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diff --git a/old/2000-02-vlttr10.txt b/old/2000-02-vlttr10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4e8db7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2000-02-vlttr10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9646 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of The Valet's Tragedy and Other Stories +#22 in our series by Andrew Lang + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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THE MYSTERY OF SIR EDMUND BERRY GODFREY +IV. THE FALSE JEANNE D'ARC. +V. JUNIUS AND LORD LYTTELTON'S GHOST +VI. THE MYSTERY OF AMY ROBSART +VII. THE VOICES OF JEANNE D'ARC +VIII. THE MYSTERY OF JAMES DE LA CLOCHE +IX. THE TRUTH ABOUT 'FISHER'S GHOST' +X. THE MYSTERY OF LORD BATEMAN +XI. THE QUEEN'S MARIE +XII. THE SHAKESPEARE-BACON IMBROGLIO + + + +PREFACE + + + +These studies in secret history follow no chronological order. The +affair of James de la Cloche only attracted the author's attention +after most of the volume was in print. But any reader curious in +the veiled intrigues of the Restoration will probably find it +convenient to peruse 'The Mystery of James de la Cloche' after the +essay on 'The Valet's Master,' as the puzzling adventures of de la +Cloche occurred in the years (1668-1669), when the Valet was +consigned to lifelong captivity, and the Master was broken on the +wheel. What would have been done to 'Giacopo Stuardo' had he been a +subject of Louis XIV., ''tis better only guessing.' But his fate, +whoever he may have been, lay in the hands of Lord Ailesbury's 'good +King,' Charles II., and so he had a good deliverance. + +The author is well aware that whosoever discusses historical +mysteries pleases the public best by being quite sure, and offering +a definite and certain solution. Unluckily Science forbids, and +conscience is on the same side. We verily do not know how the false +Pucelle arrived at her success with the family of the true Maid; we +do not know, or pretend to know, who killed Sir Edmund Berry +Godfrey; or how Amy Robsart came by her death; or why the Valet was +so important a prisoner. It is only possible to restate the cases, +and remove, if we may, the errors and confusions which beset the +problems. Such a tiny point as the year of Amy Robsart's marriage +is stated variously by our historians. To ascertain the truth gave +the author half a day's work, and, at last, he would have voted for +the wrong year, had he not been aided by the superior acuteness of +his friend, Mr. Hay Fleming. He feels morally certain that, in +trying to set historians right about Amy Robsart, he must have +committed some conspicuous blunders; these always attend such +enterprises of rectification. + +With regard to Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, Mr. A. W. Crawley-Boevey +points out to me that in an unpublished letter of Mr. Alexander +Herbert Phaire in 1743-44 (Addit. MSS. British Museum 4291, fol. +150) Godfrey is spoken of in connection with his friend Valentine +Greatrakes, the 'miraculous Conformist,' or 'Irish Stroker,' of the +Restoration. 'It is a pity,' Mr. Phaire remarks, 'that Sir Edmund's +letters, to the number of 104, are not in somebody's hands that +would oblige the world by publishing them. They contain many +remarkable things, and the best and truest secret history in King +Charles II.'s reign.' Where are these letters now? Mr. Phaire does +not say to whom they were addressed, perhaps to Greatrakes, who +named his second son after Sir Edmund, or to Colonel Phaire, the +Regicide. This Mr. Phaire of 1744 was of Colonel Phaire's family. +It does not seem quite certain whether Le Fevre, or Lee Phaire, was +the real name of the so-called Jesuit whom Bedloe accused of the +murder of Sir Edmund. + +Of the studies here presented, 'The Valet's Master,' 'The Mystery of +Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey,' 'The False Jeanne d'Arc,' 'The Mystery of +Amy Robsart,' and 'The Mystery of James de la Cloche,' are now +published for the first time. Part of 'The Voices of Jeanne d'Arc,' +is from a paper by the author in 'The Proceedings of the Society for +Psychical Research.' 'The Valet's Tragedy' is mainly from an +article in 'The Monthly Review,' revised, corrected, and augmented. +'The Queen's Marie' is a recast of a paper in 'Blackwood's +Magazine'; 'The Truth about "Fisher's Ghost,"' and 'Junius and Lord +Lyttelton's Ghost' are reprinted, with little change, from the same +periodical. 'The Mystery of Lord Bateman' is a recast of an article +in 'The Cornhill Magazine.' The earlier part of the essay on +Shakespeare and Bacon appeared in 'The Quarterly Review.' The +author is obliged to the courtesy of the proprietors and editors of +these serials for permission to use his essays again, with revision +and additions.* + +*Essays by the author on 'The False Pucelle' and on 'Sir Edmund +Berry Godfrey' have appeared in The Nineteenth Century (1895) and in +The Cornhill Magazine, but these are not the papers here presented. + +The author is deeply indebted to the generous assistance of Father +Gerard and Father Pollen, S.J.; and, for making transcripts of +unpublished documents, to Miss E. M. Thompson and Miss Violet +Simpson. + +Since passing the volume for the press the author has received from +Mr. Austin West, at Rome, a summary of Armanni's letter about +Giacopo Stuardo. He is led thereby to the conclusion that Giacopo +was identical with the eldest son of Charles II.--James de la +Cloche--but conceives that, at the end of his life, James was +insane, or at least was a 'megalomaniac,' or was not author of his +own Will. + + + + + +I. THE VALET'S TRAGEDY + + + +1. THE LEGEND OF THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK + +The Mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask is, despite a pleasant +saying of Lord Beaconsfield's, one of the most fascinating in +history. By a curious coincidence the wildest legend on the +subject, and the correct explanation of the problem, were offered to +the world in the same year, 1801. According to this form of the +legend, the Man in the Iron Mask was the genuine Louis XIV., +deprived of his rights in favour of a child of Anne of Austria and +of Mazarin. Immured in the Isles Sainte-Marguerite, in the bay of +Cannes (where you are shown his cell, looking north to the sunny +town), he married, and begot a son. That son was carried to +Corsica, was named de Buona Parte, and was the ancestor of Napoleon. +The Emperor was thus the legitimate representative of the House of +Bourbon. + +This legend was circulated in 1801, and is referred to in a +proclamation of the Royalists of La Vendee. In the same year, 1801, +Roux Fazaillac, a Citoyen and a revolutionary legislator, published +a work in which he asserted that the Man in the Iron Mask (as known +in rumour) was not one man, but a myth, in which the actual facts +concerning at least two men were blended. It is certain that Roux +Fazaillac was right; or that, if he was wrong, the Man in the Iron +Mask was an obscure valet, of French birth, residing in England, +whose real name was Martin. + +Before we enter on the topic of this poor menial's tragic history, +it may be as well to trace the progress of the romantic legend, as +it blossomed after the death of the Man, whose Mask was not of iron, +but of black velvet. Later we shall show how the legend struck root +and flowered, from the moment when the poor valet, Martin (by his +prison pseudonym 'Eustache Dauger'), was immured in the French +fortress of Pignerol, in Piedmont (August 1669). + +The Man, IN CONNECTION WITH THE MASK, is first known to us from a +kind of notebook kept by du Junca, Lieutenant of the Bastille. On +September 18, 1698, he records the arrival of the new Governor of +the Bastille, M. de Saint-Mars, bringing with him, from his last +place, the Isles Sainte-Marguerite, in the bay of Cannes, 'an old +prisoner whom he had at Pignerol. He keeps the prisoner always +masked, his name is not spoken. . . and I have put him, alone, in +the third chamber of the Bertaudiere tower, having furnished it some +days before with everything, by order of M. de Saint-Mars. The +prisoner is to be served and cared for by M. de Rosarges,' the +officer next in command under Saint-Mars.* + +*Funck-Brentano. Legendes et Archives de la Bastille, pp. 86, 87, +Paris, 1898, p. 277, a facsimile of this entry. + +The prisoner's death is entered by du Junca on November 19, 1703. +To that entry we return later. + +The existence of this prisoner was known and excited curiosity. On +October 15, 1711, the Princess Palatine wrote about the case to the +Electress Sophia of Hanover, 'A man lived for long years in the +Bastille, masked, and masked he died there. Two musketeers were by +his side to shoot him if ever he unmasked. He ate and slept in his +mask. There must, doubtless, have been some good reason for this, +as otherwise he was very well treated, well lodged, and had +everything given to him that he wanted. He took the Communion +masked; was very devout, and read perpetually.' + +On October 22, 1711, the Princess writes that the Mask was an +English nobleman, mixed up in the plot of the Duke of Berwick +against William III.--Fenwick's affair is meant. He was imprisoned +and masked that the Dutch usurper might never know what had become +of him.* + +* Op. cit. 98, note 1. + +The legend was now afloat in society. The sub-commandant of the +Bastille from 1749 to 1787, Chevalier, declared, obviously on the +evidence of tradition, that all the Mask's furniture and clothes +were destroyed at his death, lest they might yield a clue to his +identity. Louis XV. is said to have told Madame de Pompadour that +the Mask was 'the minister of an Italian prince.' Louis XVI. told +Marie Antoinette (according to Madame de Campan) that the Mask was a +Mantuan intriguer, the same person as Louis XV. indicated. Perhaps +he was, it is one of two possible alternatives. Voltaire, in the +first edition of his 'Siecle de Louis XIV.,' merely spoke of a +young, handsome, masked prisoner, treated with the highest respect +by Louvois, the Minister of Louis XIV. At last, in 'Questions sur +l'Encyclopedie' (second edition), Voltaire averred that the Mask was +the son of Anne of Austria and Mazarin, an elder brother of Louis +XIV. Changes were rung on this note: the Mask was the actual King, +Louis XIV. was a bastard. Others held that he was James, Duke of +Monmouth--or Moliere! In 1770 Heiss identified him with Mattioli, +the Mantuan intriguer, and especially after the appearance of the +book by Roux Fazaillac, in 1801, that was the generally accepted +opinion. + +It MAY be true, in part. Mattioli MAY have been the prisoner who +died in the Bastille in November 1703, but the legend of the Mask's +prison life undeniably arose out of the adventure of our valet, +Martin or Eustache Dauger. + + + +2. THE VALET'S HISTORY + + + +After reading the arguments of the advocates of Mattioli, I could +not but perceive that, whatever captive died, masked, at the +Bastille in 1703, the valet Dauger was the real source of most of +the legends about the Man in the Iron Mask. A study of M. Lair's +book 'Nicholas Foucquet' (1890) confirmed this opinion. I therefore +pushed the inquiry into a source neglected by the French historians, +namely, the correspondence of the English ambassadors, agents, and +statesmen for the years 1668, 1669.* One result is to confirm a +wild theory of my own to the effect that the Man in the Iron Mask +(if Dauger were he) may have been as great a mystery to himself as +to historical inquirers. He may not have known WHAT he was +imprisoned for doing! More important is the probable conclusion +that the long and mysterious captivity of Eustache Dauger, and of +another perfectly harmless valet and victim, was the mere automatic +result of the 'red tape' of the old French absolute monarchy. These +wretches were caught in the toils of the system, and suffered to no +purpose, for no crime. The two men, at least Dauger, were +apparently mere supernumeraries in the obscure intrigue of a +conspirator known as Roux de Marsilly. + +*The papers are in the Record Office; for the contents see the +following essay, 'The Valet's Master.' + +This truly abominable tragedy of Roux de Marsilly is 'another +story,' narrated in the following essay. It must suffice here to +say that, in 1669, while Charles II. was negotiating the famous, or +infamous, secret treaty with Louis XIV.--the treaty of alliance +against Holland, and in favour of the restoration of Roman +Catholicism in England--Roux de Marsilly, a French Huguenot, was +dealing with Arlington and others, in favour of a Protestant league +against France. + +When he started from England for Switzerland in February 1669, +Marsilly left in London a valet, called by him 'Martin,' who had +quitted his service and was living with his own family. This man is +the 'Eustache Dauger' of our mystery. The name is his prison +pseudonym, as 'Lestang' was that of Mattioli. The French Government +was anxious to lay hands on him, for he had certainly, as the +letters of Marsilly prove, come and gone freely between that +conspirator and his English employers. How much Dauger knew, what +amount of mischief he could effect, was uncertain. Much or little, +it was a matter which, strange to say, caused the greatest anxiety +to Louis XIV. and to his Ministers for very many years. Probably +long before Dauger died (the date is unknown, but it was more than +twenty-five years after Marsilly's execution), his secret, if secret +he possessed, had ceased to be of importance. But he was now in the +toils of the French red tape, the system of secrecy which rarely +released its victim. He was guarded, we shall see, with such +unheard-of rigour, that popular fancy at once took him for some +great, perhaps royal, personage. + +Marsilly was publicly tortured to death in Paris on June 22, 1669. +By July 19 his ex-valet, Dauger, had entered on his mysterious term +of captivity. How the French got possession of him, whether he +yielded to cajolery, or was betrayed by Charles II., is uncertain. +The French ambassador at St. James's, Colbert (brother of the +celebrated Minister), writes thus to M. de Lyonne, in Paris, on July +1, 1669:* 'Monsieur Joly has spoken to the man Martin' (Dauger), +'and has really persuaded him that, by going to France and telling +all that he knows against Roux, he will play the part of a lad of +honour and a good subject.' + +*Transcripts from Paris MSS. Vol. xxxiii., Record Office. + +But Martin, after all, was NOT persuaded! + +Martin replied to Joly that HE KNEW NOTHING AT ALL, and that, once +in France, people would think he was well acquainted with the +traffickings of Roux, 'AND SO HE WOULD BE KEPT IN PRISON TO MAKE HIM +DIVULGE WHAT HE DID NOT KNOW.' The possible Man in the Iron Mask +did not know his own secret! But, later in the conversation, Martin +foolishly admitted that he knew a great deal; perhaps he did this +out of mere fatal vanity. Cross to France, however, he would not, +even when offered a safe-conduct and promise of reward. Colbert +therefore proposes to ask Charles to surrender the valet, and +probably Charles descended to the meanness. By July 19, at all +events, Louvois, the War Minister of Louis XIV., was bidding Saint- +Mars, at Pignerol in Piedmont, expect from Dunkirk a prisoner of the +very highest importance--a valet! This valet, now called 'Eustache +Dauger,' can only have been Marsilly's valet, Martin, who, by one +means or another, had been brought from England to Dunkirk. It is +hardly conceivable, at least, that when a valet, in England, is +'wanted' by the French police on July 1, for political reasons, and +when by July 19 they have caught a valet of extreme political +importance, the two valets should be two different men. Martin must +be Dauger. + +Here, then, by July 19, 1669, we find our unhappy serving-man in the +toils. Why was he to be handled with such mysterious rigour? It is +true that State prisoners of very little account were kept with +great secrecy. But it cannot well be argued that they were all +treated with the extraordinary precautions which, in the case of +Dauger, were not relaxed for twenty-five or thirty years. The King +says, according to Louvois, that the safe keeping of Dauger is 'of +the last importance to his service.' He must have intercourse with +nobody. His windows must be where nobody can pass; several bolted +doors must cut him off from the sound of human voices. Saint-Mars +himself, the commandant, must feed the valet daily. 'YOU MUST +NEVER, UNDER ANY PRETENCE, LISTEN TO WHAT HE MAY WISH TO TELL YOU. +YOU MUST THREATEN HIM WITH DEATH IF HE SPEAKS ONE WORD EXCEPT ABOUT +HIS ACTUAL NEEDS. He is only a valet, and does not need much +furniture.'* + +*The letters are printed by Roux Fazaillac, Jung, Lair, and others. + +Saint-Mars replied that, in presence of M. de Vauroy, the chief +officer of Dunkirk (who carried Dauger thence to Pignerol), he had +threatened to run Dauger through the body if he ever dared to speak, +even to him, Saint-Mars. He has mentioned this prisoner, he says, +to no mortal. People believe that Dauger is a Marshal of France, so +strange and unusual are the precautions taken for his security. + +A Marshal of France! The legend has begun. At this time (1669) +Saint-Mars had in charge Fouquet, the great fallen Minister, the +richest and most dangerous subject of Louis XIV. By-and-by he also +held Lauzun, the adventurous wooer of la Grande Mademoiselle. But +it was not they, it was the valet, Dauger, who caused 'sensation.' + +On February 20,1672, Saint-Mars, for the sake of economy wished to +use Dauger as valet to Lauzun. This proves that Saint-Mars did not, +after all, see the necessity of secluding Dauger, or thought the +King's fears groundless. In the opinion of Saint-Mars, Dauger did +not want to be released, 'would never ask to be set free.' Then why +was he so anxiously guarded? Louvois refused to let Dauger be put +with Lauzun as valet. In 1675, however, he allowed Dauger to act as +valet to Fouquet, but with Lauzun, said Louvois, Dauger must have no +intercourse. Fouquet had then another prisoner valet, La Riviere. +This man had apparently been accused of no crime. He was of a +melancholy character, and a dropsical habit of body: Fouquet had +amused himself by doctoring him and teaching him to read. + +In the month of December 1678, Saint-Mars, the commandant of the +prison, brought to Fouquet a sealed letter from Louvois, the seal +unbroken. His own reply was also to be sealed, and not to be seen +by Saint-Mars. Louvois wrote that the King wished to know one +thing, before giving Fouquet ampler liberty. Had his valet, +Eustache Dauger, told his other valet, La Riviere, what he had done +before coming to Pignerol? (de ce a quoi il a ete employe auparavant +que d'etre a Pignerol). 'His Majesty bids me ask you [Fouquet] this +question, and expects that you will answer without considering +anything but the truth, that he may know what measures to take,' +these depending on whether Dauger has, or has not, told La Riviere +the story of his past life.* Moreover, Lauzun was never, said +Louvois, to be allowed to enter Fouquet's room when Dauger was +present. The humorous point is that, thanks to a hole dug in the +wall between his room and Fouquet's, Lauzun saw Dauger whenever he +pleased. + +*Lair, Nicholas Foucquet, ii. pp. 463, 464. + +From the letter of Louvois to Fouquet, about Dauger (December 23, +1678), it is plain that Louis XIV. had no more pressing anxiety, +nine years after Dauger's arrest, than to conceal WHAT IT WAS THAT +DAUGER HAD DONE. It is apparent that Saint-Mars himself either was +unacquainted with this secret, or was supposed by Louvois and the +King to be unaware of it. He had been ordered never to allow Dauger +to tell him: he was not allowed to see the letters on the subject +between Louvois and Fouquet. We still do not know, and never shall +know, whether Dauger himself knew his own secret, or whether (as he +had anticipated) he was locked up for not divulging what he did not +know. + +The answer of Fouquet to Louvois must have satisfied Louis that +Dauger had not imparted his secret to the other valet, La Riviere, +for Fouquet was now allowed a great deal of liberty. In 1679, he +might see his family, the officers of the garrison, and Lauzun--it +being provided that Lauzun and Dauger should never meet. In March +1680, Fouquet died, and henceforth the two valets were most +rigorously guarded; Dauger, because he was supposed to know +something; La Riviere, because Dauger might have imparted the real +or fancied secret to him. We shall return to these poor serving- +men, but here it is necessary to state that, ten months before the +death of their master, Fouquet, an important new captive had been +brought to the prison of Pignerol. + +This captive was the other candidate for the honours of the Mask, +Count Mattioli, the secretary of the Duke of Mantua. He was +kidnapped on Italian soil on May 2, 1679, and hurried to the +mountain fortress of Pignerol, then on French ground. His offence +was the betraying of the secret negotiations for the cession of the +town and fortress of Casal, by the Duke of Mantua, to Louis XIV. +The disappearance of Mattioli was, of course, known to the world. +The cause of his enlevement, and the place of his captivity, +Pignerol, were matters of newspaper comment at least as early as +1687. Still earlier, in 1682, the story of Mattioli's arrest and +seclusion in Pignerol had been published in a work named 'La +Prudenza Trionfante di Casale.'* There was thus no mystery, at the +time, about Mattioli; his crime and punishment were perfectly well +known to students of politics. He has been regarded as the +mysterious Man in the Iron Mask, but, for years after his arrest, he +was the least mysterious of State prisoners. + +*Brentano, op. cit. p. 117. + +Here, then, is Mattioli in Pignerol in May 1679. While Fouquet then +enjoyed relative freedom, while Lauzun schemed escapes or made +insulting love to Mademoiselle Fouquet, Mattioli lived on the bread +and water of affliction. He was threatened with torture to make him +deliver up some papers compromising to Louis XIV. It was expressly +commanded that he should have nothing beyond the barest necessaries +of life. He was to be kept dans la dure prison. In brief, he was +used no better than the meanest of prisoners. The awful life of +isolation, without employment, without books, without writing +materials, without sight or sound of man save when Saint-Mars or his +lieutenant brought food for the day, drove captives mad. + +In January 1680 two prisoners, a monk* and one Dubreuil, had become +insane. By February 14, 1680, Mattioli was daily conversing with +God and his angels. 'I believe his brain is turned,' says Saint- +Mars. In March 1680, as we saw, Fouquet died. The prisoners, not +counting Lauzun (released soon after), were now five: (1) Mattioli +(mad); (2) Dubreuil (mad); (3) The monk (mad); (4) Dauger, and (5) +La Riviere. These two, being employed as valets, kept their wits. +On the death of Fouquet, Louvois wrote to Saint-Mars about the two +valets. Lauzun must be made to believe that they had been set at +liberty, but, in fact, they must be most carefully guarded IN A +SINGLE CHAMBER. They were shut up in one of the dungeons of the +'Tour d'en bas.' Dauger had recently done something as to which +Louvois writes: 'Let me know how Dauger can possibly have done what +you tell me, and how he got the necessary drugs, as I cannot suppose +that you supplied him with them' (July 10, 1680).** + +*A monk, who may have been this monk, appears in the following +essay. + +**Lair, Nicholas Foucquet, ii. pp. 476, 477. + +Here, then, by July 1680, are the two valets locked in one dungeon +of the 'Tour d'en bas.' By September Saint-Mars had placed +Mattioli, with the mad monk, in another chamber of the same tower. +He writes: 'Mattioli is almost as mad as the monk,' who arose from +bed and preached naked. Mattioli behaved so rudely and violently +that the lieutenant of Saint-Mars had to show him a whip, and +threaten him with a flogging. This had its effect. Mattioli, to +make his peace, offered a valuable ring to Blainvilliers. The ring +was kept to be restored to him, if ever Louis let him go free--a +contingency mentioned more than once in the correspondence. + +Apparently Mattioli now sobered down, and probably was given a +separate chamber and a valet; he certainly had a valet at Pignerol +later. By May 1681 Dauger and La Riviere still occupied their +common chamber in the 'Tour d'en bas.' They were regarded by +Louvois as the most important of the five prisoners then at +Pignerol. They, not Mattioli, were the captives about whose safe +and secret keeping Louis and Louvois were most anxious. This +appears from a letter of Louvois to Saint-Mars, of May 12, 1681. +The gaoler, Saint-Mars, is to be promoted from Pignerol to Exiles. +'Thither,' says Louvois, 'the king desires to transport SUCH OF YOUR +PRISONERS AS HE THINKS TOO IMPORTANT TO HAVE IN OTHER HANDS THAN +YOURS.' These prisoners are 'THE TWO IN THE LOW CHAMBER OF THE +TOWER,' the two valets, Dauger and La Riviere. + +From a letter of Saint-Mars (June 1681) we know that Mattioli was +not one of these. He says: 'I shall keep at Exiles two birds +(merles) whom I have here: they are only known as THE GENTRY OF THE +LOW ROOM IN THE TOWER; MATTIOLI MAY STAY ON HERE AT PIGNEROL WITH +THE OTHER PRISONERS' (Dubreuil and the mad monk). It is at this +point that Le Citoyen Roux (Fazaillac), writing in the Year IX. of +the Republic (1801), loses touch with the secret.* Roux finds, in +the State Papers, the arrival of Eustache Dauger at Pignerol in +1669, but does not know who he is, or what is his quality. He sees +that the Mask must be either Mattioli, Dauger, the monk, one +Dubreuil, or one Calazio. But, overlooking or not having access to +the letter of Saint-Mars of June 1681, Roux holds that the prisoners +taken to Les Exiles were the monk and Mattioli. One of these must +be the Mask, and Roux votes for Mattioli. He is wrong. Mattioli +beyond all doubt remained at Pignerol. + +*Recherches Historiques, sur l'Homme au Masque de Fer, Paris. An +IX. + +Mountains of argument have been built on these words, deux merles, +'two gaol-birds.' One of the two, we shall see, became the source +of the legend of the Man in the Iron Mask. 'How can a wretched +gaol-bird (merle) have been the Mask?' asks M. Topin. 'The rogue's +whole furniture and table-linen were sold for 1 pound 19 shillings. +He only got a new suit of clothes every three years.' All very +true; but this gaol-bird and his mate, by the direct statement of +Louvois, are 'the prisoners too important to be entrusted to other +hands than yours'--the hands of Saint-Mars--while Mattioli is so +unimportant that he may be left at Pignerol under Villebois. + +The truth is, that the offence and the punishment of Mattioli were +well known to European diplomatists and readers of books. Casal, +moreover, at this time was openly ceded to Louis XIV., and Mattioli +could not have told the world more than it already knew. But, for +some inscrutable reason, the secret which Dauger knew, or was +suspected of knowing, became more and more a source of anxiety to +Louvois and Louis. What can he have known? The charges against his +master, Roux de Marsilly, had been publicly proclaimed. Twelve +years had passed since the dealings of Arlington with Marsilly. +Yet, Louvois became more and more nervous. + +In accordance with commands of his, on March 2, 1682, the two +valets, who had hitherto occupied one chamber at Exiles as at +Pignerol, were cut off from all communication with each other. Says +Saint-Mars, 'Since receiving your letter I have warded the pair as +strictly and exactly as I did M. Fouquet and M. Lauzun, who cannot +brag that he sent out or received any intelligence. Night and day +two sentinels watch their tower; and my own windows command a view +of the sentinels. Nobody speaks to my captives but myself, my +lieutenant, their confessor, and the doctor, who lives eighteen +miles away, and only sees them when I am present.' Years went by; +on January 1687 one of the two captives died; we really do not know +which with absolute certainty. However, the intensified secrecy +with which the survivor was now guarded seems more appropriate to +Dauger; and M. Funck-Brentano and M. Lair have no doubt that it was +La Riviere who expired. He was dropsical, that appears in the +official correspondence, and the dead prisoner died of dropsy. + +As for the strange secrecy about Dauger, here is an example. Saint- +Mars, in January 1687, was appointed to the fortress of the Isles +Sainte-Marguerite, that sun themselves in the bay of Cannes. On +January 20 he asks leave to go to see his little kingdom. He must +leave Dauger, but HAS FORBIDDEN EVEN HIS LIEUTENANT TO SPEAK TO THAT +PRISONER. This was an increase of precaution since 1682. He wishes +to take the captive to the Isles, but how? A sedan chair covered +over with oilcloth seems best. A litter might break down, litters +often did, and some one might then see the passenger. + +Now M. Funck-Brentano says, to minimise the importance of Dauger, +'he was shut up like so much luggage in a chair hermetically closed +with oilcloth, carried by eight Piedmontese in relays of four.' + +Luggage is not usually carried in hermetically sealed sedan chairs, +but Saint-Mars has explained why, by surplus of precaution, he did +not use a litter. The litter might break down and Dauger might be +seen. A new prison was built specially, at the cost of 5,000 +livres, for Dauger at Sainte-Marguerite, with large sunny rooms. On +May 3, 1687, Saint-Mars had entered on his island realm, Dauger +being nearly killed by twelve days' journey in a closed chair. He +again excited the utmost curiosity. On January 8, 1688, Saint-Mars +writes that his prisoner is believed by the world to be either a son +of Oliver Cromwell, or the Duc de Beaufort,* who was never seen +again, dead or alive, after a night battle in Crete, on June 25, +1669, just before Dauger was arrested. Saint-Mars sent in a note of +the TOTAL of Dauger's expenses for the year 1687. He actually did +not dare to send the ITEMS, he says, lest they, if the bill fell +into the wrong hands, might reveal too much! + +*The Duc de Beaufort whom Athos releases from prison in Dumas's +Vingt Ans Apres. + +Meanwhile, an Italian news-letter, copied into a Leyden paper, of +August 1687, declared that Mattioli had just been brought from +Pignerol to Sainte-Marguerite. There was no mystery about Mattioli, +the story of his capture was published in 1682, but the press, on +one point, was in error: Mattioli was still at Pignerol. The known +advent of the late Commandant of Pignerol, Saint-Mars, with a single +concealed prisoner, at the island, naturally suggested the erroneous +idea that the prisoner was Mattioli. The prisoner was really +Dauger, the survivor of the two valets. + +From 1688 to 1691 no letter about Dauger has been published. +Apparently he was then the only prisoner on the island, except one +Chezut, who was there before Dauger arrived, and gave up his chamber +to Dauger while the new cells were being built. Between 1689 and +1693 six Protestant preachers were brought to the island, while +Louvois, the Minister, died in 1691, and was succeeded by +Barbezieux. On August 13, 1691, Barbezieux wrote to ask Saint-Mars +about 'the prisoner whom he had guarded for twenty years.' The only +such prisoner was Dauger, who entered Pignerol in August 1669. +Mattioli had been a prisoner only for twelve years, and lay in +Pignerol, not in Sainte-Marguerite, where Saint-Mars now was. +Saint-Mars replied: 'I can assure you that nobody has seen him but +myself.' + +By the beginning of March 1694, Pignerol had been bombarded by the +enemies of France; presently Louis XIV. had to cede it to Savoy. +The prisoners there must be removed. Mattioli, in Pignerol, at the +end of 1693, had been in trouble. He and his valet had tried to +smuggle out letters written on the linings of their pockets. These +were seized and burned. On March 20, 1694, Barbezieux wrote to +Laprade, now commanding at Pignerol, that he must take his three +prisoners, one by one, with all secrecy, to Sainte-Marguerite. +Laprade alone must give them their food on the journey. The +military officer of the escort was warned to ask no questions. +Already (February 26, 1694) Barbezieux had informed Saint-Mars that +these prisoners were coming. 'They are of more consequence, one of +them at least, than the prisoners on the island, and must be put in +the safest places.' The 'one' is doubtless Mattioli. In 1681 +Louvois had thought Dauger and La Riviere more important than +Mattioli, who, in March 1694, came from Pignerol to Sainte- +Marguerite. Now in April 1694 a prisoner died at the island, a +prisoner who, like Mattioli, HAD A VALET. We hear of no other +prisoner on the island, except Mattioli, who had a valet. A letter +of Saint-Mars (January 6, 1696) proves that no prisoner THEN had a +valet, for each prisoner collected his own dirty plates and dishes, +piled them up, and handed them to the lieutenant + +M. Funck-Brentano argues that in this very letter (January 6, 1696) +Saint-Mars speaks of 'les valets de messieurs les prisonniers.' But +in that part of the letter Saint-Mars is not speaking of the actual +state of things at Sainte-Marguerite, but is giving reminiscences of +Fouquet and Lauzun, who, of course, at Pignerol, had valets, and had +money, as he shows. Dauger had no money. M. Funck-Brentano next +argues that early in 1694 one of the preacher prisoners, Melzac, +died, and cites M. Jung ('La Verite sur le Masque de Fer,' p. 91). +This is odd, as M. Jung says that Melzac, or Malzac, 'DIED IN THE +END OF 1692, OR EARLY IN 1693.' Why, then, does M. Funck-Brentano +cite M. Jung for the death of the preacher early in 1694, when M. +Jung (conjecturally) dates his decease at least a year earlier?* It +is not a mere conjecture, as, on March 3, 1693, Barbezieux begs +Saint-Mars to mention his Protestant prisoners under nicknames. +There are three, and Malzac is no longer one of them. Malzac, in +1692, suffered from a horrible disease, discreditable to one of the +godly, and in October 1692 had been allowed medical expenses. +Whether they included a valet or not, Malzac seems to have been non- +existent by March 1693. Had he possessed a valet, and had he died +in 1694, why should HIS valet have been 'shut up in the vaulted +prison'? This was the fate of the valet of the prisoner who died in +April 1694, and was probably Mattioli. + +*M. Funck-Brentano's statement is in Revue Historique, lvi. p. 298. +'Malzac died at the beginning of 1694,' citing Jung, p. 91. Now on +P. 91 M. Jung writes, 'At the beginning of 1694 Saint-Mars had six +prisoners, of whom one, Melzac, dies.' But M. Jung (pp. 269, 270) +later writes, 'It is probable that Melzac died at the end of 1692, +or early in 1693,' and he gives his reasons, which are convincing. +M. Funck-Brentano must have overlooked M. Jung's change of opinion +between his P. 91 and his pp. 269, 270. + +Mattioli, certainly, had a valet in December 1693 at Pignerol. He +went to Sainte-Marguerite in March 1694. In April 1694 a prisoner +with a valet died at Sainte-Marguerite. In January 1696 no prisoner +at Sainte-Marguerite had a valet. Therefore, there is a strong +presumption that the 'prisonnier au valet' who died in April 1694 +was Mattioli. + +After December 1693, when he was still at Pignerol, the name of +Mattioli, freely used before, never occurs in the correspondence. +But we still often hear of 'l'ancien prisonnier,' 'the old +prisoner.' He was, on the face of it, Dauger, by far the oldest +prisoner. In 1688, Saint-Mars, having only one prisoner (Dauger), +calls him merely 'my prisoner.' In 1691, when Saint-Mars had +several prisoners, Barbezieux styles Dauger 'your prisoner of twenty +years' standing.' When, in 1696-1698, Saint-Mars mentions 'mon +ancien prisonnier,' 'my prisoner of long standing,' he obviously +means Dauger, not Mattioli--above all, if Mattioli died in 1694. M. +Funck-Brentano argues that 'mon ancien prisonnier' can only mean 'my +erstwhile prisoner, he who was lost and is restored to me'--that is, +Mattioli. This is not the view of M. Jung, or M. Lair, or M. +Loiseleur. + +Friends of Mattioli's claims rest much on this letter of Barbezieux +to Saint-Mars (November 17, 1697): 'You have only to watch over the +security of all your prisoners, WITHOUT EVER EXPLAINING TO ANY ONE +WHAT IT IS THAT YOUR PRISONER OF LONG STANDING DID.' That secret, +it is argued, MUST apply to Mattioli. But all the world knew what +Mattioli had done! Nobody knew, and nobody knows, what Eustache +Dauger had done. It was one of the arcana imperii. It is the +secret enforced ever since Dauger's arrest in 1669. Saint-Mars +(1669) was not to ask. Louis XIV. could only lighten the captivity +of Fouquet (1678) if his valet, La Riviere, did not know what Dauger +had done. La Riviere (apparently a harmless man) lived and died in +confinement, the sole reason being that he might perhaps know what +Dauger had done. Consequently there is the strongest presumption +that the 'ancien prisonnier' of 1697 is Dauger, and that 'what he +had done' (which Saint-Mars must tell to no one) was what Dauger +did, not what Mattioli did. All Europe knew what Mattioli had done; +his whole story had been published to the world in 1682 and 1687. + +On July 19, 1698, Barbezieux bade Saint-Mars come to assume the +command of the Bastille. He is to bring his 'old prisoner,' whom +not a soul is to see. Saint-Mars therefore brought his man MASKED, +exactly as another prisoner was carried masked from Provence to the +Bastille in 1695. M. Funck-Brentano argues that Saint-Mars was now +quite fond of his old Mattioli, so noble, so learned. + +At last, on September 18, 1698, Saint-Mars lodged his 'old prisoner' +in the Bastille, 'an old prisoner whom he had at Pignerol,' says the +journal of du Junca, Lieutenant of the Bastille. His food, we saw, +was brought him by Rosarges alone, the 'Major,' a gentleman who had +always been with Saint-Mars. Argues M. Funck-Brentano, all this +proves that the captive was a gentleman, not a valet. Why? First, +because the Bastille, under Louis XIV., was 'une prison de +distinction.' Yet M. Funck-Brentano tells us that in Mazarin's time +'valets mixed up with royal plots' were kept in the Bastille. +Again, in 1701, in this 'noble prison,' the Mask was turned out of +his room to make place for a female fortune-teller, and was obliged +to chum with a profligate valet of nineteen, and a 'beggarly' bad +patriot, who 'blamed the conduct of France, and approved that of +other nations, especially the Dutch.' M. Funck-Brentano himself +publishes these facts (1898), in part published earlier (1890) by M. +Lair.* Not much noblesse here! Next, if Rosarges, a gentleman, +served the Mask, Saint-Mars alone (1669) carried his food to the +valet, Dauger. So the service of Rosarges does not ennoble the Mask +and differentiate him from Dauger, who was even more nobly served, +by Saint-Mars. + +*Legendes de la Bastille, pp. 86-89. Citing du Junca's Journal, +April 30, 1701. + +On November 19, 1703, the Mask died suddenly (still in his velvet +mask), and was buried on the 20th. The parish register of the +church names him 'Marchialy' or 'Marchioly,' one may read it either +way; du Junca, the Lieutenant of the Bastille, in his contemporary +journal, calls him 'Mr. de Marchiel.' Now, Saint-Mars often spells +Mattioli, 'Marthioly.' + +This is the one strength of the argument for Mattioli's claims to +the Mask. M. Lair replies, 'Saint-Mars had a mania for burying +prisoners under fancy names,' and gives examples. One is only a +gardener, Francois Eliard (1701), concerning whom it is expressly +said that, as he is a State prisoner, his real name is not to be +given, so he is registered as Pierre Maret (others read Navet, +'Peter Turnip'). If Saint-Mars, looking about for a false name for +Dauger's burial register, hit on Marsilly (the name of Dauger's old +master), that MIGHT be miswritten Marchialy. However it be, the age +of the Mask is certainly falsified; the register gives 'about forty- +five years old.' Mattioli would have been sixty-three; Dauger +cannot have been under fifty-three. + +There the case stands. If Mattioli died in April 1694, he cannot be +the Man in the Iron Mask. Of Dauger's death we find no record, +unless he was the Man in the Iron Mask, and died, in 1703, in the +Bastille. He was certainly, in 1669 and 1688, at Pignerol and at +Sainte-Marguerite, the centre of the mystery about some great +prisoner, a Marshal of France, the Duc de Beaufort, or a son of +Oliver Cromwell. Mattioli was no mystery, no secret. Dauger is so +mysterious that probably the secret of his mystery was unknown to +himself. By 1701, when obscure wretches were shut up with the Mask, +the secret, whatever its nature, had ceased to be of moment. The +captive was now the mere victim of cruel routine. But twenty years +earlier, Saint-Mars had said that Dauger 'takes things easily, +resigned to the will of God and the King.' + +To sum up, on July 1, 1669, the valet of the Huguenot intriguer, +Roux de Marsilly, the valet resident in England, known to his master +as 'Martin,' was 'wanted' by the French secret police. By July 19, +a valet, of the highest political importance, had been brought to +Dunkirk, from England, no doubt. My hypothesis assumes that this +valet, though now styled 'Eustache Dauger,' was the 'Martin' of Roux +de Marsilly. He was kept with so much mystery at Pignerol that +already the legend began its course; the captive valet was said to +be a Marshal of France! We then follow Dauger from Pignerol to Les +Exiles, till January 1687, when one valet out of a pair, Dauger +being one of them, dies. We presume that Dauger is the survivor, +because the great mystery still is 'what he HAS DONE,' whereas the +other valet had done nothing, but may have known Dauger's secret. +Again, the other valet had long been dropsical, and the valet who +died in 1687 died of dropsy. + +In 1688, Dauger, at Sainte-Marguerite, is again the source and +centre of myths; he is taken for a son of Oliver Cromwell, or for +the Duc de Beaufort. In June 1692, one of the Huguenot preachers at +Sainte-Marguerite writes on his shirt and pewter plate, and throws +them out of window.* Legend attributes these acts to the Man in the +Iron Mask, and transmutes a pewter into a silver plate. Now, in +1689-1693, Mattioli was at Pignerol, but Dauger was at Sainte- +Marguerite, and the Huguenot's act is attributed to him. Thus +Dauger, not Mattioli, is the centre round which the myths +crystallise: the legends concern HIM, not Mattioli, whose case is +well known, and gives rise to no legend. Finally, we have shown +that Mattioli probably died at Sainte-Marguerite in April 1694. If +so, then nobody but Dauger can be the 'old prisoner' whom Saint-Mars +brought, masked, to the Bastille, in September 1698, and who died +there in November 1703. However, suppose that Mattioli did not die +in 1694, but was the masked man who died in the Bastille in 1703, +then the legend of Dauger came to be attributed to Mattioli: these +two men's fortunes are combined in the one myth. + +*Saint-Mars au Ministre, June 4, 1692. + +The central problem remains unsolved, + +WHAT HAD THE VALET, EUSTACHE DAUGER, DONE?* + +*One marvels that nobody has recognised, in the mask, James Stuart +(James de la Cloche), eldest of the children of Charles II. He came +to England in 1668, was sent to Rome, and 'disappears from history.' +See 'The Mystery of James de la Cloche.' + + + +II. THE VALET'S MASTER + + + +The secret of the Man in the Iron Mask, or at least of one of the +two persons who have claims to be the Mask, was 'WHAT HAD EUSTACHE +DAUGER DONE?' To guard this secret the most extraordinary +precautions were taken, as we have shown in the fore-going essay. +And yet, if secret there was, it might have got wind in the simplest +fashion. In the 'Vicomte de Bragelonne,' Dumas describes the tryst +of the Secret-hunters with the dying Chief of the Jesuits at the inn +in Fontainebleau. They come from many quarters, there is a Baron of +Germany and a laird from Scotland, but Aramis takes the prize. He +knows the secret of the Mask, the most valuable of all to the +intriguers of the Company of Jesus. + +Now, despite all the precautions of Louvois and Saint-Mars, despite +sentinels for ever posted under Dauger's windows, despite +arrangements which made it impossible for him to signal to people on +the hillside at Les Exiles, despite the suppression even of the +items in the accounts of his expenses, his secret, if he knew it, +could have been discovered, as we have remarked, by the very man +most apt to make mischievous use of it--by Lauzun. That brilliant +and reckless adventurer could see Dauger, in prison at Pignerol, +when he pleased, for he had secretly excavated a way into the rooms +of his fellow-prisoner, Fouquet, on whom Dauger attended as valet. +Lauzun was released soon after Fouquet's death. It is unlikely that +he bought his liberty by the knowledge of the secret, and there is +nothing to suggest that he used it (if he possessed it) in any other +way. + +The natural clue to the supposed secret of Dauger is a study of the +career of his master, Roux de Marsilly. As official histories say +next to nothing about him, we may set forth what can be gleaned from +the State Papers in our Record Office. The earliest is a letter of +Roux de Marsilly to Mr. Joseph Williamson, secretary of Lord +Arlington (December 1668). Marsilly sends Martin (on our theory +Eustache Dauger) to bring back from Williamson two letters from his +own correspondent in Paris. He also requests Williamson to procure +for him from Arlington a letter of protection, as he is threatened +with arrest for some debt in which he is not really concerned. +Martin will explain. The next paper is endorsed 'Received December +28, 1668, Mons. de Marsilly.' As it is dated December 27, Marsilly +must have been in England. The contents of this piece deserve +attention, because they show the terms on which Marsilly and +Arlington were, or, at least, how Marsilly conceived them. + +(1) Marsilly reports, on the authority of his friends at Stockholm, +that the King of Sweden intends, first to intercede with Louis XIV. +in favour of the French Huguenots, and next, if diplomacy fails, to +join in arms with the other Protestant Powers of Europe. + +(2) His correspondent in Holland learns that if the King of England +invites the States to any 'holy resolution,' they will heartily lend +forces. No leader so good as the English King--Charles II! +Marsilly had shown ARLINGTON'S LETTER to a Dutch friend, who bade +him approach the Dutch ambassador in England. He has dined with +that diplomatist. Arlington had, then, gone so far as to write an +encouraging letter. The Dutch ambassador had just told Marsilly +that he had received the same news, namely, that, Holland would aid +the Huguenots, persecuted by Louis XIV. + +(3) Letters from Provence, Languedoc, and Dauphine say that the +situation there is unaltered. + +(4) The Canton of Zurich write that they will keep their promises +and that Berne IS ANXIOUS TO PLEASE THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, and +that it is ready to raise, with Zurich, 15,000 men. They are not +afraid of France. + +(5) Zurich fears that, if Charles is not represented at the next +Diet, Bale and Saint Gal will be intimidated, and not dare to join +the Triple Alliance of Spain, Holland, and England. The best plan +will be for Marsilly to represent England at the Diet of January 25, +1669, accompanied by the Swiss General Balthazar. This will +encourage friends 'TO GIVE HIS BRITTANIC MAJESTY THE SATISFACTION +WHICH HE DESIRES, and will produce a close union between Holland, +Sweden, the Cantons, and other Protestant States.' + +This reads as if Charles had already expressed some 'desire.' + +(6) Geneva grumbles at a reply of Charles 'through a bishop who is +their enemy,' the Bishop of London, 'a persecutor of our religion,' +that is, of Presbyterianism. However, nothing will dismay the +Genevans, 'si S. M. B. ne change.' + +Then comes a blank in the paper. There follows a copy of a letter +as if FROM CHARLES II. HIMSELF, to 'the Right High and Noble +Seigneurs of Zurich.' He has heard of their wishes from Roux de +Marsilly, whom he commissions to wait upon them. 'I would not have +written by my Bishop of London had I been better informed, but would +myself have replied to your obliging letter, and would have assured +you, as I do now, that I desire. . . .' + +It appears as if this were a draft of the kind of letter which +Marsilly wanted Charles to write to Zurich, and there is a similar +draft of a letter for Arlington to follow, if he and Charles wish to +send Marsilly to the Swiss Diet. The Dutch ambassador, with whom +Marsilly dined on December 26, the Constable of Castille, and other +grandees, are all of opinion that he should visit the Protestant +Swiss, as from the King of England. The scheme is for an alliance +of England, Holland, Spain, and the Protestant Cantons, against +France and Savoy. + +Another letter of Marsilly to Arlington, only dated Jeudi, avers +that he can never repay Arlington for his extreme kindness and +liberality. 'No man in England is more devoted to you than I am, +and shall be all my life.'* + +*State Papers, France, vol. 125, 106. + +On the very day when Marsilly drafted for Charles his own commission +to treat with Zurich for a Protestant alliance against France, +Charles himself wrote to his sister, Madame (Henriette d'Orleans). +He spoke of his secret treaty with France. 'You know how much +secrecy is necessary for the carrying on of the business, and I +assure you that nobody does, nor shall, know anything of it here, +but myself and that one person more, till it be fit to be public.'* +(Is 'that one person' de la Cloche?) + +*Madame, by Julia Cartwright, p. 275. + +Thus Marsilly thought Charles almost engaged for the Protestant +League, while Charles was secretly allying himself with France +against Holland. Arlington was probably no less deceived by Charles +than Marsilly was. + +The Bishop of London's share in the dealing with Zurich is obscure. + +It appears certain that Arlington was not consciously deceiving +Marsilly. Madame wrote, on February 12, as to Arlington, 'The man's +attachment to the Dutch and his inclination towards Spain are too +well known.'* Not till April 25, 1669, does Charles tell his sister +that Arlington has an inkling of his secret dealings with France; +how he knows, Charles cannot tell.** It is impossible for us to +ascertain how far Charles himself deluded Marsilly, who went to the +Continent early in spring, 1669. Before May 15/25 1669, in fact on +April 14, Marsilly had been kidnapped by agents of Louis XIV., and +his doom was dight. + +*Madame, by Julia Cartwright, p. 281. + +**Ibid. p. 285. + +Here is the account of the matter, written to ----- by Perwich in +Paris: + +W Perwich to ----- + + Paris, May 25, '69. + +Honored Sir, + +. . . . . . + +The Cantons of Switzerland are much troubled at the French King's +having sent 15 horsemen into Switzerland from whence the Sr de +Maille, the King's resident there, had given information of the Sr +Roux de Marsilly's being there negociating the bringing the Cantons +into the Triple League by discourses much to the disadvantage of +France, giving them very ill impressions of the French King's +Government, who was BETRAYED BY A MONK THAT KEPT HIM COMPANY and +intercepted by the said horsemen brought into France and is expected +at the Bastille. I believe you know the man. . . . I remember him +in England. + + +Can this monk be the monk who went mad in prison at Pignerol, +sharing the cell of Mattioli? Did he, too, suffer for his +connection with the secret? We do not know, but the position of +Charles was awkward. Marsilly, dealing with the Swiss, had come +straight from England, where he was lie with Charles's minister, +Arlington, and with the Dutch and Spanish ambassadors. The King +refers to the matter in a letter to his sister of May 24, 1669 +(misdated by Miss Cartwright, May 24, 1668.)* + +'You have, I hope, received full satisfaction by the last post in +the matter of Marsillac [Marsilly], for my Ld. Arlington has sent to +Mr. Montague [English ambassador at Paris] his history all the time +he was here, by which you will see how little credit he had here, +and that particularly my Lord Arlington was not in his good graces, +because he did not receive that satisfaction, in his negotiation, he +expected, and that was only in relation to the Swissers, and so I +think I have said enough of this matter.' + +*Madame, by Julia Cartwright, p. 264. + +Charles took it easily! + +On May 15/25 Montague acknowledged Arlington's letter to which +Charles refers; he has been approached, as to Marsilly, by the +Spanish resident, 'but I could not tell how to do anything in the +business, never having heard of the man, or that he was employed by +my Master [Charles] in any business. I have sent you also a copy of +a letter which an Englishman writ to me that I do not know, in +behalf of Roux de Marsilly, but that does not come by the post,' +being too secret.* + +*State Papers, France, vol. 126. + +France had been well informed about Marsilly while he was in +England. He then had a secretary, two lackeys, and a valet de +chambre, and was frequently in conference with Arlington and the +Spanish ambassador to the English Court. Colbert, the French +ambassador in London, had written all this to the French Government, +on April 25, before he heard of Marsilly's arrest.* + +*Bibl. Nat., Fonds Francais, No. 10665. + +The belief that Marsilly was an agent of Charles appears to have +been general, and, if accepted by Louis XIV., would interfere with +Charles's private negotiations for the Secret Treaty with France. +On May 18 Prince d'Aremberg had written on the subject to the +Spanish ambassador in Paris. Marsilly, he says, was arrested in +Switzerland, on his way to Berne, with a monk who was also seized, +and, a curious fact, Marsilly's valet was killed in the struggle. +This valet, of course, was not Dauger, whom Marsilly had left in +England. Marsilly 'doit avoir demande la protection du Roy de la +Grande Bretagne en faveur des Religionaires (Huguenots) de France, +et passer en Suisse AVEC QUELQUE COMMISSION DE SA PART.' D'Aremberg +begs the Spanish ambassador to communicate all this to Montague, the +English ambassador at Paris, but Montague probably, like Perwich, +knew nothing of the business any more than he knew of Charles's +secret dealings with Louis through Madame.* + +*State Papers, France, vol. 126. + +To d'Aremberg's letter is pinned an unsigned English note, obviously +intended for Arlington's reading. + +'Roux de Marsilly is still in the Bastille though they have a mind +to hang him, yet they are much puzzled what to do with him. De +Lionne has beene to examine him twice or thrice, but there is noe +witnes to prove anything against him. I was told by one that the +French king told it to, that in his papers they find great mention +of the DUKE OF BUCKS: AND YOUR NAME, and speak as if he were much +trusted by you. I have enquired what this Marsilly is, and I find +by one Mr. Marsilly that I am acquainted withall, and a man of +quality, that this man's name is onely Roux, and borne at Nismes and +having been formerly a soldier in his troope, ever since has taken +his name to gain more credit in Switserland where hee, Marsilly, +formerly used to bee employed by his Coll: the Mareschall de +Schomberg who invaded Switserland.' + +We next find a very curious letter, from which it appears that the +French Government inclined to regard Marsilly as, in fact, an agent +of Charles, but thought it wiser to trump up against him a charge of +conspiring against the life of Louis XIV. On this charge, or +another, he was executed, while the suspicion that he was an agent +of English treachery may have been the real cause of the +determination to destroy him. The Balthazar with whom Marsilly left +his papers is mentioned with praise by him in his paper for +Arlington, of December 27, 1668. He is the General who should have +accompanied Marsilly to the Diet. + +The substance of the letter (given in full in Note I.) is to the +following effect. P. du Moulin (Paris, May 19/29, 1669) writes to +Arlington. Ever since Ruvigny, the late French ambassador, a +Protestant, was in England, the French Government had been anxious +to kidnap Roux de Marsilly. They hunted him in England, Holland, +Flanders, and Franche-Comte. As we know from the case of Mattioli, +the Government of Louis XIV. was unscrupulously daring in breaking +the laws of nations, and seizing hostile personages in foreign +territory, as Napoleon did in the affair of the Duc d'Enghien. When +all failed, Louis bade Turenne capture Roux de Marsilly wherever he +could find him. Turenne sent officers and gentlemen abroad, and, +after four months' search, they found Marsilly in Switzerland. They +took him as he came out of the house of his friend, General +Balthazar, and carried him to Gex. No papers were found on him, but +he asked his captors to send to Balthazar and get 'the commission he +had from England,' which he probably thought would give him the +security of an official diplomatic position. Having got this +document, Marsilly's captors took it to the French Ministers. +Nothing could be more embarrassing, if this were true, to Charles's +representative in France, Montague, and to Charles's secret +negotiations, also to Arlington, who had dealt with Marsilly. On +his part, the captive Marsilly constantly affirmed that he was the +envoy of the King of England. The common talk of Paris was that an +agent of Charles was in the Bastille, 'though at Court they pretend +to know nothing of it.' Louis was overjoyed at Marsilly's capture, +giving out that he was conspiring against his life. Monsieur told +Montague that he need not beg for the life of a would-be murderer +like Marsilly. But as to this idea, 'they begin now to mince it at +Court,' and Ruvigny assured du Moulin 'that they had no such +thoughts.' De Lyonne had seen Marsilly and observed that it was a +blunder to seize him. The French Government was nervous, and +Turenne's secretary had been 'pumping' several ambassadors as to +what they thought of Marsilly's capture on foreign territory. One +ambassador replied with spirit that a crusade by all Europe against +France, as of old against the Moslems, would be necessary. Would +Charles, du Moulin asked, own or disown Marsilly? + +Montague's position was now awkward. On May 23, his account of the +case was read, at Whitehall, to the Foreign Committee in London. +(See Note II. for the document.) He did not dare to interfere in +Marsilly's behalf, because he did not know whether the man was an +agent of Charles or not. Such are the inconveniences of a secret +royal diplomacy carried on behind the backs of Ministers. Louis XV. +later pursued this method with awkward consequences.* The French +Court, Montague said, was overjoyed at the capture of Marsilly, and +a reward of 100,000 crowns, 'I am told very privately, is set upon +his head.' The French ambassador in England, Colbert, had reported +that Charles had sent Marsilly 'to draw the Swisses into the Triple +League' against France. Montague had tried to reassure Monsieur +(Charles's brother-in-law), but was himself entirely perplexed. As +Monsieur's wife, Charles's sister, was working with Charles for the +secret treaty with Louis, the State and family politics were clearly +in a knot. Meanwhile the Spanish ambassador kept pressing Montague +to interfere in favour of Marsilly. After Montague's puzzled note +had been read to the English Foreign Committee on May 23, Arlington +offered explanations. Marsilly came to England, he said, when +Charles was entering into negotiations for peace with Holland, and +when France seemed likely to oppose the peace. No proposition was +made to him or by him. Peace being made, Marsilly was given money +to take him out of the country. He wanted the King to renew his +alliance with the Swiss cantons, but was told that the cantons must +first expel the regicides of Charles I. He undertook to arrange +this, and some eight months later came back to England. 'He was +coldly used, and I was complained of for not using so important a +man well enough.' + +*Cf. Le Secret du Roi, by the Duc de Broglie. + +As we saw, Marsilly expressed the most effusive gratitude to +Arlington, which does not suggest cold usage. Arlington told the +complainers that Marsilly was 'another man's spy,' what man's, +Dutch, Spanish, or even French, he does not explain. So Charles +gave Marsilly money to go away. He was never trusted with anything +but the expulsion of the regicides from Switzerland. Arlington was +ordered by Charles to write a letter thanking Balthazar for his good +offices. + +These explanations by Arlington do not tally with Marsilly's +communications to him, as cited at the beginning of this inquiry. +Nothing is said in these about getting the regicides of Charles I. +out of Switzerland: the paper is entirely concerned with bringing +the Protestant Cantons into anti-French League with England, +Holland, Spain, and even Sweden. On the other hand, Arlington's +acknowledged letter to Balthazar, carried by Marsilly, may be the +'commission' of which Marsilly boasted. In any case, on June 2, +Charles gave Colbert, the French ambassador, an audience, turning +even the Duke of York out of the room. He then repeated to Colbert +the explanations of Arlington, already cited, and Arlington, in a +separate interview, corroborated Charles. So Colbert wrote to Louis +(June 3, 1669); but to de Lyonne, on the same day, 'I trust that you +will extract from Marsilly much matter for the King's service. IT +SEEMED TO ME THAT MILORD D'ARLINGTON WAS UNEASY ABOUT IT [EN AVAIT +DE L'INQUIETUDE]. . . . There is here in England one Martin' +(Eustace Dauger), 'who has been that wretch's valet, and who left +him in discontent.' Colbert then proposes to examine Martin, who +may know a good deal, and to send him into France. On June 10, +Colbert writes to Louis that he expects to see Martin.* + +*Bibl. Nat., Fonds Francais, No. 10665. + +On June 24, Colbert wrote to Louis about a conversation with +Charles. It is plain that proofs of a murder-plot by Marsilly were +scanty or non-existent, though Colbert averred that Marsilly had +discussed the matter with the Spanish Ministers. 'Charles knew that +he had had much conference with Isola, the Spanish ambassador.' +Meanwhile, up to July 1, Colbert was trying to persuade Marsilly's +valet to go to France, which he declined to do, as we have seen. +However, the luckless lad, by nods and by veiled words, indicated +that he knew a great deal. But not by promise of security and +reward could the valet be induced to return to France. 'I might ask +the King to give up Martin, the valet of Marsilly, to me,' Colbert +concludes, and, by hook or by crook, he secured the person of the +wretched man, as we have seen. In a postscript, Colbert says that +he has heard of the execution of Marsilly. + +By July 19, as we saw in the previous essay, Louvois was bidding +Saint-Mars expect, at Pignerol from Dunkirk, a prisoner of the +highest political importance, to be guarded with the utmost secrecy, +yet a valet. That valet must be Martin, now called Eustache Dauger, +and his secret can only be connected with Marsilly. It may have +been something about Arlington's negotiations through Marsilly, as +compromising Charles II. Arlington's explanations to the Foreign +Committee were certainly incomplete and disingenuous. He, if not +Charles, was more deeply engaged with Marsilly than he ventured to +report. But Marsilly himself avowed that he did not know why he was +to be executed. + +Executed he was, in circumstances truly hideous. Perwich, June 5, +wrote to an unnamed correspondent in England: 'They have all his +papers, which speak much of the Triple Alliance, but I know not +whether they can lawfully hang him for this, having been naturalised +in Holland, and taken in a privileged country' (Switzerland). +Montague (Paris, June 22, 1669) writes to Arlington that Marsilly is +to die, so it has been decided, for 'a rape which he formerly +committed at Nismes,' and after the execution, on June 26, declares +that, when broken on the wheel, Marsilly 'still persisted that he +was guilty of nothing, nor did know why he was put to death.' + +Like Eustache Dauger, Marsilly professed that he did not know his +own secret. The charge of a rape, long ago, at Nismes, was +obviously trumped up to cover the real reason for the extraordinary +vindictiveness with which he was pursued, illegally taken, and +barbarously slain. Mere Protestant restlessness on his part is +hardly an explanation. There was clearly no evidence for the charge +of a plot to murder Louis XIV., in which Colbert, in England, seems +to have believed. Even if the French Government believed that he +was at once an agent of Charles II., and at the same time a would-be +assassin of Louis XIV., that hardly accounts for the intense secrecy +with which his valet, Eustache Dauger, was always surrounded. Did +Marsilly know of the Secret Treaty, and was it from him that +Arlington got his first inkling of the royal plot? If so, Marsilly +would probably have exposed the mystery in Protestant interests. We +are entirely baffled. + +In any case, Francis Vernon, writing from Paris to Williamson (?) +(June 19/29 1669), gave a terrible account of Marsilly's death. +(For the letter, see Note V.) With a broken piece of glass (as we +learn from another source), Marsilly, in prison, wounded himself in +a ghastly manner, probably hoping to die by loss of blood. They +seared him with a red-hot iron, and hurried on his execution. He +was broken on the wheel, and was two hours in dying (June 22). +Contrary to usage, a Protestant preacher was brought to attend him +on the scaffold. He came most reluctantly, expecting insult, but +not a taunt was uttered by the fanatic populace. 'He came up the +scaffold, great silence all about.' Marsilly lay naked, stretched +on a St. Andrew's cross. He had seemed half dead, his head hanging +limp, 'like a drooping calf.' To greet the minister of his own +faith, he raised himself, to the surprise of all, and spoke out loud +and clear. He utterly denied all share in a scheme to murder Louis. +The rest may be read in the original letter (Note V.). + +So perished Roux de Marsilly; the history of the master throws no +light on the secret of the servant. That secret, for many years, +caused the keenest anxiety to Louis XIV. and Louvois. Saint-Mars +himself must not pry into it. Yet what could Dauger know? That +there had been a conspiracy against the King's life? But that was +the public talk of Paris. If Dauger had guilty knowledge, his life +might have paid for it; why keep him a secret prisoner? Did he know +that Charles II. had been guilty of double dealing in 1668-1669? +Probably Charles had made some overtures to the Swiss, as a blind to +his private dealings with Louis XIV., but, even so, how could the +fact haunt Louis XIV. like a ghost? We leave the mystery much +darker than we found it, but we see reason good why diplomatists +should have murmured of a crusade against the cruel and brigand +Government which sent soldiers to kidnap, in neighbouring states, +men who did not know their own crime. + +To myself it seems not improbable that the King and Louvois were but +stupidly and cruelly nervous about what Dauger MIGHT know. Saint- +Mars, when he proposed to utilise Dauger as a prison valet, +manifestly did not share the trembling anxieties of Louis XIV. and +his Minister; anxieties which grew more keen as time went on. +However, 'a soldier only has his orders,' and Saint-Mars executed +his orders with minute precision, taking such unheard-of precautions +that, in legend, the valet blossomed into the rightful king of +France. + + * * * + +APPENDIX. + +ORIGINAL PAPERS IN THE CASE OF ROUX DE MARSILLY.* + +Note I. Letter of Mons. P. du Moulin to Arlington.** + + Paris, May ye 19/29, 1669. + +My Lord, + +. . . . . . + +Ever since that Monsieur de Ruvigny was in England last, and upon +the information he gave, this King had a very great desire to seize +if it were possible this Roux de Marsilly, and several persons were +sent to effect it, into England, Holland, Flanders, and Franche +Comte: amongst the rest one La Grange, exempt des Gardes, was a +good while in Holland with fifty of the guards dispersed in severall +places and quarters; But all having miscarried the King recommended +the thing to Monsieur de Turenne who sent some of his gentlemen and +officers under him to find this man out and to endeavour to bring +him alive. These men after foure months search found him att last +in Switzerland, and having laid waite for him as he came out from +Monsr Balthazar's house (a commander well knowne) they took him and +carryed him to Gex before they could be intercepted and he rescued. +This was done only by a warrant from Monsieur de Turenne but as +soone as they came into the french dominions they had full powers +and directions from this court for the bringing of him hither. +Those that tooke him say they found no papers about him, but that he +desired them to write to Monsr Balthazar to desire him to take care +of his papers and to send him THE COMMISSION HE HAD FROM ENGLAND and +a letter being written to that effect it was signed by the prisoner +and instead of sending it as they had promised, they have brought it +hither along with them. THEY DO ALL UNANIMOUSLY REPORT THAT HE DID +CONSTANTLY AFFIRME THAT HE WAS IMPLOYED BY THE KING OF GREAT +BRITTAIN AND DID ACT BY HIS COMMISSION; so that the general +discourse here in towne is that one of the King of England's agents +is in the Bastille; though att Court they pretend to know nothing of +it and would have the world think they are persuaded he had no +relacion to his Majesty. Your Lordship hath heard by the publique +newes how overjoyed this King was att the bringing of this prisoner, +and how farr he expressed his thanks to the cheife person employed +in it, declaring openly that this man had long since conspired +against his life, and agreable to this, Monsieur, fearing that +Mylord Ambr. was come to interpose on the prisoner's behalfe asked +him on Friday last att St. Germains whether that was the cause of +his coming, and told him that he did not think he would speake for a +man that attempted to kill the King. The same report hath been +hitherto in everybody's mouth but they begin now to mince it att +court, and Monsieur de Ruvigny would have persuaded me yesterday, +they had no such thoughts. The truth is I am apt to believe they +begin now to be ashamed of it: and I am informed from a very good +hand that Monsieur de Lionne who hath been at the Bastille to speake +with the prisoner hath confessed since that he can find no ground +for this pretended attempting to the King's life, and that upon the +whole he was of opinion that this man had much better been left +alone than taken, and did look upon what he had done as the +intemperancy of an ill-settled braine. And to satisfy your Lordship +that they are nettled here, and are concerned to know what may be +the issue of all this, Monsieur de Turenne's secretary was on Munday +last sent to several forreigne Ministers to pump them and to learne +what their thoughts were concerning this violence committed in the +Dominions of a sovereign and an allye whereupon he was told by one +of them that such proceedings would bring Europe to the necessity of +entering into a Croisade against them, as formerly against the +infidels. If I durst I would acquaint your Lordship with the +reflexions of all publique ministers here and of other unconcerned +persons in relation to his Majesty's owning or disowning this man; +but not knowing the particulars of his case, nor the grounds his +Ma'ty may go upon, I shall forbeare entering upon this discourse. . +. . + + Your Lordships' etc. + + P. Du MOULIN. + +*State Papers, France, vol. 126. +**Ibid. + + ----- + +Note II. Paper endorsed 'Mr. Montague originally in Cypher. +Received May 19, '69. Read in foreigne Committee, 23 May. Roux de +Marsilli.'* + +I durst not venture to sollicite in Monsr Roux Marsilly's behalfe +because I doe not know whether the King my Master hath imployed him +or noe; besides he is a man, as I have beene told by many people +here of worth, that has given out that hee is resolved to kill the +French king at one time or other, and I think such men are as +dangerous to one king as to another: hee is brought to the Bastille +and I believe may be proceeded against and put to death, in very few +daies. There is great joy in this Court for his being taken, and a +hundred thousand crownes, I am told very privately, set upon his +head; the French Ambassador in England watcht him, and hee has given +the intelligence here of his being employed by the King, and sent +into Switzerland by my Master to draw the Swisses into the Triple +League. Hee aggravates the business as much as hee can to the +prejudice of my Master to value his owne service the more, and they +seeme here to wonder that the King my Master should have imployed or +countenanced a man that had so base a design against the King's +Person, I had a great deal of discourse with Monsieur about it, but +I did positively say that he had noe relation to my knowledge to the +King my Master, and if he should have I make a question or noe +whither in this case the King will owne him. However, my Lord, I +had nothing to doe to owne or meddle in a buisines that I was so +much a stranger to. . . . + +This Roux Marsilly is a great creature of the B. d'Isola's, wch +makes them here hate him the more. The Spanish Resident was very +earnest with mee to have done something in behalfe of Marsilly, but +I positively refused. + +*State Papers, France, vol. 126. + + ----- + +Note III. [A paper endorsed 'Roux de Marsilli. Read in for. +Committee, 23d May.']* + +Roux de Marsilly came hither when your Majesty had made a union with +Holland for making the Peace betwixt the two Crownes and when it was +probable the opposition to the Peace would bee on the side of +France. + +Marsilly was heard telling of longe things but noe proposition made +to him or by him. + +Presently the Peace was made and Marsilly told more plainly wee had +no use of him. A little summe of money was given him to returne as +he said whither he was to goe in Switzerland. Upon which hee +wishing his Ma'ty would renew his allience wth the Cantons hee was +answerd his M'ty would not enter into any comerce with them till +they had sent the regicides out of their Country, hee undertooke it +should bee done. Seven or eight months after wth out any intimation +given him from hence or any expectation of him, he comes hither, but +was so coldly used I was complained off for not using so important a +man well enough. I answerd I saw noe use the King could make of +him, because he had no credit in Switzerlande and for any thing else +I thought him worth nothing to us, but above all because I knew by +many circumstances HEE WAS ANOTHER MAN'S SPY and soe ought not to be +paid by his Majesty. Notwithstanding this his Ma'ty being moved +from compassion commanded hee should have some money given him to +carry him away and that I should write to Monsieur Balthazar +thanking him in the King's name for the good offices hee rendered in +advancing a good understanding betwixt his Ma'ty and the Cantons and +desiring him to continue them in all occasions. + +The man was always looked upon as a hot headed and indiscreete man, +and soe accordingly handled, hearing him, but never trusting him +with anything but his own offered and undesired endeavours to gett +the Regicides sent out of Switzerland. + +*State Papers, France, vol. 126. + + ----- + +Note IV. Letter of W. Perwich to -----.* + + Paris: June 5, 1669. + +Honored Sir, + +. . . . . . + +Roux Marsilly has prudently declared hee had some what of importance +to say but it should bee to the King himselfe wch may be means of +respiting his processe and as he hopes intercession may bee made for +him; but people talk so variously of him that I cannot tell whether +hee ought to bee owned by any Prince; the Suisses have indeed the +greatest ground to reclayme him as being taken in theirs. They have +all his papers which speak much of the Triple Alliance; if they have +no other pretext of hanging him I know not whether they can lawfully +for this, hee having been naturallised in Holland and taken in a +priviledged Country. . . . + +*State Papers, France, vol. 126. + + ----- + +Note V. Francis Vernon to [Mr. Williamson?].* + + Paris: June 19/29 1669. + +Honored Sir, + +My last of the 26th Currt was soe short and soe abrupt that I fear +you can peck butt little satisfaction out of it. + +. . . . . . + +I did intend to have written something about Marsilly but that I had +noe time then. In my letter to my Lord Arlington I writt that +Friday 21 Currt hee wounded himself wch he did not because hee was +confronted with Ruvigny as the Gazettes speake. For he knew before +hee should dye, butt he thought by dismembering himself that the +losse of blood would carry him out of the world before it should +come to bee knowne that he had wounded himselfe. And when the +Governor of the Bastille spied the blood hee said It was a stone was +come from him which caused that effusion. However the governor +mistrusted the worst and searcht him to see what wound he had made. +So they seared him and sent word to St. Germaines which made his +execution be hastened. Saturday about 1 of the clock hee was +brought on the skaffold before the Chastelet and tied to St. +Andrew's Crosse all wch while he acted the Dying man and scarce +stirred, and seemed almost breathlesse and fainting. The Lieutenant +General presst him to confesse and ther was a doctor of the Sorbon +who was a counsellr of the Castelet there likewise to exhort him to +disburthen his mind of any thing which might be upon it. Butt he +seemed to take no notice and lay panting. + +Then the Lieutenant Criminel bethought himself that the only way to +make him speake would bee to sende for a ministre soe hee did to +Monsr Daillie butt hee because the Edicts don't permitt ministres to +come to condemned persons in publique butt only to comfort them in +private before they goe out of prison refused to come till hee sent +a huissier who if hee had refused the second time would have brought +him by force. At this second summons hee came butt not without +great expectations to bee affronted in a most notorious manner +beeing the first time a ministre came to appeare on a scaffold and +that upon soe sinister an occasion. Yet when he came found a great +presse of people. All made way, none lett fall soe much as a +taunting word. Hee came up the Scaffold, great silence all about. +Hee found him lying bound stretched on St Andrew's Crosse, naked +ready for execution. Hee told him hee was sent for to exhort him to +die patiently and like a Christian. Then immediately they were all +surprized to see him hold up his head wch he lett hang on one side +before like a drooping calfe and speake as loud and clear as the +ministre, to whom he said with a chearful air hee was glad to see +him, that hee need not question butt that hee would dye like a +Christian and patiently too. Then hee went and spoke some places of +Scripture to encourage him which he heard with great attention. +They afterward came to mention some things to move him to +contrition, and there hee tooke an occasion to aggravate the horrour +of a Crime of attempting against the King's person. Hee said hee +did not know what hee meant. For his part hee never had any evill +intention against the Person of the King. + +The Lieutenant Criminel stood all the while behind Monsieur Daillie +and hearkened to all and prompted Monsr Daillie to aske him if hee +had said there were 10 Ravillacs besides wch would doe the King's +businesse. Hee protested solemnly hee never said any such words or +if hee did hee never remembred, butt if hee had it was with no +intention of Malice. Then Monsieur Daillie turned to the people and +made a discourse in vindication of those of the Religion that it was +no Principle of theirs attempts on the persons of King[s] butt only +loyalty and obedience. This ended hee went away; hee staid about an +hour in all, and immediately as soon as he was gone, they went to +their worke and gave him eleven blows with a barre and laid him on +the wheele. Hee was two houres dying. All about Monsr Daillie I +heard from his own mouth for I went to wait on him because it was +reported hee had said something concerning the King of England butt +hee could tell mee nothing of that. There was a flying report that +he should say going from the Chastelet--The Duke of York hath done +mee a great injury--The Swisses they say resented his [Marsilly's] +taking and misst butt half an hour to take them which betrayed him +[the monk] after whom they sent. When he was on the wheele hee was +heard to say Le Roy est grand tyrant, Le Roy me traitte d'un facon +fort barbare. All that you read concerning oaths and dying en +enrage is false all the oaths hee used being only asseverations to +Monsr Daillie that he was falsely accused as to the King's person. + + Sr I am etc + + FRANS. VERNON. + +*State Papers, France, vol. 126. + + ----- + + +Note VI. The Ambassador Montague to Arlington.* + + Paris: June 22, 1669. + +My Lord, + +. . . . . . + +The Lieutenant criminel hath proceeded pretty farre with Le Roux +Marsilly. The crime they forme their processe on beeing a rape +which he had formerly committed at Nismes soe that he perceiving but +little hopes of his life, sent word to the King if hee would pardon +him he could reveale things to him which would concerne him more and +be of greater consequence to him, than his destruction. + +*State Papers, France, vol. 126. + + ----- + +Note VII. The same to the same. + + Paris: June 26, '69. +My Lord, + +. . . . . . + +I heard that Marsilly was to be broke on the wheel and I gave order +then to one of my servants to write Mr. Williamson word of it, soe I +suppose you have heard of it already: they hastened his execution +for feare he should have dyed of the hurt he had done himself the +day before; they sent for a minister to him when he was upon the +scaffold to see if he would confesse anything, but he still +persisted that he was guilty of nothing nor DID NOT KNOW WHY HE WAS +PUT TO DEATH. . . . + + + +III. THE MYSTERY OF SIR EDMUND BERRY GODFREY + + + +When London was a pleasanter place than it is to-day, when anglers +stretched their legs up Tottenham Hill on their way to fish in the +Lee; when the 'best stands on Hackney river' were competed for +eagerly by bottom fishers; when a gentleman in St. Martin's Lane, +between the hedges, could 'ask the way to Paddington Woods;' when a +hare haunted Primrose Hill and was daily pursued by a gallant pack +of harriers; enfin, between three and four on the afternoon of +October 17, 1678, two common fellows stepped into the White House +tavern in the fields north of Marylebone, a house used as a club by +a set of Catholic tradesmen. They had been walking in that region, +and, as the October afternoon was drawing in, and rain was falling, +they sought refuge in the White House. It would appear that they +had not the means of assuaging a reasonable thirst, for when they +mentioned that they had noticed a gentleman's cane, a scabbard, a +belt, and some add a pair of gloves, lying at the edge of a deep dry +ditch, overgrown with thick bush and bramble, the landlord offered +the new comers a shilling to go and fetch the articles.* But the +rain was heavy, and probably the men took the shilling out in ale, +till about five o'clock, when the weather held up for a while. + +*A rather different account by the two original finders, Bromwell +and Walters, is in L'Estrange's Brief History, iii. pp. 97, 98. The +account above is the landlord's. Lords' MSS., Hist. MSS. Com., xi. +pp. 2, 46, 47. + +The delay was the more singular if, as one account avers, the men +had not only observed the cane and scabbard outside of the ditch, on +the bank, but also a dead body within the ditch, under the +brambles.* By five o'clock the rain had ceased, but the tempestuous +evening was dark, and it was night before Constable Brown, with a +posse of neighbours on foot and horseback, reached the ditch. +Herein they found the corpse of a man lying face downwards, the feet +upwards hung upon the brambles; thus half suspended he lay, and the +point of a sword stuck out of his back, through his black camlet +coat.** By the lights at the inn, the body was identified as that +of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, a Justice of the Peace for Westminster, +who had been missing since Saturday October 12. It is an undeniable +fact that, between two and three o'clock, before the body was +discovered and identified, Dr. Lloyd, Dean of St. Asaph's, and +Bishop Burnet, had heard that Godfrey had been found in Leicester +Fields, with his own sword in his body. Dr. Lloyd mentioned his +knowledge in the funeral sermon of the dead magistrate. He had the +story from a Mr. Angus, a clergyman, who had it from 'a young man in +a grey coat,' in a bookseller's shop near St. Paul's, about two +o'clock in the afternoon. Angus hurried to tell Bishop Burnet, who +sent him on to Dr. Lloyd.*** Either the young man in the grey coat +knew too much, or a mere rumour, based on a conjecture that Godfrey +had fallen on his own sword, proved to be accurate by accident; a +point to be remembered. According to Roger Frith, at two o'clock he +heard Salvetti, the ambassador of the Duke of Tuscany, say: 'Sir E. +Godfrey is dead. . . the young Jesuits are grown desperate; the old +ones would do no such thing.' This again may have been a mere guess +by Salvetti.**** + +*Pollock, Popish Plot, pp. 95, 96. +**Brown in Brief History, iii. pp. 212-215, 222. +***L'Estrange, Brief History, iii. pp. 87-89. +****Lords' MSS. p. 48, October 24. + +In the circumstances of the finding of the body it would have been +correct for Constable Brown to leave it under a guard till daylight +and the arrival of surgical witnesses, but the night was +threatening, and Brown ordered the body to be lifted; he dragged out +the sword with difficulty, and had the dead man carried to the White +House Inn. There, under the candles, the dead man, as we said, was +recognised for Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, a very well-known justice +of the peace and wood and coal dealer. All this occurred on +Thursday, October 17, and Sir Edmund had not been seen by honest men +and thoroughly credible witnesses, at least, since one o'clock on +Saturday, October 12. Then he was observed near his house in Green +Lane, Strand, but into his house he did not go. + +Who, then, killed Sir Edmund? + +The question has never been answered, though three guiltless men +were later hanged for the murder. Every conceivable theory has been +tried; the latest is that of Mr. Pollock: Godfrey was slain by 'the +Queen's confessor,' Le Fevre, 'a Jesuit,' and some other Jesuits, +with lay assistance.* I have found no proof that Le Fevre was +either a Jesuit or confessor of the Queen. + +*Pollock, The Popish Plot, Duckworth, London, 1903. + +As David Hume says, the truth might probably have been discovered, +had proper measures been taken at the moment. But a little mob of +horse and foot had trampled round the ditch in the dark, disturbing +the original traces. The coroner's jury, which sat long and late, +on October 18 and 19, was advised by two surgeons, who probably, +like the rest of the world, were biassed by the belief that Godfrey +had been slain 'by the bloody Papists.' In the reign of mad terror +which followed, every one was apt to accommodate his evidence, +naturally, to that belief. If they did not, then, like the two +original finders, Bromwell and Walters, they might be thrown, +heavily ironed, into Newgate.* + +*Lords' MSS. P. 47, note 1. + +But when the Popish Plot was exploded, and Charles II. was firm on +his throne, still more under James II., every one was apt to be +biassed in the opposite direction, and to throw the guilt on the +fallen party of Oates, Bedloe, Dugdale, and the other deeply +perjured and infamous informers. Thus both the evidence of 1678- +1680, and that collected in 1684-1687, by Sir Roger L'Estrange, J.P. +(who took great trouble and was allowed access to the manuscript +documents of the earlier inquiries), must be regarded with +suspicion.* + +*L'Estrange, Brief History of the Times, London, 1687. + +The first question is cui bono? who had an interest in Godfrey's +death? Three parties had an interest, first, the Catholics (IF +Godfrey knew their secrets); next, the managers of the great Whig +conspiracy in favour of the authenticity of Oates's Popish Plot; +last, Godfrey himself, who was of an hereditary melancholy (his +father had suicidal tendencies), and who was involved in a quandary +whence he could scarcely hope to extricate himself with life and +honour. + +Of the circumstances of Godfrey's quandary an account is to follow. +But, meanwhile, the theory of Godfrey's suicide (though Danby is +said to have accepted it) was rejected, probably with good reason +(despite the doubts of L'Estrange, Hume, Sir George Sitwell, and +others), by the coroner's jury.* + +*Sitwell, The First Whig, Sacheverell. + +Privately printed, 1894, Sir George's book--a most interesting +volume, based on public and private papers--unluckily is +introuvable. Some years have passed since I read a copy which he +kindly lent me. + +The evidence which determined the verdict of murder was that of two +surgeons. They found that the body had been severely bruised, on +the chest, by kicks, blows of a blunt weapon, or by men's knees. A +sword-thrust had been dealt, but had slipped on a rib; Godfrey's own +sword had then been passed through the left pap, and out at the +back. There was said to be no trace of the shedding of fresh living +blood on the clothes of Godfrey, or about the ditch. What blood +appeared was old, the surgeons averred, and malodorous, and flowed +after the extraction of the sword. + +L'Estrange (1687) argues at great length, but on evidence collected +later, and given under the Anti-Plot bias, that there was much more +'bloud' than was allowed for at the inquest. But the early evidence +ought to be best. Again, the surgeons declared that Godfrey had +been strangled with a cloth (as the jury found), and his neck +dislocated. Bishop Burnet, who viewed the body, writes (long after +the event): 'A mark was all round his neck, an inch broad, which +showed he was strangled. . . . And his neck was broken. All this I +saw.'* + +*Burnet, History of his own Time, ii. p. 741. 1725. + + +L'Estrange argued that the neck was not broken (giving an example of +a similar error in the case of a dead child), and that the mark +round the neck was caused by the tightness of the collar and the +flow of blood to the neck, the body lying head downwards. In favour +of this view he produced one surgeon's opinion. He also declares +that Godfrey's brothers, for excellent reasons of their own, refused +to allow a thorough post-mortem examination. 'None of them had ever +been opened,' they said. Their true motive was that, if Godfrey +were a suicide, his estate would be forfeited to the Crown, a point +on which they undoubtedly showed great anxiety. + +Evidence was also given to prove that, on Tuesday and Wednesday, +October 15 and 16, Godfrey's body was not in the ditch. On Tuesday +Mr. Forsett, on Wednesday Mr. Harwood had taken Mr. Forsett's +harriers over the ground, in pursuit of the legendary hare. They +had seen no cane or scabbard; the dogs had found no corpse. +L'Estrange replied that, as to the cane, the men could not see it if +they were on the further side of the bramble-covered ditch. As to +the dogs, they later hunted a wood in which a dead body lay for six +weeks before it was found. L'Estrange discovered witnesses who had +seen Godfrey in St. Martin's Lane on the fatal Saturday, asking his +way to Paddington Woods, others who had seen him there or met him +returning thence. Again, either he or 'the Devil in his clothes' +was seen near the ditch on Saturday afternoon. Again, his clerk, +Moore, was seen hunting the fields near the ditch, for his master, +on the Monday afternoon. Hence L'Estrange argued that Godfrey went +to Paddington Woods, on Saturday morning, to look for a convenient +place of suicide: that he could not screw his courage to the +sticking place; that he wandered home, did not enter his house, +roamed out again, and, near Primrose Hill, found the ditch and 'the +sticking place.' His rambles, said L'Estrange, could neither have +been taken for business nor pleasure. This is true, if Godfrey +actually took the rambles, but the evidence was not adduced till +several years later; in 1678 the witnesses would have been in great +danger. Still, if we accept L'Estrange's witnesses for Godfrey's +trip to Paddington and return, perhaps we ought not to reject the +rest.* + +*Brief History, iii. pp. 252, 300, 174, 175; State Trials, viii. pp. +1387, 1392, 1393, 1359-1389. + +On the whole, it seems that the evidence for murder, not suicide, is +much the better, though even here absolute certainty is not +attained. Granting Godfrey's constitutional hereditary melancholy, +and the double quandary in which he stood, he certainly had motives +for suicide. He was a man of humanity and courage, had bravely +faced the Plague in London, had withstood the Court boldly on a +private matter (serving a writ, as Justice, on the King's physician +who owed him money in his capacity as a coal dealer), and he was +lenient in applying the laws against Dissenters and Catholics. + +To be lenient was well; but Godfrey's singular penchant for Jesuits, +and especially for the chief Catholic intriguer in England, was +probably the ultimate cause of his death, whether inflicted by his +own hand or those of others. + +2. + +We now study Godfrey's quandary. On June 23, 1678, the infamous +miscreant Titus Oates had been expelled from the Jesuit College of +St. Omer's, in France. There he may readily have learned that the +usual triennial 'consult' of English Jesuits was to be held in +London on April 24, but WHERE it was held, namely in the Duke of +York's chambers in St. James's Palace, Oates did not know, or did +not say. The Duke, by permitting the Jesuits to assemble in his +house, had been technically guilty of treason in 'harbouring' +Jesuits, certainly a secret of great importance, as he was the head +and hope of the Catholic cause, and the butt of the Whigs, who were +eager to exclude him from the succession. Oates had scraps of other +genuine news. He returned to London after his expulsion from St. +Omer's, was treated with incautious kindness by Jesuits there, and, +with Tonge, constructed his monstrous fable of a Popish plot to kill +the King and massacre the Protestant public. In August, Charles was +apprised of the plot, as was Danby, the Lord Treasurer; the Duke of +York also knew, how much he knew is uncertain. The myth was little +esteemed by the King. + +On September 6, Oates went to Godfrey, and swore before him, as a +magistrate, to the truth of a written deposition, as to treason. +But Godfrey was not then allowed to read the paper, nor was it left +in his hands; the King, he was told, had a copy.* The thing might +have passed off, but, as King James II. himself writes, he (being +then Duke of York) 'press'd the King and Lord Treasurer several +times that the letters' (letters forged by Oates) 'might be produced +and read, and the business examined into at the Committee of Foreign +Affairs.'** Mr. Pollock calls the Duke's conduct tactless. Like +Charles I., in the mystery of 'the Incident,' he knew himself +guiltless, and demanded an inquiry. + +*Kirkby, Complete Narrative, pp. 2, 3, cited by Mr. Pollock. At the +time, it was believed that Godfrey saw the depositions. +**Clarke's Life of James II. i. p. 518. Cited from the King's +original Memoirs. + +On September 28, Oates was to appear before the Council. Earlier on +that day he again visited Godfrey, handed to him a copy of his +deposition, took oath to its truth, and carried another copy to +Whitehall. As we shall see, Oates probably adopted this course by +advice of one of the King's ministers, Danby or another. Oates was +now examined before the King, who detected him in perjury. But he +accused Coleman, the secretary of the Duchess of York, of +treasonable correspondence with La Chaise, the confessor of Louis +XIV.: he also said that, on April 24, he himself was present at the +Jesuit 'consult' in the White Horse Tavern, Strand, where they +decided to murder the King! This was a lie, but they HAD met on +ordinary business of the Society, on April 24, at the palace of the +Duke of York. Had the Jesuits, when tried, proved this, they would +not have saved their lives, and Oates would merely have sworn that +they met AGAIN, at the White Horse. + +Godfrey, having Oates's paper before him, now knew that Coleman was +accused. Godfrey was very intimate with many Jesuits, says Warner, +who was one of them, in his manuscript history.* With Coleman, +certainly a dangerous intriguer, Godfrey was so familiar that 'it +was the form arranged between them for use when Godfrey was in +company and Coleman wished to see him,' that Coleman should be +announced under the name of Mr. Clarke.** + +* Pollock, p. 91, note 1. +**Ibid. p. 151, note 3. Welden's evidence before the Lords' +Committee, House of Lords MSS., p. 48. Mr. Pollock rather +overstates the case. We cannot be certain, from Welden's words, +that Coleman habitually used the name 'Clarke' on such occasions. + +It is extraordinary enough to find a rigid British magistrate +engaged in clandestine dealings with an intriguer like Coleman, who, +for the purpose, receives a cant name. If that fact came out in the +inquiry into the plot, Godfrey's doom was dight, the general frenzy +would make men cry for his blood. But yet more extraordinary was +Godfrey's conduct on September 28. No sooner had he Oates's +confession, accusing Coleman, in his hands, than he sent for the +accused. Coleman went to the house of a Mr. (or Colonel) Welden, a +friend of Godfrey's, and to Godfrey it was announced that 'one +Clarke' wished to see him there. 'When they were together at my +house they were reading papers,' said Welden later, in evidence.* +It cannot be doubted that, after studying Oates's deposition, +Godfrey's first care was to give Coleman full warning. James II. +tells us this himself, in his memoirs. 'Coleman being known to +depend on the Duke, Sir Edmund Bury (sic) Godfrey made choice of +him, to send to his Highness an account of Oates's and Tongue's +depositions as soon as he had taken them,' that is, on September +28.** Apparently the Duke had not the precise details of Oates's +charges, as they now existed, earlier than September 28, when they +were sent to him by Godfrey. + +*See previous note (Pollock, p. 151, note 3.) +**Life of James II. i, p. 534. + +It is Mr. Pollock's argument that, when Godfrey and Coleman went +over the Oates papers, Coleman would prove Oates's perjury, and +would to this end let out that, on April 24, the Jesuits met, not +as Oates swore, at a tavern, but at the Duke of York's house, a +secret fatal to the Duke and the Catholic cause. The Jesuits then +slew Godfrey to keep the secret safe.* + +*Pollock, p. 153. + +Now, first, I cannot easily believe that Coleman would blab this +secret (quite unnecessarily, for this proof of Oates's perjury could +not be, and was not, publicly adduced), unless Godfrey was already +deep in the Catholic intrigues. He may have been, judging by his +relations with Coleman. If Godfrey was not himself engaged in +Catholic intrigues, Coleman need only tell him that Oates was not in +England in April, and could not have been, as he swore he was, at +the 'consult.' Next, Godfrey was not the man (as Mr. Pollock +supposes) to reveal his knowledge to the world, from a sense of +duty, even if the Court 'stifled the plot.' Mr. Pollock says: +'Godfrey was, by virtue of his position as justice of the peace, a +Government official. . . . Sooner or later he would certainly +reveal it. . . . The secret. . . had come into the hands of just +one of the men who could not afford, even if he might wish, to +retain it.'* Mr. Pollock may conceive, though I do not find him +saying so, that Godfrey communicated Oates's charges to Coleman +merely for the purpose of 'pumping' him and surprising some secret. +If so he acted foolishly. + +*Pollock, p. 154. + +In fact, Godfrey was already 'stifling the plot.' A Government +official, he was putting Coleman in a posture to fly, and to burn +his papers; had he burned all of them, the plot was effectually +stifled. Next, Godfrey could not reveal the secret without +revealing his own misprision of treason. He would be asked 'how he +knew the secret.' Godfrey's lips were thus sealed; he had neither +the wish nor the power to speak out, and so his knowledge of the +secret, if he knew it, was innocuous to the Jesuits. 'What is it +nearer?' Coleman was reported, by a perjured informer, to have +asked.* + +*State Trials, vii. 1319. Trial of Lord Stafford, 1680. + +To this point I return later. Meanwhile, let it be granted that +Godfrey knew the secret from Coleman, and that, though, since +Godfrey could not speak without self-betrayal--though it was 'no +nearer'--still the Jesuits thought well to mak sikker and slay him. + +Still, what is the evidence that Godfrey had a mortal secret? Mr. +Pollock gives it thus: 'He had told Mr. Wynnel that he was master +of a dangerous secret, which would be fatal to him. "Oates," he +said, "is sworn and is perjured."'* These sentences are not thus +collocated in the original. The secret was not, as from Mr. +Pollock's arrangement it appears to be, that Oates was perjured. + +*Pollock, p. 150. + +The danger lay, not in knowledge that Oates was perjured--all the +Council knew the King to have discovered that. 'Many believed it,' +says Mr. Pollock. 'It was not an uncommon thing to say.'* The true +peril, on Mr. Pollock's theory, was Godfrey's possession of PROOF +that Oates was perjured, that proof involving the secret of the +Jesuit 'consult' of April 14, AT THE DUKE OF YORK'S HOUSE. But, by +a singular oversight, Mr. Pollock quotes only part of what Godfrey +said to Wynell (or Wynnel) about his secret. He does not give the +whole of the sentence uttered by Wynell. The secret, of which +Godfrey was master, on the only evidence, Wynell's, had nothing to +do with the Jesuit meeting of April 24. Wynell is one of +L'Estrange's later witnesses. His words are: + +Godfrey: 'The (Catholic) Lords are as innocent as you or I. +Coleman will die, but not the Lords.' + +Wynell: 'If so, where are we then?' + +Godfrey: 'Oates is sworn and is perjured.' + + * * * + +'Upon Wynell's asking Sir Edmund some time why he was so melancholy, +his answer has been, "he was melancholy because he was master of a +dangerous secret that would be fatal to him, THAT HIS SECURITY WAS +OATE'S DEPOSITION, THAT THE SAID OATES HAD FIRST DECLARED IT TO A +PUBLIC MINISTER, AND SECONDLY THAT HE CAME TO SIR EDMUND BY HIS (the +Minister's) DIRECTION.'** + +*Pollock, p. 152. +**L'Estrange, part iii. p. 187. + +We must accept all of Mr. Wynell's statement or none; we cannot +accept, like Mr. Pollock, only Godfrey's confession of owning a +dangerous secret, without Godfrey's explanation of the nature of the +danger. Against THAT danger (his knowing and taking no action upon +what Oates had deposed) Godfrey's 'security' was Oates's other +deposition, that his information was already in the Minister's +hands, and that he had come to Godfrey by the Minister's orders. +The invidiousness of knowing and not acting on Oates's 'dangerous +secret,' Godfrey hoped, fell on the Minister rather than on himself. +And it did fall on Danby, who was later accused of treason on this +very ground, among others. Such is Wynell's evidence, true or +false. C'est a prendre ou a laisser in bulk, and in bulk is of no +value to Mr. Pollock's argument. + +That Godfrey was in great fear after taking Oates's deposition, and +dealing with Coleman, is abundantly attested. But of what was he +afraid, and of whom? L'Estrange says, of being made actual party to +the plot, and not of 'bare misprision' only, the misprision of not +acting on Oates's information.* It is to prove this point that +L'Estrange cites Wynell as quoted above. Bishop Burnet reports +that, to him, Godfrey said 'that he believed he himself should be +knocked on the head.'** Knocked on the head by whom? By a +frightened Protestant mob, or by Catholic conspirators? To Mr. +Robinson, an old friend, he said, 'I do not fear them if they come +fairly, and I shall not part with my life tamely.' Qu'ils viennent! +as Tartarin said, but who are 'they'? Godfrey said that he had +'taken the depositions very unwillingly, and would fain have had it +done by others. . . . I think I shall have little thanks for my +pains. . . . Upon my conscience I believe I shall be the first +martyr.'*** He could not expect thanks from the Catholics: it was +from the frenzied Protestants that he expected 'little thanks.' + +*L'Estrange, iii. p. 187. +**Burnet, ii. p. 740. +***State Trials, vii. pp. 168, 169. + +Oates swore, and, for once, is corroborated, that Godfrey complained +'of receiving affronts from some great persons (whose names I name +not now) for being so zealous in this business.' If Oates, by +'great persons,' means the Duke of York, it was in the Duke's own +cause that Godfrey had been 'zealous,' sending him warning by +Coleman. Oates added that others threatened to complain to +Parliament, which was to meet on October 21, that Godfrey had been +'too remiss.' Oates was a liar, but Godfrey, in any case, was +between the Devil and the deep sea. As early as October 24, Mr. +Mulys attested, before the Lords, Godfrey's remark, 'he had been +blamed by some great men for not having done his duty, and by other +great men for having done too much.' Mulys corroborates Oates.* If +Godfrey knew a secret dangerous to the Jesuits (which, later, was a +current theory), he might be by them silenced for ever. If his +conduct, being complained of, was examined into by Parliament, +misprision of treason was the lowest at which his offence could be +rated. Never was magistrate in such a quandary. But we do not +know, in the state of the evidence, which of his many perils he +feared most, and his possession of 'a dangerous secret' (namely, the +secret of the consult of April 24) is a pure hypothesis. It is not +warranted, but refuted, by Godfrey's own words as reported by +Wynell, when, unlike Mr. Pollock, we quote Wynell's whole sentence +on the subject. (see previous exchange between Godfrey and Wynell.) + +*Lords' MSS., P. 48. + +3. + +The theories of Godfrey's death almost defy enumeration. For +suicide, being a man of melancholic temperament, he had reasons as +many and as good as mortal could desire. That he was murdered for +not being active enough in prosecuting the plot, is most improbable. +That he was taken off by Danby's orders, for giving Coleman and the +Duke of York early warning, is an absurd idea, for Danby could have +had him on THAT score by ordinary process of law. That he was slain +by Oates's gang, merely to clinch the fact that a plot there +veritably was, is improbable. At the same time, Godfrey had been +calling Oates a perjurer: he KNEW that Oates was forsworn. This +was an unsafe thing for any man to say, but when the man was the +magistrate who had read Oates's deposition, he invited danger. Such +were the chances that Godfrey risked from the Plot party. The +Catholics, on the other hand, if they were aware that Godfrey +possessed the secret of the Jesuit meeting of April 24, and if they +deemed him too foolish to keep the secret in his own interest, could +not but perceive that to murder him was to play into the hands of +the Whigs by clinching the belief in a Popish plot. Had they been +the murderers, they would probably have taken his money and rings, +to give the idea that he had been attacked and robbed by vulgar +villains. If they 'were not the damnedest fools' (thus freely +speaks L'Estrange), they would not have taken deliberate steps to +secure the instant discovery of the corpse. Whoever pitched +Godfrey's body into the bramble-covered ditch, meant it to be found, +for his cane, scabbard, and so on were deliberately left outside of +the ditch. Your wily Jesuit would have caused the body to +disappear, leaving the impression that Godfrey had merely absconded, +as he had the best reasons for doing. On the other hand, Oates's +gang would not, if they first strangled Godfrey, have run his own +sword through his body, as if he had committed suicide--unless, +indeed, they calculated that this would be a likely step for your +wily Jesuit to take, in the circumstances. Again, an educated +'Jesuit,' like Le Fevre, 'the Queen's confessor,' would know that +the sword trick was futile; even a plain man, let alone a surgeon, +could detect a wound inflicted on a corpse four or five days old. + +Two other theories existed, first, that Godfrey hanged himself, and +that his brothers and heirs did the sword trick, to suggest that he +had not committed suicide by strangulation, but had been set on and +stabbed with his own sword. In that case, of course, the brothers +would have removed his rings and money, to prove that he had been +robbed. The other theory, plausible enough, held that Godfrey was +killed by Catholics, NOT because he took Oates's deposition (which +he was bound to do), but because he officiously examined a number of +persons to make discoveries. The Attorney-General at the trial of +Godfrey's alleged murderers (February 1679), declared that Sir +Edmund had taken such examinations: 'we have proof that he had +some. . . perhaps some more than are now extant'* This theory, +then, held that he was taken off to prevent his pursuing his zealous +course, and to seize the depositions which he had already taken. +When this was stated to Charles II., on November 7, 1678, by the +perjured Bedloe, the King naturally remarked: 'The parties were +still alive' (the deponents) 'to give the informations.' Bedloe +answered, that the papers were to be seized 'in hopes the second +informations taken from the parties would not have agreed with the +first, and so the thing would have been disproved.'** This was +monstrously absurd, for the slayers of Godfrey could not have +produced the documents of which they had robbed him. + +*State Trials, vii. p. 163. +**Pollock, p. 385. + +The theory that Sir Edmund was killed because Coleman had told him +too many secrets did not come to general knowledge till the trial of +Lord Stafford in 1680. The hypothesis--Godfrey slain because, +through Coleman, he knew too many Catholic secrets--is practically +that of Mr. Pollock. It certainly does supply a motive for +Godfrey's assassination. Hot-headed Catholics who knew, or +suspected, that Godfrey knew too much, MAY have killed him for that +reason, or for the purpose of seizing his papers, but it is +improbable that Catholics of education, well aware that, if he +blabbed, Godfrey must ruin himself, would have put their hands into +his blood, on the mere chance that, if left alive, he might betray +both himself and them. + +4. + +It is now necessary to turn backward a little and see what occurred +immediately after the meeting of Coleman and Godfrey on September +28. On that day, Oates gave his lying evidence before the Council: +he was allowed to go on a Jesuit drive, with warrants and officers; +he caught several of the most important Jesuits. On September 29, +the King heard his tale, and called him a 'lying knave.' None the +less he was sent on another drive, and, says Mr. Pollock, 'before +dawn most the Jesuits of eminence in London lay in gaol.' But Le +Fevre, 'the Queen's confessor,' and the other 'Jesuits' whom Mr. +Pollock suspects of Godfrey's murder, were not taken. Is it likely +(it is, of course, possible) that they stayed on in town, and killed +Godfrey twelve days later? + +Meanwhile Coleman, thanks to Godfrey's warning, had most of +September 28, the night of that day, and September 29, wherein to +burn his papers and abscond. He did neither; if he destroyed some +papers, he left others in his rooms, letters which were quite good +enough to hang him for high treason, as the law stood. Apparently +Coleman did not understand his danger. On Sunday night, September +29, a warrant for his apprehension was issued, and for the seizure +of his papers. 'He came voluntarily in on Monday morning,' having +heard of the warrant. This is not the conduct of a man who knows +himself guilty. He met the charges with disdain, and made so good a +case that, instead of being sent to Newgate, he was merely entrusted +to a messenger, who was told 'to be very civil to Mr. Coleman.' + +Charles II. went to the Newmarket Autumn Meeting, Coleman's papers +were examined, and 'sounded so strange to the Lords' that they sent +him to Newgate (October 1). The papers proved that Coleman, years +before, had corresponded (as Oates had sworn) with the confessor of +Louis XIV. and had incurred the technical guilt of treason. Either +Coleman did not understand the law and the measure of his offence +(as seems probable), or he thought his papers safely hidden. But +the heather was on fire. The belief in Oates's impossible Plot +blazed up, 'hell was let loose'* + +*State Trials, vii. p. 29. + +Coleman had thought himself safe, says James II., then Duke of York. +'The Duke perceiving' (from Godfrey's information of September 28) +'Oates had named Coleman, bade him look to himself, for he was sure +to find no favour, and therefore, if he had any papers that might +hurt him, to secure them immediately; but he, apprehending no +danger, let them be seized, however kept close himself, and sent to +advise with the Duke whether he should deliver himself up or not. +The Duke replyd, "He knew best what was in his papers; if they +contain'd any expression which could be wrested to an ill sence, he +had best not appear, otherwise the surrendering himself would be an +argument of innocency." He did accordingly,' and was condemned in +November, and hanged.* + +*Life of James II., i. p. 534. + +King James's tale agrees with the facts of Coleman's surrender. 'He +came in voluntarily.' He did not appreciate the resources of +civilisation at the service of the English law of treason: he had +dabbled in intrigue without taking counsel's advice, and knowing for +certain that Oates was an inconsistent liar, Coleman took his chance +with a light heart. However, not only did some of his letters bring +him (though he could not understand the fact) within the elastic law +of treason; but Oates's evidence was accepted when conspicuously +false; Coleman was not allowed to produce his diary and prove an +alibi as to one of Oates's accusations, and a new witness, Bedloe, a +perjurer who rivalled Oates, had sprung up out of the filth of +London streets. So Coleman swung for it, as Godfrey, according to +Wynell, had prophesied that he would. + +Coleman's imprisonment began twelve days before Godfrey's +disappearance. At Coleman's trial, late in November, a mere guess +was given that Godfrey was slain to prevent him (a Protestant +martyr) from blabbing Catholic secrets. This cause of Godfrey's +taking off was not alleged by Bedloe. This man, a notorious +cosmopolitan rogue, who had swindled his way through France and +Spain, was first heard of in the Godfrey case at the end of October. +He wrote to the Secretaries of State from Bristol (L'Estrange says +from Newbury on his way to Bristol), offering information, as pardon +and reward had been promised to contrite accomplices in the murder. +He came to town, and, on November 7, gave evidence before the King. +Bedloe gave himself out as a Jesuit agent; concerning the Plot he +added monstrous inventions to those of Oates. + +'As to Sir Edmund Godfrey; was promised 2,000 guineas to be in it by +Le Fere' (Le Fevre, 'the Queen's confessor),' [by] 'my Lord +Bellasis' gentleman, AND THE YOUNGEST OF THE WAITERS IN THE QUEENE'S +CHAPEL, IN A PURPLE GOWN, and to keep the people orderly'* + +*See Pollock, pp. 384, 387. The report is from Secretary Coventry's +MSS., at Longleat. The evidence as to Bedloe's deposition before +the King (November 7) is in a confused state. Mr. Pollock prints +(pp. 383, 384, cf. p. 110) a document from 'Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. +11058, f. 244.' This is also given, with the same erroneous +reference, by Mr. Foley, in Records of the English Province of the +Society of Jesus, vol. v. p. 30, note. The right reference is +11055. The document is quite erroneously printed, with variations +in error, by Mr. Foley and Mr. Pollock. Bedloe really said that +Godfrey was lured into Somerset House Yard, not into 'some house +yard' (Foley), or 'into a house yard' (Pollock). Bedloe, so far, +agreed with Prance, but, in another set of notes on his deposition +(Longleat MSS., Coventry Papers, xi. 272-274, Pollock, 384-387), he +made Somerset House the scene of the murder. There are other +errors. Mr. Pollock and Mr. Foley make Bedloe accuse Father Eveley, +S.J., in whom I naturally recognised Father Evers or Every, who was +then at Tixall in Staffordshire. The name in the MS. is 'Welch,' +not Eveley. The MS. was manifestly written not before September 12. +It does not appear that Bedloe, on November 7, knew the plot as +invented by Oates, on which compare Mr. Pollock, p. 110, who thinks +that 'it is quite possible that Charles II. deceived him,' Bishop +Burnet, 'intentionally,' on this head (Burnet, ii. 745-746, 1725). +By printing 'he acquainted' instead of 'he acquainteth the Lords,' +in the British Museum MS., and by taking the document, apparently, +to be of November 7, Mr. Pollock has been led to an incorrect +conclusion. I am obliged to Father Gerard, S.J., for a correct +transcript of the British Museum MS.; see also Note iii., 'The +Jesuit Murderers,' at the end of this chapter, and Father Gerard's +The Popish Plot and its Latest Historian (Longman's, 1903). + +Bedloe here asserts distinctly that one accomplice was an official +of the Queen's chapel, in her residence, Somerset House: a kind of +verger, in a purple gown. This is highly important, for the man +whom he later pretended to recognise as this accomplice was not a +'waiter,' did not 'wear a purple gown;' and, by his own account, +'was not in the chapel once a month.' Bedloe's recognition +of him, therefore, was worthless. He said that Godfrey was +smothered with a pillow, or two pillows, in a room in Somerset +House, for the purpose of securing 'the examinations' that Godfrey +had taken. 'Coleman and Lord Bellasis advised to destroy him.' His +informant was Le Fevre. One Walsh (a 'Jesuit'), Le Fevre, Lord +Bellasis's man, and 'the chapel keeper' did the deed. The chapel +keeper carried him' (Godfrey) 'off.' 'HE DID NOT SEE HIM' (Godfrey) +'AFTER HE WAS DEAD.' + +On the following day Bedloe told his tale at the bar of the House of +Lords. He now, contradicting himself, swore THAT HE SAW GODFREY'S +DEAD BODY IN SOMERSET HOUSE. He was offered 2,000 guineas to help +to carry him off. This was done by chairmen, 'retainers to Somerset +House,' on Monday night (October 14).* + +*Pollock, p. 387, Lords' Journals, xiii. p. 343. + +On that night, Bedloe saw Samuel Atkins, Mr. Pepys's clerk, beside +the corpse, by the light of a dark lantern. Atkins had an alibi, so +Bedloe shuffled, and would not swear to him. + +On November 14, before the Lords' Committee, Bedloe again gave +evidence. The 2,100 pounds were now 4,000 pounds offered to Bedloe, +by Le Fevre, early in October, to kill a man. The attendant in the +Queen's chapel was at the scene (a pure figment) of the corpse +exposed under the dark lantern. The motive of the murder was to +seize Godfrey's examinations, which he said he had sent to +Whitehall. At a trial which followed in February 1679, Mr. +Robinson, who had known Godfrey for some forty years, deposed that +he had said to him, 'I understand you have taken several +examinations.' 'Truly,' said he, 'I have.' 'Pray, Sir, have you +the examinations about you, will you please to let me see them?' +'No, I have them not, I delivered them to a person of quality.'* + +*State Trials, vii. 168. + +This person of quality was not the Duke of York, for it may be noted +that, on the day before his disappearance, Godfrey had, in fact, +received back from the Lord Chief Justice the original copy of +Oates's depositions. This copy was found in his house, after his +death, and handed over by his brother to the Government.* To get +the examinations was always the motive of the murder, with Bedloe. +The hour of Godfrey's death was now 2 P.M.; now 3, or 4, or 5 P.M., +on October 12. The body was hidden in various rooms of Somerset +House, or under the high altar in the Queen's Chapel. The +discrepancies never affected the faith given to Bedloe. + +*Lords' MSS., Hist. MSS. Commission Report, xi. Appendix, part ii., +pp. 2,3. + +At the end of December came in a new accomplice-witness. This was +an Irishman, Miles Prance, a silversmith, who had a business among +Catholics, and worked for the Queen's Chapel. Unlike all the other +informers, Prance had hitherto been an ordinary fellow enough, with +a wife and family, not a swindling debauchee. He was arrested on +December 21, on information given by John Wren, a lodger of his, +with whom he had quarrelled. Wren had noticed that Prance lay out +of his own house while Godfrey was missing, which Prance admitted to +be true.* + +*Op. cit. p. 51. Prance both said, and denied, that he slept out +while Sir Edmund was missing. He was flurried and self- +contradictory. + +Bedloe, passing through a room in the House of Commons, saw Prance +in custody, and at once pretended to recognise in him the 'chapel +keeper,' 'under waiter,' or 'man in the purple gown,' whom he had +seen by the light of a dark lantern, beside Godfrey's body, in a +room of Somerset House, on October 14. 'There was very little +light' on that occasion, Bedloe had said, and he finally refused, we +saw, to swear to Atkins, who had an alibi. But, as to Prance, he +said: 'This is one of the rogues that I saw with a dark lantern +about the body of Sir Edmund, but he was then in a periwig.'* The +periwig was introduced in case Prance had an alibi: Oates had used +the same 'hedge,' 'a periwig doth disguise a man very much,' in +Coleman's case.** + +*L'Estrange, iii. pp. 52, 53, 65. +**State Trials, vii. 27. + +What was Bedloe's recognition of Prance worth? Manifestly nothing! +He had probably seen Prance (not as a 'waiter') in the Queen's +Chapel. Now he found him in custody. Cautious as regards Atkins, +six weeks earlier, Bedloe was emboldened now by a train of +successes. He had sworn away Coleman's life. His self- +contradictions had been blindly swallowed. If Prance could prove an +alibi, what was that to Bedloe? The light of the dark lantern had +been very bad; the rogue, under that light, had worn a periwig, +which 'doth disguise a man very much.' Bedloe could safely say that +he had made an innocent error. Much worse blunders had not impaired +his credit; later he made much worse blunders, undetected. He saw +his chance and took it. + +Prance, who denied everything, was hurried to Newgate, and thrown, +without bed or covering, into the freezing 'condemned hole,' where +he lay perishing of cold through the night of December 21, December +22, and the night of that day. On December 23, he offered, no +wonder, to confess. He was examined by the Lords, and (December 24) +by the Council. + +Prance knew, all the world knew, the details about Godfrey's +bruises; the state of his neck, and the sword-thrusts. He knew that +Bedloe had located the murder in Somerset House. As proclamations +for the men accused by Bedloe had long been out, he MAY have guessed +that Le Fevre, Walsh, and Pritchard were wanted for Godfrey's +murder, and had been denounced by Bedloe. But this is highly +improbable, for nothing about Godfrey's murder is hinted at in the +proclamation for Le Fevre, Walsh, and Pritchard.* We have no +reason, then, to suppose that Prance knew who the men were that +Bedloe had accused; consequently he had to select other victims, +innocent men of his acquaintance. But, as a tradesman of the Queen, +Prance knew her residence, Somerset House, the courts, outer stairs, +passages, and so on. He knew that Bedloe professed to have +recognised him there in the scene of the dark lantern. + +*Lords' Journals, xiii. p. 346; Lords' MSS., p. 59. + +Prance had thus all the materials of a confession ready made, but +not of a confession identical with Bedloe's. He was 'one of the +most acute and audacious of the Jesuit agents,' says Mr. Pollock.* +Yet Mr. Pollock argues that for Prance to tell the tale which he did +tell, in his circumstances of cold and terror, required a most +improbable 'wealth of mental equipment,' 'phenomenal powers of +memory, imagination, and coolness,' if the tale was false.** +Therefore Prance's story of the murder was true, except in the +details as to the men whom he accused. On December 24, he was taken +to the places which he described (certainly lying in his tale), and +preserved consistency, though, after long search, he could not find +one of the rooms in which he said that the corpse was laid.*** + +*Pollock,p.166. +**Ibid. p. 146. +***Lords' Journals, xii. pp. 436-438. + +As Prance, by Mr. Pollock's theory, was one of the most acute of +Jesuit agents, and as he had all the materials, and all the +knowledge necessary for a confession, he had, obviously, no +difficulty in making up his evidence. Even by Mr. Pollock's +showing, he was cool and intellectual enough; for, on that showing, +he adapted into his narrative, very subtly, circumstances which were +entirely false. If, as Mr. Pollock holds, Prance was astute enough +to make a consistent patchwork of fact and lie, how can it be argued +that, with the information at his command, he could not invent a +complete fiction? + +Again, Prance, by misstating dates wildly, hoped, says Mr. Pollock, +to escape as a mere liar.* But, when Prance varied in almost every +detail of time, place, motive, and person from Bedloe, Mr. Pollock +does not see that his own explanation holds for the variations. If +Prance wished to escape as a babbling liar, he could not do better +than contradict Bedloe. He DID, but the Protestant conscience +swallowed the contradictions. But again, if Prance did not know the +details of Bedloe's confession, how could he possibly agree with it? + +*Pollock, p. 160. + +The most essential point of difference was that Bedloe accused +'Jesuits,' Le Fevre, Walsh, and Pritchard, who had got clean away. +Prance accused two priests, who escaped, and three hangers on of +Somerset House, Hill, Berry (the porter), and Green. All three were +hanged, and all three confessedly were innocent. Mr. Pollock +reasons that Prance, if guilty (and he believes him guilty), 'must +have known the real authors' of the crime, that is, the Jesuits +accused by Bedloe. 'He must have accused the innocent, not from +necessity, but from choice, and in order to conceal the guilty.' +'He knew Bedloe to have exposed the real murderers, and. . . he +wished to shield them.'* How did he know whom Bedloe had exposed? +How could he even know the exact spot, a room in Somerset House, +where Bedloe placed the murder? Prance placed it in Somerset YARD. + +*Pollock, p. 148. + +It is just as easy to argue, on Mr. Pollock's other line, that +Prance varied from Bedloe in order that the inconsistencies might +prove his own falsehood. But we have no reason to suppose that +Prance did know the details of Bedloe's confession, as to the motive +of the murder, the hour, the exact spot, and the names of the +criminals. Later he told L'Estrange a palpable lie: Bedloe's +confession had been shown to him before he made his own. If that +were true, he purposely contradicted Bedloe in detail. But Mr. +Pollock rejects the myth. Then how did Prance know the details +given by Bedloe?* Ignorant of Bedloe's version, except in two or +three points, Prance could not but contradict it. He thus could not +accuse Bedloe's Jesuits. He did not name other men, as Mr. Pollock +holds, to shield the Jesuits. Practically they did not need to be +shielded. Jesuits with seven weeks' start of the law were safe +enough. Even if they were caught, were guilty, and had the truth +extracted from them, involving Prance, the truth about HIM would +come out, whether he now denounced them or not. But he did not know +that Bedloe had denounced them. + +*Pollock, pp. 142, 143. + +Mr. Pollock's theory of the relation of Bedloe to Godfrey's murder +is this: Bedloe had no hand in the murder, and never saw the +corpse. The crime was done in Somerset House, 'the Queen's +confessor,' Father Le Fevre, S.J., having singular facilities for +entering, with his friends, and carrying a dead body out 'through a +private door'--a door not mentioned by any witnesses, nor proved to +exist by the evidence of a chart. This Le Fevre, with Walsh, lived +in the same house as Bedloe. From them, Bedloe got his information. +'It is easy to conjecture how he could have obtained it. Walsh and +Le Fevre were absent from their rooms, for a considerable part of +the nights of Saturday and Wednesday, October 12 and 16. Bedloe's +suspicions must have been aroused, and, either by threats or +cajolery, he wormed part of the secret out of his friends. He +obtained a general idea of the way in which the murder had been +committed and of the persons concerned in it. One of these was a +frequenter of the Queen's chapel whom he knew by sight. He thought +him to be a subordinate official there.'* + +*Pollock, pp. 157, 158. + +On this amount of evidence Bedloe invented his many contradictions. +Why he did not cleave to the facts imparted to him by his Jesuit +friends, we do not learn. 'A general idea of the way in which the +murder was committed' any man could form from the state of Godfrey's +body. There was no reason why Walsh and Le Fevre 'should be absent +from their rooms on a considerable part of the night of Saturday +12,' and so excite Bedloe's suspicions, for, on his versions, they +slew Godfrey at 2 P.M., 5 P.M., or any hour between. No proof is +given that they were in their lodgings, or in London, during the +fortnight which followed Oates's three successful Jesuit drives of +September 28-30. In all probability they had fled from London +before Godfrey's murder. No evidence can I find that Bedloe's +Jesuits were at their lodgings on October 12-16. They were not +sought for there, but at Somerset House.* Two sisters, named +Salvin, were called before the Lords' Committee, and deposed that +Bedloe and Le Fevre had twice been at their house when Walsh said +mass there.** + +*Lords' Journals, xiii. pp. 343 346. +**Ibid. p. 353. + +That is all! Bedloe had some acquaintance with the men he accused; +so had Prance with those he denounced. Prance's victims were +innocent, and against Bedloe's there is not, so far, evidence to +convict a cat on for stealing cream. He recognised Prance, +therefore he really knew the murderers--that is all the argument. + +Mr. Pollock's theory reposes on the belief, rejected by L'Estrange, +that the Jesuits 'were the damnedest fools.' Suppose them guilty. +The first step of a Jesuit, or of any gentleman, about to commit a +deliberate deeply planned murder, is to secure an alibi. Le Fevre +did not, or, when questioned (on Mr. Pollock's theory) by Bedloe, he +would have put him off with his alibi. Again, 'a Jesuit,' 'the +Queen's confessor,' does not do his murders in the Queen's house: +no gentleman does. But, if Le Fevre did commit this solecism, he +would have told Bedloe a different story; if he confessed to him at +all. These things are elementary. + +Prance's confession, as to the share of Hill, Berry, and Green in +the murder, was admittedly false. On one point he stumbled always: +'Were there no guards at the usual places at the time of the +carrying on this work?' he was asked by one of the Lords on December +24,1678. He mumbled, 'I did not take notice of any.'* He never, on +later occasions, could answer this question about the sentries. +Prance saw no sentries, and there is nowhere any evidence that the +sentries were ever asked whether they saw either Prance, Le Fevre, +or Godfrey, in Somerset House or the adjacent Somerset Yard, on +October 12. They were likely to know both the Queen's silversmith +and 'the Queen's confessor,' and Godfrey they may have known. +Prance and the sentries had, for each other, the secret of fern- +seed, they walked invisible. This, of itself, is fatal to Prance's +legend. + +*Lords' Journals, xiii. p. 438. + +No sooner had Prance confessed than he withdrew his confession. He +prayed to be taken before the King, knelt, and denied all. Next day +he did the same before the Council. He was restored to his pleasant +quarters in Newgate, and recanted his recantation. He again +withdrew, and maintained that his confession was false, before King +and Council (December 30), 'He knows nothing in the world of all he +has said.' The Lord Chancellor proposed 'to have him have the +rack.'* + +*State Papers, Domestic, Charles II., Dec. 30, 1678, Bundle 408. + +Probably he 'did not have the rack,' but he had the promise of it, +and nearly died of cold, ironed, in the condemned cell. 'He was +almost dead with the disorder in his mind, and with cold in his +body,' said Dr. Lloyd, who visited him, to Burnet. Lloyd got a bed +and a fire for the wretch, who revived, and repeated his original +confession.* Lloyd believed in his sincerity, says Burnet, writing +many years later. In 1686, Lloyd denied that he believed. + +*Burnet, ii. p. 773. + +Prance's victims, Hill, Berry, and Green, were tried on February 5, +1679. Prance told his story. On one essential point he professed +to know nothing. Where was Godfrey from five to nine o'clock, the +hour when he was lured into Somerset House? He was dogged in fields +near Holborn to somewhere unknown in St. Clement's. It is an odd +fact that, though at the dinner hour, one o'clock, close to his own +house, and to that of Mr. Welden (who had asked him to dine), Sir +Edmund seems to have dined nowhere. Had he done so, even in a +tavern, he must have been recognised. Probably Godfrey was dead +long before 9 P.M. Mr. Justice Wild pressed Prance on this point of +where Godfrey was; he could say nothing.* Much evidence (on one +point absurd) was collected later by L'Estrange, and is accepted by +North in his 'Examen,' to prove that, by some of his friends, +Godfrey was reckoned 'missing' in the afternoon of the fatal +Saturday.** But no such evidence was wanted when Hill, Berry, and +Green were tried.*** The prosecution, with reckless impudence, +mingled Bedloe's and Prance's contradictory lies, and accused +Bedloe's 'Jesuits,' Walsh and Le Fevre, in company with Prance's +priests, Gerald and Kelly.**** Bedloe, in his story before the +jury, involved himself in even more contradictory lies than usual. +but, even now, he did not say anything that really implicated the +men accused by Prance, while Prance said not a word, in Court or +elsewhere, about the men accused by Bedloe.***** + +*State Trials, vii. 177. +**This is said in 1681 in A Letter to Miles Prance. +***North, Examen, p. 201. +****State Trials, vii, 178 (Speech of Serjeant Stringer). +*****Ibid. vii. 179-183. + +Lord Chief Justice Scroggs actually told the jury that 'for two +witnesses to agree as to many material circumstances with one +another, that had never conversed together, is impossible. . . . +They agree so in all things.'* The two witnesses did not agree at +all, as we have abundantly seen, but, in the fury of Protestant +fear, any injustice could be committed, and every kind of injustice +was committed at this trial. Prance later pleaded guilty on a +charge of perjury, and well he might. Bedloe died, and went to his +own place with lies in his mouth. + +*State Trials, vii. 216. + +5. + +If I held a brief against the Jesuits, I should make much of a point +which Mr. Pollock does not labour. Just about the time when Prance +began confessing, in London, December 24, 1678, one Stephen Dugdale, +styled 'gentleman,' was arrested in Staffordshire, examined, and +sent up to town. He was a Catholic, and had been in Lord Aston's +service, but was dismissed for dishonesty. In the country, at +Tixall, he knew a Jesuit named Evers, and through Evers he professed +to know much about the mythical plot to kill the King, and the rest +of the farrago of lies. At the trial of the five Jesuits, in June +1679, Dugdale told what he had told privately, under examination, on +March 21, 1679.* This revelation was that Harcourt, a Jesuit, had +written from town to Evers, a Jesuit at Tixall, by the night post of +Saturday, October 12, 1678, 'This very night Sir Edmundbury (sic) +Godfrey is dispatched.' The letter reached Tixall by Monday, +October 14. + +*Fitzherbert MSS; State Trials, vii. 338. + +Mr. Pollock writes: 'Dugdale was proved to have spoken on Tuesday, +October 15, 1678, of the death of a justice of the peace in +Westminster, which does not go far.'* But if this is PROVED, it +appears to go all the way; unless we can explain Dugdale's +information without involving the guilty knowledge of Harcourt. The +proof that Dugdale, on Tuesday, October 15, spoke at Tixall of +Godfrey's death, two days before Godfrey's body was found near +London, stands thus: at the trial of the Jesuits a gentleman, +Chetwyn, gave evidence that, on the morning of Tuesday, October 15, +a Mr. Sanbidge told him that Dugdale had talked at an alehouse about +the slaying of a justice of peace of Westminster. Chetwyn was +certain of the date, because on that day he went to Litchfield +races. At Litchfield he stayed till Saturday, October 19, when he +heard from London of the discovery of Godfrey's body.** Chetwyn +asked Dugdale about this, when Dugdale was sent to town, in December +1678. Dugdale said he remembered the facts, but, as he did not +report them to his examiners (a singular omission), he was not +called as a witness at the trial of Berry, Green, and Hill. Chetwyn +later asked Dugdale why he was not called, and said: 'Pray let me +see the copy of your deposition sworn before the Council. He showed +it me, and there was not a syllable of it, that I could see, BUT +AFTERWARDS IT APPEARED TO BE THERE.' + +*Pollock, p. 341, note 2. +**State Trials, vii. 339, 341, + +Lord Chief Justice. 'That is not very material, if the thing itself +be true. ' + +Chetwyn. 'But its not being there made me remember it.' + +Its later appearance, 'there,' shows how depositions were handled! + +Chetwyn, in June 1679, says that he heard of Dugdale's words as to +the murder, from Mr. Sanbidge, or Sambidge, or Sawbridge. At the +trial of Lord Stafford (1680) Sanbidge 'took it upon his salvation' +that Dugdale told him nothing of the matter, and vowed that Dugdale +was a wicked rogue.* Mr. Wilson, the parish clergyman of Tixall, +was said to have heard Dugdale speak of Godfrey's death on October +14. He also remembered no such thing. Hanson, a running-man, heard +Dugdale talk of the murder of a justice of the peace at Westminster +as early as the morning of Monday, October 14, 1678: the London +Saturday post arrived at Tixall on Monday morning. Two gentlemen, +Birch and Turton, averred that the news of the murder 'was all over +the country' near Tixall, on Tuesday, October 15; but Turton was not +sure that he did not hear first of the fact on Friday, October 18, +which, by ordinary post from London, was impossible. + +*State Trials, vii. 1406. + +Such was the evidence to show that Dugdale spoke of Godfrey's death, +in the country, two or three days before Godfrey's body was found. +The fact can scarcely be said to be PROVED, considering the +excitement of men's minds, the fallacies of memory, the silence of +Dugdale at his first examination before the Council, Sanbidge's +refusal to corroborate Chetwyn, and Wilson's inability to remember +anything about a matter so remarkable and so recent. To deny, like +Sanbidge, to be unable to remember, like Wilson, demanded some +courage, in face of the frenzied terror of the Protestants. Birch +confessedly took no notice of the rumour, when it first reached him, +but at the trial of Green, Berry, and Hill, 'I told several +gentlemen that I did perfectly remember before Thursday it was +discoursed of in the country by several gentlemen where I lived.'* +The 'several gentlemen' whom Birch 'told' were not called to +corroborate him. In short, the evidence seems to fall short of +demonstrative proof. + +*State Trials. vii. 1455. + +But, if it were all true, L'Estrange (and a writer who made the +assertion in 1681) collected a good deal of evidence* to show that a +rumour of Godfrey's disappearance, and probable murder by bloody +Papists, was current in London on the afternoon of the day when he +disappeared, Saturday, October 12.*** Mr. Pollock says that the +evidence is 'not to be relied on,' and part of it, attributing the +rumour to Godfrey's brothers, is absurd. THEY were afraid that +Godfrey had killed himself, not that he was murdered by Papists. +That 'his household could not have known that he would not return,' +is not to the point. The people who raised the rumour were not of +Godfrey's household. Nor is it to the point, exactly, that, being +invited to dine on Saturday by Mr. Welden, who saw him on Friday +night, 'he said he could not tell whether he should.'** For Wynell +had expected to dine with him at Welden's to talk over some private +business about house property.*** Wynell (the authority for +Godfrey's being 'master of a dangerous secret') did expect to meet +Godfrey at dinner, and, knowing the fears to which Godfrey often +confessed, might himself have originated, by his fussy inquiries, +the rumour that Sir Edmund was missing. The wild excitement of the +town might add 'murdered by Papists,' and the rumour might really +get into a letter from London of Saturday night, reaching Tixall by +Monday morning. North says: 'It was in every one's mouth, WHERE IS +GODFREY? HE HAS NOT BEEN AT HIS HOUSE ALL THIS DAY, THEY SAY HE IS +MURDERED BY THE PAPISTS.'**** That such a pheemee^ might arise is +very conceivable. In all probability the report which Bishop Burnet +and Dr. Lloyd heard of the discovery of Godfrey's body, before it +was discovered, was another rumour, based on a lucky conjecture. It +is said that the report of the fall of Khartoum was current in Cairo +on the day of the unhappy event. Rumour is correct once in a myriad +times, and, in October 1678, London was humming with rumours. THIS +report might get into a letter to Tixall, and, if so, Dugdale's +early knowledge is accounted for; if knowledge he had, which I have +shown to be disputable. + +*Letter to Miles Prance, March, 1681. L'Estrange, Brief History, +iii. pp. 195-201. +**Lords' MSS., p. 48; Pollock, p. 93, and note 2. +***L'Estrange, Brief History, iii. pp. 188, 190, 195. +****Examen, p. 201. +^Anglicised version of the author's original Greek text. + +Dugdale's talk was thought, at the time, to clinch the demonstration +that the Jesuits were concerned in Godfrey's murder, L'Estrange +says, and he brings in his witnesses to prove, that the London +rumour existed, and could reach the country by post. In fact, +Chetwyn, on the evidence of Sanbidge, suggested this improvement of +his original romance to Dugdale, and Sanbidge contradicted Chetwyn. +He knew nothing of the matter. Such is the value of the only +testimony against the Jesuits which deserves consideration. + +We do not propose to unriddle this mystery, but to show that the +most recent and industrious endeavour to solve the problem is +unsuccessful. We cannot deny that Godfrey may have been murdered to +conceal Catholic secrets, of which, thanks to his inexplicable +familiarity with Coleman, he may have had many. But we have tried +to prove that we do not KNOW him to have had any such Catholic +secrets, or much beyond Oates's fables; and we have probably +succeeded in showing that against the Jesuits, as Sir Edmund's +destroyers, there is no evidence at all. + +Had modern men of science, unaffected by political and religious +bias, given evidence equivalent to that of the two surgeons, one +might conceive that Godfrey was probably slain, as Macaulay thought, +by hotheaded Catholics. But I confess to a leaning in favour of the +picture of Godfrey sketched by L'Estrange; of the man confessing to +hereditary melancholy; fretted and alarmed by the tracasseries and +perils of his own position, alarming his friends and endangering +himself by his gloomy hints; settling, on the last night of his life +(Friday, October 11), with morbid anxiety, some details of a parish +charity founded by himself; uncertain as to whether he can dine with +Welden (at about one) next day; seen at that very hour near his own +house, yet dining nowhere; said to have roamed, before that hour, to +Paddington Woods and back again; seen vaguely, perhaps, wandering +near Primrose Hill in the afternoon, and found dead five days later +in the bush-covered ditch near Primrose Hill, his own sword through +his breast and back, his body in the attitude of one who had died a +Roman death. + +Between us and that conclusion--suicide caused by fear--nothing +stands but the surgical evidence, and the grounds of that evidence +are disputed. + +Surgical evidence, however, is a fact 'that winna ding,' and I do +not rely on the theory of suicide. But, if Godfrey was murdered by +Catholics, it seems odd that nobody has suggested, as the probable +scene, the Savoy, which lay next on the right to Somerset Yard. The +Savoy, so well described by Scott in Peveril of the Peak, and by +Macaulay, was by this time a rambling, ruinous, labyrinth of lanes +and dilapidated dwellings, tenanted by adventurers and skulking +Catholics. It was an Alsatia, says Macaulay, more dangerous than +the Bog of Allen, or the passes of the Grampians. A courageous +magistrate might be lured into the Savoy to stop a fight, or on any +similar pretence; and, once within a rambling old dwelling of the +Hospital, would be in far greater peril than in the Queen's guarded +residence. Catholic adventurers might here destroy Godfrey, either +for his alleged zeal, or to seize his papers, or because he, so +great a friend of Catholics as he was, might know too much. The +body could much more easily be removed, perhaps by water, from the +Savoy, than from the guarded gates of Somerset House. Oates knew +the Savoy, and said falsely that he had met Coleman there.* If +murder was done, the Savoy was as good a place for the deed as the +Forest of Bondy. + +*State Trials, vii. 28. + + * * * + +NOTE I. + +CHARLES II. AND GODFREY'S DEATH. + +The Duke of York, speaking of Bedloe's evidence before the Lords +(November 8), says, 'Upon recollection the King remembered he was at +Sommerset House himself, at the very time he swore the murder was +committed: . . . his having been there at that time himself, made +it impossible that a man should be assaulted in the Court, murder'd, +and hurryd into the backstairs, when there was a Centry at every +door, a foot Company on the Guard, and yet nobody see or knew +anything of it.* Now evidence was brought that, at 5 P.M. on +Saturday, October 12, the Queen decided to be 'not at home.' But +Bedloe placed the murder as early as 2 P.M., sometimes, and between +two o'clock and five o'clock the King may, as the Duke of York says, +have been at Somerset House. Reresby, in his diary, for November +21, 1678, says that the King told him on that day that he was +'satisfied' Bedloe had given false evidence as to Godfrey's murder. +The Duke of York probably repeats the King's grounds for this +opinion. Charles also knew that the room selected by Bedloe as the +scene of the deed was impossible. + +Life of James II, i. pp. 527, 528. + +NOTE II. + +PRANCE AND THE WHITE HOUSE CLUB. + +The body of Godfrey was found in a ditch near the White House +Tavern, and that tavern was used as a club by a set of Catholic +tradesmen. Was Prance a member? The landlord, Rawson, on October +24, mentioned as a member 'Mr. PRINCE, a silversmith in Holborn.' +Mr. PRANCE was a silversmith in Covent Garden. On December 21, +Prance said that he had not seen Rawson for a year; he was asked +about Rawson. The members of the club met at the White House during +the sitting of the coroner's inquest there, on Friday, October 18. +Prance, according to the author of 'A Letter to Miles Prance,' was +present. He may have been a member, he may have known the useful +ditch where Godfrey's corpse was found, but this does not rise +beyond the value of conjecture.* + +*Lords' MSS. pp. 46, 47, 51. + +NOTE III. + +THE JESUIT MURDERERS. + +There is difficulty in identifying as Jesuits the 'Jesuits' accused +by Bedloe. The chief is 'Father Le Herry,'* called 'Le Ferry' by +Mr. Pollock and Mr. Foley. He also appears as Le Faire, Lee Phaire, +Le Fere, but usually Le Fevre, in the documents. There really was a +priest styled Le Fevre. A man named Mark Preston was accused of +being a priest and a Jesuit. When arrested he declared that he was +a married layman with a family. He had been married in Mr. +Langhorne's rooms, in the Temple, by Le Fevre, a priest, in 1667, +or, at least, about eleven years before 1678.** I cannot find that +Le Fevre was known as a Jesuit to the English members of the +Society. He is not in Oates's list of conspirators. He does not +occur in Foley's 'Records,' vol. v., a very painstaking work. Nor +would he be omitted because accused of a crime, rather he would be +reckoned as more or less of a martyr, like the other Fathers +implicated by the informers. The author of 'Florus Anglo- +Bavaricus'*** names 'Pharius' (Le Phaire), 'Valschius' (Walsh), and +'Atkinsus,' as denounced by Bedloe, but clearly knows nothing about +them. 'Atkinsus' is Mr. Pepys's clerk, Samuel Atkins, who had an +alibi. Valschius is Walsh, certainly a priest, but not to be found +in Foley's 'Records' as a Jesuit. + +*Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 11055, 245. +**Lords' Journals, xiii. 331, 332. Lords' MSS., p. 99. +***Liege, 1685, p. 137. + +That Le Fevre was the Queen's confessor I find no proof. But she +had a priest named Ferrera, who might be confused with Le Faire.* +He was accused of calling a waterman to help to take two persons +down the river on November 6, 1678. He was summoned before the +Lords, but we do not know that he came. Ferrera MAY have been the +Queen's confessor, he was 'one of the Queen's priests.' In 1670 she +had twenty-eight priests as chaplains; twelve were Portuguese +Capuchins, six were Benedictines, two, Dominicans, and the rest +seculars.** Mrs. Prance admitted that she knew 'Mr. Le Phaire, and +that he went for a priest.'*** Of Le Fevre, 'Jesuit' and 'Queens +confessor,' I know no more. + +*Lords' MSS., p. 49. +**Maziere Brady, Episcopal Succession in England, p. 124 (1876). +***Lords' MSS p. 52. + +It appears that Mr. Pollock's authority for styling Le Fevre 'the +Queen's confessor' is a slip of information appended to the Coventry +notes, in the Longleat MSS., on Bedloe's deposition of November 7.* +I do not know the authority of the writer of the slip. It is +admitted that the authority of a slip pinned on to a letter of +Randolph's is not sufficient to prove John Knox to have been one of +the Riccio conspirators. The same slip appears to style Charles +Walsh a Jesuit of the household of Lord Bellasis. This Walsh is +unknown to Foley. + +*Pollock, pp. 155, 157, note 2, in each case. + +As to Father Pritchard, a Jesuit, Bedloe, in the British Museum MS., +accuses 'Penthard, a layman.' He develops into Pridgeot, a Jesuit.* +Later he is Father Pritchard, S.J. There was such a Jesuit, and, +according to the Jesuit Annual Letter of 1680, he passed sixteen +years in the South Wales Mission, and never once went to London. In +1680 he died in concealment.** It is clear that if Le Fevre was the +Queen's confessor, the sentries at Somerset House could prove +whether he was there on the day of Godfrey's murder. No such +evidence was adduced. But if Le Fevre was not the Queen's +confessor, he would scarcely have facilities for smuggling a dead +body out of 'a private door. ' + +*Longleat MS., Pollock, p. 386. +**Foley, v. 875-877. + + + +IV. THE FALSE JEANNE D'ARC. + + + +Who that ever saw Jeanne d'Arc could mistake her for another woman? +No portrait of the Maid was painted from the life, but we know the +light perfect figure, the black hair cut short like a soldier's, and +we can imagine the face of her, who, says young Laval, writing to +his mother after his first meeting with the deliverer of France, +'seemed a thing all divine.' Yet even two of her own brothers +certainly recognised another girl as the Maid, five years after her +death by fire. It is equally certain that, eight years after the +martyrdom of Jeanne, an impostor dwelt for several days in Orleans, +and was there publicly regarded as the heroine who raised the siege +in 1429. Her family accepted the impostor for sixteen years. These +facts rest on undoubted evidence. + +To unravel the threads of the story is a task very difficult. My +table is strewn with pamphlets, papers, genealogies, essays; the +authors taking opposite sides as to the question, Was Jeanne d'Arc +burned at Rouen on May 30, 1431? Unluckily even the most exact +historians (yea, even M. Quicherat, the editor of the five volumes +of documents and notices about the Maid) (1841-1849) make slips in +dates, where dates are all important. It would add confusion if we +dwelt on these errors, or on the bias of the various disputants. + +Not a word was said at the Trial of Rehabilitation in 1452-1456 +about the supposed survival of the Maid. But there are indications +of the inevitable popular belief that she was not burned. Long +after the fall of Khartoum, rumours of the escape of Charles Gordon +were current; even in our own day people are loth to believe that +their hero has perished. Like Arthur he will come again, and from +Arthur to James IV. of Scotland, from James IV. to the Duke of +Monmouth, or the son of Louis XVI., the populace believes and hopes +that its darling has not perished. We destroyed the Mahdi's body to +nullify such a belief, or to prevent worship at his tomb. In the +same way, at Rouen, 'when the Maid was dead, as the English feared +that she might be said to have escaped, they bade the executioner +rake back the fire somewhat that the bystanders might see her +dead.'* An account of a similar precaution, the fire drawn back +after the Maid's robes were burned away, is given in brutal detail +by the contemporary diarist (who was not present), the Bourgeois de +Paris.** + +*Quicherat, iii. p. 191. These lines are not in MS. 5970. M. +Save, in Jehanne des Armoises, Pucelle d'Orleans, p. 6 (Nancy, +1893), interpolates, in italics, words of his own into his +translation of this text, which improve the force of his argument! +**Quicherat, iv. p. 471. + +In spite of all this, the populace, as reflected in several +chronicles, was uncertain that Jeanne had died. A 'manuscript in +the British Museum' says: 'At last they burned her, or another +woman like her, on which point many persons are, and have been, of +different opinions.'* + +*Save, p. 7, citing Bibliotheque de l'Ecole des Chartes, ii., Second +Series. + +This hopeful rumour of the Maid's escape was certain to arise, +populus vult decipi. + +Now we reach a point at which we may well doubt how to array the +evidence. But probably the best plan is first to give the testimony +of undoubted public documents from the Treasury Accounts of the town +of Orleans. In that loyal city the day of the Maid's death had been +duly celebrated by religious services; the Orleanese had indulged in +no illusions. None the less on August 9, 1436, the good town pays +its pursuivant, Fleur-de-lys, 'because he had brought letters to the +town FROM JEHANNE LA PUCELLE'! On August 21 money is paid to 'Jehan +du Lys, brother of Jehanne la Pucelle,' because he has visited the +King, Charles VII., is returning to his sister, the Maid, and is in +want of cash, as the King's order given to him was not fully +honoured. On October 18 another pursuivant is paid for a mission +occupying six weeks. He has visited the Maid at Arlon in +Luxembourg, and carried letters from her to the King at Loches on +the Loire. Earlier, in August, a messenger brought letters from the +Maid, and went on to Guillaume Belier, bailiff of Troyes, in whose +house the real Maid had lodged, at Chinon, in the dawn of her +mission, March 1429. Thus the impostor was dealing, by letters, +with some of the people who knew the Maid best, and was freely +accepted by her brother Jehan.* + +*Quicherat, v. pp. 326-327. + +For three years the account-books of Orleans are silent about this +strange Pucelle. Orleans has not seen her, but has had Jeanne's +brother's word for her reappearance, and the word, probably, of the +pursuivants sent to her. Jeanne's annual funeral services are +therefore discontinued. + +Mention of her in the accounts again appears on July 18, 1439. +Money is now paid to Jaquet Leprestre for ten pints and a chopine of +wine given to DAME JEHANNE DES ARMOISES. On the 29th, 30th, and on +August 1, when she left the town, entries of payments for quantities +of wine and food for Jehanne des Armoises occur, and she is given +210 livres 'after deliberation with the town council,' 'for the good +that she did to the said town during the siege of 1429.' + +The only Jehanne who served Orleans in the siege was Jehanne d'Arc. +Here, then, she is, as Jehanne des Armoises, in Orleans for several +days in 1439, feasted and presented with money by command of the +town council. Again she returns and receives 'propine' on September +4.* The Leprestre who is paid for the wine was he who furnished +wine to the real Maid in 1429. + +*Quicherat, v. pp. 331-332. + +It is undeniable that the people of Orleans must have seen the +impostor in 1439, and they ceased to celebrate service on the day of +the true Maid's death. Really it seems as if better evidence could +not be that Jeanne des Armoises, nee Jeanne d'Arc, was alive in +1439. All Orleans knew the Maid, and yet the town council +recognised the impostor. + +She is again heard of on September 27, 1439, when the town of Tours +pays a messenger for carrying to Orleans letters which Jeanne wrote +to the King, and also letters from the bailli of Touraine to the +King, concerning Jeanne. The real Jeanne could not write, but the +impostor, too, may have employed a secretary.* + +*Quicherat, v. p. 332. + +In June 1441 Charles VII. pardoned, for an escape from prison, one +de Siquemville, who, 'two years ago or thereabouts' (1439), was sent +by the late Gilles de Raiz, Marechal de France, to take over the +leadership of a commando at Mans, which had hitherto been under 'UNE +APPELEE JEHANNE, QUI SE DISOIT PUCELLE.'* The phrase 'one styled +Jehanne who called herself Pucelle' does not indicate fervent belief +on the part of the King. Apparently this Jeanne went to Orleans and +Tours after quitting her command at Mans in 1439. If ever she saw +Gilles de Raiz (the notorious monster of cruelty) in 1439, she saw a +man who had fought in the campaigns of the true Maid under her +sacred banner, argent a dove on an azure field.** + +*Quicherat, v. p. 333. +**She never used the arms given to her and her family by Charles +VII. + +Here public documents about the impostor fall silent. It is not +known what she was doing between August 9, 1436, and September 1439. +At the earlier date she had written to the town of Orleans; at the +later, she was writing to the King, from Tours. Here an error must +be avoided. According to the author of the 'Chronicle of the +Constable of Alvaro de Luna,'* the impostor was, in 1436, sending a +letter, and ambassadors, to the King of Spain, asking him to succour +La Rochelle. The ambassadors found the King at Valladolid, and the +Constable treated the letter, 'as if it were a relic, with great +reverence.' + +*Madrid, 1784, p. 131. + +The impostor flies high! But the whole story is false. + +M. Quicherat held at first that the date and place may be +erroneously stated, but did not doubt that the False Pucelle did +send her ambassadors and letter to the King of Spain. We never hear +that the true Maid did anything of the sort. But Quicherat changed +his mind on the subject. The author of the 'Chronicle of Alvaro de +Luna' merely cites a Coronica de la Poncella. That coronica, says +Quicherat later, 'is a tissue of fables, a romance in the Spanish +taste,' and in this nonsense occurs the story of the embassy to the +Spanish King. That story does not apply to the False Pucelle, and +is not true, a point of which students of Quicherat's great work +need to be warned; his correction may escape notice.* + +*Revue des Questions Historiques, April 1, 1881, pp. 553-566. +Article by the Comte de Puymaigre. + +We thus discard a strong trump in the hand of believers that the +impostor was the real Maid; had a Pucelle actually sent ambassadors +to Spain in 1436, their case would be stronger than it is. + +Next, why is the false Pucelle styled 'Jeanne des Armoises' in the +town accounts of Orleans in 1439? + +This leads us to the proofs of the marriage of the false Pucelle, in +1436, with a Monsieur Robert des Armoises, a gentleman of the Metz +country. The evidence is in a confused state. In the reign of +Louis XIV. lived a Pere Vignier, a savant, who is said to have been +a fraudulent antiquary. Whether this be true or not, his brother, +after the death of Pere Vignier, wrote a letter to the Duc de +Grammont, which was published in the 'Mercure Galant' of November, +1683. The writer says that his brother, Pere Vignier, found, at +Metz, an ancient chronicle of the town, in manuscript, and had a +copy made by a notary royal. The extract is perfectly genuine, +whatever the reputation of the discoverer may be. This portion of +the chronicle of the doyen of Saint-Thibaud de Metz exists in two +forms, of which the latter, whoever wrote it, is intended to correct +the former. + +In the earlier shape the author says that, on May 20, 1436, the +Pucelle Jeanne came to Metz, and was met by her brothers, Pierre, a +knight, and Jehan, an esquire. Pierre had, in fact, fought beside +his sister when both he and she were captured, at Compiegne, in May +1430. Jehan, as we have already seen, was in attendance on the +false Maid in August 1436. + +According to the Metz chronicle, these two brothers of the Maid, on +May 20, 1436, recognised the impostor for their sister, and the +account-books of Orleans leave no doubt that Jehan, at least, +actually did accept her as such, in August 1436, four months after +they met in May. Now this lasting recognition by one, at least, of +the brothers, is a fact very hard to explain. + +M. Anatole France offers a theory of the easiest. The brothers went +to Lorraine in May 1436, to see the pretender. 'Did they hurry to +expose the fraud, or did they not think it credible, on the other +hand, that, with God's permission, the Saint had risen again? +Nothing could seem impossible, after all that they had seen. . . . +They acted in good faith. A woman said to them, "I am Jeanne, your +sister." They believed, because they wished to believe.' And so +forth, about the credulity of the age. + +The age was not promiscuously credulous. In a RESURRECTION of +Jeanne, after death, the age did not believe. The brothers had +never seen anything of the kind, nor had the town council of +Orleans. THEY had nothing to gain by their belief, the brothers had +everything to gain. One might say that they feigned belief, in the +hope that 'there was money in it;' but one cannot say that about the +people of Orleans who had to spend money. The case is simply a +puzzle.* + +*Anatole France, 'La Fausse Pucelle,' Revue de Famille, Feb. 15, +1891. I cite from the quotation by M. P. Lanery d'Arc in Deux +Lettres (Beauvais, 1894), a brochure which I owe to the kindness of +the author. + +After displaying feats of horsemanship, in male attire, and being +accepted by many gentlemen, and receiving gifts of horses and +jewels, the impostor went to Arlon, in Luxembourg, where she was +welcomed by the lady of the duchy, Elizabeth de Gorlitz, Madame de +Luxembourg. And at Arlon she was in October 1436, as the town +accounts of Orleans have proved. Thence, says the Metz chronicle, +the 'Comte de Warnonbourg'(?) took her to Cologne, and gave her a +cuirass. Thence she returned to Arlon in Luxembourg, and there +married the knight Robert des Hermoises, or Armoises, 'and they +dwelt in their own house at Metz, as long as they would.' Thus +Jeanne became 'Madame des Hermoises,' or 'Ermaises,' or, in the town +accounts of Orleans, in 1439, 'des Armoises.' + +So says the Metz chronicle, in one form, but, in another manuscript +version, it denounces this Pucelle as an impostor, who especially +deceived tous les plus grands. Her brothers, we read (the real +Maid's brothers), brought her to the neighbourhood of Metz. She +dwelt with Madame de Luxembourg, and married 'Robert des Armoize.'* +The Pere Vignier's brother, in 1683, published the first, but not +the second, of these two accounts in the 'Mercure Galant' for +November. + +*Quicherat, v. pp. 321-324, cf. iv. 321. + +In or about 1439, Nider, a witch-hunting priest, in his Formicarium, +speaks of a false Jeanne at Cologne, protected by Ulrich of +Wirtemberg, (the Metz chronicle has 'Comte de Warnonbourg'), who +took the woman to Cologne. The woman, says Nider, was a noisy lass, +who came eating, drinking, and doing conjuring feats; the +Inquisition failed to catch her, thanks to Ulrich's protection. She +married a knight, and presently became the concubine of a priest in +Metz.* This reads like a piece of confused gossip. + +*Quicherat, v. pp. 324-325. + +Vignier's brother goes on to say (1683) in the 'Mercure Galant,' +that his learned brother found the wedding contract of Jeanne la +Pucelle and Robert des Armoises in the charter chest of the M. des +Armoises of his own day, the time of Louis XIV. The brother of +Vignier had himself met the son of this des Armoises, who +corroborated the fact. But 'the original copy of this ancient +manuscript vanished, with all the papers of Pere Vignier, at his +death.' + +Two months later, in the spring of 1684, Vienne de Plancy wrote to +the 'Mercure Galant,' saying that 'the late illustrious brother' of +the Duc de Grammont was fully persuaded, and argued very well in +favour of his opinion, that the actual Pucelle did not die at Rouen, +but married Robert des Armoises. He quoted a genuine petition of +Pierre du Lys, the brother of the real Maid, to the Duc d'Orleans, +of 1443. Pierre herein says he has warred 'in the company of Jeanne +la Pucelle, his sister, jusqu'a son absentement, and so on till this +hour, exposing his body and goods in the King's service.' This, +argued M. de Grammont, implied that Jeanne was not dead; Pierre does +not say, feue ma soeur, 'my late sister,' and his words may even +mean that he is still with her. ('Avec laquelle, jusques a son +absentement, ET DEPUIS JUSQUES A PRESENT, il a expose son corps.')* + +*The petition is in Quicherat, v. pp. 212-214. For Vienne-Plancy +see the papers from the Mercure Galant in Jeanne d'Arc n'a point ete +brulee a Rouen (Rouen, Lanctin, 1872). The tract was published in +100 copies only. + +Though no copy of the marriage contract of Jeanne and des Armoises +exists, Quicherat prints a deed of November 7, 1436, in which Robert +des Armoises and his wife, 'La Pucelle de France,' acknowledge +themselves to be married, and sell a piece of land. The paper was +first cited by Dom Calmet, among the documents in his 'Histoire de +Lorraine.' It is rather under suspicion. + +There seems no good reason, however, to doubt the authenticity of +the fact that a woman, calling herself Jeanne Pucelle de France, +did, in 1436, marry Robert des Armoises, a man of ancient and noble +family. Hence, in the town accounts of Tours and Orleans, after +October 1436, up to September 1439, the impostor appears as 'Mme. +Jehanne des Armoises.' In August 1436, she was probably not yet +married, as the Orleans accounts then call her 'Jehanne la Pucelle,' +when they send their pursuivants to her; men who, doubtless, had +known the true Maid in 1429-1430. These men did not undeceive the +citizens, who, at least till September 1439, accepted the impostor. +There is hardly a more extraordinary fact in history. For the rest +we know that, in 1436-1439, the impostor was dealing with the King +by letters, and that she held a command under one of his marshals, +who had known the true Maid well in 1429-1430. + +It appears possible that, emboldened by her amazing successes, the +false Pucelle sought an interview with Charles VII. The authority, +to be sure, is late. The King had a chamberlain, de Boisy, who +survived till 1480, when he met Pierre Sala, one of the gentlemen of +the chamber of Charles VIII. De Boisy, having served Charles VII., +knew and told Sala the nature of the secret that was between that +king and the true Maid. That such a secret existed is certain. +Alain Chartier, the poet, may have been present, in March 1429, when +the Maid spoke words to Charles VII. which filled him with a +spiritual rapture. So Alain wrote to a foreign prince in July 1429. +M. Quicherat avers that Alain was present: I cannot find this in +his letter.* Any amount of evidence for the 'sign' given to the +King, by his own statement, is found throughout the two trials, that +of Rouen and that of Rehabilitation. Dunois, the famous Bastard of +Orleans, told the story to Basin, Bishop of Lisieux; and at Rouen +the French examiners of the Maid vainly tried to extort from her the +secret.** In 1480, Boisy, who had been used to sleep in the bed of +Charles VII., according to the odd custom of the time, told the +secret to Sala. The Maid, in 1429, revealed to Charles the purpose +of a secret prayer which he had made alone in his oratory, imploring +light on the question of his legitimacy.*** M. Quicherat, no bigot, +thinks that 'the authenticity of the revelation is beyond the reach +of doubt.'**** + +*Quicherat, Apercus Nouveaux, p. 62. Proces, v. p. 133. +**For the complete evidence, see Quicherat, Apercus, pp. 61-66. +***Quicherat, v. p. 280, iv. pp. 258, 259, another and ampler +account, in a MS. of 1500. Another, iv. p. 271: MS. of the period of +Louis XII. +****Apercus, p. 60, Paris, 1850. + +Thus there was a secret between the true Maid and Charles VII. The +King, of course, could not afford to let it be known that he had +secretly doubted whether he were legitimate. Boisy alone, at some +later date, was admitted to his confidence. + +Boisy went on to tell Sala that, ten years later (whether after 1429 +or after 1431, the date of the Maid's death, is uncertain), a +pretended Pucelle, 'very like the first,' was brought to the King. +He was in a garden, and bade one of his gentlemen personate him. +The impostor was not deceived, for she knew that Charles, having +hurt his foot, then wore a soft boot. She passed the gentleman, and +walked straight to the King, 'whereat he was astonished, and knew +not what to say, but, gently saluting her, exclaimed, "Pucelle, my +dear, you are right welcome back, in the name of God, who knows the +secret that is between you and me."' The false Pucelle then knelt, +confessed her sin, and cried for mercy. 'For her treachery some +were sorely punished, as in such a case was fitting.'* + +*Quicherat, v. p. 281. There is doubt as to whether Boisy's tale +does not refer to Jeanne la Feronne, a visionary. Varlet de +Vireville, Charles VII., iii. p. 425, note 1. + +If any deserved punishment, the Maid's brothers did, but they rather +flourished and prospered, as time went on, than otherwise. + +It appears, then, that in 1439-1441 the King exposed the false +Pucelle, or another person, Jeanne la Feronne. A great foe of the +true Maid, the diarist known as the Bourgeois de Paris, in his +journal for August 1440, tells us that just then many believed that +Jeanne had not been burned at Rouen. The gens d'armes brought to +Paris 'a woman who had been received with great honour at Orleans'-- +clearly Jeanne des Armoises. The University and Parlement had her +seized and exhibited to the public at the Palais. Her life was +exposed; she confessed that she was no maid, but a mother, and the +wife of a knight (des Armoises?). After this follows an +unintelligible story of how she had gone on pilgrimage to Rome, and +fought in the Italian wars.* Apparently she now joined a regiment +at Paris, et puis s'en alla, but all is very vaguely recorded. + +*Quicherat, v. pp. 334, 335; c.f. Lefevre-Pontalis, Les Sources +Allemands, 113-115. Fontemoing, Paris, 1903. + + +The most extraordinary circumstance remains to be told. Apparently +the brothers and cousins of the true Maid continued to entertain and +accept the impostor! We have already seen that, in 1443, Pierre du +Lys, in his petition to the Duc d'Orleans, writes as if he did not +believe in the death of his sister, but that may be a mere ambiguity +of language; we cannot repose on the passage. + +In 1476 a legal process and inquest was held as to the descendants +of the brother of the mother of Jeanne d'Arc, named Voulton or +Vouthon. Among other witnesses was Henry de Voulton, called +Perinet, a carpenter, aged fifty-two. He was grandson of the +brother of the mother of Jeanne d'Arc, his grand-maternal aunt. +This witness declared that he had often seen the two brothers du +Lys, Jehan and Pierre, with their sister, La Pucelle, come to the +village of Sermaise and feast with his father. They always accepted +him, the witness, as their cousin, 'in all places where he has been, +conversed, eaten, and drunk in their company.' Now Perinet is +clearly speaking of his associations with Jeanne and her brothers +AFTER HE HIMSELF WAS A MAN GROWN. Born in 1424, he was only five +years old when the Maid left Domremy for ever. He cannot mean that, +as a child of five, he was always, in various places, drinking with +the Maid and her brothers. Indeed, he says, taking a distinction, +that in his early childhood--'son jeune aage'--he visited the family +of d'Arc, with his father, at Domremy, and saw the Maid, qui pour +lors estoit jeune fille.* + +*De Bouteiller et de Braux, Nouvelles Recherches sur la Famille de +Jeanne d'Arc, Paris, 1879, pp. 8, 9. + +Moreover, the next witness, the cure of Sermaise, aged fifty-three, +says that, twenty-four years ago (in 1452), a young woman dressed as +a man, calling herself Jeanne la Pucelle, used to come to Sermaise, +and that, as he heard, she was the near kinswoman of all the +Voultons, 'and he saw her make great and joyous cheer with them +while she was at Sermaise.'* Clearly it was about this time, in or +before 1452, that Perinet himself was conversant with Jehan and +Pierre du Lys, and with their sister, calling herself La Pucelle. + +*Op. cit. p. 11. + +Again, Jehan le Montigueue, aged about seventy, deposed that, in +1449, a woman calling herself Jeanne la Pucelle came to Sermaise and +feasted with the Voultons, as also did (but he does not say at the +same time) the Maid's brother, Jehan du Lys.* Jehan du Lys could, +at least, if he did not accept her, have warned his cousins, the +Voultons, against their pretended kinswoman, the false Pucelle. But +for some three years at least she came, a welcome guest, to +Sermaise, matched herself against the cure at tennis, and told him +that he might now say that he had played against la Pucelle de +France. This news gave him the greatest pleasure. + +*Op. cit. pp. 4,5, MM. de Bouteiller and de Graux do not observe the +remarkable nature of this evidence, as regards the BROTHERS of the +Maid; see their Preface, p. xxx. + +Jehan Guillaume, aged seventy-six, had seen both the self-styled +Pucelle and the real Maid's brothers at the house of the Voultons. +He did not know whether she was the true Maid or not. + +It is certain, practically, that this PUCELLE, so merry at Sermaise +with the brothers and cousins of the Maid, was the Jeanne des +Armoises of 1436-1439. The du Lys family could not successively +adopt TWO impostors as their sister! Again, the woman of circ. +1449-1452 is not a younger sister of Jeanne, who in 1429 had no +sister living, though one, Catherine, whom she dearly loved, was +dead. + +We have now had glimpses of the impostor from 1436 to 1440, when she +seems to have been publicly exposed (though the statement of the +Bourgeois de Paris is certainly that of a prejudiced writer), and +again we have found the impostor accepted by the paternal and +maternal kin of the Maid, about 1449-1452. In 1452 the preliminary +steps towards the Rehabilitation of the true Maid began, ending +triumphantly in 1456. Probably the families of Voulton and du Lys +now, after the trial began in 1452, found their jolly tennis-playing +sister and cousin inconvenient. She reappears, NOT at Sermaise, in +1457. In that year King Rene (father of Margaret, wife of our Henry +VI.) gives a remission to 'Jeanne de Sermaises.' M. Lecoy de la +March, in his 'Roi Rene' (1875) made this discovery, and took +'Jeanne de Sermaises' for our old friend, 'Jeanne des Ermaises,' or +'des Armoises.' She was accused of 'having LONG called herself +Jeanne la Pucelle, and deceived many persons who had seen Jeanne at +the siege of Orleans.' She has lain in prison, but is let out, in +February 1457, on a five years' ticket of leave, so to speak, +'provided she bear herself honestly in dress, and in other matters, +as a woman should do.' + +Probably, though 'at present the wife of Jean Douillet,' this Jeanne +still wore male costume, hence the reference to bearing herself +'honestly in dress.' She acknowledges nothing, merely says that the +charge of imposture lui a ete impose, and that she has not been +actainte d'aucun autre vilain cas.* At this date Jeanne cruised +about Anjou and the town of Saumur. And here, at the age of forty- +five, if she was of the same age as the true Maid, we lose sight for +ever of this extraordinary woman. Of course, if she was the genuine +Maid, the career of La Pucelle de France ends most ignobly. The +idea 'was nuts' (as the Elizabethans said) to a good anti-clerical +Frenchman, M. Lesigne, who, in 1889, published 'La Fin d'une +Legende.' There would be no chance of canonising a Pucelle who was +twice married and lived a life of frolic. + +*Lecoy de la Marche, Le Roi Rene, ii. 281-283, 1875. + +A more serious and discreet scholar, M. Gaston Save, in 1893, made +an effort to prove that Jeanne was not burned at Rouen.* He +supposed that the Duchess of Bedford let Jeanne out of prison and +bribed the two priests, Massieu and Ladvenu, who accompanied the +Maid to the scaffold, to pretend that they had been with her, not +with a substituted victim. This victim went with hidden face to the +scaffold, le visage embronche, says Percival de Cagny, a retainer of +Jeanne's 'beau duc,' d'Alencon.** The townspeople were kept apart +by 800 English soldiers.*** The Madame de Luxembourg who +entertained the impostor at Arlon (1436) was 'perhaps' the same as +she who entertained the real Jeanne at Beaurevoir in 1430. +Unluckily THAT lady died in November 1430! + +*Jehanne des Armoises, Pucelle d'Orleans, Nancy, 1893. +**Quicherat, iv. 36. +***Quicherat, ii. 14, 19. + +However, the Madame de Luxembourg who entertained the impostor was +aunt, by marriage, of the Duke of Burgundy, the true Maid's enemy, +and she had means of being absolutely well informed, so the case +remains very strange. Strange, too, it is that, in the records of +payment of pension to the true Maid's mother, from the town of +Orleans, she is 'mere de la Pucelle' till 1452, when she becomes +'mere de feue la Pucelle,' 'mother of the LATE Pucelle.' That is to +say, the family and the town of Orleans recognised the impostor +till, in 1452, the Trial of Rehabilitation began. So I have +inferred, as regards the family, from the record of the inquest of +1476, which, though it suited the argument of M. Save, was unknown +to him. + +His brochure distressed the faithful. The Abbe, Dr. Jangen, editor +of 'Le Pretre,' wrote anxiously to M. P. Lanery d'Arc, who replied +in a tract already cited (1894). But M. Lanery d'Arc did not +demolish the sounder parts of the argument of M. Save, and he knew +nothing of the inquest of 1476, or said nothing. Then arose M. +Lefevre Pontalis.* Admitting the merits of M. Save's other works, +he noted many errors in this tract. For example, the fire at Rouen +was raked (as we saw) more or less (admodum) clear of the dead body +of the martyr. But would it be easy, in the circumstances, to +recognise a charred corpse? The two Mesdames de Luxembourg were +distinguished apart, as by Quicherat. The Vignier documents as to +Robert des Armoises were said to be impostures. Quicherat, however, +throws no doubt on the deed of sale by Jehanne and her husband, des +Armoises, in November 1436. Many errors in dates were exposed. The +difficulty about the impostor's reception in Orleans, was +recognised, and it is, of course, THE difficulty. M. Lefevre de +Pontalis, however, urges that her brothers are not said to have been +with her, 'and there is not a trace of their persistence in their +error after the first months of the imposture.' But we have traces, +nay proofs, in the inquest of 1476. The inference of M. Save from +the fact that the Pucelle is never styled 'the late Pucelle,' in the +Orleans accounts, till 1452, is merely declared 'inadmissible.' The +fact, on the other hand, is highly significant. In 1452 the +impostor was recognised by the family; but in that year began the +Trial of Rehabilitation, and we hear no more of her among the du Lys +and the Voultons. M. Lefevre Pontalis merely mentions the inquest +of 1476, saying that the impostor of Sermaise (1449-1452) may +perhaps have been another impostor, not Jeanne des Armoises. The +family of the Maid was not capable, surely, of accepting TWO +impostors, 'one down, the other come on'! This is utterly +incredible. + +*Le Moyen Age, June 1895. + +In brief, the family of Jeanne, in 1436,1449-1452, were revelling +with Jeanne des Armoises, accepting her, some as sister, some as +cousin. In 1439 the Town Council of Orleans not only gave many +presents of wine and meat to the same woman, recognising her as +their saviour in the siege of 1429, but also gave her 210 livres. +Now, on February 7, 1430, the town of Orleans had refused to give +100 crowns, at Jeanne's request, to Heliote, daughter of her +Scottish painter, 'Heuves Polnoir.'* They said that they could not +afford the money. They were not the people to give 210 livres to a +self-styled Pucelle without examining her personally. Moreover, the +impostor supped, in August 1439, with Jehan Luillier, who, in June, +1429, had supplied the true Maid with cloth, a present from Charles +d'Orleans. He was in Orleans during the siege of 1429, and gave +evidence as to the actions of the Maid at the trial in 1456.** This +man clearly did not detect or expose the impostor, she was again +welcomed at Orleans six weeks after he supped with her. These facts +must not be overlooked, and they have never been explained. So +there we leave the most surprising and baffling of historical +mysteries. It is, of course, an obvious conjecture that, in 1436, +Jehan and Pierre du Lys may have pretended to recognise the +impostor, in hopes of honour and rewards such as they had already +received through their connection with the Maid. But, if the +impostor was unmasked in 1440, there was no more to be got in that +way.*** While the nature of the arts of the False Pucelle is +inscrutable, the evidence as to the heroic death of the True Maid is +copious and deeply moving. There is absolutely no room for doubt +that she won the martyr's crown at Rouen. + +*Quicherat, v. 155. +**Quicherat, v. pp. 112,113,331, iii. p. 23. +***By 1452, Pierre du Lys had un grand hotel opposite the Ile des +Boeufs, at Orleans, given to him for two lives, by Charles +d'Orleans, in 1443. He was also building a town house in Orleans, +and the chevalier Pierre was no snob, for he brought from Sermaise +his carpenter kinsman, Perinet de Voulton, to superintend the +erection. Nouvelles Recherches, pp. 19, 20. + + + +V. JUNIUS AND LORD LYTTELTON'S GHOST + + + +'Sir,' said Dr. Johnson, 'it is the most extraordinary thing that +has happened in my day.' + +The most extraordinary thing that had happened in Dr. Johnson's day +was the 'warning' to the noble peer generally spoken of as 'the +wicked Lord Lyttelton.' The Doctor went on thus: 'I heard it with +my own ears from his uncle, Lord Westcote. I am so glad to have +every evidence of the spiritual world that I am willing to believe +it.' Dr. Adams replied, 'You have evidence enough--good evidence, +which needs no support.' Dr. Johnson growled out, 'I like to have +more!' + +Thus the Doctor was willing to believe what it suited him to +believe, even though he had the tale at third or fourth hand; for +Lord Westcote was not with the wicked Lord Lyttelton at the time of +his death, on November 27, 1779. Dr. Johnson's observations were +made on June 12, 1784. + +To Lord Westcote's narrative we shall return. + +As a study in Russian scandal, and the growth and development of +stories, this anecdote of Lord Lyttelton deserves attention. So +first we must glance at the previous history of the hero. Thomas +Lord Lyttelton was born, says Mr. Coulton (in the 'Quarterly +Review,' No. 179, p. 111), on January 30, 1744.* He was educated at +Eton, where Dr. Barnard thought his boyish promise even superior to +that of Charles James Fox. His sketches of scenery in Scotland +reminded Mrs. Montagu of the vigour of Salvator Rosa, combined with +the grace of Claude Lorraine! At the age of nineteen, already +affianced to Miss Warburton, he went on the Grand Tour, and excelled +the ordinary model of young debauchery abroad. Mr. James Boswell +found a Circe at Siena, Lyttelton found Circes everywhere. He +returned to England in 1765; and that learned lady, Mrs. Carter, the +translator of Epictetus, 'admired his talents and elegant manners, +as much as she detested his vices.' In 1768 he entered the House of +Commons, and, in his maiden speech, implored the Assembly to believe +that America was more important than Mr. Wilkes (and Liberty). +Unseated for bribery in January 1769, he vanished from the public +view, more or less, for a season; at least he is rarely mentioned in +memoirs, and Coulton thinks that young Lyttelton was now engaged--in +what does the reader suppose? In writing 'The Letters of Junius'!** + +*The writer was not Croker, but Mr. Coulton, 'a Kentish gentleman,' +says Lockhart, February 7, 1851, to his daughter Charlotte. +**If Lyttelton went to Italy on being ejected from Parliament, as +Mr. Rigg says he did in the 'Dictionary of National Biography,' +Coulton's theory will be hard to justify. + +He was clever enough; his rank was like that assumed as his own by +Junius; his eloquence (as he proved later in the House of Lords) was +vituperative enough; he shared some of Junius's hatreds, while he +proclaimed, like Junius, that the country was going to the dogs. +Just as Junius was ending his Letters, the prodigal, Thomas +Lyttelton, returned to his father's house; and Chatham wrote to +congratulate the parent (February 15, 1772). On May 12, 1772, +Junius published his last letter in 'The Public Advertiser;' and on +June 26 Mr. Lyttelton married a widow, a Mrs. Peach. He soon left +his wife, and was abroad (with a barmaid) when his father died in +1773. In January 1774 he took his seat in the Lords. Though Fox +thought him a bad man, his first speech was in favour of securing to +authors a perpetual copyright in their own works. He repeated his +arguments some months later; so authors, at least, have reason for +judging him charitably. + +Mr. Carlyle would have admired Lyttelton. His politics (at one +juncture) were 'The Dictatorship for Lord Chatham'! How does this +agree with the sentiments of Junius? In 1767-69 Junius had +exhausted on Chatham his considerable treasury of insult. He is 'a +lunatic brandishing a crutch,' 'so black a villain,' 'an abandoned +profligate,' and he exhibits 'THE UPSTART INSOLENCE OF A DICTATOR!' +This goes not well with Lyttelton's sentiments in 1774. True, but +by that date (iii. 305) Junius himself had discovered 'that if this +country can be saved, it must be saved by Lord Chatham's spirit, by +Lord Chatham's abilities.' Lyttelton and Junius are assuredly both +of them ruffianly, scandal-loving, inconsistent, and patrician in +the manner of Catiline. So far, the likeness is close. + +About America Lyttelton wavered. On the whole, he recognised the +need of fighting; and his main idea was that, as fight we must, we +should organise our forces well, and fight with our heads as well as +with our hands. He disdained the policy of the ostrich. The +Americans were in active rebellion; it could not be blinked. He +praised Chatham while he opposed him. He was 'fighting for his own +hand.' Ministers felt the advantage of his aid; they knew his +unscrupulous versatility, and in November 1775 bought Lyttelton with +a lucrative sinecure--the post of Chief Justice of Eyre beyond the +Trent. Coulton calls the place 'honourable;' we take another view. +Lyttelton was bought and sold, but no one deemed Lyttelton a person +of scrupulous conscience. + +The public prospects darkened, folly was heaped on folly, blunder on +blunder, defeat on defeat. On April 24, 1779, Horace Walpole says +that Lord Lyttelton 'has again turned against the Court on obtaining +the Seals'* November 25, 1779, saw Lyttelton go boldly into +Opposition. He reviewed the whole state of the empire. He poured +out a torrent of invective. As to his sinecure, he said, 'Perhaps +he might not keep it long.' 'The noble Lords smile at what I say!' + +*Is this a slip, or misprint, for 'on NOT obtaining the Seals'? + +They need not have smiled. He spoke on Thursday, November 25; on +Saturday, November 27, the place in Eyre was vacant, and Lord +Lyttelton was a dead man. + +The reader will keep in mind these dates. On Thursday, November 25, +1779, the first day of the session, Lyttelton overflows in a +volcanic speech against the Court. He announces that his place may +soon be vacant. At midnight on November 27 he is dead. + +On all this, and on the story of the ghostly 'warning' to Lord +Lyttelton, delivered in the night of Wednesday, November 24, Coulton +builds a political romance. In his view, Lyttelton, expelled from +Parliament, lavished his genius and exuded his spleen in the +'Letters of Junius.' Taking his seat in the Lords, he fights for +his own hand, is bought and muzzled, wrenches off his muzzle, blazes +into a fierce attack on the wrongs which he is weary of witnessing, +the hypocrisy which he is tired of sharing, makes his will, sets his +house in order, plays one last practical joke by inventing the story +of the ghostly warning, surrounds himself with dissolute company, +and at midnight on November 27 deliberately fulfils his own +prediction, and dies by his own hand. It is a tale creditable to +Coulton's fancy. A patrician of genius, a wit, a profligate, in +fatigue and despair, closes his career with a fierce harangue, a +sacrilegious jest, a debauch, and a draught of poison, leaving to +Dr. Johnson a proof of 'the spiritual world,' and to mankind the +double mystery of Junius and of the Ghost. + +As to the identity of Junius, remembering the warning of Lord +Beaconsfield, 'If you wish to be a bore, take up the "Letters of +Junius,"' we shall drop that enigma; but as to the alleged suicide +of Lord Lyttelton, we think we can make that seem extremely +improbable. Let us return to the course of events, as stated by +Coulton and by contemporaries. + +The warning of death in three days, says Coulton, occurred (place +not given) on the night of November 24, 1779. He observes: 'It is +certain that, on the morning after that very day' (November 25), +'Lord Lyttelton had related, not to one person alone, but to +several, and all of them people of credit, the particulars of a +strange vision which he said had appeared to him the preceding +night.' On Thursday, the 25th, as we saw, he spoke in the Lords. +On Friday, the 26th, he went down to his house at Epsom, Pitt Place, +where his party, says Coulton, consisted of Mr. (later Lord) +Fortescue, Captain (later Admiral) Wolsley, Mrs. Flood, and the +Misses Amphlett. Now, the town had no kind of doubt concerning the +nature of Lord Lyttelton's relations with two, if not three, of the +Misses Amphlett. His character was nearly as bad, where women were +concerned, as that of Colonel Charteris. But Walpole, writing to +Mann on November 28 (the day after Lord Lyttelton's death), says: +'Lord Lyttelton is dead suddenly. SUDDENLY, in this country, is +always at first construed to mean BY A PISTOL. . . The story given +out is, that he looked ill, AND HAD SAID HE SHOULD NOT LIVE THREE +DAYS; that, however, he had gone to his house at Epsom. . . with a +caravan of nymphs; and on Saturday night had retired before supper +to take rhubarb, returned, supped heartily, went into the next room +again, and died in an instant.' + +Nothing here of a dream or ghost. We only hear of a prophecy, by +Lyttelton, of his death. + +Writing to Mason on Monday, November 29, Walpole avers that Lord +Lyttelton was 'attended only by four virgins, whom he had picked up +in the Strand.' Here Horace, though writing from Berkeley Square, +within two days of the fatal 27th, is wrong. Lord Lyttelton had the +Misses Amphlett, Captain Wolsley, Mr. Fortescue, and Mrs. Flood with +him. According to Walpole, he felt unwell on Saturday night (the +27th), 'went to bed, rung his bell in ten minutes, and in one minute +after the arrival of his servant expired!' 'He had said on Thursday +that he should die in three days, HAD DREAMT SO, and felt that it +would be so. On Saturday he said, "If I outlive to-day, I shall go +on;" but enough of him.' + +Walpole speaks of a DREAM, but he soon has other, if not better, +information. Writing to Mason on December 11, he says that ghost +stories from the north will now be welcome. 'Lord Lyttelton's +vision has revived the taste; though it seems a little odd that an +APPARITION should despair of getting access to his Lordship's bed, +in the shape of a young woman, without being forced to use the +disguise of a robin-redbreast.' What was an apprehension or +prophecy has become a dream, and the dream has become an apparition +of a robin-redbreast and a young woman. + +If this excite suspicion, let us hasten to add that we have +undesigned evidence to Lord Lyttelton's belief that he had beheld an +APPARITION--evidence a day earlier than the day of his death. Mrs. +Piozzi (then Mrs. Thrale), in her diary of Sunday, November 28, +writes: 'Yesterday a lady from Wales dropped in and said that she +had been at Drury Lane on Friday night. "How," I asked, "were you +entertained?" "Very strangely indeed! Not with the play, though, +but the discourse of a Captain Ascough, who averred that a friend of +his, Lord Lyttelton, has SEEN A SPIRIT, who has warned him that he +will die in three days. I have thought of nothing else since."' + +Next day, November 29, Mrs. Piozzi heard of Lord Lyttelton's death.* + +*Notes and Queries. Series V., vol. ii. p. 508. December 26,1874. + +Here is proof absolute that the story, with apparition, if not with +robin, was current THE DAY BEFORE LORD LYTTELTON'S DECEASE. + +Of what did Lord Lyttelton die? + +'According to one of the papers,' says Coulton, vaguely, 'the cause +of death was disease of the heart.' A brief 'convulsion' is +distinctly mentioned, whence Coulton concludes that the disease was +NOT cardiac. On December 7, Mason writes to Walpole from York: +'Suppose Lord Lyttelton had recovered the breaking of his blood- +vessel!' + +Was a broken blood-vessel the cause of death? or have we here, as is +probable, a mere inference of Mason's? + +Coulton's account is meant to lead up to his theory of suicide. +Lord Lyttelton mentioned his apprehension of death 'somewhat +ostentatiously, we think.' According to Coulton, at 10 P.M. on +Saturday, Lord Lyttelton, looking at his watch, said: 'Should I +live two hours longer, I shall jockey the ghost.' Coulton thinks +that it would have been 'more natural' for him to await the fatal +hour of midnight 'in gay company' than to go to bed before twelve. +He finishes the tale thus: Lord Lyttelton was taking rhubarb in his +bedroom; he sent his valet for a spoon, and the man, returning, +found him 'on the point of dissolution.' + +'His family maintained a guarded and perhaps judicious silence on +the subject,' yet Lord Westcote spoke of it to Dr. Johnson, and +wrote an account of it, and so did Lord Lyttelton's widow; while +Wraxall, as we shall see, says that the Dowager Lady Lyttelton +painted a picture of the 'warning' in 1780. + +Harping on suicide, Coulton quotes Scott's statement in 'Letters on +Demonology:' 'Of late it has been said, and PUBLISHED, that the +unfortunate nobleman had determined to take poison.' Sir Walter +gives no authority, and Coulton admits that he knows of none. +Gloomy but commonplace reflections in the so-called 'Letters' of +Lyttelton do not even raise a presumption in favour of suicide, +which, in these very Letters, Lyttelton says that he cannot defend +by argument.* That Lyttelton made his will 'a few weeks before his +death,' providing for his fair victims, may be accounted for, as we +shall see, by the threatening state of his health, without any +notion of self-destruction. Walpole, in his three letters, only +speaks of 'a pistol' as the common construction of 'sudden death;' +and that remark occurs before he has heard any details. He rises +from a mere statement of Lord Lyttelton's, that he is 'to die in +three days,' to a 'dream' containing that assurance, and thence to +apparitions of a young woman and a robin-redbreast. The appearance +of that bird, by the way, is, in the folk-lore of Surrey, an omen of +death. Walpole was in a position to know all current gossip, and so +was Mrs. Piozzi. + +*Coulton's argument requires him to postulate the authenticity of +many, at least, of these Letters, which were given to the world by +the author of 'Doctor Syntax.' + +We now turn to a narrative nearly contemporary, that written out by +Lord Westcote on February 13, 1780. Lord Westcote examined the +eldest Miss Amphlett, Captain (later Admiral) Charles Wolsley, Mrs. +Flood, Lord Lyttelton's valet, Faulkner, and Stuckey, the servant in +whose arms, so to speak, Lord Lyttelton died. Stuckey was +questioned (note this) in the presence of Captain Wolsley and of MR. +FORTESCUE. The late Lord Lyttelton permitted the Westcote narrative +to be published in 'Notes and Queries' (November 21, 1874). The +story, which so much pleased Dr. Johnson, runs thus:-- + +On Thursday, November 25, Mrs. Flood and the three Misses Amphlett +were residing at Lord Lyttelton's house in Hill Street, Berkeley +Square. Who IS this Mrs. Flood? Frederick Flood (1741-1824) +married LADY Julia Annesley in 1782. The wife of the more famous +Flood suits the case no better: his wife was LADY F. M. Flood; she +was a Beresford. (The 'Dictionary of National Biography' is +responsible for these facts.) At all events, on November 25, at +breakfast, in Hill Street, Lord Lyttelton told the young ladies and +their chaperon that he had had an extraordinary DREAM. + +He seemed to be in a room which a bird flew into; the bird changed +into a woman in white, who told him he should die in three days. + +He 'did not much regard it, because he could in some measure account +for it; for that a few days before he had been with Mrs. Dawson, +when a robin-redbreast flew into her room.' On the morning of +Saturday he told the same ladies that he was very well, and believed +he should 'BILK THE GHOST.' The dream has become an apparition! On +that day--Saturday--he, with the ladies, Fortescue, and Wolsley, +went to Pitt Place; he went to bed after eleven, ordered rolls for +breakfast, and, in bed, 'died without a groan,' as his servant was +disengaging him from his waistcoat. During dinner he had 'a rising +in his throat' (a slight sickness), 'a thing which had often +happened to him before.' His physician, Dr. Fothergill, vaguely +attributed his death to the rupture of some vessel in his side, +where he had felt a pain in summer. + +From this version we may glean that Lord Lyttelton was not himself +very certain whether his vision occurred when he was awake or +asleep. He is made to speak of a 'dream,' and even to account for +it in a probable way; but later he talks of 'bilking the GHOST.' +The editor of 'Notes and Queries' now tries to annihilate this +contemporary document by third-hand evidence, seventy years after +date. In 1851 or 1852 the late Dowager Lady Lyttelton, Sarah, +daughter of the second Earl Spencer, discussed the story with Mr. +Fortescue, a son of the Mr. Fortescue who was at Pitt Place, and +succeeded to the family title six years later, in 1785. The elder +Mr. Fortescue, in brief, is said to have averred that he had heard +nothing of the dream or prediction till 'some days after;' he, +therefore, was inclined to disbelieve in it. We have demonstrated, +however, that if Mr. Fortescue had heard nothing, yet the tale was +all over the town before Lord Lyttelton died. Nay, more, we have +contemporary proof that Mr. Fortescue HAD heard of the affair! +Lyttelton died at midnight on the Saturday, November 27. In her +diary for the following Tuesday (November 30), Lady Mary Coke says +that she has just heard the story of the 'dream' from Lady Bute, who +had it from Mr. Ross, WHO HAD IT FROM MR. FORTESCUE!* Mr. +Fortescue, then, must have told the tale as early as the Monday +after the fatal Saturday night. Yet in old age he seems to have +persuaded himself that the tale came later to his knowledge. Some +irrelevant, late, and fourth-hand versions will be found in 'Notes +and Queries,' but they merely illustrate the badness of such +testimony. + +*See The Letters and Journals of Lady Mary Coke, iii. 85. Note--She +speaks of 'a dream.' + +One trifle of contemporary evidence may be added: Mrs. Delany, on +December 9, 1779, wrote an account of the affair to her niece--here +a bird turns into a woman. + +In pursuit of evidence, it is a long way from 1780 to 1816. In +November of that year, T. J. wrote from Pitt Place, Epsom, in 'The +Gentleman's Magazine;' but his letter is dated 'January 6.' T. J. +has bought Pitt Place, and gives 'a copy of a document in writing, +left in the house' (where Lyttelton died) 'as an heirloom which may +be depended on.' This document begins, 'Lord Lyttelton's Dream and +Death (see Admiral Wolsley's account).' + +But where IS Admiral Wolsley's account? Is it in the archives of +Sir Charles Wolseley of Wolseley? Or is THIS (the Pitt Place +document) Admiral Wolsley's account? The anonymous author says that +he was one of the party at Pitt Place on November 27,1779, with +'Lord Fortescue,' 'Lady Flood,' and the two Misses Amphlett. +Consequently this account is written after 1785, when Mr. Fortescue +succeeded to his title. Lord Lyttelton, not long returned from +Ireland, had been suffering from 'suffocating fits' in the last +month. And THIS, not the purpose of suicide, was probably his +reason for executing his will. 'While in his house in Hill Street, +Berkeley Square, he DREAMT three days before his death he saw a bird +fluttering, and afterwards a woman appeared in white apparel, and +said, "Prepare to meet your death in three days." He was alarmed +and called his servant. On the third day, while at breakfast with +the above-named persons, he said, "I have jockeyed the ghost, as +this is the third day."' Coulton places this incident at 10 P.M. on +Saturday, and makes his lordship say, 'In two hours I shall jockey +the ghost.' 'The whole party set out for Pitt Place,' which +contradicts Coulton's statement that they set out on Friday, but +agrees with Lord Westcote's. 'They had not long arrived when he was +seized with a usual fit. Soon recovered. Dined at five. To bed at +eleven.' Then we hear how he rebuked his servant for stirring his +rhubarb 'with a tooth-pick' (a plausible touch), sent him for a +spoon, and was 'in a fit' on the man's return. 'The pillow being +high, his chin bore hard on his neck. Instead of relieving him, the +man ran for help: on his return found him dead.' + +This undated and unsigned document, by a person who professes to +have been present, is not, perhaps, very accurate in dates. The +phrase 'dreamt' is to be taken as the common-sense way of stating +that Lord Lyttelton had a vision of some sort. His lordship, who +spoke of 'jockeying the GHOST,' may have believed that he was awake +at the time, not dreaming; but no person of self-respect, in these +unpsychical days, could admit more than a dream. Perhaps this +remark also applies to Walpole's 'he dreamed.' The species of the +bird is left in the vague. + +Moving further from the event, to 1828, we find a book styled 'Past +Feelings Renovated,' a reply to Dr. Hibbert's 'Philosophy of +Apparitions.' The anonymous author is 'struck with the total +inadequacy of Dr. Hibbert's theory.' Among his stories he quotes +Wraxall's 'Memoirs.' In 1783, Wraxall dined at Pitt Place, and +visited 'the bedroom where the casement window at which Lord +Lyttelton asserted the DOVE appeared to flutter* was pointed out to +me.' Now the Pitt Place document puts the vision 'in Hill Street, +Berkeley Square.' So does Lord Westcote. Even a bird cannot be in +two places at once, and the 'Pitt Place Anonymous' does seem to know +what he is talking about. Of course Lord Lyttelton MAY have been at +Pitt Place on November 24, and had his dream there. He MAY have run +up to Hill Street on the 25th and delivered his speech, and MAY have +returned to Pitt Place on the Friday or Saturday.** But we have no +evidence for this view; and the Pitt Place document places the +vision in Hill Street. Wraxall adds that he has frequently seen a +painting of bird, ghost, and Lord Lyttelton, which was executed by +that nobleman's stepmother in 1780. It was done 'after the +description given to her by the valet de chambre who attended him, +to whom his master related all the circumstances.' + +*It was a ROBIN in 1779. +**Coulton says Friday; the Anonymous says Saturday, with Lord +Westcote. + +Our author of 1828 next produces the narrative by Lord Lyttelton's +widow, Mrs. Peach, who was so soon deserted. In 1828 she is 'now +alive, and resident in the south-west part of Warwickshire.' +According to Lady Lyttelton (who, of course, was not present), Lord +Lyttelton had gone to bed, whether in Hill Street or Pitt Place we +are not told. His candle was extinguished, when he heard 'a noise +resembling the fluttering of a bird at his chamber window. Looking +in the direction of the sound, he saw the figure of an unhappy +female, whom he had seduced and deserted, and who, when deserted, +had put a violent end to her own existence, standing in the aperture +of the window from which the fluttering sound had proceeded. The +form approached the foot of the bed: the room was preternaturally +light; the objects in the chamber were distinctly visible. The +figure pointed to a clock, and announced that Lord Lyttelton would +expire AT THAT VERY HOUR (twelve o'clock) in the third day after the +visitation.' + +We greatly prefer, as a good old-fashioned ghost story, this version +of Lady Lyttelton's. There is no real bird, only a fluttering +sound, as in the case of the Cock Lane Ghost, and many other +examples. The room is 'preternaturally light,' as in Greek and +Norse belief it should have been, and as it is in the best modern +ghost stories. Moreover, we have the raison d'etre of the ghost: +she had been a victim of the Chief Justice in Eyre. The touch about +the clock is in good taste. We did not know all that before. + +But, alas! our author of 1828, after quoting the Pitt Place +Anonymous, proceeds to tell, citing no named authority, that the +ghost was that of Mrs. Amphlett, mother of the two Misses Amphlett, +and of a third sister, in no way less distinguished than these by +his lordship. Now a ghost cannot be the ghost of two different +people. Moreover, Mrs. Amphlett lived (it is said) for years after. +However, Mrs. Amphlett has the preference if she 'died of grief at +the precise time when the female vision appeared to his lordship,' +which makes it odd that her daughters should then have been +revelling at Pitt Place under the chaperonage of Mrs. Flood. We are +also informed (on no authority) that Lord Lyttelton 'acknowledged' +the ghost to have been that of the injured mother of the three +Misses Amphlett. + +Let not the weary reader imagine that the catena of evidence ends +here! His lordship's own ghost did a separate stroke of business, +though only in the commonplace character of a deathbed wraith, or +'veridical hallucination.' + +Lord Lyttelton had a friend, we learn from 'Past Feelings Renovated' +(1828), a friend named Miles Peter Andrews. 'One night after Mr. +Andrews had left Pitt Place and gone to Dartford,' where he owned +powder-mills, his bed-curtains were pulled open and Lord Lyttelton +appeared before him in his robe de chambre and nightcap. Mr. +Andrews reproached him for coming to Dartford Mills in such a guise, +at such a time of night, and, 'turning to the other side of the bed, +rang the bell, when Lord Lyttelton had disappeared.' The house and +garden were searched in vain; and about four in the afternoon a +friend arrived at Dartford with tidings of his lordship's death. + +Here the reader with true common sense remarks that this second +ghost, Lord Lyttelton's own, does not appear in evidence till 1828, +fifty years after date, and then in an anonymous book, on no +authority. We have permitted to the reader this opportunity of +exercising his acuteness, while laying a little trap for him. It is +not in 1828 that Mr. Andrews's story first appears. We first find +it in December 1779--that is, in the month following the alleged +event. Mr. Andrews's experience, and the vision of Lord Lyttelton, +are both printed in 'The Scots Magazine,' December 1779, p. 650. +The account is headed 'A Dream,' and yet the author avers that Lord +Lyttelton was wide awake! This illustrates beautifully the fact on +which we insist, that 'dream' is eighteenth-century English for +ghost, vision, hallucination, or what you will. + +'Lord Lyttelton,' says the contemporary 'Scots Magazine,' 'started +up from a midnight sleep on perceiving a bird fluttering near the +bed-curtains, which vanished suddenly when a female spirit in white +raiment presented herself' and prophesied Lord Lyttelton's death in +three days. His death is attributed to convulsions while +undressing. + +The 'dream' of Mr. Andrews (according to 'The Scots Magazine' of +December 1779)* occurred at Dartford in Kent, on the night of +November 27. It represented Lord Lyttelton drawing his bed- +curtains, and saying, 'It is all over,' or some such words. + +*The magazine appeared at the end of December. + +This Mr. Andrews had been a drysalter. He made a large fortune, +owned the powder-mills at Dartford, sat in Parliament, wrote plays +which had some success, and was thought a good fellow in raffish +society. Indeed, the society was not always raffish. In 'Notes and +Queries' (December 26, 1874) H. S. says that his mother, daughter of +Sir George Prescott, often met Mr. Andrews at their house, Theobalds +Park, Herts. He was extremely agreeable, and, if pressed, would +tell his little anecdote of November 27, 1779. + +This proof that the Andrews tale is contemporary has led us away +from the description of the final scene, given in 'Past Feelings +Renovated,' by the person who brought the news to Mr. Andrews. His +version includes a trick played with the watches and clocks. All +were set on half an hour; the valet secretly made the change in Lord +Lyttelton's own timepiece. His lordship thus went to bed, as he +thought, at 11.30, really at eleven o'clock, as in the Pitt Place +document. At about twelve o'clock, midnight, the valet rushed in +among the guests, who were discussing the odd circumstances, and +said that his master was at the point of death. Lord Lyttelton had +kept looking at his watch, and at a quarter past twelve (by his +chronometer and his valet's) he remarked, 'This mysterious lady is +not a true prophetess, I find.' The real hour was then a quarter to +twelve. At about half-past twelve, by HIS watch, twelve by the real +time, he asked for his physic. The valet went into the dressing- +room to prepare it (to fetch a spoon by other versions), when he +heard his master 'breathing very hard.' 'I ran to him, and found +him in the agonies of death.' + +There is something rather plausible in this narrative, +corresponding, as it does, with the Pitt Place document, in which +the valet, finding his master in a fit, leaves him and seeks +assistance, instead of lowering his head that he might breathe more +easily. Like the other, this tale makes suicide a most improbable +explanation of Lord Lyttelton's death. The affair of the watches is +dramatic, but not improbable in itself. A correspondent of 'The +Gentleman's Magazine' (in 1815) only cites 'a London paper' as his +authority. The writer of 'Past Feelings Renovated' (1828) adds that +Mr. Andrews could never again be induced to sleep at Pitt Place, +but, when visiting there, always lay at the Spread Eagle, in Epsom. + +Let us now tabulate our results. + +At Pitt Place, Epsom, +or Hill Street, Berkeley Square, +On November 24, +Lord Lyttelton +Dreamed of, +or saw, +A young woman and a robin. +A bird which became a woman. +A dove and a woman. +Mrs. Amphlett (without a dove or robin). +Some one else unknown. + +In one variant, a clock and a preternatural light are thrown in, +with a sermon which it were superfluous to quote. In another we +have the derangement of clocks and watches. Lord Lyttelton's +stepmother believed in the dove. Lady Lyttelton did without a dove, +but admitted a fluttering sound. + +For causes of death we have--heart disease (a newspaper), breaking +of a blood-vessel (Mason), suicide (Coulton), and 'a suffocating +fit' (Pitt Place document). The balance is in favour of a +suffocating fit, and is against suicide. On the whole, if we follow +the Pitt Place Anonymous (writing some time after the event, for he +calls Mr. Fortescue 'Lord Fortescue'), we may conclude that Lord +Lyttelton had been ill for some time. The making of his will +suggests a natural apprehension on his part, rather than a purpose +of suicide. There was a lively impression of coming death on his +mind, but how it was made--whether by a dream, an hallucination, or +what not--there is no good evidence to show. + +There is every reason to believe, on the Pitt Place evidence, +combined with the making of his will, that Lord Lyttelton had +really, for some time, suffered from alarming attacks of +breathlessness, due to what cause physicians may conjecture. Any +one of these fits, probably, might cause death, if the obvious +precaution of freeing the head and throat from encumbrances were +neglected; and the Pitt Place document asserts that the frightened +valet DID neglect it. Again, that persons under the strong +conviction of approaching death will actually die is proved by many +examples. Even Dr. Hibbert says that 'no reasonable doubt can be +placed on the authenticity of the narrative' of Miss Lee's death, +'as it was drawn up by the Bishop of Gloucester' (Dr. William +Nicholson) 'from the recital of the young lady's father,' Sir +Charles Lee. Every one knows the tale. In a preternatural light, +in a midnight chamber, Miss Lee saw a woman, who proclaimed herself +Miss Lee's dead mother, 'and that by twelve o'clock of the day she +should be with her.' So Miss Lee died in her chair next day, on the +stroke of noon, and Dr. Hibbert rather heartlessly calls this 'a +fortunate circumstance.' + +The Rev. Mr. Fison, in 'Kamilaroi and Kurnai,' gives, from his own +experience, similar tales of death following alleged ghostly +warnings, among Fijians and Australian blacks. Lord Lyttelton's +uneasiness and apprehension are conspicuous in all versions; his +dreams had long been troubled, his health had caused him anxiety, +the 'warning' (whatever it may have been) clinched the matter, and +he died a perfectly natural death. + +Mr. Coulton, omitting Walpole's statement that he 'looked ill,' and +never alluding to the Pitt Place description of his very alarming +symptoms, but clinging fondly to his theory of Junius, perorates +thus: 'Not Dante, or Milton, or Shakespeare himself, could have +struck forth a finer conception than Junius, in the pride of rank, +wealth, and dignities, raised to the Council table of the sovereign +he had so foully slandered--yet sick at heart and deeply stained +with every profligacy--terminating his career by deliberate self- +murder, with every accompaniment of audacious charlatanry that could +conceal the crime.' + +It is magnificent, it is worthy of Dante, or Shakespeare himself-- +but the conception is Mr. Coulton's. + +We do not think that we have provided what Dr. Johnson 'liked,' +'evidence for the spiritual world.' Nor have we any evidence +explanatory of the precise nature of Lord Lyttelton's hallucination. +The problem of the authorship of the 'Junius Letters' is a malstrom +into which we decline to be drawn. + +But it is fair to observe that all the discrepancies in the story of +the 'warning' are not more numerous, nor more at variance with each +other, than remote hearsay reports of any ordinary occurrence are +apt to be. And we think it is plain that, if Lord Lyttelton WAS +Junius, Mr. Coulton had no right to allege that Junius went and +hanged himself, or, in any other way, was guilty of self-murder. + + + +VI. THE MYSTERY OF AMY ROBSART + + + +1. HISTORICAL CONFUSIONS AS TO EVENTS BEFORE AMY'S DEATH + +Let him who would weep over the tribulations of the historical +inquirer attend to the tale of the Mystery of Amy Robsart! + +The student must dismiss from his memory all that he recollects of +Scott's 'Kenilworth.' Sir Walter's chivalrous motto was 'No scandal +about Queen Elizabeth,' 'tis blazoned on his title-page. To avoid +scandal, he calmly cast his narrative at a date some fifteen years +after Amy Robsart's death, brought Amy alive, and represented Queen +Elizabeth as ignorant of her very existence. He might, had he +chosen, have proved to his readers that, as regards Amy Robsart and +her death, Elizabeth was in a position almost as equivocal as was +Mary Stuart in regard to the murder of Darnley. Before the murder +of Darnley we do not hear one word to suggest that Mary was in love +with Bothwell. For many months before the death of Amy (Lady Robert +Dudley), we hear constant reports that Elizabeth has a love affair +with Lord Robert, and that Amy is to be divorced or murdered. When +Darnley is killed, a mock investigation acquits Bothwell, and Mary +loads him with honours and rewards. When Amy dies mysteriously, a +coroner's inquest, deep in the country, is held, and no records of +its proceedings can be found. Its verdict is unknown. After a +brief tiff, Elizabeth restores Lord Robert to favour. + +After Darnley's murder, Mary's ambassador in France implores her to +investigate the matter with all diligence. After Amy's death, +Elizabeth's ambassador in France implores her to investigate the +matter with all diligence. Neither lady listens to her loyal +servant, indeed Mary could not have pursued the inquiry, however +innocent she might have been. Elizabeth could! In three months +after Darnley's murder, Mary married Bothwell. In two months after +Amy's death Cecil told (apparently) the Spanish ambassador that +Elizabeth had married Lord Robert Dudley. But this point, we shall +see, is dubious. + +There the parallel ceases, for, in all probability, Lord Robert was +not art and part in Amy's death, and, whatever Elizabeth may have +done in private, she certainly did not publicly espouse Lord Robert. +A Scot as patriotic as, but less chivalrous than, Sir Walter might, +however, have given us a romance of Cumnor Place in which Mary would +have been avenged on 'her sister and her foe.' He abstained, but +wove a tale so full of conscious anachronisms that we must dismiss +it from our minds. + +Amy Robsart was the only daughter of Sir John Robsart and his wife +Elizabeth, nee Scot, and widow of Roger Appleyard, a man of good old +Norfolk family. This Roger Appleyard, dying on June 8, 1528, left a +son and heir, John, aged less than two years. His widow, Elizabeth, +had the life interest in his four manors, and, as we saw, she +married Sir John Robsart, and by him became the mother of Amy, who +had also a brother on the paternal side, Arthur Robsart, whether +legitimately born or not.* Both these brothers play a part in the +sequel of the mystery. Lord Robert Dudley, son of John, Duke of +Northumberland, and grandson of the Dudley who, with Empson, was so +unpopular under Henry VII., was about seventeen or eighteen when he +married Amy Robsart--herself perhaps a year older--on June 4, 1550. +At that time his father was Earl of Warwick; the wedding is +chronicled in the diary of the child king, Edward VI.** + +*Mr. Walter Rye in The Murder of Amy Robsart, Norwich and London, +1885, makes Arthur a bastard. Mr. Pettigrew, in An Inquiry into the +Particulars connected with the Death of Amy Robsart (London, 1859), +represents Arthur as legitimate. +**Mr. Rye dates the marriage in 1550. Rye, pp. 5, 36, cf. Edward +VI.'s Diary, Clarendon Society. Mr. Froude cites the date, June 4, +1549, from Burnet's Collectanea, Froude, vi. p. 422, note 2 (1898), +being misled by Old Style; Edward VI. notes the close of 1549 on +March 24. + +Amy, as the daughter of a rich knight, was (at least if we regard +her brother Arthur as a bastard) a considerable heiress. Robert +Dudley was a younger son. Probably the match was a family +arrangement, but Mr. Froude says 'it was a love match.' His reason +for this assertion seems to rest on a misunderstanding. In 1566-67, +six years after Amy's death, Cecil drew up a list of the merits and +demerits of Dudley (by that time Earl of Leicester) and of the +Archduke Charles, as possible husbands of Elizabeth. Among other +points is noted by Cecil, 'Likelihood to Love his Wife.' As to the +Archduke, Cecil takes a line through his father, who 'hath been +blessed with multitude of children.' As to Leicester, Cecil writes +'Nuptiae carnales a laetitia incipiunt, et in luctu terminantur'-- +'Weddings of passion begin in joy and end in grief.' This is not a +reference, as Mr. Froude thought, to the marriage of Amy and Dudley, +it is merely a general maxim, applicable to a marriage between +Elizabeth and Leicester. The Queen, according to accounts from all +quarters, had a physical passion or caprice for Leicester. The +marriage, if it occurred, would be nuptiae carnales, and as such, in +Cecil's view, likely to end badly, while the Queen and the Archduke +(the alternative suitor) had never seen each other and could not be +'carnally' affectionate.* + +*Froude, ut supra, note 3. + +We do not know, in short, whether Dudley and Amy were in love with +each other or not. Their marriage, Cecil says, was childless. + +Concerning the married life of Dudley and Amy very little is known. +When he was a prisoner in the Tower under Mary Tudor, Amy was +allowed to visit him. She lost her father, Sir John, in 1553. Two +undated letters of Amy's exist: one shows that she was trusted by +her husband in the management of his affairs (1556-57) and that both +he and she were anxious to act honourably by some poor persons to +whom money was due.* The other is to a woman's tailor, and, though +merely concerned with gowns and collars, is written in a style of +courteous friendliness.** Both letters, in orthography and +sentiment, do credit to Amy's education and character. There is +certainly nothing vague or morbid or indicative of an unbalanced +mind in these poor epistles. + +*Pettigrew, 14, note 1. +**Jackson, Nineteenth Century, March 1882, A Longleat MS. + +When Elizabeth came to the throne (1558) she at once made Dudley +Master of the Horse, a Privy Councillor, and a Knight of the Garter. +His office necessarily caused him to be in constant attendance on +the royal person, and the Knighthood of the Garter proves that he +stood in the highest degree of favour. + +For whatever reason, whether from distaste for Court life, or +because of the confessed jealousy with which the Queen regarded the +wives of her favourites--of all men, indeed--Amy did not come to +Court. About 1558-59 she lived mainly at the country house of the +Hydes of Detchworth, not far from Abingdon. Dudley seems to have +paid several visits to the Hydes, his connections; this is proved by +entries in his household books of sums of money for card-playing +there.* It is also certain that Amy at that date, down to the end +of 1559, travelled about freely, to London and many other places; +that she had twelve horses at her service; and that, as late as +March 1560 (when resident with Dudley's comptroller, Forster, at +Cumnor Place) she was buying a velvet hat and shoes. In brief, +though she can have seen but little of her husband, she was +obviously at liberty, lived till 1560 among honourable people, her +connections, and, in things material, wanted for nothing.** Yet Amy +cannot but have been miserable by 1560. The extraordinary favour in +which Elizabeth held her lord caused the lewdest stories to spread +among all classes, from the circle of the Court to the tattle of +country folk in Essex and Devonshire.*** + +*Jackson, ut supra. +**For details see Canon Jackson's 'Amy Robsart,' Nineteenth Century, +vol. xi. Canon Jackson used documents in the possession of the +Marquis of Bath, at Longleat. +***Cal. Dom. Eliz. p. 157, August 13, 1560; also Hatfield Calendar. + +News of this kind is certain to reach the persons concerned. + +Our chief authority for the gossip about Elizabeth and Dudley is to +be found in the despatches of the Spanish ambassadors to their +master, Philip of Spain. The fortunes of Western Europe, perhaps of +the Church herself, hung on Elizabeth's marriage and on the +succession to the English throne. The ambassadors, whatever their +other failings, were undoubtedly loyal to Philip and to the Church, +and they were not men to be deceived by the gossip of every +gobemouche. The command of money gave them good intelligence, they +were fair judges of evidence, and what they told Philip was what +they regarded as well worthy of his attention. They certainly were +not deceiving Philip. + +The evidence of the Spanish ambassadors, as men concerned to find +out the truth and to tell it, is therefore of the highest +importance. They are not writing mere amusing chroniques +scandaleuses of the court to which they are accredited, as +ambassadors have often done, and what they hear is sometimes so bad +that they decline to put it on paper. They are serious and wary men +of the world. Unhappily their valuable despatches, now in 'the +Castilian village of Simancas,' reach English inquirers in the most +mangled and garbled condition. Major Martin Hume, editor of the +Spanish Calendar (1892), tells us in the Introduction to the first +volume of this official publication how the land lies. Not to speak +of the partial English translation (1865) of Gonzales's partial +summary of the despatches (Madrid, 1832) we have the fruits of the +labours of Mr. Froude. He visited Simancas, consulted the original +documents, and 'had a large number of copies and extracts made.' +These extracts and transcripts Mr. Froude deposited in the British +Museum. These transcripts, compared with the portions translated in +Mr. Froude's great book, enable us to understand the causes of +certain confusions in Amy Robsart's mystery. Mr. Froude practically +aimed at giving the gist, as he conceived it, of the original papers +of the period, which he rendered with freedom, and in his +captivating style--foreign to the perplexed prolixity of the actual +writers. But, in this process, points of importance might be +omitted; and, in certain cases, words from letters of other dates +appear to have been inserted by Mr. Froude, to clear up the +situation. The result is not always satisfactory. + +Next, from 1886 onwards, the Spanish Government published five +volumes of the correspondence of Philip with his ambassadors at the +English Court.* These papers Major Hume was to condense and edit +for our official publication, the Spanish State Papers, in the +series of the Master of the Rolls. But Major Hume found the papers +in the Spanish official publication in a deplorably unedited state. +Copyists and compositors 'seem to have had a free hand.' Major Hume +therefore compared the printed Spanish texts, where he could, with +Mr. Froude's transcripts of the same documents in the Museum, and +the most important letter in this dark affair, in our Spanish +Calendar, follows incorrectly Mr. Froude's transcript, NOT the +original document, which is not printed in 'Documentos Ineditos.'** +Thus, Major Hume's translation differs from Mr. Froude's +translation, which, again, differs from Mr. Gairdner's translation +of the original text as published by the Baron Kervyn de +Lettenhove.*** + +*Documentos Ineditos para la Historia de Espana. Ginesta, Madrid, +1886. +**Spanish Calendar, vol. i. p. iv. Mr. Gairdner says, 'Major Hume +in preparing his first volume, he informs me, took transcripts from +Simancas of all the direct English correspondence,' but for letters +between England and Flanders used Mr. Froude's transcripts. +Gairdner, English Historical Review, January 1898, note 1. +***Relations Politiques des Pays-Bas et de l'Anqleterre sous le +Regne de Philippe II. vol. ii. pp. 529-533. Brussels, 1883. + +The amateur of truth, being now fully apprised of the 'hazards' +which add variety to the links of history, turns to the Spanish +Calendar for the reports of the ambassadors. He reaches April 18, +1559, when de Feria says: 'Lord Robert has come so much into favour +that he does whatever he likes with affairs, and it is even said +that her Majesty visits him in his chamber day and night. People +talk of this so freely that they go so far as to say that his wife +has a malady in one of her breasts and the Queen is only waiting for +her to die to marry Lord Robert.' + +De Feria therefore suggests that Philip might come to terms with +Lord Robert. Again, on April 29, 1559, de Feria writes (according +to the Calendar): 'Sometimes she' (Elizabeth) 'appears to want to +marry him' (Archduke Ferdinand) 'and speaks like a woman who will +only accept a great prince, and then they say she is in love with +Lord Robert, and never lets him leave her.' De Feria has reason to +believe that 'she will never bear children'* + +Sp. Cal. i. pp. 57, 58, 63; Doc. Ineditos, 87, 171, 180. + +Mr. Froude combines these two passages in one quotation, putting the +second part (of April 29) first, thus: 'They tell me that she is +enamoured of my Lord Robert Dudley, and will never let him leave her +side. HE OFFERS ME HIS SERVICES IN BEHALF OF THE ARCH DUKE, BUT I +DOUBT WHETHER IT WILL BE WELL TO USE THEM. He is in such favour +that people say she visits him in his chamber day and night. Nay, +it is even reported that his wife has a cancer on her breast, and +that the Queen waits only till she die to marry him.'* + +*Froude, vi. p. 199. De Feria to Philip, April 28 and April 29. +MS. Simancas, cf. Documentos Ineditos, pp. 87, 171, 180, ut supra. + +The sentence printed in capitals cannot be found by me in either of +de Feria's letters quoted by Mr. Froude, but the sense of it occurs +in a letter written at another date. Mr. Froude has placed, in his +quotation, first a sentence of the letter of April 29, then a +sentence not in either letter (as far as the Calendar and printed +Spanish documents show), then sentences from the letter of April 18. +He goes on to remark that the marriage of Amy and Dudley 'was a love +match of a doubtful kind,' about which we have, as has been shown, +no information whatever. Such are the pitfalls which strew the path +of inquiry. + +One thing is plain, a year and a half before her death Amy was +regarded as a person who would be 'better dead,' and Elizabeth was +said to love Dudley, on whom she showered honours and gifts. + +De Feria, in the summer of 1559, was succeeded as ambassador by de +Quadra, bishop of Aquila. Dudley and his sister, Lady Sidney +(mother of Sir Philip Sidney), now seemed to favour Spanish +projects, but (November 13) de Quadra writes: 'I heard from a +certain person who is accustomed to give veracious news that Lord +Robert has sent to poison his wife. Certainly all the Queen has +done with us and with the Swede, and will do with the rest in the +matter of her marriage, is only keeping Lord Robert's enemies and +the country engaged with words until this wicked deed of killing his +wife is consummated.' The enemies of Dudley included the Duke of +Norfolk, and most of the nation. There was talk of a plot to +destroy both Dudley and the Queen. 'The Duke and the rest of them +cannot put up with Lord Robert's being king.'* Further, and later, +on January 16, 1560 (Amy being now probably at Cumnor), de Quadra +writes to de Feria that Baron Preyner, a German diplomatist, will +tell him what he knows of the poison for the wife of Milort Robert +(Dudley), 'an important story and necessary to be known.'** Thus +between November 1559 and January 1560, the talk is that Amy shall +be poisoned, and this tale runs round the Courts of Europe. + +*Sp. Cal. i. pp. 112-114. +**Relations Politiques, Lettenhove, ii. p. 187. + +Mr. Froude gives, what the Calendar does not, a letter of de Quadra +to de Feria and the Bishop of Arras (January 15, 1560). 'In Lord +Robert it is easy to recognise the king that is to be. . . There is +not a man who does not cry out on him and her with indignation.'* +'She will marry none but the favoured Robert.'** On March 7, 1560, +de Quadra tells de Feria: 'Not a man in this country but cries out +that this fellow' (Dudley) 'is ruining the country with his +vanity.'*** 'Is ruining the country AND THE QUEEN,' is in the +original Spanish. + +*Froude, vi. p. 311. +**Relations Politiques, ii. 87, 183, 184. +***Sp. Cal. i. p. 133. Major Hume translates the text of Mr. +Froude's transcript in the British Museum. It is a mere fragment; +in 1883 the whole despatch was printed by Baron Kervyn de +Lettenhove. + +On March 28 (Calendar), on March 27 (Froude) de Quadra wrote to +Philip--(Calendar)--,'I have understood Lord Robert told somebody, +who has not kept silence, that if he live another year he will be in +a very different position from now. He is laying in a good stock of +arms, and is assuming every day a more masterful part in affairs. +They say that he thinks of divorcing his wife.'* So the Calendar. +Mr. Froude condenses his Spanish author THUS:** 'Lord Robert says +that if he lives a year he will be in another position from that +which he at present holds. Every day he presumes more and more, and +it is now said that he means to divorce his wife.' From the +evidence of the Spanish ambassadors, it is clear that an insurance +office would only have accepted Amy Robsart's life, however +excellent her health, at a very high premium. Her situation was +much like that of Darnley in the winter of 1566-67, when 'every one +in Scotland who had the smallest judgment' knew that 'he could not +long continue,' that his doom was dight. + +*Sp. Cal. i, p. 141. +**Froude, vi. p. 340. + +Meanwhile, through the winter, spring, and early summer of 1560, +diplomatists and politicians were more concerned about the war of +the Congregation against Mary of Guise in Scotland, with the English +alliance with the Scottish Protestant rebels, with the siege of +Leith, and with Cecil's negotiations resulting in the treaty of +Edinburgh, than even with Elizabeth's marriage, and her dalliance +with Dudley. + +All this time, Amy was living at Cumnor Place, about three miles +from Oxford. Precisely at what date she took up her abode there is +not certain, probably about the time when de Quadra heard that Lord +Robert had sent to poison his wife, the November of 1559. Others +say in March 1560. The house was rented from a Dr. Owen by Anthony +Forster. This gentleman was of an old and good family, well known +since the time of Edward I.; his wife also, Ann Williams, daughter +of Reginald Williams of Burghfield, Berks, was a lady of excellent +social position. Forster himself had estates in several counties, +and obtained many grants of land after Amy's death. He died in +1572, leaving a very equitable distribution of his properties; +Cumnor he bought from Dr. Owen soon after the death of Amy. In his +bequests he did not forget the Master, Fellows, and Scholars of +Balliol.* There is nothing suspicious about Forster, who was +treasurer or comptroller of Leicester's household expenses: in +writing, Leicester signs himself 'your loving Master.' At Cumnor +Place also lived Mrs. Owen, wife of Dr. Owen, the owner of the +house, and physician to the Queen. There was, too, a Mrs. +Oddingsell, of respectable family, one of the Hydes of Denchworth. +That any or all of these persons should be concerned in abetting or +shielding a murder seems in the highest degree improbable. Cumnor +Place was in no respect like Kirk o' Field, as regards the character +of its inhabitants. It was, however, a lonely house, and, on the +day of Amy's death, her own servants (apparently by her own desire) +were absent. And Amy, like Darnley, was found dead on a Sunday +night, no man to this day knowing the actual cause of death in +either case. + +*Pettigrew, pp. 19-22. + +Here it may be well to consider the version of the tragedy as +printed, twenty-four years after the event, by the deadly enemies of +Lord Robert, now Earl of Leicester. This is the version which, many +years later, aided by local tradition, was used in Ashmole's account +in his 'History and Antiquities of Berkshire,' while Sir Walter +employed Ashmole's account as the basis of his romance. We find the +PRINTED copy of the book usually known as 'Leicester's Commonwealth' +dated 1584, but probably it had been earlier circulated in +manuscript copies, of which several exist.* It purports to be a +letter written by a M.A. of Cambridge to a friend in London, +containing 'some talk passed of late' about Leicester. Doubtless it +DOES represent the talk against Leicester that had been passing, at +home and abroad, ever since 1560. Such talk, after twenty years, +could not be accurate. The point of the writer is that Leicester is +lucky in the deaths of inconvenient people. Thus, when he was 'in +full hope to marry' the Queen 'he did but send his wife aside, to +the house of his servant, Forster of Cumnor, by Oxford, where +shortly after she had the chance to fall from a pair of stairs, and +so to break her neck, but yet without hurting of her hood, that +stood upon her head.' Except for the hood, of which we know +nothing, all this is correct. In the next sentence we read: 'But +Sir Richard Verney, who, by commandment, remained with her that day +alone, with one man only, and had sent away perforce all her +servants from her, to a market two miles off, he, I say, with his +man, can tell how she died.' The man was privily killed in prison, +where he lay for another offence, because he 'offered to publish' +the fact; and Verney, about the same time, died in London, after +raving about devils 'to a gentleman of worship of mine +acquaintance.' 'The wife also of Bald Buttler, kinsman to my Lord, +gave out the whole fact a little before her death.' + +*Pettigrew, pp. 9, 10. + +Verney, and the man, are never mentioned in contemporary papers: +two Mrs. Buttelars were mourners at Amy's funeral. Verney is +obscure: Canon Jackson argues that he was of the Warwickshire +Verneys; Mr. Rye holds that he was of the Bucks and Herts Verneys, +connections of the Dudleys. But, finding a Richard Verney made +sheriff of Warwick and Leicester in 1562, Mr. Rye absurdly says: +'The former county being that in which the murder was committed,' he +'was placed in the position to suppress any unpleasant rumours.'* +Amy died, of course, in Berkshire, not in Warwickshire. A Richard +Verney, not the Warwickshire Sir Richard, according to Mr. Rye, on +July 30, 1572, became Marshal of the Marshalsea, 'when John +Appleyard, Amy's half-brother, was turned out.' This Verney died +before November 15, 1575. + +*Rye, p. 55. + +Of Appleyard we shall hear plenty: Leicester had favoured him (he +was Leicester's brother-in-law), and he turned against his patron on +the matter of Amy's death. Probably the Richard Verney who died in +1575 was the Verney aimed at in 'Leicester's Commonwealth.' He was a +kind of retainer of Dudley, otherwise he would not have been +selected by the author of the libel. But we know nothing to prove +that he was at Cumnor on September 8, 1560. + +The most remarkable point in the libel avers that Leicester's first +idea was to poison Amy. This had been asserted by de Quadra as +early as November 1559. The libel avers that the conspirators, +'seeing the good lady sad and heavy,' asked Dr. Bayly, of Oxford, +for a potion, which they 'would fetch from Oxford upon his +prescription, meaning to have added also somewhat of their own for +her comfort.' Bayly was a Fellow of New College; in 1558 was one of +the proctors; in 1561 was Queen's Professor of Physic, and was a +highly reputable man.* He died in 1592. Thus Bayly, if he chose, +could have contradicted the printed libel of 1584, which avers that +he refused to prescribe for Amy, 'misdoubting (as he after reported) +lest if they poisoned her under the name of his potion, he might +after have been hanged for a cover of their sin.' + +*Pettigrew, p. 17, citing Wood's Ath. Ox. i. P. 586 (Bliss). + +Nothing was more natural and innocent than that Bayly should be +asked to prescribe, if Amy was ill. Nothing could be more audacious +than to print this tale about him, while he lived to contradict it. +But it seems far from improbable that Bayly did, for the reasons +given, refuse to prescribe for Amy, seeing (as the libel says) 'the +small need which the good lady had of physic.' + +FOR THIS VERY REFUSAL BY BAYLY WOULD ACCOUNT FOR THE INFORMATION +GIVEN BY CECIL TO DE QUADRA ON THE DAY OF AMY'S DEATH. AND IT IS +NOT EASY TO EXPLAIN THE SOURCE OF CECIL'S INFORMATION IN ANY OTHER +WAY. + +We now reach the crucial point at which historical blunders and +confusions have been most maddeningly prevalent. Mr. Pettigrew, +writing in 1859, had no knowledge of Cecil's corroboration of the +story of the libel--Amy in no need of physic, and the intention to +poison her. Mr. Froude, however, published in his History a +somewhat erroneous version of de Quadra's letter about Cecil's +revelations, and Mr. Rye (1885) accused Dudley on the basis of Mr. +Froude's version.* + +*Froude, vi. pp. 417-421. + +Mr. Froude, then, presents a letter from de Quadra of September 11, +1560, to the Duchess of Parma, governing the Netherlands from +Brussels, 'this being the nearest point from which he could receive +instructions. The despatches were then forwarded to Philip.' He +dates de Quadra's letter at the top, 'London, September 1l.' The +real date is, at the foot of the last page, 'Windsor, September 11.' +Omitting the first portion of the letter, except the first sentence +(which says that fresh and important events have occurred since the +writer's last letter), Mr. Froude makes de Quadra write: 'On the +third of THIS month' (September 1560) 'the Queen spoke to me about +her marriage with the Arch Duke. She said she had made up her mind +to marry and that the Arch Duke was to be the man. She has just now +told me drily that she does not intend to marry, and that it cannot +be.' + +When, we ask, is 'just now'? + +Mr. Froude goes on: 'After my conversation with the Queen, I met +the Secretary, Cecil, whom I knew to be in disgrace. Lord Robert, I +was aware, was endeavouring to deprive him of his place.' Briefly, +Cecil said to de Quadra that he thought of retiring, that ruin was +coming on the Queen 'through her intimacy with Lord Robert. The +Lord Robert had made himself master of the business of the State and +of the person of the Queen, to the extreme injury of the realm, with +the intention of marrying her, and she herself was shutting herself +up in the palace to the peril of her health and life.' Cecil begged +de Quadra to remonstrate with the Queen. After speaking of her +finances, Cecil went on, in Mr. Froude's version: 'Last of all he +said they were thinking of destroying Lord Robert's wife. THEY HAD +GIVEN OUT THAT SHE WAS ILL; BUT SHE WAS NOT ILL AT ALL; SHE WAS VERY +WELL, AND WAS TAKING CARE NOT TO BE POISONED . . . .' [The capitals +are mine.] + +This is the very state of things reported in 'Leicester's +Commonwealth.' Cecil may easily have known the circumstances, if, +as stated in that libel, Bayly had been consulted, had found Amy 'in +no need of physic,' and had refused to prescribe. Bayly would blab, +and Cecil had spies everywhere to carry the report: the extent and +precision of his secret service are well known. Cecil added some +pious remarks. God would not permit the crime. Mr. Froude goes on: +'The day after this conversation, the Queen on her return from +hunting told me that Lord Robert's wife was dead or nearly so, and +begged me to say nothing about it.' After some political +speculations, the letter, in Froude, ends, 'Since this was written +the death of Lord Robert's wife has been given out publicly. The +Queen said in Italian "Que si ha rotto il collo" ["that she has +broken her neck"]. It appears that she fell down a staircase.' + +Mr. Froude, after disposing of the ideas that de Quadra lied, or +that Cecil spoke 'in mere practice or diplomatic trickery,' remarks: +'Certain it is that on September 8, at the time, or within a day of +the time, when Cecil told the Spanish ambassador that there was a +plot to kill her, Anne Dudley [Anne or Amy] was found dead at the +foot of a staircase.' This must be true, for the Queen told de +Quadra, PRIVATELY, 'on the day after' Cecil unbosomed himself. The +fatal news, we know, reached Windsor on September 9, we do not know +at what hour. The Queen told de Quadra probably on September 9. If +the news arrived late (and Dudley's first letter on the subject is +'IN THE EVENING' of September 9), Elizabeth may have told de Quadra +on the morning of September 10. + +The inferences were drawn (by myself and others) that Elizabeth had +told de Quadra, on September 3, 'the third of THIS month' (as Mr. +Froude, by a slip of the pen, translates 'a tres del passado'), that +she would marry the Arch Duke; that Cecil spoke to de Quadra on the +same day, and that 'the day after this conversation' (September 4) +the Queen told de Quadra that Amy 'was dead or nearly so.' The +presumption would be that the Queen spoke of Amy's death FOUR DAYS +BEFORE IT OCCURRED, and a very awkward position, in that case, would +be the Queen's. Guilty foreknowledge would be attributed to her. +This is like the real situation if Dr. Ernst Bekker is right.* Dr. +Bekker, knowing from the portion of de Quadra's letter omitted by +Mr. Froude, that he reached the Court at Windsor on September 6, +1560, supposes that he had interviews with Elizabeth and Cecil on +that day, and that Elizabeth, prematurely, announced to him Amy's +death, next day, on September 7. But Mr. Gairdner has proved that +this scheme of dates is highly improbable. + +*Elizabeth and Leicester, Giesener Studien auf dem Gebiet der +Geschichte, v p.48. Giesen, 1890. + +In the 'English Historical Review,'* Mr. Gairdner, examining the +question, used Mr. Froude's transcripts in the British Museum, and +made some slight corrections in his translation, but omitted to note +the crucial error of the 'third of THIS month ' for 'the third of +LAST month.' This was in 1886. Mr. Gairdner's arguments as to +dates were unconvincing, in this his first article. But in 1892 the +letter of de Quadra was retranslated from Mr. Froude's transcript, +in the Spanish Calendar (i. pp. 174-176). The translation was again +erroneous, 'THE QUEEN HAD PROMISED ME AN ANSWER ABOUT THE SPANISH +MARRIAGE BY THE THIRD INSTANT' (September 3), 'but now she coolly +tells me she cannot make up her mind, and will not marry.' This is +all unlike Mr. Froude's 'On the third of this month the Queen spoke +to me about her marriage WITH THE ARCH DUKE. SHE SAID THAT SHE HAD +MADE UP HER MIND TO MARRY AND THAT THE ARCH DUKE WAS TO BE THE MAN.' +There is, in fact, in Mr. Froude's copy of the original Spanish, not +a word about the Arch Duke, nor is there in Baron Lettenhove's text. +The remark has crept in from an earlier letter of de Quadra, of +August 4, 1560.** But neither is there anything about 'promising an +answer by the third instant,' as in the Calendar; and there is +nothing at all about 'the third instant,' or (as in Mr. Froude) 'the +third of this month.' + +*No. 2, April 1886, pp. 235-259. +**Spanish Calendar, i. pp. 171-174. + +The Queen's character has thus suffered, and the whole controversy +has been embroiled. In 1883, three years before the appearance of +Mr. Gairdner's article of 1886, nine years before the Calendar +appeared, the correct version of de Quadra's letter of September 11, +1560, had been published by Baron Kervyn de Lettenhove in his +'Relations Politiques des Pays-Bas et de l'Angleterre sous le Regne +de Philippe II' (vol. ii. pp. 529, 533). In 1897, Mr. Gairdner's +attention was called to the state of affairs by the article, already +cited, of Dr. Ernst Bekker. Mr. Gairdner then translated the +Belgian printed copy of de Quadra's letter, with comments.* + +*English Historical Review, January 1898, pp. 83-90. + +Matters now became clear. Mr. Froude's transcript and translation +had omitted all the first long paragraph of the letter, which proved +that de Quadra went to Windsor, to the Court, on September 6. Next, +the passage about 'the third of THIS month' really runs 'I showed +her much dissatisfaction about her marriage, in [on?] which on the +third of LAST month [August] she had told me she was already +resolved and that she assuredly meant to marry. Now she has coolly +told me that she cannot make up her mind, and that she does not +intend to marry.' (Mr. Gairdner's translation, 1898.) So the blot +on the Queen's scutcheon as to her foreknowledge and too previous +announcement of Amy's death disappears. But how did Mr. Gairdner, +in 1886, using Mr. Froude's transcript of the original Spanish, fail +to see that it contained no Arch Duke, and no 'third of the month'? +Mr. Froude's transcript of the original Spanish, but not his +translation thereof, was correct.* + +*As to Verney, Appleyard, and Foster (see pages commencing:-- 'Here +it may be well to consider'), Cecil, in April 1566, names Foster and +Appleyard, but not Verney, among the 'particular friends' whom +Leicester, if he marries the Queen, 'will study to enhanss to welth, +to Offices, and Lands.' Bartlett, Cumnor Place, p. 73, London 1850. + + +2. AMY'S DEATH AND WHAT FOLLOWED + + +So far the case against Dudley, or servants of Dudley, has looked +very black. There are the scandals, too dark for ambassadors to +write, but mouthed aloud among the common people, about Dudley and +the Queen. There is de Quadra's talk of a purpose to poison Amy, in +November-January, 1559-1560. There is the explicit statement of +Cecil, as to the intended poisoning (probably derived from Dr. +Bayly), and as to Dudley's 'possession of the Queen's person,' the +result of his own observation. There is the coincidence of Amy's +violent death with Cecil's words to de Quadra (September 8 or 9, +1560). + +But here the case takes a new turn. Documents appear, letters from +and to Dudley at the time of the event, which are totally +inconsistent with guilt on his part. These documents (in the Pepys +MSS. at Cambridge) are COPIES of letters between Dudley and Thomas +Blount, a gentleman of good family, whom he addresses as 'Cousin.' +Blount, long after, in May 1567, was examined on the affair before +the Privy Council, and Mr. Froude very plausibly suggests that +Blount produced the copies in the course of the inquiry. But why +COPIES? We can only say that the originals may also have been +shown, and the copies made for the convenience of the members of the +Council. It is really incredible that the letters were forged, +after date, to prove Dudley's innocence. + +In the usual blundering way, Mr. Pettigrew dates one letter of +Dudley's 'September 27.' If that date were right, it would suggest +that TWO coroner's inquests were held, one after Amy's burial (on +September 22), but Mr. Gairdner says that the real date of the +letter is September 12.* So the date is given by Bartlett, in his +'History of Cumnor Place,' and by Adlard (1870), following Bartlett, +and Craik (1848). + +*English Historical Review, No. 2, p. 243, note. + +The first letter, from Dudley, at Windsor 'this 9th day of September +in the evening,' proves that Blount, early on September 9, the day +after Amy's death, went from Leicester, at Windsor, towards +Berkshire. He had not long gone when Bowes (a retainer of +Leicester, of Forster, or of Amy) brought to Dudley the fatal news. +'By him I do understand that my wife is dead and, as he saith, by a +fall from a pair of stairs. Little other understanding can I have +from him.' Throughout the correspondence Leicester does not utter +one word of sorrow for Amy, as, had the letters been written for +exhibition, he would almost certainly have done. The fear of his +own danger and disgrace alone inspires him, and he takes every +measure to secure a full, free, and minute examination. 'Have no +respect to any living person.' A coroner's jury is to be called, +the body is to be examined; Appleyard and others of Amy's kin have +already been sent for to go to Cumnor. + +From Cumnor, Blount replied on September 11. He only knew that 'my +lady is dead, and, as it seemeth, with a fall, but yet how, or which +way, I cannot learn.' Not even at Cumnor could Blount discover the +manner of the accident. On the night of the ninth he had lain at +Abingdon, the landlord of the inn could tell him no more than Dudley +already knew. Amy's servants had been at 'the fair' at Abingdon: +she herself was said to have insisted on their going thither very +early in the day; among them Bowes went, as he told Blount, who met +him on the road, as he rode to see Dudley. He said that Amy 'was +very angry' with any who stayed, and with Mrs. Oddingsell, who +refused to go. Pinto (probably Amy's maid), 'who doth love her +dearly,' confirmed Bowes. She believed the death to be 'a very +accident.' She had heard Amy 'divers times pray to God to deliver +her from desperation,' but entirely disbelieved in suicide, which no +one would attempt, perhaps, by falling down two flights of stairs. + +Before Blount arrived at Cumnor on September 10, the coroner's jury +had been chosen, sensible men, but some of them hostile to Forster. +By September 12 (NOT 27) Dudley had retired from Court and was at +Kew, but had received Blount's letter. He bade Blount tell the jury +to inquire faithfully and find an honest verdict. On the thirteenth +Blount again wrote from Cumnor, meaning to join Dudley next day: 'I +I have ALMOST NOTHING that can make me so much [as?] to think that +any man can be the doer of it. . . the circumstances and the many +things which I can learn doth persuade me that only misfortune hath +done it and nothing else.' There is another letter by Dudley from +Windsor, without date. He has had a reassuring letter from Smythe, +foreman of the jury. He wishes them to examine 'as long as they +lawfully may,' and that a fresh jury should try the case again. He +wishes Sir Richard Blount to help. Appleyard and Arthur Robsart +have been present. He means to have no more dealings with the jury; +his only 'dealings' seem to have been his repeated requests that +they would be diligent and honest. 'I am right glad they be all +strangers to me.'* + +*Pettigrew, pp. 28-32. + +These letters are wholly inconsistent with guilt, in the faintest +degree, on the side of Dudley. But people were not satisfied. +There is a letter to Cecil, of September 17, from Lever, a minister +at Coventry, saying that the country was full of mutterings and +dangerous suspicions, and that there must be earnest searching and +trying of the truth.* + +*Burghley Papers, Haynes, 362. + +Suspicion was inevitable, but what could a jury do, more than, +according to Blount, the jury had done? Yet there is dense +obscurity as to the finding of the jury. We have seen that +Appleyard, Amy's half-brother, was at Cumnor during the inquest. +Yet, in 1567, he did not know, or pretended not to know, what the +verdict had been. 'Leicester's Commonwealth' says 'she was found +murdered (as all men said) by the crowner's inquest,' as if the +verdict was not published, but was a mere matter of rumour--'as all +men said.' Appleyard's behaviour need not detain us long, as he was +such a shuffling knave that his statements, on either side, were +just what he found expedient in varying circumstances. Dudley, +after Amy's death, obtained for him various profitable billets; in +1564 he was made keeper of the Marshalsea, had a commission under +the Great Seal to seize concealed prizes at sea without legal +proceedings, had the Portership of Berwick, and the Sheriffship of +Norfolk and Suffolk, while Leicester stood guarantor of a debt of +his for 400 pounds. These facts he admitted before the Privy +Council in 1567.* But Leicester might naturally do what he could +for his dead wife's brother: we cannot argue that the jobs done for +Appleyard were hush-money, enormous as these jobs were. Yet in this +light Appleyard chose to consider them. He seems to have thought +that Leicester did not treat him well enough, and wanted to get rid +of him in Ireland or France, and he began, about 1566-67, to blab of +what he could say an' he would. He 'let fall words of anger, and +said that for Dudley's sake he had covered the murder of his +sister.' + +*Rye, pp. 60-62. Hatfield MSS., Calendar, i. 345-352, May 1567. + +Mr. Froude has here misconceived the situation, as Mr. Gairdner +shows. Mr. Froude's words are 'being examined by Cecil, he admitted +the investigation at Cumnor had after all been inadequately +conducted.'* In fact, Appleyard admitted that he had SAID this, and +much more, in private talk among his associates. Before the Council +he subsequently withdrew what he admitted having said in private +talk. It does not signify what he said, or what he withdrew, but +Mr. Froude unluckily did not observe a document which proved that +Appleyard finally ate his words, and he concludes that 'although +Dudley was innocent of a direct association with the crime, the +unhappy lady was sacrificed to his ambition. Dudley himself. . . +used private means, notwithstanding his affectation of sincerity, to +prevent the search from being pressed inconveniently far'--that is, +'if Appleyard spoke the truth.' But Appleyard denied that he had +spoken the truth, a fact overlooked by Mr. Froude.** + +*Froude, vi. p. 430. +**Ibid. vi. pp 430, 431. + +The truth stood thus: in 1566-67 there was, or had been, some idea +that Leicester might, after all, marry the Queen. Appleyard told +Thomas Blount that he was being offered large sums by great persons +to reopen the Cumnor affair. Blount was examined by the Council, +and gave to Leicester a written account of what he told them. One +Huggon, Appleyard's 'brother,' had informed Leicester that courtiers +were practising on Appleyard, 'to search the manner of his sister's +death.' Leicester sent Blount to examine Appleyard as to who the +courtiers were. Appleyard was evasive, but at last told Blount a +long tale of mysterious attempts to seduce him into stirring up the +old story. He promised to meet Leicester, but did not: his +brother, Huggon, named Norfolk, Sussex, and others as the +'practisers.' Later, by Leicester's command, Blount brought +Appleyard to him at Greenwich. What speeches passed Blount did not +know, but Leicester was very angry, and bade Appleyard begone, 'with +great words of defiance.' It is clear that, with or without +grounds, Appleyard was trying to blackmail Leicester. + +Before the Council (May 1567) Appleyard confessed that he had said +to people that he had often moved the Earl to let him pursue the +murderers of Amy, 'showing certain circumstances which led him to +think surely that she was murdered.' He had said that Leicester, on +the other hand, cited the verdict of the jury, but he himself +declared that the jury, in fact, 'had not as yet given up their +verdict.' After these confessions Appleyard lay in the Fleet +prison, destitute, and scarce able to buy a meal. On May 30, 1567, +he wrote an abject letter to the Council. He had been offered every +opportunity of accusing those whom he suspected, and he asked for 'a +copy of the verdict presented by the jury, whereby I may see what +the jury have found,' after which he would take counsel's advice. +He got a copy of the verdict (?) (would that we had the copy!) and, +naturally, as he was starving, professed himself amply satisfied by +'proofs testified under the oaths of fifteen persons,' that Amy's +death was accidental. 'I have not money left to find me two meals.' +In such a posture, Appleyard would, of course, say anything to get +himself out of prison. Two days later he confessed that for three +years he had been, in fact, trying to blackmail Leicester on several +counts, Amy's murder and two political charges.* + +*See the full reports, Gairdner, English Historical Review, April +1886, 249-259, and Hatfield Calendar for the date May 1567. + +The man was a rogue, however we take him, and the sole tangible fact +is that a report of the evidence given at the inquest did exist, and +that the verdict may have been 'Accidental Death.' We do not know +but that an open verdict was given. Appleyard professes to have +been convinced by the evidence, not by the verdict. + +When 'Leicester's Apology' appeared (1584-85) Sir Philip Sidney, +Leicester's nephew, wrote a reply. It was easy for him to answer +the libeller's 'she was found murdered (as all men suppose) by the +crowner's inquest'--by producing the actual verdict of the jury. He +did not; he merely vapoured, and challenged the libeller to the +duel.* Appleyard's statement among his intimates, that no verdict +had yet been given, seems to point to an open verdict. + +*Sidney's reply is given in Adlard's Amye Robsart and the Earl of +Leicester. London, 1870. + +The subject is alluded to by Elizabeth herself, who puts the final +touch of darkness on the mystery. Just as Archbishop Beaton, Mary's +ambassador in Paris, vainly adjured her to pursue the inquiry into +Darnley's murder, being urged by the talk in France, so Throgmorton, +Elizabeth's ambassador to the French Court, was heartbroken by what +he heard. Clearly no satisfactory verdict ever reached him. He +finally sent Jones, his secretary, with a verbal message to +Elizabeth. Jones boldly put the question of the Cumnor affair. She +said that 'the matter had been tried in the country, AND FOUND TO +THE CONTRARY OF THAT WAS REPORTED.' + +What 'was reported'? Clearly that Leicester and retainers of his +had been the murderers of Amy. For the Queen went on, 'Lord Robert +was in the Court, AND NONE OF HIS AT THE ATTEMPT AT HIS WIFE'S +HOUSE.' So Verney was not there. So Jones wrote to Throgmorton on +November 30, 1560.* We shall return to Throgmorton. + +*Hardwicke Papers, i. 165. + +If Jones correctly reported Elizabeth's words, there had been an +'attempt at' Cumnor Place, of which we hear nothing from any other +source. How black is the obscurity through which Blount, at Cumnor, +two days after Amy's death, could discern--nothing! 'A fall, yet +how, or which way, I cannot learn.' By September 17, nine days +after the death, Lever, at Coventry, an easy day's ride from Cumnor, +knew nothing (as we saw) of a verdict, or, at least, of a +satisfactory verdict. It is true that the Earl of Huntingdon, at +Leicester, only heard of Amy's death on September 17, nine days +after date.* Given 'an attempt,' Amy might perhaps break her neck +down a spiral staircase, when running away in terror. A cord +stretched across the top step would have done all that was needed. + +*Nineteenth Century, vol. ii. p. 431. Huntingdon to Leicester, +Longleat MSS. I repose on Canon Jackson's date of the manuscript +letter. + +We next find confusion worse confounded, by our previous deliverer +from error, Baron Kervyn Lettenhove! What happened at Court +immediately after Amy's death? The Baron says: 'A fragment of a +despatch of de la Quadra, of the same period, reports Dudley to have +said that his marriage had been celebrated in presence of his +brother, and of two of the Queen's ladies.' For this, according to +the Baron, Mr. Froude cites a letter of the Bishop of Aquila (de +Quadra) of September 11.* Mr. Froude does nothing of the sort! He +does cite 'an abstract of de Quadra's letters, MS. Simancas,' +without any date at all. 'The design of Cecil and of those heretics +to convey the kingdom to the Earl of Huntingdon is most certain, for +at last Cecil has yielded to Lord Robert, who, he says, has married +the Queen in presence of his brother and two ladies of her +bedchamber.' So Mr. Gairdner translates from Mr. Froude's +transcript, and he gives the date (November 20) which Mr. Froude +does not give. Major Hume translates, 'who, THEY say, was +married.'** O History! According to Baron Kervyn de Lettenhove, +DUDLEY says he has married the Queen; according to Mr. Gairdner, +CECIL says so; according to Major Hume, 'they' say so!*** + +*Relations Politiques des Pays-Bas, etc., xlii., note 4. +**Span. Cal. i. p. 178. +***The Spanish of this perplexing sentence is given by Froude, vi. +p. 433, note 1. 'Cecil se ha rendido a Milord Roberto el qual dice +que se hay casado con la Reyna. . . .' + +The point is of crucial importance to Mrs. Gallup and the believers +in the cipher wherein Bacon maintains that he is the legal son of a +wedding between Dudley and the Queen. Was there such a marriage or +even betrothal? Froude cautiously says that this was averted +'SEEMINGLY on Lord Robert's authority;' the Baron says that Lord +Robert makes the assertion; Mr. Gairdner says that Cecil is the +authority, and Major Hume declares that it is a mere on-dit--'who, +they say.' It is heart-breaking.* + +*For Mr. Gairdner, English Historical Review, No. 2, p. 246. + +To deepen the darkness and distress, the official, printed, Spanish +Documentos Ineditos do not give this abstract of November 20 at all. +Major Hume translates it in full, from Mr. Froude's transcript. + +Again, Mr. Froude inserts his undated quotation, really of November +20, before he comes to tell of Amy Robsart's funeral (September 22, +1560), and the Baron, as we saw, implies that Mr. Froude dates it +September 11, the day on which the Queen publicly announced Amy's +death. + +We now have an undated letter, endorsed by Cecil 'Sept. 1560,' +wherein Dudley, not at Court, and in tribulation, implores Cecil's +advice and aid. 'I am sorry so sudden a chance should breed me so +great a change.' He may have written from Kew, where Elizabeth had +given him a house, and where he was on September 12 (not 27). On +October 13 (Froude), or 14 ('Documentos Ineditos,' 88, p. 310), or +15 (Spanish Calendar, i. p. 176)--for dates are strange things--de +Quadra wrote a letter of which there is only an abstract at +Simancas. This abstract we quote: 'The contents of the letter of +Bishop Quadra to his Majesty written on the 15th' (though headed the +14th) 'of October, and received on the 16th of November, 1560. It +relates the way in which the wife of Lord Robert came to her death, +the respect (reverencia) paid him immediately by the members of the +Council and others, and the dissimulation of the Queen. That he had +heard that they were engaged in an affair of great importance for +the confirmation of their heresies, and wished to make the Earl of +Huntingdon king, should the Queen die without children, and that +Cecil had told him that the heritage was his as a descendant of the +House of York. . . . That Cecil had told him that the Queen was +resolved not to marry Lord Robert, as he had learned from herself; +it seemed that the Arch Duke might be proposed.' In mid-October, +then, Elizabeth was apparently disinclined to wed the so recently +widowed Lord Robert, though, shortly after Amy's death, the Privy +Council began to court Dudley as future king. + +Mr. Froude writes--still before he comes to September 22--'the +Bishop of Aquila reported that there were anxious meetings of the +Council, the courtiers paid a partial homage to Dudley.'* This +appears to be a refraction from the abstract of the letter of +October 13 or 14: 'he relates the manner in which the wife of Lord +Robert came to her death, the respect (reverencia) paid to him +immediately by members of the Council and others.' + +*Froude, vi. p. 432. + +Next we come, in Mr. Froude, to Amy's funeral (September 22), and to +Elizabeth's resolve not to marry Leicester (October 13, 14, 15?), +and to Throgmorton's interference in October-November. +Throgmorton's wails over the Queen's danger and dishonour were +addressed to Cecil and the Marquis of Northampton, from Poissy, on +October 10, when he also condoled with Dudley on the death of his +wife! 'Thanks him for his present of a nag!'* On the same date, +October 10, Harry Killigrew, from London, wrote to answer +Throgmorton's inquiries about Amy's death. Certainly Throgmorton +had heard of Amy's death before October 10: he might have heard by +September 16. What he heard comforted him not. By October 10 he +should have had news of a satisfactory verdict. But Killigrew +merely said 'she brake her neck. . . only by the hand of God, to my +knowledge.'** On October 17, Killigrew writes to Throgmorton +'rumours. . . have been very rife, BUT THE QUEEN SAYS SHE WILL MAKE +THEM FALSE. . . . Leaves to his judgment what he will not write. +Has therefore sent by Jones and Summers' (verbally) 'what account he +wished him to make of my Lord R.' (Dudley). + +*For. Cal. Eliz., 1560, pp. 347-349. +**Ibid., 1560, p. 350. + +Then (October 28) Throgmorton tells Cecil plainly that, till he +knows what Cecil thinks, he sees no reason to advise the Queen in +the matter 'of marrying Dudley.' Begs him 'TO SIGNIFY PLAINLY WHAT +HAS BEEN DONE,' and implores him, 'in the bowels of Christ '. . . +'to hinder that matter.'* He writes 'with tears and sighs,' and--he +declines to return Cecil's letters on the subject. 'They be as safe +in my hands as in your own, and more safe in mine than in any +messenger's.' + +*For. Cal. Eliz., 1560, p. 376. + +On October 29, Throgmorton sets forth his troubles to Chamberlain. +'Chamberlain as a wise man can conceive how much it imports the +Queen's honour and her realm to have the same' (reports as to Amy's +death) 'ceased.' 'He is withal brought to be weary of his life.'* + +*For. Cal. Eliz., 1560, p. 376. + +On November 7, Throgmorton writes to the Marquis of Northampton and +to Lord Pembroke about 'the bruits lately risen from England. . . +set so full with great horror,' and never disproved, despite +Throgmorton's prayers for satisfaction. + +Finally Throgmorton, as we saw, had the boldness to send his +secretary, Jones, direct to Elizabeth. All the comfort he got from +her was her statement that neither Dudley nor his retainers were at +the attempt at Cumnor Place. Francis I. died in France, people had +something fresh to talk about, and the Cumnor scandal dropped out of +notice. Throgmorton, however, persevered till, in January 1561, +Cecil plainly told him to cease to meddle. Throgmorton endorsed the +letter 'A warning not to be too busy about the matters between the +Queen and Lord Robert.'* + +*For. Cal. Eliz., 1560, p. 498. + +It is not necessary, perhaps, to pursue further the attempts of +Dudley to marry the Queen. On January 22 he sent to de Quadra his +brother-in-law, Sir Henry, father of Sir Philip Sidney, offering to +help to restore the Church if Philip II. would back the marriage. +Sidney professed to believe, after full inquiry, that Amy died by +accident. But he admitted 'that no one believed it;' that 'the +preachers harped on it in a manner prejudicial to the honour and +service of the Queen, which had caused her to move for the remedy of +the disorders of this kingdom in religion,' and so on.* De Quadra +and the preachers had no belief in Amy's death by accident. Nobody +had, except Dudley's relations. A year after Amy's death, on +September 13, 1561, de Quadra wrote: 'The Earl of Arundel and +others are drawing up copies of the testimony given in the inquiry +respecting the death of Lord Robert's wife. Robert is now doing his +best to repair matters' (as to a quarrel with Arundel, it seems), +'as it appears that more is being discovered in that matter than he +wished.'** People were not so easily satisfied with the evidence as +was the imprisoned and starving Appleyard. + +*Documentos Ineditos, 88, p. 314; Span. Cal., i. p. 179; Froude, vi. +p. 453. The translations vary: I give my own. The Spanish has +misprints. +**Span. Cal., i. p. 213; Documentos Ineditos, 88, p. 367. + +So the mystery stands. The letters of Blount and Dudley (September +9-12, 1560) entirely clear Dudley's character, and can only be got +rid of on the wild theory that they were composed, later, to that +very end. But the precise nature of the Cumnor jury's verdict is +unknown, and Elizabeth's words about 'the attempt at her house' +prove that something concealed from us did occur. It might be a +mere half-sportive attempt by rustics to enter a house known to be, +at the moment, untenanted by the servants, and may have caused to +Amy an alarm, so that, rushing downstairs in terror, she fell and +broke her neck. The coincidence of her death with the words of +Cecil would thus be purely fortuitous, and coincidences as +extraordinary have occurred. Or a partisan of Dudley's, finding +poison difficult or impossible, may have, in his zeal, murdered Amy, +under the disguise of an accident. The theory of suicide would be +plausible, if it were conceivable that a person would commit suicide +by throwing herself downstairs. + +We can have no certainty, but, at least, we show how Elizabeth came +to be erroneously accused of reporting Amy's death before it +occurred.* + +*For a wild Italian legend of Amy's murder, written in 1577, see the +Hatfield Calendar, ii. 165-170. + + + +VII. THE VOICES OF JEANNE D'ARC + + + +Some of our old English historians write of Jeanne d'Arc, the +Pucelle, as 'the Puzel.' The author of the 'First Part of Henry +VI.,' whether he was Shakespeare or not, has a pun on the word: + + 'Pucelle or puzzel, dolphin or dogfish,' + +the word 'Puzzel' carrying an unsavoury sense. (Act I. Scene 4.) A +puzzle, in the usual meaning of the word, the Maid was to the +dramatist. I shall not enter into the dispute as to whether +Shakespeare was the author, or part author, of this perplexed drama. +But certainly the role of the Pucelle is either by two different +hands, or the one author was 'in two minds' about the heroine. Now +she appears as la ribaulde of Glasdale's taunt, which made her weep, +as the 'bold strumpet' of Talbot's insult in the play. The author +adopts or even exaggerates the falsehoods of Anglo-Burgundian +legend. The personal purity of Jeanne was not denied by her judges. +On the other hand the dramatist makes his 'bold strumpet' a paladin +of courage and a perfect patriot, reconciling Burgundy to the +national cause by a moving speech on 'the great pity that was in +France.' How could a ribaulde, a leaguer-lass, a witch, a +sacrificer of blood to devils, display the valour, the absolute +self-sacrifice, the eloquent and tender love of native land +attributed to the Pucelle of the play? Are there two authors, and +is Shakespeare one of them, with his understanding of the human +heart? Or is there one puzzled author producing an impossible and +contradictory character? + +The dramatist has a curious knowledge of minute points in Jeanne's +career: he knows and mocks at the sword with five crosses which she +found, apparently by clairvoyance, at Fierbois, but his history is +distorted and dislocated almost beyond recognition. Jeanne +proclaims herself to the Dauphin as the daughter of a shepherd, and +as a pure maid. Later she disclaims both her father and her +maidenhood. She avers that she was first inspired by a vision of +the Virgin (which she never did in fact), and she is haunted by +'fiends,' who represent her St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. +Margaret. After the relief of Orleans the Dauphin exclaims: + + 'No longer on Saint Denis will we cry, + But Joan la Pucelle shall be France's saint,' + +a prophecy which may yet be accomplished. Already accomplished is +d'Alencon's promise: + + 'We'll set thy statue in some holy place.' + +To the Duke of Burgundy, the Pucelle of the play speaks as the Maid +might have spoken: + + 'Look on thy country, look on fertile France, + And see the cities and the towns defaced + By wasting ruin of the cruel foe! + As looks the mother on her lowly babe, + When death doth close his tender dying eyes, + See, see, the pining malady of France; + Behold the wounds, the most unnatural wounds, + Which thou thyself hast given her woful breast! + O turn thy edged sword another way; + Strike those that hurt, and hurt not those that help! + One drop of blood drawn from thy country's bosom + Should grieve thee more than streams of foreign gore; + Return thee, therefore, with a flood of tears, + And wash away thy country's stained spots.' + +Patriotism could find no better words, and how can the dramatist +represent the speaker as a 'strumpet' inspired by 'fiends'? To her +fiends when they desert her, the Pucelle of the play cries: + + 'Cannot my body, nor blood sacrifice, + Entreat you to your wonted furtherance? + Then take my soul; my body, soul, and all, + Before that England give the French the foil.' + +She is willing to give body and soul for France, and this, in the +eyes of the dramatist, appears to be her crime. For a French girl +to bear a French heart is to stamp her as the tool of devils. It is +an odd theology, and not in the spirit of Shakespeare. Indeed the +Pucelle, while disowning her father and her maidenhood, again speaks +to the English as Jeanne might have spoken: + + 'I never had to do with wicked spirits: + But you, that are polluted with your lusts, + Stained with the guiltless blood of innocents, + Corrupt and tainted with a thousand vices, + Because you want the grace that others have, + You judge it straight a thing impossible + To compass wonders but by help of devils. + No, misconceiv'd! Joan of Arc hath been + A virgin from her tender infancy, + Chaste and immaculate in very thought; + Whose maiden blood, thus rigorously effus'd, + Will cry for vengeance at the gates of heaven.' + +The vengeance was not long delayed. 'The French and my countrymen,' +writes Patrick Abercromby, 'drove the English from province to +province, and from town to town' of France, while on England fell +the Wars of the Roses. But how can the dramatist make the dealer +with fiends speak as the Maid, in effect, did speak at her trial? +He adds the most ribald of insults; the Pucelle exclaiming: + + 'It was Alencon that enjoyed my love!' + +The author of the play thus speaks with two voices: in one Jeanne +acts and talks as she might have done (had she been given to +oratory); in the other she is the termagant of Anglo-Burgundian +legend or myth. + +Much of this perplexity still haunts the histories of the Maid. Her +courage, purity, patriotism, and clear-sighted military and +political common-sense; the marvellous wisdom of her replies to her +judges--as of her own St. Catherine before the fifty philosophers of +her legend--are universally acknowledged. This girl of seventeen, +in fact, alone of the French folk, understood the political and +military situation. To restore the confidence of France it was +necessary that the Dauphin should penetrate the English lines to +Rheims, and there be crowned. She broke the lines, she led him to +Rheims, and crowned him. England was besieging his last hold in the +north and centre, Orleans, on a military policy of pure 'bluff.' +The city was at no time really invested. The besieging force, as +English official documents prove, was utterly inadequate to its +task, except so far as prestige and confidence gave power. Jeanne +simply destroyed and reversed the prestige, and, after a brilliant +campaign on the Loire, opened the way to Rheims. The next step was +to take Paris, and Paris she certainly would have taken, but the +long delays of politicians enabled Beaufort to secure peace with +Scotland, under James I., and to throw into Paris the English troops +collected for a crusade against the Hussites.* The Maid, +unsupported, if not actually betrayed, failed and was wounded before +Paris, and prestige returned for a while to the English party. She +won minor victories, was taken at Compiegne (May 1430), and a year +later crowned her career by martyrdom. But she had turned the tide, +and within the six years of her prophecy Paris returned to the +national cause. The English lost, in losing Paris, 'a greater gage +than Orleans.' + +*The Scottish immobility was secured in May-June 1429, the months of +the Maid's Loire campaign. Exchequer Rolls, iv. ciii. 466. Bain, +Calendar, iv. 212, Foedera, x. 428,1704-1717. + +So much is universally acknowledged, but how did the Maid accomplish +her marvels? Brave as she certainly was, wise as she certainly was, +beautiful as she is said to have been, she would neither have risked +her unparalleled adventure, nor been followed, but for her strange +visions and 'voices.' She left her village and began her mission, +as she said, in contradiction to the strong common-sense of her +normal character. She resisted for long the advice that came to her +in the apparent shape of audible external voices and external +visions of saint and angel. By a statement of actual facts which +she could not possibly have learned in any normal way, she overcame, +it is said, the resistance of the Governor of Vaucouleurs, and +obtained an escort to convey her to the King at Chinon.* She +conquered the doubts of the Dauphin by a similar display of +supernormal knowledge. She satisfied, at Poictiers, the divines of +the national party after a prolonged examination, of which the +record, 'The Book of Poictiers,' has disappeared. In these ways she +inspired the confidence which, in the real feebleness of the +invading army, was all that was needed to ensure the relief of +Orleans, while, as Dunois attested, she shook the confidence which +was the strength of England. About these facts the historical +evidence is as good as for any other events of the war. + +*Refer to paragraph commencing "The 'Journal du Siege d'Orleans'" +infra. + +The essence, then, of the marvels wrought by Jeanne d'Arc lay in +what she called her 'Voices,' the mysterious monitions, to her +audible, and associated with visions of the heavenly speakers. +Brave, pure, wise, and probably beautiful as she was, the King of +France would not have trusted a peasant lass, and men disheartened +by frequent disaster would not have followed her, but for her +voices. + +The science or theology of the age had three possible ways of +explaining these experiences: + +1. The Maid actually was inspired by Michael, Margaret, and +Catherine. From them she learned secrets of the future, of words +unspoken save in the King's private prayer, and of events distant in +space, like the defeat of the French and Scots at Rouvray, which she +announced, on the day of the occurrence, to Baudricourt, hundreds of +leagues away, at Vaucouleurs. + +2. The monitions came from 'fiends.' This was the view of the +prosecutors in general at her trial, and of the author of 'Henry +VI., Part I.' + +3. One of her judges, Beaupere, was a man of some courage and +consistency. He maintained, at the trial of Rouen, and at the trial +of Rehabilitation (1452-1456), that the voices were mere illusions +of a girl who fasted much. In her fasts she would construe natural +sounds, as of church bells, or perhaps of the wind among woods, into +audible words, as Red Indian seers do to this day. + +This third solution must and does neglect, or explain by chance +occurrence, or deny, the coincidences between facts not normally +knowable, and the monitions of the Voices, accepted as genuine, +though inexplicable, by M. Quicherat, the great palaeographer and +historian of Jeanne.* He by no means held a brief for the Church; +Father Ayroles continually quarrels with Quicherat, as a +Freethinker. He certainly was a free thinker in the sense that he +was the first historian who did not accept the theory of direct +inspiration by saints (still less by fiends), and yet took liberty +to admit that the Maid possessed knowledge not normally acquired. +Other 'freethinking' sympathisers with the heroine have shuffled, +have skated adroitly past and round the facts, as Father Ayroles +amusingly demonstrates in his many passages of arms with Michelet, +Simeon Luce, Henri Martin, Fabre, and his other opponents. M. +Quicherat merely says that, if we are not to accept the marvels as +genuine, we must abandon the whole of the rest of the evidence as to +Jeanne d'Arc, and there he leaves the matter. + +*Quicherat's five volumes of documents, the Proces, is now +accessible, as far as records of the two trials go, in the English +version edited by Mr. Douglas Murray. + +Can we not carry the question further? Has the psychological +research of the last half-century added nothing to our means of +dealing with the problem? Negatively, at least, something is +gained. Science no longer avers, with M. Lelut in his book on the +Daemon of Socrates, that every one who has experience of +hallucinations, of impressions of the senses not produced by +objective causes, is mad. It is admitted that sane and healthy +persons may have hallucinations of lights, of voices, of visual +appearances. The researches of Mr. Galton, of M. Richet, of Brierre +du Boismont, of Mr. Gurney, and an army of other psychologists, have +secured this position. + +Maniacs have hallucinations, especially of voices, but all who have +hallucinations are not maniacs. Jeanne d'Arc, so subject to 'airy +tongues,' was beyond all doubt a girl of extraordinary physical +strength and endurance, of the highest natural lucidity and common- +sense, and of health which neither wounds, nor fatigue, nor cruel +treatment, could seriously impair. Wounded again and again, she +continued to animate the troops by her voice, and was in arms +undaunted next day. Her leap of sixty feet from the battlements of +Beaurevoir stunned but did not long incapacitate her. Hunger, +bonds, and the protracted weariness of months of cross-examination +produced an illness but left her intellect as keen, her courage as +unabated, her humour as vivacious, her memory as minutely accurate +as ever. There never was a more sane and healthy human being. We +never hear that, in the moments of her strange experiences, she was +'entranced,' or even dissociated from the actual occurrences of the +hour. She heard her voices, though not distinctly, in the uproar of +the brawling court which tried her at Rouen; she saw her visions in +the imminent deadly breach, when she rallied her men to victory. In +this alertness she is a contrast to a modern seeress, subject, like +her, to monitions of an hallucinatory kind, but subject during +intervals of somnambulisme. To her case, which has been carefully, +humorously, and sceptically studied, we shall return. + +Meantime let us take voices and visions on the lowest, most +prevalent, and least startling level. A large proportion of people, +including the writer, are familiar with the momentary visions beheld +with shut eyes between waking and sleeping (illusions +hypnagogiques). The waking self is alert enough to contemplate +these processions of figures and faces, these landscapes too, which +(in my own case) it is incapable of purposefully calling up. + +Thus, in a form of experience which is almost as common as ordinary +dreaming, we see that the semi-somnolent self possesses a faculty +not always given to the waking self. Compared with my own waking +self, for instance, my half-asleep self is almost a personality of +genius. He can create visions that the waking self can remember, +but cannot originate, and cannot trace to any memory of waking +impressions. These apparently trivial things thus point to the +existence of almost wholly submerged potentialities in a mind so +everyday, commonplace, and, so to speak, superficial as mine. This +fact suggests that people who own such minds, the vast majority of +mankind, ought not to make themselves the measure of the +potentialities of minds of a rarer class, say that of Jeanne d'Arc. +The secret of natures like hers cannot be discovered, so long as +scientific men incapable even of ordinary 'visualising' (as Mr. +Galton found) make themselves the canon or measure of human nature. + +Let us, for the sake of argument, suppose that some sane persons are +capable of hallucinatory impressions akin to but less transient than +illusions hypnagogiques, when, as far as they or others can +perceive, they are wide awake. Of such sane persons Goethe and +Herschel were examples. In this way we can most easily envisage, or +make thinkable by ourselves, the nature of the experiences of Jeanne +d'Arc and other seers. + +In the other state of semi-somnolence, while still alert enough to +watch and reason on the phenomena, we occasionally, though less +commonly, hear what may be called 'inner voices.' That is to say, +we do not suppose that any one from without is speaking to us, but +we hear, as it were, a voice within us making some remark, usually +disjointed enough, and not suggested by any traceable train of +thought of which we are conscious at the time. This experience +partly enables us to understand the cases of sane persons who, when +to all appearance wide awake, occasionally hear voices which appear +to be objective and caused by actual vibrations of the atmosphere. +I am acquainted with at least four persons, all of them healthy, and +normal enough, who have had such experiences. In all four cases, +the apparent voice (though the listeners have no superstitious +belief on the subject) has communicated intelligence which proved to +be correct. But in only one instance, I think, was the information +thus communicated beyond the reach of conjecture, based perhaps on +some observation unconsciously made or so little attended to when +made that it could not be recalled by the ordinary memory. + +We are to suppose, then, that in such cases the person concerned +being to all appearance fully awake, his or her mind has presented a +thought, not as a thought, but in the shape of words that seemed to +be externally audible. One hearer, in fact, at the moment wondered +that the apparent speaker indicated by the voice and words should be +shouting so loud in an hotel. The apparent speaker was actually not +in the hotel, but at a considerable distance, well out of earshot, +and, though in a nervous crisis, was not shouting at all. We know +that, between sleeping and waking, our minds can present to us a +thought in the apparent form of articulate words, internally +audible. The hearers, when fully awake, of words that seem to be +externally audible, probably do but carry the semi-vigilant +experience to a higher degree, as do the beholders of visual +hallucinations, when wide awake. In this way, at least, we can most +nearly attain to understanding their experiences. To a relatively +small proportion of people, in wakeful existence, experiences occur +with distinctness, which to a large proportion of persons occur but +indistinctly, + + 'On the margin grey + 'Twixt the soul's night and day.' + +Let us put it, then, that Jeanne d'Arc's was an advanced case of the +mental and bodily constitution exemplified by the relatively small +proportion of people, the sane seers of visual hallucinations and +hearers of unreal voices. Her thoughts--let us say the thoughts of +the deepest region of her being--presented themselves in visual +forms, taking the shapes of favourite saints--familiar to her in +works of sacred art--attended by an hallucinatory brightness of +light ('a photism'), and apparently uttering words of advice which +was in conflict with Jeanne's great natural shrewdness and strong +sense of duty to her parents. 'She MUST go into France,' and for +two or three years she pleaded her ignorance and incompetence. She +declined to go. She COULD resist her voices. In prison at +Beaurevoir, they forbade her to leap from the tower. But her +natural impatience and hopefulness prevailed, and she leaped. 'I +would rather trust my soul to God than my body to the English.' +This she confessed to as sinful, though not, she hoped, of the +nature of deadly sin. Her inmost and her superficial nature were in +conflict. + +It is now desirable to give, as briefly as possible, Jeanne's own +account of the nature of her experiences, as recorded in the book of +her trial at Rouen, with other secondhand accounts, offered on oath, +at her trial of Rehabilitation, by witnesses to whom she had spoken +on the subject. She was always reticent on the theme. + +The period when Jeanne supposed herself to see her first visions was +physiologically critical. She was either between thirteen and +fourteen, or between twelve and thirteen. M. Simeon Luce, in his +'Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy,' held that she was of the more advanced +age, and his date (1425) fitted in with some public events, which, +in his opinion, were probably the occasions of the experiences. +Pere Ayroles prefers the earlier period (1424) when the aforesaid +public events had not yet occurred. After examining the evidence on +both sides, I am disposed to think, or rather I am certain, that +Pere Ayroles is in the right. In either case Jeanne was at a +critical age, when, as I understand, female children are +occasionally subject to illusions. Speaking then as a non- +scientific student, I submit that on the side of ordinary causes for +the visions and voices we have: + +1. The period in Jeanne's life when they began. + +2. Her habits of fasting and prayer. + +3. Her intense patriotic enthusiasm, which may, for all that we +know, have been her mood before the voices announced to her the +mission. + +Let us then examine the evidence as to the origin and nature of the +alleged phenomena. + +I shall begin with the letter of the Senechal de Berry, Perceval de +Boulainvilliers, to the Duke of Milan.* The date is June 21st, +1429, six weeks after the relief of Orleans. After a few such tales +as that the cocks crowed when Jeanne was born, and that her flock +was lucky, he dates her first vision peractis aetatis suae duodecim +annis, 'after she was twelve.' Briefly, the tale is that, in a +rustic race for flowers, one of the other children cried, 'Joanna, +video te volantem juxta terrain,' 'Joan, I see you flying near the +ground.' This is the one solitary hint of 'levitation' (so common +in hagiology and witchcraft) which occurs in the career of the Maid. +This kind of story is so persistent that I knew it must have been +told in connection with the Irvingite movement in Scotland. And it +was! There is, perhaps, just one trace that flying was believed to +be an accomplishment of Jeanne's. When Frere Richard came to her at +Troyes, he made, she says, the sign of the cross.** She answered, +'Approchez hardiment, je ne m'envouleray pas.' Now the contemporary +St. Colette was not infrequently 'levitated'! + +*Proces, v. 115. +**Proces, i. 100. + +To return to the Voices. After her race, Jeanne was quasi rapta et +a sensibus alienata ('dissociated'), then juxta eam affuit juvenis +quidam, a youth stood by her who bade her 'go home, for her mother +needed her.' + +'Thinking that it was her brother or a neighbour' (apparently she +only heard the voice, and did not see the speaker), she hurried +home, and found that she had not been sent for. Next, as she was on +the point of returning to her friends, 'a very bright cloud appeared +to her, and out of the cloud came a voice,' bidding her take up her +mission. She was merely puzzled, but the experiences were often +renewed. This letter, being contemporary, represents current +belief, based either on Jeanne's own statements before the clergy at +Poictiers (April 1429) or on the gossip of Domremy. It should be +observed that till Jeanne told her own tale at Rouen (1431) we hear +not one word about saints or angels. She merely spoke of 'my +voices,' 'my counsel,' 'my Master.' If she was more explicit at +Poictiers, her confessions did not find their way into surviving +letters and journals, not even into the journal of the hostile +Bourgeois de Paris. We may glance at examples. + +The 'Journal du Siege d'Orleans' is in parts a late document, in +parts 'evidently copied from a journal kept in presence of the +actual events.'* The 'Journal,' in February 1429, vaguely says +that, 'about this time' our Lord used to appear to a maid, as she +was guarding her flock, or 'cousant et filant.' A St. Victor MS. +has courant et saillant (running and jumping), which curiously +agrees with Boulainvilliers. The 'Journal,' after telling of the +Battle of the Herrings (February 12th, 1429), in which the Scots and +French were cut up in an attack on an English convoy, declares that +Jeanne 'knew of it by grace divine,' and that her vue a distance +induced Baudricourt to send her to the Dauphin.** This was attested +by Baudricourt's letters.*** + +*Quicherat. In Proces, iv. 95. +**Proces, iv. 125. +***Proces, iv. 125. + +All this may have been written as late as 1468, but a vague +reference to an apparition of our Lord rather suggests contemporary +hearsay, before Jeanne came to Orleans. Jeanne never claimed any +such visions of our Lord. The story of the clairvoyance as to the +Battle of the Herrings is also given in the 'Chronique de la +Pucelle.'* M. Quicherat thinks that the passage is amplified from +the 'Journal du Siege.' On the other hand, M. Vallet (de Viriville) +attributes with assurance the 'Chronique de la Pucelle' to Cousinot +de Montreuil, who was the Dauphin's secretary at Poictiers, when the +Maid was examined there in April 1429.** If Cousinot was the +author, he certainly did not write his chronicle till long after +date. However, he avers that the story of clairvoyance was current +in the spring of 1429. The dates exactly harmonise; that is to say, +between the day of the battle, February 12th, and the setting forth +of the Maid from Vaucouleurs, there is just time for the bad news +from Rouvray to arrive, confirming her statement, and for a day or +two of preparation. But perhaps, after the arrival of the bad news, +Baudricourt may have sent Jeanne to the King in a kind of despair. +Things could not be worse. If she could do no good, she could do no +harm. + +*Proces, iv. 206. +**Histoire de Charles VII., ii. 62. + +The documents, whether contemporary or written later by +contemporaries, contain none of the references to visions of St. +Margaret, St. Catherine, and St. Michael, which we find in Jeanne's +own replies at Rouen. For this omission it is not easy to account, +even if we suppose that, except when giving evidence on oath, the +Maid was extremely reticent. That she was reticent, we shall prove +from evidence of d'Aulon and Dunois. Turning to the Maid's own +evidence in court (1431) we must remember that she was most averse +to speaking at all, that she often asked leave to wait for advice +and permission from her voices before replying, that on one point +she constantly declared that, if compelled to speak, she would not +speak the truth. This point was the King's secret. There is +absolutely contemporary evidence, from Alain Chartier, that, before +she was accepted, she told Charles SOMETHING which filled him with +surprise, joy, and belief.* The secret was connected with Charles's +doubts of his own legitimacy, and Jeanne at her trial was driven to +obscure the truth in a mist of allegory, as, indeed, she confessed. +Jeanne's extreme reluctance to adopt even this loyal and laudable +evasion is the measure of her truthfulness in general. Still, she +did say some words which, as they stand, it is difficult to believe, +to explain, or to account for. From any other prisoner, so unjustly +menaced with a doom so dreadful, from Mary Stuart, for example, at +Fotheringay, we do not expect the whole truth and nothing but the +truth. The Maid is a witness of another kind, and where we cannot +understand her, we must say, like herself, passez outre! + +*Proces, v. 131. Letter of July 1429. See supra, 'The False +Pucelle.' + +When she was 'about thirteen,' this is her own account, she had a +voice from God, to aid her in governing herself. 'And the first +time she was in great fear. And it came, that voice, about noonday, +in summer, in her father's garden' (where other girls of old France +hear the birds sing, 'Marry, maidens, marry!') 'and Jeanne had NOT +fasted on the day before.* She heard the voice from the right side, +towards the church, and seldom heard it without seeing a bright +light. The light was not in front, but at the side whence the voice +came. If she were in a wood' (as distinguished from the noise of +the crowded and tumultuous court) 'she could well hear the voices +coming to her.' Asked what sign for her soul's health the voice +gave, she said it bade her behave well, and go to church, and used +to tell her to go into France on her mission. (I do not know why +the advice about going to church is generally said to have been +given FIRST.) Jeanne kept objecting that she was a poor girl who +could not ride, or lead in war. She resisted the voice with all her +energy. She asserted that she knew the Dauphin, on their first +meeting, by aid of her voices.** She declared that the Dauphin +himself 'multas habuit revelationes et apparitiones pulchras.' In +its literal sense, there is no evidence for this, but rather the +reverse. She may mean 'revelations' through herself, or may refer +to some circumstance unknown. 'Those of my party saw and knew that +voice,' she said, but later would only accept them as witnesses if +they were allowed to come and see her.*** + +*The reading is NEC not ET, as in Quicherat, Proces, i. 52, compare +i. 216. +**Proces, i. 56. +***Proces, i. 57. + +This is the most puzzling point in Jeanne's confession. She had no +motive for telling an untruth, unless she hoped that these remarks +would establish the objectivity of her visions. Of course, one of +her strange experiences may have occurred in the presence of Charles +and his court, and she may have believed that they shared in it. +The point is one which French writers appear to avoid as a rule. + +She said that she heard the voice daily in prison, 'and stood in +sore need of it.' The voice bade her remain at St. Denis (after the +repulse from Paris in September 1429), but she was not allowed to +remain. + +On the next day (the third of the trial) she told Beaupere that she +was fasting since yesterday afternoon. Beaupere, as we saw, +conceived that her experiences were mere subjective hallucinations, +caused by fasting, by the sound of church-bells, and so on. As to +the noise of bells, Coleridge writes that their music fell on his +ears, 'MOST LIKE ARTICULATE SOUNDS OF THINGS TO COME.' Beaupere's +sober common-sense did not avail to help the Maid, but at the +Rehabilitation (1456) he still maintained his old opinion. +'Yesterday she had heard the voices in the morning, at vespers, and +at the late ringing for Ave Maria, and she heard them much more +frequently than she mentioned.' 'Yesterday she had been asleep when +the voice aroused her. She sat up and clasped her hands, and the +voice bade her answer boldly. Other words she half heard before she +was quite awake, but failed to understand.'* + +*Proces, i. 62. + +She denied that the voices ever contradicted themselves. On this +occasion, as not having received leave from her voices, she refused +to say anything as to her visions. + +At the next meeting she admitted having heard the voices in court, +but in court she could not distinguish the words, owing to the +tumult. She had now, however, leave to speak more fully. The +voices were those of St. Catherine and St. Margaret. Later she was +asked if St. Margaret 'spoke English.' Apparently the querist +thought that the English Margaret, wife of Malcolm of Scotland, was +intended. They were crowned with fair crowns, as she had said at +Poictiers two years before. She now appealed to the record of her +examination there, but it was not in court, nor was it used in the +trial of Rehabilitation. It has never been recovered. A witness +who had examined her at Poictiers threw no light (twenty years +later) on the saints and voices. Seven years ago (that is, when she +was twelve) she first saw the saints. On the attire of the saints +she had not leave to speak. They were preceded by St. Michael 'with +the angels of heaven.' 'I saw them as clearly as I see you, and I +used to weep when they departed, and would fain that they should +have taken me with them.' + +As to the famous sword at Fierbois, she averred that she had been in +the church there, on her way to Chinon, that the voices later bade +her use a sword which was hidden under earth--she thinks behind, but +possibly in front of the altar--at Fierbois. A man unknown to her +was sent from Tours to fetch the sword, which after search was +found, and she wore it. + +Asked whether she had prophesied her wound by an arrow at Orleans, +and her recovery, she said 'Yes.' + +This prediction is singular in that it was recorded before the +event. The record was copied into the registre of Brabant, from a +letter written on April 22nd, 1429, by a Flemish diplomatist, De +Rotselaer, then at Lyons.* De Rotselaer had the prophecy from an +officer of the court of the Dauphin. The prediction was thus noted +on April 22nd; the event, the arrow-wound in the shoulder, occurred +on May 7th. On the fifth day of the trial Jeanne announced that, +before seven years were gone, the English 'shall lose a dearer gage +than Orleans; this I know by revelation, and am wroth that it is to +be so long deferred.' Mr. Myers observes that 'the prediction of a +great victory over the English within seven years was not fulfilled +in any exact way.' The words of the Maid are 'Angli demittent majus +vadium quam fecerunt coram Aurelianis,' and, as prophecies go, their +loss of Paris (1436) corresponds very well to the Maid's +announcement. She went on, indeed, to say that the English 'will +have greater loss than ever they had, through a great French +victory,' but this reads like a gloss on her original prediction. +'She knew it as well as that we were there.'** 'You shall not have +the exact year, but well I wish it might be before the St. John;' +however, she had already expressed her sorrow that this was NOT to +be. Asked, on March 1st, whether her liberation was promised, she +said, 'Ask me in three months, and I will tell you.' In three +months exactly, her stainless soul was free. + +*Proces, iv. 425. +**Proces, i. 84. + +On the appearance, garb, and so on of her saints, she declined to +answer questions. + +She had once disobeyed her voices, when they forbade her to leap +from the tower of Beaurevoir. She leaped, but they forgave her, and +told her that Compiegne (where she was captured on May 23rd, 1430) +would be relieved 'before Martinmas.' It was relieved on October +26th, after a siege of five months. On March 10th an effort was +made to prove that her voices had lied to her, and that she had lied +about her voices. The enemy maintained that on May 23rd, 1430, she +announced a promised victory to the people of Compiegne, vowing that +St. Margaret and St. Catherine had revealed it to her. Two hostile +priests of Compiegne were at Rouen, and may have carried this tale, +which is reported by two Burgundian chroniclers, but NOT by +Monstrelet, who was with the besieging army.* In court she said +n'eust autre commandement de yssir: she had no command from her +voices to make her fatal sally. She was not asked whether she had +pretended to have received such an order. She told the touching +story of how, at Melun, in April 1430, the voices had warned her +that she would be taken prisoner before midsummer; how she had +prayed for death, or for tidings as to the day and hour. But no +tidings were given to her, and her old belief, often expressed, that +she 'should last but one year or little more,' was confirmed. The +Duc d'Alencon had heard her say this several times; for the prophecy +at Melun we have only her own word. + +*I have examined the evidence in Macmillan's Magazine for May 1894, +and, to myself, it seems inadequate. + +She was now led into the allegory intended to veil the King's +secret, the allegory about the Angel (herself) and the Crown (the +coronation at Rheims). This allegory was fatal, but does not bear +on her real belief about her experiences. She averred, returning to +genuine confessions, that her voices often came spontaneously; if +they did not, she summoned them by a simple prayer to God. She had +seen the angelic figures moving, invisible save to her, among men. +The voices HAD promised her the release of Charles d'Orleans, but +time had failed her. This was as near a confession of failure as +she ever made, till the day of her burning, if she really made one +then.* But here, as always, she had predicted that she would do +this or that if she were sans empeschement. She had no revelation +bidding her attack Paris when she did, and after the day at Melun +she submitted to the advice of the other captains. As to her +release, she was only bidden 'to bear all cheerfully; be not vexed +with thy martyrdom, thence shalt thou come at last into the kingdom +of Paradise.' + +*As to her 'abjuration' and alleged doubts, see L'Abjuration du +Cimetiere Saint-Ouen, by Abbe Ph. H. Dunard; Poussielgue, Paris, +1901. + +To us, this is explicit enough, but the poor child explained to her +judges that by martire she understood the pains of prison, and she +referred it to her Lord, whether there were more to bear. In this +passage the original French exists, as well as the Latin +translation. The French is better. + +'Ne te chaille de ton martire, tu t'en vendras enfin en royaulme de +Paradis.' + +'Non cures de martyrio tuo: tu venies finaliter in regnum +paradisi.' + +The word hinc is omitted in the bad Latin. Unluckily we have only a +fragment of the original French, as taken down in court. The Latin +version, by Courcelles, one of the prosecutors, is in places +inaccurate, in others is actually garbled to the disadvantage of the +Maid. + +This passage, with some others, may perhaps be regarded as +indicating that the contents of the communications received by +Jeanne were not always intelligible to her. + +That her saints could be, and were, touched physically by her, she +admitted.* Here I am inclined to think that she had touched with +her ring (as the custom was) a RELIC of St. Catherine at Fierbois. +Such relics, brought from the monastery of Sinai, lay at Fierbois, +and we know that women loved to rub their rings on the ring of +Jeanne, in spite of her laughing remonstrances. But apart from this +conjecture, she regarded her saints as tangible by her. She had +embraced both St. Margaret and St. Catherine.** + +*Proces, i. 185. +**Proces, i. 186. + +For the rest, Jeanne recanted her so-called recantation, averring +that she was unaware of the contents or full significance of the +document, which certainly is not the very brief writing to which she +set her mark. Her voices recalled her to her duty, for them she +went to the stake, and if there was a moment of wavering on the day +of her doom, her belief in the objective reality of the phenomena +remained firm, and she recovered her faith in the agony of her +death. + +Of EXTERNAL evidence as to her accounts of these experiences, the +best is probably that of d'Aulon, the maitre d'Hotel of the Maid, +and her companion through her career. He and she were reposing in +the same room at Orleans, her hostess being in the chamber (May +1429), and d'Aulon had just fallen asleep, when the Maid awoke him +with a cry. Her voices bade her go against the English, but in what +direction she knew not. In fact, the French leaders had begun, +without her knowledge, an attack on St. Loup, whither she galloped +and took the fort.* It is, of course, conceivable that the din of +onset, which presently became audible, had vaguely reached the +senses of the sleeping Maid. Her page confirms d'Aulon's testimony. + +*Proces, iii. 212. + +D'Aulon states that when the Maid had any martial adventure in +prospect, she told him that her 'counsel' had given her this or that +advice. He questioned her as to the nature of this 'counsel.' She +said 'she had three councillors, of whom one was always with her, a +second went and came to her, and the third was he with whom the +others deliberated.' D'Aulon 'was not worthy to see this counsel.' +From the moment when he heard this, d'Aulon asked no more questions. +Dunois also gave some evidence as to the 'counsel.' At Loches, when +Jeanne was urging the journey to Rheims, Harcourt asked her, before +the King, what the nature (modus) of the council was; HOW it +communicated with her. She replied that when she was met with +incredulity, she went apart and prayed to God. Then she heard a +voice say, Fille De, va, va, va, je serai a ton aide, va! 'And when +she heard that voice she was right glad, and would fain be ever in +that state.' 'As she spoke thus, ipsa miro modo exsultabat, levando +suos oculos ad coelum.'* (She seemed wondrous glad, raising her +eyes to heaven.) Finally, that Jeanne maintained her belief to the +moment of her death, we learn from the priest, Martin Ladvenu, who +was with her to the last.** There is no sign anywhere that at the +moment of an 'experience' the Maid's aspect seemed that of one +'dissociated,' or uncanny, or abnormal, in the eyes of those who +were in her company. + +*Proces, iii. 12. +**Proces, iii. 170. + +These depositions were given twenty years later (1452-56), and, of +course, allowance must be made for weakness of memory and desire to +glorify the Maid. But there is really nothing of a suspicious +character about them. In fact, the 'growth of legend' was very +slight, and is mainly confined to the events of the martyrdom, the +White Dove, the name of Christ blazoned in flame, and so forth.* It +should also have been mentioned that at the taking of St. Pierre de +Moustier (November 1429) Jeanne, when deserted by her forces, +declared to d'Aulon that she was 'not alone, but surrounded by fifty +thousand of her own.' The men therefore rallied and stormed the +place. + +This is the sum of the external evidence as to the phenomena. + +*For German fables see Lefevre-Pontalis, Les Sources Allemandes, +Paris, 1903. They are scanty, and, in some cases, are distortions +of real events. + +As to the contents of the communications to Jeanne, they were +certainly sane, judicious, and heroic. M. Quicherat (Apercus +Nouveaux, p. 61) distinguishes three classes of abnormally conveyed +knowledge, all on unimpeachable evidence. + +(1.) THOUGHT-READING, as in the case of the King's secret; she +repeated to him the words of a prayer which he had made mentally in +his oratory. + +(2.) CLAIRVOYANCE, as exhibited in the affair of the sword of +Fierbois. + +(3.) PRESCIENCE, as in the prophecy of her arrow-wound at Orleans. +According to her confessor, Pasquerel, she repeated the prophecy and +indicated the spot in which she would be wounded (under the right +shoulder) on the night of May 6. But this is later evidence given +in the trial of Rehabilitation. Neither Pasquerel nor any other of +the Maid's party was heard at the trial of 1431. + +To these we might add the view, from Vaucouleurs, a hundred leagues +away, of the defeat at Rouvray; the prophecy that she 'would last +but a year or little more;' the prophecy, at Melun, of her capture; +the prophecy of the relief of Compiegne; and the strange affair of +the bon conduit at the battle of Pathay.* For several of these +predictions we have only the Maid's word, but to be plain, we can +scarcely have more unimpeachable testimony. + +*Proces, iv. 371, 372. Here the authority is Monstrelet, a +Burgundian. + +Here the compiler leaves his task: the inferences may be drawn by +experts. The old theory of imposture, the Voltairean theory of a +'poor idiot,' the vague charge of 'hysteria,' are untenable. The +honesty and the genius of Jeanne are no longer denied. If hysteria +be named, it is plain that we must argue that, because hysteria is +accompanied by visionary symptoms, all visions are proofs of +hysteria. Michelet holds by hallucinations which were unconsciously +externalised by the mind of Jeanne. That mind must have been a very +peculiar intellect, and the modus is precisely the difficulty. +Henri Martin believes in some kind of manifestation revealed to the +individual mind by the Absolute: perhaps this word is here +equivalent to 'the subliminal self' of Mr. Myers. Many Catholics, +as yet unauthorised, I conceive, by the Church, accept the theory of +Jeanne herself; her saints were true saints from Paradise. On the +other hand it is manifest that visions of a bright light and +'auditions' of voices are common enough phenomena in madness, and in +the experiences of very uninspired sane men and women. From the +sensations of these people Jeanne's phenomena are only +differentiated by their number, by their persistence through seven +years of an almost abnormally healthy life, by their importance, +orderliness, and veracity, as well as by their heroic character. + +Mr. Myers has justly compared the case of Jeanne with that of +Socrates. A much humbler parallel, curiously close in one respect, +may be cited from M. Janet's article, 'Les Actes Inconscients dans +le Somnambulisme' ('Revue Philosophique,' March 1888). + +The case is that of Madame B., a peasant woman near Cherbourg. She +has her common work-a-day personality, called, for convenience, +'Leonie.' There is also her hypnotic personality, 'Leontine.' Now +Leontine (that is, Madame B. in a somnambulistic state) was one day +hysterical and troublesome. Suddenly she exclaimed in terror that +she heard A VOICE ON THE LEFT, crying, 'Enough, be quiet, you are a +nuisance.' She hunted in vain for the speaker, who, of course, was +inaudible to M. Janet, though he was present. This sagacious +speaker (a faculty of Madame B.'s own nature) is 'brought out' by +repeated passes, and when this moral and sensible phase of her +character is thus evoked, Madame B. is 'Leonore.' Madame B. now +sometimes assumes an expression of beatitude, smiling and looking +upwards. As Dunois said of Jeanne when she was recalling her +visions, 'miro modo exsultabat, levando suos oculos ad coelum.' +This ecstasy Madame B. (as Leonie) dimly remembers, averring that +'she has been dazzled BY A LIGHT ON THE LEFT SIDE.' Here apparently +we have the best aspect of poor Madame B. revealing itself in a +mixture of hysterics and hypnotism, and associating itself with an +audible sagacious voice and a dazzling light on the left, both +hallucinatory. + +The coincidence (not observed by M. Janet) with Jeanne's earliest +experience is most curious. Audivit vocem a dextero latere. . . . +claritas est ab eodem latere in quo vox auditur, sed ibi communiter +est magna claritas. (She heard a voice from the right. There is +usually a bright light on the same side as the voice.) Like Madame +B., Jeanne was at first alarmed by these sensations. + +The parallel, so far, is perfectly complete (except that 'Leonore' +merely talks common sense, while Jeanne's voices gave information +not normally acquired). But in Jeanne's case I have found no hint +of temporary unconsciousness or 'dissociation.' When strung up to +the most intense mental eagerness in court, she still heard her +voices, though, because of the tumult of the assembly, she heard +them indistinctly. Thus her experiences are not associated with +insanity, partial unconsciousness, or any physical disturbance (as +in some tales of second sight), while the sagacity of the +communications and their veracity distinguish them from the +hallucinations of mad people. As far as the affair of Rouvray, the +prophecy of the instant death of an insolent soldier at Chinon +(evidence of Pasquerel, her confessor), and such things go, we have, +of course, many alleged parallels in the predictions of Mr. Peden +and other seers of the Covenant. But Mr. Peden's political +predictions are still unfulfilled, whereas concerning the 'dear +gage' which the English should lose in France within seven years, +Jeanne may be called successful. + +On the whole, if we explain Jeanne's experiences as the expressions +of her higher self (as Leonore is Madame B.'s higher self), we are +compelled to ask what is the nature of that self? + +Another parallel, on a low level, to what may be called the +mechanism of Jeanne's voices and visions is found in Professor +Flournoy's patient, 'Helene Smith.'* Miss 'Smith,' a hardworking +shopwoman in Geneva, had, as a child, been dull but dreamy. At +about twelve years of age she began to see, and hear, a visionary +being named Leopold, who, in life, had been Cagliostro. His +appearance was probably suggested by an illustration in the Joseph +Balsamo of Alexandre Dumas. The saints of Jeanne, in the same way, +may have been suggested by works of sacred art in statues and church +windows. To Miss Smith, Leopold played the part of Jeanne's saints. +He appeared and warned her not to take such or such a street when +walking, not to try to lift a parcel which seemed light, but was +very heavy, and in other ways displayed knowledge not present to her +ordinary workaday self. + +*See Flournoy, Des Indes a la Planete Mars. Alcan, Paris, 1900. + +There was no real Leopold, and Jeanne's St. Catherine cannot be +shown to have ever been a real historical personage.* These +figures, in fact, are more or less akin to the 'invisible playmates' +familiar to many children.** They are not objective personalities, +but part of the mechanism of a certain class of mind. The mind may +be that of a person devoid of genius, like Miss Smith, or of a +genius like Goethe, Shelley, or Jeanne d'Arc, or Socrates with his +'Daemon,' and its warnings. In the case of Jeanne d'Arc, as of +Socrates, the mind communicated knowledge not in the conscious +everyday intelligence of the Athenian or of la Pucelle. This +information, in Jeanne's case, was presented in the shape of +hallucinations of eye and ear. It was sane, wise, noble, veracious, +and concerned not with trifles, but with great affairs. We are not +encouraged to suppose that saints or angels made themselves audible +and visible. But, by the mechanism of such appearances to the +senses, that which was divine in the Maid--in all of us, if we +follow St. Paul--that 'in which we live and move and have our +being,' made itself intelligible to her ordinary consciousness, her +workaday self, and led her to the fulfilment of a task which seemed +impossible to men. + +*See the Life and Martyrdom of St. Katherine of Alexandria. +(Roxburghe Club, 1884, Introduction by Mr. Charles Hardwick). Also +the writer's translation of the chapel record of the 'Miracles of +Madame St. Catherine of Fierbois,' in the Introduction. (London, +Nutt.) +**See the writer's preface to Miss Corbet's Animal Land for a +singular example in our own time. + + + +VIII. THE MYSTERY OF JAMES DE LA CLOCHE + + + +'P'raps he was my father--though on this subjict I can't speak +suttinly, for my ma wrapped up my buth in a mistry. I may be +illygitmit, I may have been changed at nuss.' + +In these strange words does Mr. Thackeray's Jeames de la Pluche +anticipate the historical mystery of James de la Cloche. HIS 'buth' +is 'wrapped up in a mistry,' HIS 'ma' is a theme of doubtful +speculation; his father (to all appearance) was Charles II. We know +not whether James de la Cloche--rejecting the gaudy lure of three +crowns--lived and died a saintly Jesuit; or whether, on the other +hand, he married beneath him, was thrown into gaol, was sentenced to +a public whipping, was pardoned and released, and died at the age of +twenty-three, full of swaggering and impenitent impudence. Was +there but one James de la Cloche, a scion of the noblest of European +royal lines? Did he, after professions of a holy vocation, suddenly +assume the most secular of characters, jilting Poverty and Obedience +for an earthly bride? Or was the person who appears to have acted +in this unworthy manner a mere impostor, who had stolen James's +money and jewels and royal name? If so, what became of the genuine +and saintly James de la Cloche? He is never heard of any more, +whether because he assumed an ecclesiastical alias, or because he +was effectually silenced by the person who took his character, name, +money, and parentage. + +There are two factions in the dispute about de la Cloche. The +former (including the late Lord Acton and Father Boero) believe that +James adhered to his sacred vocation, while the second James was a +rank impostor. The other party holds that the frivolous and secular +James was merely the original James, who suddenly abandoned his +vocation, and burst on the world as a gay cavalier, and claimant of +the rank of Prince of Wales, or, at least, of the revenues and +perquisites of that position. + +The first act in the drama was discovered by Father Boero, who +printed the documents as to James de la Cloche in his 'History of +the Conversion to the Catholic Church of Charles II., King of +England,' in the sixth and seventh volumes, fifth series, of La +Civilta Cattolica (Rome, 1863). (The essays can be procured in a +separate brochure.) Father Boero says not a word about the second +and secular James, calling himself 'Giacopo Stuardo.' But the +learned father had communicated the papers about de la Cloche to +Lord Acton, who wrote an article on the subject, 'The Secret History +of Charles II.,' in 'The Home and Foreign Review,' July 1862. Lord +Acton now added the story of the second James, or of the second +avatar of the first James, from State Papers in our Record Office. +The documents as to de la Cloche are among the MSS. of the Society +of Jesus at Rome. + +The purpose of Father Boero was not to elucidate a romance in royal +life, but to prove that Charles II. had, for many years, been +sincerely inclined to the Catholic creed, though thwarted by his +often expressed disinclination to 'go on his travels again.' In +point of fact, the religion of Charles II. might probably be stated +in a celebrated figure of Pascal's. Let it be granted that reason +can discover nothing as to the existence of any ground for religion. +Let it be granted that we cannot know whether there is a God or not. +Yet either there is, or there is not. It is even betting, heads or +tails, croix ou pile. This being so, it is wiser to bet that there +is a God. It is safer. If you lose, you are just where you were, +except for the pleasures which you desert. If you win, you win +everything! What you stake is finite, a little pleasure; if you +win, you win infinite bliss. + +So far Charles was prepared theoretically to go but he would not +abandon his diversions. A God there is, but 'He's a good fellow, +and 'twill all be well.' God would never punish a man, he told +Burnet, for taking 'a little irregular pleasure.' Further, Charles +saw that, if bet he must, the safest religion to back was that of +Catholicism. Thereby he could--it was even betting--actually ensure +his salvation. But if he put on his money publicly, if he professed +Catholicism, he certainly lost his kingdoms. Consequently he tried +to be a crypto-Catholic, but he was not permitted to practise one +creed and profess another. THAT the Pope would not stand. So it +was on his death-bed that he made his desperate plunge, and went, it +must be said, bravely, on the darkling voyage. + +Not to dwell on Charles's earlier dalliances with Rome, in November +1665, his kinsman, Ludovick Stewart, Sieur d'Aubigny, of the Scoto- +French Lennox Stewarts, was made a cardinal, and then died. Charles +had now no man whom he could implicitly trust in his efforts to +become formally, but secretly, a Catholic. And now James de la +Cloche comes on the scene. Father Boero publishes, from the Jesuit +archives, a strange paper, purporting to be written and signed by +the King's hand, and sealed with his private seal, that diamond +seal, whereof the impression brought such joy to the soul of the +disgraced Archbishop Sharp. Father Boero attests the authenticity +of seal and handwriting. In this paper, Charles acknowledges his +paternity of James Stuart, 'who, by our command, has hitherto lived +in France and other countries under a feigned name.' He has come to +London, and is to bear the name of 'de la Cloche du Bourg de +Jarsey.' De la Cloche is not to produce this document, 'written in +his own language' (French), till after the King's death. (It is +important to note that James de la Cloche seems to have spoken no +language except French.) The paper is dated 'Whitehall, September +27, 1665,' when, as Lord Acton observes, the Court, during the +Plague, was NOT at Whitehall.* + +*Civ. Catt. Series V., vol. vi. 710. Home and Foreign Review, vol. +i. 156. + +Lord Acton conjectured that the name 'de la Cloche' was taken from +that of a Protestant minister in Jersey (circ. 1646). This is the +more probable, as Charles later invented a false history of his son, +who was to be described as the son of 'a rich preacher, deceased.' +The surname, de la Cloche, had really been that of a preacher in +Jersey, and survives in Jersey. + +After 1665, James de la Cloche was pursuing his studies in Holland, +being at this time a Protestant. Conceivably he had been brought up +in a French Huguenot family, like that of the de Rohan. On February +7, 1667, Charles wrote a new document. In this he grants to de la +Cloche 500 pounds a year, while he lives in London and adheres to +'the religion of his father and the Anglican service book.' But, in +that very year (July 29, 1667), de la Cloche went to Hamburg, and +was there received into the Catholic Church, forfeiting his pension. + +Christina of Sweden was then residing in Hamburg. De la Cloche +apprised her of his real position--a son of the King of England--and +must have shown her in proof Charles's two letters of 1665 and 1667. +If so--and how else could he prove his birth?--he broke faith with +Charles, but, apparently, he did not mean to use Charles's letters +as proof of his origin when applying, as he did, for admission to +the novitiate of the Jesuits at Rome. He obtained from Christina a +statement, in Latin, that Charles had acknowledged him, privately, +to her, as his son. This note of Christina's, de la Cloche was to +show to his director at Rome. + +It does not appear that Charles had ever told Christina a word about +the matter. These pious monarchs were far from being veracious. +However, Christina's document would save the young man much trouble, +on the point of his illegitimacy, when, on April 11, 1668, he +entered St. Andrea al Quirinale as a Jesuit novice. He came in +poverty. His wardrobe was of the scantiest. He had two shirts, a +chamois leather chest protector, three collars, and three pairs of +sleeves. He described himself as 'Jacques de la Cloche, of Jersey, +British subject,' and falsely, or ignorantly, stated his age as +twenty-four. Really he was twenty-two.* Why he told Christina his +secret, why he let her say that Charles had told her, we do not +know. It may be that the General of the Jesuits, Oliva, did not yet +know who de la Cloche really was. Meanwhile, his religious vocation +led him to forfeit 500 pounds yearly, and expectations, and to +disobey his father and king. + +*Civ. Catt., ut supra, 712, 713, and notes. + +The good King took all very easily. On August 3, 1668, he wrote a +longa et verbosa epistola, from Whitehall, to the General of the +Jesuits. His face was now set towards the secret treaty of Dover +and conversion. The conversion of his son, therefore, seemed truly +providential. Charles had discussed it with his own mother and his +wife. To Oliva he wrote in French, explaining that his Latin was +'poor,' and that, if he wrote English, an interpreter would be +needed, but that no Englishman was to 'put his nose' into this +affair. He had long prayed God to give him a safe and secret chance +of conversion, but he could not use, without exciting suspicion, the +priests then in England. On the other hand, his son would do: the +young cavalier then at Rome, named de la Cloche de Jersey. This lad +was the pledge of an early love for 'a young lady of a family among +the most distinguished in our kingdoms.' He was a child of the +King's 'earliest youth,' that is, during his residence in Jersey, +March-June 1646, when Charles was sixteen. In a few years, the King +hoped to recognise him publicly. With him alone could Charles +practise secretly the mysteries of the Church. To such edifying +ends had God turned an offence against His laws, an amourette. De +la Cloche, of course, was as yet not a priest, and could not +administer sacraments, an idea which occurred to Charles himself. + +The Queen of Sweden, Charles added, was prudent, but, being a woman, +she probably could not keep a secret. Charles wants his son to come +home, and asks the Jesuit to put off Christina with any lie he +pleases, if she asks questions. In short, he regards the General of +the Jesuits as a person ready to tell any convenient falsehood, and +lets this opinion appear with perfect naivete! He will ask the Pope +to hurry de la Cloche into priest's orders, or, if that is not easy, +he will have the thing done in Paris, by means of Louis XIV., or his +own sister, Henrietta (Madame). Or the Queen and Queen Mother can +have it done in London, as they 'have bishops at their will.' The +King has no desire to interrupt his son's vocation as a Jesuit. In +London the young man must avoid Jesuit society, and other occasions +of suspicion. He ends with a promise of subscriptions to Jesuit +objects.* + +*Civ. Catt. Series V., vii. 269-274. + +By the same courier, the King wrote to 'Our most honoured son, the +Prince Stuart, dwelling with the R.P. Jesuits under the name of +Signor de la Cloche.' James may be easy about money. He must be +careful of his health, which is delicate, and not voyage at an +unhealthy season. The Queens are anxious to see him. He should +avoid asceticism. He may yet be recognised, and take precedence of +his younger and less nobly born brother, the Duke of Monmouth. The +King expresses his affection for a son of excellent character, and +distinguished by the solidity of his studies and acquirements. If +toleration is gained, de la Cloche has some chance of the English +throne, supposing Charles and the Duke of York to die without issue +male. Parliament will be unable to oppose this arrangement, unless +Catholics are excluded from the succession. + +This has a crazy sound. The Crown would have been in no lack of +legitimate heirs, failing offspring male of the King and the Duke of +York. + +If de la Cloche, however, persists in his vocation, so be it. The +King may get for him a cardinal's hat. The King assures his son of +his affection, not only as the child of his extreme youth, but for +the virtues of his character. De la Cloche must travel as a simple +gentleman.* + +*Ut supra, 275, 278. + +On August 29, Charles again wrote to Oliva. He had heard that the +Queen of Sweden was going to Rome. De la Cloche must not meet her, +she might let out the secret: he must come home at once. If +Charles is known to be a Catholic, there will be tumults, and he +will lose his life. Another letter, undated, asks that the novice, +contrary to rule, may travel alone, with no Jesuit chaperon, and by +sea, direct from Genoa. Consulting physicians, the King has learned +that sea sickness is never fatal, rather salutary. His travelling +name should be Henri de Rohan, as if he were of that Calvinistic +house, friends of the King. The story must be circulated that de la +Cloche is the son of a rich preacher, deceased, and that he has gone +to visit his mother, who is likely to be converted. He must leave +his religious costume with the Jesuits at Genoa, and pick it up +there on his return. He must not land at the port of London, but at +some other harbour, and thence drive to town.* + +Ut supra, 283-287. + +On October 14, d'Oliva, from Leghorn, wrote to Charles that 'the +French gentleman' was on the seas. On November 18, Charles wrote to +d'Oliva that his son was returning to Rome as his secret ambassador, +and, by the King's orders, was to come back to London, bearing +answers to questions which he will put verbally. In France he +leaves a Jesuit whom he is to pick up as he again makes for +England.* + +*Father Florent Dumas, in a rather florid essay on 'The Saintly Son +of Charles II,' supposes that, after all, he had a Jesuit chaperon +during his expedition to England (Jesuit Etudes de Rel., Hist. et +Lit., Paris, 1864-1865). + +The questions to which de la Cloche is to bring answers doubtless +concerned the wish of Charles to be a Catholic secretly, and other +arrangements which he is known to have suggested on another +occasion. + +After this letter of November 18, 1668, WE NEVER HEAR A WORD ABOUT +JAMES DE LA CLOCHE.* No later letters from the King to d'Oliva are +found, the name of James de la Cloche does not occur again in the +Records of the Society of Jesus. + +*Ut supra, 418-420. + +Father Boero argues that James would return to London, under a third +name, unknown. But it would be risky for one who had appeared in +England under one name in 1665, and under another (Rohan) in 1668, +to turn up under a third in 1669. To take aliases, often three or +four, was, however, the custom of the English Jesuits, and de la +Cloche may have chosen his fourth. Thus we could not trace him, in +records, unless Charles wrote again to d'Oliva about his son. No +such letter exists. In his letter of November 18, Charles promises, +in a year, a subscription to the Jesuit building fund--this at his +son's request. I know not if the money was ever paid. He also asks +Oliva to give James 800 doppie for expenses, to be repaid in six +months. + +James did not leave the Society of Jesus, argues Father Boero, for, +had he left, he would have carried away the papers in which Charles +acknowledges him and promises a pension of 500 pounds yearly. But +that document would be useless to James, whether he remained a +Jesuit or not, for the condition of the pension (1667) was that he +should be a Protestant of the Anglican sect, and live in London. +However, Charles's letter of 1668 was in another tune, and James +certainly left THAT with the Jesuits in Rome; at least, they possess +it now. But suppose that James fled secretly from the Jesuits, then +he probably had no chance of recovering his papers. He was not +likely to run away, however, for, Charles says, he 'did not like +London,' or the secular life, and he appears to have returned to +Rome at the end of 1668, with every intention of fulfilling his +mission and pursuing his vocation. His return mission to England +over, he probably would finish his Jesuit training at a college in +France or Flanders, say St. Omer's, where Titus Oates for a while +abode. No James de la Cloche is known there or elsewhere, but he +might easily adopt a new alias, and Charles would have no need to +write to Oliva about him. It may be that James was the priest at +St. Omer's, whom, in 167O, Charles had arranged to send, but did not +send, to Clement IX.* He may also be the priest secretly brought +from abroad to Charles during the Popish Plot (1678-1681).** + +*Mignet, Neg. rel. Succ. d'Espagne, iii. 232. +**Welwood, Memoirs, 146. + +These are suggestions of Lord Acton, who thinks that de la Cloche +may also have been the author of two papers, in French, on religion, +left by Charles, in his own hand, at his death.* These are +conjectures. If we accept them, de la Cloche was a truly self- +denying young semi-Prince, preferring an austere life to the +delights and honours which attended his younger brother, the Duke of +Monmouth. But, just when de la Cloche should have been returning +from Rome to London, at the end of 1668 or beginning of 1669, a +person calling himself James Stuart, son of Charles II., by an +amour, at Jersey, in 1646, with a 'Lady Mary Henrietta Stuart,' +appeared in some magnificence at Naples. This James Stuart either +was, or affected to be, James de la Cloche. Whoever he was, the +King's carefully guarded secret was out, was public property. + +*Home and Foreign Review, i. 165. + +Our information as to this James Stuart, or Giacopo Stuardo, son of +the King of England--the cavalier who appears exactly when the +Jesuit novice, James de la Cloche, son of the King of England, +vanishes--is derived from two sources. First there are Roman +newsletters, forwarded to England by Kent, the English agent at +Rome, with his own despatches in English. It does not appear to me +that Kent had, as a rule, any intimate purveyor of intelligence at +Naples. He seems, in his own letters to Williamson,* merely to +follow and comment on the Italian newsletters which he forwards and +the gossip of 'the Nation,' that is, the English in Rome. The +newsletters, of course, might be under the censorship of Rome and +Naples. Such is one of our sources.** + +*See 'The Valet's Master,' for other references to Williamson. +**State Papers, Italian, 1669, Bundle 10, Record Office. + +Lord Acton, in 1862, and other writers, have relied solely on this +first set of testimonies. But the late Mr. Maziere Brady has +apparently ignored or been unacquainted with these materials, and he +cites a printed book not quoted by Lord Acton.* This work is the +third volume of the 'Lettere' of Vincenzo Armanni of Gubbio, who +wrote much about the conversion of England, and had himself been in +that country. The work quoted was printed (privately?) by Giuseppe +Piccini, at Macerata, in 1674, and, so far, I have been unable to +see an example. The British Museum Library has no copy, and the +'Lettere' are unknown to Brunet. We have thus to take a secondhand +version of Armanni's account. He says that his informant was one of +two confessors, employed successively by Prince James Stuart, at +Naples, in January-August 1669. Now, Kent sent to England an +English translation of the Italian will of James Stuart. A will is +also given, of course in Italian, by Vincenzo Armanni; a copy of +this is in the Record Office. + +*Maziere Brady, Anglo-Roman Papers, pp. 93-121 (Gardner Paisley, +1890). + +It appears from this will that James Stuart, for reasons of his own, +actually did enjoy the services of two successive confessors, at +Naples, in 1669. The earlier of these two was Armanni's informant. +His account of James Stuart differs from that of Kent and the +Italian newsletters, which we repeat, alone are cited by Lord Acton +(1862); while Mr. Brady (1890), citing Armanni, knows nothing of the +newsletters and Kent, and conceives himself to be the first writer +in English on the subject. + +Turning to our first source, the newsletters of Rome, and the +letters of Kent, the dates in each case prove that Kent, with +variations, follows the newsletters. The gazzetta of March 23, +1669, is the source of Kent's despatch of March 30. On the gazzette +of April 6, 13, and 20, he makes no comment, but his letter of June +16 varies more or less from the newsletter of June 11. His despatch +of September 7 corresponds to the newsletter of the same date, but +is much more copious. + +Taking these authorities in order of date, we find the newsletter of +Rome (March 23, 1669) averring that an unknown English gentleman has +been 'for some months' at Naples, that is, since January at least, +and has fallen in love with the daughter of a poor innkeeper, or +host (locandiere). He is a Catholic and has married the girl. The +newly made father-in-law has been spending freely the money given to +him by the bridegroom. Armanni, as summarised by Mr. Brady, states +the matter of the money thus: 'The Prince was anxious to make it +appear that his intended father-in-law was not altogether a pauper, +and accordingly he gave a sum of money to Signor Francesco Corona to +serve as a dowry for Teresa. Signor Corona could not deny himself +the pleasure of exhibiting this money before his friends, and he +indiscreetly boasted before his neighbours concerning his rich son- +in-law.' + +From Armanni's version, derived from the confessor of James Stuart, +it appears that nothing was said as to James's royal birth till +after his arrest, when he informed the Viceroy of Naples in self- +defence. + +To return to the newsletter of March 23, it represents that the +Viceroy heard of the unwonted expenditure of money by Corona, and +seized the English son-in-law on suspicion. In his possession the +Viceroy found about 200 doppie, many jewels, and some papers in +which he was addressed as Altezza (Highness). The word doppie is +used by Charles (in Boero's Italian translation) for the 800 coins +which he asks Oliva to give to de la Cloche for travelling expenses. +Were James Stuart's 200 doppie the remains of the 800? Lord Acton +exaggerates when he writes vaguely that Stuart possessed 'heaps of +pistoles.' Two hundred doppie (about 150 or 160 pounds) are not +'heaps.' To return to the newsletter, the idea being current that +the young man was a natural son of the King of England, he was +provisionally confined in the castle of St. Elmo. On April 6, he is +reported to be shut up in the castle of Gaeta. On the 20th, we hear +that fifty scudi monthly have been assigned to the prisoner for his +support. The Viceroy has written (to England) to ask what is to be +done with him. + +On June 11, it is reported that, after being removed to the Vicaria, +a prison for vulgar malefactors, the captive has been released. He +is NOT the son of the King of England. + +Kent's letter of March 30 follows the newsletter of March 23. He +adds that the unknown Englishman 'seems' to have 'vaunted to bee the +King of England's sonne BORNE AT GERSEY,' a fact never expressly +stated about de la Cloche. It is not clear that James Stuart +vaunted his birth before his arrest made it necessary for him to +give an account of himself. Kent also says that the unknown sent +for the English consul, Mr. Browne, 'to assist his delivery out of +the castle. But it seems he could not speake a word of English nor +give any account of the birth he pretended to.' On Kent's showing, +he had no documentary proofs of his royal birth. French was de la +Cloche's language, if this unknown was he, and if Kent is right, he +had not with him the two documents and the letter of Charles II. and +the certificate of the Queen of Sweden. 'This is all the light I +can picke out of the Nation, or others, of his extravagant story, +which whether will end in Prince or cheate I shall endeavour to +inform you hereafter.' + +Kent's next letter (June 16) follows, with variations, the +newsletter of June 11:-- + +Kent to J. Williamson + +June 16, 1669. + +The Gentleman who WOULD HAVE BEENE HIS MAT'YS BASTARD at Naples, +vpon the receipt of his Ma'ties Letters to that Vice King was +immediately taken out of the Castle of Gaetta brought to Naples and +Cast into the Grand Prison called the Vicaria, where being thrust +amongst the most Vile and infamous Rascalls, the Vice King intended +to have Caused him to bee whipt about the Citty, but meanes was made +by his wife's kindred (Who was Likewise taken with this pretended +Prince) to the Vice-Queene, who, in compassion to her and her +kindred, prevailed with Don Pedro to deliver him from that Shame +[and from gaol, it seems], and soe ends the Story of this fourb WHO +SPEAKS NOE LANGUADGE BUT FFRENCH. + +The newsletter says nothing of the intended whipping, or of the +intercession of the family of the wife of the unknown. These points +may be the additions of gossips. + +In any case the unknown, with his wife, after a stay of no long time +in the Vicaria, is set at liberty. His release might be explained +on the ground that Charles disavowed and cast him off, which he +might safely do, if the man was really de la Cloche, but had none of +the papers proving his birth, the papers which are still in the +Jesuit archives. Or he may have had the papers, and they may have +been taken from him and restored to the Jesuit General. + +So far, the betting as to whether de la Cloche and the Naples +pretender were the same man or not is at evens. Each hypothesis is +beset by difficulties. It is highly improbable that the unworldly +and enthusiastic Jesuit novice threw up, at its very crisis, a +mission which might lead his king, his father, and the British +Empire back into the one Fold. De la Cloche, forfeiting his chances +of an earthly crown, was on the point of gaining a heavenly one. It +seems to the last degree unlikely that he would lose this and leave +the Jesuits to whom he had devoted himself, and the quiet life of +study and religion, for the worldly life which he disliked, and for +that life on a humble capital of a few hundred pounds, and some +jewels, presents, perhaps from the two Queens, his grandmother and +stepmother. De la Cloche knew that Charles, if the novice clung to +religion, had promised to procure for him, if he desired it, a +cardinal's hat; while if, with Charles's approval, he left religion, +he might be a prince, perhaps a king. He had thus every imaginable +motive for behaving with decorum--in religion or out of it. Yet, if +he is the Naples pretender, he suddenly left the Jesuits without +Charles's knowledge and approval, but by a freakish escapade, like +'The Start' of Charles himself as a lad, when he ran away from +Argyll and the Covenanters. And he did this before he ever saw +Teresa Corona. He reminds one of the Huguenot pastor in London, +whom an acquaintance met on the Turf. 'I not preacher now, I gay +dog,' explained the holy man. + +All this is, undeniably, of a high improbability. But on the other +side, de la Cloche was freakish and unsettled. He had but lately +(1667) asked for and accepted a pension to be paid while he remained +an Anglican, then he was suddenly received into the Roman Church, +and started off, probably on foot, with his tiny 'swag' of three +shirts and three collars, to walk to Rome and become a Jesuit. He +may have deserted the Jesuits as suddenly and recklessly as he had +joined them. It is not impossible. He may have received the 800 +pounds for travelling expenses from Oliva; not much of it was left +by March 1669--only about 150 pounds. On the theory that the man at +Naples was an impostor, it is odd that he should only have spoken +French, that he was charged with no swindles, that he made a very +poor marriage in place of aiming at a rich union; that he had, +somehow, learned de la Cloche's secret; and that, possessing a fatal +secret, invaluable to a swindler and blackmailer, he was merely +disgraced and set free. Louis XIV. would, at least, have held him a +masked captive for the rest of his life. But he was liberated, and, +after a brief excursion, returned to Naples, where he died, +maintaining that he was a prince. + +Thus, on either view, 'prince or cheat,' we are met by things almost +impossible. + +We now take up the Naples man's adventure as narrated by Kent. He +writes: + +Kent to Jo: Williamson + +Rome: August 31, 1669. + +That certaine fellow or what hee was, who pretended to bee his +Ma'ties naturall sonn at Naples is dead and haueing made his will +they write mee from thence wee shall with the next Poast know the +truth of his quality. + + +September 7, 1669. + +That certaine Person at Naples who in his Lyfe tyme would needes bee +his Ma'ties naturall Sonne is dead in the same confidence and +Princely humour, for haueing Left his Lady Teresa Corona, an +ordinary person, 7 months gone with Child, hee made his Testament, +and hath Left his most Xtian Ma'tie (whom he called Cousin) executor +of it. + +Hee had been absent from Naples some tyme pretending to haue made a +journey into France to visit his Mother, Dona Maria Stuarta of His +Ma'tie Royall Family, which neernes and greatnes of Blood was the +cause, Saies hee, that his Ma'tie would never acknowledge him for +his Sonn, his mother Dona Maria Stuarta was, it seemes, dead before +hee came into France. In his will hee desires the present King of +England Carlo 2nd to allow His Prince Hans in Kelder eighty thousand +Ducketts, which is his Mother's Estate, he Leaues Likewise to his +Child and Mother Teresa 291 thousand Ducketts which hee calls +Legacies. Hee was buried in the Church of St. Fran'co Di Paolo out +of the Porta Capuana (for hee dyed of this Religion). He left 400 +pounds for a Lapide to have his name and quality engrauen vpon it +for hee called himself Don Jacopo Stuarto, and this is the end of +that Princely Cheate or whatever hee was. + +The newsletter of September 7 merely mentions the death and the +will. On this occasion Kent had private intelligence from a +correspondent in Naples. Copies of the will, in English and in +Italian, were forwarded to England, where both copies remain. + +'This will,' Lord Acton remarked, 'is fatal to the case for the +Prince.' If not fatal, it is a great obstacle to the cause of the +Naples man. He claims as his mother, Donna Maria Stewart, 'of the +family of the Barons of San Marzo.' If Marzo means 'March,' the +Earl of March was a title in the Lennox family. The only Mary +Stewart in that family known to Douglas's 'Peerage' was younger than +James de la Cloche, and died, the wife of the Earl of Arran, in +1667, at the age of eighteen. She may have had some outlying cousin +Mary, but nothing is known of such a possible mother of de la +Cloche. Again, the testator begs Charles II. to give his unborn +child 'the ordinary principality either of Wales or Monmouth, or +other province customary to be given to the natural sons of the +Crown;' to the value of 100,000 scudi! + +Could de la Cloche be so ignorant as to suppose that a royal bastard +might be created Prince of Wales? He certainly knew, from Charles's +letter, that his younger brother was already Duke of Monmouth. His +legacies are of princely munificence, but--he is to be buried at the +expense of his father-in-law. + +By way of security for his legacies, the testator 'assigns and gives +his lands, called the Marquisate of Juvignis, worth 300,000 scudi.' + +Mr. Brady writes: 'Juvignis is probably a mistake for Aubigny, the +dukedom which belonged to the Dukes of Richmond and Lennox by the +older creation.' But a dukedom is not a marquisate, nor could de la +Cloche hold Aubigny, of which the last holder was Ludovick Stewart, +who died, a cardinal, in November 1665. The lands then reverted to +the French Crown. Moreover, there are two places called Juvigny, or +Juvignis, in north-eastern France (Orne and Manche). Conceivably +one or other of these belonged to the house of Rohan, and James +Stuart's posthumous son, one of whose names is 'Roano,' claimed a +title from Juvigny or Juvignis, among other absurd pretensions. +'Henri de Rohan' was only the travelling name of de la Cloche in +1668, though it is conceivable that he was brought up by the de +Rohan family, friendly to Charles II. + +The whole will is incompatible with all that de la Cloche must have +known. Being in Italian it cannot have been intelligible to him, +and may conceivably be the work of an ignorant Neapolitan attorney, +while de la Cloche, as a dying man, may have signed without +understanding much of what he signed. The folly of the Corona +family may thus (it is a mere suggestion) be responsible for this +absurd testament. Armanni, however, represents the man as sane, and +very devout, till his death. + +A posthumous child, a son, was born and lived a scrambling life, now +'recognised' abroad, now in prison and poverty, till we lose him +about 1750.* + +*A. F. Steuart, Engl. Hist. Review, July 1903, 'The Neapolitan +Stuarts.' Maziere Brady, ut supra. + +Among his sham titles are Dux Roani and 'de Roano,' clearly +referring, as Mr. Steuart notices, to de la Cloche's travelling name +of Henri de Rohan. The Neapolitan pretender, therefore, knew the +secret of that incognito, and so of de la Cloche's mission to +England in 1668. That, possessing this secret, he was set free, is +a most unaccountable circumstance. Charles had written to Oliva +that his life hung on absolute secrecy, yet the owner of the secret +is left at liberty. + +Our first sources leave us in these perplexities. They are not +disentangled by the 'Lettere' of Vincenzo Armanni (1674). I have +been unable, as has been said, to see this book. In the summary by +Mr. Brady we read that (1668-1669) Prince James Stuart, with a +French Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, came to Naples +for his health. This must have been in December 1668 or January +1669; by March 1669 the pretender had been 'for some months' in +Naples. The Frenchman went by way of Malta to England, recommending +Prince James to a confessor at Naples, who was a parish priest. +This priest was Armanni's informant. He advised the Prince to lodge +with Corona, and here James proposed to Teresa. She at first held +aloof, and the priest discountenanced the affair. The Prince ceased +to be devout, but later chose another confessor. Both priests knew, +in confession, the secret of his birth: the Prince says so in his +will, and leaves them great legacies. So far Armanni's version is +corroborated. + +Mr. Brady goes on, citing Armanni: 'At last he chose another +spiritual director, to whom he revealed not only his passion for +Teresa Corona, but also the secret of his birth, showing to him the +letters written by the Queen of Sweden and the Father General of the +Jesuits.' Was the latter document Oliva's note from Leghorn of +October 14, 1668? That did not contain a word about de la Cloche's +birth: he is merely styled 'the French gentleman.' Again, the +letter of the Queen of Sweden is now in the Jesuit archives; how +could it be in the possession of the pretender at Naples? Was it +taken from him in prison, and returned to Oliva? + +The new confessor approved of the wedding which was certainly +celebrated on February 19, 1669. Old Corona now began to show his +money: his new son-in-law was suspected of being a false coiner, +and was arrested by the Viceroy. 'The certificates and papers +attesting the parentage of James Stuart were then produced. . . ' +How could this be--they were in the hands of the Jesuits at Rome. +Had de la Cloche brought them to Naples, the Corona family would +have clung to them, but they are in the Gesu at Rome to this day. +The rest is much as we know it, save, what is important, that the +Prince, from prison, 'wrote to the General of the Jesuits, +beseeching him to interpose his good offices with the Viceroy, and +to obtain permission for him to go to England via Leghorn' (as in +1688) 'and Marseilles.' + +Armanni knew nothing, or says nothing, of de la Cloche's having been +in the Jesuit novitiate. His informant, the priest, must have known +that, but under seal of confession, so he would not tell Armanni. +He did tell him that James Stuart wrote to the Jesuit general, +asking his help in procuring leave to go to England. The General +knew de la Cloche's hand, and would not be taken in by the +impostor's. This point is in favour of the identity of James Stuart +with de la Cloche. The Viceroy had, however, already written to +London, and waited for a reply. 'Immediately on arrival of the +answer from London, the Prince was set at liberty and left Naples. +It may be supposed he went to England. After a few months he +returned to Naples with an assignment of 50,000 scudi,' and died of +fever. + +Nothing is said by Armanni of the imprisonment among the low scum of +the Vicaria: nothing of the intended whipping, nothing of the visit +by James Stuart to France. The 50,000 scudi have a mythical ring. +Why should James, if he had 50,000 scudi, be buried at the expense +of his father-in-law, who also has to pay 50 ducats to the notary +for drawing the will of this 'prince or cheate'? Probably the +parish priest and ex-confessor of the prince was misinformed on some +points. The Corona family would make out the best case they could +for their royal kinsman. + +Was the man of Naples 'prince or cheate'? Was he de la Cloche, or, +as Lord Acton suggests, a servant who had robbed de la Cloche of +money and papers? + +Every hypothesis (we shall recapitulate them) which we can try as a +key fails to fit the lock. Say that de la Cloche had confided his +secret to a friend among the Jesuit novices; say that this young man +either robbed de la Cloche, or, having money and jewels of his own, +fled from the S. Andrea training college, and, when arrested, +assumed the name and pretended to the rank of de la Cloche. This is +not inconceivable, but it is odd that he had no language but French, +and that, possessing secrets of capital importance, he was released +from prison, and allowed to depart where he would, and return to +Naples when he chose. + +Say that a French servant of de la Cloche robbed and perhaps even +murdered him. In that case he certainly would not have been +released from prison. The man at Naples was regarded as a +gentleman, but that is not so important in an age when the low +scoundrel, Bedloe, could pass in Spain and elsewhere for an English +peer. + +But again, if the Naples man is a swindler, as already remarked, he +behaves unlike one. A swindler would have tried to entrap a woman +of property into a marriage--he might have seduced, but would not +have married, the penniless Teresa Corona, giving what money he had +to her father. When arrested, the man had not in money more than +160 pounds. His maintenance, while in prison, was paid for by the +Viceroy. No detaining charges, from other victims, appear to have +been lodged against him. His will ordains that the document shall +be destroyed by his confessor, if the secret of his birth therein +contained is divulged before his death. The secret perhaps was only +known--before his arrest--to his confessors; it came out when he was +arrested by the Viceroy as a coiner of false money. Like de la +Cloche, he was pious, though not much turns on that. If Armanni's +information is correct, if, when taken, the man wrote to the General +of the Jesuits--who knew de la Cloche's handwriting--we can scarcely +escape the inference that he was de la Cloche. + +On the other hand is the monstrous will. Unworldly as de la Cloche +may have been, he can hardly have fancied that Wales was the +appanage of a bastard of the Crown; and he certainly knew that 'the +province of Monmouth' already gave a title to his younger brother, +the duke, born in 1649. Yet the testator claims Wales or Monmouth +for his unborn child. Again, de la Cloche may not have known who +his mother was. But not only can no Mary, or Mary Henrietta, of the +Lennox family be found, except the impossible Lady Mary who was +younger than de la Cloche; but we observe no trace of the presence +of any d'Aubigny, or even of any Stewart, male or female, at the +court of the Prince of Wales in Jersey, in 1646.* + +*See Hoskins, Charles II. in the Channel islands (Bentley, London, +1854). + +The names of the suite are given by Dr. Hoskins from the journal +(MS.) of Chevalier, a Jersey man, and from the Osborne papers. No +Stewart or Stuart occurs, but, in a crowd of some 3,000 refugees, +there MAY have been a young lady of the name. Lady Fanshaw, who was +in Jersey, is silent. The will is absurd throughout, but whether it +is all of the dying pretender's composition, whether it may not be a +thing concocted by an agent of the Corona family, is another +question. + +It is a mere conjecture, suggested by more than one inquirer, as by +Mr. Steuart, that the words 'Signora D. Maria Stuardo della famiglia +delli Baroni di S. Marzo,' refer to the Lennox family, which would +naturally be spoken of as Lennox, or as d'Aubigny. About the +marquisate of Juvigny (which cannot mean the dukedom of d'Aubigny) +we have said enough. In short, the whole will is absurd, and it is +all but inconceivable that the real de la Cloche could have been so +ignorant as to compose it. + +So the matter stands; one of two hypotheses must be correct--the +Naples man was de la Cloche or he was not--yet either hypothesis is +almost impossible.* + +*I was at first inclined to suppose that the de la Cloche papers in +the Gesu--the letters of Charles II. and the note of the Queen of +Sweden--were forgeries, part of an impostor's apparatus, seized at +Naples and sent to Oliva for inspection. But the letters-- +handwriting and royal seal apart--show too much knowledge of +Charles's secret policy to have been feigned. We are not told that +the certificates of de la Cloche's birth were taken from James +Stuart in prison, and, even if he possessed them, as Armanni says he +did, he may have stolen them, and they may have been restored by the +Viceroy of Naples, as we said, to the Jesuits. As to whether +Charles II. paid his promised subscription to the Jesuit building +fund, Father Boero says: 'We possess a royal letter, proving that +it was abundant' (Boero, Istoria etc., p. 56, note 1), but he does +not print the letter; and Mr. Brady speaks now of extant documents +proving the donation, and now of 'a traditional belief that Charles +was a benefactor of the Jesuit College.' + +It may be added that, on December 27, 1668, Charles wrote to his +sister, Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans: 'I assure you that nobody +does, nor shall, know anything of it here' (of his intended +conversion and secret dealings with France) 'but my selfe, and that +one person more, till it be fitte to be publique. . .' 'That one +person more' is not elsewhere referred to in Charles's known letters +to his sister, unless he be 'he that came last, and delivered me +your letter of the 9th December; he has given me a full account of +what he was charged with, and I am very well pleased with what he +tells me' (Whitehall, December 14, 1668). + +This mysterious person, the one sharer of the King's secret, may be +de la Cloche, if he could have left England by November 18, visited +Rome, and returned to Paris by December 9. If so, de la Cloche may +have fulfilled his mission. Did he return to Italy, and appear in +Naples in January or February 1669? (See Madame, by Julia +Cartwright, pp. 274, 275, London, 1894.) + + + +IX. THE TRUTH ABOUT 'FISHER'S GHOST' + + + +Everybody has heard about 'Fisher's Ghost.' It is one of the stock +'yarns' of the world, and reappears now and again in magazines, +books like 'The Night Side of Nature,' newspapers, and general +conversation. As usually told, the story runs thus: One Fisher, an +Australian settler of unknown date, dwelling not far from Sydney, +disappeared. His overseer, like himself an ex-convict, gave out +that Fisher had returned to England, leaving him as plenipotentiary. +One evening a neighbour (one Farley), returning from market, saw +Fisher sitting on the fence of his paddock, walked up to speak to +him, and marked him leave the fence and retreat into the field, +where he was lost to sight. The neighbour reported Fisher's return, +and, as Fisher could nowhere be found, made a deposition before +magistrates. A native tracker was taken to the fence where the +pseudo Fisher sat, discovered 'white man's blood' on it, detected +'white man's fat' on the scum of a pool hard by, and, finally, found +'white man's body' buried in a brake. The overseer was tried, +condemned, and hanged after confession. + +Such is the yarn: occasionally the ghost of Fisher is said to have +been viewed several times on the fence. + +Now, if the yarn were true, it would be no proof of a ghost. The +person sitting on the fence might be mistaken for Fisher by a +confusion of identity, or might be a mere subjective hallucination +of a sort recognised even by official science as not uncommon. On +the other hand, that such an illusion should perch exactly on the +rail where 'white man's blood' was later found, would be a very +remarkable coincidence. Finally, the story of the appearance might +be explained as an excuse for laying information against the +overseer, already suspected on other grounds. But while this motive +might act among a Celtic population, naturally credulous of ghosts, +and honourably averse to assisting the law (as in Glenclunie in +1749), it is not a probable motive in an English Crown colony, as +Sydney then was. Nor did the seer inform against anybody. + +The tale is told in 'Tegg's Monthly Magazine' (Sydney, March 1836); +in 'Household Words' for 1853; in Mr. John Lang's book, 'Botany Bay' +(about 1840), where the yarn is much dressed up; and in Mr. +Montgomery Martin's 'History of the British Colonies,' vol. iv. +(1835). Nowhere is a date given, but Mr. Martin says that the +events occurred while he was in the colony. His most intimate +surviving friend has often heard him tell the tale, and discuss it +with a legal official, who is said to have been present at the trial +of the overseer.* Other living witnesses have heard the story from +a gentleman who attended the trial. Mr. Martin's narrative given as +a lowest date, the occurrences were before 1835. Moreover, the yarn +of the ghost was in circulation before that year, and was accepted +by a serious writer on a serious subject. But we have still no date +for the murder. + +*So the friend informs me in a letter of November 1896. + +That date shall now be given. Frederick Fisher was murdered by +George Worrall, his overseer, at Campbelltown on June 16 (or 17), +1826. After that date, as Fisher was missing, Worrall told various +tales to account for his absence. The trial of Worrall is reported +in the 'Sydney Gazette' of February 5, 1827. Not one word is +printed about Fisher's ghost; but the reader will observe that there +is a lacuna in the evidence exactly where the ghost, if ghost there +were, should have come in. The search for Fisher's body starts, it +will be seen, from a spot on Fisher's paddock-fence, and the witness +gives no reason why that spot was inspected, or rather no account of +how, or by whom, sprinkled blood was detected on the rail. Nobody +saw the murder committed. Chief-Justice Forbes said, in summing up +(on February 2, 1827), that the evidence was purely circumstantial. +We are therefore so far left wholly in the dark as to why the police +began their investigations at a rail in a fence. + +At the trial Mr. D. Cooper deposed to having been owed 80 pounds by +Fisher. After Fisher's disappearance Cooper frequently spoke to +Worrall about this debt, which Worrall offered to pay if Cooper +would give up to him certain papers (title-deeds) of Fisher's in his +possession. Worrall even wrote, from Banbury Curran, certifying +Cooper of Fisher's departure from the colony, which, he said, he was +authorised to announce. Cooper replied that he would wait for his +80 pounds if Fisher were still in the country. Worrall exhibited +uneasiness, but promised to show a written commission to act for +Fisher. This document he never produced, but was most anxious to +get back Fisher's papers and to pay the 80 pounds. This arrangement +was refused by Cooper. + +James Coddington deposed that on July 8, 1826, when Fisher had been +missing for three weeks, Worrall tried to sell him a colt, which +Coddington believed to be Fisher's. Worrall averred that Fisher had +left the country. A few days later Worrall showed Coddington +Fisher's receipt for the price paid to him by Worrall for the horse. +'Witness, from having seen Fisher write, had considerable doubt as +to the genuineness of the receipt.' + +James Hamilton swore that in August 1826 he bluntly told Worrall +that foul play was suspected; he 'turned pale, and endeavoured to +force a smile.' He merely said that Fisher 'was on salt water,' but +could not or would not name his ship. A receipt to Worrall from +Fisher was sworn to by Lewis Solomon as a forgery. + +Samuel Hopkins, who lived under Fisher's roof, last saw Fisher on +June 17, 1826 (June 16 may be meant), in the evening. Some other +people, including one Lawrence, were in the house, they left shortly +after Fisher went out that evening, and later remarked on the +strangeness of his not returning. Nathaniel Cole gave evidence to +the same effect. Fisher, in short, strolled out on June 17 (16?), +1826, and was seen no more in the body. + +Robert Burke, of Campbelltown, constable, deposed to having +apprehended Worrall. We may now give in full the evidence as to the +search for Fisher's body on October 20, 1826. + +Here let us first remark that Fisher's body was not easily found. A +reward for its discovery was offered by Government on September 27, +1826, when Fisher had been dead for three months, and this may have +stimulated all that was immortal of Fisher to perch on his own +paddock-rail, and so draw attention to the position of his body. +But on this point we have no information, and we proceed to real +evidence. From this it appears that though a reward was offered on +September 27, the local magistrates (to whom the ghost-seer went, in +the yarn) did not bid their constable make SPECIAL researches till +October 20, apparently after the seer told his tale. + +'George Leonard, a constable at Campbelltown, stated that by order +of the bench of the magistrates he commenced a search for the body +of the deceased on the 20th of October last: witness WENT TO A +PLACE WHERE SOME BLOOD WAS SAID TO HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED, and saw +traces of it on several rails of a fence at the corner of the +deceased's paddock adjoining the fence of Mr. Bradbury, and about +fifty rods from prisoner's house: witness proceeded to search with +an iron rod over the ground, when two black natives came up and +joined in the search till they came to a creek where one of them saw +something on the water: a man named Gilbert, a black native, went +into the water, and scumming some of the top with a leaf, which he +afterwards tasted, called out that "there was the fat of a white +man" [of which he was clearly an amateur]: they then proceeded to +another creek about forty or fifty yards farther up, STILL LED BY +THE NATIVES, when one of them struck the rod into some marshy ground +and called out that "there was something there:" a spade was +immediately found, and the place dug, when the first thing that +presented itself was the left hand of a man lying on his side, which +witness, from a long acquaintance with him, immediately declared to +be the hand of Frederick Fisher: the body was decayed a little, +particularly the under-jaw: witness immediately informed Mr. +William Howe and the Rev. Mr. Reddall, and obtained a warrant to +apprehend the parties who were supposed to be concerned in the +murder; the coroner was sent for, and, the body being taken out of +the earth the next morning, several fractures were found in the +head: an inquest was held, and a verdict of wilful murder against +some person or persons unknown was returned: witness particularly +examined the fence: there appeared to have been a fire made under +the lower rail, as if to burn out the mark: the blood seemed as if +it were sprinkled over the rails. . . . + +'The declaration of the prisoner' (Worrall) 'was put in and read: +it stated that, on the evening of the 17th of June, a man named +Lawrence got some money from the deceased, and together with four +others went to a neighbouring public-house to drink: that after +some time they returned, and the prisoner being then outside the +house, and not seen by the others, he saw two of them enter, whilst +the other two, one of whom was Lawrence, remained at the door: the +prisoner then went down to the bottom of the yard, and after a +little time heard a scuffle, and saw Lawrence and the others drag +something along the yard, which they struck several times. The +prisoner then came forward, and called out to know who it was. One +of them replied, "It is a dog." The prisoner coming up said, "It is +Fisher, and you have prevented him from crying out any more." They +said they had murdered him in order to possess themselves of what +money he had, and bound the prisoner by a solemn pledge not to +reveal it. + +'For the prisoner Nathaniel Boom deposed: he knew deceased, and +intended to institute a prosecution against him for forgery when he +disappeared. + +'Chief-justice summed up: observed it was a case entirely of +circumstances. The jury were first to consider if identity of body +with Fisher was satisfactorily established. If not: no case. If +so: they would then consider testimony as affecting prisoner. +Impossible, though wholly circumstantial, for evidence to be +stronger. He offered no opinion, but left case to jury. + +'The jury returned a verdict of guilty. Sentence of death passed.' + + 'February 6, 1827. Sydney Gazette. + +'George Worrall, convicted on Friday last of murder of F. Fisher, +yesterday suffered the last penalty of the law. Till about 5 +o'clock on the morning of his execution, he persisted in asserting +his innocence, when he was induced to confess to a gentleman who had +sat up with him during the night, that he alone had perpetrated the +murder, but positively affirmed it was not his intention at the time +to do so.' + +We need not follow Worrall's attempts to explain away the crime as +an accident. He admitted that 'he had intended to hang Lawrence and +Cole.' + +It is a curious case. WHY WAS NOBODY INTERROGATED ABOUT THE +DISCOVERY, ON THE RAIL, OF BLOOD THREE MONTHS OLD, if not four +months? What was the apparent date of the fire under the rail? How +did the ghost-story get into circulation, and reach Mr. Montgomery +Martin (1835)? + +To suggest a solution of these problems, we have a precisely +analogous case in England. + +On October 25, 1828, one William Edden, a market-gardener, did not +come home at night. His wife rushed into the neighbouring village, +announcing that she had seen her husband's ghost; that he had a +hammer, or some such instrument, in his hand; that she knew he had +been hammered to death on the road by a man whose name she gave, one +Tyler. Her husband was found on the road, between Aylesbury and +Thame, killed by blows of a blunt instrument, and the wife in vain +repeatedly invited the man, Joseph Tyler, to come and see the +corpse. Probably she believed that it would bleed in his presence, +in accordance with the old superstition. All this the poor woman +stated on oath at an inquiry before the magistrates, reported in the +Buckinghamshire county paper of August 29, 1829. + +Here is her evidence, given at Aylesbury Petty Sessions, August 22, +before Lord Nugent, Sir J. D. King, R. Brown, Esq., and others: + +'"After my husband's corpse was brought home, I sent to Tyler, for +some reasons I had, to come and see the corpse. I sent for him five +or six times. I had some particular reason for sending for him +which I never did divulge. . . . I will tell my reasons if you +gentlemen ask me, in the face of Tyler, even if my life should be in +danger for it. When I was ironing a shirt, on the Saturday night my +husband was murdered, something came over me--something rushed over +me--and I thought my husband came by me. I looked up, and I thought +I heard the voice of my husband come from near my mahogany table, as +I turned from my ironing. I ran out and said, 'Oh dear God! my +husband is murdered, and his ribs are broken.' I told this to +several of my neighbours. Mrs. Chester was the first to whom I told +it. I mentioned it also at the Saracen's Head." + +'Sir J. D. King.--"Have you any objection to say why you thought +your husband had been murdered?" + +'"No! I thought I saw my husband's apparition and the man that had +done it, and that man was Tyler, and that was the reason I sent for +him. . . . When my neighbours asked me what was the matter when I +ran out, I told them that I had seen my husband's apparition. . . . +When I mentioned it to Mrs. Chester, I said: 'My husband is +murdered, and his ribs are broken; I have seen him by the mahogany +table.' I did not tell her who did it. . . . I was always +frightened, since my husband had been stopped on the road." (The +deceased Edden had once before been waylaid, but was then too +powerful for his assailants.) "In consequence of what I saw, I went +in search of my husband, until I was taken so ill I could go no +further." + +'Lord Nugent.--"What made you think your husband's ribs were +broken?" + +'"He held up his hand like this" (holds up her arm), "and I saw a +hammer, or something like a hammer, and it came into my mind that +his ribs were broken." + +'Sewell stated that the murder was accomplished by means of a +hammer. The examination was continued on August 31 and September +13; and finally both prisoners were discharged for want of +sufficient evidence. Sewell declared that he had only been a +looker-on, and his accusations against Tyler were so full of +prevarications that they were not held sufficient to incriminate +him. The inquiry was again resumed on February 11, 1830, and +Sewell, Tyler, and a man named Gardner were committed for trial. + +'The trial (see "Buckingham Gazette," March 13, 1830) took place +before Mr. Baron Vaughan and a grand jury at the Buckingham Lent +Assizes, March 5, 1830; BUT IN THE REPORT OF MRS. EDDEN'S EVIDENCE +NO MENTION IS MADE OF THE VISION. + +'Sewell and Tyler were found guilty, and were executed, protesting +their innocence, on March 8, 1830. + +'Miss Browne, writing to us [Mr. Gurney] from Farnham Castle, in +January 1884, gives an account of the vision which substantially +accords with that here recorded, adding:-- + +'"The wife persisted in her account of the vision; consequently the +accused was taken up, and, with some circumstantial evidence in +addition to the woman's story, committed for trial by two +magistrates--my father, Colonel Robert Browne, and the Rev. Charles +Ackfield. + +'"The murderer was convicted at the assizes, and hanged at +Aylesbury. + +'"It may be added that Colonel Browne was remarkably free from +superstition, and was a thorough disbeliever in 'ghost stories.'"'* + +*From Phantasms of the Living, Gurney and Myers, vol. ii. p. 586. + +Now, in the report of the trial at assizes in 1830 there is not one +word about the 'ghost,' though he is conspicuous in the hearing at +petty sessions. The parallel to Fisher's case is thus complete. +And the reason for omitting the ghost in a trial is obvious. The +murderers of Sergeant Davies of Guise's, slain in the autumn of 1749 +in Glenclunie, were acquitted by an Edinburgh jury in 1753 in face +of overpowering evidence of their guilt, partly because two Highland +witnesses deposed to having seen the ghost of the sergeant, partly +because the jury were Jacobites. The prisoners' counsel, as one of +them told Sir Walter Scott, knew that their clients were guilty. A +witness had seen them in the act. But the advocate (Lockhart, a +Jacobite) made such fun out of the ghost that an Edinburgh jury, +disbelieving in the spectre, and not loving the House of Hanover, +very logically disregarded also the crushing evidence for a crime +which was actually described in court by an eye-witness. + +Thus, to secure a view of the original form of the yarn of Fisher's +Ghost, what we need is what we are not likely to get--namely, a copy +of the depositions made before the bench of magistrates at +Campbelltown in October 1826. + +For my own part, I think it highly probable that the story of +Fisher's Ghost was told before the magistrates, as in the +Buckinghamshire case, and was suppressed in the trial at Sydney. + +Worrall's condemnation is said to have excited popular discontent, +as condemnations on purely circumstantial evidence usually do. That +dissatisfaction would be increased if a ghost were publicly +implicated in the matter, just as in the case of Davies's murder in +1749. We see how discreetly the wraith or ghost was kept out of the +Buckinghamshire case at the trial, and we see why, in Worrall's +affair, no questions were asked as to the discovery of sprinkled +blood, not proved by analysis to be human, on the rail where +Fisher's ghost was said to perch. + +I had concluded my inquiry here, when I received a letter in which +Mr. Rusden kindly referred me to his 'History of Australia' (vol. +ii. pp. 44, 45). Mr. Rusden there gives a summary of the story, in +agreement with that taken from the Sydney newspaper. He has +'corrected current rumours by comparison with the words of a +trustworthy informant, a medical man, who lived long in the +neighbourhood, and attended Farley [the man who saw Fisher's ghost] +on his death-bed. He often conversed with Farley on the subject of +the vision which scared him. . . . These facts are compiled from +the notes of Chief-Justice Forbes, who presided at the trial, with +the exception of the references to the apparition, which, although +it led to the discovery of Fisher's body, could not be alluded to in +a court of justice, or be adduced as evidence.'* There is no +justice for ghosts. + +*Thanks to the kindness of the Countess of Jersey, and the obliging +researches of the Chief Justice of New South Wales, I have received +a transcript of the judge's notes. They are correctly analysed by +Mr. Rusden. + +An Australian correspondent adds another example. Long after +Fisher's case, this gentleman was himself present at a trial in +Maitland, New South Wales. A servant-girl had dreamed that a +missing man told her who had killed him, and where his body was +concealed. She, being terrified, wanted to leave the house, but her +mistress made her impart the story to the chief constable, a man +known to my informant, who also knew, and names, the judge who tried +the case. The constable excavated at the spot pointed out in the +dream, unearthed the body, and arrested the criminal, who was found +guilty, confessed, and was hanged. Not a word was allowed to be +said in court about the dream. All the chief constable was +permitted to say was, that 'from information received' he went to +Hayes's farm, and so forth. + +Here, then, are two parallels to Fisher's ghost, and very hard on +psychical science it is that ghostly evidence should be deliberately +burked through the prejudices of lawyers. Mr. Suttar, in his +'Australian Stories Retold' (Bathurst, 1887), remarks that the ghost +is not a late mythical accretion in Fisher's story. 'I have the +authority of a gentleman who was intimately connected with the +gentleman who had the charge of the police when the murder was done, +that Farley's story did suggest the search for the body in the +creek.' But Mr. Suttar thinks that Farley invented the tale as an +excuse for laying information. That might apply, as has been said, +to Highland witnesses in 1753, but hardly to an Englishman in +Australia. Besides, if Farley knew the facts, and had the ghost to +cover the guilt of peaching, WHY DID HE NOT PEACH? He only pointed +to a fence, and, but for the ingenious black Sherlock Holmes, the +body would never have been found. What Farley did was not what a +man would do who, knowing the facts of the crime, and lured by a +reward of 20 pounds, wished to play the informer under cover of a +ghost-story. + +The case for the ghost, then, stands thus, in my opinion. Despite +the silence preserved at the trial, Farley's ghost-story was really +told before the discovery of Fisher's body, and led to the finding +of the body. Despite Mr. Suttar's theory (of information laid under +shelter of a ghost-story), Farley really had experienced an +hallucination. Mr. Rusden, who knew his doctor, speaks of his +fright, and, according to the version of 1836, he was terrified into +an illness. Now, the hallucination indicated the exact spot where +Fisher was stricken down, and left traces of his blood, which no +evidence shows to have been previously noticed. Was it, then, a +fortuitous coincidence that Farley should be casually hallucinated +exactly at the one spot--the rail in the fence--where Fisher had +been knocked on the head? That is the question, and the state of +the odds may be reckoned by the mathematician. + +As to the Australian servant-girl's dream about the place where +another murdered body lay, and the dreams which led to the discovery +of the Red Barn and Assynt murders, and (May 1903) to the finding of +the corpse of a drowned girl at Shanklin, all these may be mere +guesses by the sleeping self, which is very clever at discovering +lost objects. + + + +X. THE MYSTERY OF LORD BATEMAN + + + +Ever and again, in the literary and antiquarian papers, there +flickers up debate as to the Mystery of Lord Bateman. This problem +in no way concerns the existing baronial house of Bateman, which, in +Burke, records no predecessor before a knight and lord mayor of +1717. Our Bateman comes of lordlier and more ancient lineage. The +question really concerns 'The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman. +Illustrated by George Cruikshank, London: Charles Tilt, Fleet +Street. And Mustapha Syried, Constantinople. MDCCCXXXIX.' + +The tiny little volume in green cloth, with a design of Lord +Bateman's marriage ceremony, stamped in gold, opens with a 'Warning +to the Public, concerning the Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman.' The +Warning is signed George Cruikshank, who, however, adds in a +postscript: 'The above is not my writing.' The ballad follows, and +then comes a set of notes, mainly critical. The author of the +Warning remarks: 'In some collection of old English Ballads there +is an ancient ditty, which, I am told, bears some remote and distant +resemblance to the following Epic Poem.' + +Again, the text of the ballad, here styled 'The Famous History of +Lord Bateman,' with illustrations by Thackeray, 'plain' (the +original designs were coloured), occurs in the Thirteenth Volume of +the Biographical Edition of Thackeray's works. (pp. lvi-lxi). + +The problems debated are: 'Who wrote the Loving Ballad of Lord +Bateman, and who wrote the Notes?' The disputants have not shown +much acquaintance with ballad lore in general. + +First let us consider Mr. Thackeray's text of the ballad. It is +closely affiliated to the text of 'The Loving Ballad of Lord +Bateman,' whereof the earliest edition with Cruikshank's +illustrations was published in 1839.* The edition here used is that +of David Bryce and Son, Glasgow (no date). + +*There are undated cheap broadside copies, not illustrated, in the +British Museum. + +Mr. Blanchard Jerrold, in his 'Life of Cruikshank,' tells us that +the artist sang this 'old English ballad' at a dinner where Dickens +and Thackeray were present. Mr. Thackeray remarked: 'I should like +to print that ballad with illustrations,' but Cruikshank 'warned him +off,' as he intended to do the thing himself. Dickens furnished the +learned notes. This account of what occurred was given by Mr. +Walter Hamilton, but Mr. Sala furnished another version. The +'authorship of the ballad,' Mr. Sala justly observed, 'is involved +in mystery.' Cruikshank picked it up from the recitation of a +minstrel outside a pot-house. In Mr. Sala's opinion, Mr. Thackeray +'revised and settled the words, and made them fit for publication.' +Nor did he confine himself to the mere critical work; he added, in +Mr. Sala's opinion, that admired passage about 'The young bride's +mother, who never before was heard to speak so free,' also +contributing 'The Proud Young Porter,' Jeames. Now, in fact, both +the interpellation of the bride's mamma, and the person and +characteristics of the proud young porter, are of unknown antiquity, +and are not due to Mr. Thackeray--a scholar too conscientious to +'decorate ' an ancient text. Bishop Percy did such things, and +Scott is not beyond suspicion; but Mr. Thackeray, like Joseph +Ritson, preferred the authentic voice of tradition. Thus, in the +text of the Biographical Edition, he does not imitate the Cockney +twang, phonetically rendered in the version of Cruikshank. The +second verse, for example, runs thus: + +Cruikshank: + + He sail-ed east, he sail-ed vest, + Until he came to famed Tur-key, + Vere he vos taken and put to prisin, + Until his life was quite wea-ry. + +Thackeray: + + He sailed East, and he sailed West, + Until he came to proud Turkey, + Where he was taken and put to prison, + Until his life was almost weary. + +There are discrepancies in the arrangement of the verses, and a most +important various reading. + +Cruikshank: + + Now sevin long years is gone and past, + And fourteen days vell known to me; + She packed up all her gay clouthing, + And swore Lord Bateman she would go see. + +To this verse, in Cruikshank's book, a note (not by Cruikshank) is +added: + + '"Now sevin long years is gone and past, + And fourteen days well known to me. + +In this may be recognised, though in a minor degree, the same gifted +hand that portrayed the Mussulman, the pirate, the father, and the +bigot, in two words ("This Turk"). + +'"The time is gone, the historian knows it, and that is enough for +the reader. This is the dignity of history very strikingly +exemplified."' + +That note to Cruikshank's text is, like all the delightful notes, if +style is evidence, not by Dickens, but by Thackeray. Yet, in his +own text, with an exemplary fidelity, he reads: 'And fourteen days +well known to THEE.' To whom? We are left in ignorance; and +conjecture, though tempting, is unsafe. The reading of Cruikshank, +'vell known to ME'--that is, to the poet--is confirmed by the +hitherto unprinted 'Lord Bedmin.' This version, collected by Miss +Wyatt Edgell in 1899, as recited by a blind old woman in a +workhouse, who had learned it in her youth, now lies before the +present writer. He owes this invaluable document to the kindness of +Miss Wyatt Edgell and Lady Rosalind Northcote. Invaluable it is, +because it proves that Lord Bateman (or Bedmin) is really a +volkslied, a popular and current version of the ancient ballad. +'Famed Turkey' becomes 'Torquay' in this text, probably by a +misapprehension on the part of the collector or reciter. The speech +of the bride's mother is here omitted, though it occurs in older +texts; but, on the whole, the blind old woman's memory has proved +itself excellent. In one place she gives Thackeray's reading in +preference to that of Cruikshank, thus: + +Cruikshank: + + Ven he vent down on his bended knee. + +Thackeray: + + Down on his bended knees fell he. + +Old Woman: + + Down on his bended knee fell he. + +We have now ascertained the following facts: Cruikshank and +Thackeray used a text with merely verbal differences, which was +popular among the least educated classes early in last century. +Again, Thackeray contributed the notes and critical apparatus to +Cruikshank's version. For this the internal evidence of style is +overpowering: no other man wrote in the manner and with the +peculiar humour of Mr. Titmarsh. In the humble opinion of the +present writer these Notes ought to be appended to Mr. Thackeray's +version of 'Lord Bateman.' Finally, Mr. Sala was wrong in supposing +that Mr. Thackeray took liberties with the text received from oral +tradition. + +What was the origin of that text? Professor Child, in the second +part of his 'English and Scottish Popular Ballads'* lays before us +the learning about Lord Bateman, Lord Bedmin, Young Bicham, Young +Brechin, Young Bekie, Young Beichan and Susie Pie (the heroine, +Sophia, in Thackeray), Lord Beichan, Young Bondwell, and Markgraf +Backenweil; for by all these names is Lord Bateman known. The +student must carefully note that 'Thackeray's List of Broadsides,' +cited, is NOT by Mr. W. M. Thackeray. + +*Pt. ii. p. 454 et seq., and in various other places. + +As the reader may not remember the incidents in the Thackeray, +Cruikshank, and Old Woman version (which represents an ancient +ballad, now not so much popularised as vulgarised), a summary may be +given. Lord Bateman went wandering: 'his character, at this time, +and his expedition, would seem to have borne a striking resemblance +to those of Lord Byron. . . . SOME foreign country he wished to +see, and that was the extent of his desire; any foreign country +would answer his purpose--all foreign countries were alike to him.'- +-(Note, apud Cruikshank.) Arriving in Turkey (or Torquay) he was +taken and fastened to a tree by his captor. He was furtively +released by the daughter of 'This Turk.' 'The poet has here, by +that bold license which only genius can venture upon, surmounted the +extreme difficulty of introducing any particular Turk, by assuming a +foregone conclusion in the reader's mind; and adverting, in a +casual, careless way, to a Turk hitherto unknown as to an old +acquaintance. . . . "THIS Turk he had" is a master-stroke, a truly +Shakespearian touch'--(Note.) The lady, in her father's cellar +('Castle,' Old Woman's text), consoles the captive with 'the very +best wine,' secretly stored, for his private enjoyment, by the cruel +and hypocritical Mussulman. She confesses the state of her heart, +and inquires as to Lord Bateman's real property, which is 'half +Northumberland.' To what period in the complicated mediaeval +history of the earldom of Northumberland the affair belongs is +uncertain. + +The pair vow to be celibate for seven years, and Lord Bateman +escapes. At the end of the period, Sophia sets out for +Northumberland, urged, perhaps, by some telepathic admonition. For, +on arriving at Lord Bateman's palace (Alnwick Castle?), she summons +the proud porter, announces herself, and finds that her lover has +just celebrated a marriage with another lady. In spite of the +remonstrances of the bride's mamma, Lord Bateman restores that young +lady to her family, observing + + She is neither the better nor the worse for me. + +So Thackeray and Old Woman. Cruikshank prudishly reads, + + O you'll see what I'll do for you and she. + +'Lord Bateman then prepared another marriage, having plenty of +superfluous wealth to bestow upon the Church.'--(Note.) All the +rest was bliss. + +The reader may ask: How did Sophia know anything about the obscure +Christian captive? WHY did she leave home exactly in time for his +marriage? How came Lord Bateman to be so fickle? The Annotator +replies: 'His lordship had doubtless been impelled by despair of +ever recovering his lost Sophia, and a natural anxiety not to die +without leaving an heir to his estate.' Finally how was the +difficulty of Sophia's religion overcome? + +To all these questions the Cockney version gives no replies, but the +older forms of the ballad offer sufficient though varying answers, +as we shall see. + +Meanwhile one thing is plain from this analysis of the pot-house +version of an old ballad, namely, that the story is constructed out +of fragments from the great universal store of popular romance. The +central ideas are two: first, the situation of a young man in the +hands of a cruel captor (often a god, a giant, a witch, a fiend), +but here--a Turk. The youth is loved and released (commonly through +magic spells) by the daughter of the gaoler, god, giant, witch, +Turk, or what not. In Greece, Jason is the Lord Bateman, Medea is +the Sophia, of the tale, which was known to Homer and Hesiod, and +was fully narrated by Pindar. THE OTHER YOUNG PERSON, the second +bride, however, comes in differently, in the Greek. In far-off +Samoa, a god is the captor.* The gaoler is a magician in Red Indian +versions.** + +*Turner's 'Samoa,' p. 102. +**For a list, though an imperfect one, of the Captor's Daughter +story, see the Author's Custom and Myth, pp. 86-102. + +As a rule, in these tales, from Finland to Japan, from Samoa to +Madagascar, Greece and India, the girl accompanies her lover in his +flight, delaying the pursuer by her magic. In 'Lord Bateman' +another formula, almost as widely diffused, is preferred. + +The old true love comes back just after her lover's wedding. He +returns to her. Now, as a rule, in popular tales, the lover's +fickleness is explained by a spell or by a breach of a taboo. The +old true love has great difficulty in getting access to him, and in +waking him from a sleep, drugged or magical. + + The bloody shirt I wrang for thee, + The Hill o' Glass I clamb for thee, + And wilt thou no waken and speak to me? + +He wakens at last, and all is well. In a Romaic ballad the deserted +girl, meeting her love on his wedding-day, merely reminds him of old +kindness. He answers-- + + Now he that will may scatter nuts, + And he may wed that will, + But she that was my old true love + Shall be my true love still. + +This incident, the strange, often magically caused oblivion of the +lover, whose love returns to him, like Sophia, at, or after, his +marriage, is found in popular tales of Scotland, Norway, Iceland, +Germany, Italy, Greece, and the Gaelic Western Islands. It does not +occur in 'Lord Bateman,' where Mr. Thackeray suggests probable +reasons for Lord Bateman's fickleness. But the world-wide incidents +are found in older versions of 'Lord Bateman,' from which they have +been expelled by the English genius for the commonplace. + +Thus, if we ask, how did Sophia at first know of Bateman's +existence? The lovely and delicate daughter of the Turk, doubtless, +was unaware that, in the crowded dungeons of her sire, one captive +of wealth, noble birth, and personal fascination, was languishing. +The Annotator explains: 'She hears from an aged and garrulous +attendant, her only female adviser (for her mother died while she +was yet an infant), of the sorrows and sufferings of the Christian +captive.' In ancient versions of the ballad another explanation +occurs. She overhears a song which he sings about his unlucky +condition. This account is in Young Bekie (Scottish: mark the +name, Bekie), where France is the scene and the king's daughter is +the lady. The same formula of the song sung by the prisoner is +usual. Not uncommon, too, is a TOKEN carried by Sophia when she +pursues her lost adorer, to insure her recognition. It is half of +her broken ring. Once more, why does Sophia leave home to find +Bateman in the very nick of time? Thackeray's version does not tell +us; but Scottish versions do. 'She longed fu' sair her love to +see.' Elsewhere a supernatural being, 'The Billy Blin,' or a fairy, +clad in green, gives her warning. The fickleness of the hero is +caused, sometimes, by constraint, another noble 'has his marriage,' +as his feudal superior, and makes him marry, but only in form. + + There is a marriage in yonder hall, + Has lasted thirty days and three, + The bridegroom winna bed the bride, + For the sake o' one that's owre the sea. + +In this Scottish version, by the way, occurs-- + + Up spoke the young bride's mother, + Who never was heard to speak so free, + +wrongly attributed to Mr. Thackeray's own pen. + +The incident of the magical oblivion which comes over the bridegroom +occurs in Scandinavian versions of 'Lord Bateman' from manuscripts +of the sixteenth century.* Finally, the religious difficulty in +several Scottish versions is got over by the conversion and baptism +of Sophia, who had professed the creed of Islam. That all these +problems in 'Lord Bateman' are left unsolved is, then, the result of +decay. The modern vulgar English version of the pot-house minstrel +(known as 'The Tripe Skewer,' according to the author of the +Introduction to Cruikshank's version) has forgotten, has been +heedless of, and has dropped the ancient universal elements of folk- +tale and folk-song. + +*Child, ii. 459-461. + +These graces, it is true, are not too conspicuous even in the oldest +and best versions of 'Lord Bateman.' Choosing at random, however, +we find a Scots version open thus: + + In the lands where Lord Beichan was born, + Among the stately steps o' stane, + He wore the goud at his left shoulder, + But to the Holy Land he's gane. + +That is not in the tone of the ditty sung by the Tripe Skewer. +Again, in his prison, + + He made na his moan to a stock, + He made na it to a stone, + But it was to the Queen of Heaven + That he made his moan. + +The lines are from a version of the North of Scotland, and, on the +face of it, are older than the extirpation of the Catholic faith in +the loyal North. The reference to Holy Land preserves a touch of +the crusading age. In short, poor as they may be, the Scottish +versions are those of a people not yet wholly vulgarised, not yet +lost to romance. The singers have 'half remembered and half forgot' +the legend of Gilbert Becket (Bekie, Beichan), the father of St. +Thomas of Canterbury. Gilbert, in the legend, went to Holy Land, +was cast into a Saracen's prison, and won his daughter's heart. He +escaped, but the lady followed him, like Sophia, and, like Sophia, +found and wedded him; Gilbert's servant, Richard, playing the part +of the proud young porter. Yet, as Professor Child justly observes, +the ballad 'is not derived from the legend,' though the legend as to +Gilbert Becket exists in a manuscript of about 1300. The Bateman +motive is older than Gilbert Becket, and has been attached to later +versions of the adventures of that hero. Gilbert Becket about 1300 +was credited with a floating, popular tale of the Bateman sort, and +out of his legend, thus altered, the existing ballads drew their +'Bekie' and 'Beichan,' from the name of Becket. + +The process is: First, the popular tale of the return of the old +true love; that tale is found in Greece, Scandinavia, Denmark, +Iceland, Faroe, Spain, Germany, and so forth. Next, about 1300 +Gilbert Becket is made the hero of the tale. Next, our surviving +ballads retain a trace or two of the Becket form, but they are not +derived from the Becket form. The fancy of the folk first evolved +the situations in the story, then lent them to written literature +(Becket's legend, 1300), and thirdly, received the story back from +written legend with a slight, comparatively modern colouring. + +In the dispute as to the origin of our ballads one school, as Mr. T. +F. Henderson and Professor Courthope, regard them as debris of old +literary romances, ill-remembered work of professional minstrels.* +That there are ballads of this kind in England, such as the +Arthurian ballads, I do not deny. But in my opinion many ballads +and popular tales are in origin older than the mediaeval romances, +as a rule. As a rule the romances are based on earlier popular +data, just as the 'Odyssey' is an artistic whole made up out of +popular tales. The folk may receive back a literary form of its own +ballad or story, but more frequently the popular ballad comes down +in oral tradition side by side with its educated child, the literary +romance on the same theme. + +Cf. The Queen's Marie. + +Mr. Henderson has answered that the people is unpoetical. The +degraded populace of the slums may be unpoetical, like the minstrel +named 'Tripe Skewer,' and may deprave the ballads of its undegraded +ancestry into such modern English forms as 'Lord Bateman.' But I +think of the people which, in Barbour's day, had its choirs of +peasant girls chanting rural snatches on Bruce's victories, or, in +still earlier France, of Roland's overthrow. If THEIR songs are +attributed to professional minstrels, I turn to the Greece of 1830, +to the Finland of to-day, to the outermost Hebrides of to-day, to +the Arapahoes of Northern America, to the Australian blacks, among +all of whom the people are their own poets and make their own +dirges, lullabies, chants of victory, and laments for defeat. THESE +peoples are not unpoetical. In fact, when I say that the people has +been its own poet I do not mean the people which goes to music halls +and reads halfpenny newspapers. To the true folk we owe the legend +of Lord Bateman in its ancient germs; and to the folk's degraded +modern estate, crowded as men are in noisome streets and crushed by +labour, we owe the Cockney depravation, the Lord Bateman of +Cruikshank and Thackeray. Even that, I presume, being old, is now +forgotten, except by the ancient blind woman in the workhouse. To +the workhouse has come the native popular culture--the last +lingering shadow of old romance. That is the moral of the ballad of +Lord Bateman. + +In an article by Mr. Kitton, in Literature (June 24, 1899, p. 699), +this learned Dickensite says: 'The authorship of this version' +(Cruikshank's) 'of an ancient ballad and of the accompanying notes +has given rise to much controversy, and whether Dickens or Thackeray +was responsible for them is still a matter of conjecture, although +what little evidence there is seems to favour Thackeray.' + +For the ballad neither Thackeray nor Dickens is responsible. The +Old Woman's text settles that question: the ballad is a degraded +Volkslied. As to the notes, internal evidence for once is explicit. +The notes are Thackeray's. Any one who doubts has only to compare +Thackeray's notes to his prize poem on 'Timbuctoo.' + +The banter, in the notes, is academic banter, that of a university +man, who is mocking the notes of learned editors. This humour is +not the humour of Dickens, who, however, may very well have written +the Introduction to Cruikshank's version. That morceau is in quite +a different taste and style. I ought, in fairness, to add the +following note from Mr. J. B. Keene, which may be thought to +overthrow belief in Thackeray's authorship of the notes:-- + +Dear Sir,--Your paper in the 'Cornhill' for this month on the +Mystery of Lord Bateman interested me greatly, but I must beg to +differ from you as to the authorship of the Notes, and for this +reason. + +I have before me a copy of the first edition of the 'Loving Ballad' +which was bought by my father soon after it was issued. At that +time--somewhere about 1840--there was a frequent visitor at our +house, named Burnett, who had married a sister of Charles Dickens, +and who gave us the story of its production. + +He said, as you state, that Cruikshank had got the words from a pot- +house singer, but the locality he named was Whitechapel,* where he +was looking out for characters. He added that Cruikshank sung or +hummed the tune to him, and he gave it the musical notation which +follows the preface. He also said that Charles Dickens wrote the +notes. His personal connection with the work and his relation to +Dickens are, I think, fair evidence on the question. + +I am, dear Sir, + Yours truly, + J. B. KEENE. + +Kingsmead House, 1 Hartham Road, + Camden Road, N., Feb. 13,1900. + +Mr. Keene's evidence may, perhaps, settle the question. But, if +Dickens wrote the Introduction, that might be confused in Mr. +Burnett's memory with the Notes, from internal evidence the work of +Thackeray. If not, then in the Notes we find a new aspect of the +inexhaustible humour of Dickens. It is certain, at all events, that +neither Dickens nor Thackeray was the author of the 'Loving Ballad.' + +P.S.--The preface to the ballad says Battle Bridge. + + + +XI. THE QUEEN'S MARIE + + + + Little did my mother think + That day she cradled me + What land I was to travel in, + Or what death I should die. + +Writing to Mrs. Dunlop on January 25, 1790, Burns quoted these +lines, 'in an old Scottish ballad, which, notwithstanding its rude +simplicity, speaks feelingly to the heart.' Mr. Carlyle is said, +when young, to have written them on a pane of glass in a window, +with a diamond, adding, characteristically, 'Oh foolish Thee!' In +1802, in the first edition of 'The Border Minstrelsy,' Scott cited +only three stanzas from the same ballad, not including Burns's +verse, but giving + + Yestreen the Queen had four Maries, + The night she'll hae but three, + There was Marie Seaton, and Marie Beaton, + And Marie Carmichael and me. + +In later editions Sir Walter offered a made-up copy of the ballad, +most of it from a version collected by Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe. + +It now appeared that Mary Hamilton was the heroine, that she was one +of Queen Marie's four Maries, and that she was hanged for murdering +a child whom she bore to Darnley. Thus the character of Mary +Hamilton was 'totally lost,' and Darnley certainly 'had not +sufficient for two.' Darnley, to be sure, told his father that 'I +never offended the Queen, my wife, in meddling with any woman in +thought, let be in deed,' and, whether Darnley spoke truth or not, +there was, among the Queen's Maries, no Mary Hamilton to meddle +with, just as there was no Mary Carmichael. + +The Maries were attendant on the Queen as children ever since she +left Scotland for France. They were Mary Livingstone (mentioned as +'Lady Livinston' in one version of the ballad),* who married 'John +Sempill, called the Dancer,' who, says Laing, 'acquired the lands of +Beltree, in Renfrewshire.'** + +*Child, vol. iii. p. 389. +**Laing's Knox, ii. 415, note 3. + +When Queen Mary was a captive in England she was at odds with the +Sempill pair about some jewels of hers in their custody. He was not +a satisfactory character, he died before November 1581. Mary +Fleming, early in 1587, married the famous William Maitland of +Lethington, 'being no more fit for her than I to be a page,' says +Kirkcaldy of Grange. Her life was wretched enough, through the +stormy career and sad death of her lord. Mary Beaton, with whom +Randolph, the English ambassador, used to flirt, married, in 1566, +Ogilvy of Boyne, the first love of Lady Jane Gordon, the bride of +Bothwell. Mary Seaton remained a maiden and busked the Queen's hair +during her English captivity. We last hear of her from James +Maitland of Lethington, in 1613, living at Rheims, very old, +'decrepid,' and poor. There is no room in the Four for Mary +Hamilton, and no mention of her appears in the records of the Court. + +How, then, did Mary Hamilton find her way into the old ballad about +Darnley and the Queen? + +To explain this puzzle, some modern writers have denied that the +ballad of 'The Queen's Marie' is really old; they attribute it to +the eighteenth century. The antiquary who launched this opinion was +Scott's not very loyal friend, Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe. +According to him, a certain Miss Hambledon (no Christian name is +given), being Maid of Honour to the Empress Catherine of Russia, had +three children by an amour, and murdered all three. Peter the Great +caused her to be, not hanged, but decapitated. Sharpe took his +facts from 'a German almanac,' and says: 'The Russian tragedy must +be the original.' The late Professor Child, from more authentic +documents, dates Miss Hambledon's or Hamilton's execution on March +14, 1719. At that time, or nearly then, Charles Wogan was in Russia +on a mission from the Chevalier de St. George (James III.), and +through him the news might reach Scotland. Mr. Courthope, in his +'History of English Poetry,' followed Sharpe and Professor Child, +and says: 'It is very remarkable that one of the very latest of the +Scottish popular ballads should be one of the very best.' + +The occurrence would not only be remarkable, but, as far as +possibility goes in literature, would be impossible, for several +reasons. One is that neither literary men nor mere garreteers and +makers of street ballads appear, about 1719-1730, to have been +capable of recapturing the simplicity and charm of the old ballad +style, at its best, or anything near its best. There is no +mistaking the literary touch in such ballads as Allan Ramsay +handled, or in the imitation named 'Hardyknute ' in Allan's 'Tea +Table Miscellany,' 1724. 'It was the first poem I ever learned, the +last I shall ever forget,' said Scott, and, misled by boyish +affection, he deemed it 'just old enough,' 'a noble imitation.'* +But the imitation can deceive nobody, and while literary imitators, +as far as their efforts have reached us, were impotent to deceive, +the popular Muse, of 1714-1730, was not attempting deception. +Ballads of the eighteenth century were sarcastic, as in those on +Sheriffmuir and in Skirving's amusing ballad on Preston Pans, or +were mere doggerel, or were brief songs to old tunes. They survive +in print, whether in flying broadsides or in books, but, popular as +is 'The Queen's Marie,' in all its many variants (Child gives no +less than eighteen), we do not know a single printed example before +Scott's made-up copy in the 'Border Minstrelsy.' The latest ballad +really in the old popular manner known to me is that of 'Rob Roy,' +namely, of Robin Oig and James More, sons of Rob Roy, and about +their abduction of an heiress in 1752. This is a genuine popular +poem, but in style and tone and versification it is wholly unlike +'The Queen's Marie.' I scarcely hope that any one can produce, +after 1680, a single popular piece which could be mistaken for a +ballad of or near Queen Mary's time. + +*Lockhart, i. 114, x. 138. + +The known person least unlike Mr. Courthope's late 'maker' was +'Mussel-mou'd Charlie Leslie,' 'an old Aberdeenshire minstrel, the +very last, probably, of the race,' says Scott. Charlie died in +1782. He sang, and sold PRINTED ballads. 'Why cannot you sing +other songs than those rebellious ones?' asked a Hanoverian Provost +of Aberdeen. 'Oh ay, but--THEY WINNA BUY THEM!' said Charlie. +'Where do you buy them?' 'Why, faur I get them cheapest.' He +carried his ballads in 'a large harden bag, hung over his shoulder.' +Charlie had tholed prison for Prince Charles, and had seen Provost +Morison drink the Prince's health in wine and proclaim him Regent at +the Cross of Aberdeen. If Charlie (who lived to be a hundred and +two) composed the song, 'Mussel-mou'd Charlie ' ('this sang Charlie +made hissel''), then this maker could never have produced 'The +Queen's Marie,' nor could any maker like him. His ballads were +printed, as any successful ballad of 1719 would probably have been, +in broadsides.* Against Mr. Child and Mr. Courthope, then, we argue +that, after 1600, a marked decadence of the old ballad style set in- +-that the old style (as far as is known) died soon after Bothwell +Brig (1679), in the execrable ballads of both sides, such as +'Philiphaugh,' and that it soon was not only dead as a form in +practical use, but was entirely superseded by new kinds of popular +poetry, of which many examples survive, and are familiar to every +student. How, or why, then, should a poet, aiming at popularity, +about 1719-1730, compose 'The Queen's Marie' in an obsolete manner? +The old ballads were still sung, indeed; but we ask for proof that +new ballads were still composed in the ancient fashion. + +*See, for example, Mr. Macquoid's Jacobite Songs and Ballads, pp. +424, 510, with a picture of Charlie. + +Secondly, WHY, and how tempted, would a popular poet of 1719 +transfer a modern tragedy of Russia to the year 1563, or +thereabouts? His public would naturally desire a ballad gazette of +the mournful new tale, concerning a lass of Scottish extraction, +betrayed, tortured, beheaded, at the far-off court of a Muscovite +tyrant. The facts 'palpitated with actuality,' and, since Homer's +day, 'men desire' (as Homer says) 'the new songs' on the new events. +What was gained by going back to Queen Mary? Would a popular +'Musselmou'd Charlie' even know, by 1719, the names of the Queen's +Maries? Mr. Courthope admits that 'he may have been helped by some +ballad,' one of those spoken of, as we shall see, by Knox. If that +ballad told the existing Marian story, what did the 'maker' add? If +it did NOT, what did he borrow? No more than the names could he +borrow, and no more than the name 'Hamilton' from the Russian +tragedy could he add. One other thing he might be said to add, the +verses in which Mary asks 'the jolly sailors' not to + + 'Let on to my father and mother + But that I'm coming hame.' + +This passage, according to Mr. Courthope, 'was suggested partly by +the fact of a Scotswoman being executed in Russia.' C. K. Sharpe +also says: 'If Marie Hamilton was executed in Scotland, it is not +likely' (why not?) 'that her relations resided beyond seas.' They +MAY have been in France, like many another Hamilton! Mr. Child +says: 'The appeal to the sailors shows that Mary Hamilton dies in a +foreign land--not that of her ancestors.' Yet the ballad makes her +die in or near the Canongate! Moreover, the family of the Mary +Hamilton of 1719 had been settled in Russia for generations, and +were reckoned of the Russian noblesse. The verses, therefore, on +either theory, are probably out of place, and are perhaps an +interpolation suggested to some reciter (they only occur in some of +the many versions) by a passage in 'The Twa Brithers.'* + +*Child, i. 439. + +We now reach the most important argument for the antiquity of 'The +Queen's Marie.' Mr. Courthope has theoretically introduced as +existing in, or after, 1719, 'makers' who could imitate to deception +the old ballad style. Now Maidment remarks that 'this ballad was +popular in Galloway, Selkirkshire, Lanarkshire, and Aberdeen, AND +THE VERY STRIKING DISCREPANCIES GO FAR TO REMOVE EVERY SUSPICION OF +FABRICATION.' Chambers uses (1829) against Sharpe the same argument +of 'universal diffusion in Scotland.' Neither Mr. Child nor Mr. +Courthope draws the obvious inferences from the extraordinary +discrepancies in the eighteen variants. Such essential +discrepancies surely speak of a long period of oral recitation by +men or women accustomed to interpolate, alter, and add, in the true +old ballad manner. Did such rhapsodists exist after 1719? Old +Charlie, for one, did not sing or sell the old ballads. Again, if +the ballad (as it probably would be in 1719) was PRINTED, or even if +it was not, could the variations have been evolved between 1719 and +1802? + +These variations are numerous, striking, and fundamental. In many +variants even the name of the heroine does not tally with that of +the Russian maid of honour. That most important and telling +coincidence wholly disappears. In a version of Motherwell's, from +Dumbartonshire, the heroine is Mary Myle. In a version known to +Scott ('Minstrelsy,' 1810, iii. 89, note), the name is Mary Miles. +Mr. Child also finds Mary Mild, Mary Moil, and Lady Maisry. This +Maisry is daughter of the Duke of York! Now, the Duke of York whom +alone the Scottish people knew was James Stuart, later James II. +Once more the heroine is daughter of the Duke of Argyll, therefore a +Campbell. Or she is without patronymic, and is daughter of a lord +or knight of the North, or South, or East, and one of her sisters is +a barber's wife, and her father lives in England!--(Motherwell.) +She, at least, might invoke 'Ye mariners, mariners, mariners!' (as +in Scott's first fragment) not to carry her story. Now we ask +whether, after the ringing tragedy of Miss Hamilton in Russia, in +the year of grace 1719, contemporaries who heard the woeful tale +could, between 1719 and 1820, call the heroine--(1) Hamilton; (2) +Mild, Moil, Myle, Miles; (3) make her a daughter of the Duke of +York, or of the Duke of Argyll, or of lords and of knights from all +quarters of the compass, and sister-in-law to an English barber, +also one of the Queen's 'serving-maids.' We at least cannot accept +those numerous and glittering contradictions as corruptions which +could be made soon after the Russian events, when the true old +ballad style was dead. + +We now produce more startling variations. The lover is not only +'the King,' 'the Prince,' Darnley, 'the highest Stuart o' a',' but +he is also that old offender, 'Sweet Willie,' or he is Warrenston +(Warriston?). Mary is certainly not hanged (the Russian woman was +beheaded) away from her home; she dies in Edinburgh, near the +Tolbooth, the Netherbow, the Canongate, and-- + + O what will my three brothers say + When they COME HAME frae sea, + When they see three locks o' my yellow hair + Hinging under a gallows tree? + +It is impossible here to give all the variations. Mary pulls, or +does not pull, or her lover pulls, the leaf of the Abbey, or +'savin,' or other tree; the Queen is 'auld,' or not 'auld;' she +kicks in Mary's door and bursts the bolts, or does nothing so +athletic and inconsistent with her advanced age. The heroine does, +or does not, appeal vainly to her father. Her dress is of all +varieties. She does, or does not, go to the Tolbooth and other +places. She is, or is not, allured to Edinburgh, 'a wedding for to +see.' Her infanticide is variously described, or its details are +omitted, and the dead body of the child is found in various places, +or not found at all. Though drowned in the sea, it is between the +bolster and the wall, or under the blankets! She expects, or does +not expect, to be avenged by her kin. The king is now angry, now +clement--inviting Mary to dinner! Mary is hanged, or (Buchan's MS.) +is not hanged, but is ransomed by Warrenston, probably Johnston of +Warriston! These are a few specimens of variations in point of +fact: in language the variations are practically countless. How +could they arise, if the ballad is later than 1719? + +We now condescend to appeal to statistics. We have examined the +number of variants published by Mr. Child in his first six volumes, +on ballads which have, or may have, an historical basis. Of course, +the older and more popular the ballads, the more variants do we +expect to discover--time and taste producing frequent changes. +Well, of 'Otterburn' Mr. Child has five versions; of the 'Hunting of +the Cheviot' he has two, with minor modifications indicated by +letters from the 'lower case.' Of 'Gude Wallace' he has eight. Of +'Johnnie Armstrong' he has three. Of 'Kinmont Willie' he has one. +Of 'The Bonnie Earl o' Moray' he has two. Of 'Johnnie Cock' he has +thirteen. Of 'Sir Patrick Spens' he has eighteen. And of 'The +Queen's Marie' (counting Burns's solitary verse and other brief +fragments) Mr. Child has eighteen versions or variants + +Thus a ballad made, ex hypothesi Sharpiana, in or after 1719, has +been as much altered in oral tradition as the most popular and +perhaps the oldest historical ballad of all, 'Sir Patrick Spens,' +and much more than any other of the confessedly ancient semi- +historical popular poems. The historical event which may have +suggested 'Sir Patrick Spens' is 'plausibly,' says Mr. Child, fixed +in 1281: it is the marriage of Margaret of Scotland to Eric, King +of Norway. Others suggest so late a date as the wooing of Anne of +Denmark by James VI. Nothing is known. No wonder, then, that in +time an orally preserved ballad grows rich in variants. But that a +ballad of 1719 should, in eighty modern non-balladising years, +become as rich in extant variants, and far more discrepant in their +details, as 'Sir Patrick Spens' is a circumstance for which we +invite explanation. + +Will men say, 'The later the ballad, the more it is altered in oral +tradition'? If so, let them, by all means, produce examples! We +should, on this theory, have about a dozen 'Battles of Philiphaugh,' +and at least fifteen 'Bothwell Brigs,' a poem, by the way, much in +the old manner, prosaically applied, and so recent that, in art at +least, it was produced after the death of the Duke of Monmouth, +slain, it avers, by the machinations of Claverhouse! Of course we +are not asking for exact proportions, since many variants of ballads +may be lost, but merely for proof that, the later a ballad is, the +more variants of it occur. But this contention is probably +impossible, and the numerous variations in 'The Queen's Marie' are +really a proof of long existence in oral tradition, and contradict +the theory espoused by Mr. Child, who later saw the difficulty +involved in his hypothesis. + +This argument, though statistical, is, we think, conclusive, and the +other considerations which we have produced in favour of the +antiquity of 'The Queen's Marie' add their cumulative weight. + +We have been, in brief, invited to suppose that, about 1719, a Scot +wrote a ballad on an event in contemporary Russian Court life; that +(contrary to use and wont) he threw the story back a century and a +half; that he was a master of an old style, in the practice of his +age utterly obsolete and not successfully imitated; that his poem +became universally popular, and underwent, in eighty years, even +more vicissitudes than most other ballads encounter in three or five +centuries. Meanwhile it is certain that there had been real ancient +ballads, contemporary with the Marian events--ballads on the very +Maries two or three of whom appear in the so-called poem of 1719; +while exactly the same sort of scandal as the ballad records had +actually occurred at Queen Mary's Court in a lower social rank. The +theory of Mr. Child is opposed to our whole knowledge of ballad +literature, of its age, decadence (about 1620-1700), and decease (in +the old kind) as a popular art. + +To agree with Mr. Child, we must not only accept one great ballad- +poet, born at least fifty years too late; we must not only admit +that such a poet would throw back his facts for a century and a +half; but we must also conceive that the balladising humour, with +its ancient methods, was even more vivacious in Scotland for many +years after 1719 than, as far as we know, it had ever been before. +Yet there is no other trace known to us of the existence of the old +balladising humour and of the old art in all that period. We have +no such ballad about the English captain shot by the writer's pretty +wife, none about the bewitched son of Lord Torphichen, none about +the Old Chevalier, or Lochiel, or Prince Charlie: we have merely +Shenstone's 'Jemmy Dawson' and the Glasgow bellman's rhymed history +of Prince Charles. In fact, 'Jemmy Dawson' is a fair instantia +contradictoria as far as a ballad by a man of letters is to the +point. Such a ballad that age could indeed produce: it is not very +like 'The Queen's Marie'! No, we cannot take refuge in 'Townley's +Ghost' and his address to the Butcher Cumberland:-- + + Imbrued in bliss, imbathed in case, + Though now thou seem'st to lie, + My injured form shall gall thy peace, + And make thee wish to die! + +THAT is a ballad of the eighteenth century, and it is not in the +manner of 'The Queen's Marie.' + +These considerations, now so obvious to a student of the art of old +popular poetry, if he thinks of the matter, could not occur to +Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe. He was a great collector of ballads, +but not versed in, or interested in, their 'aesthetic'--in the +history and evolution of ballad-making. Mr. Child, on the other +hand, was the Grimm or Kohler of popular English and Scottish +poetry. Our objections to his theory could scarcely have been +collected in such numbers, without the aid of his own assortment of +eighteen versions or fragments, with more lectiones variae. But he +has not allowed for the possible, the constantly occurring, chance +of coincidence between fancy and fact; nor, perhaps, has he +reflected on the changed condition of ballad poetry in the +eighteenth century, on the popular love of a new song about a new +event, and on the entire lack of evidence (as far as I am aware) for +the existence of ballad-poets in the old manner during the reign of +George I. The ballad-reading public of 1719 would have revelled in +a fresh ballad of a Scottish lass, recently betrayed, tortured, and +slain far away by a Russian tyrant. A fresh ballad on Queen Mary's +Court, done in the early obsolete manner, would, on the other hand, +have had comparatively little charm for the ballad-buying lieges in +1719. The ballad-poet had thus in 1719 no temptation to be +'archaistic,' like Mr. Rossetti, and to sing of old times. He had, +on the contrary, every inducement to indite a 'rare new ballad' on +the last tragic scandal, with its poignant details, as of Peter +kissing the dead girl's head. + +The hypothesis of Mr. Child could only be DEMONSTRATED incorrect by +proving that there was no Russian scandal at all, or by producing a +printed or manuscript copy of 'The Queen's Marie' older than 1719. +We can do neither of these things; we can only give the reader his +choice of two improbabilities--(a) that an historical event, in +1718-19, chanced to coincide with the topic of an old ballad; (b) +that, contrary to all we know of the evolution of ballads and the +state of taste, a new popular poem on a fresh theme was composed in +a style long disused,* was offered most successfully to the public +of 1719, and in not much more than half a century was more subjected +to alterations and interpolations than ballads which for two or +three hundred years had run the gauntlet of oral tradition. + +*A learned Scots antiquary writes to me: 'The real ballad manner +hardly came down to 1600. It was killed by the Francis Roos version +of the Psalms, after which the Scottish folk of the Lowlands cast +everything into that mould.' I think, however, that 'Bothwell Brig' +is a true survival of the ancient style, and there are other +examples, as in the case of the ballad on Lady Warriston's husband +murder. + +As for our own explanation of the resemblance between the affair of +Miss Hamilton, in 1719, and the ballad story of Mary Hamilton (alias +Mild, Myle, Moil, Campbell, Miles, or Stuart, or anonymous, or Lady +Maisry), we simply, with Scott, regard it as 'a very curious +coincidence.' On the other theory, on Mr. Child's, it is also a +curious coincidence that a waiting-woman of Mary Stuart WAS hanged +(not beheaded) for child-murder, and that there WERE written, +simultaneously, ballads on the Queen's Maries. Much odder +coincidences than either have often, and indisputably, occurred, and +it is not for want of instances, but for lack of space, that we do +not give examples. + +Turning, now, to a genuine historic scandal of Queen Mary's reign, +we find that it might have given rise to the many varying forms of +the ballad of 'The Queen's Marie.' There is, practically, no such +ballad; that is, among the many variants, we cannot say which comes +nearest to the 'original' lay of the frail maid and her doom. All +the variants are full of historical impossibilities, due to the +lapses of memory and the wandering fancy of reciters, altering and +interpolating, through more than two centuries, an original of which +nothing can now be known. The fancy, if not of the first ballad +poet who dealt with a real tragic event, at least of his successors +in many corners of Scotland, raised the actors and sufferers in a +sad story, elevating a French waiting-maid to the rank of a Queen's +Marie, and her lover, a French apothecary, to the place of a queen's +consort, or, at lowest, of a Scottish laird. + +At the time of the General Assembly which met on Christmas Day 1563, +a French waiting-maid of Mary Stuart, 'ane Frenche woman that servit +in the Queenis chalmer,' fell into sin 'with the Queenis awin +hipoticary.' The father and mother slew the child, and were +'dampned to be hangit upoun the publict streit of Edinburgh.' No +official report exists: 'the records of the Court of Justiciary at +this time are defective,' says Maidment, and he conjectures that the +accused may have been hanged without trial, 'redhand.' Now the +Queen's apothecary must have left traces in the royal account-books. +No writer on the subject has mentioned them. I myself have had the +Records of Privy Council and the MS. Treasurer's Accounts examined, +with their statement of the expenses of the royal household. The +Rev. John Anderson was kind enough to undertake this task, though +with less leisure than he could have desired. There is, unluckily, +a gap of some months in 1563. In June 1560, Mr. Anderson finds +mention of a 'medicinar,' 'apoticarre,' 'apotigar,' but no name is +given, and the Queen was then in France. One Nicholas Wardlaw of +the royal household was engaged, in 1562, to a Miss Seton of +Parbroath, but it needed a special royal messenger to bring the +swain to the altar. 'Ane appotigar' of 1562 is mentioned, but not +named, and we hear of Robert Henderson, chirurgeon, who supplied +powders and odours to embalm Huntley. There is no trace of the +hanging of any 'appotigar,' or of any one of the Queen's women, 'the +maidans,' spoken of collectively. So far, the search for the +apothecary has been a failure. More can be learned from Randolph's +letter to Cecil (December 31, 1563), here copied from the MS. in the +Public Record Office. The austerity of Mary's Court, under Mr. +Knox, is amusingly revealed:-- + +'For newes yt maye please your honour to knowe that the Lord +Treasurer of Scotlande for gettinge of a woman with chylde muste +vpon Sondaye nexte do open penance before the whole congregation and +mr knox mayke the sermonde. Thys my Lord of murraye wylled me to +wryte vnto you for a note of our greate severitie in punyshynge of +offenders. THE FRENCHE POTTICARIE AND THE WOMAN HE GOTTE WITH +CHYLDE WERE BOTHE HANGED THYS PRESENT FRIDAYE. Thys hathe made +myche sorrowe in our Courte. Maynie evle fortunes we have had by +our Frenche fowlkes, and yet I feare we love them over well.' + +After recording the condemnation of the waiting-woman and her lover, +Knox tells a false story about 'shame hastening the marriage' of +Mary Livingstone. Dr. Robertson, in his 'Inventories of Queen +Mary,' refutes this slander, which he deems as baseless as the +fables against Knox's own continence. Knox adds: 'What bruit the +Maries and the rest of the danseris of the Courte had, the ballads +of that age did witness, quhilk we for modesteis sake omit.' +Unlucky omission, unfortunate 'modestei'! From Randolph's Letters +it is known that Knox, at this date, was thundering against +'danseris.' Here, then, is a tale of the Queen's French waiting- +woman hanged for murder, and here is proof that there actually were +ballads about the Queen's Maries. These ladies, as we know from +Keith, were, from the first, in the Queen's childhood, Mary +Livingstone, Mary Seatoun, Mary Beatoun, and Mary Fleming. + +We have, then, a child-murder, by a woman of the Queen, we have +ballads about her Maries, and, as Scott says, 'the tale has suffered +great alterations, as handed down by tradition, the French waiting- +woman being changed into Mary Hamilton, and the Queen's apothecary +into Henry Darnley,' who, as Mr. Child shows, was not even in +Scotland in 1563. But gross perversion of contemporary facts does +not prove a ballad to be late or apocryphal. Mr. Child even says +that accuracy in a ballad would be very 'suspicious.' Thus, for +example, we know, from contemporary evidence, that the murder of the +Bonny Earl Murray, in 1592, by Huntley, was at once made the topic +of ballads. Of these, Aytoun and Mr. Child print two widely +different in details: in the first, Huntley has married Murray's +sister; in the second, Murray is the lover of the Queen of James VI. +Both statements are picturesque; but the former is certainly, and +the latter is probably, untrue. Again, 'King James and Brown,' in +the Percy MS., is accepted as a genuine contemporary ballad of the +youth of gentle King Jamie. James is herein made to say to his +nobles,-- + + 'My grandfather you have slaine, + And my own mother you hanged on a tree.' + +Even if we read 'father' (against the manuscript) this is absurd. +James V. was not 'slaine,' neither Darnley nor Mary was 'hanged on a +tree.' Ballads are always inaccurate; they do not report events, so +much as throw into verse the popular impression of events, the +magnified, distorted, dramatic rumours. That a ballad-writer should +promote a Queen's tirewoman into a Queen's Marie, and substitute +Darnley (where HE is the lover, which is not always) for the Queen's +apothecary, is a license quite in keeping with precedent. Mr. +Child, obviously, would admit this. In producing a Marie who never +existed, the 'maker' shows the same delicacy as Voltaire, when he +brings into 'Candide' a Pope who never was born. + +Finally, a fragment of a variant of the ballad among the Abbotsford +MSS.* does mention an apothecary as the lover of the heroine, and, +so far, is true to historical fact, whether the author was well +informed, or merely, in the multitude of variations, deviated by +chance into truth. + +There can, on the whole, be no reasonable doubt that the ballad is +on an event in Scotland of 1563, not of 1719, in Russia, and Mr. +Child came to hold that this opinion was, at least, the more +probable.** + +*Child, vol. iv. p. 509. +**Ibid., vol. v. pp. 298, 299. + + + +XII. THE SHAKESPEARE-BACON IMBROGLIO* + + + +The hypothesis that the works of Shakespeare were written by Bacon +has now been before the world for more than forty years. It has +been supported in hundreds of books and pamphlets, but, as a rule, +it has been totally neglected by scholars. Perhaps their +indifference may seem wise, for such an opinion may appear to need +no confutation. 'There are foolisher fellows than the Baconians,' +says a sage--'those who argue against them.' On the other hand, +ignorance has often cherished beliefs which science has been obliged +reluctantly to admit. The existence of meteorites, and the +phenomena of hypnotism, were familiar to the ancient world, and to +modern peasants, while philosophy disdained to investigate them. In +fact, it is never really prudent to overlook a widely spread +opinion. If we gain nothing else by examining its grounds, at least +we learn something about the psychology of its advocates. In this +case we can estimate the learning, the logic, and the general +intellect of people who form themselves into Baconian Societies, to +prove that the poems and plays of Shakespeare were written by Bacon. +Thus a light is thrown on the nature and origin of popular +delusions. + +*(1) 'Bacon and Shakespeare,' by William Henry Smith (1857); +(2) 'The Authorship of Shakespeare,' by Nathaniel Holmes (1875); +(3) 'The Great Cryptogram,' by Ignatius Donnelly (1888); +(4) 'The Promus of Formularies and Elegancies of Francis Bacon,' by +Mrs. Henry Pott (1883); +(5) 'William Shakespeare,' by Georg Brandes (1898); +(6) 'Shakespeare,' by Sidney Lee (in the Dictionary of National +Biography, 1897); +(7) 'Shakespeare Dethroned' (in Pearson's Magazine, December 1897); +(8) 'The Hidden Lives of Shakespeare and Bacon,' by W. G. Thorpe, +F.S.A. (1897). +(9) 'The Mystery of William Shakespeare,' by Judge Webb (1902). + +The Baconian creed, of course, is scouted equally by special +students of Bacon, special students of Shakespeare, and by almost +all persons who devote themselves to sound literature. It is +equally rejected by Mr. Spedding, the chief authority on Bacon; by +Mr. H. H. Furness, the learned and witty American editor of the +'Variorum Shakespeare;' by Dr. Brandes, the Danish biographer and +critic; by Mr. Swinburne, with his rare knowledge of Elizabethan +and, indeed, of all literature; and by Mr. Sidney Lee, Shakespeare's +latest biographer. Therefore, the first point which strikes us in +the Baconian hypothesis is that its devotees are nobly careless of +authority. We do not dream of converting them, but it may be +amusing to examine the kind of logic and the sort of erudition which +go to support an hypothesis not freely welcomed even in Germany. + +The mother of the Baconian theory (though others had touched a guess +at it) was undeniably Miss Delia Bacon, born at Tallmadge, Ohio, in +1811. Miss Bacon used to lecture on Roman history, illustrating her +theme by recitations from Macaulay's 'Lays.' 'Her very heart was +lacerated,' says Mr. Donnelly, 'and her womanly pride wounded, by a +creature in the shape of a man--a Reverend (!) Alexander +MacWhorter.' This Celtic divine was twenty-five, Miss Bacon was +thirty-five; there arose a misunderstanding; but Miss Bacon had +developed her Baconian theory before she knew Mr. MacWhorter. 'She +became a monomaniac on the subject,' writes Mr. Wyman, and 'after +the publication and non-success of her book she lost her reason +WHOLLY AND ENTIRELY.' But great wits jump, and, just as Mr. Darwin +and Mr. Wallace simultaneously evolved the idea of Natural +Selection, so, unconscious of Miss Delia, Mr. William Henry Smith +developed the Baconian verity. + +From the days of Mr. William Henry Smith, in 1856, the great +Baconian argument has been that Shakespeare could not conceivably +have had the vast learning, classical, scientific, legal, medical, +and so forth, of the author of the plays. Bacon, on the other hand, +and nobody else, had this learning, and had, though he concealed +them, the poetic powers of the unknown author. Therefore, prima +facie, Bacon wrote the works of Shakespeare. Mr. Smith, as we said, +had been partly anticipated, here, by the unlucky Miss Delia Bacon, +to whose vast and wandering book Mr. Hawthorne wrote a preface. Mr. +Hawthorne accused Mr. Smith of plagiarism from Miss Delia Bacon; Mr. +Smith replied that, when he wrote his first essay (1856), he had +never even heard the lady's name. Mr. Hawthorne expressed his +regret, and withdrew his imputation. Mr. Smith is the second +founder of Baconomania. + +Like his followers, down to Mr. Ignatius Donnelly, and Mr. Bucke, +and General Butler, and Mr. Atkinson, who writes in 'The +Spiritualist,' and Mrs. Gallup, and Judge Webb, Mr. Smith rested, +first, on Shakespeare's lack of education, and on the wide learning +of the author of the poems and plays. Now, Ben Jonson, who knew +both Shakespeare and Bacon, averred that the former had 'small Latin +and less Greek,' doubtless with truth. It was necessary, therefore, +to prove that the author of the plays had plenty of Latin and Greek. +Here Mr. John Churton Collins suggests that Ben meant no more than +that Shakespeare was not, in the strict sense, a scholar. Yet he +might read Latin, Mr. Collins thinks, with ease and pleasure, and +might pick out the sense of Greek books by the aid of Latin +translations. To this view we return later. + +Meanwhile we shall compare the assertions of the laborious Mr. +Holmes, the American author of 'The Authorship of Shakespeare' +(third edition, 1875), and of the ingenious Mr. Donnelly, the +American author of 'The Great Cryptogram.' Both, alas! derive in +part from the ignorance of Pope. Pope had said: 'Shakespeare +follows the Greek authors, and particularly Dares Phrygius.' Mr. +Smith cites this nonsense; so do Mr. Donnelly and Mr. Holmes. Now +the so-called Dares Phrygius is not a Greek author. No Greek +version of his early mediaeval romance, 'De Bello Trojano,' exists. +The matter of the book found its way into Chaucer, Boccaccio, +Lydgate, Guido de Colonna, and other authors accessible to one who +had no Greek at all, while no Greek version of Dares was accessible +to anybody.* Some recent authors, English and American, have gone +on, with the credulity of 'the less than half educated,' taking a +Greek Dares for granted, on the authority of Pope, whose Greek was +'small.' They have clearly never looked at a copy of Dares, never +known that the story attributed to Dares was familiar, in English +and French, to everybody. Mr. Holmes quotes Pope, Mr. Donnelly +quotes Mr. Holmes, for this Greek Dares Phrygius. Probably +Shakespeare had Latin enough to read the pseudo-Dares, but probably +he did not take the trouble. + +*See Brandes, William Shakespeare, ii. 198-202. + +This example alone proves that men who are not scholars venture to +pronounce on Shakespeare's scholarship, and that men who take absurd +statements at second hand dare to constitute themselves judges of a +question of evidence and of erudition. + +The worthy Mr. Donnelly then quotes Mr. Holmes for Shakespeare's +knowledge of the Greek drama. Turning to Mr. Holmes (who takes his +motto, if you please, from Parmenides), we find that the author of +'Richard II.' borrowed from a Greek play by Euripides, called +'Hellene,' as did the author of the sonnets. There is, we need not +say, no Greek play of the name of 'Hellene.' As Mr. Holmes may +conceivably mean the 'Helena' of Euripides, we compare Sonnet cxxi. +with 'Helena,' line 270. The parallel, the imitation of Euripides, +appears to be-- + + By their dark thoughts my deeds must not be shown, + +with-- + + Prooton men ouk ons adikoz eimi duskleez,^ + +which means, 'I have lost my reputation though I have done no harm.' +Shakespeare, then, could not complain of calumny without borrowing +from 'Hellene,' a name which only exists in the fancy of Mr. +Nathaniel Holmes. This critic assigns 'Richard II.,' act ii., scene +1, to 'Hellene' 512-514. We can find no resemblance whatever +between the three Greek lines cited, from the 'Helena,' and the +scene in Shakespeare. Mr. Holmes appears to have reposed on Malone, +and Malone may have remarked on fugitive resemblances, such as +inevitably occur by coincidence of thought. Thus the similarity of +the situations of Hamlet and of Orestes in the 'Eumenides' is given +by similarity of legend, Danish and Greek. Authors of genius, Greek +or English, must come across analogous ideas in treating analogous +topics. It does not follow that the poet of 'Hamlet' was able to +read AEschylus, least of all that he could read him in Greek. + +^Anglicised version of the author's original Greek text. + +The 'Comedy of Errors' is based on the 'Menaechmi' of Plautus. It +does not follow that the author of the 'Comedy of Errors' could read +the 'Menaechmi' or the 'Amphitryon,' though Shakespeare had probably +Latin enough for the purpose. The 'Comedy of Errors' was acted in +December 1594. A translation of the Latin play bears date 1595, but +this may be an example of the common practice of post-dating a book +by a month or two, and Shakespeare may have seen the English +translation in the work itself, in proof, or in manuscript. In +those days MSS. often circulated long before they were published, +like Shakespeare's own 'sugared sonnets.' However, it is highly +probable that Shakespeare was equal to reading the Latin of Plautus. + +In 'Twelfth Night' occurs-- + +Like the Egyptian thief, at point of death, kill what I love. + +Mr. Donnelly writes: 'This is an allusion to a story from +Heliodorus's "AEthiopica." I do not know of any English translation +of it in the time of Shakespeare.' The allusion is, we conceive, to +Herodotus, ii. 121, the story of Rhampsinitus, translated by 'B. R.' +and published in 1584. In 'Macbeth' we find-- + + All our yesterdays have LIGHTED fools + The way to dusty death. Out, out, BRIEF CANDLE. + +This is 'traced,' says Mr. Donnelly, 'to Catullus.' He quotes:-- + + Soles occidere et redire possunt; + Nobis, cum semel occidit brevis lux, + Nox est perpetuo una dormienda. + +Where is the parallel? It is got by translating Catullus thus:-- + + The LIGHTS of heaven go out and return; + When once our BRIEF CANDLE goes out, + One night is to be perpetually slept. + +But soles are not 'lights,' and brevis lux is not 'brief candle.' +If they were, the passages have no resemblance. 'To be, or not to +be,' is 'taken almost verbatim from Plato.' Mr. Donnelly says that +Mr. Follett says that the Messrs. Langhorne say so. But, where is +the passage in Plato? + +Such are the proofs by which men ignorant of the classics prove that +the author of the poems attributed to Shakespeare was a classical +scholar. In fact, he probably had a 'practicable' knowledge of +Latin, such as a person of his ability might pick up at school, and +increase by casual study: points to which we return. For the rest, +classical lore had filtered into contemporary literature and +translations, such as North's Plutarch. + +As to modern languages, Mr. Donnelly decides that Shakespeare knew +Danish, because he must have read Saxo Grammaticus 'in the original +tongue'--which, of course, is NOT Danish! Saxo was done out of the +Latin into French. Thus Shakespeare is not exactly proved to have +been a Danish scholar. There is no difficulty in supposing that 'a +clayver man,' living among wits, could pick up French and Italian +sufficient for his uses. But extremely stupid people are naturally +amazed by even such commonplace acquirements. When the step is made +from cleverness to genius, then the dull disbelieve, or cry out of a +miracle. Now, as 'miracles do not happen,' a man of Shakespeare's +education could not have written the plays attributed to him by his +critics, companions, friends, and acquaintances. Shakespeare, ex +hypothesi, was a rude unlettered fellow. Such a man, the Baconians +assume, would naturally be chosen by Bacon as his mask, and put +forward as the author of Bacon's pieces. Bacon would select a +notorious ignoramus as a plausible author of pieces which, by the +theory, are rich in knowledge of the classics, and nobody would be +surprised. Nobody would say: 'Shakespeare is as ignorant as a +butcher's boy, and cannot possibly be the person who translated +Hamlet's soliloquy out of Plato, "Hamlet" at large out of the +Danish; who imitated the "Hellene" of Euripides, and borrowed +"Troilus and Cressida" from the Greek of Dares Phrygius'--which +happens not to exist. Ignorance can go no further than in these +arguments. Such are the logic and learning of American amateurs, +who sometimes do not even know the names of the books they talk +about, or the languages in which they are written. Such learning +and such logic are passed off by 'the less than half educated' on +the absolutely untaught, who decline to listen to scholars. + +We cannot of course furnish a complete summary of all that the +Baconians have said in their myriad pages. All those pages, almost, +really flow from the little volume of Mr. Smith. We are obliged to +take the points which the Baconians regard as their strong cards. +We have dealt with the point of classical scholarship, and shown +that the American partisans of Bacon are not scholars, and have no +locus standi. We shall take next in order the contention that Bacon +was a poet; that his works contain parallel passages to Shakespeare, +which can only be the result of common authorship; that Bacon's +notes, called 'Promus,' are notes for Shakespeare's plays; that, in +style, Bacon and Shakespeare are identical. Then we shall glance at +Bacon's motives for writing plays by stealth, and blushing to find +it fame. We shall expose the frank folly of averring that he chose +as his mask a man who (some assert) could not even write; and we +shall conclude by citing, once more, the irrefragable personal +testimony to the genius and character of Shakespeare. + +To render the Baconian theory plausible it is necessary to show that +Bacon had not only the learning needed for 'the authorship of +Shakespeare,' but that he gives some proof of Shakespeare's poetic +qualities; that he had reasons for writing plays, and reasons for +concealing his pen, and for omitting to make any claim to his own +literary triumphs after Shakespeare was dead. Now, as to +scholarship, the knowledge shown in the plays is not that of a +scholar, does not exceed that of a man of genius equipped with what, +to Ben Jonson, seemed 'small Latin and less Greek,' and with +abundance of translations, and books like 'Euphues,' packed with +classical lore, to help him. With the futile attempts to prove +scholarship we have dealt. The legal and medical lore is in no way +beyond the 'general information' which genius inevitably amasses +from reading, conversation, reflection, and experience. + +A writer of to-day, Mr. Kipling, is fond of showing how easily a man +of his rare ability picks up the terminology of many recondite +trades and professions. Again, evidence taken on oath proves that +Jeanne d'Arc, a girl of seventeen, developed great military skill, +especially in artillery and tactics, that she displayed political +clairvoyance, and that she held her own, and more, among the +subtlest and most hostile theologians. On the ordinary hypothesis, +that Shakespeare was a man of genius, there is, then, nothing +impossible in his knowledge, while his wildly daring anachronisms +could have presented no temptation to a well-regulated scientific +intellect like that of Bacon. The Baconian hypothesis rests on the +incredulity with which dulness regards genius. We see the +phenomenon every day when stupid people talk about people of +ordinary cleverness, and 'wonder with a foolish face of praise.' As +Dr. Brandes remarks, when the Archbishop of Canterbury praises Henry +V. and his universal accomplishments, he says: + + Which is a wonder, how his grace should glean it, + Since his addiction was to courses vain, + His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow, + His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports + AND NEVER NOTED IN HIM ANY STUDY, + Any retirement, any sequestration, + From open haunts and popularity. + +Yet, as the Archbishop remarks (with doubtful orthodoxy), 'miracles +are ceased.' + +Shakespeare in these lines describes, as only he could describe it, +the world's wonder which he himself was. Or, if Bacon wrote the +lines, then Bacon, unlike his advocates, was prepared to recognise +the possible existence of such a thing as genius. Incredulity on +this head could only arise in an age and in peoples where mediocrity +is almost universal. It is a democratic form of disbelief. + +For the hypothesis, as we said, it is necessary to show that Bacon +possessed poetic genius. The proof cannot possibly be found in his +prose works. In the prose of Mr. Ruskin there are abundant examples +of what many respectable minds regard as poetic qualities. But, if +the question arose, 'Was Mr. Ruskin the author of Tennyson's poems?' +the answer could be settled, for once, by internal evidence. We +have only to look at Mr. Ruskin's published verses. These prove +that a great writer of 'poetical prose' may be at the opposite pole +from a poet. In the same way, we ask, what are Bacon's acknowledged +compositions in verse? Mr. Holmes is their admirer. In 1599 Bacon +wrote in a letter, 'Though I profess not to be a poet, I prepared a +sonnet,' to Queen Elizabeth. He PREPARED a sonnet! 'Prepared' is +good. He also translated some of the Psalms into verse, a field in +which success is not to be won. Mr. Holmes notes, in Psalm xc., a +Shakespearean parallel. 'We spend our years as a tale that is +told.' Bacon renders: + + As a tale told, which sometimes men attend, + And sometimes not, our life steals to an end. + +In 'King John,' iii. 4, we read:-- + + Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale + Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man. + +Now, if we must detect a connection, Bacon might have read 'King +John' in the Folio, for he versified the Psalms in 1625. But it is +unnecessary to suppose a reminiscence. Again, in Psalm civ. Bacon +has-- + + The greater navies look like walking woods. + +They looked like nothing of the sort; but Bacon may have remembered +Birnam Wood, either from Boece or Holinshed, or from the play +itself. One thing is certain: Shakespeare did not write Bacon's +Psalms or compare navies to 'walking woods'! Mr. Holmes adds: +'Many of the sonnets [of Shakespeare] show the strongest internal +evidence that they were addressed [by Bacon] to the Queen, as no +doubt they were.' That is, Bacon wrote sonnets to Queen Elizabeth, +and permitted them to pass from hand to hand, among Shakespeare's +'private friends,' as Shakespeare's (1598). That was an odd way of +paying court to Queen Elizabeth. Chalmers had already conjectured +that Shakespeare (not Bacon) in the sonnets was addressing the +Virgin Queen, whom he recommended to marry and leave offspring-- +rather late in life. Shakespeare's apparent allusions to his +profession-- + + I have gone here and there, + And made myself a motley to the view, + +and + + The public means which public manners breeds, + +refer, no doubt, to Bacon's versatile POLITICAL behaviour. It has +hitherto been supposed that sonnet lvii. was addressed to +Shakespeare's friend, a man, not to any woman. But Mr. Holmes shows +that the Queen is intended. Is it not obvious? + + I, MY SOVEREIGN, watch the clock for you. + +Bacon clearly had an assignation with Her Majesty--so here is +'scandal about Queen Elizabeth.' Mr. Holmes pleasingly remarks that +Twickenham is 'within sight of Her Majesty's Palace of White Hall.' +She gave Bacon the reversion of Twickenham Park, doubtless that, +from the windows of White Hall, she might watch her swain. And +Bacon wrote a masque for the Queen; he skilfully varied his style in +this piece from that which he used under the name of Shakespeare. +With a number of other gentlemen, some named, some unnamed, Bacon +once, at an uncertain date, interested himself in a masque at Gray's +Inn, while he and his friends 'partly devised dumb shows and +additional speeches,' in 1588. + +Nothing follows as to Bacon's power of composing Shakespeare's +plays. A fragmentary masque, which may or may not be by Bacon, is +put forward as the germ of what Bacon wrote about Elizabeth in the +'Midsummer Night's Dream.' An Indian WANDERER from the West Indies, +near the fountain of the AMAZON, is brought to Elizabeth to be cured +of blindness. Now the fairy, in the 'Midsummer Night's Dream,' +says, capitalised by Mr. Holmes: + + I DO WANDER EVERYWHERE. + +Here then are two wanderers--and there is a river in Monmouth and a +river in Macedon. Puck, also, is 'that merry WANDERER of the +night.' Then 'A BOUNCING AMAZON' is mentioned in the 'Midsummer +Night's Dream,' and 'the fountain of the great river of the Amazons' +is alluded to in the fragment of the masque. Cupid too occurs in +the play, and in the masque the wanderer is BLIND; now Cupid is +blind, sometimes, but hardly when 'a certain aim he took.' The +Indian, in the masque, presents Elizabeth with 'his gift AND +PROPERTY TO BE EVER YOUNG,' and the herb, in the play, has a +'VIRTUOUS PROPERTY.' + +For such exquisite reasons as these the masque and the 'Midsummer +Night's Dream' are by one hand, and the masque is by Bacon. For +some unknown cause the play is full of poetry, which is entirely +absent from the masque. Mr. Holmes was a Judge; sat on the bench of +American Themis--and these are his notions of proof and evidence. +The parallel passages which he selects are on a level with the other +parallels between Bacon and Shakespeare. One thing is certain: the +writer of the masque shows no signs of being a poet, and a poet +Bacon explicitly 'did not profess to be.' One piece of verse +attributed to Bacon, a loose paraphrase of a Greek epigram, has won +its way into 'The Golden Treasury.' Apart from that solitary +composition, the verses which Bacon 'prepared' were within the +powers of almost any educated Elizabethan. They are on a level with +the rhymes of Mr. Ruskin. It was only when he wrote as Shakespeare +that Bacon wrote as a poet. + +We have spoken somewhat harshly of Mr. Holmes as a classical +scholar, and as a judge of what, in literary matters, makes +evidence. We hasten to add that he could be convinced of error. He +had regarded a sentence of Bacon's as a veiled confession that Bacon +wrote 'Richard II.,' 'which, though it grew from me, went after +about in others' names.' Mr. Spedding averred that Mr. Holmes's +opinion rested on a grammatical misinterpretation, and Mr. Holmes +accepted the correction. But 'nothing less than a miracle' could +shake Mr. Holmes's belief in the common authorship of the masque +(possibly Bacon's) and the 'Midsummer Night's Dream'--so he told Mr. +Spedding. To ourselves nothing short of a miracle, or the +visitation of God in the shape of idiocy, could bring the conviction +that the person who wrote the masque could have written the play. +The reader may compare the whole passage in Mr. Holmes's work (pp. +228-238). We have already set forth some of those bases of his +belief which only a miracle could shake. The weak wind that +scarcely bids the aspen shiver might blow them all away. + +Vast space is allotted by Baconians to 'parallel passages' in Bacon +and Shakespeare. We have given a few in the case of the masque and +the 'Midsummer Night's Dream.' The others are of equal weight. +They are on a level with 'Punch's' proofs that Alexander Smith was a +plagiarist. Thus Smith: + + No CHARACTER that servant WOMAN asked; + +Pope writes: + + Most WOMEN have no CHARACTER at all. + +It is tedious to copy out the puerilities of such parallelisms. +Thus Bacon: + + If we simply looked to the fabric of the world; + +Shakespeare: + + And, like the baseless fabric of a vision. + +Bacon: + + The intellectual light in the top and consummation of thy +workmanship; + +Shakespeare: + + Like eyasses that cry out on the top of the question. + +Myriads of pages of such matter would carry no proof. Probably the +hugest collection of such 'parallels' is that preserved by Mrs. Pott +in Bacon's 'Promus,' a book of 628 pages. Mrs. Pott's 'sole object' +in publishing 'was to confirm the growing belief in Bacon's +authorship of the plays.' Having acquired the opinion, she laboured +to strengthen herself and others in the faith. The so-called +'Promus' is a manuscript set of notes, quotations, formulae, and +proverbs. As Mr. Spedding says, there are 'forms of compliment, +application, excuse, repartee, etc.' 'The collection is from books +which were then in every scholar's hands.' 'The proverbs may all, +or nearly all, be found in the common collections.' Mrs. Pott +remarks that in 'Promus' are 'several hundreds of notes of which no +trace has been discovered in the acknowledged writings of Bacon, or +of any other contemporary writer but Shakespeare.' She adds that +the theory of 'close intercourse' between the two men is 'contrary +to all evidence.' She then infers that 'Bacon alone wrote all the +plays and sonnets which are attributed to Shakespeare.' So Bacon +entrusted his plays, and the dread secret of his authorship, to a +boorish cabotin with whom he had no 'close intercourse'! This is +lady's logic, a contradiction in terms. The theory that Bacon wrote +the plays and sonnets inevitably implies the closest intercourse +between him and Shakespeare. They must have been in constant +connection. But, as Mrs. Pott truly says, this is 'contrary to all +evidence.' + +Perhaps the best way to deal with Mrs. Pott is to cite the author of +her preface, Dr. Abbott. He is not convinced, but he is much struck +by a very exquisite argument of the lady's. Bacon in 'Promus' is +writing down 'Formularies and Elegancies,' modes of salutation. He +begins with 'Good morrow!' This original remark, Mrs. Pott reckons, +'occurs in the plays nearly a hundred times. In the list of upwards +of six thousand words in Appendix E, "Good morrow" has been noted +thirty-one times. . . . "Good morrow" may have become familiar +merely by means of "Romeo and Juliet."' Dr. Abbott is so struck by +this valuable statement that he writes: 'There remains the +question, Why did Bacon think it worth while to write down in a +notebook the phrase "Good morrow" if it was at that time in common +use?' + +Bacon wrote down 'Good morrow' just because it WAS in common use. +All the formulae were in common use; probably 'Golden sleepe' was a +regular wish, like 'Good rest.' Bacon is making a list of +commonplaces about beginning the day, about getting out of bed, +about sleep. Some are in English, some in various other languages. +He is not, as in Mrs. Pott's ingenious theory, making notes of +novelties to be introduced through his plays. He is cataloguing the +commonplace. It is Mrs. Pott's astonishing contention, as we have +seen, that Bacon probably introduced the phrase 'Good morrow!' Mr. +Bucke, following her in a magazine article, says: 'These forms of +salutation were not in use in England before Bacon's time, and it +was his entry of them in the "Promus" and use of them in the plays +that makes them current coin day by day with us in the nineteenth +century.' This is ignorant nonsense. 'Good morrow' and 'Good +night' were as familiar before Bacon or Shakespeare wrote as 'Good +morning' and 'Good night' are to-day. This we can demonstrate. The +very first Elizabethan handbook of phrases which we consult shows +that 'Good morrow' was the stock phrase in regular use in 1583. The +book is 'The French Littelton, A most Easie, Perfect, and Absolute +way to learne the Frenche Tongue. Set forth by Claudius Holyband. +Imprinted at London by Thomas Vautrollier, dwelling in the blacke- +Friers. 1583.' (There is an edition of 1566.) + +On page 10 we read:-- + + 'Of Scholars and Schoole. + +'God give you good morrow, Sir! Good morrow gossip: good morrow my +she gossip: God give you a good morrow and a good year.' + +Thus the familiar salutation was not introduced by Bacon; it was, on +the other hand, the very first formula which a writer of an English- +French phrase-book translated into French ten years before Bacon +made his notes. Presently he comes to 'Good evening, good night, +good rest,' and so on. + +This fact annihilates Mrs. Pott's contention that Bacon introduced +'Good morrow' through the plays falsely attributed to Shakespeare. +There follows, in 'Promus,' a string of proverbs, salutations, and +quotations, about sleep and waking. Among these occur 'Golden +Sleepe' (No. 1207) and (No. 1215) 'Uprouse. You are up.' Now Friar +Laurence says to Romeo:-- + + But where unbruised youth with unstuffed brain + Doth couch his limbs, there GOLDEN SLEEP doth reign: + Therefore thy earliness doth me assure, + Thou art UP-ROUSED by some distemperature. + +Dr. Abbott writes: 'Mrs. Pott's belief is that the play is indebted +for these expressions to the "Promus;" mine is that the "Promus" is +borrowed from the play.' And why should either owe anything to the +other? The phrase 'Uprouse' or 'Uprose' is familiar in Chaucer, +from one of his best-known lines. 'Golden' is a natural poetic +adjective of excellence, from Homer to Tennyson. Yet in Dr. +Abbott's opinion 'TWO of these entries constitute a coincidence +amounting almost to a demonstration' that either Shakespeare or +Bacon borrowed from the other. And this because each writer, one in +making notes of commonplaces on sleep, the other in a speech about +sleep, uses the regular expression 'Uprouse,' and the poetical +commonplace 'Golden sleep' for 'Good rest.' There was no +originality in the matter. + +We have chosen Dr. Abbott's selected examples of Mrs. Pott's +triumphs. Here is another of her parallels. Bacon gives the +formula, 'I pray God your early rising does you no hurt.' +Shakespeare writes:-- + + Go, you cot-quean, go, + Get you to bed; faith, you'll be sick to-morrow + For this night's watching. + +Here Bacon notes a morning salutation, 'I hope you are none the +worse for early rising,' while Shakespeare tells somebody not to sit +up late. Therefore, and for similar reasons, Bacon is Shakespeare. + +We are not surprised to find Mr. Bucke adopting Mrs. Pott's theory +of the novelty of 'Good morrow.' He writes in the Christmas number +of an illustrated sixpenny magazine, and his article, a really +masterly compendium of the whole Baconian delirium, addresses its +natural public. But we are amazed to find Dr. Abbott looking not +too unkindly on such imbecilities, and marching at least in the +direction of Coventry with such a regiment. He is 'on one point a +convert' to Mrs. Pott, and that point is the business of 'Good +morrow,' 'Uprouse,' and 'Golden sleepe.' It need hardly be added +that the intrepid Mr. Donnelly is also a firm adherent of Mrs. Pott. + +'Some idea,' he says, 'may be formed of the marvellous industry of +this remarkable lady when I state that to prove that we are indebted +to Bacon for having enriched the English language, through the +plays, with these beautiful courtesies of speech, 'Good morrow,' +'Good day,' etc., she carefully examined SIX THOUSAND WORKS ANTERIOR +TO OR CONTEMPORARY WITH BACON.' + +Dr. Abbott thought it judicious to 'hedge' about these six thousand +works, and await 'the all-knowing dictionary' of Dr. Murray and the +Clarendon Press. We have deemed it simpler to go to the first +Elizabethan phrase-book on our shelves, and that tiny volume, in its +very first phrase, shatters the mare's-nest of Mrs. Pott, Mr. +Donnelly, and Mr. Bucke. + +But why, being a great poet, should Bacon conceal the fact, and +choose as a mask a man whom, on the hypothesis of his ignorance, +every one that knew him must have detected as an impostor? Now, one +great author did choose to conceal his identity, though he never +shifted the burden of the 'Waverley Novels' on to Terry the actor. +Bacon may, conceivably, have had Scott's pleasure in secrecy, but +Bacon selected a mask much more impossible (on the theory) than +Terry would have been for Scott. Again, Sir Walter Scott took pains +to make his identity certain, by an arrangement with Constable, and +by preserving his manuscripts, and he finally confessed. Bacon +never confessed, and no documentary traces of his authorship +survive. Scott, writing anonymously, quoted his own poems in the +novels, an obvious 'blind.' Bacon, less crafty, never (as far as we +are aware) mentions Shakespeare. + +It is arguable, of course, that to write plays might seem dangerous +to Bacon's professional and social position. The reasons which +might make a lawyer keep his dramatic works a secret could not apply +to 'Lucrece.' A lawyer, of good birth, if he wrote plays at all, +would certainly not vamp up old stock pieces. That was the work of +a 'Johannes Factotum,' of a 'Shakescene,' as Greene says, of a man +who occupied the same position in his theatrical company as Nicholas +Nickleby did in that of Mr. Crummles. Nicholas had to bring in the +vulgar pony, the Phenomenon, the buckets, and so forth. So, in +early years, the author of the plays (Bacon, by the theory) had to +work over old pieces. All this is the work of the hack of a playing +company; it is not work to which a man in Bacon's position could +stoop. Why should he? What had he to gain by patching and vamping? +Certainly not money, if the wealth of Shakespeare is a dark mystery +to the Baconian theorists. We are asked to believe that Bacon, for +the sake of some five or six pounds, toiled at refashioning old +plays, and handed the fair manuscripts to Shakespeare, who passed +them off, among the actors who knew him intimately, as his own. +THEY detected no incongruity between the player who was their +Johannes Factotum and the plays which he gave in to the manager. +They seemed to be just the kind of work which Shakespeare would be +likely to write. BE LIKELY TO WRITE, but 'the father of the rest,' +Mr. Smith, believed that Shakespeare COULD NOT WRITE AT ALL. + +We live in the Ages of Faith, of faith in fudge. Mr. Smith was +certain, and Mr. Bucke is inclined to suspect, that when Bacon +wanted a mask he chose, as a plausible author of the plays, a man +who could not write. Mr. Smith was certain, and Mr. Bucke must deem +it possible, that Shakespeare's enemy, Greene, that his friends, +Jonson, Burbage, Heming, and the other actors, and that his critics +and admirers, Francis Meres and others, accepted, as author of the +pieces which they played in or applauded, a man who could write no +more than his name. Such was the tool whom Bacon found eligible, +and so easily gulled was the literary world of Eliza and our James. +And Bacon took all this trouble for what reason? To gain five or +six pounds, or as much of that sum as Shakespeare would let him +keep. Had Bacon been possessed by the ambition to write plays he +would always have written original dramas, he would not have assumed +the part of Nicholas Nickleby. + +There is no human nature in this nonsense. An ambitious lawyer +passes his nights in retouching stock pieces, from which he can reap +neither fame nor profit. He gives his work to a second-rate +illiterate actor, who adopts it as his own. Bacon is so enamoured +of this method that he publishes 'Venus and Adonis' and 'Lucrece' +under the name of his actor friend. Finally, he commits to the +actor's care all his sonnets to the Queen, to Gloriana, and for +years these manuscript poems are handed about by Shakespeare, as his +own, among the actors, hack scribblers, and gay young nobles of his +acquaintance. They 'chaff' Shakespeare about his affection for his +'sovereign;' great Gloriana's praises are stained with sack in +taverns, and perfumed with the Indian weed. And Bacon, careful +toiler after Court favour, 'thinks it all wery capital,' in the +words of Mr. Weller pere. Moreover, nobody who hears Shakespeare +talk and sees him smile has any doubt that he is the author of the +plays and amorous fancies of Bacon. + +It is needless to dwell on the pother made about the missing +manuscripts of Shakespeare. 'The original manuscripts, of course, +Bacon would take care to destroy,' says Mr. Holmes, 'if determined +that the secret should die with him.' If he was so determined, for +what earthly reason did he pass his valuable time in vamping up old +plays and writing new ones? 'There was no money in it,' and there +was no reason. But, if he was not determined that the secret should +die with him, why did not he, like Scott, preserve the manuscripts? +The manuscripts are where Marlowe's and where Moliere's are, by +virtue of a like neglect. Where are the MSS. of any of the great +Elizabethans? We really cannot waste time over Mr. Donnelly's +theory of a Great Cryptogram, inserted by Bacon, as proof of his +claim, in the multitudinous errors of the Folio. Mr. Bucke, too, +has his Anagram, the deathless discovery of Dr. Platt, of Lakewood, +New Jersey. By manipulating the scraps of Latin in 'Love's Labour's +Lost,' he extracts 'Hi Ludi tuiti sibi Fr. Bacono nati': 'These +plays, entrusted to themselves, proceeded from Fr. Bacon.' It is +magnificent, but it is not Latin. Had Bacon sent in such Latin at +school, he would never have survived to write the 'Novum Organon' +and his sonnets to Queen Elizabeth. In that stern age they would +have 'killed him--with wopping.' That Bacon should be a vamper and +a playwright for no appreciable profit, that, having produced his +deathless works, he should make no sign, has, in fact, staggered +even the great credulity of Baconians. He MUST, they think, have +made a sign in cipher. Out of the mass of the plays, anagrams and +cryptograms can be fashioned a plaisir, and the world has heard too +much of Mrs. Gallup, while the hunt for hints in contemporary +frontispieces led to mistaking the porcupine of Sidney's crest for +'a hanged hog' (Bacon). + +The theory of the Baconian authorship of Shakespeare's plays and +poems has its most notable and recent British advocate in His Honour +Judge Webb, sometime Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, Regius +Professor of Laws, and Public Orator in the University of Dublin. +Judge Webb, as a scholar and a man used to weighing evidence, puts +the case at its strongest. His work, 'The Mystery of William +Shakespeare' (1902), rests much on the old argument about the +supposed ignorance of Shakespeare, and the supposed learning of the +author of the plays. Judge Webb, like his predecessors, does not +take into account the wide diffusion of a kind of classical and +pseudo-scientific knowledge among all Elizabethan writers, and bases +theories on manifest misconceptions of Shakespearean and other +texts. His book, however, has affected the opinions of some readers +who do not verify his references and examine the mass of Elizabethan +literature for themselves. + +Judge Webb, in his 'Proem,' refers to Mr. Holmes and Mr. Donnelly as +'distinguished writers,' who 'have received but scant consideration +from the accredited organs of opinion on this side of the Atlantic.' +Their theories have not been more favourably considered by +Shakespearean scholars on the other side of the Atlantic, and how +much consideration they deserve we have tried to show. The Irish +Judge opens his case by noting an essential distinction between +'Shakspere,' the actor, and 'Shakespeare,' the playwright. The +name, referring to the man who was both actor and author, is spelled +both 'Shakspeare' and 'Shakespeare' in the 'Returne from Parnassus' +(1602).* The 'school of critics' which divides the substance of +Shakespeare on the strength of the spelling of a proper name, in the +casual times of great Elizabeth, need not detain the inquirer. + +*The Returne from Parnassus, pp. 56,57,138. Oxford, 1886. + +As to Shakespeare's education, Judge Webb admits that 'there was a +grammar school in the place.' As its registers of pupils have not +survived, we cannot prove that Shakespeare went to the school. Mr. +Collins shows that the Headmaster was a Fellow of Corpus Christi +College, Oxford, and describes the nature of the education, mainly +in Latin, as, according to the standard of the period, it ought to +have been.* There is no doubt that if Shakespeare attended the +school (the age of entry was eight), minded his book, and had 'a +good sprag memory,' he might have learned Latin. Mr. Collins +commends the Latin of two Stratford contemporaries and friends of +Shakespeare, Sturley and Quiney, who probably were educated at the +Grammar School. Judge Webb disparages their lore, and, on the +evidence of the epistles, says that Sturley and Quiney 'were not men +of education.' If Judge Webb had compared the original letters of +distinguished Elizabethan officials and diplomatists--say, Sir +William Drury, the Commandant of Berwick--he would have found that +Sturley and Quiney were at least on the ordinary level of education +in the upper classes. But the whole method of the Baconians rests +on neglecting such comparisons. + +*Fortnightly Review, April 1903. + +In a letter of Sturley's, eximiae is spelled eximie, without the +digraph, a thing then most usual, and no disproof of Sturley's +Latinity.* The Shakspearean hypothesis is that Shakespeare was +rather a cleverer man than Quiney and Sturley, and, consequently, +that, if he went to school, he probably learned more by a great deal +than they did. There was no reason why he should not acquire Latin +enough to astonish modern reviewers, who have often none at all. + +*Webb, p. 14. Phillipps's Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare, i. p. +150, ii. p. 57. + +Judge Webb then discusses the learning of Shakespeare, and easily +shows that he was full of mythological lore. So was all Elizabethan +literature. Every English scribbler then knew what most men have +forgotten now. Nobody was forced to go to the original authorities- +-say, Plato, Herodotus, and Plutarch--for what was accessible in +translations, or had long before been copiously decanted into +English prose and poetry. Shakespeare could get Rhodope, not from +Pliny, but from B. R.'s lively translation (1584) of the first two +books of Herodotus. 'Even Launcelot Gobbo talks of Scylla and +Charybdis,' says Judge Webb. Who did not? Had the Gobbos not known +about Scylla and Charybdis, Shakespeare would not have lent them the +knowledge. + +The mythological legends were 'in the air,' familiar to all the +Elizabethan world. These allusions are certainly no proof 'of +trained scholarship or scientific education.' In five years of +contact with the stage, with wits, with writers for the stage, with +older plays, with patrons of the stage, with Templars, and so on, a +man of talent could easily pick up the 'general information'--now +caviare to the general--which a genius like Shakespeare inevitably +absorbed. + +We naturally come to Greene's allusion to 'Shakescene' (1592), +concerning which a schoolboy said, in an examination, 'We are tired +to death with hearing about it.' Greene conspicuously insults +'Shakescene' both as a writer and an actor. Judge Webb says: 'As +Mr. Phillipps justly observes, it' (one of Greene's allusions) +'merely conveys that Shakspere was one who acted in the plays of +which Greene and his three friends were the authors (ii. 269).' + +It is necessary to verify the Judge's reference. Mr. Phillipps +writes: 'Taking Greene's words in their contextual and natural +sense, he first alludes to Shakespeare as an actor, one "beautified +with our feathers," that is, one who acts in their plays; THEN TO +THE POET as a writer just commencing to try his hand at blank verse, +and, finally, to him as not only engaged in both those capacities, +but in any other in which he might be useful to the company.' Mr. +Phillipps adds that Greene's quotation of the line 'TYGER'S HEART +WRAPT IN A PLAYER'S HIDE' 'is a decisive proof of Shakespeare's +authorship of the line.'* + +*Webb, p. 57. Phillipps, ii. p. 269. + +Judge Webb has manifestly succeeded in not appreciating Mr. +Phillipps's plain English. He says, with obvious truth, that Greene +attacks Shakespeare both as actor and poet, but Judge Webb puts the +matter thus: 'The language of Greene. . . as Mr. Phillipps justly +observes, merely conveys that Shakspere was one who acted in the +plays of which Greene and his three friends were authors.' + +The language of Greene IN ONE PART OF HIS TIRADE, 'an upstart crow +beautified in our feathers,' probably refers to Shakespeare as an +actor only, but Greene goes on to insult him as a writer. Judge +Webb will not recognise him as a writer, and omits that part of Mr. +Phillipps's opinion. + +There followed Chettle's well-known apology (1592), as editor of +Greene's sally, to Shakespeare. Chettle speaks of his excellence +'in the quality he professes,' and of his 'facetious grace in +writing, that approves his art,' this on the authority of 'the +report of divers of worship.' + +This proves, of course, that Shakespeare was a writer as well as an +actor, and Judge Webb can only murmur that 'we are "left to guess " +who divers of worship' were, and 'what motive' they had for praising +his 'facetious grace in writing.' The obvious motive was approval +of the work, for work there WAS, and, as to who the 'divers' were, +nobody knows. + +The evidence that, IN THE OPINION OF GREENE, CHETTLE, AND 'DIVERS OF +WORSHIP,' Shakespeare was a writer as well as an actor is absolutely +irrefragable. Had Shakespeare been the ignorant lout of the +Baconian theorists, these men would not have credited him, for +example, with his first signed and printed piece, 'Venus and +Adonis.' It appeared early in 1593, and Greene and Chettle wrote in +1592. 'Divers of worship,' according to the custom of the time, may +have seen 'Venus and Adonis' in manuscript. It was printed by +Richard Field, a Stratford-on-Avon man, as was natural, a Stratford- +on-Avon man being the author.* It was dedicated, in stately but not +servile courtesy, to the Earl of Southampton, by 'William +Shakespeare.' + +*Phillipps, i. p. 101. + +Judge Webb asks: 'Was it a pseudonym, or was it the real name of +the author of the poem?' Well, Shakespeare signs 'Shakspere' in two +deeds, in which the draftsman throughout calls him 'Shakespeare:' +obviously taking no difference.* People were not particular, +Shakespeare let them spell his name as best pleased them. + +*Phillipps, ii. pp. 34, 36. + +Judge Webb argues that Southampton 'took no notice' of the +dedication. How can he know? Ben Jonson dedicated to Lady Wroth +and many others. Does Judge Webb know what 'notice' they took? He +says that on various occasions 'Southampton did not recognise the +existence of the Player.' How can he know? I have dedicated books +to dozens of people. Probably they 'took notice,' but no record +thereof exists. The use of arguments of this kind demonstrates the +feebleness of the case. + +That Southampton, however, DID 'take notice' may be safely inferred +from the fact that Shakespeare, in 1594, dedicated to him 'The Rape +of Lucrece.' Had the Earl been an ungrateful patron, had he taken +no notice, Shakespeare had Latin enough to act on the motto Invenies +alium si te hic fastidit Alexin. He speaks of 'the warrant I have +of your honourable disposition,' which makes the poem 'assured of +acceptance.' This could never have been written had the dedication +of 'Venus and Adonis' been disdained. 'The client never +acknowledged his obligation to the patron,' says Judge Webb. The +dedication of 'Lucrece' is acknowledgment enough. The Judge ought +to think so, for he speaks, with needless vigour, of 'the +protestations, warm and gushing as a geyser, of "The Rape."' There +is nothing 'warm,' and nothing 'gushing,' in the dedication of +'Lucrece' (granting the style of the age), but, if it were as the +Judge says, here, indeed, would be the client's 'acknowledgment,' +which, the Judge says, was never made.* To argue against such logic +seems needless, and even cruel, but judicial contentions appear to +deserve a reply. + +Webb, p. 67. + +We now come to the evidence of the Rev. Francis Meres, in 'Palladis +Tamia' (1598). Meres makes 'Shakespeare among the English' the +rival, in comedy and tragedy, of Plautus and Seneca 'among the +Latines.' He names twelve plays, of which 'Love's Labour's Won' is +unknown. 'The soul of Ovid' lives in his 'Venus and Adonis,' his +'Lucrece,' and his 'sugred sonnets among his private friends.' +Meres also mentions Sidney, Spenser, Daniel, Drayton, and so forth, +a long string of English poetic names, ending with 'Samuel Page, +sometime Fellow of C.C.C. in Oxford, Churchyard, Bretton.'* + +*Phillipps, ii. pp. 149,150. + +Undeniably Meres, in 1598, recognises Shakespeare as both playwright +and poet. So Judge Webb can only reply: 'But who this mellifluous +and honey-tongued Shakespeare was he does not say, AND HE DOES NOT +PRETEND TO KNOW.'* He does not 'pretend to know' 'who' any of the +poets was--except Samuel Page, and he was a Fellow of Corpus. He +speaks of Shakespeare just as he does of Marlowe, Kid, Chapman, and +the others whom he mentions. He 'does not pretend to know who' they +were. Every reader knew who they all were. If I write of Mr. +Swinburne or Mr. Pinero, of Mr. Browning or of Mr. Henry Jones, I do +not say 'who they were,' I do not 'pretend to know.' There was no +Shakespeare in the literary world of London but the one Shakespeare, +'Burbage's deserving man.' + +*Webb, p. 71. + +The next difficulty is that Shakespeare's company, by request of the +Essex conspirators (who paid 2 pounds), acted 'Richard II.' just +before their foolish attempt (February 7, 1601). 'If Coke,' says +the Judge, 'had the faintest idea that the player' (Shakespeare) +'was the author of "Richard II.," he would not have hesitated a +moment to lay him by the heels.' Why, the fact of Shakespeare's +authorship had been announced, in print, by Meres, in 1598. Coke +knew, if he cared to know. Judge Webb goes on: 'And that the +Player' (Shakespeare) 'was not regarded as the author by the Queen +is proved by the fact that, with his company, he performed before +the Court at Richmond, on the evening before the execution of the +Earl.'* + +*Webb, pp. 72, 73. + +Nothing of the kind is proved. The guilt, if any, lay, not in +writing the drama--by 1601 'olde and outworne'--but in acting it, on +the eve of an intended revolution. This error Elizabeth overlooked, +and with it the innocent authorship of the piece, 'now olde and +outworne.'* It is not even certain, in Mr. Phillipps's opinion, +that the 'olde and outworne' play was that of Shakespeare. It is +perfectly certain that, as Elizabeth overlooked the fault of the +players, she would not attack the author of a play written years +before Essex's plot, with no political intentions. + +*Phillipps, ii. pp. 359-362. + +We now come to evidence of which Judge Webb says very little, that +of the two plays acted at St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1600- +1601, known as 'The Returne from Parnassus.' These pieces prove +that Shakespeare the poet was identified with Shakespeare the +player. They also prove that Shakespeare's scholarship and art were +held very cheaply by the University wits, who, as always, were +disdainful of non-University men. His popularity is undisputed, but +his admirer in the piece, Gullio, is a vapouring ignoramus, who +pretends to have been at the University of Padua, but knows no more +Latin than many modern critics. Gullio rants thus: 'Pardon, faire +lady, though sicke-thoughted Gullio makes amaine unto thee, and LIKE +A BOULD-FACED SUTOR 'GINS TO WOO THEE.' This, of course, is from +'Venus and Adonis.' Ingenioso says, aside: 'We shall have nothinge +but pure Shakespeare and shreds of poetry that he hath gathered at +the theaters.' Gullio next mouths a reminiscence of 'Romeo and +Juliet,' and Ingenioso whispers, 'Marke, Romeo and Juliet, O +monstrous theft;' however, aloud, he says 'Sweete Mr. Shakspeare!'-- +the spelling varies. Gullio continues to praise sweete Mr. +Shakspeare above Spenser and Chaucer. 'Let mee heare Mr. +Shakspear's veyne.' Judge Webb does not cite these passages, which +identify Shakspeare (or Shakespeare) with the poet of 'Venus and +Adonis' and 'Romeo and Juliet.' + +In the second 'Returne,' Burbage and Kemp, the noted morrice dancer +and clown of Shakespeare's company, are introduced. 'Few of the +University men pen plays well,' says Kemp; 'they smack too much of +that writer Ovid, and that writer Metamorphosis, and talke too much +of Proserpina and Jupiter. Why here's our fellow Shakespeare' +(fellow is used in the sense of companion), 'puts them all downe, +ay, and Ben Jonson too. O that Ben Jonson is a pestilent fellow; he +brought up Horace giving the Poets a pill, but our fellow +Shakespeare hath given him a purge that made him bewray his credit.' +At Burbage's request, one of the University men then recites two +lines of 'Richard III.,' by the poet of his company. + +Ben, according to Judge Webb, 'bewrayed his credit' in 'The +Poetaster,' 1601-1602, where Pantalabus 'was meant for Shakspere.'* +If so, Pantalabus is described as one who 'pens high, lofty, and in +a new stalking strain,' and if Shakespeare is the Poet Ape of +Jonson's epigram, why then Jonson regards him as a writer, not +merely as an actor. No amount of evil that angry Ben could utter +about the plays, while Shakespeare lived, and, perhaps, was for a +time at odds with him, can obliterate the praises which the same Ben +wrote in his milder mood. The charge against Poet Ape is a charge +of plagiarism, such as unpopular authors usually make against those +who are popular. Judge Webb has to suppose that Jonson, when he +storms, raves against some 'works' at that time somehow associated +with Shakespeare; and that, when he praises, he praises the divine +masterpieces of Bacon. But we know what plays really were +attributed to Shakespeare, then as now, while no other 'works' of a +contemptible character, attributed to Shakespeare, are to be heard +of anywhere. Judge Webb does not pretend to know what the things +were to which the angry Jonson referred.** If he really aimed his +stupid epigram at Shakespeare, he obviously alluded to the works +which were then, and now are, recognised as Shakespeare's; but in +his wrath he denounced them. 'Potter is jealous of potter, poet of +poet'--it is an old saying of the Greek. There was perhaps some +bitterness between Jonson and Shakespeare about 1601; Ben made an +angry epigram, perhaps against Shakespeare, and thought it good +enough to appear in his collected epigrams in 1616, the year of +Shakespeare's death. By that time the application to Shakespeare, +if to him the epigram applied, might, in Ben's opinion perhaps, be +forgotten by readers. In any case, Ben, according to Drummond of +Hawthornden, was one who preferred his jest to his friend. + +*Webb, pp. 114-116. +**Webb, pp. 116-119. + +Judge Webb's hypothesis is that Ben, in Shakespeare's lifetime, +especially in 1600-1601, spoke evil of his works, though he allowed +that they might endure to 'after-times'-- + + Aftertimes + May judge it to be his, as well as ours. + +But these works (wholly unknown) were not (on the Judge's theory) +the works which, after Shakespeare's death, Ben praised, as his, in +verse; and, more critically, praised in prose: the works, that is, +which the world has always regarded as Shakespeare's. THESE were +Bacon's, and Ben knew it on Judge Webb's theory. Here Judge Webb +has, of course, to deal with Ben's explicit declarations, in the +First Folio, that the works which he praises are by Shakespeare. +The portrait, says Ben, + + Was for gentle Shakespeare cut. + +Judge Webb then assures us, to escape this quandary, that 'in the +Sonnets "the gentle Shakespeare himself informs us that Shakespeare +was not his real name, but the "noted weed" in which he "kept +invention."'* The author of the Sonnets does nothing of the kind. +Judge Webb has merely misconstrued his text. The passage which he +so quaintly misinterprets occurs in Sonnet lxxvi.: + + Why is my verse so barren of new pride? + So far from variation or quick change? + Why, with the time, do I not glance aside + To new-found methods, and to compounds strange? + WHY WRITE I STILL ALL ONE, EVER THE SAME, + AND KEEP INVENTION IN A NOTED WEED, + THAT EVERY WORD DOES ALMOST TELL MY NAME, + SHOWING THEIR BIRTH AND WHENCE THEY DO PROCEED? + Oh, know, sweet love, I always write of you, + And you and love are still my argument; + So all my best is dressing old words new, + Spending again what is already spent: + For as the sun is daily new and old, + So is my love still telling what is told. + +*Webb, pp. 125,156,235,264. Judge Webb is fond of his discovery. + +The lines capitalised are thus explained by the Judge: 'Here the +author certainly intimates that Shakespeare is not his real name, +and that he was fearful lest his real name should be discovered.' +The author says nothing about Shakespeare not being his real name, +nor about his fear lest his real name should be discovered. He even +'quibbles on his own Christian name,' WILL, as Mr. Phillipps and +everyone else have noted. What he means is: 'Why am I so +monotonous that every word almost tells my name?' 'To keep +invention in a noted weed' means, of course, to present his genius +always in the same well-known attire. There is nothing about +disguise of a name, or of anything else, in the sonnet.* + +*Webb, pp. 64,156. + +But Judge Webb assures us that Shakespeare himself informs us in the +sonnets that 'Shakespeare was not his real name, but the noted weed +in which he kept invention.' As this is most undeniably not the +case, it cannot aid his effort to make out that, in the Folio, by +the name of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson means another person. + +In the Folio verses, 'To the Memory of my Beloved, Mr. William +Shakespeare, and What he has Left Us,' Judge Webb finds many +mysterious problems. + + Soul of the Age, + The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage, + My Shakespeare, rise! + +By a pun, Ben speaks of Shakespeare as + + shaking a lance + As brandish't at the eyes of Ignorance. + +The pun does not fit the name of--Bacon! The apostrophe to 'sweet +Swan of Avon' hardly applies to Bacon either; he was not a Swan of +Avon. It were a sight, says Ben, to see the Swan 'in our waters yet +appear,' and Judge Webb actually argues that Shakespeare was dead, +and could not appear, so somebody else must be meant! 'No poet that +ever lived would be mad enough to talk of a swan as YET appearing, +and resuming its flights, upon the river some seven or eight years +after it was dead.'* The Judge is like the Scottish gentleman who +when Lamb, invited to meet Burns's sons, said he wished it were +their father, solemnly replied that this could not be, for Burns was +dead. Wordsworth, in a sonnet, like Glengarry at Sheriffmuir, +sighed for 'one hour of Dundee!' The poet, and the chief, must have +been mad, in Judge Webb's opinion, for Dundee had fallen long ago, +in the arms of victory. A theory which not only rests on such +arguments as Judge Webb's, but takes it for granted that Bacon might +be addressed as 'sweet Swan of Avon,' is conspicuously impossible. + +*Webb, p. 134. + +Another of the Judge's arguments reposes on a misconception which +has been exposed again and again. In his Memorial verses Ben gives +to Shakespeare the palm for POETRY: to Bacon for ELOQUENCE, in the +'Discoveries.' Both may stand the comparison with 'insolent Greece +or haughty Rome.' Shakespeare is not mentioned with Bacon in the +'Scriptorum Catalogus' of the 'Discoveries': but no more is any +dramatic author or any poet, as a poet. Hooker, Essex, Egerton, +Sandys, Sir Nicholas Bacon are chosen, not Spenser, Marlowe, or +Shakespeare. All this does not go far to prove that when Ben +praised 'the wonder of our stage,' 'sweet Swan of Avon,' he meant +Bacon, not Shakespeare. + +When Judge Webb argued that in matters of science ('falsely so +called') Bacon and Shakespeare were identical, Professor Tyrrell, of +Trinity College, Dublin, was shaken, and said so, in 'The Pilot.' +Professor Dowden then proved, in 'The National Review,' that both +Shakespeare and Bacon used the widely spread pseudo-scientific ideas +of their time (as is conspicuously the case), and Mr. Tyrrell +confessed that he was sorry he had spoken. 'When I read Professor +Dowden's article, I would gladly have recalled my own, but it was +too late.' Mr. Tyrrell adds, with an honourable naivete, 'I AM NOT +VERSED IN THE LITERATURE OF THE SHAKESPEAREAN ERA, and I assumed +that the Baconians who put forward the parallelisms had satisfied +themselves that the coincidences were peculiar to the writings of +the philosopher and the poet. Professor Dowden has proved that this +is not so. . . .' Professor Dowden has indeed proved, in copious +and minute detail, what was already obvious to every student who +knew even such ordinary Elizabethan books as Lyly's 'Euphues' and +Phil Holland's 'Pliny,' and the speculations of such earlier writers +as Paracelsus. Bacon and Shakespeare, like other Elizabethans, +accepted the popular science of their period, and decorated their +pages with queer ideas about beasts, and stones, and plants; which +were mere folklore. A sensible friend of my own was staggered, if +not converted, by the parallelisms adduced in Judge Webb's chapter +'Of Bacon as a Man of Science.' I told him that the parallelisms +were Elizabethan commonplaces, and were not peculiar to Bacon and +Shakespeare. Professor Dowden, out of the fulness of his reading, +corroborated this obiter dictum, and his article (in 'The National +Review,' vol. xxxix., 1902) absolutely disposes of the Judge's +argument. + +Mr. Tyrrell went on: 'The evidence of Ben Jonson alone seems +decisive of the question; the other' (the Judge, for one) 'persuades +himself (how, I cannot understand) that it may be explained away.'* + +*Pilot, August 30, 1902, p. 220. + +We have seen how Judge Webb 'explains away' the evidence of Ben. +But while people 'not versed in the literature of the Shakespearean +era' assume that the Baconians have examined it, to discover whether +Shakespearo-Baconian parallelisms are peculiar to these two writers +or not, these people may fall into the error confessed by Mr. +Tyrrell. + +Some excuse is needed for arguing on the Baconian doctrine. 'There +is much doubt and misgiving on the subject among serious men,' says +Judge Webb, and if a humble author can, by luck, allay the doubts of +a single serious man, he should not regret his labour. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of The Valet's Tragedy and Other Stories + |