is seen he merely acquainted her with the disclosure of his reputed mother " Mrs. Meves," and it is apparent throughout his letters that there was not the slightest intention on his part to deceive, but only to endeavour to elicit the truth. As a matter of course he could not depend upon himself CHARLES, DA UPHIN OF FRANCE, RE VIE WED. 1 97 for the specified dates, but his reliance has been in those who he naturally concluded could acquaint him with such. Here then has originated the mistake, for he has confounded himself with Augustus Meves, and accounted to the Duchess of Augoul^me in his letters, and likewise to the Royalists, who, previously and subsequently to his writing the letters, had surrounded him, as having arrived in England after the attack on the Palace of Versailles in 1789, and he has informed them of incidents that in reality have occurred to him, but he has substituted the place of action as having happened in England instead of France, in accordance with the dates of Mr. George Meves, who stated that Mrs. Meves arrived in England in 1789. After the breaking out of the French Revolution, and that subsequently, she got possession of her son from the person to whom Mr. Meves had intrusted his care, and took him with her to France, and on her return to England she placed him at a boarding-school at Horsham, which school had formerly been a county prison. As the Dauphin was only four years of age in 1789, and Augustus Meves the same, whether he was the Dauphin or Augustus Meves, he was too young to have any lucid or reliable recollection of the events of his life at such an early age. We will now insert the portions of the two letters to the Duchess of Angouleme, where the mis-statements have occurred : — FIRST LETTER. " September 2nd, 1830. " I remember in my early youth having been extremely unwell, and that during a severe illness on my arrival in England, where persons about me appeared as strangers. On my recovery I was placed at a Messrs. Thornton's boarding-school at Horsham, in Sussex, about the year 1790, and I well remember my unhappiness in not being able to understand what was said to me, as I only understood the French language at that time. Here I remained for nearly two years, and was kept at school during the holidays. On my return to the care of my father in 1792, I had lost all knowledge of the French language, which my father completed by teaching me the German language." 1 98 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS SECOND LETTER. '^ June 6th, 1831. " On my own part I can trace my being in England to the year 1790, when I was placed by my parents at Messrs. Thornton's school at Horsham, where I remained for at least two years." We will compare subjects in order to arrive at a definite conclusion respecting the letters. In the first place, he says, on his arrival in England those about him seemed as strangers. Although he states in his letters that he arrived in England in 1790, nevertheless in this he was in error, for the actual time of his arrival was in October 1793, after his libera- tion had been effected from the Tower of the Temple, through the instru- mentality of Madame Simon, during the trial of Marie Antoinette ; con- sequently, the hands he then came into were all strange to him, both Mr. Meves's, in whose care he was placed by Madame Simon in Paris, and Mrs. Meves's in England, likewise all those that then surrounded him. Respecting the illness he writes of having during his early youth, and upon his arrival in England : — In referring to the Historical Records, page 105, it is seen that the Dauphin, whilst under the care of the King in the Temple, fell ill, and again whilst under the care of the Queen. The Princess-Royal, " the Duchess of Angouleme," writes as follows concerning the Dauphin's illness : — " My brother had for some days complained of a stitch in his side, but on the 9th of May, at seven in the evening, he was seized with a violent fever, accompanied with 'headache and still the pain in his side. During the first days he would not lie in bed, for he complained that he was suffocating. My mother was alarmed, and asked the officers to send for a physician. They assured her the illness was nothing, and that her maternal anxiety had alarmed her unnecessarily. They, how- ever, mentioned it to the Council, and asked in my mother's name for our physician Brunier. The Council laughed at my brother's illness, because Hubert reported that he had seen him at five o'clock, and that he had then no fever. They therefore positively refused the attend- ance of Brunier, whom, it will be recollected, Tison had lately denounced. The fever, however, grew worse and worse. My aunt CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 199 had the goodness to take my place in my mother's room, in order that I might not be exposed to the infectious air of the disease, and that she might assist her sister in attending upon the poor sick boy. She there- fore took my bed, and I slept in her room. The fever lasted several days, and was always most violent towards evening. My mother con- tinued every day to request the attendance of a physician, but could not obtain it. At last, on Sunday morning, Thierry came. He was the physician of the prisons, and appointed by the Commune to attend my brother. As he came in the morning, he did not perceive much fever, but my mother having requested him to call in the afternoon, he found it violent, and he undeceived the municipal officers as to their opinion that my mother was alarmed at a trifle. He said, on the contrary, that it was more serious than she believed, etc." — Private Memoirs of what passed in the Temple. " Whilst the Dauphin was under Simon's charge, he changed the mode of living of his Royal scholar. He obliged him to eat more than usual, and to drink a great deal of wine ; he allowed him to take but little exercise, shortened the time of his recreation in the garden, and put a total stop to his walks upon the Tower. These new regulations ended by making him quite ill. At last he was attacked by a violent fever," etc. — Beauchesne's Louis XVII. , vol. ii. p. 109. Shortly after the Dauphin's arrival in England, he was placed at a day-school in Bloomsbury, in 1794, where he was taught the English alphabet, and whilst attending there he caught the measles ; therefore the illness he writes of in his letter to the Duchess of Angouleme must have been on one of the above occasions. Although the Dauphin had three attacks whilst confined in the Temple, doubtless the slight illness he had after his arrival in England made the most impression upon him, on account of being surrounded by total strangers, and not knowing the English language. He then states in his letter, " On my recovery I was placed at Messrs. Thornton's boarding-school, at Horsham, in Sussex, about the year 1790, and I well remember my unhappiness in not being able to understand what was said to me, as I only understood the French language at that time. Here I remained for nearly two years, and was kept at school during the holidays. On my return to the care of my 200 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS father, in 1792, I had lost all knowledge of the French language, which my father completed by teaching me German." It is through this school at Horsham that the errors in the letters respecting dates and place arise, for this is the school which has enabled his reputed parents to deceive him, on account of its semblance in many respects to the Tower of the Temple. As it had formerly been an old county prison, therefore all his interrogatories to his supposed parents in respect to incidents of his youth, which had happened to him in reality at the Tower of the Temple, have been specified as having happened to him at this school, and incidents prior, as having happened at public entertainments. Thus it was that he was con- founded, as everything certainly appeared natural and feasible, and for further proof on their part they have shown him copy-books, etc., on which has been written the dates, " such as are alluded to in Mr. George Meves's evidence," and thus it was that all reminiscences in connexion with his early career, as refers to date, were incorrect, for he appropri- ated the dates and place as pertaining in reality to Augustus Meves, and has specified the incidents that have happened to himself as the Dauphin, whilst he was in the Palace of Versailles, the Tuileries, and the Tower of the Temple, which in fact had happened to him up to the month of October 1793 in the kingdom of France. These he has accounted for as happening to him in England, therefore his error has been in saying England, instead of France, and this has only been done on his part in conformity with the assertions of his supposed parents, and furthermore corroborated by Mr. George Meves, who in truth stated that which was correct, if the person he had addressed had been- Augustus Meves, but as it was the Dauphin all was incorrect. On what are his, " Mr. George Meves's," opinions based, that our father was not the Dauphin, but Augustus Meves ? Certainly he knew, "that Augustus Meves was born in France in 1785, and brought to London to be baptized, and that after the ceremony the mother at once returned to France with her son. Likewise, of the separation that occurred between Mr. and Mrs. Meves, and of Mrs. Meves gain- CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 201 ing possession of her son from the old nurse, in whose care Mr. Meves had placed him, and with whom she proceeded to France, and after the breaking out of the French Revolution, in 1789, she for safety returned to England, and placed her son at a boarding- school at Horsham." This we do not discredit, but it refers to Augustus Meves. When Mrs. Meves disclosed to our father that he was not her son, but the son of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, she neither specified nor explained to him more than that he was the Duke of Normandy. She gave him no intimation at what period he was brought to England, only simply informing him, " that Mr. Meves had gained an interview with the Queen in the Conciergerie," not mentioning in any respect that he it was who had brought the Dauphin from Paris to England, but only that he had made the Queen an oath, which he kept till the latest hour of his existence. The Dauphin could have no know- ledge from his own individual recollection that he was brought to Eng- land from France in 1789, for he was then but four years old. Why he stated in the first instance that an exchange of children must have taken place at the time of the assault on the Palace of Versailles, in October 1789, was on account of the statement of Mr. George Meves, as he stated Mrs. Meves returned to England on the breaking out of the French Revolution, in 1789. This statement therefore did not originate from his own individual recollections, as he was too young to have any, but this being the period he was given to understand that Mrs. Meves returned from France, caused him, when surrounded by parties, to state that this must have been the period of his arrival in England, which was a most unplausible statement, and will readily testify to the truth of his assertion to Captain Curten and Monsieur Rogiers on their return from Holyrood Palace, in 1832, "where the Duchess of Angoul^me and Charles x.'s party were residing," respecting the enamel box, he com- missioned them to state on their visit to Holyrood, he broke in his youth, which he imagined belonged to the Duchess of Angouleme. On their return they remarked, " that possibly he may have learnt this from Mrs. Meves, or read of it in some work." His answer was, " he 202 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS begged to assure the gentlemen he had never read any works on the French Revolution." Had he done so, unquestionably he would have seen his error in stating, " that the Dauphin's escape was effected in 1789," for he would have learnt that it was the Dauphin who was confined in the Temple until his separation from his mother in 1793. This, then, explains why his claims were not admitted by the Duchess of Angouleme, and Charles x.'s party, on account of the mis-statement, which did not emanate from himself, but only from his having adhered to the dates of Mr. George Meves. Certainly Charles x.'s party were attached to his person, and undoubtedly were aware that he was the Dauphin ; nevertheless, politically, it was not to their interests to main- tain and promulgate such. On reflection, this statement respecting his arrival in England, in 1789, will testify his individual integrity, for this must be a convincing proof to the world that his object was not to deceive, but only to state that which he had been led to believe; for had his object been such, a superficial glance at the Revolutionary history would at once have convinced him of his egregious error in this particular — therefore this error should not be attributed as emanating from himself, but from the source, as he states in his letter to the Duchess of Angouleme, ^tf»2 what he has been able to trace, and the authority of such tracing has been his reputed parents and Mr. George Meves. He thereby, in accord- ance with information received, attributed incidents, etc., as happening in England from 1789, whereas they occurred actually in France up to October 1793, and in England subsequently. In respect to the boarding-school at Horsham, although he states in his letter to the Duchess of Angouleme, that he was placed at Thornton's boarding-school at Horsham, in 1790, the school he in reality meant was Tempest's school at Wandsworth, where he was placed shortly after his arrival in England, after his having had the measles in 1794. He had no recollection himself of Thornton's, but only of Tempest's, of which he had a decided recollection, as is seen in pages 8 and 76 of his Memoirs; therefore it is in truth the circum- CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 203 stances which happened to him on and after his arrival in England, in 1793— such as being ill, then being placed at a boarding-school, and all appearing strangers to him, and his not being able to under- stand what was said to him ; these he has erroneously stated hap- pened to him at Thornton's school at Horsham, but which actually had happened to him at the Tower of the Temple at Paris, up to the period of his quitting Tempest's school at Wandsworth, in 1794. Therefore all his recollections, what he recounts in his letter to the Duchess, were in point of action correct, but incorrect as respects dates and stated place of action, which errors alone are attributable to the sources from whence he received his information. In respect to his recollection of being kept at school during the holidays, that in reality refers to the time he was at Tempest's school at Wandsworth, from where Mrs. Meves took him to her residence in Vere Street, in 1794, where, from his own positive recollection, he saw from Mrs. Meves's windows some illuminations. In reverting to this reminiscence he has been led astray, for when he has in the course of conversation with Mrs. Meves alluded to having witnessed these illu- minations on the occasion of her having brought him from school, she has impressed it upon him that these occurred in the year 1792, and this was what made him state in the Duchess's letter that he remembered he was in England in 1792, for he knew perfectly well that he had seen these illuminations in England from Mrs. Meves's residence, after having been brought from school, and he was not aware of the mis- representation of their date until after he knew the Marquis of Bonneval, and then all for a time was a greater mystery than ever. He then well investigated in his own mind his recollections, not subjecting himself to be led by what others had told him in framing his statement in order to make it coincide with dates which pertained not to him, for this it was that had hitherto misled him, and made complicity where in reality none existed. He therefore resolved, now that he was aware of his former errors, to repudiate such, and thence- forth to depend solely on his own individual recollections, " which are," 204 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS as he has written in his Memoirs, "which have not been written to deceive, but to elicit truth, and nothing but truth," and upon which, after mature consideration, we do not hesitate in pronouncing him to be the veritable son of Louis xvi. and Marie Antoinette. The illuminations, as referred to above, were those given in honour of Lord Howe's victory, the ist of June 1794, which took place for three successive days, the 13th, 14th, and 15th June 1794, which he traced from the information of Mrs. Fisher ; therefore in this recollec- tion he was two years in error as regards date, for they took place in 1794, and not, as represented by Mrs. Meves, in 1792. For full particu- lars on this subject refer to page 230. The next subject to allude to is : As Mr. George Meves did not see his brother's son from 1785 — his baptism — till 1792, in Great Russell Street, and then not again till 1802 in Goodge Street, and upon his seeing him in 1792, Aif had blue eyes and light-coloured hair, and Mr. George Meves remarking, " there was nothing extraordinary in his eyes and hair having changed their colour as he grew up.'' Upon this we have a few remarks to make. Certainly the infant Mr. George Meves stood sponsor for in 1785, and the boy he saw in Great Russell Street in 1792, were one and the same, but as the boy he saw in 1792, had blue eyes and light-coloured hair, and the boy he saw subsequently to the year 1794, having brown eyes and brown hair, we differ with him in recognising in this boy the same as he had seen in 1792, for it would be against the law of nature for a boy, who at the age of seven years possessed blue eyes, for such to change their colour after that age to brown, for they would retain the same colour from seven years of age throughout life, and their brightness would only dim through age, or under illness, therefore we say the boy Mr. George Meves saw in 1792 and 1802 was not the same, and that an exchange had been effected. In referring to the special chapter of particulars respecting the colour of the eyes and hair of the Dauphin, it will be readily seen how this ap- parent change in the colour of the eyes had been effected, for it is evident that Augustus Meves, who possessed blue eyes, had taken the place of CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 205 the Dauphin in the Temple in October 1793, and that the Dauphin, who possessed brown eyes, had taken the place of Augustus Meves in England. This will account for the change of the colour of the eyes of the reputed Augustus Meves.* Respecting the colour of the hair changing, Mr. George Meves in this particular was correct, for as Augustus Meves possessed light- coloured hair at seven years of age, there would be nothing unnatural in such changing to a brown in the course of a few years. In referring to the Historical Records, page 156, it is seen when the prisoner of the Temple came under Laurent's charge, he possessed fair hair, neverthe- less it is certain the true Dauphin possessed brown hair, through which fact we are made fully aware, " that this boy could not have been the Dauphin," and as the description again coincides with Augustus Meves, we naturally infer that such was in reality the case. Although it is natural for fair hair to change to dark, it would be , quite contrary to the law of nature for a boy at seven years of age, possessing brown hair, for such to change its colour to fair hair. This would be decidedly unnatural ; nevertheless, the Dauphin assuredly pos- sessed brown hair, and it is seen that the prisoner of the Temple, sub- sequent to October 1793, possessed fair hair, thus accounting why the reputed Augustus Meves possessed brown hair, for he was the Dauphin who was liberated from the Temple in October 1793, and at the same time accounts for the change of the colour of the prisoner of the Temple's hair, subsequent to October 1793, for in reality the captive of the Temple then was Augustus Meves. Respecting the probability of eyes and hair changing colour, we refer our readers to Dr. Hancock's (Chief Ophthalmi Physician, ap- pointed at Charing Cross) opinion thereon.* In speaking of Mr. George Meves, how was it possible for him to know the actions of his brother, if they lived apart, and so seldom (in consequence of the position he held) saw each other ? If Mr. William Meves was so implicated with the Dauphin, is it feasible that he * Forsubject " Colour of the Dauphin's eyes and hair," see Table of Contents for page. 2o6 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS would acquaint his brother with what he had been doing, if secrecy was desired ? Depend upon it, Mr. William Meves was not the man to con- fide such a secret to his brother that he had effected the Dauphin's escape from the Temple, or of the incidents of his life connected with such, if his voice reached not the ears of his charge (the Dauphin). Certainly, had it been his own son there would have been nothing to reveal, but when the whole of the evidences of this work are justly weighed, namely, " the disclosure of Mrs. Meves — the personal identity, through the natural marks and accidental scars, from wounds that the Dauphin received — the apparent introduction of the deaf and dumb boy into the Temple — the startling particulars respecting the colour of the eyes and hair of the Dauphin, and the mystery surrounding the captive who was confined in the Temple, etc. ; '' — these particulars manifest the greatest probability to conclude, that the boy who was under Mr. William Meves's care, subsequent to 1793, was in truth the son of Louis xvi. At the time our father had arranged to proceed to Edinburgh in company with Le Comte Fontaine de Moreau, having communicated such to Mr. George Meves, who found he could not persuade him from undertaking this journey, what did he do, the assurance on his part ot being his uncle giving hira the power, but procured an order for his detention, as being incapable to see to himself? In those days it was no difficult matter to obtain an order to deprive persons of their liberty, when such was essential for individual purposes, and the world at large has been made fully aware to what an extent, and what foul play was used in this most abominable practice, therefore it was no difficult matter for such a warrant to be issued under the representation of a person supposing himself to be a King, and on the point of travelling to Edinburgh to procure an interview with the Duchess of Angoul^me on such apparent delusive claims, much to the annoyance of his friends. The assertion was quite sufficient to pro- cure the necessary warrant for depriving the possessor of such seem- ingly incoherent ideas of his liberty. We believe Mr. George Meves's CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 207 motive was good, for he thought he was doing what was proper in hindering him seeing the Duchess of Angouleme, nevertheless the limit of friendship was overslept, and his presumption unquestionably unpardonable for having recourse to such means, and we can only attribute such to his belief that he was befriending his brother's son. Thus, then, the interview, which in all probability he would have pro- cured, through Le Comte Fontaine de Moreau, with the Duchess, was frustrated by this unforeseen and unwarrantable detention. In this, there was no hesitation on his part in endeavouring to see the Duchess of Angouleme, for he knew within himself it was not his intention to deceive or impose upon the Duchess (his letters bear ample proof of such), but only to do that which was consistent and honourable, in placing before her the incidents of his life, his uprightness wearing no mask, and trusting to meet with openness and candour in return from the Duchess. Acquaint a person who has been wronged of an inheritance with as much knowledge of his claim as our father possessed that he was the Dauphin, and would he not persevere by every means in his power to fkthom the true counts of his cause % Such then could not be accom- plished without much time and perseverance, for difficulties are not removed instantaneously. Supposing, after all his labours, he has been following the wrong course to obtain the desired clues ; certainly such would be disheartening, still he would not give up his cause as lost, but would again contend with the difficulties, if he knew that in reality what he was seeking was a substance, and not a shadow, and although obstacles might again and again obstruct his efforts, hope would stimulate courage. Energy and renewed diligence would follow, with the conviction that success would be the ultimate reward. In the above manner our father has had to persevere, and now the proofs will be found that his was not a vain chimera, but a fact which history itself proves. In referring to the Historical Records, from the period when the Princess-Royal last saw her brother in the Temple, namely the 8th October 1793, it must be apparent to the most sceptical, that soon after 2o8 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS that date the Dauphin was no longer confined in the Temple, but that substitutes enacted his subsequent part in the Temple, which fact will still be more apparent when the reader recalls to mind, that the inter- vening period is " one year and eight months," of which the preceding Historical Records gives but a brief outline of the conduct pursued to- wards the unfortunate prisoner of the Temple,— how then, if the prisoner of the Temple's daily captivity is investigated, when such mystery is evident in the previous brief historical outline, how much more con- vincing and apparent will such be when investigated from day to day. Since it is positive the Dauphin's hberation was effected from the Temple, and as we feel fully assured that in reality that Dauphin was the same as in life was known in England by the name of Augustus Meves, our course, as a matter of right, is to make public such convic- tion ; and it is for public opinion to decide : whether or no we have not guaranteed warranty for such. MONSIEUR LASSLEUR AND COLONEL BIGAULT DESFOUCHERES. In reference to the proposal our father met with from Monsieur Lass- leur and Colonel Bigault Desfouchferes, and the means by which these gentlemen in the first instance became acquainted with him, is seen through the great resemblance he bore to Louis xvi., and the marks that existed upon him being identical with those known to have existed on the Dauphin. It is seen he questions them to know what plans they would adopt were he to accept their offer and proceed to France. Their answer was : " that he would be well provided for, and all they requested of him was to remain silent, as the proofs of his identity must remain with them, as they knew perfectly well who he was, as such proofs existed on him, which fully convinced them that he was no other than the true Louis xvii. ; likewise, that whilst he was in Paris in 1816, his CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 209 great resemblance to Louis xvi. had in certain circles caused much con- versation, as he had been observed whilst witnessing the performances at the different theatres, and likewise circumstances that had occurred to him whilst on his visit, of which they were cognisant. The reason of their desiring him to be silent, was on account of the time he stated he arrived in England, which they knew was incorrect. In respect to their plan of making his claims known to the public, it was, as is seen in the Memoirs, to have gone to the theatre on some particular evening, when it would have been well filled with adhe- rents to the cause of Louis xvii., where he would have been seated in a conspicuous box, and recognised by their partisans as Louis xvii., on account of his great resemblance to Louis xvi. A French nobleman, who would have been present, would then have been appealed to, and had he answered, " that from his appearance he believed him to be the son of Louis xvi.," they would have raised the cry of " Vive Louis XVII. !" Several officers in the army and National Guard, who would have been present, and who were in his favour, would likewise have joined in the cry of " Vive Louis XVII. !" and they would then have carried their point, as the whole of Paris desired a change of Government, since the days of the Carlist's party were nearly at an end. It is seen our father would not entertain such a scheme as proposed by Monsieur Lassleur and party, as it would have placed him on the footing of an adventurer, by having recourse to such means. He repudiated acting in a manner that would have been derogatory to his cause, or in any way that would have compromised him. He not con- senting to their wishes, and the political horizon in France increasing in ferment, which was to drive Charles x. from the throne, these gentle- men suddenly disappeared from the hotel in the Strand, and doubtless proceeded to France, to take part in the then coming struggle. Our father had letters written to the Marquis Lafayette and Prince Perigord de Talleyrand, in which he acquainted them with what had come to his knowledge respecting his birth. Charles x. had to fly the kingdom of France. Then follows the insurrection, and the son of the o 2IO EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS regicide Egalitd was placed on the throne, with the title of " King of the French." Charles x.'s party arrived in Great Britain. Our father then forwarded .two letters to the Duchess of Angoul^me — one in 1830, and the other in 1 83 1, in which he stated the particulars of the disclosures of Mrs. Meves, and of certain subjects that had come to his knowledge, and then follows his being introduced by Le Comte Fontaine de Moreau to the adherents of Charles x.'s party. LE COMTE FONTAINE DE MOREAU. What must have been the impression on Le Comte Fontaine de Moreau after he called on our father ? Apparently he had directions from the Duchess of Angouleme, or from such sources, for the object of his visit, — as it was after our father had written to the Duchess he introduced himself, seemingly as having been commissioned to see him on account of the letters. After a brief interchange of courtesies, he requested to be permitted to see his (our father's) left wrist, in order to satisfy himself as to whether a scar existed there or no, which, after examining and satisfying himself that thereon existed a scar, he desired to know how such was occasioned. Our father's answer was : " He did not know by what means it came, but he supposed it was from the effect of some tumour that he had in his childhood."* This is the scar, or one identical with thai which the Dauphin received on the morning of his father's execution, when endeavouring to escape from the courtyard of the Temple, to plead for his father's life. Louis XVI. had promised the Royal Family, on the evening pre- ceding his execution, that he would take his earthly adieu of them on the following morning. When the morning arrived the Royal Family were anxiously awaiting the expected interview, and as the King did not come as promised, they became impatient, and the Dauphin in his * See Medical Certificates, Appendix, Note A. CHARLES, DA UPHIN OF FRANCE, RE VIE WED. 2 1 1 anxiety made his way to the courtyard of the Temple, to supplicate for his father's life, when his farther passage was interrupted by the National Guard at the point of the bayonet ; and it is here, though not stated in the Historical Records (page 119), that the Dauphin in his despair accidentally struck his left wrist on the point of one of the bayonets, from which he received a wound, and this wound, as a matter of course, was known to hav e existed on the wrist of the Dauphin by the Royal Family. This was the reason of the Count desiring to examine his left wrist, especially so as no allusion had been made to it in the letters that had been sent to the Duchess of Angoul^me ; therefore, the existence of this scar was strong evidence to those from whom he derived his mission, so likewise to himself, who in reality he was. Sub- sequently it is seen that the Marquis of Bonneval attached much im- portance to this scar. The Count then requested to be permitted to examine his bosom, to which he was reluctant in complying with, remarking, " that he had some blood-spots and a dark-coloured mole on his right breast." The Count then observed : " He must pardon him, but he was like St. Thomas — he must see before he believed." He then complied with his request, and he then examined those singular appearances on his breast coinciding with such which were known to have existed on the person of the Dauphin* The Count having fulfilled his mission, must he not have been highly impressed as to who in reality our father was, for the result of this visit was, he introduced him to the adherents of Charles x.'s party. He surely would not have done this unless there had been something very convincing in the marks he saw existing on our father. Depend upon it, his visit was not to be so easily convinced ; but when identify- ing the marks upon his person, and such being identical with those which were known to have existed on the Dauphin, and such marks not having been described in his letters to the Duchess, he must then have been satisfied in a great measure who in truth our father was, and at once * See Medical Certificates, Appendix, Note A. 212 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS perceived his personal ignorance as to the importance of these marks ; and doubtless, had he not been brought up in the confused manner he was, it would have required but little explanation on his part to have estabUshed his unquestionable right to the title of Louis xvii. LE COMTE DE JOUFFROY. As to the Count de Jouffroy's opinion respecting our father's claims, he explains why the European Powers never sincerely wished to investi- gate this subject, namely, on account of the almost unlimited power Louis XVII. possessed in right of birth ; for, by their tacitly acquiescing that Louis xvii. terminated his existence in the Temple, they frustrated the preponderance of power which would in right of birth have inevit- ably been vested in him. This was what insured Louis xviii., and after him Charles x., the throne, their power, compared with that of the son of Louis XVI., being limited ; whereas, had Louis xvii. been acknow- ledged, his power would have been unlimited. Admit as a fact that Louis xvii. was liberated from the Temple, and was brought to England and reared as Augustus Meves, and that indi- viduals who had known him by the name of Meves, whereupon his announcing himself as being in reality the true Louis xvii., those who have been thus acquainted with him, and the public generally, would be more inclined to discredit than credit such an assertion, whilst those who have but a superficial knowledge of the history in question, "we should say of that portion which concerns the Dauphin directly" exclaim, " This cannot be possible, for it is recorded that Louis xvii. died in the Temple." These conclusions not emanating from real conviction, but endorsing such simply because stated such by the Revolutionary Government of France, and tacitly acquiesced in "through pohtical interests" by the European Powers. Is such a decision sensible or reasonable? How is it possible to form an equitable opinion before having read to see whether there are CHARLES, DA VPHIN OF FRANCE, RE VIE WED. 2 1 3 grounds sufficient to justify them in arriving at such a conclusion % If the world alike reasoned on all topics and repudiated investigation, unquestionably we should not be living in a very progressive age, and should but seldom arrive at definite conclusions on the most ordinary subjects. It is the fate of all ideas that revolutionize accepted ones to meet obstacles ; nevertheless, nothing is impossible that is practicable. As to the liberation of the Dauphin from the Temple, there was no great difficulty surrounding the accomplishment of such, as everything facili- tated it, and after these pages are unbiassedly perused, we presume few will question but that it was accomplished. CAPTAIN CURTEN AND MONSIEUR ROGIERS. In reference to Captain Curten and Monsieur Rogiers, and the com- munication received from Captain Curten as having come from the Cardinal de Latil, "the confessor of Charles x.," it has been ante- cedently explained, in commenting on Mr. George Meves's information, how our father made such a mis-statement, as that of saying an exchange of children took place at the Palace of Versailles, in October 1789, therefore, it would be useless to here recapitulate it, but acknowledging the error will be sufficient ; but let it be remembered that this error did not originate as a recollection on his part, but only through misrepre- sentation of dates. On the following, however, it is necessary to comment. The Duchess of Angoul^me stated "she never lost sight of her brother from the time when the Royal Family quitted the Palace of Versailles till their unfortunate separation in the Tower of the Temple, and begged to assure the gentleman who wrote to her, that nothing on earth could afford a greater consolation to her heart than to know that her brother was still in existence, but Her Royal Highness fully believed that her brother died, and that his death was accelerated by poison. She admitted she did not see her brother in death, but the proofs were so 214 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS positive as not to leave the slightest doubt on her mind." Such was Captain Curten's communication. As there is great mystery surrounding the Dauphin after the last time the Duchess, " then Princess-Royal," saw her brother " in October 1793," this mystery we will explain. What conclusions can be arrived at concerning the fact that the Princess-Royal and the Dauphin, who were both confined in the same prison, their tender ages rendering them harmless and unable to devise plots, being so cruelly separated from one another, and that after the 8th October 1793 they see each other no more during their confinement in the Temple, surely they would have been allowed to meet occa- sionally had there not been some stringent necessity why they should be entirely separated. In the historical portion of this work it is seen, p. 158, that the commissary Delboy expressed his indignation at this rule being strictly enforced, for he remarked, " Why prevent them from seeing each other under the reign of fraternity?" and then addressing himself to the captive he said, " Would you not like, my boy, would you not be very glad to go and play with your sister? I don't see why the Nation should recollect your origin if you forget it yourself." Had it been the Dauphin in reality who was confined in the Temple, there would have been no occasion to have enforced this rule, but as it was not the Dauphin who was confined there after October 1793, then there was on the part of the authorities a stringent necessity why the rule should be so strictly enforced, — for had the Princess and the captive been allowed to see each other, the secret of the Dauphin's escape from the Temple would have been manifest to the Princess-Royal, so this continued separation saved the authorities from being for a time detected ; and as the Princess had not seen her brother for so long a time, there was no apparent reason for her then to question the statement that her brother had succumbed under the rigours of the prison, more than to question the fate of her mother, "Marie Antoinette," or her aunt, "Madame Elizabeth," having fallen victims to the excesses of the time. These calamitous tidings were told to the Princess shortly before her liberation CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 215 from the Temple. Sad indeed was such deplorable news to fall on the ears of a young and tender girl, and pitiless were the times that had occasioned such extreme barbarity. There can be no question but that her Royal Highness, during her confinement in the Temple, believed it was her brother who died there, but in after life it is our firm belief, so likewise it was that of our late father, that the Duchess's eyes were opened as to the truth of her brother having been liberated from the Temple, and that she was fully cognisant that her brother was living under the assumed name of Augustus Meves, but on her marriage with the Duke of Angouleme, her policy thenceforth was in the interest of Charles x.'s party, the imperative orders of Louis xviii. and Charles x. being to discounten- ance any claim that might be advanced by the veritable Dauphin, for such would hinder the legitimate succession falling to the lot of the son of the Duke de Berri, " the Duke of Bordeaux," now known as " Le Comte de Chambord," however convinced the Duchess and they might be as to the reality of the existence of Louis xvii., for had the Diichess acknowledged our father it would have disinherited the son of Le Due de Berri; therefore, in the first instance, the Duchess learned of her brother's death from a channel whose policy was to deceive, that is to say, its emanating source ; and secondly, by a policy which commanded her secrecy. As regards the communication respecting the enamel box, that apparently reminded the Duchess of some incident in her life, as she admitted such an occurrence. Upon Captain Curten questioning our father on this, he stated how Mrs. Meves accounted for this box, and gave his own opinion respecting such. In this reminiscence, was there not something that awakened in the Duchess's mind some coincidence of her early captivity in the Tower of the Temple, as evidently the circumstance of the enamel box touched a chord of the Duchess's heart, by recalling an incident in her life too palpable to be mistaken ? These gentlemen asserted that the name of Mariaime de Courville 2i6 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS Schroeder was known, and there were persons then living at Holyrood who remembered such a lady as being in the service of Marie An- toinette, as a confidential friend in whom the Queen placed great con- fidence — thus giving reasonable probability to conclude, together with the information of Messrs. Latour and Franks, and Mrs. Spence, Mrs. Fisher, and Miss Powell, that this said Madame de Courville Schroeder was in reality Mrs. Meves. What could be more passively declaratory of the Duchess's belief in the existence of the Dauphin, than the announcement from Captain Curten of the sum of money that was placed in such hands as would be sure to reach our father, by order of the Duchess of Angouleme ? Such a proceeding seems to confirm her acknowledgment that our father was her brother. In the Memoirs, page 44, it is seen, after the decease of Mrs. Meves, a sum of money was placed to our father's account at his bankers', but he, being ignora,nt of its source, acquainted them with such ; and although they assured him they would be proud to honour any bills on the amount, he never availed himself of such an offer. Shortly after he was informed that the money had been placed to his account in mistake, which explanation at the time quite satisfied him, but after Captain Curten asserted that the Duchess of Angoulgme had forwarded a sum of money for his use into such hands that would be sure to have reached him, he was under the impression that the sum of money which had been placed to his account at his former bankers', and the sum forwarded for his use by the Duchess of Angoullme, were one and the same. Ten years having elapsed since the money was placed to his account, and the interview with Captain Curten and Monsieur Rogiers, and in the interim the banking-house of Messrs. Stephenson and Co. failed, and Mr. Rowland Stephenson fled the country on account of his defalcations, which conduct impressed our father that Mr. Stephenson, finding that he was in perfect ignorance from what source the above sum was placed to his credit, and his refus- ing to draw any cheques on this amount, that he had appropriated to CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 217 his own use the sum which had been placed at the banking firm in the name of Augustus Meves.* As regards the sum of money, does it not point out the Duchess's admission that our father was her brother, for it is as it were tantamount to a recognition of the fact, and doubtless Mrs. Meves had placed proofs in her hands to convince her of such ? What can be deduced from Charles x.'s party, but they being the adherents of his cause, it was not their policy to interfere in the cause of Louis XVII. The policy of the house of Charles x. did not admit of the public countenancing of the claims of Louis xvii., for had the supporters of Charles x. pressed the cause of Louis xvii., their own would have sunk into secondary consideration, therefore they were obliged to reflect before they acted, as they could not serve the cause of Louis xvii. and Charles x. at the same time, the two lines of policy being diametrically opposite; for the right of succession lay in the branch of Charles x.'s party so long as the cause of Louis xvii. was immured in obscurity, and therein accounts why the lips of the Duchess of Angoul^me were sealed to all open acknowledgment of her brother's existence. MONSIEUR LATOUR. It is seen Latour stated that in his youth he was attached to the service of the chapel of Versailles, and attended the priests in their duties at the Palace, and that in 1786 he entered the office of Monsieur * " That Rowland Stephenson carried on, under the cloak of religion, respectability, and morality, the most nefarious transactions, and made away with moneys intrusted to his care, cannot be denied. A more plausible or agreeable an acquaintance I never had, and although I could not help feeling gratified that an exposure had been made, which would warn others from placing any confidence in such men, I was grieved when I heard that he had been compelled to flee the country. Had I been possessed of wealth, so implicit was my faith in him, that I should probably have lost my whole fortune. He once asked me to remove my account from Cox and Green- wood to his house, but as I believed the balance was on the wrong side, I gratefully declined his offer."— Vide Fifty Years' Biographical Reminiscences by Lord William Pitt Lennox, vol. ii. p. 52, published in 1863. 2i8 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS Calonne, "Minister of Finance/' and in 1787 became his private secretary. Concluding such to have been the case, he in the routine of his occupations would have known a great deal in reference to the interior arrangements of the Court of France, and would therefore account for his acquaintance or knowledge of many persons in some way connected with the Court. Therefore his knowledge of Marianne Crowley's posi- tion at the Court is easily understood ; and as he was subsequently well acquainted with Mrs. Meves whilst residing in England, he could not have been liable to error in recognising her as the lady who was attached to the service of Marie Antoinette, if this same Mrs. Meves was indeed the identical Marianne de Courville. As regards the following, that the Queen was the mother of three male children, that is incorrect, for the Queen was the mother but of two sons and two daughters, and in no account is there any mention of the Queen having given birth to a son in 1783, named " Louis Auguste," and who, according to Latour, was created by the King " Duke of Bourgoyne." This is entirely a fabrication on his part, for did he attend the baptismal of a son of Louis xvi. when he was attached to the chapel of Versailles, it must have been either at the first Dauphin's, Louis Joseph Xavier Frangois, or the Prince-Royal's, Louis Charles, Duke of Nor- mandy ; and as there was no such son belonging to the family of Louis XVI. as the " Duke of Bourgoyne," it is apparent he had an object for such misrepresentation — probably for the reason attributed by Monsieur Chermant.* However, there was a son of the Queen's who really became "bossu" but that was the eldest son, Louis Joseph Xavier Fran- cois, who succumbed under his infirmity in October 1789. As regards the diamonds that Latour stated were given to Madame de Courville, this we also believe to be entirely a fabrication, and only related in order to confuse ; therefore we conclude he had an object in making such a statement, attributable very possibly to what Monsieur Chermant stated ; nevertheless, had he been candid, doubtless he could * See opposite page, Monsieur Chermant's information reviewed. CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 219 have given our father important information, for he said, he knew when he saw him in i 794 in Wilson Street, that he was not the Augustus Meves he had previously given lessons to on the pianoforte, in Great Russell Street. Respecting Latour's entry into the National Guards in 1793, cer- tainly what he has stated he could have accomplished with confederacy, for when the time is considered, and the interest that was felt in the Queen's favour, as is testified in the preceding Historical Records, there is no improbability in his assertion, namely, that the escape of the Queen might have been effected from the Conciergerie, for it is seen how many attempts were made, showing thereby her cell was accessible, and that devoted agency was acting in her favour in every direction, but at that time little did it require to bafSe and disconcert well-laid plans when all but achieved. MONSIEUR CHERMANT. It is seen when our father spoke to Monsieur Chermant respecting what Latour had said, he cautioned him to be careful in placing reliance on what he stated, on account of his having entertained great regard for the late Duke of Berri, and, consequently, would be highly interested in the cause of his son Henri, " Duke of Bordeaux." It is not at all im- probable that this was the real object Latour had in not giving our father accurate information. THE MARQUIS OF BONNEVAL. In commenting on the Marquis of Bonneval's information, we must, in the first instance, allude to the many projects that had been formed by loyalists to release the Royal Family from their captivity from the com- mencement of the Revolution, whilst the Royal Family were at the Palace of Versailles, till the period of the liberation of the Princess- Royal from the Tower of the Temple. 2 20 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS In reading the historical account of the Royal Family's flight from the Tuileries, does it not appear almost incredible that under the strict watch and peremptory orders that were issued for the safe custody of the Royal Family, and the extra vigilance that was aroused, both within and without the Palace, on the night of the 20th of June 1791, and that Lafayette himself (the commandant of the National Guard) having been informed the very night the escape was effected, and before its actual realization, by members of the Convention, that the reports and con- versations at the clubs were, that this was the appointed night for the attempt to be made. How did this custodian of Royalty treat these rumours? He laughed at such, and advised these disturbed spirits to go home, as he considered such a thing impossible under the strict watch the Royal Family were subjected to. However, his assur- ance did not quell their suspicions, for these Revolutionary spirits obtained the password from him, and made all haste to the Tuileries. They inspected the different courts, etc., to see whether they could detect any indication or convenience that could facilitate the accom- plishment of their fears. Yet their vigilance was evaded, and had it not been for the malignity of one person, the Royal party would have reached the frontier in safety. On the night of the 20th of June the usual ceremonies took place at the Palace, and after the servants were dismissed, the Royal Family, when alone, habilitated themselves in all haste, in dresses that had been made to correspond to their assumed stations which they were to travel under, and they then left the Palace at intervals — the Queen leaving first, leaning on the arm of one of the body-guards, and leading the Princess- Royal by the hand. Whilst her Majesty was crossing the Carrousel, she passed Lafayette, with one or two officers, on their way to the Palace to insure the safety of incarcerated Royalty, and to see that his orders were strictly complied with. The Queen felt happy in eluding the vigilance of that apostate, that aristocratic jailer who held so often the destiny of France in his power, that dreamer of the impossible, amidst the raging elements of discord, sedition, corruption, dissemblance, and CHARLES, DA UPHIN OF FRANCE, RE VIE WED. 2 2 1 ambition, enrolled indiscriminately under the banner " Patriotism." Next followed Madame Elizabeth in company with one of the guards ; then came the King with the Dauphin, while the devoted and faithful Count de Fersen, disguised as a coachman, preceded the King to show him the way. The Queen in her confusion crossed the Pont Royal and entered the Rue de Bac, then, perceiving the mistake, they had to retrace their steps, whilst the King and the Dauphin traversed the darkest and least frequented streets. On the arrival of the King they got into the coach that was in readiness, and the Count de Fersen drove the Royal Family to Bondy, the first stage between Paris and Chilons, where in readiness were a berlin and a small travelling carriage to effect their anticipated freedom. The Queen's women and one of the disguised body-guard occupied the smaller carriage, whilst the King, the Queen, the Dauphin, Madame Royale, Madame Elizabeth, and the Marquise de Tourzel occupied the berlin, one of the body-guard sat on the box, and another behind. The Count de Fersen kissed the hands of the King and Queeii, and bade the Royal party adieu. They proceeded on their route, and he returned to Paris, from whence the same night he took his route for Brussels. On proceeded the carriages, reaching in safety the village of Sainte Menehould, and the King not having found the relays, which were to have been at certain stages, at their appointed posts, caused him great anxiety, and while at this village he put his head out of the car- riage window, expecting to see some friend posted there to explain the reason of the absence of the several detachments that he ought to hav? met on the road. This one action caused the apprehension of the Royal Family, as the son of the postmaster " Drouet " recognised the King, from his likeness to the stamp on the coins. After the carriages had started on their way to the next town, this suspicion he circulated, when the national guard opposed the departure of the soldiers, who were there in readiness, to follow in the track of the King. During the confu- sion that ensued, Drouet " the malevolent " saddled his best horse and galloped as fast as possible to "Varennes," in order to acquaint the 222 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS authorities with his suspicions, and arouse the inhabitants to arrest the occupants of the carriages ; and at which stage the Royal Family were arrested, and ultimately taken back to Paris. Had the King found the relays at the appointed places, or had any one been stationed on the road between the different posts to explain any alteration that had taken place, or, failing such, had some trusty person been" at the entrance of Varennes, or near such, to have given the information where the relay at this station was actually posted (which unquestionably should have been done), all would have ended well. The King, the Queen, and the three body-guard went themselves from door to door inquiring where the horses were stationed for more than half an hour, without gaining the slightest clue to where they were, whilst the relay was actually posted at the further end of the town, and those in charge of it anxiously awaiting the fugitives' arrival. Had the King been apprised of this, the bridge would have been crossed, and possibly their intended destination would have been reached in safety and without interruption. It appears Drouet, who had made all diligence from Sainte Menehould, passed the Royal party near the entrance of Varennes, called out to the postilions in passing who the party were, entered the town with all haste, aroused a few, and immediately blockaded the bridge. After the Royal party had searched in vain for the horses, they returned in despair to the carriages. The postilions now threatened to unharness the horses, but by bribes and promises, they relaxed, and again the carriages were in motion, but on arriving at the bridge the passage was blocked, and armed men seized the horses' heads, whilst others ran up to the carriage-doors and im- peratively ordered the travellers to show their passports at the Munici- paUty. Had the King been resolute and resented this audacity (which undoubtedly he should have done), their arrest would not have taken place, and their progress would not have been long delayed, for the body-guard, MM. de Valorg, de Moustier, and de Maldan, only awaited the order of the King to resist these desperadoes, and faithful men were rapidly approaching, and others near at hand, that the report of fire- CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 223 arms would have hastened to the spot to have rescued the party if necessary, but the King forbade violence. Fatal indeed was his moderation to himself, his. family, and the Nation. Drouet and his party eventually succeeded in detaining and apprehending the Royal fugitives, and arousing the town and its vicinity, whilst Louis xvi. and the Royal party were kept prisoners at the house of the puritanical Sausse. Count Charles de Damas arrived at Varennes with a few faithful dragoons, the others having revolted at the preceding stage (Cler- mont), and MM. de Choiseul and de Guoguelas, with a detachment of hussars, desired the King at once to force the passage, whilst the alle- giance of the soldiers could be relied on, and before their mixing with the seditious. Likewise, M. Derlons, who commanded a squadron of hussars between Varennes and Stenay, learning the King's arrest, ordered his hussars to mount, and made all possible haste to Varennes to rescue the King by force. On his arrival the approaches were blockaded and guarded by National Guards, who refused to allow the hussars to enter the town, but M. Derlons was permitted to dismount and have an audience with the King. He placed his men at the King's disposal to attempt a rescue, as now the town was roused, and no time was to be lost. The King would not attempt such on account of the presence of women and children, fearing that some perfidious hand would in the rescue shoot the Queen, the children, or his sister. He trusted that the Marquis de Bouilld would have arrived in time, and with the superior force he commanded overcome all obstacles without endangering his family's lives, or without violence to any one, and that their deliverance would be promptly effected. The soldiers, by mixing and drinking with the seditious, turned treacherous. Sedition prevailed ; the King still would not have recourse to force ; his delay ultimately made it impossible had he consented. However, he did not consent. Lastly, officers arrived from Paris with an order for the King's arrest. Preparations were immediately hastened for their departure, and soon they were on the road to Paris, escorted by a formidable force. The inquietude at Sainte Menehould and on the previous route. 2 24 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS occasioned by the presence of soldiers, should have been allayed by their quitting such at a time when the multitude became uneasy by their presence, and concentrated at a given point where effectual assistance should if necessary have been given, and information through trusty persons stationed at by-places on the known route the King had to pass, acquainted him of the alterations that had unavoidably arisen. Had the King been accompanied, as the Marquis de Bouill^ had originally planned, by the Marquis d'Agoult (a major in the French Guards), a man of energy and firmness, doubtless all would have ended success- fully, especially if no further hindrance had happened, had he been present, than actually did arise. However, the Marquis de BouilM's well-considered plan of that officer accompanying the Royal fugitives was laid aside, on account of the Marchioness de Tourzel (governess to the Royal children) asserting her privilege, in virtue of that capacity, of accompanying the Royal party. Therefore, instead of the presence of an intrepid, cool, and resolute man, to advise and act in case of emergency, a timid woman took his place, and the absence of that officer, considering what really transpired, was the cause of the failure. It was the unfortunate presence of women and children that made the King turn a deaf ear to all entreaties for a rescue. Had d'Agoult been present, his wariness as a man of the world would not have risked the slightest indiscretion which might have exposed any of the party to recognition. The King would not have looked out of the carriage-window at Varennes, sur- rounded by a concourse of people in agitation, and suspicious of some- thing unusual stirring by the presence of troops. Had such a thing been necessary, d'Agoult would have been the person. His presence would have given all that was rendered necessary for the success of the undertaking. He would have allayed fears, and checked such from arising by his presence. The officers who commanded the troops on the road were intrepid and noble, but by unforeseen delays arising, their loyal efforts were of no avail. Their disposition to act, their courage, their fidelity, their unsullied honour as officers, deserve the highest commendation posterity can award a faithful soldier. CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 225 Had Napoleon i. been so situated, or were the present Emperor, " Napoleon iii." so, the unlimited lives of Frenchmen would have been and would now be sacrificed to preserve their personal safety. France knows it, Europe knows it, the civilized world knows it; so likewise knows that the love, generosity, humanity, and clemency Louis xyi. had for his subjects' welfare effected his ruin. No tyrant was Louis xvi., but a veritable patriot-King, whose study was the happiness, prosperity, and amelioration of the nation ; but hypocrisy and fanaticism by the seditious, thwarted his good intentions, and slaughtered without hesita- tion or mercy, so many thousand innocent persons. Real Causes of the Failure of the Journey to Varennes. " Various accidents doubtless contributed to disconcert this well- combined enterprise ; but they might all have been surmounted save for the treachery or disgraceful irresolution of the Royal troops at Varennes, who revolted against their faithful officers, and the officious zeal with which the National Guard assembled to prevent the escape of their sovereign. History can supply no ground for pardon for such conduct. Patriotism cannot excuse the citizens, who sought to consign a virtuous monarch and his innocent family to the scaffold. Honour blushes for the soldiers, who forgot their loyalty amidst the cries of the populace, and permitted their sovereign, the heir of twenty kings, to be dragged captive from amidst their armed squadrons. The warmest friend of freedom, if he have a spark of humanity in his bosom, the most ardent republican, if not steeled against every sentiment of honour, must revolt against such baseness. Britain may well exult at the differ- ent conduct which her people exhibited to their fugitive monarchs under the same circumstances, and contrast with the arrest of Louis at Varennes, the fidelity of the western counties to Charles n. after the battle of Worcester, and the devotion of the Scotch Highlanders to the Pretender after the defeat of Culloden."* — AHson's History of Europe, vol. ii. p. 82. It seems almost incredible that such a flight could have terminated successful in leaving Paris, after all the suspicions that had been * The secret of Charles Edward's place of concealment was intrusted to above 200 persons, most of them in the very poorest circumstances. ;^30,ooo was offered for his apprehension, confiscation and death pronounced against his adherents, yet not one Highlander was faithless to his Prince. 226 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS aroused of a meditated escape, and the strict guard which was kept at the Palace, and of the Queen having passed Lafayette himself, and more so, when the flight was so near a successful termination that the King was recognised by so singular a circumstance, and that his detector on suspicion alone used such exertions, malignity, and determination to arrest the fugitives. He possessed not the generosity of the magna^ nimous postmaster of Chalons, who, whilst the horses were being changed, recognised the King ; but this worthy man felt that his sove- reign's life was in his hands, and without manifesting the least surprise he helped to put to the horses, and ordered the postilions to drive on, silently wishing the Royal party God-speed on their journey. As such an escape as that of the Royal Family from the Palace was rendered practicable, where could have existed any particular obstacle in effecting the Dauphin's liberation from the Temple % The greatest obstacle to overcome was his custodian Simon, therefore we appeal to public sense to inquire on what proofs they ratify the announcement that the Dauphin's demise took place in the Tower of the Temple ; for we aver, that up to the present day, no public proof exists which can positively substantiate such ; therefore, the public itself should not acknowledge such a political forgery, but assure itself as to the real history of the Dauphin. In the antecedent Historical Records it is seen the many plans that were entered into to endeavour to liberate the Royal Family from the Temple, and all these undertaken at the risk of life, for detection would have been death ; and possibly many other plans were formed that have not been publicly chronicled, which were entered into with zeal and rectitude for Royalty in captivity, amongst which, that of Mrs. Atkyns, as recounted by the Marquis of Bonneval, though entered into with all integrity on her part, was a failure, on account of the impracticability of the Queen's ultimatum. The period of the attempt, that while the Queen was confined in the Conciergerie, the Marquis being implicated in this, and though unsuccessful in liberating the Queen, he, and the party to which he belonged, were resolved, if possible, to effect the Dauphin's liberation from the Tower of the Temple. CHA RLES, DA UPHIN OF FRANCE, RE VIE WED. 2 2 7 It is seen the many efforts that were made to effect the Royal Family's escape at all hazards, and under such auspices that the world would be' more inclined to discredit than credit, had not the records of the time chronicled that such had really taken place, for the endeavours to release the captives from the Temple were adventurous indeed, and seem through their daring to belong rather to fiction than reality, did not history guarantee such. In what the Marquis of Bonneval stated there is no seeming inconsistency. His statement simply is, " that the Dauphin's escape was accomplished from the Temple by the means of bribes accepted by Simon, the guardian of the Dauphin, and the detestable Hubert." Can Simon's republican principles be looked upon as incorruptible, when it is seen the firebrands of the Revolution itself bartered all for gold ? In fact, the Revolution was carried by barterers for position from beginning to end ; therefore, was not Simon open to corruption, when gold, as stated by the Marquis of Bonneval, was the inducement which influenced him " and Hubert " ? Entire confidence was placed in this man, thereby rendering the accomplishment of an exchange of boys easy, if he felt so inclined; and as Mr. Meves — we do not know whether by the name of Meves, " most probably an assumed name " — ^had placed his son, by influence from some quarter, in hands whereby the Dauphin's escape could be easily accomplished by waiting an available opportunity. Such an opportunity occurred during the Queen's trial, on account of public curiosity being concentrated in the direction of the Conciergerie, and absorbed in the fate of the Queen. It was then that the son of Mr. Meves (as is explained in page 175) took the Dauphin's place at the Temple, and the Dauphin was liberated therefrom. In the Historical Records, page 142, it is seen — " Hubert, with his party, went down into Simon's room, but the object of his visit was more the little prisoner than the captive ladies. He had a long conversation with Simon, looked at the child without speaking to him, took leave of the master with the words, ' Very soon,' and withdrew. 2 28 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS " No official order or direction was given on that floor. ' Very soon ' is the sole portion of the visit we have heard of. A farewell word, simple and common enough, but which, under the circumstances, seems frightfully significant." — Beauchesne's Louis XVII. So likewise on reflection they seem significant to us, for the Marquis of Bonneval stated that Hubert and Simon were bribed in order to allow the Dauphin's escape from the Temple, and as the Dauphin's deliverance was effected within three weeks after this visit, could these singular words, " Very soon" have referred to the Dauphin's deliverance ? " These frightfully significant words," as they are termed by Beau- chesne, seem to imply, if there is any meaning in them, the carrying out the stipulation of the Dauphin's release from the Temple. The Marquis of Bonneval, on his own part, was sure that the Dauphin's escape had been effected from the Temple, for he averred, " that he guarded the carriage, which contained the heir and a person of approved courage, through a certain pass in Normandy, leading to the coast, and upon arriving at the coast in safety he left the carriage, as he was fearful of being recognised, as he was known as being a Royalist." The carriage should have proceeded to the camp of General Charetle, the Commander of the Vendean army, but it appears it did not, for when it arrived at a certain part of the coast, the Dauphin was placed in a boat, as may be seen in the Memoirs, page 6, and was brought to England by Mr. William Meves, and he then assumed the name of Augustus Meves. The Marquis not having received any com- munication that the Dauphin had reached the camp of General Charette, his doubts unquestionably were, whether he had again fallen into the hands of his tormentors ; therefore he knew his escape had been effected from the Temple, but his location uncertain. It appears singular, after the risk the Marquis had run, he did not in reality know the true destination of the Dauphin, but apparently he did not ; and likewise, that he did not satisfy himself as to the presence of the Dauphin in the carriage, by certifying such with his own eyes, CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 229 but he said he was perfectly satisfied that the carriage did contain the Dauphin, with a protector. The most probable inference why he did not have ocular demonstration of this, was the necessary caution that was required, for his province was not to arouse curiosity, but to have hindered all token that would have given rise to such. Had he then kept close to the carriage, suspicion on the route might have been aroused, and possibly the escape frustrated ; but by following in the track of the carriage, if it had so happened that it had been stopt, he as a private gentleman may have rescued the occupants. Certainly, a signal from the parties who had compacted for the release of the Dauphin from the Temple would have been sufficient to have sufficed him that all had been accomplished, and the entry of the fugitives into the carriage would have assured him that all was correct. Let it then be assumed that the Marquis adopted the above plan, or one which would practically coincide with such. As the Marquis then was cognisant that the Dauphin in reality had gained his deliverance from the Temple, it accounts for his caution how he proceeded in endeavouring to identify him. It is seen when our father related the same statement to him as he had done to Charles x.'s party, and the Duchess of Angoul^me, namely, his arrival in England in 1789, that the Marquis repudiated such an assertion, as he was personally aware that the Dauphin's escape had been effected during the trial of the innocent Marie Antoinette in 1793, and not in 1789. When the Marquis questioned our father respecting his arrival in England, it is seen he replied that he was led to believe he first came under Mr. William Meves's care in 1792, from a boarding-school at Horsham. He did not say that he recollected this himself, but only that he was led to believe so. This led-to-believe-so statement emanated directly from persons whose object was to make him believe that such was in reality the case. However, his positive recollections were, that he was placed at Tempest's boarding-school at Wandsworth, and that during the vacation he was taken from this 230 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS school to Vere Street, and it was from the windows of there, that he saw the illuminations given in honour of Lord Howe's victory. It was through witnessing these illuminations, and understanding that such took place in 1792, that he was positive he was in England at that time ; but in this he was led astray as regards the date, for when in conversation with Mrs. Meves, and having alluded to these illumina- tions, she stated they took place in 1792. It was upon this information the error of date and place arose, for he recollected having been taken from a school just previously to having witnessed these illuminations ; therefore, this fully accounts why in his letters to the Duchess of Angoulerae, and to those who surrounded him, that he could trace his being in England in 1792. How often is it the case that, when information is required, per- sons go every way but the right to gain that which is authentic ? We must admit that our father, in the first instance, adopted this course, and as he was not aware what illuminations these were, he was led astray two years, — that is, the illuminations had really taken place in 1794, and he was under the impression they had taken place in 1792, and as Augustus Meves had left the school at Horsham (the Messrs. Thornton's) in 1792, and as the Dauphin had left Tempest's school in 1794, why, here is seen the similarity of coincidences by which he was open to be led astray ! As regards the correct date of these illuminations, our father ascer- tained such from the information he had received from Mrs. Fisher, who informed him that while Mrs. Meves was residing in Vere Street, Oxford Street, in the month of January 1794, she went to Holland with a deaf and dumb boy, the son of a Maria Dodd, and with this boy she pro- ceeded from there to Paris, and that she did not return to England until the middle of May 1794. This information brings the correct solution of our father's recollections, for this was the month Mrs. Meves brought him from Tempest's boarding-school and took him to Vere Street, and from where he witnessed the illuminations, which on reference to history assured him were those given in honour of Lord Howe's victory, which CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 231 took place in June 1794, for three successive days.* As these were his own recollections, he was aware of his former erroneous dates, and he then wrote, as is seen in the Authentic Memoirs, his life ; and as time passed, every additional particular that came to his knowledge made the fact more apparent of his being the son of Louis xvi., for time and experi- ence were indispensable to unravel the mystery that surrounded him. The Marquis, then, was positive our father had been misled as respected dates, and seeing there was no desire on his part to impose, he became additionally attached to him from the fact of the striking per- sonal resemblance he bore to Louis xvi., and his manner and expression reminding him so much of the King. As respected his identification with the Dauphin, he was more and more convinced who in reahty he was, for on his recognising the scar on his left wrist, this was demonstrative proof, as the Dauphin, on the morning of the execution of his father, having made his way into the court-yard of the Temple, he, whilst endeavouring to pass the guards, accidentally struck his left wrist upon the points of one of the guard's bayonets who obstructed his passage, and thereby inflicted a wound ; therefore, the existence of this scar guaranteed to the Marquis much more than words could have done in satisfying him who our father was.-J- This scar was the first thing le Comte Fontaine de Moreau, on his visit to our father at Bath Place, satisfied himself on, for it is evident without this scar he could not have been the Dauphin. In referring to the Marquis's evidence it is seen, he says, " Sir, it is extraordinary that you should have on your left wrist a scar corresponding with such as the Dauphin received in attempting to pass the guards on the morning of the King's execution," and then adding, " This scar, and your general appearance, particularly your features, which so exactly correspond with those of the * Oh the 1st June 1794 a naval engagement took place between Lord Howe, commander of the English fleet, and the Revolutionary navy of France, which ended in a signal victory by Lord Howe. The arrival of this news excited the greatest sensation throughout Great Britain ; illuminations took place for three successive days-the 13th, 14th, and 15th June— all over the United Kingdom of Great Britain, m commemoration of this victory. + See Medical Certificates, App. Note A ; likewise p. 119 Historical Records. 232 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS Dauphin, are to me the most convincing proofs, rather than your con- versation, as you are certainly most ignorant of circumstances which regard yourself" Furthermore, to verify his identity as Louis xvii., is the extraordinary appearance of the two teats on his right breast, which elicits evidence the most characteristic in identifying him as the Dauphin. Upon the Marquis questioning our father respecting this singular mark, he in- formed him, " that he certainly had many singular marks on his chest, but not two teats on his right breast,'' nevertheless, over the nipple of his right breast was a kind of mole, which in his youth may have greatly resembled two teats ^^ For the description of this double teat we refer our readers to the medical certificates of Doctors Newton, Andrews, Ringer, and Mr. Wakley, and of the special opinion of Dr. Andrews thereon. As all the natural marks and scars that were known to have existed on the Dauphin were found existing identically on our father, what is the natural inference that follows such ? The many kindnesses the Marquis proffered our father shows he was highly interested in his cause, and at whose sudden demise he lost a stanch, warm, and trusty supporter of his cause. DOCTOR RIOFREY BUREAUD. In 1835 it is seen our father visited Dr. Riofrey Bureaud (who resided in Newman Street, Oxford Street), where he formed the acquaintance of several gentlemen, who were made acquainted with his pretensions. It was the Doctor who presented him with the work written by the Duchess of Angouleme, entitled The Events of the Temple, to which was appended Harmand's report of his ofBcial visit to the Temple in i794,f wherein it is seen he could by no means or kind entreaty gain one word in reply from the captive. « See Medical Certificates, Appendix, Note A. t See Harmand's Report, ante, pp. 161-5. CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. 233 On mature consideration of this report, our father saw, and not till then, the importance of the information Mrs. Fisher had previously given him, for it seemed to him that this boy, whom Harmand and the keepers of the Temple captive had reported they could not gain one word from, was no other than the deaf and dumb boy Mrs. Meves had taken to Paris in the month of January 1794. Harmand's report fully proves, that had the captive been capable of answering or hearing he would not have turned a deaf ear to the kind attentions of this stranger ; therefore, there can be little doubt but that this was a deaf and dumb boy, and we infer that the boy Harmand saw, was in reality the son of Maria Dodd. As regards our father having met Louis Napoleon at Dr. Riofrey Bureaud's, he is alive, and can answer this, and surrounded by those emblems of royalty which he and his uncle took arms against, but whom neither disdained to accept when the opportunity occurred of exalting them to the diadem ; but as this has nothing to do with the question respecting the Dauphin, there is no necessity for argument, as it would lead to nothing; however discussed, except, that Napoleon is aware, and has been aware for many years, that the person called "Augustus Meves" was the veritable Louis xvii. MR. FRANKS. Admitting Mr. Franks held the functions at the Court of France as stated, and of his acquaintance with Cornelius Crowley, Esq., whom he saw in Paris with his daughter, with the object of placing her in a Con- vent, evidently Miss Crowley was in Paris for such a purpose, as the note of the Abbess of the Abbaye aux Bois * bears proof that it was so. As Mr. Franks was acquainted with Miss Crowley, of course he knew whether it was she who was subsequently in the service of Marie Antoinette. He attributed Miss Crowley's appointment at the Court to the influence of Signor Sacchini, who it will be recollected had been a * See the Abbess's Note, Authentic Memoirs, p. 41. 234 EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS REVIEWED. pupil of his in London. Certainly his influence was sufficient to gain her an appointment at Court.* In the letter written to Miss Crowley by her father, is stated, " that, should he survive his illness, he would return with his daughter to Paris," f thereby showing that Miss Crowley was in Paris in lySr. It appears that when Miss Crowley returned to Paris in 1784, she re-entered the service of Marie Antoinette, and was known under the name of Madame de Courville Schroeder. In reference to the severe wound the Dauphin received at his inoculation, on his right arm, as alluded to by Mr. Franks, and that such a corresponding scar existed on our father's right arm, identical in every particular to the one which must have existed on the veritable Dauphin's, this was demonstrative and irrefutable proof to him in con- cluding, through identity, who in reality he was, for had not such a large scar existed on him he could not have been the son of Louis xvi. and Marie Antoinette. The certainty that such a scar did exist on the Dauphin is indisputable, for the doctor who occasioned such an un- necessary incision was severely reproved.J 'What advantage could have accrued to Mr. Franks to state what was not true % The only advantage, if such can be considered an advantage, was the knowledge of having deceived. Certainly investi- gation will test what is true, and what is untrue. Our desire in this cause is equity, and unworthy indeed should we be, did we not acquit ourselves of the responsible charge transmitted to us by the descent of blood. * For biographical notice of Signor Sacchini, see footnote, p. 173. + See Mr. Crowley's letter, Memoirs, p. 42. + See Medical Certificates, Appendix, Note A. END OF EVIDENCES OF THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE, REVIEWED. ELUCIDATION OF REMINISCENCES. 235 V. THE DAUPHIN'S RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PALACES OF VERSAILLES AND THE TUILERIES. VERSAILLES AND THE TUILERIES. SIT is seen throughout our father's life that his thoughts were w. constantly dwelling on the incidents of his youth, as certain HI occurrences seemed so indelibly stamped on his mind that he could not satisfactorily account for, and it was then that he had recourse to Mr. and Mrs. Meves to have his natural curiosity satisfied, from what source in his youth such or such an event could have originated, and from the fact of the true Augustus Meves having in his youth attended a school at Horsham, which school had previously been a county prison, this school therefore in many respects coincided with the Tower of the Temple, and thereby enabled Mr. and Mrs. Meves to answer any questions he put to them in a most reasonable and satisfactory manner, inasmuch that he concluded that such incidents really must have occurred as they had represented; therefore, this accounts for the mystification that surrounded him, as all true recollec- tions were as much as possible tampered with, in order to unsettle him, thus rendering him uncertain as to what in reality were his true recollec- tions ; for were he the Dauphin, which the facts connected with his life can leave but little doubt, evidently it was the policy of his supposed parents never to let such transpire — the conditions imposed most pro- 236 ELUCIDATION OF REMINISCENCES OF THE bably being such as commanded their silence ; for how would it have been possible for his reputed father and mother to have reared him if certain knowledge had remained in him respecting the circumstances vsrhich had occurred to him in his youth had been palpable that they had happened in the Tower of the Temple, and never did he doubt their veracity till the disclosure made to him by Mrs. Meves : " that he was the lawful son of Marie Antoinette.'' We will now describe our father's opinions respecting himself, after mature consideration on his part, and which were entertained by him up to the period of his demise. On his visiting the Palace of Versailles in 18 16, he has narrated how much he was struck with what there surrounded him, when looking over the balustrade of le Grand I'Escalier des Ambassades, listening to what the guide was reciting, as it seemed to him the very staircase from which he in his youth had witnessed some military band play in the hall, and of a kettle-drum having been strapped to the shoulders of a soldier. Upon his questioning Mr. and Mrs. Meves relative to this recollection, long prior to his visit to Versailles, they have stated " that during the time he attended Messrs. Thornton's boarding-school at Horsham, that at certain periods of the year there were village festivals given, and it must have been at one of these festivals that he had wit- nessed the incident as above related." This explanation was satisfactory, for such a circumstance in reality could have taken place there, never- theless there can be little doubt, from what has transpired since this explanation, that it was in reality from the balustrade of le Grand I'Escalier des Ambassades he had vntnessed the incident of the band playing, and the drum strapped on the shoulders of a soldier. On his visiting the Salle du Theatre at Versailles, it seemed as if he had some slight recollection of it, as it reminded him of a place where in his youth he had seen some fireworks displayed by some soldiers. The following very probably will elucidate this reminiscence : — " The Flanders regiment having taken up their quarters at Ver- sailles, a banquet was given by the King's Garde du Corps in the great PALACES OF VERSAILLES AND TUILERIES. 237 theatre of Versailles (and not in the saloon of Hercules, as some chroniclers say), to the officers of the regiment of Flanders, on the ist October 1789. Boxes were appropriated to various persons who wished to be present at the entertainment. On the night of entertainment tables were set out upon the] stage. Around them were placed one of the body-guard and an officer of the Flanders regiment alternately. There was a numerous orchestra in the room, and the boxes were filled with spectators. The air, ' O Richard ! O mon Roi ! ' was played, and shouts of ' Vive le Roi ' shook the roof for several minutes. During the entertainment, the King, the Queen, and the Dauphin entered the chamber, when a general enthusiasm prevailed. The moment their Majesties arrived, the orchestra renewed the air just mentioned, and afterwards played a song in The Deserter, ' Can we grieve those whom we love 1 ' which made a powerful impression upon those present. On all sides were heard praises of their Majesties, exclamations of affection, expressions of regret for what they had suffered, clapping of hands, and shouts of ' Vive le Roi I Vive la Reine I Vive le Dauphin /' " — Madame Campan's Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, vol. ii. p. 70. It is not therefore unlikely, surrounded as the Dauphin must have been at this entertainment, that it would have impressed him with some slight reminiscence of the theatre, and from our father's recollec- tion of this place, it elicits the great probability that the above event was the means of making that impression on his mind. Upon his visiting the Tuileries, the only object he imagined having seen previously, "was a large painting in the room of the Garde du Corps." Respecting his remembrance of having seen in his youth a wonder- ful display on the water,* which, after what he had revealed to him of his being the son of Marie Antoinette, he imagined was the procession which bore the ashes of Voltaire to the Pantheon, for after his reading in Prudhommis Jojtrnal the account therein given of this procession, it seemed in many instances to correspond with his recollections of the dis- play he had seen when a youth. His reputed father accounted for the above as having taken place at Vauxhall Gardens, but if correct what Mrs. Meves revealed, it could not have taken place at Vauxhall, but the * See Memoirs, pp. 16, 17. 238 PALACES OF VERSAILLES AND TUILERIES. incident which caused this reminiscence must have occurred in France. In comparing his recollection with Prudhomme's account, it will be seen it is not critically correct, for the procession was by land, and his recol- lection was a procession by water, but in reading Monsieur Lamartine's description of this procession,* which is fully detailed, and as far as regards the incidents therein given, his recollections, although defective, seems to correspond strikingly with such. Upon this procession arriv- ing at the Quai Voltaire it stopped, and was visible to the occupants of the Palace of the Tuileries, and probably at this time the Dauphin may have been in the garden of the Palace, or adjacent thereto, and have witnessed this procession, as when the Royal Family were at the Tuileries they could take no open-air exercise, except on the terrace next to the river, therefore, this procession having passed over the water, and having come in such proximity to the gardens, shows the likelihood of its being the same which our father had seen in his youth. Though the procession was by land, nevertheless, it passing so near the water accounts why this procession had left such an impression on a child's mind, that it was a procession by water. Considering the preced- ing and subsequent tumultuous processions that took place in Paris, and the unsettled state wherein the Dauphin was placed, it easily accounts for mistakes that may arise in his narrations, as so many com- plicated and incomprehensible incidents must have happened, which were impossible for the understanding of a boy of his age to have retained with accuracy, and makes apparent the consistency "under such circumstances " of the reminiscences herein narrated. * See Appendix, Note D. END OF THE DAUPHIN S RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PALACES OF VERSAILLES AND TUILERIES. ELUCIDATION OF REMINISCENCES. 239 VI. THE DAUPHIN'S RECOLLECTIONS OF THE TOWER OF THE TEMPLE. JN speaking of our father's recollection of the Tower of the Temple, there seems nothing unnatural in his reminiscences, as they are such as in reality would have made an im- pression on the mind of a youth, — such as the appearance of the place, the desolate garden, and the school at which he attended in the Rotunda of the Temple, and the boys attending him therefrom to the Temple, where he was received by Madame Simon, whose husband used to exercise him in a strangely built room, on the top of this Tower. Once when this person was stimulating him with a handkerchief, by accident it swang round his face, and tore the skin from his left cheek, and occasioned a wound which was some time in healing. The scar from this accident remained on our father up to the time of his decease. In the Historical Records it is stated that the Dauphin received a blow from Simon with a towel, whilst waiting upon him.* How singu- lar it is that the subject of the present Memoirs had a scar on his cheek occasioned from the result of such a blow as recorded, and of his recol- lection of such having been occasioned by Simon. Though this scar is not entered in the medical certificates, nevertheless it existed, and as no particular allusion had been made to it by those who attached importance to the several marks and scars accounts for the omission * See Memoirs, page 2; likewise Historical Records, page 141. 240 ELUCIDATION OF THE REMINISCENCES in our not having directed medical attention to this scar, for it seemed to us that enough was guaranteed to carry identity, without calling attention to this ; nevertheless, it existed as palpably as the other scars on his person, but we admit it would have been more satisfactory for medical testimony to have guaranteed its authenticity. The reason of now alluding to this scar is on account of having lately read in Lamartine's History of the Girondists, and Beauchesne's Louis XVII. , that the Dauphin received a blow from Simon with a towel, and as there existed a scar on the subject of these Memoirs, who accounted for such having originated from a blow received from Simon with a towel, we have therefore alluded to it, as its existence adds another link in prov- ing him to be assuredly the son of Louis xvi. Respecting the incident of the swing in the upper room of the Temple, of the boy who whilst swinging striking the hooks which sup- ported the tube that conveyed the. smoke from an old iron stove in the room, whereupon down came a portion of the worm-eaten old tube, and with it the soot, the accumulation of years : to show the feasibility of such having in reality occurred at the Temple, is, " that the upper room of the Temple in which our father supposed the above event to have occurred, had, upon the Royal Family's incarceration there, con- tained an old iron stove, which was afterwards removed, and a French one took its place." There being some cause for such being done, shows every probability that the above incident occasioned the necessity of having a new stove, as, by our father's recollection of this tube, it would require entirely replacing. Whilst confined in this building he recollected having seen a kind of play, and of being taken out by Simon to the house of a friend of his, where, while in a room by himself, he got on a chair in order to reach some comfiture from the cupboard, and not being able to reach the desired article, he got on a high muff-box, which he overturned and fell on the floor, which brought the company into the room. After which he mounted Simon's shoulders and returned to the Temple, amidst a number of persons who were attracted to them on account of their singing. OF THE TOWER OF THE TEMPLE. 241 On the fourth day after the Dauphin's separation from his mother, a report was circulated in Paris that the son of Louis xvi. had been carried off from the Temple, and had been seen on the Boulevards, and that he had been carried in triumph to St. Cloud. Upon this startiing report gaining ground all was commotion, and crowds hastened to the Temple to ascertain the particulars, when the Temple guard assured the inquirers, " that they had not seen Louis xvii. since he had been given up to Simon, and that they believed he was no longer in the Temple." This report caused a deputation from the Committee of Public Safety to repair to the Temple, in order to make an official report as to the safe custody of the Dauphin. On their arrival at the Temple the Dauphin was taken into the garden in order to be seen by the guards, and for them to verify his safe custody in the Temple. After which Simon was taken into the council- room, where he fully ascertained the routine the authorities desired him to pursue towards the Dauphin (which was to get rid of him), and then followed the demoralizing treatment that was pursued towards the young captive. On the deputation's return to the Convention to report the particulars of their visit, they stated "that the Royal Family were quite safe, under the custodians of the Temple."* The fact then of the Dauphin having been seen on the Boulevards is fully accounted for, as our father recollected such an incident that would satisfactorily account for such, for he has written, that in his youth he was taken out of the Temple by Simon to an acquaintance of his, and upon leaving the house he mounted Simon's shoulders and returned to the Temple amidst a number of persons attracted to them on account of their singing. "f The Historical Records prove that Simon had then the power of doing as he pleased with his charge, as full confidence was placed in him, or unquestionably he would not have been selected for such an office. The guards, as is seen, asserted that they had not seen the Dauphin since he had been under the custody of Simon ; therefore, he * See Historical Records, pp. 136 and 137. t See Memoirs, pp. 2 and 3. Q 242 ELUCIDATION OF THE REMINISCENCES was the responsible person for the safe keeping of the captive prince. Evidently the incident vi'hich our father has narrated, was that which occasioned the report that the Dauphin had escaped from the Temple and had been seen on the Boulevards. According to our father's recollections many persons used to visit Simon at the Temple, but Hubert and Danton were constant visitors, and especially so Danton, for whenever in the course of his life he was examining portraits of the French Revolutionists, the portrait of Danton always struck him as having been familiar to him in his youth, as he imagined he recognised in the features of that audacious republican the person who, when he was a prisoner in the Temple, used to explain to him, on a starlight night, the mysteries of the planetary system.* Our father has stated, that the only time he recollected having met with ill-usage whilst under the care of Simon, was from one Jacques R&d Hubert, the immoral and depraved monster who endeavoured to sully the character of the noble and heroic Marie Antoinette by endeavouring, if possible, to ensnare the Dauphin and the Princess-Royal in a deposi- tion of which they could not understand, only, that it was some stratagem to harm their mother. Upon this remorseless villain finding himself foiled in eliciting what he desired from the Dauphin, he seized him by the hair of his head and thrusted him against the door leading to the upper chambers, from which treatment he received a wound over his lefteye,\ and it was this brutality, in our father's opinion, that aroused the natural woman's nature in Madame Simon to use her influence in pro- curing his release from the Temple. He has described the manner how his escape was effected from the Temple, namely, " by the means of Madame Simon, his introduction to Mr. Meves, his arrival on the coast of Normandy, and subsequent arrival in London " (see Memoirs, pp. 6 and 7). J » Now, although he imagined he recognised his instructor in the portrait of Danton, in this he was mistaken, for it was the King who in reality was his instructor in the Temple. t See Medical Certificates, Appendix, Note A. X Deposition of a Medical Gentleman on the Trial of the Baron de Richemont :- M. Remusat.—Ons day on going my rounds at the hospital at Parma, a woman OF THE TO WER OF THE TEMPLE. 243 Having portrayed the Dauphin's recollections of the Temple, we here remark, had it been his desire to impose he would have written quite different, for had he referred to books, and the writings of accredited chroniclers, for a guide, he could have, had his object been to deceive, coincided with many of the incidents narrated ; but such was not his object ; his object alone was to chronicle what he recollected had hap- pened to him ; he repudiated stating he recollected incidents of which he had no recollection, thereby manifesting that candour was his prin- ciple, and however much such would have served him, he repudiated stating anything but what he himself individually recollected. He trusted in public opinion, to judge whether there was not every reason- able assurance for him identif3dng himself as the Dauphin. called Semas, who was in the hospital, in complaining of the regulations of the hospital, said to me, " If my children were acquainted with my position they would take me from here soon." I asked her if she had any children. " My children," she replied, "are the children of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, whose governess I was." I said to her, " The Dauphin is dead. " She replied, "No; he lives. He was released from the Tower of the Temple in a bundle of linen. " Such was the dis- closure of this person to me, and, to the best of my belief, such was her statement of the means employed in the Dauphin's deliverance. I inquired who this woman was, • and was informed she was formerly the wife of the notorious Simon, the keeper of the children of Louis xvi. at the Tower of the Temple. When I learnt her actual capacity at the Tower of the Temple I then fully understood the woman's words, ' ' I was the governess of the children of Louis xvi. and Marie Antoinette at the Tower of the Temple." {Movement in the auditory^ M. le President. — At what date did this circumstance occur ? M. Remuiat. — In 181 1. I was a resident student at the hospital. M. le President. — Simon and his wife quitted the Temple in 1794, whilst the Prince died in 1795. Baron de Richemont. — He was exchanged whilst Simon was keeper of the Temple, and was subsequently confided to the care of the Duke of Bourbon. M. le President. — That assertion is unfortunate, for in 1814 the Duke of Bourbon was the first to greet the royalty of Louis XVIII. {Then addressing the witness) At the time, did you speak of this revelation to any one ? M. Remusat. — I have spoken of it to several persons, but I do not recollect their names. (Much agitation in the auditory followed this evidence^ Le Constitutionnel, 2nd and 3rd November 1834. For Richemont's Trial, see French papers of October and November 1834. END OF " THE DAUPHIn'S RECOLLECTIONS OF THE TOWER OF THE TEMPLE." 244 THE CAREER, FROM 1793 TILL 1823, OF VII. HOW THE DAUPHIN WAS BROUGHT UP AFTER HIS ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND, TILL THE YEAR 1823. |AVING completed that portion of the Dauphin's recollections which constitutes his life till his escape from the Tower of the Temple and his subsequent arrival in England, we shall detail his subsequent career after his arrival in Great Russell Street The incidents of his life from his arrival in England having been pre- viously discussed,* renders it unnecessary to here recapitulate them, but to follow in order such as have not been commented on, namely : — On finishing his schooling at Tempest's he returned to the care of Mr. Meves, when he studied music, and as he progressed in his piano- forte playing, his reputed father, seeing him frequently absorbed in thought whilst so engaged, adopted the habit of reading entertaining works to him, for Mr. Meves's desire was not to foster in any way his early recollections, but to hinder such coming in any way to his mind, therefore, he amused him in delightful narrations of the most pleasing to a boy's imagination, and thus his attention was drawn from ruminating on his early life by the extreme kindness of his reputed father. His musical education was paid particular attention to. Mr. Meves being an artist he took a portrait of his adopted son, at the latter end of 1797, which portrait our father had every reason to * See page 198. LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 245 believe was the original from which the print, one of which he pos- sessed, entitled, "L'Espoir des Frangais," "The hope of the French" — had been engraved. Our father, having made unusual progress as a pianoforte player, was taken to Edinburgh, and appeared at Urbani's Concerts at the Assembly Rooms in George Street, under the name of Master Augustus. His performance at these Concerts met with a marked encomium in a critique, likening him to the great Mozart.* One evening after he had played Steibelt's Concerto of " The Storm," as he passed down the room he was highly complimented by the Countess de Lally, and by a stout French gentleman, who he was informed was the Count of Provence, brother of Louis xvt., afterwards Louis XVIII. On his return to London, one would suppose after such a success in Edinburgh, that Mr. Meves would have endeavoured in every way to have completed his musical education, by giving him first-rate masters ; but no, his music instructor, who up to the time he went to Edinburgh, had been giving him lessons on counterpoint and composition, was then dispensed with, and Mr. Meves then desired to have him brought up as a merchant, and with this object he placed him in the firm of Beland and Co., where he was employed for some time. It seems strange, after he had become a proficient instrumentalist, and the general approbation he met with, and the high compliments paid him at the Edinburgh Concerts, that after his return from Scotland, he was placed by Mr. Meves at a counting-house, with the intention of bringing him up as a merchant, which is seen did not at all agree with his inclination, as it was a branch so opposite to that of the gratifying study of music. The only reason we can attribute for Mr. Meves having done such, is, that as a public character he would have been thrown much into society, where he might have been recognised, whereas in an office, this would have been obviated. The dull monotony of the count- ing-house, together with the uncourteous Beland, made him take a great * See Appendix, Note C, for Biographical Notice of Meves' " Augustus." 246 THE CAREER, FROM 1793 TILL 1823, OF dislike to his new vocation, which he represented to Mrs. Meves, who introduced him to Mr. John Broadwood, the celebrated pianoforte manufacturer. He then quitted the counting-house and practised music assiduously, and by the recommendation of his kind patron he met with success in teaching in the highest circles ; likewise, Mrs. Meves having the teaching of many of the nobility, enabled her likewise to introduce him, and in a very short time he moved in society through invitation with the elite. Mr. Meves had a great dislike to his visiting such society, remarking, that he would never gain money by it ; and he, desiring that he should have a settled income, purchased a musical walk, which occupied him thenceforth incessantly, for six days in the week. In 1 8 13 he took a dislike to the musical profession, on account of the wearisome humdrumming he had been subjected to in the teach- ing of schools, and became a speculator at the Rotunda of the Bank of England. Respecting his visit to the Argyle Rooms in 1815, and of the lady whom he observed scrutinizing him after Mrs. Meves had left her seat, which lady he afterwards saw several ladies and gentlemen curtsey and bow to, and who, upon inquiry,'he was informed was the Duchess of Angouleme, — in after years, when his eyes were opened as to his real origin, his opinion was, that he was taken intentionally to the Argyle Rooms by Mrs. Meves, so that her Royal Highness might see hira, and be personally assured of his, " her brother's," existence. Having fully alluded, in the Dauphin's recollections of the Palaces of Versailles and Tuileries, of his visit to Paris in 18 16, these there- fore we pass over, as it would be but a recapitulation, and follow his subsequent career.* He again entered the musical profession, and published several compositions which became very popular, and at times visited the Bank of England, where he made some trifling specu- lations. One afternoon when he was in the City some liberty had been taken * See page 236. LOUIS CHARLES, DA UPHIN OF FRANCE. 247 with Mr. William Meves, whereupon his seeing him angry he inquired the cause ? Having ascertained such, he left Mr. Meves to expostulate on such, in order to avert its recurrence, when he received no apology, and which ultimately ended in the insulter having the unpleasant satis- faction of being knocked down. For resenting this insult Mr. Meves promised to pay several expenses he was at, and placed about ;^3ooo in their joint names in the Bank of England, and share property. Subse- quent to his resenting this insult Mr. Meves became doubly attached to him, for since he had grown to manhood Mr. Meves had not over- indulged him, but this voluntary act of taking his part had acted in such a manner on him, that his kindness was immediately called into action for his welfare, and from that date, kindness towards him was his predominant characteristic. Subsequent to the demise of Mr. Meves in 1818, on the reading of his will, it is seen he named our father therein as his natural reputed son, which caused Mrs. Meves to disclose his true origin, the conse- quence of which, together with the anxiety he experienced, determined him, however unnecessary, in fully and satisfactorily assuring himself of the true cause of his reputed father's demise, and from the depth of his thoughts consequent thereof he became indisposed, and placed himself under medical advice. The medicine prescribed unfortunately flew to the brain, and from the effects of which, it was some length of time before he recovered. Since the demise of Mr. Meves he had never been able to gain from Mrs. Meves any more than what she had disclosed was true, and he having a delicacy in not forcing the subject upon her, awaited patiently to see what she would further disclose. One day whilst they were together she again assured him he -was the true Dauphin of France, and son of Marie Antoinette ; and then follows the precautions she gave him, and how to make himself known to the Duchess of Angoul^me.* She knew what historians had stated in reference to the Dauphin was incorrect, therefore she said, " Do not be led by what history has recorded, * .See Memoirs, page 37. 248 THE CAREER, FROM 1793 TILL 1823, OF neither to enter into any particulars, for if he did he would be lost, for as a matter of course, the manner he had been brought up, and the misrepresentation to which he had been subjected, would in all cases have been contradictory to published Memoirs." Upon the decease of Mrs. Meves it is seen she bequeathed her effects to Caroline Read. Evidently Mrs. Meves was interested from some cause or other to Caroline Read, and this cause was : that she was the daughter of Maria Dodd, and consequently the sister to the deaf and dumb boy Mrs. Meves had taken to Paris to extricate her son Augustus from the Temple j this is the reason of her making such a bequest, she having by doing so fulfilled the promise she had made to Maria Dodd respecting her daughter Caroline.* Antecedent to the disclosure of Mrs. Meves, all the actions of the subject of the present Memoirs were compatible with the position in life wherein he was placed, and in no way prior to this period had he identified himself as being any other than the son of Mr. and Mrs. Meves. Who could possibly have known better than Mrs. Meves whether he was her own son, or that of another person? She could answer decidedly as regarded herself, and we see no reason whatever to discredit her revelation ; for that which has come to light, though it has taken time to see its applicability, will prove incontestably the sterling guaranty of such, for history in no way • invalidates it, as the more assiduously the Records of the period the Royal Family were confined in the Temple are examined, the more apparent the fact of the Dauphin's liberation will be manifest. Let then the given history of the Dauphin at the Temple be closely investigated, with the determination of ascer- taining precisely on what ground chroniclers have concluded that the Dauphin terminated his existence in the Temple, and it will be found that its foundation will not admit scrutiny, its supports are but super- ficial, and the fabric must fall to the ground, if assailed with the idea of testing its impregnableness. Assertions are not facts, and the history that has been made public up to the present date respecting the demise * See Memoirs, page 51. LOUIS CHARLES, DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 249 of the 'Dauphin in the Tower of the Temple, cannot be looked upon in any other light than that of assertion. Validity should not fear scrutiny, and if the demise of the Dauphin in the Temple comes under this deno- mination, investigation has nothing to fear, but reason proclaims validity backs it not, but alone assertion, and therefore investigation is not desirable, if such can be possibly postponed, for silence is preferable. Taking the preceding Historical Records into consideration, and the present work, we cannot as matters stand acquiesce with such chroni- clers who report the Dauphin as having ended his days in the Temple, for it is too palpably apparent, that they were in error when they con- cluded that it was the Dauphin who was confined in the Temple after October 1793. END OF " CAREER OF THE DAUPHIN FROM HIS ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND TILL THE YEAR 1823." 250 CONVERSATIONS WITH VIII. THE DAUPHIN'S CONVERSATIONS WITH THE PRETENDER NAUNDORFF. N referring to the conversations our father had with Naiin- dorff, it is seen he became acquainted with him through a Monsieur Auguste Desjardin, who was a warm supporter of NaiindorfT's pretensions. After their being introduced the conversation very naturally turned on the Tower of the Temple, when our father informed Naiindorfif, on account of his having been led by his reputed parents to believe that he was brought up at a school at Horsham, which had formerly been a county prison, his positive recollections of the Tower of the Temple had been in a great measure destroyed, for the fact was apparent, that incidents which in reality had happened to him in the Tower of the Temple, had been represented as having hap- pened to him at this school at Horsham, and consequently gave rise to the mystification that surrounded him. Having stated so much, he related the recollections he had of the Temple.* After which it is seen the readiness he evinced in placing in Naiindorflf's hands works that he possessed, as a guide for him in writing his Life, which he stated he intended doing, thereby showing our father would have been happy could Naiindorff have proved himself to have been the Dauphin, for if he indisputably could have done so, it would have relieved him of much anxiety, for with our father there was no desire to deceive, for his im- pression was candidly that he was the Dauphin ; nevertheless, he was * See Memoirs, page 82. THE PRETENDER NAUNDORFF. 251 personally aware from his own feelings the difficulties he had to contend with, for he seemed surrounded by a labyrinth of mystery, which would have occupied his whole time for its solution ; likewise, he felt con- vinced in many instances public opinion would have doubted his honour, as experience had made apparent to him the incredulousness ot the age. The Memoirs have been written at our special solicitation, as we knew his integrity, and it is upon our reading diiferent works, and reflecting upon his Memoirs, that we see the consistency in his identify- ing himself as the true Dauphin. Naiindorff recounted what he himself recollected of the Temple, and it is from this, together with other particulars,* that our father imagined he recognised in Naiindorff the true Augustus Meves. We shall now give a sketch of Naundorff's published life, and then comment thereon, when it will be seen whether such is admissible. * See Memoirs, page 85. END OF " CONVERSATIONS WITH THE PRETENDER NAUNDORFF." 252 AN OUTLINE OF THE PUBLISHED LIFE IX. AN OUTLINE OF THE PUBLISHED LIFE OF THE PRETENDER NAUNDORFF. jJN Naiindorff's published life he states he recollected events that occurred to the Royal Family of France, with wonder- ful accuracy, from a very early age till his consignment to the care of Simon and his wife. He then recollected being confined alone in the room that had formerly been occupied by Cl^ry (the King's valet-de-chambre) at the Temple — this room having been quite transformed into a prison, the door of which was fastened, and a wicket was made, through which his jailers placed him his food and uttered their invectives, even in the night, against his helpless and oppressed self, until he resolved rather to die than to answer them further. He became seriously ill through the condition he was reduced to and the privations he endured, he not having been provided with linen or clothes during his incarceration in this vile dungeon, the consequence of which was, that he soon became covered with vermin, and poisoned with the stench of this loathsome prison. He then recollected some persons attending him, who he thought were doctors. They questioned and entreated him to speak, and tell them what he wanted. To these (he states) he made no answer, as he had many reasons for maintaining silence. Indeed his tongue seemed paralysed at the sight of those who were set over him as his guard. At last an attendant was sent, who was accompanied by several municipal officers, who asked him several questions, to which he gave no answer. OF THE PRETENDER NAUNDORFF. 253 He was then cleaned, the room put in order, and a shutter which had obstructed the light from entering the room was taken down. About this time he states some friends had formed the project of rescuing him from his persecutors, but they found too vigilant guard at the Temple to carry into operation^their design, as there was only one access to him, for the turret which contained the staircase had but one door, at which a strict watch was kept day and night, inside as well as out, and every one previously to entering the Tower was searched, and likewise before leaving it, on account of the design of liberating him having been discovered. It being next to impossible to get him out of the Temple, his friends resolved to conceal him in it, in order to make his persecutors believe he had escaped therefrom. They conceived the project of taking him from the second floor, which he occupied, and concealing him in the fourth storey of the Temple. Accordingly, one day his protectors gave him a dose of opium, which he took for medicine, and he was soon half-asleep. In this state he saw a child which they substituted for him in his bed, and he was laid in a basket in which this child had been concealed under the bed. He perceived as if in a dream that the child was only a wooden figure, the face of which was made to resemble his. This substitution was effected at the moment when the guard was changed. The one who succeeded was content with just looking at the bed to certify his pre- sence, as it was enough for him seeing a sleeping figure. His habitual silence contributed further to strengthen the error of his new Argus. In the meantime he had lost all consciousness, and when his senses re- turned he found himself shut up in a large room, which was quite strange to him. It was the fourth storey of the Temple. This room was crowdeid with all kinds of old furniture, amongst which a space had been prepared for him, which communicated with a closet in the turret, where his food had been placed. All other approach was barricaded. Before concealing him there, one of his friends informed him how to act in order to, be saved, viz., that he should bear all imaginable suffering without complaining, as a single imprudent step would bring destruction 254 AN OUTLINE OF THE PUBLISHED LIFE on him and on his benefactors, and insisted that when he was concealed he should ask for nothing, and act the part of a deaf and dumb boy. Wlien he awoke he recollected the injunctions of his friends, and he firmly resolved to die rather than betray them. He ate, slept, and waited with patience. He saw his protector from time to time at night, when he brought him what was necessary. The figure was discovered the same night the exchange took place, but the Government thought fit to conceal his escape. His friends, the better to deceive the san- guinary tyrants, had sent off a boy under his name in the direction, he believed, of Strasburg. The Government, in order to conceal the escape, put in the place of the wooden figure a deaf and dumb boy, and doubled the ordinary guard, endeavouring thus to make it appear that he was still in their safe custody. This increase of caution prevented his friends from completing the execution of their plan in the manner they had intended. He remained therefore in this vile hole, as if buried alive. At this time he was about nine years and a half old, and already accustomed to hardship by his long sufierings. He cared little for the cold he endured, for it was in the winter that he was imprisoned in the fourth storey. No one could suspect his being there, this room being never opened ; and if any one had entered it, they could not have seen him, as the friend who visited him could only reach him by going on all-fours, and when he did not come he waited patiently in his conceal- ment. Frequently he had to wait for several days the arrival of the beneficent beings who provided him with food. "No doubt his readers will wish him to make known the names of these noble indivi- duals, these magnanimous protectors." He states he cannot do so in his Narrative, caution being imposed upon him, through the intrigues of his political enemies, who intended to oppose an individual to him on his trial. Orders were given not to admit into the Temple any of those who knew him, such persons only were sent there as were in the secret of his escape, or such as were unacquainted with him. He knew not how it happened, but in spite of all these precautions it was whispered about OF THE PRETENDER NAUNDORFF. 255 that the real Dauphin was no longer in the Tower of the Temple. The Government became alarmed, arid it was decided that the deaf and dumb boy should die, and to effect this, deleterious ingredients were mixed with his food, which made him ill. In order to avert the sus- picion of poison, M. Desault was called in, not to cure him, but to counterfeit humanity. Desault visited the captive and soon perceived that some kind of poison had been given to him ; he ordered an antidote to be prepared by his friend the Apothecary " Choppart," telling him at the same time that the captive of the Temple was not the son of Louis xvi., whom he had formerly known. Desault's disclosure was repeated, and the assassins of his family, seeing that the life of the deaf and dumb ■boy was prolonged in spite of their attempts to poison him, substituted for him a rickety boy from one of the hospitals in Paris. This measure also quieted the apprehension they had entertained, that by some acci- dent the deaf and dumb boy might be discovered to be really such, and in order to secure themselves against any further betrayal of the. secret, they poisoned Desault and Choppart, and the substituted rickety boy was attended by physicians, who, never having seen either the real Dauphin or the deaf