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diff --git a/44245-0.txt b/44245-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8906f98 --- /dev/null +++ b/44245-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9052 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44245 *** + +HISTORIC ODDITIES + +AND + +STRANGE EVENTS + + +By the same Author. + + +ARMINELL: A SOCIAL ROMANCE.+ 3 Vols. Cr. 8vo. (_On Nov. 1_). + + +OLD COUNTRY LIFE.+--With Numerous Illustrations, Initial Letters, + &c. Cr. 8vo. (_In October_). + + +YORKSHIRE ODDITIES.+--New and Cheaper Edition (_In Preparation_). + + +STRANGE SURVIVALS.+--(_In Preparation_). + + +HISTORIC ODDITIES.+--Second Series (_In Preparation_). + + +METHUEN & CO. + + + + +HISTORIC ODDITIES + +AND + +STRANGE EVENTS + +BY + +S. BARING GOULD, M.A. +AUTHOR OF "MEHALAH," "JOHN HERRING," ETC. + +FIRST SERIES + +LONDON +METHUEN & CO. +18 BURY STREET, W.C. +1889 + + + + +CONTENTS. + + PAGE +PREFACE, vii + +THE DISAPPEARANCE OF BATHURST, 1 + +THE DUCHESS OF KINGSTON, 26 + +GENERAL MALLET, 51 + +SCHWEINICHEN'S MEMOIRS, 67 + +THE LOCKSMITH GAMAIN, 83 + +ABRAM THE USURER, 103 + +SOPHIE APITZSCH, 121 + +PETER NIELSEN, 136 + +THE WONDER-WORKING PRINCE HOHENLOHE, 164 + +THE SNAIL TELEGRAPH, 185 + +THE COUNTESS GOERLITZ, 199 + +A WAX AND HONEY-MOON, 234 + +THE ELECTRESS' PLOT, 257 + +SUESS OPPENHEIM, 271 + +IGNATIUS FESSLER, 294 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +A reader of history in its various epochs in different countries, comes +upon eccentric individuals and extraordinary events, lightly passed +over, may be, as not materially affecting the continuity of history, as +not producing any seriously disturbing effect on its course. Such +persons, such events have always awakened interest in myself, and when I +have come on them, it has been my pleasure to obtain such details +concerning them as were available, and which would be out of place in a +general history as encumbering it with matter that is unimportant, or of +insufficient importance to occupy much space. Two of the narratives +contained in this work have appeared already in the "Cornhill Magazine," +but I have considerably enlarged them by the addition of fresh +material; some of the others came out in the "Gentleman's Magazine," and +one in "Belgravia." With only two of them--"Peter Nielsen" and "A Wax +and Honey-Moon"--are the authorities somewhat gone beyond and the facts +slightly dressed to assume the shape of stories. + +S. BARING GOULD. + +LEW TRENCHARD, N. DEVON, +_July, 1889_. + + + + +HISTORIC ODDITIES. + + + + +The Disappearance of Bathurst. + + +The mystery of the disappearance of Benjamin Bathurst on November 25, +1809, is one which can never with certainty be cleared up. At the time +public opinion in England was convinced that he had been secretly +murdered by order of Napoleon, and the "Times" in a leader on January +23, 1810, so decisively asserted this, that the "Moniteur" of January 29 +ensuing, in sharp and indignant terms repudiated the charge. +Nevertheless, not in England only, but in Germany, was the impression so +strong that Napoleon had ordered the murder, if murder had been +committed, that the Emperor saw fit, in the spring of the same year, +solemnly to assure the wife of the vanished man, on his word of honour, +that he knew nothing about the disappearance of her husband. Thirty +years later Varnhagen von Ense, a well-known German author, reproduced +the story and reiterated the accusation against Napoleon, or at all +events against the French. Later still, the "Spectator," in an article +in 1862, gave a brief sketch of the disappearance of Bathurst, and +again repeated the charge against French police agents or soldiers of +having made away with the Englishman. At that time a skeleton was said +to have been discovered in the citadel of Magdeburg with the hands +bound, in an upright position, and the writer of the article sought to +identify the skeleton with the lost man.[1] + +We shall see whether other discoveries do not upset this identification, +and afford us another solution of the problem--What became of Benjamin +Bathurst? + +Benjamin Bathurst was the third son of Dr. Henry Bathurst, Bishop of +Norwich, Canon of Christchurch, and the Prebendary of Durham, by Grace, +daughter of Charles Coote, Dean of Kilfenora, and sister of Lord +Castlecoote. His eldest brother, Henry, was Archdeacon of Norwich; his +next, Sir James, K.C.B., was in the army and was aide-de-camp to Lord +Wellington in the Peninsula. + +Benjamin, the third son of the bishop, was born March 14, 1784,[2] and +had been secretary of the Legation at Leghorn. In May, 1805, he married +Phillida, daughter of Sir John Call, Bart., of Whiteford, in Cornwall, +and sister of Sir William Pratt Call, the second baronet. Benjamin is a +Christian name that occurs repeatedly in the Bathurst family after the +founder of it, Sir Benjamin, Governor of the East India Company and of +the Royal African Company. He died in 1703. The grandfather of the +subject of our memoir was a Benjamin, brother of Allen, who was created +Baron in 1711, and Earl in 1772. + +Benjamin had three children: a son who died, some years after his +father's disappearance, in consequence of a fall from a horse at a race +in Rome; a daughter, who was drowned in the Tiber; and another who +married the Earl of Castlestuart in 1830, and after his death married +Signor Pistocchi. + +In 1809, early in the year, Benjamin was sent to Vienna by his kinsman, +Earl Bathurst, who was in the ministry of Lord Castlereagh, and, in +October, Secretary of State for the Foreign Department. He was sent on a +secret embassy from the English Government to the Court of the Emperor +Francis. The time was one of great and critical importance to Austria. +Since the Peace of Pressburg she had been quiet; the Cabinet of Vienna +had adhered with cautious prudence to a system of neutrality, but she +only waited her time, and in 1808 the government issued a decree by +which a militia, raised by a conscription, under the name of the +"Landwehr," was instituted, and this speedily reached the number of +300,000 men. Napoleon, who was harassed by the insurrection in the +Peninsula, demanded angrily an explanation, which was evaded. To overawe +Austria, he met the Emperor Alexander of Russia at Erfurth, and the +latter when sounded by Austria refused to have any part in the +confederation against Napoleon. England, in the meantime, was urging +Austria to cast down the gauntlet. In pledge of amity, the port of +Trieste was thrown open to the English and Spanish flags. In December, a +declaration of the King of England openly alluded to the hostile +preparations of Austria, but the Cabinet at Vienna were as yet undecided +as to the course they would finally adopt. The extreme peril which the +monarchy had undergone already in the wars with Napoleon made them +hesitate. England was about to send fifty thousand men to the Peninsula, +and desired the diversion of a war in the heart of Germany. Prussia +resolved to remain neutral. Napoleon rapidly returned from Spain, and +orders were despatched to Davoust to concentrate his immense corps at +Bamberg; Massena was to repair to Strasburg, and press on to Ulm; +Oudenot to move on Augsburg, and Bernadotte, at the head of the Saxons, +was to menace Bohemia. It was at this juncture that Benjamin Bathurst +hurried as Ambassador Extraordinary to Vienna, to assure the Cabinet +there of the intentions of England to send a powerful contingent into +Spain, and to do all in his power to urge Austria to declare war. +Encouraged by England, the Cabinet of Vienna took the initiative, and on +April 8 the Austrian troops crossed the frontier at once on the Inn, in +Bohemia, in Tyrol, and in Italy. + +The irritation and exasperation of Napoleon were great; and Bathurst, +who remained with the Court, laboured under the impression that the +Emperor of the French bore him especial enmity, on account of his +exertions to provoke the Austrian Ministry to declaration of war. +Whether this opinion of his were well founded, or whether he had been +warned that Napoleon would take the opportunity, if given him, of +revenging himself, we do not know; but what is certain is, that Bathurst +was prepossessed with the conviction that Napoleon regarded him with +implacable hostility and would leave no stone unturned to compass his +destruction. + +On July 6 came the battle of Wagram, then the humiliating armistice of +Znaim, which was agreed to by the Emperor Francis at Komorn in spite of +the urgency of Metternich and Lord Walpole, who sought to persuade him +to reject the proposals. This armistice was the preliminary to a peace +which was concluded at Schönbrun in October. With this, Bathurst's +office at Vienna came to an end, and he set out on his way home. Now it +was that he repeatedly spoke of the danger that menaced him, and of his +fears lest Napoleon should arrest him on his journey to England. He +hesitated for some time which road to take, and concluding that if he +went by Trieste and Malta he might run the worst risks, he resolved to +make his way to London by Berlin and the north of Germany. He took with +him his private secretary and a valet; and, to evade observation, +assumed the name of Koch, and pretended that he was a travelling +merchant. His secretary was instructed to act as courier, and he passed +under the name of Fisher. Benjamin Bathurst carried pistols about his +person, and there were firearms in the back of the carriage. + +On November 25, 1809, about midday, he arrived at Perleberg, with +post-horses, on the route from Berlin to Hamburg, halted at the +post-house for refreshments, and ordered fresh horses to be harnessed +to the carriage for the journey to Lenzen, which was the next station. + +Bathurst had come along the highway from Berlin to Schwerin, in +Brandenburg, as far as the little town of Perleberg, which lies on the +Stepnitz, that flows after a few miles into the Elbe at Wittenberge. He +might have gone on to Ludwigslust, and thence to Hamburg, but this was a +considerable détour, and he was anxious to be home. He had now before +him a road that led along the Elbe close to the frontier of Saxony. The +Elbe was about four miles distant. At Magdeburg were French troops. If +he were in danger anywhere, it would be during the next few hours--that +is, till he reached Dömitz. About a hundred paces from the post-house +was an inn, the White Swan, the host of which was named Leger. By the +side of the inn was the Parchimer gate of the town, furnished with a +tower, and the road to Hamburg led through this gate, outside of which +was a sort of suburb consisting of poor cottagers' and artisans' houses. + +Benjamin Bathurst went to the Swan and ordered an early dinner; the +horses were not to be put in till he had dined. He wore a pair of grey +trousers, a grey frogged short coat, and over it a handsome sable +greatcoat lined with violet velvet. On his head was a fur cap to match. +In his scarf was a diamond pin of some value. + +As soon as he had finished his meal, Bathurst inquired who was in +command of the soldiers quartered in the town, and where he lodged. He +was told that a squadron of the Brandenburg cuirassiers was there under +Captain Klitzing, who was residing in a house behind the Town Hall. Mr. +Bathurst then crossed the market place and called on the officer, who +was at the time indisposed with a swollen neck. To Captain Klitzing he +said that he was a traveller on his way to Hamburg, that he had strong +and well-grounded suspicions that his person was endangered, and he +requested that he might be given a guard in the inn, where he was +staying. A lady who was present noticed that he seemed profoundly +agitated, that he trembled as though ague-stricken, and was unable to +raise a cup of tea that was offered him to his lips without spilling it. + +The captain laughed at his fears, but consented to let him have a couple +of soldiers, and gave the requisite orders for their despatch; then Mr. +Bathurst rose, resumed his sable overcoat, and, to account for his +nervous difficulty in getting into his furs again, explained that he was +much shaken by something that had alarmed him. + +Not long after the arrival of Mr. Bathurst at the Swan, two Jewish +merchants arrived from Lenzen with post-horses, and left before +nightfall. + +On Mr. Bathurst's return to the inn, he countermanded the horses; he +said he would not start till night. He considered that it would be safer +for him to spin along the dangerous portion of the route by night when +Napoleon's spies would be less likely to be on the alert. He remained in +the inn writing and burning papers. At seven o'clock he dismissed the +soldiers on guard, and ordered the horses to be ready by nine. He stood +outside the inn watching his portmanteau, which had been taken within, +being replaced on the carriage, stepped round to the heads of the +horses--_and was never seen again_. + +It must be remembered that this was at the end of November. Darkness had +closed in before 5 P.M., as the sun set at four. An oil lantern hung +across the street, emitting a feeble light; the ostler had a horn +lantern, wherewith he and the postillion adjusted the harness of the +horses. The landlord was in the doorway talking to the secretary, who, +as courier, was paying the account. No one particularly observed the +movements of Mr. Bathurst at the moment. He had gone to the horses' +heads, where the ostler's lantern had fallen on him. The horses were in, +the postillion ready, the valet stood by the carriage door, the landlord +had his cap in hand ready to wish the gentleman a "lucky journey;" the +secretary was impatient, as the wind was cold. They waited; they sent up +to the room which Mr. Bathurst had engaged; they called. All in vain. +Suddenly, inexplicably, without a word, a cry, an alarm of any sort, he +was gone--spirited away, and what really became of him will never be +known with certainty. + +Whilst the whole house was in amazement and perplexity the Jewish +merchants ordered their carriage to be got ready, and departed. + +Some little time elapsed before it was realised that the case was +serious. Then it occurred to the secretary that Mr. Bathurst might have +gone again to the captain in command to solicit guards to attend his +carriage. He at once sent to the captain, but Mr. Bathurst was not with +him. The moment, however, that Klitzing heard that the traveller had +disappeared, he remembered the alarm expressed by the gentleman, and +acted with great promptitude. He sent soldiers to seize the carriage and +all the effects of the missing man. He went, in spite of his swollen +neck, immediately to the Swan, ordered a chaise, and required the +secretary to enter it; he placed a cuirassier and the valet on the box, +and, stepping into the carriage, ordered it to be driven to the Golden +Crown, an inn at the further end of the town, where he installed the +companions of Bathurst, and placed a soldier in guard over them. A guard +was also placed over the Swan, and next morning every possible search +was made for the lost man. The river was dragged, outhouses, woods, +marshes, ditches were examined, but not a trace of him could be found. +That day was Sunday. Klitzing remained at Perleberg only till noon, to +wait some discovery, and then, without delay, hurried to Kyritz, where +was his commandant, Colonel Bismark, to lay the case before him, and +solicit leave to hasten direct to Berlin, there to receive further +instructions what was to be done. + +He was back on Monday with full authority to investigate the matter. + +Before he left he had gone over the effects of Mr. Bathurst, and had +learned that the fur coat belonging to him was missing; he communicated +this fact to the civil magistrate of the district, and whilst he was +away search was instituted for this. It was the sable coat lined with +violet velvet already mentioned, and this, along with another belonging +to the secretary, Fisher was under the impression had been left in the +post-house. + +The amazing part of the matter is that the city authorities--and, +indeed, on his return, Captain Klitzing--for a while confined themselves +to a search for the fur coat, and valuable time was lost by this means. +Moreover, the city authorities, the police, and the military were all +independent, and all jealous of each other. The military commander, +Klitzing, and the burgomaster were in open quarrel, and sent up to +headquarters charges against each other for interference in the matter +beyond their rights. The head of the police was inert, a man afterwards +dismissed for allowing defalcation in the monies entrusted to him. There +was no system in the investigation, and the proper clues were not +followed. + +On December 16th, two poor women went out of Perleberg to a little fir +wood in the direction of Quitzow, to pick up broken sticks for fuel. +There they found, a few paces from a path leading through the wood, +spread out on the grass, a pair of trousers turned inside out. On +turning them back they observed that they were stained on the outside, +as if the man who had worn them had lain on the earth. In the pocket was +a paper with writing on it; this, as well as the trousers, was sodden +with water. Two bullet holes were in the trousers, but no traces of +blood about them, which could hardly have been the case had the bullets +struck a man wearing the trousers. The women took what they had found to +the burgomaster. The trousers were certainly those of the missing man. +The paper in the pocket was a half-finished letter from Mr. Bathurst to +his wife, scratched in pencil, stating that he was afraid he would never +reach England, and that his ruin would be the work of Count +d'Entraigues, and he requested her not to marry again in the event of +his not returning. + +The English Government offered £1,000 reward, and his family another +£1,000; Prince Frederick of Prussia, who took a lively interest in the +matter, offered in addition 100 Friedrichs d'or for the discovery of the +body, or for information which might lead to the solution of the +mystery, but no information to be depended upon ever transpired. Various +rumours circulated; and Mrs. Thistlethwaite, the sister of Benjamin +Bathurst, in her Memoirs of Dr. Henry Bathurst, Bishop of Norwich, +published by Bentley in 1853, gives them. He was said to have been lost +at sea. Another report was that he was murdered by his valet, who took +an open boat on the Elbe, and escaped. Another report again was that he +had been lost in a vessel which was crossing to Sweden and which +foundered about this time. These reports are all totally void of truth. +Mrs. Thistlethwaite declares that Count d'Entraigues, who was afterwards +so cruelly murdered along with his wife by their Italian servant, was +heard to say that he could prove that Mr. Bathurst was murdered in the +fortress of Magdeburg. In a letter to his wife, dated October 14, 1809, +Benjamin Bathurst said that he trusted to reach home by way of Colberg +and Sweden. D'Entraigues had been a French spy in London; and Mrs. +Thistlethwaite says that he himself told Mrs. Bathurst that her husband +had been carried off by _douaniers-montés_ from Perleberg to Magdeburg, +and murdered there. This it is hard to believe. + +Thomas Richard Underwood, in a letter from Paris, November 24, 1816, +says he was a prisoner of war in Paris in 1809, and that both the +English and French there believed that the crime of his abduction and +murder had been committed by the French Government. + +The "European Magazine" for January, 1810, says that he was apparently +carried off by a party of French troops stationed at Lenzen, but this +was not the case. No French troops were on that side of the Elbe. It +further says, "The French Executive, with a view to ascertain by his +papers the nature of the relations subsisting between this country and +the Austrian Government, has added to the catalogue of its crimes by the +seizure, or probably the murder, of this gentleman." + +If there had been French troops seen we should have known of it; but +none were. Every effort was made by the civil and military authorities +to trace Bathurst. Bloodhounds were employed to track the lost man, in +vain. Every well was explored, the bed of the Stepnitz thoroughly +searched. Every suspicious house in Perleberg was examined from attic to +cellar, the gardens were turned up, the swamps sounded, but every effort +to trace and discover him was in vain. + +On January 23, 1810, in a Hamburg paper, appeared a paragraph, which for +the first time informed the people of Perleberg who the merchant Koch +really was who had so mysteriously vanished. The paragraph was in the +form of a letter, dated from London, January 6, 1810--that is, six weeks +after the disappearance. It ran thus: "Sir Bathurst, Ambassador +Extraordinary of England to the Court of Austria, concerning whom a +German newspaper, under date of December 10, stated that he had +committed suicide in a fit of insanity, is well in mind and body. His +friends have received a letter from him dated December 13, which, +therefore, must have been written after the date of his supposed death." + +Who inserted this, and for what purpose? It was absolutely untrue. Was +it designed to cause the authorities to relax their efforts to probe the +mystery, and perhaps to abandon them altogether? + +The Jewish merchants were examined, but were at once discharged; they +were persons well-to-do, and generally respected. + +Was it possible that Mr. Bathurst had committed suicide? This was the +view taken of his disappearance in France, where, in the "Moniteur" of +December 12, 1809, a letter from the correspondent in Berlin stated: +"Sir Bathurst on his way from Berlin showed signs of insanity, and +destroyed himself in the neighbourhood of Perleberg." On January 23, +1810, as already said, the "Times" took the matter up, and not obscurely +charged the Emperor Napoleon with having made away with Mr. Bathurst, +who was peculiarly obnoxious to him. + +In the mean time, the fur coat had been found, hidden in the cellar of a +family named Schmidt, behind some firewood. Frau Schmidt declared that +it had been left at the post house, where she had found it; and had +conveyed it away, and given it to her son Augustus, a fellow of +notoriously bad character. Now, it is remarkable that one witness +declared that she had seen the stranger who had disappeared go out of +the square down the narrow lane in which the Schmidts lived, and where +eventually the fur coat was found. When questioned, Augustus Schmidt +said that "his mother had told him the stranger had two pistols, and had +sent her to buy him some powder. He supposed therefore that the +gentleman had shot himself." Unfortunately the conflict of authorities +acted prejudicially at this point, and the questions how the Schmidts +came to know anything about the pistols, whether Frau Schmidt really was +sent for powder, and whether Bathurst was really seen entering the alley +in which they lived, and at what hour, were never properly entered into. +Whatever information Klitzing obtained, was forwarded to Berlin, and +there his reports remain in the archives. They have not been examined. + +Fresh quarrels broke out between Klitzing and the Burgomaster, and +Klitzing instead of pursuing the main investigations, set to work to +investigate the proceedings of the Burgomaster. So more time was lost. + +On Thursday, November 30th, that is to say, five days after the +disappearance of Bathurst, Captain Klitzing ordered the town +magistrates; 1. To have all ditches and canals round the place examined; +2. To have the neighbourhood of the town explored by foresters with +hounds; 3. To let off the river Stepnitz and examine the bed. Then he +added, "as I have ascertained that Augustus Schmidt, who is now under +arrest for the theft of the fur coat, was _not at home at the time that +the stranger disappeared_, I require that this fact be taken into +consideration, and investigated"--and this, as far as we can ascertain, +was not done; it was just one of those valuable clues which were left +untraced. + +The whole neighbourhood was searched, ditches, ponds, the river bed, +drains, every cellar, and garden, and nothing found. The search went on +to December 6, and proved wholly resultless. It was not till December 16 +that the trousers were found. It is almost certain that they were laid +in the Quitzow wood after the search had been given over, on December +6th. + +As nothing could be proved against the Schmidt family, except that they +had taken the fur coat, Frau Schmidt and her son were sentenced to eight +weeks' imprisonment. + +The matter of the pistols was not properly cleared up. That, again, was +a point, and an important point that remained uninvestigated. + +The military authorities who examined the goods of Mr. Bathurst declared +that nothing was missing except the fur cloak, which was afterwards +recovered, and we suppose these pistols were included. If not, one may +be sure that some notice would have been taken of the fact that he had +gone off with his pistols, and had not returned. This would have lent +colour to the opinion that he destroyed himself. Besides no shot was +heard. A little way outside the gateway of the town beyond the Swan inn +is a bridge over the small and sluggish stream of the Stepnitz. It was +possible he might have shot himself there, and fallen into the water; +but this theory will not bear looking closely into. A shot fired there +would certainly have been heard at night in the cottages beside the +road; the river was searched shortly after without a trace of him having +been found, and his trousers with bullet holes made in them after they +had been taken off him had been discovered in another direction. + +The "Moniteur" of January 29 said: "Among the civilised races, England +is the only one that sets an example of having bandits[3] in pay, and +inciting to crime. From information we have received from Berlin, we +believe that Mr. Bathurst had gone off his head. It is the manner of the +British Cabinet to commit diplomatic commissions to persons whom the +whole nation knows are half fools. It is only the English diplomatic +service which contains crazy people." + +This violent language was at the time attributed to Napoleon's +dictation, stung with the charge made by the "Times," a charge ranking +him with "vulgar murderers," and which attributed to him two other and +somewhat similar cases, that of Wagstaff, and that of Sir George +Rumbold. It is very certain that the "Moniteur" would not have ventured +on such insulting language without his permission. + +In April Mrs. Bathurst, along with some relatives, arrived in +Perleberg. The poor lady was in great distress and anxiety to have the +intolerable suspense alleviated by a discovery of some sort, and the +most liberal offers were made and published to induce a disclosure of +the secret. At this time a woman named Hacker, the wife of a peasant who +lived in the shoe-market, was lying in the town gaol--the tower already +mentioned, adjoining the White Swan. She was imprisoned for various +fraudulent acts. She now offered to make a confession, and this was her +statement: + +"A few weeks before Christmas I was on my way to Perleberg from a place +in Holstein, where my husband had found work. In the little town of +Seeberg, twelve miles from Hamburg, I met the shoemaker's assistant +Goldberger, of Perleberg, whom I knew from having danced with him. He +was well-dressed, and had from his fob hanging a hair-chain with gold +seals. His knitted silk purse was stuffed with louis d'ors. When I asked +him how he came by so much money, he said, 'Oh, I got 500 dollars and +the watch as hush-money when the Englishman was murdered.' He told me no +more particulars, except that one of the seals was engraved with a name, +and he had had that altered in Hamburg." + +No credit was given to this story, and no inquiry was instituted into +the whereabouts of Goldberger. It was suspected that the woman had +concocted it in the hopes of getting Mrs. Bathurst to interest herself +in obtaining her release, and of getting some of the money offered to +informers. + +Mrs. Bathurst did not return immediately to England; she appealed to +Napoleon to grant her information, and he assured her through +Cambacières, and on his word of honour, that he knew nothing of the +matter beyond what he had seen in the papers. + +So the matter rested, an unsolved mystery. + +In Prussia, among the great bulk of the educated, in the higher and +official classes, the prevailing conviction was that Napoleon had caused +the disappearance of Bathurst, not out of personal feeling, but in +political interests, for the purpose of getting hold of the dispatches +which he was believed to be conveying to England from the Austrian +Government. The murder was held to be an accident, or an unavoidable +consequence. And in Perleberg itself this was the view taken of the +matter as soon as it was known who the stranger was. But then, another +opinion prevailed there, that Klitzing had secretly conveyed him over +the frontier, so as to save him from the spies, and the pursuit which, +as he and Bathurst knew, endangered the safety of the returning envoy. + +In Perleberg two opinions were formed, by such as conceived that he had +been murdered, as to the manner in which he had been made away with. + +Not far from the post-house was at the time a low tavern kept by Hacker, +who has been mentioned above; the man combined shoemaking with the sale +of brandy. Augustus Schmidt spent a good deal of his time in this house. +Now shortly after this affair, Hacker left Perleberg, and set up at +Altona, where he showed himself possessed of a great deal of money. He +was also said to have disposed of a gold repeater watch to a jeweller in +Hamburg. This was never gone into; and how far it was true, or idle +rumour, cannot be said. One view was that Bathurst had been robbed and +murdered by Hacker and Schmidt. + +The other opinion was this. Opposite the post-house was a house occupied +at the time by a fellow who was a paid French spy; a man who was tried +for holding secret communication with the enemy of his Fatherland. He +was a petty lawyer, who stirred up quarrels among the peasants, and +lived by the result. He was a man of the worst possible character, +capable of anything. The opinion of one section of the people of +Perleberg was, that Bathurst, before entering the carriage, had gone +across the square, and had entered into conversation with this man, who +had persuaded him to enter his door, where he had strangled him, and +buried him in his cellar. The widow of this man on her death-bed +appeared anxious to confess something, but died before she could speak. + +In 1852 a discovery was made at Perleberg which may or may not give the +requisite solution. + +We may state before mentioning this that Captain Klitzing never believed +that Bathurst had been spirited away by French agents. He maintained +that he had been murdered for his money. + +On April 15, 1852, a house on the Hamburg road that belonged to the +mason Kiesewetter was being pulled down, when a human skeleton was +discovered under the stone threshold of the stable. The skeleton lay +stretched out, face upwards, on the black peat earth, covered with +mortar and stone chips, the head embedded in walling-stones and mortar. +In the back of the skull was a fracture, as if a blow of a heavy +instrument had fallen on it. All the upper teeth were perfect, but one +of the molars in the lower jaw was absent, and there were indications of +its having been removed by a dentist. The house where these human +remains were found had been purchased in 1834 by the mason Kiesewetter +from Christian Mertens, who had inherited it from his father, which +latter had bought it in 1803 of a shoemaker. _Mertens, the father, had +been a serving man in the White Swan at the time of the disappearance of +Mr. Bathurst._ + +Inquiry was made into what was known of old Mertens. Everyone spoke +highly of him as a saving, steady man, God-fearing; who had scraped +together during his service in the Swan sufficient money to dower his +two daughters with respectively £150 and £120. After a long illness he +had died, generally respected. + +Information of the discovery was forwarded to the Bathurst family, and +on August 23, Mrs. Thistlethwaite, sister of Benjamin, came to +Perleberg, bringing with her a portrait of her brother, but she was +quite unable to say that the skull that was shown her belonged to the +missing man, whom she had not seen for forty-three years. And--no +wonder! When Goethe was shown the skull of his intimate friend Schiller +he could hardly trace any likeness to the head he remembered so well. +Mrs. Thistlethwaite left, believing that the discovery had no connection +with the mystery of her brother's disappearance, so ineradicably fixed +in the convictions of the family was the belief that he had been carried +away by French agents. + +However, let us consider this discovery a little closer, and perhaps we +shall be led to another conclusion. + +In the first place, the skeleton was that of a man who had been murdered +by a blow on the back of his head, which had fractured the skull. It had +been stripped before being buried, for not a trace of clothing could be +found. + +Secondly, the house of the Mertens family lay on the Hamburg road, on +the way to Lenzen, outside the Parchimer Gate, only three hundred paces +from the White Swan. In fact, it was separated from the White Swan only +by the old town-gate and prison tower, and a small patch of garden +ground. + +At the time of the disappearance of Mr. Bathurst it was inhabited by +Christian Mertens, who was servant at the White Swan. No examination was +made at the time of the loss of Bathurst into the whereabouts of +Mertens, nor was his cottage searched. It was assumed that he was at the +inn waiting for his "vale," like the ostler and the _Kellner_. It is +quite possible that he may have been standing near the horses' heads, +and that he may have gone on with Mr. Bathurst a few steps to show him +the direction he was to go; or, with the pretence that he had important +information to give him, he may have allured him into his cottage, and +there murdered him, or, again, he may have drawn him on to where by +pre-arrangement Goldberger was lying in wait with a hammer or hatchet to +strike him down from behind. Considering how uneasy Mr. Bathurst was +about the road, and how preoccupied with the idea that French spies and +secret agents were on the look-out for him, he might easily have been +induced by a servant of the inn where he was staying to go a few steps +through the gate, beyond earshot of the post-boy and landlord and +ostler, to hear something which the boots pretended was of importance to +him. Goldberger or another may have lain in wait in the blackness of the +shadow of the gateway but a short distance from the lights about the +carriage, and by one stroke have silenced him. It is possible that +Augustus Schmidt may have been mixed up in the matter, and that the +sable coat was taken off Mr. Bathurst when dead. + +Again, Mertens was able on the marriage of his two daughters to give one +150_l._ and the other 120_l._ This would mean that Mertens had saved as +boots of the Swan at the least 300_l._, for he would not give every +penny to his children. Surely this was a considerable sum for a boots in +a little inn to amass from his wage and from "vales." + +Mrs. Thistlethwaite asserts in her Memoirs of Bishop Bathurst that +shortly after the disappearance of her brother the ostler--can she mean +Mertens?--also disappeared, ran away. But we do not know of any +corroborating evidence. + +Lastly, the discovery of the trousers in the wood near Quitzow points to +the traveller having been murdered in Perleberg; the murderers, whoever +they were, finding that an investigation of houses, barns, gardens and +stables was being made, took the garments of the unfortunate man, +discharged a couple of shots through them to make believe he had been +fired at by several persons lying in wait for him, and then exposed +them in a place away from the road along which Mr. Bathurst was going. +The man who carried these garments was afraid of being observed, and he +probably did not go through the town with them, but made a circuit to +the wood, and for the same reason did not take them very far. The road +to Lenzen ran S.W. and that to Quitzow N.W. He placed the trousers near +the latter, but did not venture to cross the highway. He could get to +the wood over the fields unperceived. + +Supposing that this is the solution of the mystery, one thing remains to +be accounted for--the paragraph in the Hamburg paper dated from London, +announcing that Mr. Bathurst was alive and had been heard of since the +disappearance. + +This, certainly, seems to have been inserted with a design to divert or +allay suspicion, and it was generally held to have been sent from London +by a French agent, on instruction from Paris. But it is possible that +the London correspondent may have heard a coffee-house rumour that +Bathurst was still alive, and at once reported it to the paper. Its +falsehood was palpable, and would be demonstrated at once by the family +of the lost man to the authorities at Perleberg. It could not answer the +purpose of arresting inquiry and staying investigation. + +It remains only to inquire whether it was probable that Napoleon had any +hand in the matter. + +What could induce him to lay hands on an envoy? He could not expect to +find on the person of Mr. Bathurst any important dispatches, for the war +was over, peace with Austria was concluded. He was doubtless angry at +Austria having declared war, and angry at England having instigated her +to do so, but Mr. Bathurst was very small game indeed on which to wreak +his anger; moreover, the peace that had been concluded with Austria gave +great advantages to France. He can have had no personal dislike to +Bathurst, for he never saw him. When Napoleon entered Vienna, Bathurst +was with the Emperor Francis in Hungary, at Komorn. + +And yet, he may have suspected that Austria was insincere, and was +anxious to renew the conflict, if she could obtain assurance of +assistance from England. He may have thought that by securing the papers +carried to England by Bathurst, he would get at the real intentions of +Austria, and so might be prepared for consequences. We cannot say. The +discovery of the body in Mertens' house, under the threshold--supposing +it to be that of Bathurst, does not by any means prove that the murder +was a mere murder for the purpose of robbery. + +If Napoleon had given instructions for the capture of Bathurst, and the +taking from him of his papers, it does not follow that he ordered his +murder, on the contrary, he would have given instructions that he should +be robbed--as if by highwaymen--and let go with his life. The murder was +against his wishes, if he did give orders for him to be robbed. + +The Bathurst family never doubted that Benjamin had been murdered by the +agents of Napoleon. It is certain that he was well aware that his safety +was menaced, and menaced at Perleberg. That was why he at once on +reaching the place asked for the protection of a guard. He had received +warning from some one, and such warning shows that an attempt to rob him +of his papers was in contemplation. + +That caution to be on his guard must have been given him, before he left +Vienna. He probably received another before he reached Perleberg, for he +appeared before the Commandant in a state of great alarm and agitation. +That this was mere spiritual presage of evil is hardly credible. We +cannot doubt--and his letter to his wife leads to this conviction--that +he had been warned that spies in the pay of the French Government were +on the look-out for him. Who the agents were that were employed to get +hold of his papers, supposing that the French Government did attempt to +waylay him, can never be determined, whether Mertens or Augustus +Schmidt. + +In 1815 Earl Bathurst was Secretary of State for War and the Colonial +Department. May we not suspect that there was some mingling of personal +exultation along with political satisfaction, in being able to send to +St. Helena the man who had not only been the scourge of Europe, and the +terror of kings, but who, as he supposed--quite erroneously we +believe--had inflicted on his own family an agony of suspense and doubt +that was never to be wholly removed? + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The discovery of a skeleton as described was denied afterwards by +the Magdeburg papers. It was a newspaper sensational paragraph, and +unfounded. + +[2] Register of Baptisms, Christchurch, Oxford, 1784, March 14, +Benjamin, s. of Henry Bathurst, Canon, and Grace his wife, born, and +bap. April 19. + +[3] When, in 1815, Napoleon was at St. Helena, on his first introduction +to Sir Hudson Lowe, he addressed the governor with the insulting words, +"Monsieur, vous avez commandé des brigands." He alluded to the Corsican +rangers in the British service, which Lowe had commanded. + + + + +The Duchess of Kingston. + + +Elizabeth Chudleigh, Countess of Bristol and Duchess of Kingston, who +was tried for bigamy in Westminster Hall by the Peers in 1776, was, it +can hardly be doubted, the original from whom Thackeray drew his +detailed portrait of Beatrix Esmond, both as young Trix and as the old +Baroness Bernstein; nor can one doubt that what he knew of his prototype +was taken from that scandalous little book, "An Authentic Detail of +Particulars relative to the late Duchess of Kingston," published by G. +Kearsley in 1788. Thackeray not only reproduced some of the incidents of +her life, but more especially caught the features of her character. + +Poor Trix! Who does not remember her coming down the great staircase at +Walcote, candle in hand, in her red stockings and with a new cherry +ribbon round her neck, her eyes like blue stars, her brown hair curling +about her head, and not feel a lingering liking for the little coquette, +trying to catch my Lord Mohun, and the Duke of Hamilton, and many +another, and missing all? and for the naughty old baroness, with her +scandalous stories, her tainted past, her love of cards, her complete +unscrupulousness, and yet with one soft corner in the withered heart for +the young Virginians? + +The famous, or infamous, Duchess has had hard measure dealt out to her, +which she in part deserved; but some of the stories told of her are +certainly not true, and one circumstance in her life, if true, goes far +to palliate her naughtiness. Unfortunately, almost all we know of her is +taken from unfriendly sources. The only really impartial source of +information is the "Trial," published by order of the Peers, but that +covers only one portion of her life, and one set of incidents. + +Elizabeth Chudleigh was the daughter of Colonel Thomas Chudleigh, of +Chelsea, and his wife Henrietta, who was his first cousin, the fourth +daughter of Hugh Chudleigh, of Chalmington, in Dorset. Thomas was the +only brother of Sir George Chudleigh, fourth baronet of Asheton, in +Devon. As Sir George left only daughters, Thomas, the brother of +Elizabeth, whose baptism in 1718 is recorded in the Chelsea registers, +succeeded as fifth baronet in 1738. Unfortunately the Chelsea registers +do not give the baptism of Elizabeth, and we are not able to state her +precise age, about which there is some difference. Her father had a post +in Chelsea College, but apparently she was not born there. There can, +however, be little doubt that she saw the light for the first time in +1726, and not in 1720, as is generally asserted. + +Her family was one of great antiquity in the county of Devon, and was +connected by marriage with the first families of the west of England. +The old seat, Asheton, lies in a pleasant coombe under the ridge of +Haldon; some remains of the old mansion, and venerable trees of the +park, linger on; and in the picturesque parish church, perched on a rock +in the valley, are many family monuments and heraldic blazonings of the +Chudleigh lions, gules on an ermine field. Elizabeth lost her father +very early, and the widow was left on a poor pension to support and +advance the prospects of her two children. Though narrowed in fortune, +Mrs. Chudleigh had good connections, and she availed herself of these to +push her way in the world. At the age of sixteen--that is, in +1743--Elizabeth was given the appointment of maid of honour to the +Princess of Wales, through the favour of Mr. Pulteney, afterwards Earl +of Bath, who had met her one day while out shooting. The old beau was +taken with the vivacity, intelligence and beauty of the girl. She was +then not only remarkable for her beauty, delicacy of complexion, and +sparkling eyes, but also for the brilliancy of her wit and the +liveliness of her humour. Even her rival, the Marquise de la Touche, of +whom more hereafter, bears testimony to her charms. Pulteney, himself a +witty, pungent, and convivial man, was delighted with the cleverness of +the lovely girl, and amused himself with drawing it out. In after years, +when she was asked the secret of her sparkling repartee, she replied, "I +always aim to be short, clear, and surprising." + +The Princess of Wales, Augusta, daughter of Frederick of Saxe-Gotha, who +with the Prince, Frederick Lewis, had their court at Leicester House, +became greatly attached to her young maid of honour. The beautiful Miss +Chudleigh was speedily surrounded by admirers, among whom was James, +sixth Duke of Hamilton, born in 1724, and therefore two years her +senior. + +According to the "Authentic Detail," the Duke obtained from her a +solemn engagement that, on his return from a tour on the Continent which +he was about to take, she would become his wife. Then he departed, +having arranged for a mutual correspondence. + +In the summer of 1744 she went on a visit to Lainston, near Winchester, +to her maternal aunt, Anne Hanmer, who was then living at the house of +Mr. Merrill, the son of another aunt, Susanna, who was dead. + +To understand the relationship of the parties, a look will suffice at +the following pedigree.[4] + + + Sir George Chudleigh = Elizabeth, da. of Hugh Fortescue + 2nd Bart. | + | + +---------------------+-----------------------+ + | | +Hugh Chudleigh = Susanna da. Sir George Chudleigh = Mary da. +2nd surv. son, | Sir R. Stroud. s. & h., 3rd Bart., | R. Lee, + d. 1716. | d. 1719. | d. 1710. + | | + +----------+-----------+ +----------------------+ + | | | | | +Susanna, Anne, Henrietta = Thomas Chudleigh, Sir George +d. 1740, d. 1764, d. 1756. | 2nd son, Chudleigh, +m. John m. Wm. | d. before 1734. 4th Bart. +Merrill. Hanmer. | d. s. p. + | 1738. + +-----------+--------------+ + | | + ELIZABETH, Sir Thomas Chudleigh, + Duchess of Kingston, 5th Bart., d. s. p. 1741. + d. 1788. + + +Mrs. Hanmer, a widow, kept house for her nephew, who was squire. At the +Winchester races, to which she went with a party, Elizabeth met +Lieutenant Hervey, second son of the late John, Lord Hervey, and +grandson of the Earl of Bristol. Lieutenant Hervey, who was in the +"Cornwall," then lying at Portsmouth, a vessel in Sir John Danver's +squadron, was born in 1724, and was therefore two years the senior of +Elizabeth; indeed, at the time he was only just twenty. He was +fascinated by the beautiful girl, and was invited by Mrs. Hanmer to +Lainston. "To this gentleman," says the "Authentic Detail," "Mrs. Hanmer +became so exceedingly partial that she favoured his views on her niece, +and engaged her efforts to effect, if possible, a matrimonial connexion. +There were two difficulties which would have been insurmountable if not +opposed by the fertile genius of a female: Miss Chudleigh disliked +Captain Hervey, and she was betrothed to the Duke of Hamilton. To render +this last nugatory, the letters of his Grace were intercepted by Mrs. +Hanmer, and his supposed silence giving offence to her niece, she worked +so successfully on her pride as to induce her to abandon all thoughts of +the lover, whose passion she had cherished with delight." + +Is this story true? It seems incredible that Mrs. Hanmer should have +urged her niece to throw over such a splendid prospect of family +advancement as that offered by marriage with the Duke of Hamilton, for +the sake of an impecunious young sailor who was without the means of +supporting his wife, and who, at that time, had not the faintest +expectation of succeeding to the Earldom of Bristol. + +It is allowable to hope that the story of the engagement to the Duke of +Hamilton, broken through the intrigues of the aunt, is true, as it forms +some excuse for the after conduct of Elizabeth Chudleigh. + +It is more probable that the Duke of Hamilton had not said anything to +Elizabeth, and did not write to her, at all events not till later. She +may have entertained a liking for him, but not receiving any token that +the liking was reciprocated, she allowed her aunt to engage and marry +her to young Hervey. That the poor girl had no fancy for the young man +is abundantly clear. The Attorney General, in the trial, said that Mrs. +Hanmer urged on the match "as advantageous to her niece;" but +advantageous it certainly was not, and gave no prospect of being. + +In August, Augustus John Hervey got leave from his ship and came to +Lainston. The house, which had belonged to the Dawleys, had passed into +the possession of the Merrills. In the grounds stands the parish church, +but as the only house in the parish is the mansion, it came to be +regarded very much as the private chapel of the manor house. The living +went with Sparsholt. There was no parsonage attached, and though the +Dawleys had their children baptized in Lainston, they were registered in +the book of Sparsholt. The church is now an ivy-covered ruin, and the +mansion is much reduced in size from what it was in the time when it +belonged to the Merrills. + +"Lainston is a small parish, the value of the living being £15 a year; +Mr. Merrill's the only house in it, and the parish church at the end of +his garden. On the 4th August, 1744, Mr. Amis, the then rector, was +appointed to be at the church, alone, late at night. At eleven o'clock +Mr. Hervey and Miss Chudleigh went out, as if to walk in the garden, +followed by Mrs. Hanmer, her servant--Anne Craddock, Mr. Merrill, and +Mr. Mountenay, which last carried a taper to read the service by. They +found Mr. Amis in the church, according to his appointment, and there +the service was celebrated, Mr. Mountenay holding the taper in his hat. +The ceremony being performed, Mrs. Hanmer's maid was despatched to see +that the coast was clear, and they returned into the house without being +observed by any of the servants." This is the account of the wedding +given at the trial by the Attorney General, from the evidence of Anne +Craddock, then the sole surviving witness. + +There was no signing of registers, Mr. Amis was left to make the proper +entry in the Sparsholt book--and he forgot to do this. The happiness of +the newly-married couple lasted but a few days--two, or at the outside, +three; and then Lieutenant Hervey left to rejoin his vessel, and in +November sailed for the West Indies. The "Authentic Detail" declares +that a violent quarrel broke out immediately on marriage between the +young people, and that Elizabeth declared her aversion, and vowed never +to associate with him again. + +So little was the marriage to her present advantage that Elizabeth was +unable to proclaim it, and thereby forfeit her situation as maid of +honour to the Princess, with its pay and perquisites. Consequently, by +her aunt's advice, she kept it concealed. + +"Miss Chudleigh, now Mrs. Hervey,--a maid in appearance, a wife in +disguise,--seemed from those who judge from externals only, to be in an +enviable situation. Of the higher circles she was the attractive centre, +of gayer life the invigorating spirit. Her royal mistress not only +smiled on, but actually approved her. A few friendships she cemented, +and conquests she made in such abundance that, like Cæsar in a triumph, +she had a train of captives at her heels. Her husband, quieted for a +time, grew obstreperous as she became more the object of admiration. He +felt his right, and was determined to assert it. She endeavoured by +letter to negotiate him into peace, but her efforts succeeded not. He +demanded a private interview, and, enforcing his demands by threats of +exposure in case of refusal, she complied through compulsion." + +The Duke of Hamilton returned from the grand tour, and he at once sought +Elizabeth to know why his letters had not been answered. Then the fraud +that had been practised on her was discovered, and the Duke laid his +coronet at her feet. She was unable to accept the offer, and unable also +to explain the reasons of her refusal. Rage at having been duped, +disappointment at having lost the strawberry leaves, embittered +Elizabeth, and stifled the germs of good principle in her. + +This is the generally received story. It is that given by the author, or +authoress, of the "Authentic Detail," usually well informed. But, as we +have seen, it is hardly possible to suppose that Mrs. Hanmer can have +suppressed the Duke's letters. No doubt she was a fool, and a woman, +when a fool, is of abnormal folly, yet she never loses sight of her own +interest; and it was not Mrs. Hanmer's interest to spoil the chances of +her niece with the Duke. + +After the Duke of Hamilton had been refused, and his visits to her +house in Conduit Street prohibited, the Duke of Ancaster, Lord Howe, and +other nobles made offers, and experienced a fate similar to that of his +Grace of Hamilton. This astonished the fashionable world, and Mrs. +Chudleigh, her mother, who was a stranger to the private marriage of her +daughter, reprehended her folly with warmth.[5] To be freed from her +embarrassments, Elizabeth resolved to travel. She embarked for the +Continent, and visited Dresden, where she became an attached friend of +the Electress of Saxony. + +On her return to England she was subjected to annoyance from her +husband. She could not forgive him the deception practised on her, +though he was probably innocent of connivance in it. + +"Captain Hervey, like a perturbed spirit, was eternally crossing the +path trodden by his wife. Was she in the rooms at Bath? he was sure to +be there. At a rout, ridotto, or ball, there was this fell destroyer of +peace, embittering every pleasure and blighting the fruit of happiness +by the pestilential malignity of his presence. As a proof of his +disposition to annoy, he menaced his wife with an intimation that he +would disclose the marriage to the Princess of Wales. In this Miss +Chudleigh anticipated him by being the first relater of the +circumstance. Her royal mistress heard and pitied her. She continued her +patronage to the hour of her death." + +In 1749, Elizabeth attended a masquerade ball in the dress, or rather +undress, of the character of Iphigenia. In a letter of Mrs. Montague to +her sister, she says, "Miss Chudleigh's dress, or rather undress, was +remarkable, she was Iphigenia for the sacrifice, but so naked, the high +priest might easily inspect the entrails of the victim. The Maids of +Honour (not of maids the strictest) were so offended they would not +speak to her." Horace Walpole says, "Miss Chudleigh was Iphigenia, but +so naked that you would have taken her for Andromeda." It was of her +that the witty remark was then first made that she resembled Eve in that +she was "naked and not ashamed." On May 17th Walpole writes: "I told you +we were to have another masquerade; there was one by the King's command +for Miss Chudleigh, the Maid of Honour, with whom our gracious monarch +has a mind to believe himself in love, so much in love, that at one of +the booths he gave her a fairing for her watch, which cost him +five-and-thirty guineas, actually disbursed out of his privy purse, and +not charged on the civil list. I hope some future Holinshed or Speed +will acquaint posterity that five-and-thirty guineas were an immense sum +in those days." + +In December 1750, George II. gave the situation of Housekeeper at +Windsor to Mrs. Chudleigh, Elizabeth's mother. Walpole says, "Two days +ago, the gallant Orondates (the King) strode up to Miss Chudleigh, and +told her he was glad to have the opportunity of obeying her commands, +that he appointed her mother Housekeeper at Windsor, and hoped she would +not think a kiss too great a reward--against all precedent he kissed her +in the circle. He has had a hankering these two years. Her life, which +is now of thirty years' standing, has been a little historic. Why should +not experience and a charming face on her side, and near seventy years +on his, produce a title?" + +In 1760 she gave a soirée on the Prince's birthday, which Horace Walpole +describes: "Poor thing," he writes, "I fear she has thrown away above a +quarter's salary!" + +The Duke of Kingston saw and was captivated by Elizabeth. Evelyn +Pierrepoint, Duke of Kingston, Marquis of Dorchester, Earl of Kingston, +and Viscount Newark, was born in 1711. Horace Walpole says of him that +he was "a very weak man, of the greatest beauty and finest person in +England." + +He had been to Paris along with Lord Scarborough, taking with him an +entire horse as a present to the Duke of Bourbon, and was unable to do +this without a special Act of Parliament to authorise him. The Duke of +Bourbon, in return for the compliment, placed his palace at Paris, and +his château of Chantilly at the disposal of the visitor. + +The Duke was handsome, young, wealthy and unmarried. A strong set was +made at him by the young ladies of the French court; but of all the +women he there met, none attracted his attentions and engaged his heart +but the Marquise de la Touche, a lady who had been married for ten years +and was the mother of three children. He finally persuaded her to elope +with him to England, where, however, he grew cold towards her, and when +he fell under the fascinations of Elizabeth Chudleigh he dismissed her. +The Marquise returned to France, and was reconciled to her husband; +there in 1786 she published her version of the story, and gave a history +of her rival, whom naturally she paints in the blackest colours. + +Now follows an incident which is stated in the English accounts of the +life of Elizabeth Chudleigh; but of which there is no mention in the +trial, and which is of more than doubtful truth. + +She had become desperate, resolved at all hazard to break the miserable +tie that bound her to Captain Hervey. She made a sudden descent on +Lainston--so runs the tale--visited the parsonage, and whilst Mr. Amis +was kept in conversation with one of her attendants, she tore out the +leaf of the register book that contained the entry of her marriage. + +This story cannot possibly be true. As already said, Lainston has no +parsonage, and never had. Lainston goes with Sparsholt, half-a-mile off. +But Mr. Amis never held Sparsholt, but acted as curate there for a while +in 1756 and 1757. Lainston had no original register. What Elizabeth did +was probably to convince herself that through inadvertence, her marriage +had not been registered in the parish book of Sparsholt. + +In 1751 died John, Earl of Bristol, and was succeeded by his grandson, +George William, who was unmarried. He was in delicate health; at one +time seriously ill, and it was thought he would die. In that case +Augustus John, Elizabeth's husband, would succeed to the Earldom of +Bristol. She saw now that it was to her interest to establish her +marriage. She accordingly took means to do so. + +She went at once to Winchester and sent for the wife of Mr. Amis, who +had married her. She told Mrs. Amis that she wanted the register of her +marriage to be made out. Mr. Amis then lay on his death-bed, but, +nevertheless, she went to the rectory to obtain of him what she desired. +What ensued shall be told in the words of Mrs. Amis at the trial. + +"I went up to Mr. Amis and told him her request. Then Mr. Merrill and +the lady consulted together whom to send for, and they desired me to +send for Mr. Spearing, the attorney. I did send for him, and during the +time the messenger was gone the lady concealed herself in a closet; she +said she did not care that Mr. Spearing should know that she was there. +When Mr. Spearing came, Mr. Merrill produced a sheet of stamped paper +that he brought to make the register upon. Mr. Spearing said it would +not do; it must be a book, and that the lady must be at the making of +it. Then I went to the closet and told the lady. Then the lady came to +Mr. Spearing, and Mr. Spearing told the lady a sheet of stamped paper +would not do, it must be a book. Then the lady desired Mr. Spearing to +go and buy one. Mr. Spearing went and bought one, and when brought, the +register was made. Then Mr. Amis delivered it to the lady; the lady +thanked him, and said it might be an hundred thousand pounds in her way. +Before Mr. Merrill and the lady left my house the lady sealed up the +register and gave it to me, and desired I would take care of it until +Mr. Amis's death, and then deliver it to Mr. Merrill." + +The entries made thus were those: + + + "2 August, Mrs. Susanna Merrill, relict of John Merrill, Esq. + buried. + + 4 August, 1744, married the Honourable Augustus Hervey, Esq., in + the parish Church of Lainston, to Miss Elizabeth Chudleigh, + daughter of Col. Thomas Chudleigh, late of Chelsea College, by me, + Thos. Amis." + + +Unfortunately this register book was taken up to Westminster at the +trial of the Duchess and was never returned. Application was made to +Elbrow Woodcock, solicitor in the trial, for the return of the book, by +the then rector and patron of the living, but in vain; and in December, +1777, a new register book was purchased for the parish. + +The Earl recovered, and did not die till some years later, in 1775, when +Augustus John did succeed to the earldom. + +In 1751, the Prince of Wales died, and this necessitated a rearrangement +of the household of the Princess. Elizabeth was reappointed maid of +honour to her, still in her maiden name. Soon after--that is, in +1752--the Duke of Hamilton married the beautiful Miss Gunning. + +In 1760 the king was dead. "Charles Townshend, receiving an account of +the impression the king's death had made," writes Walpole, "was told +Miss Chudleigh cried. 'What,' said he, 'oysters?'" "There is no keeping +off age," he writes in 1767, "as Miss Chudleigh does, by sticking roses +and sweet peas in one's hair." + +Before this, in 1765, the Duke of Kingston's affection for her seeming +to wane, Elizabeth, who was getting fat as well as old, started for +Carlsbad to drink the waters. "She has no more wanted the Carlsbad +waters than you did," wrote Lord Chesterfield. "Is it to show the Duke +of Kingston he can not live without her? A dangerous experiment, which +may possibly convince him that he can. There is a trick, no doubt, in +it, but what, I neither know nor care." "Is the fair, or, at least, the +fat Miss Chudleigh with you still? It must be confessed she knows the +arts of courts to be so received at Dresden and so connived at in +Leicester Fields." + +At last the bonds of a marriage in which he was never allowed even to +speak with his wife became intolerable to Captain Hervey; and some +negotiations were entered into between them, whereby it was agreed that +she should institute a suit in the Consistory Court of the Bishop of +London for the jactitation of the marriage, and that he should not +produce evidence to establish it. The case came on in the Michaelmas +term, 1768, and was in form, proceedings to restrain the Hon. Augustus +John Hervey from asserting that Elizabeth Chudleigh was his wife, "to +the great danger of his soul's health, no small prejudice to the said +Hon. Elizabeth Chudleigh, and pernicious example of others." + +There was a counter-suit of Captain Hervey against her, in which he +asserted that in 1743 or 1744, being then a minor of the age of +seventeen or eighteen, he had contracted himself in marriage to +Elizabeth Chudleigh, and she to him; and that they had been married in +the house of Mr. Merrill, on August 9, 1744, at eleven o'clock at night, +by the Rev. Thomas Amis, since deceased, and in the presence of Mrs. +Hanmer and Mr. Mountenay, both also deceased. + +As will be seen, the counter-libel was incorrectly drawn. The marriage +had not taken place in the house, but in the church; Mr. Hervey was aged +twenty, not seventeen or eighteen; and Anne Craddock, the sole surviving +witness of the ceremony, was not mentioned. The register of the marriage +was not produced,[6] and no serious attempt was made to establish it. +Accordingly, on February 10, 1769, sentence was given, declaring the +marriage form gone through in 1744 to have been null and void, and to +restrain Mr. Hervey from asserting his claim to be husband to Miss +Elizabeth Chudleigh, and condemning him in costs to the sum of one +hundred pounds. + +As the Attorney-General said at her subsequent trial, "a grosser +artifice, I believe, than this suit was never fabricated." + +On March 8, 1769, the Duke of Kingston married Elizabeth Chudleigh by +special licence from the Archbishop, the minister who performed it being +the Rev. Samuel Harper, of the British Museum, and the Church, St. +Margaret's, Westminster. The Prince and Princess of Wales wore favours +on the occasion. + +No attempt was made during the lifetime of the Duke to dispute the +legality of the marriage. Neither he nor Elizabeth had the least doubt +that the former marriage had been legally dissolved. It was, no doubt, +the case that Captain Hervey made no real attempt to prove his +marriage, he was as impatient of the bond as was she. It can hardly be +doubted that the sentence of the Ecclesiastical Court was just. Captain +Hervey was a minor at the time, and the poor girl had been deluded into +marrying him by her wretched aunt. Advantage had been taken of her--a +mere girl--by the woman who was her natural guardian in the absence of +her mother. Such a marriage would at once be annulled in the Court of +the Church of Rome; it would be annulled in a modern English divorce +court. + +The fortune of the Duke was not entailed; his Grace had, therefore, the +option to bequeath it as seemed best to his inclination. His nearest of +kin were his nephews, Evelyn and Charles Meadows, sons of Lady Francis +Pierrepont; Charles was in 1806 created Earl Manners; he had previously +changed his name to Pierrepont, and been created Baron Pierrepont and +Viscount Newark in 1796. + +The Duke was and remained warmly attached to the Duchess. She made him +happy. She had plenty of conversation, had her mind stored with gossip, +and though old, oldened gracefully and pleasantly. Her bitter enemy--an +old servant and confidant, who furnished the materials for the +"Authentic Detail," says, "Contrarily gifted and disposed, they were +frequently on discordant terms, but she had a strong hold on his mind." + +On September 23, 1773, the Duke died. The Duchess had anticipated his +death. He had already made his will, bequeathing to her the entire +income of his estates during her life, subject to the proviso that she +remained in a state of widowhood. This did not at all please the +Duchess, and directly she saw that her husband was dying she sent for a +solicitor, a Mr. Field, to draw up a new will, omitting the obnoxious +proviso; she was only by two years on the right side of fifty, and might +marry again. When Mr. Field was introduced to the Duke, he saw that the +dying man was not in a mental condition capable of executing a will, and +he refused to have anything to do with an attempt to extort his +signature from him. The Duchess was very angry; but the refusal of Mr. +Field was most fortunate for her, as, had the will proposed been +executed, it would most indubitably have been set aside. + +As soon as the Duke was dead the dowager Duchess determined to enjoy +life. She had a pleasure yacht built, placed in command of it an officer +who had served in the navy, fitted it up with every luxury, sailed for +Italy, and visited Rome, where the Pope and the cardinals received her +with great courtesy. Indeed, she was given up one of the palaces of the +cardinals for her residence. Whilst she was amusing herself in Italy +something happened in England that was destined to materially spoil her +happiness. Anne Craddock was still alive, the sole witness of her +marriage that survived. She was in bad circumstances, and applied to Mr. +Field for pecuniary relief. He refused it, but the Duchess sent to offer +her twenty guineas per annum. This Anne Craddock refused, and gave +intimation to Mr. Evelyn Meadows that she had information of importance +which she could divulge. + +When Mr. Meadows heard what Anne Craddock had to say, he set the +machinery of the law in motion to obtain the prosecution of the Duchess, +in the hopes of convicting her of bigamy, and then of upsetting the will +of the late Duke in her favour. A bill of indictment for bigamy was +preferred against her; the bill was found, Mr. Field had notice of the +procedure, and the Duchess was advised to return instantly to England +and appear to the indictment, to prevent an outlawry. + +At this time--that is, in 1775--the Earl of Bristol died without issue, +and Augustus John, her first husband, succeeded to the title. + +The anxieties of the Duchess were not confined to the probable issue of +the trial. Samuel Foote, the comedian, took a despicable advantage of +her situation to attempt to extort money from her. He wrote a farce, +entitled "A Trip to Calais," in which he introduced her Grace under the +sobriquet of Lady Kitty Crocodile, and stuffed the piece with +particulars relative to the private history of the Duchess, which he had +obtained from Miss Penrose, a young lady who had been about her person +for many years. When the piece was finished, he contrived to have it +communicated to her Grace that the Haymarket Theatre would open with the +entertainment in which she was held up to ridicule and scorn. She was +alarmed, and sent for Foote. He attended with the piece in his pocket. +She desired him to read a part of it. He obeyed; and had not read far +before she could no longer control herself, but, starting up in a rage, +exclaimed, "This is scandalous, Mr. Foote! Why, what a wretch you have +made me!" After a few turns round the room, she composed herself to +inquire on what terms he would suppress the play. Foote had the +effrontery to demand two thousand pounds. She offered him fourteen, then +sixteen hundred pounds; but he, grasping at too much, lost all. She +consulted the Duke of Newcastle, and the Lord Chamberlain was apprised +of the circumstances, and his interference solicited. He sent for the +manuscript copy of the "Trip to Calais," perused, and censured it. In +the event of its publication she threatened to prosecute Foote for +libel. Public opinion ranged itself on the side of the Duchess, and Dr. +Schomberg only expressed its opinion when he said that "Foote deserved +to be run through the body for such an attempt. It was more ignoble than +the conduct of a highwayman." + +On April 17, 1776, the trial of the Duchess came on in Westminster Hall, +and lasted five days. The principal object argued was the admission, or +not, of a sentence of the Spiritual Court, in a suit for jactitation of +marriage, in an indictment for polygamy. As the judges decided against +the admission of such a sentence in bar to evidence, the fact of the two +marriages was most clearly proved, and a conviction of course followed. +The Duchess was tried by the Peers, a hundred and nineteen of whom sat +and passed judgment upon her, all declaring "Guilty, upon mine honour," +except the Duke of Newcastle, who pronounced "Guilty, erroneously; but +not intentionally, upon mine honour." + +No sooner did the Duchess see that her cause was lost than she +determined to escape out of England. The penalty for bigamy was death, +but she could escape this sentence by claiming the benefits of the +statute 3 and 4 William and Mary, which left her in a condition to be +burnt in the hand, or imprisoned; but she claimed the benefit of the +peerage, and the Lord Chief Baron, having conferred with the rest of the +judges, delivered their unanimous opinion that she ought "to be +immediately discharged." However, her prosecutors prepared a writ "ne +exeat regno," to obtain her arrest and the deprivation of her personal +property. To escape this she fled to Dover, where her yacht was in +waiting, and crossed to Calais, whilst amusing the public and her +prosecutors by issuing invitations to a dinner at Kingston House, and +causing her carriage to appear in the most fashionable quarters of the +town. Mr. Meadows had carried his first point; she could no longer call +herself Dowager Duchess of Kingston in England, but she was reinstated +in her position of wife to Augustus John Hervey, and was therefore now +Countess of Bristol. Mr. Meadows next proceeded to attack the will of +the late Duke, but in this attempt he utterly failed. The will was +confirmed, and Elizabeth, Countess of Bristol, was acknowledged as +lawfully possessed of life interest in the property of the Duke so long +as she remained unmarried. Mr. Meadows was completely ruined, and his +sole gain was to keep the unhappy woman an exile from England. + +Abroad the Countess was still received as Duchess of Kingston. She lived +in considerable state, and visited Italy, Russia, and France. Her visit +to St. Petersburg was splendid, and to ensure a favourable reception by +the Empress Catharine she sent her a present of some of the valuable +paintings by old masters from Kingston House. When in Russia she +purchased an estate near the capital, to which she gave the name of +Chudleigh, and which cost her 25,000_l._[7] The Empress also gave her a +property on the Neva. She had a corvette built of mahogany which was to +be a present to the Empress, but the vessel stranded on the coast of +Ingermanland. Eight of the cannons out of her are now at Chudleigh, +almost the only things there that recall the Duchess. She gave +magnificent entertainments; at one of these, to which the Empress was +invited, a hundred and forty of her own servants attended in the +Kingston livery of black turned up with red and silver. + +On her return from Russia she bought an estate at Montmartre, which cost +her 9,000_l._, and another that belonged to one of the French royal +princes at Saint Assise, which cost her 55,000_l._ The château was so +large that three hundred beds could be made up in it. + +She was getting on in years, but did not lose her energy, her vivacity, +and her selfishness. Once in Rome, the story goes, she had been invited +to visit some tombs that were famous. She replied with a touch of real +feeling: "Ce n'est pas la peine de chercher des tombeaux, on en porte +assez dans son coeur." + +The account of her death shall be given in the words of the author of +"Authentic Detail." + +"She was at dinner, when her servants received intelligence of a +sentence respecting the house near Paris having been awarded against +her. She flew into a violent passion, and, in the agitation of her mind +and body, burst an internal blood-vessel. Even this she appeared to have +surmounted, until a few days afterwards, on the morning of the 26th +August (1788), when about to rise from her bed, a servant who had long +been with her endeavoured at dissuasion. The Duchess addressed her thus: +'I am not very well, but I _will_ rise. At your peril disobey me; I will +get up and walk about the room. Ring for the secretary to assist me.' +She was obeyed, dressed, and the secretary entered the chamber. The +Duchess then walked about, complained of thirst, and said, 'I could +drink a glass of my fine Madeira and eat a slice of toasted bread; I +shall be quite well afterwards; but let it be a large glass of wine.' +The attendant reluctantly brought and the Duchess drank the wine. She +then said, 'I knew the Madeira would do me good. My heart feels oddly; I +will have another glass.' She then walked a little about the room, and +afterwards said, 'I will lie on the couch.' She sat on the couch, a +female having hold of each hand. In this situation she soon appeared to +have fallen into a profound sleep, until the women found her hands +colder than ordinary; other domestics were rung for, and the Duchess was +found to have expired, as the wearied labourer sinks into the arms of +rest." + +Was it a touch of final malice or of real regret that caused the old +lady, by codicil to her will dated May 10, 1787, to leave pearl earrings +and necklace to the Marquise de la Touche? Was it a token that she +forgave her the cruel book, "Les aventures trop amoureuses; ou, +Elizabeth Chudleigh," which she wrote, or caused to be written, for the +blackening of her rival, and the whitewashing of herself? Let us hope it +was so. The proviso in the Duke's will saved her from herself; but for +that she would have married an adventurer who called himself the +Chevalier de Wortha, a man who obtained great influence over her, and +finally died by his own hand. + +Elizabeth Chudleigh's character and career have never been sketched by +friends; her enemies, those jealous of her fascinations, angry at her +success, discontented with not having been sufficiently considered in +her will, have given us their impressions of her, have poured out all +the evil they knew and imagined of her. She has been hardly used. The +only perfectly reliable authority for her history is the report of her +trial, and that covers only one portion of her story. The "Authentic +Detail" published by G. Kearsley, London, in 1788, is anonymous. It is +fairly reliable, but tinctured by animosity. The book "Les Aventures +trop Amoureuses, ou, Elizabeth Chudleigh, ex-duchesse douairière de +Kingston, aujourd'hui Comtesse de Bristol, et la Marquise de la Touche. +Londres, aux depens des Interessez, 1776," was composed for the +justification of Madame de la Touche, and with all the venom of a +discomfited and supplanted rival. + +An utterly worthless book, "Histoire de la vie et des Aventures de la +Duchesse de Kingston, a Londres, et se trouve à Paris, Chez Quillot, +1789," is fiction. It pretends to be based on family papers. At the +commencement it gives a portion of the diary of Col. Thomas Chudleigh, +in which, among other impossibilities, he records his having reduced the +rents of his tenants on his estates twenty per cent. because the year +was bad. As it happened, Col. Thomas Chudleigh neither possessed an acre +of land, nor a tenant. + +In 1813 appeared "La Duchesse de Kingston, memoires rédigés par M. de +Favolle," in two volumes; this is based solely on the preceding with +rich additions from the imagination of the author. Not a statement in it +can be trusted. + +Some little reliable information may be found in the "Memoires de la +Baronne d'Oberkirch," Paris 1853. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] In Col. Vivian's "Visitations of the County of Devon," the pedigree +is not so complete. He was unaware who the wife of Thos. Chudleigh was, +and he had not seen the will of the duchess. + +[5] Mrs. Chudleigh died in 1756, and her will mentions her daughter by +her maiden name. + +[6] Mr. John Merrill died February 1767, and his burial was entered in +it. Mr. Bathurst, who had married his daughter, found the register book +in the hall, and handed it over to the rector, Mr. Kinchin. Nevertheless +it was not produced at the hearing of the case for jactitation in the +Consistory Court. + +[7] This place still bears the name. It is on the main road through +Livland and Esthonia to St. Petersburg; about twenty miles from Narwa. +It also goes by the name of Fockenhof. The present mansion is more +modern, and belongs to the family of Von Wilcken. + + + + +General Mallet. + + +On the return of Napoleon to Paris from Moscow, he was depressed with +news that troubled him more than the loss of his legions. The news that +had reached him related to perhaps the most extraordinary conspiracy +that was ever devised, and which was within an ace of complete success. +It was the news of this conspiracy that induced him to desert the army +in the snows of Russia and hasten to Paris. The thoughts of this +conspiracy frustrated by an accident, as Alison says, "incessantly +occupied his mind during his long and solitary journey." + +"Gentlemen," said Napoleon, when the report of the conspiracy was read +over to him, "we must no longer disbelieve in miracles." + +Claude François Mallet belonged to a noble family in the Franche Comté. +He was born on June 28th, 1754, at Dole, and passed his early life in +the army, where he commanded one of the first battalions of the Jura at +the commencement of the Revolution. In May 1793, he was elevated to the +rank of adjutant-General, and in August 1799, made General of Brigade, +and commanded a division under Championnet. He was a man of +enthusiastically Republican views, and viewed the progress of Napoleon +with dissatisfaction mingled with envy. There can be no question as to +what his opinions were at first; whether he changed them afterwards is +not so certain. He was a reserved, hard, and bitter man, ambitious and +restless. Envy of Napoleon, jealousy of his success seems to have been +the ruling motive in his heart that made of him a conspirator, and not +genuine disgust at Cæsarism. + +Bonaparte knew his political opinions; and though he did not fear the +man, he did not trust him. He became implicated in some illegal +exactions at Civita Vecchia, in the Roman States, and was in consequence +deprived of his command, and sent before a commission of enquiry at +Paris, in July 1807; and, in virtue of their sentence, he was confined +for a short while, and then again set at liberty and reinstated. In +1808, when the war in the Peninsula broke out, Mallet entered at Dijon +into a plot, along with some old anarchists, for the overthrow of the +Emperor, among them the ex-General Guillaume, who betrayed the plot, and +Mallet was arrested and imprisoned in La Force. Napoleon did not care +that conspiracies against himself and his throne should be made public, +and consequently he contented himself with the detention of Mallet +alone. + +In prison, the General did not abandon his schemes, and he had the lack +of prudence to commit them to paper. This fell into the hands of the +Government. The minister regarded the scheme as chimerical and +unimportant. The papers were shown to Napoleon, who apparently regarded +the scheme or the man as really dangerous, and ordered him to perpetual +detention in prison. + +Time passed, and Mallet and his schemes were forgotten. Who could +suppose that a solitary prisoner, without means, without the opportunity +of making confederates, could menace the safety of the Empire? + +Then came the Russian campaign, in 1812. Mallet saw what Napoleon did +not; the inevitable failure that must attend it; and he immediately +renewed his attempts to form a plot against the Emperor. + +But the prison of La Force was bad headquarters from which to work. He +pretended to be ill, and he was removed to a hospital, that of the +Doctor Belhomme near the Barrière du Trône. In this house were the two +brothers Polignac, a M. de Puyvert, and the Abbé Lafon, who in 1814 +wrote and published an account of this conspiracy of Mallet. These men +were Royalists, and Mallet was a Republican. It did not matter so long +as Napoleon could be overthrown, how divergent their views might be as +to what form of Government was to take the place of the Empire. + +They came to discussion, and the Royalists supposed that they had +succeeded in convincing Mallet. He, on his side, was content to +dissemble his real views, and to make use of these men as his agents. + +The Polignac brothers were uneasy, they were afraid of the consequences, +and they mistrusted the man who tried to draw them into his plot. +Perhaps, also, they considered his scheme too daring to succeed. +Accordingly they withdrew from the hospital, to be out of his reach. It +was not so with the others. The Polignacs had been mixed up in the +enterprise of Georges, and had no wish to be again involved. Whether +there were many others in the plot we do not know, Lafon names only +four, and it does not seem that M. de Puyvert took a very active part in +it. + +Mallet's new scheme was identical with the old one that had been taken +from him and shown to Napoleon. Napoleon had recognized its daring and +ability, and had not despised it. That no further fear of Mallet was +entertained is clear, or he would never have been transferred from the +prison to a private hospital, where he would be under very little +supervision. + +In his hospital, Mallet drew up the following report of a Session of the +Senate, imagined by himself: + + + "SÉNAT CONSERVATEUR + + "Session of 22 October, 1812. + + "The Session was opened at 8 P.M., under the presidency of Senator + Sieyes. + + "The occasion of this extraordinary Session was the receipt of the + news of the death of the Emperor Napoleon, under the walls of + Moscow, on the 8th of the month. + + "The Senate, after mature consideration of the condition of affairs + caused by this event, named a Commission to consider the danger of + the situation, and to arrange for the maintenance of Government and + order. After having received the report of this Commission, the + following orders were passed by the Senate. + + "That as the Imperial Government has failed to satisfy the + aspirations of the French people, and secure peace, it be decreed + annulled forthwith. + + "That all such officers military and civil as shall use their + authority prejudicially to the re-establishment of the Republic, + shall be declared outlawed. + + "That a Provisional Government be established, to consist of 13 + members:--Moreau, President; Carnot, Vice-President; General + Augereau, Bigonet, Destutt-Tracy, Florent Guyot, Frochot; Mathieu + Montmorency, General Mallet, Noailles, Truguet; Volney, Garat. + + "That this Provisional Government be required to watch over the + internal and external safety of the State, and to enter into + negociations with the military powers for the re-establishment of + peace. + + "That a constitution shall be drawn up and submitted to the General + Assembly of the French realm. + + "That the National Guard be reconstituted as formerly. + + "That a general Amnesty be proclaimed for all political offences; + that all emigrants, exiles, be permitted to return. + + "That the freedom of the Press be restored. + + "That the command of the army of the Centre, and which consists of + 50,000 men, and is stationed near Paris, be given to General + Lecombe. + + "That General Mallet replaces General Hulin as commandant of Paris, + and in the first division. He will have the right to nominate the + officers in the general staff that will surround him." + + +There were many other orders, 19 in all, but these will suffice to +indicate the tendency of the document. It was signed by the President +and his Secretaries. + + + President, SIEYES. + + Secretaries, LANJUINAIS, et GREGOIRE. + + "Approved, and compared with a similar paper in my own hands, + + Signed, MALLET, + General of Division, Commandant of the main army of + Paris, and of the forces of the First Division." + + +This document, which was designed to be shown to the troops, to the +officers and officials, was drawn up in a form so close to the genuine +form, and the signatures and seals were so accurately imitated, that the +document was not likely at the first glance to excite mistrust. + +Moreover, Mallet had drawn up an order for the day, and a proclamation, +which was printed in many thousand copies. + +On the 22nd October, 1812, at 10 o'clock at night, after he had been +playing cards with great composure in the hospital, Mallet made his +escape, along with four others, one was the Abbé Lafon, another a +corporal named Rateau, whom he had named as his aide-de-camp. Mallet had +just twelve francs in his pocket, and so furnished he embarked on his +undertaking to upset the throne of the Emperor. He at once went to a +Spanish monk, whose acquaintance he had made in prison; and in his rooms +found his general's uniform which had been brought there by a woman the +evening before. Uniforms and swords for his confederates were also +ready. But it rained that night--it rained in torrents, and the streets +of Paris ran with water. It has been remarked that rain in Paris has a +very sobering effect on political agitations, and acts even better than +bayonets in preventing a disturbance of the public peace. + +Mallet and his confederates could not leave their shelter till after +midnight, and some of them did not appear at the place of rendezvous +till 6 o'clock in the morning. Indisputably this had much to do with the +defeat of the plot. + +The success of the undertaking depended on darkness, on the sudden +bewilderment of minds, and the paralysis of the government through the +assassination of some of the ministers. About 2 A.M. Mallet appeared in +his general's uniform, attended by some of his confederates also in +uniform, at the Popincour barracks, and demanded to see the Commandant +Soulier at once, giving his name as Lamothe. Soulier was in bed asleep. +He was also unwell. He was roused from his slumbers, hastily dressed +himself, and received a sealed letter, which he broke open, and read: + + + "To the General of Division, Commandant-in-Chief of the troops + under arms in Paris, and the troops of the First Division, Soulier, + Commandant of the 10th Cohort." + + "General Headquarters, + "Place Vendôme. + "23_rd_ Oct., 1812, 10 o'clock a.m. + + "M. LE COMMANDANT,--I have given orders to the General Lamothe with + a police commissioner to attend at your barracks, and to read + before you and your Cohort the decree of the senate consequent on + the receipt of the news of the death of the Emperor, and the + cessation of the Imperial Government. The said general will + communicate to you the Order for the Day, which you will be pleased + to further to the General of Brigade. You are required to get the + troops under arms with all possible despatch and quietness. By + daybreak, the officers who are in barracks will be sent to the + Place de Grève, there to await their companies, which will there + assemble, after the instructions which General Lamothe will furnish + have been carried out." + + +Then ensued a series of dispositions for the troops, and the whole was +signed by Mallet. + +When Soulier had read this letter, Mallet, who pretended to be General +Lamothe, handed him the document already given, relating to the assembly +of the Senate, and its decisions. Then he gave him the Order for the +Day, for the 23rd and 24th October. + +Colonel Soulier, raised from sleep, out of health, bewildered, did not +for a moment mistrust the messenger, or the documents handed to him. He +hastened at once to put in execution the orders he had received. + +The same proceedings were gone through in the barracks of Les Minimes, +and of Picpus; the decree of the Senate, the Order of the Day, and a +Proclamation, were read by torchlight. + +Everywhere the same success. The officers had not the smallest doubt as +to the authenticity of the papers presented to them. Everywhere also the +Proclamation announcing the death of the Emperor, the cessation of the +Empire, and the establishment of the Provisional Government was being +placarded about. + +At 6 A.M., at the head of a troop, Mallet, still acting as General +Lamothe, marched before the prison of La Force, and the Governor was +ordered to open the gates. The Decree of the Senate and the Order of the +Day were read to him, and he was required at once to discharge three +state prisoners he held, General Guidal, Lahorie, and a Corsican, +Bocchejampe, together with certain officers there confined. He did as +required, and Mallet separated his troops into four detachments, keeping +one under his own command, and placing the others under the orders of +Guidal, Lahorie and Bocchejampe. + +Guidal and Lahorie, by his orders, now marched to the Ministry of +Police, where they arrested Savary, Duke of Rovigo, Minister of Police. +At the same time Boutreux, another confederate, had gone to the +prefecture of the Paris police, had arrested the prefect, Pasquier, and +sent him to be confined in La Force. + +Mallet, now at the head of 150 men, went to the État-Major de-la-place, +to go through the same farce with the Commandant-de-place, and get him +to subscribe the Order for the Day. Count Hullin refused. Mallet +presented a pistol at his head, fired, and Hullin fell covered with +blood to the ground. Mallet left him for dead, but fortunately only his +jaw was broken. By means of a forged order addressed to the commandant +of one of the regiments of the paid guard of Paris, he occupied the +National Bank, in which, at the time, there was a considerable treasure +in specie. + +The État-Major of Paris was a post of the highest importance, as it was +the headquarters of the whole military authority in Paris. Before Mallet +approached it, he sent a packet to the Adjutant-General Doucet, of a +similar tenor to that given to Soulier and the other colonels, and +containing his nomination as general of brigade, and a treasury order +for a hundred thousand francs. + +Soulier, Colonel of the 10th Cohort, obeying the orders he had received, +the authenticity of which he did not for a moment dispute, had in the +meantime made himself master of the Hôtel-de-Ville, and had stationed a +strong force in the square before the building. Frochot, Prefect of the +Seine, was riding into Paris from his country house at half-past eight +in the morning, when he was met by his servants, in great excitement, +with a note from Mallet, on the outside of which were written the +ominous words "Fuit Imperator." Now it so happened that no tidings of +the Emperor had been received for twenty-five days, and much uneasiness +was felt concerning him. When Frochot therefore received this notice, he +believed it, and hurried to the Hôtel-de-Ville. There he received a +despatch from Mallet, under the title of Governor of Paris, ordering him +to make ready the principal apartment in the building for the use of +the Provisional Government. Not for a moment did Frochot remember +that--even if the Emperor were dead, there was the young Napoleon, to +whom his allegiance was due; he at once obeyed the orders he had +received, and began to make the Hôtel ready for the meeting of the +Provisional Government. Afterwards when he was reminded that there was a +son to Napoleon, and that his duty was to support him, Frochot answered, +"Ah! I forgot that. I was distracted with the news." + +By means of the forged orders despatched everywhere, all the barriers of +Paris had been seized and were closed, and positive orders were issued +that no one was to be allowed to enter or leave Paris. + +Mallet now drew up before the État-Major-Général, still accompanied and +obeyed by the officer and detachment. Nothing was wanting now but the +command of the adjutant-general's office to give to Mallet the entire +direction of the military force of Paris, with command of the telegraph, +and with it of all France. With that, and with the treasury already +seized, he would be master of the situation. In another ten minutes +Paris would be in his hand, and with Paris the whole of France. + +An accident--an accident only--at that moment saved the throne of +Napoleon. Doucet was a little suspicious about the orders--or allowed it +afterwards to be supposed that he was. He read them, and stood in +perplexity. He would have put what doubts presented themselves aside, +had it not been for his aide-de-camp, Laborde. It happened that Laborde +had had charge of Mallet in La Force, and had seen him there quite +recently. He came down to enter the room where was Doucet, standing in +doubt before Mallet. Mallet's guard was before the door, and would have +prevented him from entering; however, he peremptorily called to them to +suffer him to pass, and the men, accustomed to obey his voice, allowed +him to enter. The moment he saw Mallet in his general's uniform, he +recognised him and said, "But--how the devil!-- That is my prisoner. How +came he to escape?" Doucet still hesitated, and attempted to explain, +when Laborde cut his superior officer short with, "There is something +wrong here. Arrest the fellow, and I will go at once to the minister of +police." + +Mallet put his hand in his pocket to draw out the pistol with which he +had shot Hullin, when the gesture was observed in a mirror opposite, and +before he had time to draw and cock the pistol, Doucet and Laborde were +on him, and had disarmed him. + +Laborde, with great promptitude, threw open the door, and announced to +the soldiers the deceit that had been practised on them, and assured +them that the tidings of the death of the Emperor were false. + +The arrest of Mallet disconcerted the whole conspiracy. Had Generals +Lahorie and Guidal been men of decision and resolution they might still +have saved it, but this they were not; though at the head of +considerable bodies of men, the moment they saw that their chief had met +with a hitch in carrying out his plan, they concluded that all was lost, +and made the best of their way from their posts to places of +concealment. + +It was not till 8 o'clock that Saulnier, General Secretary of Police, +heard of the arrest and imprisonment of his chief, Savary, Duke of +Rovigo. He at once hastened to Cambaçérès, the President of the Ministry +in the absence of the Emperor, and astonished and alarmed him with the +tidings. Then Saulnier hastened to Hullin, whom he found weltering in +his blood, and unable to speak. + +Baron Pasquier, released from La Force, attempted to return to his +prefecture. The soldiers posted before it refused to admit him, and +threatened to shoot him, believing that he had escaped from prison, and +he was obliged to take refuge in an adjoining house. Laborde, who about +noon came there, was arrested by the soldiers, and conducted by them as +a prisoner to the État-Major-Gênéral, to deliver him over to General +Mallet; and it was with difficulty that they could be persuaded that +they had been deceived, and that Mallet was himself, at that moment, in +irons. + +Savary, released from La Force, had Mallet and the rest of the +conspirators brought before him. Soulier also, for having given too +ready a credence to the forged orders, was also placed under arrest, to +be tried along with the organisers and carriers out of the plot. + +Mallet confessed with great composure that he had planned the whole, but +he peremptorily refused to say whether he had aiders or sympathisers +elsewhere. + +Lahorie could not deny that he had taken an active part, but declared +that it was against his will, his whole intention being to make a run +for the United States, there to spend the rest of his days in +tranquillity. He asserted that he had really believed that the Emperor +was dead. + +Guidal tried to pass the whole off as a joke; but when he saw that he +was being tried for his life, he became greatly and abjectly alarmed. + +Next day the generals and those in the army who were under charge were +brought before a military commission. Saulnier had an interesting +interview with Mallet that day. He passed through the hall where Mallet +was dining, when the prisoner complained that he was not allowed the use +of a knife. Saulnier at once ordered that he might be permitted one; and +this consideration seems to have touched Mallet, for he spoke with more +frankness to Saulnier than he did before his judges. When the General +Secretary of Police asked him how he could dream of success attending +such a mad enterprise, Mallet replied, "I had already three regiments of +infantry on my side. Very shortly I would have been surrounded by the +thousands who are weary of the Napoleonic yoke, and are longing for a +change of order. Now, I was convinced that the moment the news of my +success in Paris reached him, Napoleon would leave his army and fly +home, I would have been prepared for him at Mayence, and have had him +shot there. If it had not been for the cowardice of Guidal and Lahorie, +my plot would have succeeded. I had resolved to collect 50,000 men at +Chalons sur Marne to cover Paris. The promise I would have made to send +all the conscripts to their homes, the moment the crisis was over, would +have rallied all the soldiers to my side." + +On October 23, the prisoners to the number of twenty-four were tried, +and fourteen were condemned to be shot, among these, Mallet, Guidai, +Lahorie, and the unfortunate Soulier. Mallet at the trial behaved with +great intrepidity. "Who are your accomplices?" asked the President. "The +whole of France," answered Mallet, "and if I had succeeded, you yourself +at their head. One who openly attacks a government by force, if he +fails, expects to die." When he was asked to make his defence, +"Monsieur," he said, "a man who has constituted himself defender of the +rights of his Fatherland, needs no defence." + +Soulier put in as an apology, that the news of the death of the Emperor +had produced such a sudorific effect on him, that he had been obliged to +change his shirt four times in a quarter of an hour. This was not +considered sufficient to establish his attachment to the Imperial +government. + +In the afternoon of the same day the fourteen were conveyed to the plain +of Grenelle to be shot, when pardon was accorded by the Empress Regent +to two of the condemned, the Corporal Rateau, and Colonel Rabbe. When +the procession passed through the Rue Grenelle, Mallet saw a group of +students looking on; "Young men," he called to them, "remember the 23rd +October." Arrived on the place of execution, some of the condemned cried +out, "Vive l'empereur!" only a few "Vive la République." + +Mallet requested that his eyes might not be bandaged, and maintained the +utmost coolness. He received permission, at his own desire, to give the +requisite orders to the soldiers drawn up to shoot him and his party. +"Peloton! Present!" The soldiers, moved by the tragic catastrophe, +obeyed, but not promptly. "That is bad!" called Mallet, "imagine you are +before the foe. Once again--Attention!--Present!" This time it was +better. "Not so bad this time, but still not well," said the General; +"now pay attention, and mind, when I say Fire, that all your guns are +discharged as one. It is a good lesson for you to see how brave men die. +Now then, again, Attention!" For a quarter of an hour he put the men +through their drill, till he observed that his comrades were in the most +deplorable condition. Some had fainted, some were in convulsions. Then +he gave the command: Fire! the guns rattled and the ten fell to the +ground, never to rise again. Mallet alone reeled, for a moment or two +maintaining his feet, and then he also fell over, without a sound, and +was dead. + +"But for the singular accident," says Savary, "which caused the arrest +of the Minister of War to fail, Mallet, in a few moments, would have +been master of almost everything; and in a country so much influenced by +the contagion of example, there is no saying where his success would +have stopped. He would have had possession of the treasury, then +extremely rich; the post office, the telegraph, and the command of the +hundred cohorts of the National Guard. He would soon have learned the +alarming situation in Russia; and nothing could have prevented him from +making prisoner of the Emperor himself if he returned alone, or from +marching to meet him, if he had come at the head of his shattered +forces." + +As Alison says, "When the news reached Napoleon, one only idea took +possession of his imagination--that in this crisis the succession of his +son was, by common consent, set aside; one only truth was ever present +to his mind--that the Imperial Crown rested on himself alone. The fatal +truth was brought home to him that the Revolution had destroyed the +foundations of hereditary succession; and that the greatest achievements +by him who wore the diadem afforded no security that it would descend to +his progeny. These reflections, which seem to have burst on Napoleon all +at once, when the news of this extraordinary affair reached him in +Russia, weighed him down more than all the disasters of the Moscow +retreat." + + + + +Schweinichen's Memoirs. + + +Memoirs, says Addison, in the Tatler, are so untrustworthy, so stuffed +with lies, that, "I do hereby give notice to all booksellers and +translators whatsoever, that the word _memoir_ is French for a novel; +and to require of them, that they sell and translate it accordingly." + +There are, however, some memoirs that are trustworthy and dull, and +others, again, that are conspicuously trustworthy, and yet are as +entertaining as a novel, and to this latter category belong the memoirs +of Hans von Schweinichen, the Silesian Knight, Marshal and Chamberlain +to the Dukes of Liegnitz and Brieg at the close of the 16th century. +Scherr, a well known writer on German Culture, and a scrupulous observer +and annotator of all that is ugly and unseemly in the past, says of the +diary of Schweinichen: "It carries us into a noble family at the end of +the 16th century and reveals boorish meanness, coarseness and lack of +culture." That is, in a measure, true, but, as is invariably the case +with Scherr, he leaves out of sight all the redeeming elements, and +there are many, that this transparently sincere diarist discloses. + +The MS. was first discovered and published in 1823, by Büsching; it was +republished in 1878 at Breslau by Oesterley. The diary extends to the +year 1602, and Schweinichen begins with an account of his birth in 1552, +and his childish years. But we are wrong in saying that he begins with +his birth--characteristic of the protestant theological spirit of his +times, he begins with a confession of his faith. + +As a picture of the manners and customs of the highest classes in the +age just after the Reformation it is unrivalled for its minuteness, and +for its interest. The writer, who had not an idea that his diary would +be printed, wrote for his own amusement, and, without intending it, drew +a perfect portraiture of himself, without exaggeration of his virtues +and observation of his faults; indeed the virtues we admire in him, he +hardly recognised as virtues, and scarcely considered as serious the +faults we deplore. In reading his truthful record we are angry with him, +and yet, he makes us love and respect him, and acknowledge what sterling +goodness, integrity, fidelity and honour were in the man. + +Hans was son of George, Knight of Schweinichen and Mertschütz, and was +born in the Castle of Gröditzberg belonging to the Dukes of Silesia, of +which his father was castellan, and warden of the Ducal Estates +thereabouts. The Schweinichens were a very ancient noble Silesian +family, and Hans could prove his purity of blood through the sixteen +descents, eight paternal and eight maternal. + +In 1559, Duke Frederick III. was summoned before the Emperor Ferdinand +I. at Breslau, to answer the accusations of extravagance and oppression +brought against him by the Silesian Estates, and was deposed, +imprisoned, and his son Henry XI. given the Ducal crown instead. The +deposition of the Duke obliged the father of our hero to leave +Gröditzberg and retire to his own estates, where Hans was given the +village notary as teacher in reading and writing for a couple of years, +and was then sent, young noble though he was, to keep the geese for the +family. However, as he played tricks with the geese, put spills into +their beaks, pegging them open, the flock was then withdrawn from his +charge. This reminds us of Grettir the Strong, the Icelandic hero, who +also as a boy was sent to drive the family geese to pasture, and who +maltreated his charge. + +His father sent Hans to be page to the imprisoned Duke Frederick at +Liegnitz, where also he was to study with the Duke's younger son, +afterwards Frederick IV. Hans tells us he did not get as many whippings +as his companion, because he slipped his money-allowance into the +tutor's palm, and so his delinquencies were passed over. As page, he had +to serve the Duke at table. A certain measure of wine was allowed the +imprisoned Duke daily by his son, the reigning Duke; what he did not +drink every day, Hans was required to empty into a cask, and when the +cask was full, the Duke invited some good topers to him, and they sat +and drank the cask out, then rolled over on the floor. All night Hans +had to sit or lie on the floor and watch the drunken Duke. + +Duke Frederick took a dislike to the chaplain, and scribbled a lampoon +on him, which may be thus rendered, without injustice to the original:-- + + + "All the mischief ever done + Twixt the old Duke and his son, + Comes from that curs't snuffy one + Franconian Parson Cut-and-run." + + +The Duke ordered Hans to pin this to the pulpit cushion, and he did so. +When the pastor ascended the pulpit he saw the paper, and instead of a +text read it out. The reigning Duke Henry was very angry, and Hans was +made the scape-goat, and sent home in disgrace to his father. + +In 1564, Hans attended his father, himself as page, his father as +Marshal, when Duke Henry and his Duchess visited Stuttgard and Dresden. +Pages were not then allowed to sit astride a horse, they stood in a sort +of stirrup slung to the pommel, to which they held. At Dresden old +Schweinichen ran a tilt in a tournament with the elector Augustus and +unhorsed him, but had sufficient courtesy to at once throw himself off +his own horse, as though he also had been cast by the elector. This so +gratified the latter, that he sent old Schweinichen a gold chain, and a +double florin worth about 4 shillings to the young one. + +When Hans was fifteen, he went to the marriage of Duke Wenceslas of +Teschen with the daughter of Duke Franz of Saxony, and received from his +father a present of a sword, which, he tells us, cost his father a +little under a pound. One of the interesting features of this diary is +that Hans enters the value of everything. For instance, we are given the +price of wheat, barley, rye, oats, meat, &c., in 1562, and we learn from +this that all kinds of grain cost one fifth or one sixth of what it +costs now, and that meat--mutton, was one eighteenth or one twentieth +the present cost. For a thaler, 3 shillings, in 1562 as much food could +be purchased as would now cost from 25 to 30 shillings. Hans tells us +what pocket money he received from his parents; he put a value on every +present he was given, and tells what everything cost him which he give +away. + +In the early spring of 1569 Duke Henry XI. went to Lublin in Poland to a +diet. King Sigismund was old, and the Duke hoped to get elected to the +kingdom of Poland on his death. This was a costly expedition, as the +Duke had to make many presents, and to go in great state. Hans went with +him, and gives an infinitely droll account of their reception, the +miserable housing, his own dress, one leg black, the other yellow, and +how many ells of ribbon went to make the bows on his jacket. His father +and he, and a nobleman called Zedlitz and his son were put in a garret +under the tiles in bitter frost--and "faith," says Hans, "our pigs at +home are warmer in their styes." + +This expedition which led to no such result as the Duke hoped, exhausted +his treasury, and exasperated the Silesian Estates. All the nobles had +to stand surety for their Duke, Schweinichen and the rest to the amount +of--in modern money £100,000. + +When Hans was aged eighteen he was drunk for the first time in his life, +so drunk that he lay like a dead man for two days and two nights, and +his life was in danger. + +Portia characterised the German as a drunkard, she liked him "very +vilely in the morning, when he is sober; and most vilely in the +afternoon, when he is drunk. Set a deep glass of Rhenish wine on the +contrary casket: for, if the devil be within, and that temptation +without, I know he will choose it. I will do anything, Nerissa, ere I +will be married to a sponge." + +How true this characterisation was of the old German noble, +Schweinichen's memoirs show; it is a record of drunken bouts at small +intervals. There was no escape, he who would live at court must drink +and get drunken. + +At the age of nineteen old Schweinichen made his son keep the accounts +at home, and look after the mill; he had the charge of the fish-ponds, +and attended to the thrashing of the corn, and the feeding of the horses +and cattle. + +Once Hans was invited to a wedding, and met at it four sisters from +Glogau, two were widows and two unmarried. Their maiden name was Von +Schaben. Hans, aged twenty, danced with the youngest a good deal, and +before leaving invited the four sisters to pay his father and him a +visit. A friend of his called Eicholz galloped ahead to forewarn old +Schweinichen. Some hours later up drove Hans in a waggon with the four +sisters; but he did not dare to bring them in till he had seen his +father, so he went into the house, and was at once saluted with a burst +of laughter, and the shout, "Here comes the bridegroom," and Eicholz +sang at the top of his voice an improvised verse: + + + "Rosie von Schaben + Hans er will haben." + + +"Where are the ladies?" asked the old knight. + +"In the waggon outside," answered Hans. + +"Send for the fiddlers, bring them in. We will eat, drink, dance and be +merry," said the old man. + +But Hans was offended at being boisterously saluted as bridegroom, and +he now kept Rosie at a distance. Somewhat later, the Duke tried to get +him to marry a charming young heiress called Hese von Promnitz, and very +amusing is Hans' account of how he kept himself clear of engagement. +When he first met her at court she was aged fourteen, and was +passionately fond of sugar. Hans says he spent as much as £3 in our +modern money on sweets for her, but he would make no proposal, because, +as he concluded, she was too young to be able "to cook a bowl of soup." +Two years passed, and then an old fellow called Geisler, "looking more +like a Jew than a gentleman," who offered Hese a box of sweets every +day, proposed for her. Hese would not answer till she knew the +intentions of Hans, and she frankly asked him whether he meant to +propose for her hand or not. "My heart's best love, Hese," answered +Schweinichen, "at the right time, and when God wills I shall marry, but +I do not think I can do that for three years. So follow your own +desires, take the old Jew, or wait, as you like." + +Hese said she would wait any number of years for Hans. This made Hans +the colder. The Duke determined that the matter should be settled one +way or other at once, so he sent a crown of gold roses to Hans, and said +it was to be Hese's bridal wreath, if he desired that she should wear it +for him, he was to lay hold of it; Hans thereupon put his hands behind +his back. Then he went to his Schweinichen coat-of-arms and painted +under it the motto, "I bide my time, when the old man dies, I'll get the +prize." This Geisler read, and--says Hans, didn't like. + +Hans was now installed as gentleman-in-waiting to the Duke, and was +henceforth always about his person. He got for his service free bed and +board, a gala coat that cost in our modern money about £36, and an every +day livery costing £18. His father made him a small allowance, but pay +in addition to liveries and keep he got none. The Duke's great amusement +consisted in mumming. For a whole year he rambled about every evening in +masquerade, dropping in on the burghers unexpectedly. Some were, we are +told, pleased to see and entertain him, others objected to these +impromptu visits. The special costume in which the Duke delighted to run +about the town making these visits was that of a Nun. Hans admits that +this was very distasteful to him, but he could not help himself, he was +obliged to accommodate himself to the whims of his master. He made an +effort to free himself from the service of the Duke, so as to go out of +the country to some other court--he felt intuitively that this +association would be fatal to his best interests, but the Duke at once +took him by his better side, pleaded with him to remain and be faithful +to him, his proper master and sovereign, and Hans with misgivings at +heart consented. + +There was at Court an old lady, Frau von Kittlitz, who acted as +stewardess, and exercised great influence over the Duke, whom she had +known from a boy. The Duchess resented her managing ways, and +interference, and was jealous of her influence. One day in 1575 she +refused to come down from her room and dine with the Duke unless the old +Kittlitz were sent to sit at the table below the dais. This led to +words and hot blood on both sides. The Duchess used a gross expression +in reference to the stewardess, and the Duke who had already some wine +under his belt, struck the Duchess in the face, saying, "I'll teach you +not to call people names they do not deserve." Hans, who was present, +threw himself between the angry couple; the Duke stormed and struck +about. Hans entreated the Duchess to retire, and then he stood in her +door and prevented the Duke following, though he shouted, "She is my +wife, I can serve her as I like. Who are you to poke yourself in between +married folk?" + +As soon as the Duchess had locked herself in, Hans escaped and fled; but +an hour after the Duke sent for him, and stormed at him again for his +meddlesomeness. Hans entreated the Duke to be quiet and get reconciled +to the Duchess, but he would not hear of it, and dismissed Schweinichen. +A quarter of an hour later another messenger came from his master, and +Hans returned to him, to find him in a better mood. "Hans," said his +Highness, "try if you can't get my wife to come round and come down to +table--all fun is at an end with this." + +Hans went up and was admitted. The Duchess, in a towering rage, had +already written a letter to her brother the Margrave of Anspach, telling +him how her husband had struck her in the face and given her a black +eye, and she had already dispatched a messenger with the letter. After +much arguing, Hans wrung from her her consent to come down, on two +conditions, one that the Duke should visit her at once and beg her +pardon, the other that the old Kittlitz should sit at the table with +the pages. The Duke was now in a yielding mood and ate his leek humbly. +The Duchess consented to tell the Court that she had got her black eye +from striking her face against a lamp, and the Duke ordered ten +trumpeters and a kettledrum to make all the noise they could to +celebrate the reconciliation. + +The Duchess in an aside to Schweinichen admitted that she had been rash +and unjust, and regretted having sent off that letter. An unlucky +letter--says our author--for it cost the duchy untold gold and years of +trouble. + +The Duke had made several visits to Poland, chasing that Jack o' +lantern--the Polish crown, and it had cost him so much money that he had +quarrelled with his Estates, bullied and oppressed his subjects to +extort money, and at last the Estates appealed to the Emperor against +him, as they had against his father; and the Emperor summoned him to +Prague. The Duke had great difficulty in scraping together money enough +to convey him so far; and on reaching Prague, he begged permission of +the Kaiser to be allowed to visit the Electors and the Free Cities, and +see whether he could not obtain from them some relief from his +embarrassments, and money wherewith to pacify the angry Estates of the +Silesian Duchy. The consent required was given, and then the Duke with +his faithful Schweinichen, and several other retainers, started on a +grand begging and borrowing round of the Empire. Hans was constituted +treasurer, and he had in his purse about £400. The Duke took with him +five squires, two pages, three serving men, a cook, and several kitchen +boys, one carriage drawn by six horses, another by four. And not only +was this train to make the round of the Empire, but also to visit +Italy--and all on £400. + +The first visit was paid, three days' journey from Prague, at Theusing +to a half-sister of the Duchess. She received him coolly, and lectured +him on his conduct to his wife. When the Duke asked her to lend him +money, she answered that she would pay his expenses home, if he chose to +go back to Liegnitz, but not one penny otherwise should he have. Not +content with this refusal, the Duke went on to Nurnberg, where he sent +Hans to the town council to invite them to lend him money; he asked for +4,000 florins. The council declined the honour. The two daughters of the +Duke were in the charge of the Margrave of Anspach, their mother's +brother. The Duke sent Hans to Anspach to urge the Margrave to send the +little girls to him, or invite him to visit Anspach to see them. He was +shy of visiting his brother-in-law uninvited, because of the box in the +ear and the black eye. He confided to Hans that if he got his children +at Nurnberg, he would not return them to their uncle, without a loan or +a honorarium. + +This shabby transaction was not to Schweinichen's taste, but he was +obliged to undertake it. It proved unsuccessful, the Margrave refused to +give up the children till the Duke returned to his wife and duchy and +set a better example. + +Whilst Hans was away, the Duke won a large sum of money at play, enough +to pay his own bill, but instead of doing this with it, he had it melted +up and made into silver cups. When he came to leave Nurnberg he was +unable to pay his inn bill, and obliged to leave in pawn with the +taverner a valuable jewel. Then he and his suite went to Augsburg and +settled into an inn till the town council could agree to lend him money. + +One day, whilst there, Hans was invited to a wedding. The Duke wanted to +go also, but, as he was not invited, he went as Hans' servant, but got +so drunk that Hans was obliged to carry him home to the tavern, after +which he returned to the wedding. In the evening, when dancing began, +the Duke reappeared, he had slept off his drunkenness and was fresh for +more entertainment. He was now recognized, and according to etiquette, +two town councillors, in robes of office and gold chains, danced +solemnly before his Highness. Hans tells us that it was customary for +all dances to be led by two persons habited in scarlet with white +sleeves, and these called the dance and set the figures, no one might +execute any figure or do anything which had not been done by the +leaders. Now as Hans vows he never saw so many pretty girls anywhere as +on that evening, he tipped the leaders with half a thaler to kiss each +other, whereupon the two solemn dancing councillors had also to kiss +each other, and the Duke, nothing loth, his partner, and Hans, with +zest, his. That evening he gave plenty of kisses, and what with the many +lights, and the music and the dancing and the pretty girls he thought +himself in Paradise. Shortly after this, the Duke was invited to dine +with Fugger, the merchant prince, who showed him his treasury, gold to +the worth of a million, and one tower lined within from top half way +down with nothing but silver thalers. The Duke's mouth watered, and he +graciously invited Fugger to lend him £5,000; this the merchant +declined, but made him a present of 200 crowns and a good horse. The +town council consented to lend the Duke £1,200 on his I.O.U. for a year; +and then to pay his host he melted up his silver mugs again, pawned his +plate and gave him a promissory note for two months. + +From Augsburg the Duke went about the abbeys, trying to squeeze loans +out of the abbots, but found that they had always the excuse ready, that +they would not lend to Lutheran princes. Then he stuck on in the abbeys, +eating up all their provisions and rioting in their guest-apartments, +till the abbots were fain to make him a present to be rid of him. + +All at once an opening offered for the Duke to gain both renown and +money. Henry I. of Condé was at the court of the Elector Palatine at +Heidelsberg, soliciting assistance in behalf of the Huguenots against +the King of France. The Elector agreed to send a force under his son +John Casimir, and the Duke of Liegnitz offered his services, which were +readily accepted. He was to lead the rearguard, and to receive a liberal +pay for his services. Whilst he was collecting this force and getting +underway, John Casimir and the Prince of Condé marched through Lorraine +to Metz, and Hans went with John Casimir. He trusted he was now on his +way to fortune. But it was not so to be. The Duke, his master, insisted +that he should return to him, and Hans, on doing so, found him rioting +and gambling away, at Frankfort and Nassau, the money paid him in +advance for his useless services. Almost the first duty imposed on Hans, +on his return, was to negociate a loan for £5,000 with the magistrates +of Frankfort, which was peremptorily refused; whereupon the Duke went to +Cologne and stayed there seven months, endeavouring to cajole the town +council there into advancing him money. + +But we can not follow any further the miserable story of the degradation +of the Silesian Duke, till at the beginning of the new year, 1577, the +Duke ran away from the town of Emmerich, leaving his servants to pay his +debts as best they could. Hans sold the horses and whatever was left, +and then, not sorry to be quit of such a master, returned on foot to his +Silesian home. + +It is, perhaps, worth while quoting Duke Henry's letter, which Hans +found in the morning announcing his master's evasion. + + + "Dear Hans,--Here is a chain, do what you can with it. Weigh it and + sell it, also the horses for ready money; I will not pillow my head + in feathers till, by God's help, I have got some money, to enable + me to clear out of this vile land, and away from these people. Good + morning, best-loved Hans. + + "With mine own hand, HENRY, DUKE." + + +As he neared home, sad news reached Hans. The Ducal creditors had come +down on his father, who had made himself responsible, and had seized the +family estates; whereat the old man's heart broke, and he had died in +January. When Hans heard this, he sat for two hours on a stone beside +the road, utterly unmanned, before he could recover himself sufficiently +to pursue his journey. + +In the meantime an Imperial commission had sat on the Duke, deposed +him, and appointed his brother Frederick duke in his room. +Schweinichen's fidelity to Duke Henry ensured his disfavour with Duke +Frederick, and he was not summoned to court, but was left quietly at +Mertschütz to do his best along with his brother to bring the family +affairs into some sort of order. His old master did not, however, allow +him much rest. By the Imperial decision, he was to be provided with a +daily allowance of money, food and wine. This drew Duke Henry home, and +no sooner was he back in Silesia than he insisted on Hans returning to +his service, and for some years more he led the faithful soul a troubled +life, and involved him in miserable pecuniary perplexities. This was the +more trying to Hans as he had now fallen in love with Margaret von +Schellendorff, whom he married eventually. The tenderness and goodness +of Schweinichen's heart break out whenever he speaks of his dear +Margaretta, and of the children which came and were taken from him. His +sorrows as he lingered over the sick-beds of his little ones, and the +closeness with which he was drawn by domestic bereavements and pecuniary +distresses, to his Margaretta, come out clearly in his narrative. The +whole story is far too long to tell in its entirety. Hans was a +voluminous diarist. His memoirs cease at the year 1602, when he was +suffering from gout, but he lived on some years longer. + +In the church of S. John at Liegnitz was at one time his monument, with +life-sized figure of Hans von Schweinichen, and above it his banner and +an inscription stating that he died on the 23rd Aug., 1616. Alas! the +hand of the destroyer has been there. The church and monument are +destroyed, and we can no longer see what manner of face Hans wore; but +of the inner man, of a good, faithful, God fearing, and loving soul, +strong and true, he has himself left us the most accurate portrait in +his precious memoirs. + + + + +The Locksmith Gamain. + + +Among the many episodes of the French Revolution there is one which +deserves to be somewhat closely examined, because of the gravity of the +accusation which it involves against the King and Queen, and because a +good deal of controversy has raged round it. The episode is that of the +locksmith Gamain, whom the King and Queen are charged with having +attempted to poison. + +That the accusation was believed during "the Terror" goes without +saying; the heated heads and angry hearts at that time were in no +condition to sift evidence with impartiality. Afterwards, the charge was +regarded as preposterous, till the late M. Paul Lacroix--better known as +le Bibliophile Jacob--a student of history, very careful and diligent as +a collector, gave it a new spell of life in 1836, when he reformulated +the accusation in a _feuilleton_ of the _Siècle_. Not content to let it +sleep or die in the ephemeral pages of a newspaper, he republished the +whole story in 1838, in his "Dissertations sur quelques points curieux +de l'histoire de France." This he again reproduced in his "Curiosités de +l'histoire de France," in 1858. M. Louis Blanc, convinced that the case +was made out, has reasserted the charge in his work on the French +Revolution, and it has since been accepted by popular writers--as +Décembre-Alonnier--who seek to justify the execution of the King and +Queen, and to glorify the Revolution. + +M. Thiers rejected the accusation; M. Eckard pointed out the +improbabilities in the story in the "Biographie Universelle," and M. +Mortimer-Ternaux has also shown its falsity in his "Histoire de la +Terreur;" and finally, M. Le Roy, librarian of Versailles, in 1867, +devoted his special attention to it, and completely disproved the +poisoning of Gamain. But in spite of disproval the slanderous accusation +does not die, and no doubt is still largely believed in Paris. + +So tenacious of life is a lie--like the bacteria that can be steeped in +sulphuric acid without destroying their vitality--that the story has +been again recently raked up, and given to the public, from Lacroix, in +a number of the Cornhill Magazine (December, 1887); the writer of course +knew only Lacroix' myth, and had never seen how it had been disproved. +It is well now to review the whole story. + +François Gamain was born at Versailles on August 29, 1751. He belonged +to an hereditary locksmith family. His father Nicolas had been in the +same trade, and had charge of the locks in the royal palaces in +Versailles and elsewhere. + +The love of Louis XVI. for mechanical works is well known. He had a +little workshop at Versailles, where he amused himself making locks, +assisted by François Gamain, to whom he was much attached, and with whom +he spent many hours in projecting and executing mechanical contrivances. +The story is told of the Intendant Thierry, that when one day the King +showed him a lock he had made, he replied, "Sire, when kings occupy +themselves with the works of the common people, the common people will +assume the functions of kings," but the _mot_ was probably made after +the fact. + +After the terrible days of the 5th and 6th of October, 1789, the King +was brought to Paris. Gamain remained at Versailles, which was his home, +and retained the King's full confidence. + +When, later, the King was surrounded by enemies, and he felt the +necessity for having some secret place where he could conceal papers of +importance which might yet fall into the hands of the rabble if the +palace was again invaded, as it had been at Versailles, he sent for +Gamain to make for him an iron chest in a place of concealment, that +could only be opened by one knowing the secret of the lock. + +Unfortunately, the man was not as trustworthy as Louis XVI. supposed. +Surrounded by those who had adopted the principles of the Revolution, +and being a man without strong mind, he followed the current, and in +1792 he was nominated member of the Council General of the Commune of +Versailles, and on September 24 he was one of the commissioners +appointed "to cause to disappear all such paintings, sculptures, and +inscriptions from the monuments of the Commune as might serve to recall +royalty and despotism." + +The records of the debates of the Communal Council show that Gamain +attended regularly and took part in the discussions, which were often +tumultuous. + +The Queen heard of Gamain's Jacobinism, and warned the King, who, +however, could not believe that Gamain would betray him. Marie +Antoinette insisted on the most important papers being removed from the +iron chest, and they were confided to Mme. de Campan. + +When the trial of the King was begun, on November 20, Gamain went to +Roland, Minister of the Interior, and told him the secret of the iron +chest. Roland, alarmed at the consequences of such a discovery, hastened +to consult his wife, who was in reality more minister than himself. + +From August 10, a commission had been appointed to collect all the +papers found in the Tuileries; this commission, therefore, ought to be +made acquainted with the discovery; but here lay the danger. Mme. +Roland, as an instrument of the Girondins, feared that among the papers +in the chest might be discovered some which would show in what close +relations the Girondins stood to the Court. She decided that her husband +should go to the Tuileries, accompanied by Gamain, an architect, and a +servant. The chest was opened by the locksmith, Roland removed all the +papers, tied them up in a napkin, and took them home. They were taken +the same day to the Convention; and the commission charged the minister +with having abstracted such papers as would have been inconvenient to +him to deliver up. + +When Roland surrendered the papers he declared, without naming Gamain, +that they had been discovered in a hole in the wall closed by an iron +door, behind a wainscot panel, in so secret a place "that they could not +have been found had not the secret been disclosed by the workman who +had himself made the place of concealment." + +On December 24 following, Gamain was summoned to Paris by the Convention +to give his evidence to prove that a key discovered in the desk of +Thierry de Ville-d'Avray fitted the iron chest. + +After the execution of the King, on January 21, 1793, the Convention +sent deputies into all the departments "to stimulate the authorities to +act with the energy requisite under the circumstances." Crassous was +sent into the department of Seine-et-Oise; and not finding the +municipality of Versailles, of which Gamain was a member, "up to the +requisite pitch," he discharged them from office; and by a law of +September 17, all such discharged functionaries were declared to be +"suspected persons," who were liable to be brought before the +revolutionary tribunal on that charge alone. + +Thus, in spite of all the proofs he had given of his fidelity to the +principles of the Revolution, Gamain was at any moment liable to arrest, +and to being brought before that terrible tribunal from which the only +exit was to the guillotine. Moreover, Gamain had lost his place and +emoluments as Court locksmith; he had fallen into great poverty, was +without work, and without health. + +On April 27, 1794, he presented a petition to the Convention which was +supported by Musset, the deputy and constitutional curé. "It was not +enough," said Musset from the tribune, "that the last of our tyrants +should have delivered over thousands of citizens to be slain by the +sword of the enemy. You will see by the petition I am about to read +that he was familiarised with the most refined cruelty, and that he +himself administered poison to the father of a family, in the hopes +thereby of destroying evidence of his perfidy. You will see that his +ferocious mind had adopted the maxim that to a king everything is +permissible." + +After this preamble Musset read the petition of Gamain, which is as +follows: "François Gamain, locksmith to the cabinets and to the +laboratory of the late King, and for three years member of the Council +General of the Commune of Versailles, declares that at the beginning of +May 1792 he was ordered to go to Paris. On reaching it, Capet required +him to make a cupboard in the thickness of one of the walls of his room, +and to fasten it with an iron door; and he further states that he was +thus engaged up to the 22nd of the said month, and that he worked in the +King's presence. When the chest was completed, Capet himself offered +citizen Gamain a large tumbler of wine, and asked him to drink it, as +he, the said Gamain, was very hot. + +"_A few hours later_ he was attacked by a violent colic, which did not +abate till he had taken two spoonfuls of elixir, which made him vomit +all he had eaten and drunk that day. This was the prelude to a terrible +illness, which lasted fourteen months, during which he lost the use of +his limbs, and which has left him at present without hope of recovering +his full health, and of working so as to provide for the necessities of +his family." + +After reading the petition Musset added: "I hold in my hands the +certificate of the doctors, that testifies to the bad state of the +health of the citizen petitioner. + +"Citizens! If wickedness is common to kings, generosity is the +prerogative of the free people. I demand that this petition be referred +to the Committee of Public Assistance to be promptly dealt with. I +demand that after the request all the papers relating to it be deposed +in the national archives, as a monument of the atrocity of tyrants, and +be inserted in the bulletin, that all those who have supposed that Capet +did evil only at the instigation of others may know that crime was +rooted in his very heart." This proposition was decreed. On May 17, +1794, the representative Peyssard mounted the tribune, and read the +report of the Committee, which we must condense. + +"Citizens! At the tribunal of liberty the crimes of the oppressors of +the human race stand to be judged. To paint a king in all his +hideousness I need name only Louis XVI. This name sums in itself all +crimes; it recalls a prodigy of iniquity and of perfidy. Hardly escaped +from infancy, the germs of the ferocious perversity which characterise a +despot appeared in him. His earliest sports were with blood, and his +brutality grew with his years, and he delighted in wreaking his ferocity +on all the animals he met. He was known to be cruel, treacherous, and +murderous. The object of this report is to exhibit him to France +cold-bloodedly offering a cup of poison to the unhappy artist whom he +had just employed to construct a cupboard in which to conceal the plots +of tyranny. It was no stranger he marked as his victim, but a workman +whom he had employed for five-and-twenty years, and the father of a +family, his own instructor in the locksmith's art. Monsters who thus +treat their chosen servants, how will they deal with the rest of men?" + +The National Convention thereupon ordered that "François Gamain, +poisoned by Louis Capet on May 22, 1792, should enjoy an annual pension +of the sum of 1,200 livres, dating from the day on which he was +poisoned." + +It will be noticed by the most careless reader that the evidence is +_nil_. Gamain does not feel the colic till some hours after he has drunk +the wine; he had eaten or drunk other things besides during the day; and +finally the testimony of the doctors is, not that he was poisoned, but +that, at the time of his presenting the petition, he was in a bad state +of health. Accordingly, all reasonable historians, unblinded by party +passion, have scouted the idea of an attempt on Gamain's life by the +King. Thus the matter would have remained had not M. Paul Lacroix taken +it up and propped the old slander on new legs. We will take his account, +which he pretends to have received from several persons to whom Gamain +related it repeatedly. This is his _mise en scène_. + +"The old inhabitants of Versailles will remember with pity the man whom +they often encountered alone, bowed on his stick like one bent with +years. Gamain was aged only fifty-eight when he died, but he bore all +the marks of decrepitude." + +Here is a blunder, to begin with; he died, as the Versailles registers +testify, on May 8, 1795, and was accordingly only forty-four years +old,--that is, he died _one_ year after the grant of the annuity. M. +Parrott, in his article on Gamain in the "Dictionnaire de la Révolution +Française," says that he died in 1799, five years after having received +his pension; but the Versailles registers are explicit. + +M. Lacroix goes on: "His hair had fallen off, and the little that +remained had turned white over a brow furrowed deeply; the loss of his +teeth made his cheeks hollow; his dull eyes only glared with sombre fire +when the name of Louis XVI was pronounced. Sometimes even tears then +filled them. Gamain lived very quietly with his family on his humble +pension, which, notwithstanding the many changes of government, was +always accorded him. It was not suppressed, lest the reason of its being +granted should again be raked up before the public." + +As we have seen, Gamain died under the Government which granted the +pension. M. Lacroix goes on to say "that the old locksmith bore to his +dying day an implacable hatred of Louis XVI., whom he accused of having +been guilty of an abominable act of treachery." + +"This act of treachery was the fixed and sole idea in Gamain's head, he +recurred to it incessantly, and poured forth a flood of bitter and +savage recriminations against the King. It was Gamain who disclosed the +secret of the iron chest in the Tuileries, and the papers it contained, +which furnished the chief accusation against Louis XVI.; it was he, +therefore, who had, so to speak, prepared the guillotine for the royal +head; it was he, finally, who provoked the decree of the Convention +which blackened the memory of the King as that of a vulgar murderer. But +this did not suffice the hate of Gamain, who went about everywhere +pursuing the dead beyond the tomb, with his charge of having attempted +murder as payment of life-long and devoted service. Gamain ordinarily +passed his evenings in a cafe at Versailles, the name of which I have +been told, but which I do not divulge lest I should make a mistake. He +was generally in the society of two old notaries, who are still alive +(in 1836), and of the doctor Lameyran, who attended him when he was +poisoned. These three persons were prepared to attest all the +particulars of the poisoning which had been proved at the _procès +verbal_. Gamain, indeed, lacked witnesses to establish the incidents of +the 22nd May, 1792, at the Tuileries; but his air of veracity and +expression of pain, his accent of conviction, his face full of +suffering, his burning eyes, his pathetic pantomime, were the guarantees +of good faith." + +These three men, the notaries and the doctor, which latter M. Lacroix +hints was living when he wrote, were his authorities for what follows. +The notaries he does not name, nor the café where they met. His account +published in the _Siècle_ at once attracted attention, and M. Lacroix +was challenged to produce his witnesses. As for M. Lameyran, the doctor, +he had died in 1811; consequently his testimony was not to be had in +1836. The other doctor who had attended Gamain was M. Voisin, who died +in 1823, but M. Le Roy asserts positively that in 1813 M. Voisin told +him, "Never was Gamain poisoned. Lameyran and I had long attended him +for chronic malady of the stomach. This is all we testified to in our +certificate, when he applied for a pension. In our certificate we stated +that he was in weak health--not a word was in it about poisoning, which +existed only in his fancy." + +These certificates are no longer in existence. They were not preserved +in the archives of the Convention. Even this fact is taken as evidence +in favour of the attempt. M. Emile Bonnet, in an article on Gamain in +the "Intermédiaire des Chercheurs," declares that they have been +substracted since the Restoration of Charles;[8] but there is no trace +in the archives of them ever having been there. Moreover, we have M. Le +Roy's word that M. Voisin assured him he had not testified to poisoning, +and, what is more important, we have Musset's declaration before the +Convention that the certificate of the doctors "asserted the ill-health +of the claimant." If there had been a word about poison in it, he would +assuredly have said so. + +M. Lacroix was asked to name his authorities--the two advocates who, as +M. Lameyran was dead, were alive and would testify to the fact that they +had heard the story from the lips of Gamain. He remained silent. He +would not even name the café where they met, and which might lead to the +identification. M. Eckard, who wrote the notice on Gamain in the +"Biographie Universelle," consulted the family of the locksmith on the +case, and was assured by them that the bad health of Gamain was due to +no other cause than disappointment at the loss of his fortune, the +privations he underwent, and, above all, his terror for his life after +his dismissal from the Communal Council. + +We will now continue M. Lacroix's account, which he proceeds, not a +little disingenuously, to put into the mouth of Gamain himself, so that +the accusation may not be charged on the author. + +"On May 21, 1792," says Gamain, according to the "Bibliophile Jacob," +"whilst I was working in my shop, a horseman drew up at my door and +called me out. His disguise as a carter did not prevent me from +recognising Durey, the King's forge assistant. I refused. I +congratulated myself that evening at having done so, as the rumour +spread in Versailles that the Tuileries had been attacked by the mob, +but this did not really take place till a month later. Next morning +Durey returned and showed me a note in the King's own hand, entreating +me to lend my assistance in a difficult job past his unaided powers. My +pride was flattered. I embraced my wife and children, without telling +them whither I was going, but I promised to return that night. It was +not without anxiety that they saw me depart with a stranger for Paris." + +We need merely point out that Durey was no stranger to the family: he +had been for years associated daily with Gamain. + +"Durey conducted me to the Tuileries, where the King was guarded as in a +prison. We went at once to the royal workshop, where Durey left me, +whilst he went to announce my arrival. Whilst I was alone, I observed an +iron door, recently forged, a mortise lock, well executed, and a little +iron box with a secret spring which I did not at once discover. Then in +came Durey with the King. 'The times are bad,' said Louis XVI., 'and I +do not know how matters will end.' Then he showed me the works I had +noticed, and said, 'What do you say to my skill? It took me ten days to +execute these things. I am your apprentice, Gamain.' I protested my +entire devotion. Then the King assured me that he always had confidence +in me, and that he did not scruple to trust the fate of himself and his +family in my hands. Thereupon he conducted me into the dark passage that +led from his room to the chamber of the Dauphin. Durey lit a taper, and +removed a panel in the passage, behind which I perceived a round hole, +about two feet in diameter, bored in the wall. The King told me he +intended to secrete his money in it, and that Durey, who had helped to +make it, threw the dust and chips into the river during the night. Then +the King told me that he was unable to fit the iron door to the hole +unassisted. I went to work immediately. I went over all the parts of the +lock, and got them into working order; then I fashioned a key to the +lock, then made hinges and fastened them into the wall as firmly as I +could, without letting the hammering be heard. The King helped as well +as he was able, entreating me every moment to strike with less noise, +and to be quicker over my work. The key was put in the little iron +casket, and this casket was concealed under a slab of pavement in the +corridor." + +It will be seen that this story does not agree with the account in the +petition made by Gamain to the Convention. In that he said he was +summoned to Paris at the beginning of the month of May, and that "Capet +ordered him to make a cupboard in the thickness of the wall of his +apartment, and to close it with an iron door, the whole of which was not +accomplished till the 22nd of the same month." He was three weeks over +the job, not a few hours. "I had been working," continues Gamain, or M. +Lacroix for him, "for eight consecutive hours. The sweat poured from my +brow; I was impatient to repose, and faint with hunger, as I had eaten +nothing since I got up." + +But, according to his account before the Convention, the elixir made him +throw up "all he had eaten and drunk during the day." + +"I seated myself a moment in the King's chamber, and he asked me to +count for him two thousand double louis and tie them up in four leather +bags. Whilst so doing I observed that Durey was carrying some bundles of +papers which I conjectured were destined for the secret closet; and, +indeed, the money-counting was designed to distract my attention from +what Durey was about." + +What a clumsy story! Why were not the papers hidden after Gamain was +gone? Was it necessary that this should be done in his presence, and he +set to count money, so as not to observe what was going on? + +"As I was about to leave, the Queen suddenly entered by a masked door at +the foot of the King's bed, holding in her hands a plate, in which was a +cake (brioche) and a glass of wine. She came up to me, and I saluted her +with surprise, because the King had assured me that she knew nothing +about the fabrication of the chest. 'My dear Gamain,' said she in a +caressing tone, 'how hot you are! Drink this tumbler of wine and eat +this cake, and they will sustain you on your journey home.' I thanked +her, confounded by this consideration for a poor workman, and I emptied +the tumbler to her health. I put the cake in my pocket, intending to +take it home to my children." + +Here again is a discrepancy. In his petition Gamain says that the King +gave him a glass of wine, and makes no mention of the Queen. + +On leaving the Tuileries, Gamain set out on foot for Versailles, but was +attacked by a violent colic in the Champs Elysées. His agonies +increased; he was no longer able to walk; he fell, and rolled on the +ground, uttering cries and moans. A carriage that was passing stopped, +and an English gentleman got out--wonderful to relate!--extraordinary +coincidence!--a physician, and an acquaintance. + +"The Englishman took me to his carriage, and ordered the coachman to +drive at full gallop to an apothecary's shop. The conveyance halted at +last before one in the Rue de Bac; the Englishman left me alone, whilst +he prepared an elixir which might counteract the withering power of the +poison. When I had swallowed this draught I ejected the venomous +substances. An hour later nothing could have saved me. I recovered in +part my sight and hearing; the cold that circulated in my veins was +dissipated by degrees, and the Englishman judged that I might be safely +removed to Versailles, which we reached at two o'clock in the morning. A +physician, M. de Lameyran, and a surgeon, M. Voisin, were called in; +they recognised the unequivocal tokens of poison. + +"After three days of fever, delirium, and inconceivable suffering, I +triumphed over the poison, but suffered ever after from a paralysis +almost complete, and a general inflammation of the digestive organs. + +"A few days after this catastrophe the servant maid, whilst cleaning my +coat, which I had worn on the occasion of my accident, found my +handkerchief, stained black, and the cake. She took a bite of the +latter, and threw the rest into the yard, where a dog ate it and died. +The girl, who had consumed only a morsel of the cake, fell dangerously +ill. The dog was opened by M. Voisin, and a chemical analysis disclosed +the presence of poison, both on my kerchief stained by my vomit, and in +the cake. The cake alone contained enough corrosive sublimate to kill +ten persons." + +So--the poison was found. But how is it that in Gamain's petition none +of this occurs? According to that document, Gamain was offered a goblet +of wine by the King himself. "A few hours later he was attacked by a +violent colic. This was the prelude to a terrible illness." Only a vague +hint as to poison, no specific statement that he had been poisoned, and +that the kind of poison had been determined. + +Now, corrosive sublimate, when put in red wine, forms a violet +precipitate, and alters the taste of the wine, giving it a +characteristic metallic, harsh flavour, so disagreeable that it insures +its immediate rejection. Gamain tasted nothing. Again, the action of +corrosive sublimate is immediate or very nearly so; but Gamain was not +affected till several hours after having drunk the wine. + +According to the petition, Gamain asserted that he was paralysed in all +his limbs for fourteen months, from May 22, 1792; but the Communal +registers of Versailles show that he attended a session of the Council +and took part in the discussion on June 4 following, that is, less than +a fortnight after; that he was present at the sessions of June 8, 17, +20, and on August 22, and that he was sufficiently hearty and active to +be elected on the commission which was to obliterate the insignia of +monarchy on September 24 following, which certainly would not have been +the case had he been a sick man paralysed in all his members. + +Why, we may further inquire, did not Louis the XVI. or Queen Marie +Antoinette attempt to poison Durey also, if they desired to make away +with all those who knew the secret of the iron locker? + +Now, Durey was alive in 1800, and Eckard, who wrote the article on +Gamain in the "Biographie Universelle," knew him and saw him at that +date, and Durey told him that Gamain's story was a lie; the iron safe +was made, not in 1792, but in May, 1791; and this is probable, as it +would have been easier for the King to have the locker made before his +escape to Varennes, than in 1792, when he was under the closest +supervision. + +According to the version attributed to Gamain by M. Paul Lacroix, Gamain +was paralysed for five months only. Why this change? Because either M. +Lacroix or the locksmith had discovered that it was an anachronism for +him to appear in November before Roland, and assist him in opening the +case which he had made in May--five months before, and afterwards to +declare that he was paralysed in all his members from May till the year +following. We think this correction is due to the Bibliophile. But he +was not acquainted with the Versailles archives proving him to have been +at a session a few days after the pretended poisoning. + +There is not much difficulty in discovering Gamain's motive for +formulating the accusation against the King. He betrayed his king, who +trusted him, and then, to excuse his meanness, invented an odious +calumny against him. + +But what was M. Lacroix's object in revivifying the base charge? We are +not sure that he comes cleaner out of the slough than the despicable +locksmith. He gave the story a new spell of life; he based his "facts" +on testimonies, who, he said, were ready at any moment to vouch for the +truth. When challenged to produce them he would not do so. His "facts" +were proved again and again to be fables, and yet he dared to republish +his slanderous story again and again, without a word of apology, +explanation, or retractation. M. Lacroix died only a year or two ago, +and it may seem ungenerous to attack a dead man, but one is forced to do +this in defence of the honour of a dead Queen whom he grossly +calumniated. The calumny was ingeniously put. M. Lacroix set it in the +mouth of Gamain, thinking thereby to free himself from responsibility, +but the responsibility sticks when he refuses to withdraw what has been +demonstrated to be false. + +There is something offensive to the last degree in the pose of M. +Lacroix as he opens his charge. "For some years I have kept by me, with +a sort of terror, the materials for an historic revelation, without +venturing to use them, and yet the fact, now almost unknown, on which I +purpose casting a sinister light, is one that has been the object of my +most active preoccupations. For long I condemned myself to silence and +to fresh research, hitherto fruitless, hoping that the truth would come +to light.... Well! now, at the moment of lifting the veil which covers a +half-effaced page of history, with the documents I have consulted and +the evidence I have gleaned lying before me, surrounded by a crowd of +witnesses, one sustaining the testimony of the other, relying on my +conscience and on my sentiments as a man of honour--still I hesitate to +open my mouth and call up the remembrance of an event monstrous in +itself, that has not found an echo even in the writings of the blindest +partisans of a hideous epoch. Yes, I feel a certain repugnance in +seeming to associate in thought, though not in act, with the enemies of +Louis XVI. I have just re-read the sublime death of this unhappy +political martyr; I have felt my eyes moisten with tears at the +contemplation of the picture of the death inflicted by an inexorable +state necessity, and I felt I must break my pen lest I should mix my ink +with the yet warm blood of the innocent victim. Let my hand wither +rather than rob Louis XVI. of the mantle of probity and goodness, which +the outrages of '93 succeeded neither in staining nor in rending to +rags." And so on--M. Lacroix is only acting under a high sense of the +sacred duty of seeking the truth, "of forcing the disclosure of facts, +before it be too late," which may establish the innocence of Louis XVI. +Now, be it noted that M. Lacroix is the first to accuse the Queen of +attempting the murder; his assault is on her as much as, more than, on +the poor King--in the sacred interests of historic truth! + +What are his evidences, his crowd of witnesses, his documents that he +has collected? What proof is there of his active preoccupations and +fresh researches? He produced nothing that can be called proof, and +refused the names of his witnesses when asked for them. We can quite +understand that the Bibliophile Jacob may have heard some gossiping +story such as he narrates, and may have believed it when he wrote the +story; but then, where are the high sense of honour, the tender +conscience, the enthusiasm for truth, when his story is proved to be a +tissue of improbabilities and impossibilities, that permit him to +republish, and again republish at intervals of years, this cruel and +calumnious fabrication? + +FOOTNOTE: + +[8] Le Bibliophile Jacob says the same: "Les--pièces--détournées +maladroitement par la Restauration." + + + + +Abram the Usurer.[9] + + +In the reign of Heraclius, when Sergius was patriarch of Constantinople, +there lived in Byzantium a merchant named Theodore, a good man and just, +fearing God, and serving him with all his heart. He went on a voyage to +the ports of Syria and Palestine with his wares, in a large well-laden +vessel, sold his goods to profit, and turned his ship's head homewards +with a good lading of silks and spices, the former some of the produce +of the looms of distant China, brought in caravans through Persia and +Syria to the emporiums on the Mediterranean. + +It was late in the year when Theodore began his voyage home, the +equinoctial gales had begun to blow, and prudence would have suggested +that he should winter in Cyprus; but he was eager to return to Byzantium +to his beloved wife, and to prepare for another adventure in the ensuing +spring. + +But he was overtaken by a storm as he was sailing up the Propontis, and +to save the vessel he was obliged to throw all the lading overboard. He +reached Constantinople in safety, but with the loss of his goods. His +grief and despair were excessive. His wife was unable to console him. He +declared that he was weary of the world, his loss was sent him as a +warning from heaven not to set his heart on Mammon, and that he was +resolved to enter a monastery, and spend the rest of his days in +devotion. + +"Hasten, husband mine," said the wife, "put this scheme into execution +at once; for if you delay you may change your mind." + +The manifest impatience of his wife to get rid of him somewhat cooled +the ardour of Theodore for the monastic profession, and before taking +the irrevocable step, he consulted a friend. "I think, dearest brother, +nay, I am certain, that this misfortune came on me as the indication of +the finger of Providence that I should give up merchandise and care only +for the saving of my soul." + +"My friend," answered the other, "I do not see this in the same light as +you. Every merchant must expect loss. It is one of the ordinary risks of +sailors. It is absurd to despair. Go to your friends and borrow of them +sufficient to load your vessel again, and try your luck once more. You +are known as a merchant, and trusted as an honest man, and will have no +difficulty in raising the sum requisite." + +Theodore rushed home, and announced to his wife that he had already +changed his mind, and that he was going to borrow money. + +"Whatever pleases you is right in my eyes," said the lady. + +Theodore then went the round of his acquaintances, told them of his +misfortune, and then asked them to lend him enough to restock his +vessel, promising to pay them a good percentage on the money lent. But +the autumn had been fatal to more vessels than that of Theodore, and he +found that no one was disposed to advance him the large sum he required. +He went from door to door, but a cold refusal met him everywhere. +Disappointed, and sick at heart, distressed at finding friends so +unfriendly, he returned home, and said to his wife, "Woman! the world is +hard and heartless, I will have nothing more to do with it. I will +become a monk." + +"Dearest husband, do so by all means, and I shall be well pleased," +answered the wife. + +Theodore tossed on his bed all night, unable to sleep; before dawn an +idea struck him. There was a Jew named Abram who had often importuned +him to trade with his money, but whom he had invariably refused. He +would try this man as a last resource. + +So when morning came, Theodore rose and went to the shop of Abram. The +Hebrew listened attentively to his story, and then said, smiling, +"Master Theodore, when thou wast rich, I often asked thee to take my +money and trade with it in foreign parts, so that I might turn it over +with advantage. But I always met with refusal. And now that thou art +poor, with only an empty ship, thou comest to me to ask for a loan. What +if again tempest should fall on thee, and wreck and ruin be thy lot, +where should I look for my money? Thou art poor. If I were to sell thy +house it would not fetch much. Nay, if I am to lend thee money thou must +provide a surety, to whom I may apply, and who will repay me, should +accident befall thee. Go, find security, and I will find the money." + +So Theodore went to his best friend, and told him the circumstances, and +asked him to stand surety for him to the Jew. + +"Dear friend," answered he, "I should be most happy to oblige you; but I +am a poor man, I have not as much money in the world as would suffice. +The Hebrew would not accept me as surety, he knows the state of my +affairs too well. But I will do for you what little I can. We will go +together to some merchants, and together beseech them to stand security +for you to the Jew." + +So the two friends went to a rich merchant with whom they were +acquainted, and told him what they wanted; but he blustered and turned +red, and said, "Away with you, fellows; who ever heard of such insolence +as that two needy beggars should ask a man of substance like me to go +with them to the den of a cursed infidel Jew. God be thanked! I have no +dealings with Jews. I never have spoken to one in my life, and never +give them a greeting when I pass any in street or market-place. A man +who goes to the Jews to-day, goes to the dogs to-morrow, and to the +devil the day after." + +The friends visited other merchants, but with like ill-success. Theodore +had spent the day fasting, and he went supperless to bed, very hopeless, +and with the prospect growing more distinct of being obliged to put on +the cowl of the monk, a prospect which somehow or other he did not +relish. + +Next morning he started from home to tell Abram his failure. His way +was through the great square called the Copper-Market before the +Imperial palace. Now there stood there a porch consisting of four +pillars, which supported a dome covered with brazen tiles, the whole +surmounted by a cross, on the east side of which, looking down on the +square, and across over the sparkling Bosphorus to the hills of Asia, +was a large, solemn figure of the Crucified. This porch and cross had +been set up by Constantine the Great,[10] and had been restored by +Anastasius. + +As Theodore sped through the Copper-Market in the morning, he looked up; +the sky was of the deepest gentian blue. Against it, glittering like +gold in the early sun, above the blazing, brazen tiles, stood the great +cross with the holy form thereon. Theodore halted, in his desolation, +doubt and despair, and looked up at the figure. It was in the old, grave +Byzantine style, very solemn, without the pain expressed in Mediæval +crucifixes, and like so many early figures of the sort was probably +vested and crowned. + +A sudden inspiration took hold of the ruined man. He fell on his knees, +stretched his hands towards the shining form, and cried, "Lord Jesus +Christ! the hope of the whole earth, the only succour of all who are +cast down, the sure confidence of those that look to Thee! All on whom I +could lean have failed me. I have none on earth on whom I can call. Do +Thou, Lord, be surety for me, though I am unworthy to ask it." Then +filled with confidence he rose from his knees, and ran to the house of +Abram, and bursting in on him said, "Be of good cheer, I have found a +Surety very great and noble and mighty. Trust thy money, He will keep it +safe." + +Abram answered, "Let the man come, and sign the deed and see the money +paid over." + +"Nay, my brother," said Theodore; "come thou with me. I have hurried in +thus to bring thee to him." + +Then Abram went with Theodore, who led him to the Copper-Market, and +bade him be seated, and then raising his finger, he pointed to the +sacred form hanging on the cross, and, full of confidence, said to the +Hebrew, "There, friend, thou could'st not have a better security than +the Lord of heaven and earth. I have besought Him to stand for me, and I +know He is so good that He will not deny me." + +The Jew was perplexed. He said nothing for a moment or two, and then, +wondering at the man's faith, answered, "Friend, dost thou not know the +difference between the faith of a Christian and of a Hebrew? How can'st +thou ask me to accept as thy surety, One whom thou believest my people +to have rejected and crucified? However, I will trust thee, for thou art +a God-fearing and an honest man, and I will risk my money." + +So they twain returned to the Jew's quarters, and Abram counted out +fifty pounds of gold, in our money about £2,400. He tied the money up in +bags, and bade his servants bear it after Theodore. And Abram and the +glad merchant came to the Copper-Market, and then the Jew ordered that +the money bags should be set down under the Tetrastyle where was the +great crucifix. Then said the Hebrew usurer, "See, Theodore, I make over +to thee the loan here before thy God." And there, in the face of the +great image of his Saviour, Theodore received the loan, and swore to +deal faithfully by the Jew, and to restore the money to him with usury. + +After this, the merchant bought a cargo for his vessel, and hired +sailors, and set sail for Syria. He put into port at Tyre and Sidon, and +traded with his goods, and bought in place of them many rich Oriental +stuffs, with spices and gums, and when his ship was well laden, he +sailed for Constantinople. + +But again misfortune befell him. A storm arose, and the sailors were +constrained to throw the bales of silk, and bags of costly gums, and +vessels of Oriental chasing into the greedy waves. But as the ship began +to fill, they were obliged to get into the boat and escape to land. The +ship keeled over and drifted into shallow water. When the storm abated +they got to her, succeeded in floating her, and made the best of their +way in the battered ship to Constantinople, thankful that they had +preserved their lives. But Theodore was in sad distress, chiefly because +he had lost Abram's money. "How shall I dare to face the man who dealt +so generously by me?" he said to himself. "What shall I say, when he +reproaches me? What answer can I make to my Surety for having lost the +money entrusted to me?" + +Now when Abram heard that Theodore had arrived in Constantinople in his +wrecked vessel with the loss of all his cargo, he went to him at once, +and found the man prostrate in his chamber, the pavement wet with his +tears of shame and disappointment. Abram laid his hand gently on his +shoulder, and said, in a kind voice, "Rise, my brother, do not be +downcast; give glory to God who rules all things as He wills, and follow +me home. God will order all for the best." + +Then the merchant rose, and followed the Jew, but he would not lift his +eyes from the ground, for he was ashamed to look him in the face. Abram +was troubled at the distress of his friend, and he said to him, as he +shut the door of his house, "Let not thy heart be broken with overmuch +grief, dearest friend, for it is the mark of a wise man to bear all +things with firm mind. See! I am ready again to lend thee fifty pounds +of gold, and may better fortune attend thee this time. I trust that our +God will bless the money and multiply it, so that in the end we shall +lose nothing by our former misadventure." + +"Then," said Theodore, "Christ shall again stand security for me. Bring +the money to the Tetrastyle." + +Therefore again the bags of gold were brought before the cross, and when +they had then been made over to the merchant, Abram said, "Accept, +Master Theodore, this sum of fifty pounds of gold, paid over to thee +before thy Surety, and go in peace. And may the Lord God prosper thee +on thy journey, and make plain the way before thee. And remember, that +before this thy Surety thou art bound to me for a hundred pounds of +gold." + +Having thus spoken, Abram returned home. Theodore repaired and reloaded +his ship, engaged mariners and made ready to sail. But on the day that +he was about to depart, he went into the Copper-Market, and kneeling +down, with his face towards the cross, he prayed the Lord to be his +companion and captain, and to guide him on his journey, and bring him +safe through all perils with his goods back to Byzantium once more. + +Then he went on to the house of Abram to bid him farewell. And the Jew +said to him, "Keep thyself safe, brother, and beware now of trusting thy +ship to the sea at the time of equinoctial gales. Thou hast twice +experienced the risk, run not into it again. Winter at the place whither +thou goest, and that I may know how thou farest, if thou hast the +opportunity, send me some of the money by a sure hand. Then there is +less chance of total ruin, for if one portion fails, the other is likely +to be secure." + +Theodore approved of this advice, and promised to follow it; so then the +Jew and the Christian parted with much affection and mutual respect, for +each knew the other to be a good and true man, fearing God, and seeking +to do that which is right. This time Theodore turned his ship's head +towards the West, intending to carry his wares to the markets of Spain. +He passed safely through the Straits of Hercules, and sailed North. Then +a succession of steady strong breezes blew from the South and swept him +on so that he could not get into harbour till he reached Britain. He +anchored in a bay on the rugged Cornish coast, in the very emporium of +tin and lead, in the Cassiterides famed of old for supplying ore +precious in the manufacture of bronze. He readily disposed of all his +merchandise, and bought as much tin and lead as his ship would hold. His +goods had sold so well, and tin and lead were so cheap that he found he +had fifty pounds in gold in addition to the cargo. + +The voyage back from Britain to Byzantium was long and dangerous, and +Theodore was uneasy. He found no other ships from Constantinople where +he was, and no means presented themselves for sending back the money in +part, as he had promised. He was a conscientious man, and he wished to +keep his word. + +He set sail from Cornwall before the summer was over, passed safely +through the straits into the Mediterranean, but saw no chance of +reaching Constantinople before winter. He would not again risk his +vessel in the gales of the equinox, and he resolved to winter in Sicily. +He arrived too late in the year to be able to send a message and the +money to Abram. His promise troubled him, and he cast about in his mind +how to keep his word. + +At last, in the simple faith which coloured the whole life of the man, +he made a very solid wooden box and tarred it well internally and +externally. Then he inclosed in it the fifty pounds of gold he had made +by his goods in Britain over and above his lading of lead and tin, and +with the money he put a letter, couched in these terms: + +"In the name of my heir and God, my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who is +also my Surety for a large sum of money, I, Theodore, humbly address my +master Abram, who, with God, is my benefactor and creditor. + +"I would have thee know, Master Abram, that we all, by the mercy of God, +are in good health. God has verily prospered us well and brought our +merchandise to a good market. And now, see! I send thee fifty pounds of +gold, which I commit to the care of my Surety, and He will convey the +money safely to thy hands. Receive it from me and do not forget us. +Farewell." + +Then he fastened up the box, and raised his eyes to heaven, and prayed +to God, saying: "O Lord Jesus Christ, Mediator between God and Man, Who +dwellest in Heaven, but hast respect unto the lowly; hear the voice of +thy servant this day; because Thou hast proved Thyself to me a good and +kind Surety, I trust to Thee to return to my benefactor and creditor, +Abram, the money I promised to send him. Trusting in Thee, Lord, I +commit this little box to the sea!" + +So saying he flung the case containing the gold and the letter into the +waves; and standing on a cliff watched it floating on the waters, rising +and falling on the glittering wavelets, gradually drifting further and +further out to sea, till it was lost to his sight, and then, nothing +doubting but that the Lord Christ would look after the little box and +guide it over the waste of waters to its proper destination, he went +back to his lodging, and told the ship pilot what he had done. The +sailor remained silent wondering in his mind at the great faith of his +master. Then his rough heart softened, and he knelt down and blessed and +praised God. + +That night Theodore had a dream, and in the morning he told it to the +pilot. + +"I thought," said he, "that I was back in Byzantium, and standing in the +Copper-Market before the great cross with Christ on it. And I fancied in +my dream that Abram was at my side. And I looked, and saw him hold up +his hands, and receive the box in them, and the great figure of Christ +said, 'See, Abram, I give thee what Theodore committed to my trust.' +And, thereupon, I awoke trembling. So now I am quite satisfied that the +gold is in safe keeping, and will infallibly reach its destination." + +The summer passed, the storms of autumn had swept over the grey sea, and +torn away from the trees the last russet leaves; winter had set in; yet +Abram had received no news of Theodore. + +He did not doubt the good faith of his friend, but he began to fear that +ill-luck attended him. He had risked a large sum, and would feel the +loss severely should this cargo be lost like the former one. He talked +the matter over with his steward, and considered it from every +imaginable point of view. His anxiety took him constantly to the shore +to watch the ships that arrived, hoping to hear news by some of them, +and to recover part of his money. He hardly expected the return of +Theodore after the injunctions he had given him not to risk his vessel +in a stormy season. + +One day he was walking with his steward by the sea-side, when the waves +were more boisterous than usual. Not a ship was visible. All were in +winter quarters. Abram drew off his sandals, and began to wash his feet +in the sea water. Whilst so doing he observed something floating at a +little distance. With the assistance of his steward he fished out a box +black with tar, firmly fastened up, like a solid cube of wood. Moved by +curiosity he carried the box home, and succeeded with a little +difficulty in forcing it open. Inside he found a letter, not directed, +but marked with three crosses, and a bag of gold. It need hardly be said +that this was the box Theodore had entrusted to Christ, and his Surety +had fulfilled His trust and conveyed it to the hands of the creditor. + +Next spring Theodore returned to Constantinople in safety. As soon as he +had disembarked, he hastened to the house of Abram to tell him the +results of his voyage. + +The Jewish usurer, wishing to prove him, feigned not to understand, when +Theodore related how he had sent him fifty pounds of gold, and made as +though he had not received the money. But the merchant was full of +confidence, and he said, "I cannot understand this, brother, for I +enclosed the money in a box along with a letter, and committed it to the +custody of my Saviour Christ, Who has acted as Surety for me unworthy. +But as thou sayest that thou hast not received it, come with me, and let +us go together before the crucifix, and say before it that thou hast not +had the money conveyed to thee, and then I will believe thy word." + +Abram promised to accompany his friend, and rising from their seats, +they went together to the Copper-Market. And when they came to the +Tetrastyle, Theodore raised his hands to the Crucified, and said, "My +Saviour and Surety, didst Thou not restore the gold to Abram that I +entrusted to Thee for that purpose?" + +There was something so wonderful, so beautiful, in the man's faith, that +Abram was overpowered; and withal there was the evidence that it was not +misplaced so clear to the Jew, that the light of conviction like a +dazzling sunbeam darted into his soul, and Theodore saw the Hebrew +usurer fall prostrate on the pavement, half fainting with the emotion +which oppressed him. + +Theodore ran and fetched water in his hands and sprinkled his face, and +brought the usurer round. And Abram said, "As God liveth, my friend, I +will not enter into my house till I have taken thy Lord and Surety for +my Master." A crowd began to gather, and it was bruited abroad that the +Jewish usurer sought baptism. And when the story reached the ears of the +Emperor Heraclius, he glorified God. So Abram was put under instruction, +and was baptised by the patriarch Sergius.[11] + +And after seven days a solemn procession was instituted through the +streets of Constantinople to the Copper-Market, in which walked the +emperor and the patriarch, and all the clergy of the city; and the box +which had contained the money was conveyed by them to the Tetrastyle +and laid up, along with the gold and the letter before the image, to be +a memorial of what had taken place to all generations. And thenceforth +the crucifix received the common appellation of Antiphonetos, or the +Surety. + +As for the tin and lead with which the vessel of Theodore was freighted, +it sold for a great price, so that both he and Abram realised a large +sum by the transaction. But neither would keep to himself any portion of +it, but gave it all to the Church of S. Sophia, and therewith a part of +the sanctuary was overlaid with silver. Then Theodore and his wife, with +mutual consent, gave up the world and retired into monastic +institutions. + +Abram afterwards built and endowed an oratory near the Tetrastyle, and +Sergius ordained him priest and his two sons deacons. + +Thus ends this strange and very beautiful story, which I have merely +condensed from the somewhat prolix narrative of the Byzantine preacher. +The reader will probably agree with me that if sermons in the 19th +century were as entertaining as this of the 10th, fewer people would be +found to go to sleep during their delivery. + +I have told the tale as related by the preacher. But there are reasons +which awaken suspicion that he somewhat erred as to his dates; but that, +nevertheless the story is really not without a foundation of fact. +Towards the close of the oration the preacher points to the ambone, and +the thusiasterion, and bids his hearers remark how they are overlaid +with silver, and this he says was the silver that Abram, the wealthy +Jewish usurer, and Theodore, the merchant, gave to the Church of S. +Sophia. + +Now it happens that we have got a contemporary record of this overlaying +of the sanctuary with silver; we know from the pen of Procopius of Gaza +that it took place in the reign of Justinian in A.D. 537.[12] + +This was preparatory to the dedication of the great Church, when the +Emperor and the wealthy citizens of Byzantium were lavishly contributing +to the adornment of the glorious building. + +We can quite understand how that the new convert and the grateful +merchant were carried away by the current of the general enthusiasm, and +gave all their silver to the plating of the sanctuary of the new Church. +Procopius tells us that forty thousand pounds of silver were spent in +this work. Not all of this, however, could have been given by Abram and +Theodore. + +If this then were the date of the conversion of Abram, for Heraclius we +must read Justinian, and for Sergius we must substitute Mennas. As the +sermon was not preached till four hundred years after, the error can be +accounted for, one imperial benefactor of the Church was mistaken for +another. + +Now about the time of Justinian, we know from other sources that there +was a converted Jew named Abram who founded and built a church and +monastery in Constantinople, and which in after times was known as the +Abramite Monastery. We are told this by John Moschus. We can not fix the +exact date of the foundation, Moschus heard about A.D. 600 from the +abbot John Rutilus, who had heard it from Stephen the Moabite, that the +Monastery of the Abramites had been constructed by Abram who afterwards +was raised to the metropolitan See of Ephesus. We may put then the +foundation of the monastery at about A.D. 540. + +Now Abram of Ephesus succeeded Procopius who was bishop in 560; and his +successor was Rufinus in 597. The date of the elevation of Abram to the +metropolitan throne of Ephesus is not known exactly, but it was probably +about 565. + +There is, of course, much conjecture in thus identifying the usurer +Abram with Abram, Bishop of Ephesus; but there is certainly a +probability that they were identical; and if so, then one more pretty +story of the good man survives. After having built the monastery in +Constantinople, Moschus tells us that Abram went to Jerusalem, the home +to which a Jewish heart naturally turns, and there he set to work to +erect another monastery. Now there was among the workmen engaged on the +building a mason who ate but sparingly, conversed with none, but worked +diligently, and prayed much in his hours of relaxation from labour. + +Abram became interested in the man, and called him to him, and learned +from him his story. It was this. The mason had been a monk in the +Theodorian Monastery along with his brother. The brother weary of the +life, had left and fallen into grave moral disorders. Then this one now +acting as mason had gone after him, laid aside his cowl and undertaken +the same daily toil as the erring brother, that he might be with him, +waiting his time when by means of advice or example he might draw the +young man from his life of sin. But though he had laid aside the outward +emblems of his monastic profession, he kept the rule of life as closely +as he was able, cultivating prayer and silence and fasting. Then Abram +deeply moved, said to the monk-mason: "God will look on thy fraternal +charity; be of good courage, He will give thee thy brother at thy +petition." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[9] This account is taken from a sermon preached in the Church of St. +Sophia at Constantinople on Orthodoxy Sunday, printed by Combefisius +(Auctuarium novum, pars post. col. 644), from a MS. in the National +Library at Paris. Another copy of the sermon is in the Library at Turin. +The probable date of the composition is the tenth century. Orthodoxy +Sunday was not instituted till 842. + +[10] This famous figure was cast down and broken by Leo the Isaurian in +730, a riot ensued, the market-women interfering with the soldiers, who +were engaged on pulling down the figure, they shook the ladders and +threw down one who was engaged in hacking the face of the figure. This +led to the execution of ten persons, among them Gregory, head of the +bodyguard, and Mary, a lady of the Imperial family. The Empress Irene +set up a mosaic figure in its place. This was again destroyed by Leo the +Armenian, and again restored after his death by Theophilus in 829. + +[11] Sergius was patriarch of Constantinople between 610 and 638. He +embraced the Monothelite heresy. + +[12] Fabricius, Bibl. Græca, Ed. Harles, T.X. p. 124, 125. + + + + +Sophie Apitzsch. + + +"Some are born great," said Malvolio, strutting in yellow stockings, +cross-gartered, before Olivia, "some achieve greatness," and with a +smile, "some have greatness thrust upon them." + +Of the latter was Sophie Sabine Apitzsch. She was not born great, she +was the daughter of an armourer. She hardly can be said to have achieved +greatness, though she did attain to notoriety; what greatness she had +was thrust on her, not altogether reluctant to receive it. But the +greatness was not much, and was of an ambiguous description. She was +treated for a while as a prince in disguise, and then became the theme +of an opera, of a drama, and of a novel. For a hundred years her +top-boots were preserved as historical relics in the archives of the +House of Saxony, till in 1813 a Cossack of the Russian army passing +through Augustenburg, saw, desired, tried on, and marched off with them; +and her boots entered Paris with the Allies. + +About five-and-twenty miles from Dresden lived in 1714 a couple of +landed proprietors, the one called Volkmar, and the other von Günther, +who fumed with fiery hostility against each other, and the cause of +disagreement was, that the latter wrote himself von Günther. Now, to get +a _von_ before the name makes a great deal of difference: it purifies, +nay, it alters the colour of the blood, turning it from red to blue. No +one in Germany can prefix _von_ to his name as any one in England can +append Esq. to his. He must receive authorisation by diploma of nobility +from his sovereign. + +George von Günther had been, not long before, plain George Günther, but +in 1712 he had obtained from the Emperor Charles VI. a patent of +nobility, or gentility, they are the same abroad, and the motive that +moved his sacred apostolic majesty to grant the patent was--as set forth +therein--that an ancestor of George Günther of the same name "had sat +down to table with the elector John George II. of Saxony;" and it was +inconceivable that a mere citizen could have been suffered to do this, +unless there were some nobility in him. George von Günther possessed an +estate which was a manor, a knight's fee, at Jägerhof, and he was +moreover upper Forester and Master of the Fisheries to the King-elector +of Saxony, and Sheriff of Chemnitz and Frankenberg. He managed to marry +his daughters to men blessed with _von_ before their names, one to von +Bretschneider, Privy-Councillor of War, the other to a Major von +Wöllner. + +Now, all this was gall and wormwood to Councillor-of-Agriculture, Daniel +Volkmar, who lived on his paternal acres at Hetzdorf, of which he was +hereditary chief magistrate by virtue of his lordship of the acres. This +man had made vain efforts to be ennobled. He could not find that any +ancestor of his had sat at table with an elector; and, perhaps, he could +not scrape together sufficient money to induce his sacred apostolic +majesty to overlook this defect. As he could not get his diploma, he +sought how he might injure his more fortunate neighbour, and this he did +by spying out his acts, watching for neglect of his duties to the fishes +or the game, and reporting him anonymously to head-quarters. Günther +knew well enough who it was that sought to injure him, and, as Volkmar +believed, had invited some of the gamekeepers to shoot him; accordingly, +Volkmar never rode or walked in the neighbourhood of the royal forests +and fish-ponds unarmed, and without servants carrying loaded muskets. + +One day a brother magistrate, Pöckel by name, came over to see him about +a matter that puzzled him. There had appeared in the district under his +jurisdiction a young man, tall, well-built, handsome, but slightly +small-pox-pitted, who had been arrested by the police for blowing a +hunting-horn. Now ignoble lips might not touch a hunting-horn, and for +any other than breath that issued out of noble lungs to sound a note on +such a horn was against the laws. + +"Oh," said Volkmar, "if he has done this, and is not a gentleman--lock +him up. What is his name?" + +"He calls himself Karl Marbitz." + +"But I, even I, may not blow a blast on a horn--that scoundrel Günther +may. Deal with the fellow Marbitz with the utmost severity." + +"But--suppose he may have the necessary qualification?" + +"How can he without a von before his name?" + +"Suppose he be a nobleman, or something even higher, in disguise?" + +"What, in disguise? Travelling incognito? Our Crown Prince is not at +Dresden."[13] + +"Exactly. All kinds of rumours are afloat concerning this young man, who +is, indeed, about the Crown Prince's age; he has been lodging with a +baker at Aue, and there blowing the horn." + +"I'll go with you and see him. I will stand bail for him. Let him come +to me. Hah-hah! George von Günther, hah-hah!" + +So Volkmar, already more than half disposed to believe that the +horn-blower was a prince in disguise, rode over to the place where he +was in confinement, saw him, and lost what little doubt he had. The +upright carriage, the aristocratic cast of features, the stand-off +manners, all betokened the purest of blue blood--all were glimmerings of +that halo which surrounds sovereignty. + +The Crown Prince of Saxony was away--it was alleged, in France--making +the grand tour, but, was it not more likely that he was going the round +of the duchy of Saxony, inquiring into the wants and wrongs of the +people? If so, who could better assist him to the knowledge of these +things, than he, Volkmar, and who could better open his eyes to the +delinquencies of high-placed, high-salaried officials--notably of the +fisheries and forests? + +"There is one thing shakes my faith," said Pöckel: "our Crown Prince is +not small-pox marked." + +"That is nothing," answered Volkmar eagerly. "His Serenity has caught +the infection in making his studies among the people." + +"And then--he is so shabbily dressed." + +"That is nothing--it is the perfection of disguise." + +Volkmar carried off the young man to his house, and showed him the +greatest respect, insisted on his sitting in the carriage facing the +horses, and would on no account take a place at his side, but seated +himself deferentially opposite him. + +On reaching Hetzdorf, Volkmar introduced his wife and his daughter +Joanna to the distinguished prince, who behaved to them very graciously, +and with the most courtly air expressed himself charmed with the room +prepared for him. + +Dinner was served, and politics were discussed; the reserve with which +the guest treated such subjects, the caution with which he expressed an +opinion, served to deepen in Volkmar's mind the conviction that he had +caught the Crown Prince travelling incog. After the servants had +withdrawn, and when a good deal of wine--the best in the cellar--had +been drunk, the host said confidentially in a whisper, "I see clearly +enough what you are." + +"Indeed," answered the guest, "I can tell you what I am--by trade an +armourer." + +"Ah, ha! but by birth--what?" said Volkmar, slyly, holding up his glass +and winking over it. + +"Well," answered the guest, "I will admit this--I am not what I appear." + +"And may I further ask your--I mean you--where you are at home?" + +"I am a child of Saxony," was the answer. + +Afterwards, at the trial, the defendant insisted that this was exactly +the reply made, whereas Volkmar asserted that the words were, "I am a +child of the House of Saxony." But there can be no doubt that his +imagination supplemented the actual words used with those he wished to +hear. + +"The small-pox has altered you since you left home," said Volkmar. + +"Very likely. I have had the small-pox since I left my home." + +Volkmar at once placed his house, his servants, his purse, at the +disposal of his guest, and his offer was readily accepted. + +It is now advisable to turn back and explain the situation, by relating +the early history of this person, who passed under the name of Karl +Marbitz, an armourer; but whom a good number of people suspected of +being something other than what he gave himself out to be, though only +Volkmar and Pöckel and one or two others supposed him to be the Crown +Prince of Saxony. + +Sophie Sabine Apitzsch was born at Lunzenau in Saxony in 1692, was well +brought up, kept to school, and learned to write orthographically, and +to have a fair general knowledge of history and geography. When she left +school she was employed by her father in his trade, which was that of an +armourer. She was tall and handsome, somewhat masculine--in after years +a Cossack got into her boots--had the small-pox, which, however, only +slightly disfigured her. In 1710 she had a suitor, a gamekeeper, +Melchior Leonhart. But Sophie entertained a rooted dislike to marriage, +and she kept her lover off for three years, till her father peremptorily +ordered her to marry Melchior, and fixed the day for the wedding. Then +Sophie one night got out of her own clothing, stepped into her father's +best suit, and walked away in the garments of a man, and shortly +afterwards appeared in Anspach under a feigned name, as a barber's +assistant. Here she got into difficulties with the police, as she had no +papers of legitimation, and to escape them, enlisted. She carried a +musket for a month only, deserted, and resumed her vagabond life in +civil attire, as a barber's assistant, and came to Leipzig, where she +lodged at the Golden Cock. How she acquired the art, and how those liked +it on whose faces she made her experiments with the razor, we are not +told. + +At the Golden Cock lodged an athletic lady of the name of Anna Franke, +stout, muscular, and able to lift great weights with her teeth, and with +a jerk throw them over her shoulders. Anna Franke gave daily exhibitions +of her powers, and on the proceeds maintained herself and her daughter, +a girl of seventeen. The stout and muscular lady also danced on a tight +rope, which with her bounces acted like a taut bowstring, projecting the +athlete high into the air. + +The Fräulein Franke very speedily fell in love with the fine young +barber, and proposed to her mother that Herr Karl should be taken into +the concern, as he would be useful to stretch the ropes, and go round +for coppers. Sophie was nothing loth to have her inn bill paid on these +terms, but when finally the bouncing mother announced that her +daughter's hand was at the disposal of Karl, then the situation became +even more embarrassing than that at home from which Sophie had run away. +The barber maintained her place as long as she could, but at last, when +the endearments of the daughter became oppressive, and the urgency of +the mother for speedy nuptials became vexatious, she pretended that the +father, who was represented as a well-to-do citizen of Hamburg, must +first be consulted. On this plea Sophie borrowed of Mother Franke the +requisite money for her journey and departed, promising to return in a +few weeks. Instead of fulfilling her promise, Sophie wrote to ask for a +further advance of money, and when this was refused, disappeared +altogether from the knowledge of the athlete and her daughter. + +On this second flight from marriage, Sophie Apitzsch met with an +armourer named Karl Marbitz, and by some means or other contrived to get +possession of his pass, leaving him instead a paper of legitimation made +out under the name of Karl Gottfried, which old Mother Franke had +induced the police to grant to the young barber who was engaged to marry +her daughter. + +In June 1714, under the name of Marbitz, Sophie appeared among the +Erz-Gebirge, the chain of mountains that separate Saxony from Bohemia, +and begged her way from place to place, pretending to be a schoolmaster +out of employ. After rambling about for some time, she took up her +quarters with a baker at Elterlein. Here it was that for the first time +a suspicion was aroused that she was a person of greater consequence +than she gave out. The rumour reached the nearest magistrate that there +was a mysterious stranger there who wore a ribbon and star of some +order, and he at once went to the place to make inquiries, but found +that Sophie had neither ribbon nor order, and that her papers declared +in proper form who and what she was. At this time she fell ill at the +baker's house, and the man, perhaps moved by the reports abroad +concerning her, was ready to advance her money to the amount of £6 or +£7. When recovered, she left the village where she had been ill, and +went to another one, where she took up her abode with another baker, +named Fischer, whom she helped in his trade, or went about practising +upon the huntsman's horn. + +This amusement it was which brought her into trouble. Possibly she may +not have known that the horn was a reserved instrument that might not be +played by the ignoble. + +At the time that Volkmar took her out of the lockup, and carried her off +to his mansion in his carriage, she was absolutely without money, in +threadbare black coat, stockings ill darned, and her hair very much in +want of powder. + +Hitherto her associates had been of the lowest classes; she had been +superior to them in education, in morals, and in character, and had to +some extent imposed on them. They acknowledged in her an undefined +dignity and quiet reserve, with unquestioned superiority in attainments +and general tone of mind, and this they attributed to her belonging to a +vastly higher class in society. + +Now, all at once she was translated into another condition of life, one +in which she had never moved before; but she did not lose her head; she +maintained the same caution and reserve in it, and never once exposed +her ignorance so as to arouse suspicion that she was not what people +insisted on believing her to be. She was sufficiently shrewd never by +word to compromise herself, and afterwards, when brought to trial, she +insisted that she had not once asserted that she was other than Karl +Marbitz the armourer. Others had imagined she was a prince, but she had +not encouraged them in their delusion by as much as a word. That, no +doubt, was true, but she accepted the honours offered and presents made +her under this erroneous impression, without an attempt to open the eyes +of the deluded to their own folly. + +Perhaps this was more than could be expected of her. "Foolery," said the +clown in "Twelfth Night," "does walk about the orb, like the sun; it +shines everywhere"--and what are fools but the natural prey of the +clever? + +Sophie had been ill, reduced to abject poverty, was in need of good +food, new clothes, and shelter; all were offered, even forced upon her. +Was she called upon to reject them? She thought not. + +Now that Volkmar had a supposed prince under his roof he threw open his +house to the neighbourhood, and invited every gentleman he knew--except +the von Günthers. He provided the prince with a coat of scarlet cloth +frogged and laced with gold, with a new hat, gave him a horse, filled +his purse, and provided him with those identical boots in which a +century later a Cossack marched into Paris. + +She was addressed by her host and hostess as "Your Highness," and "Your +Serenity," and they sought to kiss her hand, but she waived away these +exhibitions of servility, saying, "Let be--we will regard each other as +on a common level." Once Volkmar said slyly to her, "What would your +august father say if he knew you were here?" + +"He would be surprised," was all the answer that could be drawn from +her. One day the newspaper contained information of the Crown Prince's +doings in Paris with his tutor and attendants. Volkmar pointed it out to +her with a twinkle of the eye, saying, "Do not suppose I am to be +hoodwinked by such attempts to deceive the public as that." + +In the mornings when the pseudo prince left the bedroom, outside the +door stood Herr Volkmar, cap in hand, bowing. As he offered her a pinch +of snuff from a gold _tabatière_ one day, he saw her eyes rest on it; he +at once said, "This belonged formerly to the Königsmark." + +"Then," she replied, "it will have the double initials on it. 'A' for +Aurora." + +Now, argued Volkmar, how was it likely that his guest should know the +scandalous story of Augustus I. and the fair Aurora of Königsmark, +mother of the famous French marshal, unless he had belonged to the royal +family of Saxony?[14] He left out of account that Court scandal is +talked about everywhere, and is in the mouths of all. Then he presented +her with the snuff-box. Next he purchased for her a set of silver plate +for her cover, and ordered a ribbon and a star of diamonds, because it +became one of such distinguished rank not to appear without a +decoration! As the girl said afterwards at her trial, she had but to +hint a desire for anything, and it was granted her at once. Her host +somewhat bored her with political disquisitions; he was desirous of +impressing on his illustrious guest what a political genius he was, and +in his own mind had resolved to become prime minister of Saxony in the +place of the fallen Beichlingen, who was said to have made so much money +out of the State that he could buy a principality, and who, indeed, +struck a medal with his arms on it surmounted by a princely crown. + +But Volkmar's ambition went further. As already stated he had a +daughter--the modest Joanna; what a splendid opportunity was in the +hands of the scheming parents! If the young prince formed an attachment +for Joanna, surely he might get the emperor to elevate her by diploma to +the rank of a princess, and thus Volkmar would see his Joanna Queen of +Poland and Electress of Saxony. He and Frau Volkmar were far too good +people to scheme to get their daughter such a place as the old +Königsmark had occupied with the reigning sovereign. Besides, Königsmark +had been merely created a countess, and who would crave to be a countess +when she might be Queen? and a favourite, when, by playing her cards +well, she might become a legitimate wife? + +So the old couple threw Joanna at the head of their guest, and did their +utmost to entangle him. In the meantime the von Günthers were flaming +with envy and rage. They no more doubted that the Volkmars had got the +Crown Prince living with them, than did the Volkmars themselves. The +whole neighbourhood flowed to the entertainments given in his honour at +Hetzdorf; only the von Günthers were shut out. But von Günther met the +mysterious stranger at one or two of the return festivities given by the +gentry who had been entertained at Hetzdorf, and he seized on one of +these occasions boldly to invite his Highness to pay him also a visit at +his "little place;" and what was more than he expected, the offer was +accepted. + +In fact, the Apitzsch who had twice run away from matrimony, was +becoming embarrassed again by the tenderness of Joanna and the ambition +of the parents. + +The dismay of the Volkmars passes description when their guest informed +them he was going to pay a visit to the hated rivals. + +Sophie was fetched away in the von Günther carriage, and by servants put +into new liveries for the occasion, and was received and entertained +with the best at Jägerhof. Here, also, presents were made; among others +a silver cover for table was given her by the daughter of her host, who +had married a major, and who hoped, in return, to see her husband +advanced to be a general. + +She was taken to see the royal castle of Augustusburg, and here a little +difference of testimony occurs as to the observation she made in the +chapel, which was found to be without an organ. At her trial it was +asserted that she had said, "I must order an organ," but she positively +swore she had said, "An organ ought to be provided." She was taken also +to the mansion of the Duke of Holstein at Weisenburg, where she +purchased one of his horses--that is to say, agreed to take it, and let +her hosts find the money. + +The visit to the von Günthers did not last ten days, and then she was +back again with the Volkmars, to their exuberant delight. Why she +remained so short a time at Jägerhof does not appear. Possibly she may +have been there more in fear of detection than at Hetzdorf. Now that the +Volkmars had her back they would not let her out of their sight. They +gave her two servants in livery to attend her; they assured her that her +absence had so affected Joanna that the girl had done nothing but weep, +and had refused to eat. They began to press in their daughter's interest +for a declaration of intentions, and that negotiations with the Emperor +should be opened that a title of princess of the Holy Roman Empire might +be obtained for her as preliminary to the nuptials. + +Sophie Apitzsch saw that she must again make a bolt to escape the +marriage ring, and she looked about for an opportunity. But there was no +evading the watch of the Volkmars, who were alarmed lest their guest +should again go to the hated von Günthers. + +Well would it have been for the Volkmars had they kept the "prince" +under less close surveillance, and allowed him to succeed in his +attempts to get away. It would have been to their advantage in many +ways. + +A fortnight or three weeks passed, and the horse bought of the Duke of +Holstein had not been sent In fact the Duke, when the matter was +communicated to him, was puzzled. He knew that the Crown Prince was in +Paris, and could not have visited his stables, and promised to purchase +his horse. So he instituted inquiries before he consented to part with +the horse, and at once the bubble burst. Police arrived at Hetzdorf to +arrest the pretender, and convey her to Augustusburg, where she was +imprisoned, till her trial. This was in February, 1715. In her prison +she had an apoplectic stroke, but recovered. Sentence was pronounced +against her by the court at Leipzig in 1716, that she should be publicly +whipped out of the country. That is to say, sent from town to town, and +whipped in the market-place of each, till she was sent over the +frontier. In consideration of her having had a stroke, the king commuted +the sentence to whipping in private, and imprisonment at his majesty's +pleasure. + +She does not seem to have been harshly treated by the gaoler of +Waldheim, the prison to which she was sent. She was given her own room, +she dined at the table of the gaoler, continued to wear male clothes, +and was cheerful, obedient, and contented. In 1717 both she and her +father appealed to the king for further relaxation of her sentence, but +this was refused. The prison authorities gave her the best testimony for +good conduct whilst in their hands. + +In the same year, 1717, the unfortunate Volkmar made a claim for the +scarlet coat--which he said the moths were likely to eat unless placed +on some one's back--the gold snuff-box, the silver spoons, dishes, +forks, the horse, the watch, and various other things he had given +Sophie, being induced to do so by false representations. The horse as +well as the plate, the star, the snuff-box, the coat and the boots had +all been requisitioned as evidence before her trial. The question was a +hard one to solve, whether Herr Volkmar could recover presents, and it +had to be transmitted from one court to another. An order of court dated +January, 1722, required further evidence to be produced before purse, +coat, boots, &c., could be returned to Volkmar--that is, _seven_ years +after they had been taken into the custody of the Court. The horse must +have eaten more than his cost by this time, and the coat must have lost +all value through moth-eating. The cost of proceedings was heavy, and +Volkmar then withdrew from his attempt to recover the objects given to +the false prince. + +But already--long before, by decree of October 1717--Sophie Apitzsch had +been liberated. She left prison in half male, half female costume, and +in this dress took service with a baker at Waldheim; and we hear no more +of her, whether she married, and when she died. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[13] Augustus the Strong was King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. + +[14] Aurora v. Königsmark went out of favour in 1698--probably then sold +the gold snuff-box. She died in 1728. + + + + +Peter Nielsen. + + +On the 29th day of April in the year 1465, died Henry Strangebjerg, +bishop of Ribe in Denmark, after having occupied the See for just ten +years. For some days before his decease public, official prayer had been +made for his recovery by the Cathedral Chapter, but in their hearts the +Canons were impatient for his departure. Not, be it understood, that the +Bishop was an unworthy occupant of the See of Liafdag the Martyr--on the +contrary, he had been a man of exemplary conduct; nor because he was +harsh in his rule--on the contrary, he had been a lenient prelate. The +reason why, when official prayer was made for his recovery, it was +neutralised by private intercession for his removal, was solely +this--his removal opened a prospect of advancement. + +The Cathedral Chapter of Ribe consisted of fifteen Canons, and a Dean or +Provost, all men of family, learning and morals. Before the doctors had +shaken their heads over the sick bed of Henry Strangebjerg, it was known +throughout Ribe that there would be four candidates for the vacant +throne. It was, of course, impossible for more than one man to be +elected; but as the election lay entirely and uncontrolledly in the +hands of the Chapter, it was quite possible for a Canon to make a good +thing out of an election without being himself elected. The bishops +nominated to many benefices, and there existed then no law against +pluralities. The newly chosen prelate, if he had a spark of gratitude, +must reward those faithful men who had made him bishop. + +At 4 p.m. on April 29th the breath left the body of Henry Strangebjerg. +At 4.15 p.m. the Chapter were rubbing their hands and drawing sighs of +relief. But Thomas Lange, the Dean, rubbed his hands and drew his sigh +of relief ten minutes earlier, viz., at 4.5 p.m., for he stood by the +bed of the dying bishop. At 3.25 p.m. Thomas Lange's nerves had received +a great shock, for a flicker as of returning life had manifested itself +in the sick man, and for a few minutes he really feared he might +recover. At 4.10 p.m. Hartwig Juel, the Archdeacon, who had been +standing outside the bishop's door, was seen running down the corridor +with a flush in his cheeks. Through the keyhole he had heard the Dean +exclaim: "Thank God!" and when he heard that pious ejaculation, he knew +that all dread of the Bishop's restoration was over. It was not till so +late as 4.20 p.m. that Olaf Petersen knew it. Olaf was kneeling in the +Cathedral, in the Chapel of St. Lambert, the yellow chapel as it was +called, absorbed in devotion, consequently the news did not reach him +till five minutes after the Chapter, twenty minutes after the vacation +of the See. Olaf Petersen was a very holy man; he was earnest and +sincere. He was, above everything, desirous of the welfare of the Church +and the advancement of religion. He was ascetic, denying himself in +food, sleep and clothing, and was profuse in his alms and in his +devotions. He saw the worldliness, the self-seeking, the greed of gain +and honours that possessed his fellows, and he was convinced that one +thing was necessary for the salvation of Christianity in Ribe, and that +one thing was his own election to the See. + +The other candidates were moved by selfish interests. He cared only for +true religion. Providence would do a manifest injustice if it did not +take cognizance of his integrity and interfere to give him the mitre. He +was resolved to use no unworthy means to secure it. He would make no +promises, offer no bribes--that is, to his fellow Canons, but he +promised a silver candlestick to St. Lambert, and bribed St. Gertrude to +intervene with the assurance of a pilgrimage to her shrine. + +We have mentioned only three of the candidates. The fourth was Jep +Mundelstrup, an old and amiable man, who had not thrust himself forward, +but had been put forward by his friends, who considered him sufficiently +malleable to be moulded to their purposes. + +Jep was, as has been said, old; he was so old that it was thought (and +hoped), if chosen, his tenure of office would be but brief. Four or five +years--under favourable circumstances, such as a changeable winter, a +raw spring with east winds--he might drop off even sooner, and leave the +mitre free for another scramble. + +The Kings of Denmark no longer nominated to the Sees, sent no _congé +d'élire_ to the Chapter. They did not even appoint to the Canonries. +Consequently the Canons had everything pretty much their own way, and +had only two things to consider, to guide their determination--the good +of the Church and their own petty interests. The expression "good of +the Church" demands comment. "The good of the Church" was the motive, +the only recognised motive, on which the Chapter were supposed to act. +Practically, however, it was non-existent as a motive. It was a mere +figure of speech used to cloak selfish ambition. + +From this sweeping characterisation we must, however, exclude Olaf +Petersen, who did indeed regard pre-eminently the good of the Church, +but then that good was, in his mind, inextricably involved with his own +fortunes. He was the man to make religion a living reality. He was the +man to bring the Church back to primitive purity. He could not blind his +eyes to the fact that not one of the Canons beside himself cared a +farthing for spiritual matters; therefore he desired the mitre for his +own brows. + +The conclave at which the election was to be made was fixed for the +afternoon of the day on which Henry Strangebjerg was to be buried, and +the burial was appointed to take place as soon as was consistent with +decency. + +The whole of the time between the death and the funeral was taken up by +the Canons with hurrying to and from each other's residences, canvassing +for votes. + +Olaf Petersen alone refrained from canvassing, he spent his whole time +in fasting and prayer, so anxious was he for the welfare of the Church +and the advancement of true religion. + +At length--Boom! Boom! Boom! The great bell of the minster tower +summoned the Chapter to the hall of conclave. Every Canon was in his +place, fifteen Canons and the provost, sixteen in all. It was certain +that the provost, although chairman, would claim his right to vote, and +exercise it, voting for himself. It was ruled that all voting should be +open, for two reasons--that the successful candidate might know who had +given him their shoulders on which to mount, and so reward these +shoulders by laying many benefices upon them, and secondly, that he +might know who had been his adversaries, and so might exclude them from +preferments. Every one believed he would be on the winning side, no one +supposed the other alternative possible. + +The candidates, as already intimated, were four. Thomas Lange, the Dean, +who belonged to a good, though not wealthy family. He had been in +business before taking orders, and brought with him into the Church +practical shrewdness and business habits. He had husbanded well the +resources of the Chapter, and had even enlarged its revenue by the +purchase of three farms and a manor. + +The second candidate, Hartwig Juel, was a member of a powerful noble +family. His brother was at Court and highly regarded by King Christian. +His election would gratify the king. Hartwig Juel was Archdeacon. + +The third candidate was the good old Jep Mundelstrup; and the fourth was +the representative of the ascetic, religious party, which was also the +party of reform, Olaf Petersen. + +The Dean was, naturally, chairman. Before taking the chair he announced +his intention of voting. The four candidates were proposed, and the +votes taken. + +The Dean numbered 4. + +Hartwig Juel numbered 4. + +Jep Mundelstrup numbered 4. + +Olaf Petersen numbered 4. + +Moreover, each candidate had voted for himself. + +What was to be done? The Chapter sat silent, looking about them in each +others' faces. + +Then the venerable Jep Mundelstrup, assisted by those who sat by him, +staggered to his feet, and leaning on his staff, he mumbled forth this +address: "My reverend brothers, it was wholly without my desire and not +in furtherance of any ambition of mine, that my name was put up as that +of a candidate for the vacant mitre of the Holy See of Ribe. I am old +and infirm. With the patriarch Jacob I may say, 'Few and evil have been +the days of the years of my life.' and I am not worthy to receive so +great an honour. Evil my days have been, because I have had only my +Canonry and one sorry living to support me; and there are comforts I +should desire in my old age which I cannot afford. My health is not +sound. I shrink from the responsibilities and labours of a bishopric. If +I withdraw my candidature, I feel confident that the successful +candidate will not forget my infirmities, and the facility I have +afforded for his election. I decline to stand, and at the same time, +lest I should seem to pose in opposition to three of my excellent +brethren, I decline also to vote." Then he sat down, amidst general +applause. + +Here was an unexpected simplification of matters. The Dean and Hartwig +Juel cast kindly, even affectionate glances at those who had previously +voted for Jep, Olaf Petersen looked up to heaven and prayed. + +Again, the votes were taken, and again the chairman claimed his right to +vote. + +When taken they stood thus: + +The Dean, 5. + +Hartwig Juel, 5. + +Olaf Petersen, 5. + +What was to be done? Again the Chapter sat silent, rubbing their chins, +and casting furtive glances at each other. The Chapter was adjourned to +the same hour on the morrow. The intervening hours were spent in +negociations between the several parties, and attempts made by the two +first in combination to force Olaf Petersen to resign his candidature. +But Olaf was too conscientious a man to do this. He felt that the +salvation of souls depended on his staying the plague like Phinehas with +his censer. + +Boom! Boom! Boom! The Cathedral bell again summoned the conclave to the +Chapter House. + +Before proceeding to business the Dean, as chairman, addressed the +electors. He was an eloquent man, and he set in moving words before them +the solemnity of the duty imposed on them, the importance of considering +only the welfare of the Church, and the responsibility that would weigh +on them should they choose an unworthy prelate. He conjured them in +tones vibrating with pathos, to put far from them all self-seeking +thoughts, and to be guided only by conscience. Then he sat down. The +votes were again taken. Jep Mundelstrup again shaking his head, and +refusing to vote. When counted, they stood thus. + +Thomas Lange, 5. + +Hartwig Juel, 5. + +Olaf Petersen, 5. + +Then up started the Dean, very red in the face, and said, "Really this +is preposterous! Are we to continue this farce? Some of the brethren +must yield for the general good. I would cheerfully withdraw my +candidature, but for one consideration. You all know that the temporal +affairs of the See have fallen into confusion. Our late excellent +prelate was not a man of business, and there has been alienation, and +underletting, and racking out of church lands, which I have marked with +anxiety, and which I am desirous to remedy. You all know that I have +this one good quality, I am a business man, understand account keeping, +and look sharp after the pecuniary interests of the Chapter lands. It is +essential that the lands of the See should be attended to by some +practical man like myself, therefore I do not withdraw from my +candidature, but therefore only--" + +Then up sprang Hartwig Juel, and said, "The very Reverend the Dean has +well said, this farce must not continue. Some must yield if a bishop is +to be elected. I would cheerfully withdraw from candidature but for one +little matter. I hold in my hand a letter received this morning from my +brother, who tells me that his most gracious majesty, King Christian, +expressed himself to my brother in terms of hope that I should be +elected. You, my reverend brothers, all know that we are living in a +critical time when it is most necessary that a close relation, a +cordial relation, should be maintained between the Church and the State. +Therefore, in the political interests of the See, but only in these +interests, I cannot withdraw my candidature." + +Then all eyes turned on Olaf Petersen. His face was pale, his lips set. +He stood up, and leaning forward said firmly, "The pecuniary and the +political interests of the See are as nothing to me, its spiritual +interests are supreme. Heaven is my witness, I have no personal ambition +to wear the mitre. I know it will cause exhausting labour and terrible +responsibilities, from which I shrink. Nevertheless, seeing as I do that +this is a period in the history of the Church when self-seeking and +corruption have penetrated her veins and are poisoning her life-blood, +seeing as I do that unless there be a revival of religion, and an +attempt at reform be made within the Church, there will ensue such a +convulsion as will overthrow her, therefore, and only therefore do I +feel that I can not withdraw from my candidature." + +"Very well," said the Dean in a crusty tone. "There is nothing for it +but for us to vote again. Now at least we have clear issues before us, +the temporal, the political, and the spiritual interests of the Church." +The votes were again taken, and stood thus. + +The temporal interests, 5. + +The political interests, 5. + +The spiritual interests, 5. + +Here was a dead lock. It was clear that parties were exactly divided, +and that none would yield. + +After a pause of ten minutes, Jep Mundelstrup was again helped to his +feet. He looked round the Chapter with blinking eyes, and opened and +shut his mouth several times before he came to speak. At last he said, +in faltering tones, "My reverend brethren, it is clear to me that my +resignation has complicated, rather than helped matters forward. Do not +think I am about to renew my candidature, _that_ I am not, but I am +going to make a proposition to which I hope you will give attentive +hearing. If we go on in this manner, we shall elect no one, and then his +Majesty, whom God bless, will step in and nominate." + +"Hear, hear!" from the adherents of Hartwig Juel. + +"I do not for a moment pretend that the nominee of his Majesty would not +prove an excellent bishop, but I do fear that a nomination by the crown +would be the establishment of a dangerous precedent." + +"Hear! hear!" from the adherents of Olaf Petersen. + +"At the same time it must be borne in mind that the temporal welfare of +the See ought to be put in the hands of some one conversant with the +condition into which they have been allowed to lapse." + +"Hear! hear!" from the adherents of Thomas Lange. + +"I would suggest, as we none of us can agree, that we refer the decision +to an umpire." + +General commotion, and whispers, and looks of alarm. + +"How are we to obtain one at once conversant with the condition of the +diocese, and not a partizan?" asked the Dean. + +"There is a wretched little village in the midst of the Roager Heath, +cut off from communication with the world, in which lives a priest named +Peter Nielsen on his cure, a man who is related to no one here, belongs, +I believe, to no gentle family, and, therefore, would have no family +interests one way or the other to bias him. He has the character of +being a shrewd man of business, some of the estates of the Church are on +the Roager Heath, and he knows how they have been treated, and I have +always heard that he is a good preacher and an indefatigable parish +priest. Let him be umpire. I can think of none other who would not be a +partizan." + +The proposition was so extraordinary and unexpected that the Chapter, at +first, did not know what to think of it. Who was this Peter Nielsen? No +one knew of him anything more than what Jep Mundelstrup had said, and +he, it was believed, had drawn largely on his imagination for his facts. +Indeed, he was the least known man among the diocesan clergy. It was +disputed whether he was a good preacher. Who had heard him? no one. Was +it true that he was not a gentleman by birth? No one knew to what family +he belonged. In default of any other solution to the dead lock in which +the Chapter stood, it was agreed by all that the selection of a bishop +for Ribe should be left to Peter Nielsen of Roager. + +That same day, indeed as soon after the dissolution of the meeting as +was possible, one of the Canons mounted his horse, and rode away to the +Roager Heath. + +The village of Ro or Raa-ager, literally the rough or barren field, lay +in the dead flat of sandy heath that occupies so large a portion of the +centre and west coast of Jutland, and which goes by various names, as +Randböll Heath and Varde Moor. In many places it is mere fen, where the +water lies and stagnates. In others it is a dry waste of sand strewn +with coarse grass and a few scant bushes. The village itself consisted +of one street of cottages thatched with turf, and with walls built of +the same, heather and grass sprouting from the interstices of the +blocks. The church was little more dignified than the hovels. It was +without tower and bell. Near the church was the parsonage. + +The Canon descended from his cob; he had ridden faster than was his +wont, and was hot. He drew his sleeve across his face and bald head, and +then threw the bridle over the gate-post. + +In the door of the parsonage stood a short, stout, rosy-faced, dark-eyed +woman, with two little children pulling at her skirts. This was Maren +Grubbe, the housekeeper of the pastor, at least that was her official +designation. She had been many years at Roager with Peter Nielsen, and +was believed to manage him as well as the cattle and pigs and poultry of +the glebe. From behind her peered a shock-headed boy of about eight +years with a very dirty face and cunning eyes. + +The Canon stood and looked at the woman, then at the children, and the +woman and children stood and looked at him. + +"Is this the house of the priest, Peter Nielsen?" he asked. + +"Certainly, do you want him?" inquired the housekeeper. + +"I have come from Ribe to see him on diocesan business." + +"Step inside," said the housekeeper curtly. "His reverence is not in the +house at this moment, he is in the church saying his offices." + +"That's lies!" shouted the dirty boy from behind. "Dada is in the +pigstye setting a trap for the rats." + +"Hold your tongue, Jens!" exclaimed the woman, giving the boy a cuff +which knocked him over. Then to the Canon she said, "Take a seat and I +will go to the church after him." + +She went out with the two smaller children staggering at her skirts, +tumbling, picking themselves up, going head over heels, crowing and +squealing. + +When she was outside the house, the dirty boy sat upright on the floor, +winked at the Canon, crooked his fingers, and said, "Follow me, and I +will show you Dada." + +The bald-headed ecclesiastic rose, and guided by the boy went into a +back room, through a small window in which he saw into the pig-styes, +and there, without his coat, in a pair of stained and patched breeches, +and a blue worsted night-cap, over ankles in filth, was the parish +priest engaged in setting a rat-trap. Outside, in the yard, the pigs +were enjoying their freedom. Leisurely round the corner came the +housekeeper with the satellites. "There, Peers!" said she, "There is a +reverend gentleman from the cathedral come after thee." + +"Then," said the pastor, slowly rising, "do thou, Maren, keep out of +sight, and especially be careful not to produce the brats. Their +presence opens the door to misconstruction." + +The Canon stole back to his seat, mopped his brow and head, and thought +to himself that the Chapter had put the selection of a chief pastor into +very queer hands. The nasty little boy began to giggle and snuffle +simultaneously. "Have you seen Dada? Dada saying his prayers in there." + +"Who are you?" asked the ecclesiastic stiffly of the child. + +"I'm Jens," answered the boy. + +"I know you are Jens, I heard your mother call you so. I presume that +person is your mother." + +"That is my mother, but Dada is not my dada." + +"O, Jens, boy, Jens! Truth above all things. Magna est veritas et +prævalebit." The Reverend Peter Nielsen entered, clean, in a cassock, +and with a shovel hat on his head. + +"The children whom you have seen," said Peter Nielsen, "are the nephews +and nieces of my worthy housekeeper, Maria Grubbe. She is a charitable +woman, and as her sister is very poor, and has a large family, my Maren, +I mean my housekeeper, takes charge of some of the overflow."[15] + +"It is a great burden to you," said the Canon. + +Peter Nielsen shrugged his shoulders. "To clothe the naked and give +food to the hungry are deeds of mercy." + +"I quite understand, quite," said the Canon. + +"I only mentioned it," continued the parish priest, "lest you should +suppose--" + +"I quite understand," said the Canon, interrupting him, with a bow and a +benignant smile. + +"And now," said Peter Nielsen, "I am at your service." + +Thereupon the Canon unfolded to his astonished hearer the nature of his +mission. The pastor sat listening attentively with his head bowed, and +his hands planted on his knees. Then, when his visitor had done +speaking, he thrust his left hand into his trouser pocket and produced a +palmful of carraway seed. He put some into his mouth, and began to chew +it; whereupon the whole room became scented with carraway. + +"I am fond of this seed," said the priest composedly, whilst he turned +over the grains in his hand with the five fingers of his right. "It is +good for the stomach, and it clears the brain. So I understand that +there are three parties?" + +"Exactly, there is that of Olaf Petersen, a narrow, uncompromising man, +very sharp on the morals of the clergy; there is also that of the Dean, +Thomas Lange, an ambitious and scheming ecclesiastic; and there is +lastly that of the Archdeacon Hartwig Juel, one of the most amiable men +in the world." + +"And you incline strongly to the latter?" + +"I do--how could you discover that? Juel is not a man to forget a friend +who has done him a favour." + +"Now, see!" exclaimed Peter Nielsen, "See the advantage of chewing +carraway seed. Three minutes ago I knew or recollected nothing about +Hartwig Juel, but I do now remember that five years ago he passed +through Roager, and did me the honour of partaking of such poor +hospitality as I was able to give. I supplied him and his four +attendants, and six horses, with refreshment. Bless my soul! the +efficacy of carraway is prodigious! I can now recall all that took +place. I recollect that I had only hogs' puddings to offer the +Archdeacon, his chaplain, and servants, and they ate up all I had. I +remember also that I had a little barrel of ale which I broached for +them, and they drank the whole dry. To be sure!--I had a bin of oats, +and the horses consumed every grain! I know that the Archdeacon +regretted that I had no bell to my church, and that he promised to send +me one. He also assured me he would not leave a stone unturned till he +had secured for me a better and more lucrative cure. I even sent a side +of bacon away with him as a present--but nothing came of the promises. I +ought to have given him a bushel of carraway. You really have no notion +of the poverty of this living. I cannot now offer you any other food +than buck-wheat brose, as I have no meat in the house. I can only give +you water to drink as I am without beer. I cannot even furnish you with +butter and milk, as I have not a cow." + +"Not even a cow!" exclaimed the Canon. "I really am thankful for your +having spoken so plainly to me. I had no conception that your cure was +so poor. That the Archdeacon should not have fulfilled the promises he +made you is due to forgetfulness. Indeed, I assure you, for the last +five years I have repeatedly seen Hartwig Juel strike his brow and +exclaim, 'Something troubles me. I have made a promise, and cannot +recall it. This lies on my conscience, and I shall have no peace till I +recollect and discharge it.' This is plain fact." + +"Take him a handful of carraway," urged the parish priest. + +"No--he will remember all when I speak to him, unaided by carraway." + +"There is one thing I can offer you," said Peter Nielsen, "a mug of +dill-water." + +"Dill-water! what is that?" + +"It is made from carraway. It is given to infants to enable them to +retain their milk. It is good for adults to make them recollect their +promises." + +"My dear good friend," said the Canon rising, "your requirements shall +be complied with to-morrow. I see you have excellent pasture here for +sheep. Have you any?" + +The parish priest shook his head. + +"That is a pity. That however can be rectified. Good-bye, rely on me. +_Qui pacem habet, se primum pacat._" + +When the Canon was gone, Peter Nielsen, who had attended him to the +door, turned, and found Maren Grubbe behind him. + +"I say, Peers!" spoke the housekeeper, nudging him, "What is the meaning +of all this? What was that Latin he said as he went away?" + +"My dear, good Maren," answered the priest, "he quoted a saying +familiar to us clergy. At the altar is a little metal plate with a cross +on it, and this is called the Pax, or Peace. During the mass the priest +kisses it, and then hands it to his assistant, who kisses it in turn and +passes it on so throughout the attendance. The Latin means this, 'Let +him who has the Pax bless himself with it before giving it out of his +hands,' and means nothing more than this: 'Charity begins at Home,' +or--put more boldly still, 'Look out for Number I.'" + +"Now, see here," said the housekeeper, "you have been too moderate, +Peers, you have not looked out sufficiently for Number I. Leave the next +comer to me. No doubt that the Dean will send to you, in like manner as +the Archdeacon sent to-day." + +"As you like, Maren, but keep the children in the background. Charity +that thinketh no ill, is an uncommon virtue." + +Next morning early there arrived at the parsonage a waggon laden with +sides of bacon, smoked beef, a hogshead of prime ale, a barrel of +claret, and several sacks of wheat. It had scarcely been unloaded when a +couple of milch cows arrived; half an hour later came a drove of sheep. +Peter Nielsen disposed of everything satisfactorily about the house and +glebe. His eye twinkled, he rubbed his hands, and said to himself with a +chuckle, "He who blesses, blesses first himself." + +In the course of the morning a rider drew up at the house door. Maren +flattened her nose at the little window of the guest-room, and +scrutinized the arrival before admitting him. Then she nodded her head, +and whispered to the priest to disappear. A moment later she opened the +door, and ushered a stout red-faced ecclesiastic into the room. + +"Is the Reverend Pastor at home?" he asked, bowing to Maren Grubbe; "I +have come to see him on important business." + +"He is at the present moment engaged with a sick parishioner. He will be +here in a quarter of an hour. He left word before going out, that should +your reverence arrive before his return--" + +"What! I was expected!" + +"The venerable the Archdeacon sent a deputation to see my master +yesterday, and he thought it probable that a deputation from the very +Reverend the Dean would arrive to-day." + +"Indeed! So Hartwig Juel has stolen a march on us." + +"Hartwig Juel had on a visit some little while ago made promises to my +master of a couple of cows, a herd of sheep, some ale, wine, wheat, and +so on, and he took advantage of the occasion to send all these things to +us." + +"Indeed! Hartwig Juel's practice is sharp." + +"Thomas Lange will make up no doubt for dilatoriness." + +"Humph! and Olaf Petersen, has he sent?" + +"His deputation will, doubtless, come to-morrow, or even this +afternoon." + +The Canon folded his hands over his ample paunch, and looked hard at +Maren Grubbe. She was attired in her best. Her cheeks shone like +quarendon apples, as red and glossy; full of health--with a threat of +temper, just as a hot sky has in it indications of a tempest. Her eyes +were dark as sloes, and looked as sharp. She was past middle age, but +ripe and strong; for all that. + +The fat Canon sat looking at her, twirling his thumbs like a little +windmill, over his paunch, without speaking. She also sat demurely with +her hands flat on her knees, and looked him full and firm in the face. + +"I have been thinking," said the Canon, "how well a set of silver chains +would look about that neck, and pendant over that ample bosom." + +"Gold would look better," said Maren, and shut her mouth again. + +"And a crimson silk kerchief--" + +"Would do," interrupted the housekeeper, "for one who has not +expectations of a crimson silk skirt." + +"Quite so." A pause, and the windmills recommenced working. Presently +squeals were heard in the back premises. One of the children had fallen +and hurt itself. + +"Cats?" asked the Canon. + +"Cats," answered Maren. + +"Quite so," said the Canon. "I am fond of cats.' + +"So am I," said Maren. + +Then ensued an uproar. The door burst open, and in tumbled little Jens +with one child in his arms, the other clinging to the seat of his +pantaloons. These same articles of clothing had belonged to the Reverend +Peter Nielsen, till worn out, when at the request of Maren, they had +been given to her and cut down in length for Jens. In length they +answered. The waistband was under the arms, indeed, but the legs were +not too long. In breadth and capacity they were uncurtailed. + +"I cannot manage them, mother," said the boy. "It is of no use making me +nurse. Besides, I want to see the stranger." + +"These children," said Maren, looking firmly in the face of the Canon, +"call me mother, but they are the offspring of my sister, whose husband +was lost last winter at sea. Poor thing, she was left with fourteen, and +I--" + +She put her apron to her eyes and wept. + +"O, noble charity!" said the fat priest enthusiastically. "You--I see it +all--you took charge of the little orphans. You sacrifice your savings +for them, your time is given to them. Emotion overcomes me. What is +their name?" + +"Katts." + +"Cats?" + +"John Katts, and little Kristine and Sissely Katts." + +"And the worthy pastor assists in supporting these poor orphans?" + +"Yes, in spite of his poverty. And now we are on this point, let me ask +you if you have not been struck with the meanness of this parsonage +house. I can assure you, there is not a decent room in it, upstairs the +chambers are open to the rafters, unceiled." + +"My worthy woman," said the Canon, "I will see to this myself. Rely upon +it, if the Dean becomes Bishop, he will see that the manses of his best +clergy are put into thorough repair." + +"I should prefer to see the repairs begun at once," said Maren. "When +the Dean becomes Bishop he will have so much to think about, that he +might forget our parsonage house." + +"Madam," said the visitor, as he rose, "they shall be executed at once. +When I see the charity shown in this humble dwelling, by pastor and +housekeeper alike, I feel that it demands instantaneous acknowledgment." + +Then in came Peter Nielsen, and said, "I have not sufficient +cattle-sheds. Sheep yards are also needed." + +"They shall be erected." + +Then the Canon caught up little Kirsten and little Sissel, and kissed +their dirty faces. Maren's radiant countenance assured the Canon that +the cause of Thomas Lange was won with Maren Grubbe. + +He took the parish priest by the hand, pressed it, and said in a low +tone, "_Qui pacem habet, se primum pacat_. You understand me?" + +"Perfectly," answered Peter Nielsen, with a smile. + +Next morning early there arrived at Roager a party of masons from Ribe, +ready to pull down the old parsonage and build one more commodious and +extensive. The pastor went over the plans with the master mason, +suggested alterations and enlargements, and then, with a chuckle, he +muttered to himself, "That is an excellent saying, _Qui pacem habet, se +primum pacat_." Then looking up, he saw before him an ascetic, +hollow-eyed, pale-faced priest. + +"I am Olaf Petersen," said the new comer. "I thought best to come over +and see you myself; I think the true condition of the Church ought to be +set before you, and that you should consider the spiritual welfare of +the poor sheep in the Ribe fold, and give them a chief pastor who will +care for the sheep and not for the wool." + +"I have got a flock of sheep already," said Peter Nielsen, coldly. +"Hartwig Juel sent it me." + +"I think," continued Olaf, "that you should consider the edification of +the spiritual building." + +"I am going to have a new parsonage erected," said Peter Nielsen, +stiffly; "Thomas Lange has seen to that." + +"The Bishop needed for this diocese," Olaf Petersen went on, "should +combine the harmlessness of the dove with the wisdom of the serpent." + +"If he does that," said Nielsen, roughly, "he will be half knave and +half fool. Let us have the wisdom, that is what we want now; and one of +the first maxims of wisdom in Church and State is, _Qui pacem habet, se +primum pacat_. You take me?" + +Olaf sighed, and shook his head. + +"Do you see this plan," said Peter Nielsen. "I am going to have a byre +fashioned on that, with room for a dozen oxen. I have but two cows; +stables for two horses, I have not one; a waggon shed, I am without a +wheeled conveyance. I shall have new rooms, and have no furniture to put +in them. Now, to stock and furnish farm and parsonage will cost much +money. I have not a hundred shillings in the world. What am I to do? The +man who would be Bishop of Ribe should consider the welfare of one of +the most influential, learned, and moral of the priests in the diocese, +and do what he can to make him comfortable. Before we choose a cow we go +over her, feel her, examine her parts; before we purchase a horse we +look at the teeth and explore the hoofs, and try the wind. When we +select a bishop we naturally try the stuff of which he is made, if +liberal, generous, open-handed, amiable. You understand me?" + +Olaf sighed, and drops of cold perspiration stood on his brow. A contest +was going on within. Simony was a mortal sin. Was there a savour of +simony in offering a present to the man in whose hands the choice of a +chief pastor lay? He feared so. But then--did not the end sometimes +justify the means? As these questions rose in his mind and refused to be +answered, something heavy fell at his feet. His hand had been plucking +at his purse, and in his nervousness he had detached it from his girdle, +and had let it slip through his fingers. He did not look down. He seemed +not to notice his loss, but he moved away without another word, with +bent head and troubled conscience. When he was gone, Peter Nielsen bowed +himself, picked up the pouch, counted the gold coins in it, laughed, +rubbed his hands, and said, "He who blesses, blesses first himself." + +Next day a litter stayed at the parsonage gate, and out of it, with +great difficulty, supported on the arms of two servants, came the aged +Jep Mundelstrup. He entered the guest-room and was accommodated with a +seat. When he got his breath, he said, extending a roll of parchment to +the incumbent of Roager, "You will not fail to remember that it was at +_my_ suggestion that the choice of a bishop was left with you. You are +deeply indebted to me. But for me you would not have been visited and +canvassed by the Dean, the Arch-deacon, and the Ascetic, either in +person or by their representatives. You will please to remember that I +was nominated, but seeing so many others proposed, I withdrew my name. I +think you will allow that this exhibited great humility and shrinking +from honour. In these worldly, self-seeking days such an example +deserves notice and reward. I am old, and perhaps unequal to the labours +of office, but I think I ought to be considered; although I did formally +withdraw my candidature, I am not sure that I would refuse the mitre +were it pressed on me. At all events it would be a compliment to offer +it me and I might refuse it. _Qui pacem habet, se primum pacat._ You +will not regret the return courtesy." + + * * * * * + +Boom! Boom! Boom! The cathedral bell was summoning all Ribe to the +minster to be present at the nomination of its bishop. All Ribe answered +the summons. + +The cathedral stands on a hill called the Mount of Lilies, but the mount +is of so slight an elevation that it does not protect the cathedral from +overflow, and a spring tide with N.W. wind has been known to flood both +town and minster and leave fishes on the sacred floor. The church is +built of granite, brick and sandstone; originally the contrast may have +been striking, but weather has smudged the colours together into an ugly +brown-grey. The tower is lofty, narrow, and wanting a spire. It +resembles a square ruler set up on end; it is too tall for its base. The +church is stately, of early architecture with transepts, and the choir +at their intersection with the nave, domed over, and a small +semi-circular apse beyond, for the altar. The nave was crowded, the +canons occupied the stalls in their purple tippets edged with crimson; +purple, because the chapter of a cathedral; crimson edged, because the +founder of the See was a martyr. Fifteen, and the Dean, sixteen in all, +were in their places. On the altar steps, in the apse, in the centre, +sat Peter Nielsen in his old, worn cassock, without surplice. On the +left side of the altar stood the richly-sculptured Episcopal throne, and +on the seat was placed the jewelled mitre, over the arm the cloth of +gold cope was cast, and against the back leaned the pastoral crook of +silver gilt, encrusted with precious stones. + +When the last note of the bell sounded, the Dean rose from his stall, +and stepping up to the apse, made oath before heaven, the whole +congregation and Peter Nielsen, that he was prepared to abide by the +decision of this said Peter, son of Nicolas, parish priest of Roager. +Amen. He was followed by the Archdeacon, then by each of the canons to +the last. + +Then mass was said, during which the man in whose hands the fortunes of +the See reposed, knelt with unimpassioned countenance and folded hands. + +At the conclusion he resumed his seat, the crucifix was brought forth +and he kissed it. + +A moment of anxious silence. The moment for the decision had arrived. He +remained for a short while seated, with his eyes fixed on the ground, +then he turned them on the anxious face of the Dean, and after having +allowed them to rest scrutinisingly there for a minute, he looked at +Hartwig Juel, then at Olaf Petersen, who was deadly white, and whose +frame shook like an aspen leaf. Then he looked long at Jep Mundelstrup +and rose suddenly to his feet. + +The fall of a pin might have been heard in the cathedral at that moment. + +He said--and his voice was distinctly audible by every one present--"I +have been summoned here from my barren heath, into this city, out of a +poor hamlet, by these worthy and reverend fathers, to choose for them a +prelate who shall be at once careful of the temporal and the spiritual +welfare of the See. I have scrupulously considered the merits of all +those who have been presented to me as candidates for the mitre. I find +that in only one man are all the requisite qualities combined in proper +proportion and degree--not in Thomas Lange," the Dean's head fell on his +bosom, "nor in Hartwig Juel," the Archdeacon sank back in his stall; +"nor in Olaf Petersen," the man designated uttered a faint cry and +dropped on his knees, "nor in Jep Mundelstrup--but in myself. I +therefore nominate Peter, son of Nicolas, commonly called Nielsen, +Curate of Roager, to be Bishop of Ribe, twenty-ninth in descent from +Liafdag the martyr. _Qui pacem habet, se primum pacat._ Amen. He who has +to bless, blesses first himself." + +Then he sat down. + +For a moment there was silence, and then a storm broke loose. Peter sat +motionless, with his eyes fixed on the ground, motionless as a rock +round which the waves toss and tear themselves to foam. + +Thus it came about that the twenty-ninth bishop of Ribe was Peter +Nielsen. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[15] In Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Iceland, clerical celibacy was +never enforced before the Reformation. Now and then a formal prohibition +was issued by the bishops, but it was generally ignored. The clergy were +married, openly and undisguisedly. + + + + +The Wonder-Working Prince Hohenlohe. + + +In the year 1821, much interest was excited in Germany and, indeed, +throughout Europe by the report that miracles of healing were being +wrought by Prince Leopold Alexander of +Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst at Würzburg, Bamberg, and +elsewhere. The wonders soon came to an end, for, after the ensuing year, +no more was heard of his extraordinary powers. + +At the time, as might be expected, his claims to be a miracle-worker +were hotly disputed, and as hotly asserted. Evidence was produced that +some of his miracles were genuine; counter evidence was brought forward +reducing them to nothing. + +The whole story of Prince Hohenlohe's sudden blaze into fame, and speedy +extinction, is both curious and instructive. In the Baden village of +Wittighausen, at the beginning of this century, lived a peasant named +Martin Michel, owning a farm, and in fairly prosperous circumstances. +His age, according to one authority, was fifty, according to another +sixty-seven, when he became acquainted with Prince Hohenlohe. This +peasant was unquestionably a devout, guileless man. He had been +afflicted in youth with a rupture, but, in answer to continuous and +earnest prayer, he asserted that he had been completely healed. Then, +for some while he prayed over other afflicted persons, and it was +rumoured that he had effected several miraculous cures. He emphatically +and earnestly repudiated every claim to superior sanctity. The cures, he +declared, depended on the faith of the patient, and on the power of the +Almighty. The most solemn promises had been made in the gospel to those +who asked in faith, and all he did was to act upon these evangelical +promises. + +The Government speedily interfered, and Michel was forbidden by the +police to work any more miracles by prayer or faith, or any other means +except the recognised pharmacopoeia. + +He had received no payment for his cures in money or in kind, but he +took occasion through them to impress on his patients the duty of +prayer, and the efficacy of faith. + +By some means he met Prince Alexander Hohenlohe, and the prince was +interested and excited by what he heard, and by the apparent sincerity +of the man. A few days later the prince was in Würzburg, where he called +on the Princess Mathilde Schwarzenberg, a young girl of seventeen who +was a cripple, and who had already spent a year and a half at Würzburg, +under the hands of the orthopædic physician Heine, and the surgeon +Textor. She had been to the best medical men in Vienna and Paris, and +the case had been given up as hopeless. Then Prince Schwarzenberg placed +her under the treatment of Heine. She was so contracted, with her knees +drawn up to her body, that she could neither stand nor walk. + +Prince Hohenlohe first met her at dinner, on June 18, 1821, and the +sight of her distortion filled him with pity. He thought over her case, +and communicated with Michel, who at his summons came to Würzburg. As +Würzburg is in Bavaria, the orders of the Baden Government did not +extend to it, and the peasant might freely conduct his experiments +there. + +Prince Alexander called on the Princess at ten o'clock in the morning of +June 20, taking with him Michel, but leaving him outside the house, in +the court. Then Prince Hohenlohe began to speak to the suffering girl of +the power of faith, and mentioned the wonders wrought by the prayers of +Michel. She became interested, and the Prince asked her if she would +like to put the powers of Michel to the test, warning her that the man +could do nothing unless she had full and perfect belief in the mercy of +God. The Princess expressed her eagerness to try the new remedy and +assured her interrogator that she had the requisite faith. Thereupon he +went to the window, and signed to the peasant to come up. + +What follows shall be given in the Princess's own words, from her +account written a day or two later:--"The peasant knelt down and prayed +in German aloud and distinctly, and, after his prayer, he said to me, +'In the Name of Jesus, stand up. You are whole, and can both stand and +walk!' The peasant and the Prince then went into an adjoining room, and +I rose from my couch, without assistance, in the name of God, well and +sound, and so I have continued to this moment." + +A much fuller and minuter account of the proceedings was published, +probably from the pen of the governess, who was present at the time; +but as it is anonymous we need not concern ourselves with it. + +The news of the miraculous recovery spread through the town; Dr. Heine +heard of it, and ran to the house, and stood silent and amazed at what +he saw. The Princess descended the stone staircase towards the garden, +but hesitated, and, instead of going into the garden, returned upstairs, +leaning on the arm of Prince Hohenlohe. + +Next day was Corpus Christi. The excitement in the town was immense, +when the poor cripple, who had been seen for more than a year carried +into her carriage and carried out of it into church, walked to church, +and thence strolled into the gardens of the palace. + +On the following day she visited the Julius Hospital, a noble +institution founded by one of the bishops of Würzburg. On the 24th she +called on the Princess Lichtenstein, the Duke of Aremberg, and the +Prince of Baar, and moreover, attended a sermon preached by Prince +Hohenlohe in the Haugh parish church. Her recovery was complete. + +Now, at first sight, nothing seems more satisfactorily established than +this miracle. Let us, however, see what Dr. Heine, who had attended her +for nineteen months, had to say on it. We cannot quote his account in +its entirety, as it is long, but we will take the principal points in +it:--"The Princess of Schwarzenberg came under my treatment at the end +of October, 1819, afflicted with several abnormities of the thorax, with +a twisted spine, ribs, &c. Moreover, she could not rise to her feet from +a sitting posture, nor endure to be so raised; but this was not in +consequence of malformation or weakness of the system, for when sitting +or lying down she could freely move her limbs. She complained of acute +pain when placed in any other position, and when she was made to assume +an angle of 100° her agony became so intense that her extremities were +in a nervous quiver, and partial paralysis ensued, which, however, +ceased when she was restored to her habitual contracted position. + +"The Princess lost her power of locomotion when she was three years old, +and the contraction was the result of abscesses on the loins. She was +taken to France and Italy, and got so far in Paris as to be able to hop +about a room supported on crutches. But she suffered a relapse on her +return to Vienna in 1813, and thenceforth was able neither to stand nor +to move about. She was placed in my hands, and I contrived an apparatus +by which the angle at which she rested was gradually extended, and her +position gradually changed from horizontal to vertical. At the same time +I manipulated her almost daily, and had the satisfaction by the end of +last April to see her occupy an angle of 50°, without complaining of +suffering. By the close of May further advance was made, and she was +able to assume a vertical position, with her feet resting on the ground, +but with her body supported, and to remain in this position for four or +five hours. Moreover, in this situation I made her go through all the +motions of walking. The extremities had, in every position, retained +their natural muscular powers and movements, and the contraction was +simply a nervous affection. I made no attempt to force her to walk +unsupported, because I would not do this till I was well assured such a +trial would not be injurious to her. + +"On the 30th of May I revisited her, after having been unable, on +account of a slight indisposition, to see my patients for several days. +Her governess then told me that the Princess had made great progress. +She lay at an angle of 80°. The governess placed herself at the foot of +the couch, held out her hands to the Princess, and drew her up into an +upright position, and she told me that this had been done several times +of late during my enforced absence. Whilst she was thus standing I made +the Princess raise and depress her feet, and go through all the motions +of walking. Immediately on my return home I set to work to construct a +machine which might enable her to walk without risk of a fall and of +hurting herself. On the 19th of June, in the evening, I told the +Princess that the apparatus was nearly finished. Next day, a little +after 10 A.M., I visited her. When I opened her door she rose up from a +chair in which she was seated, and came towards me with short, somewhat +uncertain steps. I bowed myself, in token of joy and thanks to God. + +"At that moment a gentleman I had never seen before entered the room and +exclaimed, 'Mathilde! you have had faith in God!' The Princess replied, +'I have had, and I have now, entire faith.' The gentleman said, 'Your +faith has saved and healed you. God has succoured you.' Then I began to +suspect that some strange influence was at work, and that something had +been going on of which I was not cognizant. I asked the gentleman what +was the meaning of this. He raised his right hand to heaven, and replied +that he had prayed and thought of the Princess that morning at mass, and +that Prince Wallerstein was privy to the whole proceeding. I was puzzled +and amazed. Then I asked the Princess to walk again. She did so, and +shortly after I left, and only then did I learn that the stranger was +the Prince of Hohenlohe. + +"Next month, on July 21, her aunt, the Princess Eleanor of +Schwarzenberg, came with three of the sisters of Princess Mathilde to +fetch her away and to take her back to her father. Her Highness did me +the honour of visiting me along with the Princesses on the second day +after their arrival, to thank me for the pains I had taken to cure the +Princess Mathilde. Before they left, Dr. Schäfer, who had attended her +at Ratisbon, Herr Textor, and myself were allowed to examine the +Princess. Dr. Schäfer found that the condition of the thorax was +mightily improved since she had been in my hands. I, however, saw that +her condition had retrograded since I had last seen her on June 20, and +it was agreed that the Princess was to occupy her extension-couch at +night, and by day wear the steel apparatus for support I had contrived +for her. At the same time Dr. Schäfer distinctly assured her and the +Princess, her aunt, that under my management the patient had recovered +the power of walking _before_ the 19th of June." + +This account puts a different complexion on the cure, and shows that it +was not in any way miraculous. The Prince and the peasant stepped in +and snatched the credit of having cured the Princess from the doctor, to +whom it rightly belonged. + +Before we proceed, it will be well to say a few words about this Prince +Alexander Hohenlohe. The Hohenlohe family takes its name from a bare +elevated plateau in Franconia. About the beginning of the 16th century +it broke into two branches; the elder is Hohenlohe-Neuenstein, the +younger is Hohenlohe-Waldenburg. + +The elder branch has its sub-ramifications--Hohenlohe-Langenburg, which +possesses also the county of Gleichen; and the Hohenlohe-Oehringen and +the Hohenlohe-Kirchberg sub-branches. The second main branch of +Hohenlohe-Waldenburg has also its lateral branches, as those of +Hohenlohe-Bartenstein and Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst; the last of these +being Catholic. + +Prince Leopold Alexander was born in 1794 at Kupferzell, near +Waldenburg, and was the eighteenth child of Prince Karl Albrecht and his +wife Judith, Baroness Reviczky. His father never became reigning prince, +from intellectual incapacity, and Alexander lost him when he was one +year old. He was educated for the Church by the ex-Jesuit Riel, and went +to school first in Vienna, then at Berne; in 1810 he entered the +Episcopal seminary at Vienna, and finished his theological studies at +Ellwangen in 1814. He was ordained priest in 1816, and went to Rome. + +Dr. Wolff, the father of Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, in his "Travels and +Adventures," which is really his autobiography, says (vol i. p. 31):-- + +"Wolff left the house of Count Stolberg on the 3rd April, 1815, and +went to Ellwangen, and there met again an old pupil from Vienna, Prince +Alexander Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, afterwards so celebrated for his +miracles--to which so many men of the highest rank and intelligence have +borne witness that Wolff dares not give a decided opinion about them. +But Niebuhr relates that the Pope said to him himself, speaking about +Hohenlohe in a sneering manner, '_Questo_ far dei miracoli!' _This_ +fellow performing miracles! + +"It may be best to offer some slight sketch of Hohenlohe's life. His +person was beautiful. He was placed under the direction of Vock, the +Roman Catholic parish priest at Berne. One Sunday he was invited to +dinner with Vock, his tutor, at the Spanish ambassador's. The next day +there was a great noise in the Spanish embassy, because the mass-robe, +with the silver chalice and all its appurtenances, had been stolen. It +was advertised in the paper, but nothing could be discovered, until Vock +took Prince Hohenlohe aside, and said to him, 'Prince, confess to me; +have you not stolen the mass-robe?' He at once confessed it, and said +that he made use of it every morning in practising the celebration of +the mass in his room; which was true." (This was when Hohenlohe was +twenty-one years old.) "He was afterwards sent to Tyrnau, to the +ecclesiastical seminary in Hungary, whence he was expelled, on account +of levity. But, being a Prince, the Chapter of Olmütz, in Moravia, +elected him titulary canon of the cathedral; nevertheless, the Emperor +Francis was too honest to confirm it. Wolff taught him Hebrew in +Vienna. He had but little talent for languages, but his conversation on +religion was sometimes very charming; and at other times he broke out +into most indecent discourses. He was ordained priest, and Sailer[16] +preached a sermon on the day of his ordination, which was published +under the title of 'The Priest without Reproach.' On the same day money +was collected for building a Roman Catholic Church at Zürich, and the +money collected was given to Prince Hohenlohe, to be remitted to the +parish priest of Zürich (Moritz Mayer); but the money never reached its +destination. Wolff saw him once at the bed of the sick and dying, and +his discourse, exhortations, and treatment of these sick people were +wonderfully beautiful. When he mounted the pulpit to preach, one +imagined one saw a saint of the Middle Ages. His devotion was +penetrating, and commanded silence in a church where there were 4,000 +people collected. Wolff one day called on him, when Hohenlohe said to +him, 'I never read any other book than the Bible. I never look in a +sermon-book by anybody else, not even at the sermons of Sailer.' But +Wolff after this heard him preach, and the whole sermon was copied from +one of Sailer's, which Wolff had read only the day before. + +"With all his faults, Hohenlohe cannot be charged with avarice, for he +give away every farthing he got, perhaps even that which he obtained +dishonestly. They afterwards met at Rome, where Hohenlohe lodged with +the Jesuits, and there it was said he composed a Latin poem. Wolff, +knowing his incapacity to do such a thing, asked him boldly, 'Who is the +author of this poem?' Hohenlohe confessed at once that it was written by +a Jesuit priest. At that time Madame Schlegel wrote to Wolff: 'Prince +Hohenlohe is a man who struggles with heaven and hell, and heaven will +gain the victory with him.' Hohenlohe was on the point of being made a +bishop at Rome, but, on the strength of his previous knowledge of him, +Wolff protested against his consecration. Several princes, amongst them +Kaunitz, the ambassador, took Hohenlohe's part on this occasion; but the +matter was investigated, and Hohenlohe walked off from Rome without +being made a bishop. In his protest against the man, Wolff stated that +Hohenlohe's pretensions to being a canon of Olmütz were false; that he +had been expelled the seminary of Tyrnau; that he sometimes spoke like a +saint, and at others like a profligate." + +And now let us return to Würzburg, and see the result of the cure of +Princess Schwarzenberg. The people who had seen the poor cripple one day +carried into her carriage and into church, and a day or two after saw +her walk to church and in the gardens, and who knew nothing of Dr. +Heine's operations, concluded that this was a miracle, and gave the +credit of it quite as much to Prince Hohenlohe as to the peasant Michel. + +The police at once sent an official letter to the Prince, requesting to +be informed authoritatively what he had done, by what right he had +interfered, and how he had acted. He replied that he had done nothing, +faith and the Almighty had wrought the miracle. "The instantaneous cure +of the Princess is a _fact_, which cannot be disputed; it was the result +of a living faith. That is the truth. It happened to the Princess +according to her faith." The peasant Michel now fell into the +background, and was forgotten, and the Prince stood forward as the +worker of miraculous cures. Immense excitement was caused by the +restoration of the Princess Schwarzenberg, and patients streamed into +Würzburg from all the country round, seeking health at the hands of +Prince Alexander. The local papers published marvellous details of his +successful cures. The blind saw, the lame walked, the deaf heard. Among +the deaf who recovered was His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of +Bavaria, three years later King Ludwig I., grandfather of the late King +of Bavaria. Unfortunately we have not exact details of this cure, but a +letter of the Crown Prince written shortly after merely states that he +heard _better_ than before. Now the spring of 1821 was very raw and wet, +and about June 20 there set in some dry hot weather. It is therefore +quite possible that the change of weather may have had to do with this +cure. However, we can say nothing for certain about it, as no data were +published, merely the announcement that the Crown Prince had recovered +his hearing at the prayer of Prince Hohenlohe. Here are some +better-authenticated cases, as given by Herr Scharold, an eye-witness; +he was city councillor and secretary. + +"The Prince had dined at midday with General von D----. All the +entrances to the house from two streets were blocked by hundreds of +persons, and they said that he had already healed four individuals +crippled with rheumatism in this house. I convinced myself on the spot +that one of these cases was as said. The patient was the young wife of a +fisherman, who was crippled in the right hand, so that she could not +lift anything with it, or use it in any way; and all at once she was +enabled to raise a heavy chair, with the hand hitherto powerless, and +hold it aloft. She went home weeping tears of joy and thankfulness. + +"The Prince was then entreated to go to another house, at another end of +the town, and he consented. There he found many paralysed persons. He +began with a poor man whose left arm was quite useless and stiff. After +he had asked him if he had perfect faith, and had received a +satisfactory answer, the Prince prayed with folded hands and closed +eyes. Then he raised the kneeling patient; and said, 'Move your arm.' +Weeping and trembling in all his limbs the man did as he was bid; but as +he said that he obeyed with difficulty, the Prince prayed again, and +said, 'Now move your arm again.' This time the man easily moved his arm +forwards, backwards, and raised it. The cure was complete. Equally +successful was he with the next two cases. One was a tailor's wife, +named Lanzamer. 'What do you want?' asked the Prince, who was bathed in +perspiration. Answer: 'I have had a paralytic stroke, and have lost the +use of one side of my body, so that I cannot walk unsupported.' 'Kneel +down!' But this could only be effected with difficulty, and it was +rather a tumbling down of an inert body, painful to behold. I never saw +a face more full of expression of faith in the strongly marked features. +The Prince, deeply moved, prayed with great fervour, and then said, +'Stand up!' The good woman, much agitated, was unable to do so, in spite +of all her efforts, without the assistance of her boy, who was by her, +crying, and then her lame leg seemed to crack. When she had reached her +feet, he said, 'Now walk the length of the room without pain.' She tried +to do so, but succeeded with difficulty, yet with only a little +suffering. Again he prayed, and the healing was complete; she walked +lightly and painlessly up and down, and finally out of the room; and the +boy, crying more than before, but now with joy, exclaimed, 'O my God! +mother can walk, mother can walk!' Whilst this was going on, an old +woman, called Siebert, wife of a bookbinder, who had been brought in a +sedan-chair, was admitted to the room. She suffered from paralysis and +incessant headaches that left her neither night nor day. The first +attempt made to heal her failed. The second only brought on the paroxysm +of headache worse than ever, so that the poor creature could hardly keep +her feet or open her eyes. The Prince began to doubt her faith, but when +she assured him of it, he prayed again with redoubled earnestness. And, +all at once, she was cured. This woman left the room, conducted by her +daughter, and all present were filled with astonishment." This account +was written on June 26. On June 28 Herr Scharold wrote a further account +of other cures he had witnessed; but those already given are +sufficient. That this witness was convinced and sincere appears from his +description, but how far valuable his evidence is we are not so well +assured. + +A curious little pamphlet was published the same year at Darmstadt, +entitled, "Das Mährchen vom Wunder," that professed to be the result of +the observations of a medical man who attended one or two of these +_séances_. Unfortunately the pamphlet is anonymous, and this deprives it +of most of its authority. Another writer who attacked the genuineness of +the miracles was Dr. Paulus, in his "Quintessenz aus den +Wundercurversuchen durch Michel und Hohenlohe," Leipzig, 1822; but this +author also wrote anonymously, and did not profess to have seen any of +the cures. On the other hand, Scharold and a Dr. Onymus, and two or +three priests published their testimonies as witnesses to their +genuineness, and gave the names and particulars of those cured. + +Those who assailed the Prince and his cures dipped their pens in gall. +It is only just to add that they cast on his character none of the +reflections for honesty which Dr. Wolff flung on him. + +The author of the Darmstadt pamphlet, mentioned above, says that when he +was present the Prince was attended by two sergeants of police, as the +crowd thronging on him was so great that he needed protection from its +pressure. He speaks sneeringly of him as spending his time in eating, +smoking, and miracle-working, when not sleeping, and says he was plump +and good-looking, "A girl of eighteen, who was paralysed in her limbs, +was brought from a carriage to the feet of the prophet. After he had +asked her if she believed, and he had prayed for about twelve seconds, +he exclaimed in a threatening rather than gentle voice, 'You are +healed!' But I observed that he had to thunder this thrice into the ear +of the frightened girl, before she made an effort to move, which was +painful and distressing; and, groaning and supported by others, she made +her way to the rear. 'You will be better shortly--only believe!' he +cried to her. I, who was looking on, observed her conveyed away as much +a cripple as she came. + +"The next case was a peasant of fifty-eight, a cripple on crutches. +Without his crutches he was doubled up, and could only shuffle with his +feet on the ground. After the Prince had asked the usual questions and +had prayed, he ordered the kneeling man to stand up, his crutches having +been removed. As he was unable to do so, the miracle-worker seemed +irritated, and repeated his order in an angry tone. One of the policemen +at the side threw in 'Up! in the name of the Trinity,' and pulled him to +his feet. The man seemed bewildered. He stood, indeed, but doubled as +before, and the sweat streamed from his face, and he was not a ha'porth +better than previously; but as he had come with crutches, and now stood +without them, there arose a shout of 'A miracle!' and all pressed round +to congratulate the poor wretch. His son helped him away. 'Have faith +and courage!' cried to him the Prince; and the policeman added, 'Only +believe, and rub in a little spirits of camphor!' Many pressed alms into +the man's hand, and he smiled; this was regarded as a token of his +perfect cure. I saw, however, that his knees were as stiff as before, +and that the rogue cast longing eyes at his crutches, which had been +taken away, but which he insisted on having back. No one thought of +asking how it fared with the poor wretch later, and, as a fact, he died +shortly after. + +"The next to come up was a deaf girl of eighteen. The wonder-worker was +bathed in perspiration, and evidently exhausted with his continuous +prayer night and day. After a few questions as to the duration of her +infirmity, the Prince prayed, then signed a cross over the girl, and, +stepping back from her, asked her questions, at each in succession +somewhat lowering his tone; but she only heard those spoken as loudly as +before the experiment was made, and she remained for the most part +staring stupidly at the wonder-worker. To cut the matter short, he +declared her healed. I took the mother aside soon after, and inquired +what was the result. She assured me that the girl heard no better than +before. + +"In her place came a stone-deaf man of twenty-five. The result was very +similar; but as the Prince, when bidding him depart healed, made a sign +of withdrawal with his hand, the man rose and departed, and this was +taken as evidence that he had heard the command addressed to him." + +The author gives other cases that he witnessed, not one of which was +other than a failure, though they were all declared to be cures. + +On June 29 the Prince practised his miracle-working at the palace, in +the presence of the Crown Prince and of Prince Esterhazy, the Austrian +ambassador who was on his way to London to attend the coronation of +George IV. in July. The attempts were probably as great failures as +those described in the Darmstadt pamphlet. The Prince was somewhat +discouraged at the invitation of the physicians attached to the Julius +Hospital; he had visited that institution the day before, and had +experimented on twenty cases, and was unsuccessful in every one. Full +particulars of these were published in the "Bamberger Briefe," Nos. +28-33. We will give only a very few:-- + +"1. Barbara Uhlen, of Oberschleichach, aged 39, suffering from dropsy. +The Prince said to her, 'Do you sincerely believe that you can be helped +and are helped?' The sick woman replied, 'Yes. I had resolved to leave +the hospital, where no good has been done to me, and to seek health from +God and the Prince.' He raised his eyes to heaven and prayed; then +assured the patient of her cure. Her case became worse rapidly, instead +of better. + +"7. Margaretta Löhlein, of Randersacher, aged 56. Suffering from dropsy +owing to disorganisation of the liver. Another failure. Shortly after +the Prince left, she had to be operated on to save her from suffocation. + +"10. Susanna Söllnerin, servant maid of Aub, aged 22, had already been +thirteen weeks in hospital, suffering from roaring noises in the head +and deafness. The Prince, observing the fervour of her faith, cried out, +'You shall see now how speedily she will be cured!' Prayers, blessing, +as before, and--as before, no results. + +"11. George Forchheimer, butcher, suffering from rheumatism. One foot +is immovable, and he can only walk with the assistance of a stick. +During the prayer of the Prince the patient wept and sobbed, and was +profoundly agitated. The Prince ordered him to stand up and go without +his stick. His efforts to obey were unavailing; he fell several times on +the ground, though the Prince repeated over him his prayers." + +These are sufficient as instances; not a single case in the hospital was +more successfully treated by him. + +On July 5 Prince Hohenlohe went to Bamberg, where he was eagerly awaited +by many sick and credulous persons. The Burgomaster Hornthal, however, +interfered, and forbade the attempt at performing miracles till the +authorities at Baireuth had been instructed of his arrival, and till a +commission had been appointed of men of judgment, and physicians to take +note of the previous condition of every patient who was submitted to +him, and of the subsequent condition. Thus hampered the Prince could do +nothing; he failed as signally as in the Julius Hospital at Würzburg, +and the only cases of cures claimed to have been wrought were among a +mixed crowd in the street to whom he gave a blessing from the balcony of +his lodging. + +Finding that Bamberg was uncongenial, he accepted a call to the Baths of +Brückenau, and thence news reached the incredulous of Bamberg and +Würzburg that extraordinary cures had been wrought at the prayers of the +Prince. As, however, we have no details respecting these, we may pass +them over. + +Hohenlohe, who had no notion of hiding his light under a bushel, drew +up a detailed account of over a hundred cures which he claimed to have +worked, had them attested by witnesses, and sent this precious document +to the Pope, who, with good sense, took no notice of it; at least no +public notice, though it is probable that he administered a sharp +private reprimand, for Hohenlohe collapsed very speedily. + +From Brückenau the Prince went to Vienna, but was not favourably +received there, so he departed to Hungary, where his mother's relations +lived. Though he was applied to by sick people who had heard of his +fame, he did not make any more direct attempts to heal them. He, +however, gave them cards on which a day and hour were fixed, and a +prayer written, and exhorted them to pray for recovery earnestly on the +day and at the hour indicated, and promised to pray for them at the same +time. But this was also discontinued, having proved inefficacious, and +Hohenlohe relapsed into a quiet unostentatious life. He was appointed, +through family interest, Canon of Grosswardein, and in 1829 advanced to +be Provost of the Cathedral. His powers as a preacher long survived his +powers of working miracles. He spent his time in good works, and in +writing little manuals of devotion. In 1844 he was consecrated titular +Bishop of Sardica _in partibus_, that is, without a See. He died at +Vöslau, near Vienna, in 1849. That Hohenlohe was a conscious hypocrite +we are far from supposing. He was clearly a man of small mental powers, +very conceited, and wanting in judgment. We must not place too much +reliance on the scandalous gossip of Dr. Wolff. Probably Hohenlohe's +vanity received a severe check in 1821, when both the Roman See and the +world united to discredit his miracles; and he had sufficient good sense +to accept the verdict. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[16] Johann M. Sailer was a famous ex-Jesuit preacher, at this time +Professor at the University of Landshut, afterwards Bishop of Ratisbon. +He died, 1832. + + + + +The Snail-Telegraph. + + +The writer well remembers, as a child, the sense of awe not unmixed with +fear, with which he observed the mysterious movements of the telegraph +erected on church towers in France along all the main roads. + +Many a beautiful tower was spoiled by these abominable erections. There +were huge arms like those of a windmill, painted black, and jointed, so +as to describe a great number of cabalistic signs in the air. Indeed, +the movements were like the writhings of some monstrous spider. + +Glanvil who wrote in the middle of the 17th century says, "To those that +come after us, it may be as ordinary to buy a pair of wings to fly into +the remotest regions, as now a pair of boots to ride a journey. _And to +confer, at the distance of the Indies, by sympathetic conveyances_, may +be as usual to future times as to us is literary correspondence." He +further remarks, "Antiquity would not have believed the almost +incredible force of our cannons, and would as coldly have entertained +the wonders of the telescope. In these we all condemn antique +incredulity. And it is likely posterity will have as much cause to pity +ours. But those who are acquainted with the diligent and ingenious +endeavours of true philosophers will despair of nothing." + +In 1633 the Marquis of Worcester suggested a scheme of telegraphing by +means of signs. Another, but similar scheme, was mooted in 1660 by the +Frenchman Amonton. In 1763 Mr. Edgeworth erected for his private use a +telegraph between London and Newmarket. But it was in 1789 that the +Optical Telegraph came into practical use in France--Claude Chappe was +the inventor. When he was a boy, he contrived a means of communication +by signals with his brothers at a distance of two or three miles. He +laid down the first line between Lille and Paris at a cost of about two +thousand pounds, and the first message sent along it was the +announcement of the capture of Lille by Condé. This led to the +construction of many similar lines communicating with each other by +means of stations. Some idea of the celerity with which messages were +sent may be gained from the fact that it took only two minutes to +reproduce in Paris a sign given in Lille at a distance of 140 miles. On +this line there were 22 stations. The objections to this system lay in +its being useless at night and in rainy weather. The French system of +telegraph consisted of one main beam--the regulator, at the end of which +were two shorter wings, so that it formed a letter Z. The regulator and +its flags could be turned about in various ways, making in all 196 +signs. Sometimes the regulator stood horizontally, sometimes +perpendicularly. + +Lord Murray introduced one of a different construction in England in +1795 consisting of two rows of three octangular flags revolving on their +axis. This gave 64 different signs, but was defective in the same point +as that of Chappe. Poor Chappe was so troubled in mind because his claim +to be the inventor of his telegraph was disputed, that he drowned +himself in a well, 1805. + +Besides the fact that the optical telegraph was paralysed by darkness +and storm, it was very difficult to manage in mountainous and +well-wooded country, and required there a great number of stations. + +After that Sömmering had discovered at Munich in 1808 the means of +signalling through the galvanic current obtained by decomposition of +water, and Schilling at Canstadt and Ampère in Paris (1820) had made +further advances in the science of electrology, and Oersted had +established the deflexion of the magnetic needle, it was felt that the +day of the cumbrous and disfiguring optical telegraph was over. A new +power had been discovered, though the extent and the applicability of +this power were not known. Gauss and Weber in 1833 made the first +attempt to set up an electric telegraph; in 1837 Wheatstone and Morse +utilised the needle and made the telegraph print its messages. In 1833 +the telegraph of Gauss and Weber supplanted the optical contrivance on +the line between Trèves and Berlin. The first line in America was laid +from Washington to Baltimore in 1844. The first attempt at submarine +telegraphy was made at Portsmouth in 1846, and in 1850 a cable was laid +between England and France. + +It was precisely in this year when men's minds were excited over the +wonderful powers of the galvanic current, and a wide prospect was opened +of its future advantage to men, when, indeed, the general public +understood very little about the principle and were in a condition of +mind to accept almost any scientific marvel, that there appeared in +Paris an adventurer, who undertook to open communications between all +parts of the world without the expense and difficulty of laying cables +of communication. The line laid across the channel in 1850 was not very +successful; it broke several times, and had to be taken up again, and +relaid in 1851. If it did not answer in conveying messages across so +narrow a strip of water, was it likely to be utilized for Transatlantic +telegraphy? The _Presse_, a respectable Paris paper, conducted by a +journalist of note, M. de Girardin, answered emphatically, No. The means +of communication was not to be sought in a chain. The gutta percha +casing would decompose under the sea, and when the brine touched the +wires, the cable would be useless. The Chappe telegraph was superseded +by the electric telegraph which answered well on dry land, but fatal +objections stood in the way of its answering for communication between +places divided by belts of sea or oceans. Moreover, it was an intricate +system. Now the tendency of science in modern times was towards +simplification; and it was always found that the key to unlock +difficulties which had puzzled the inventors of the past, lay at their +hands. The electric telegraph was certainly more elaborate, complicated +and expensive than the optical telegraph. Was it such a decided advance +on it? Yes--in one way. It could be worked at all hours of night and +day. But had the last word in telegraphy been spoken, when it was +invented? Most assuredly not. + +Along with electricity and terrestrial magnetism, another power, +vaguely perceived, the full utility of which was also unknown, had been +recognised--animal magnetism. Why should not this force be used as a +means for the conveyance of messages? + +M. Jules Allix after a long preamble in _La Presse_, in an article +signed by himself, announced that a French inventor, M. Jacques +Toussaint Benoît (de l'Hérault), and a fellow worker of Gallic origin, +living in America, M. Biat-Chrétien, had hit on "a new system of +universal intercommunication of thought, which operates +instantaneously." + +After a long introduction in true French rhodomontade, tracing the +progress of humanity from the publication of the Gospel to the 19th +century, M. Allix continued, "The discovery of MM. Benoît and Biat +depends on galvanism, terrestrial and animal magnetism, also on natural +sympathy, that is to say, the base of communication is a sort of special +sympathetic fluid which is composed of the union or blending of the +galvanic, magnetic and sympathetic currents, by a process to be +described shortly. And as the various fluids vary according to the +organic or inorganic bodies whence they are derived, it is necessary +further to state that the forces or fluids here married are: (_a_) The +terrestrial-galvanic current, (_b_) the animal-sympathetic current, in +this case derived from _snails_, (_c_) the adamic or human current, or +animal-magnetic current in man. Consequently, to describe concisely the +basis of the new system of intercommunication, we shall have to call the +force, '_The galvano-terrestrial-magnetic-animal and adamic force!_'" +Is not this something like a piece of Jules Verne's delicious scientific +_hocus-pocus_? Will the reader believe that it was written in good +faith? It was, there can be no question, written in perfect good faith. +The character of _La Presse_, of the journalist, M. Jules Allix, would +not allow of a hoax wilfully perpetrated on the public. We are quoting +from the number for October 27th, 1850, of the paper. + +"According to the experiments made by MM. Benoît and Biat, it seems that +snails which have once been put in contact, are always in sympathetic +communication. When separated, there disengages itself from them a +species of fluid of which the earth is the conductor, which develops and +unrolls, so to speak, like the almost invisible thread of the spider, or +that of the silk worm, which can be uncoiled and prolonged almost +indefinitely in space without its breaking, but with this vital +difference that the thread of the escargotic fluid is invisible as +completely and the pulsation along it is as rapid as the electric fluid. + +"But, it may be objected with some plausibility, granted the existence +in the snails of this sympathetic fluid, will it radiate from them in +all directions, after the analogy of electric, galvanic and magnetic +fluids, unless there be some conductor established between them? At +first sight, this objection has some weight, but for all that it is more +specious than serious." The solution of this difficulty is exquisitely +absurd. We must summarise. + +At first the discoverers of the galvanic current thought it necessary to +establish a return wire, to complete the circle, till it was found to be +sufficient to carry the two ends of the wire in communication with the +earth, when the earth itself completed the circle. There is no visible +line between the ends underground, yet the current completes the circle +through it. Moreover, it is impossible to think of two points without +establishing, in idea, a line between them, indeed, according to +Euclid's definition, a straight line is that which lies evenly between +its extreme points, and a line is length without breadth or substance. +So, if we conceive of two snails, we establish a line between them, an +unsubstantial line, still a line along which the sympathetic current can +travel. "Now MM. Benoît and Biat, by means of balloons in the +atmosphere," had established beyond doubt that a visible tangible line +of communication was only necessary when raised above the earth. + +"Consequently, there remains nothing more to be considered than the +means, the apparatus, whereby the transmission of thought is effected. + +"This apparatus consists of a square box, in which is a Voltaic pile, of +which the metallic plates, instead of being superposed, as in the pile +of Volta, are disposed in order, attached in holes formed in a wheel or +circular disc, that revolves about a steel axis. To these metallic +plates used by Volta, MM. Benoît and Biat have substituted others in the +shape of cups or circular basins, composed of zinc lined with cloth +steeped in a solution of sulphate of copper maintained in place by a +blade of copper riveted to the cup. At the bottom of each of these +bowls, is fixed, by aid of a composition that shall be given presently, +a living snail, whose sympathetic influence may unite and be woven with +the galvanic current, when the wheel of the pile is set in motion and +with it the snails that are adhering to it. + +"Each galvanic basin rests on a delicate spring, so that it may respond +to every escargotic commotion. Now; it is obvious that such an apparatus +requires a corresponding apparatus, disposed as has been described, and +containing in it snails in sympathy with those in the other apparatus, +so that the escargotic vibration may pass from one precise point in one +of the piles to a precise point in the other and complementary pile. +When these dispositions have been grasped the rest follows as a matter +of course. MM. Benoît and Biat have fixed letters to the wheels, +corresponding the one with the other, and at each sympathetic touch on +one, the other is touched; consequently it is easy by this means, +naturally and instantaneously, to communicate ideas at vast distances, +by the indication of the letters touched by the snails. The apparatus +described is in shape like a mariner's compass, and to distinguish it +from that, it is termed the _pasilalinic--sympathetic compass_, as +descriptive at once of its effects and the means of operation." + +But, who were these inventors, Benoît and Biat-Chrétien? We will begin +with the latter. As Pontoppidon in his History of Norway heads a +chapter, "Of Snakes," and says, "Of these there are none," so we may say +of M. Biat-Chrétien; there was no such man; at least he never rose to +the surface and was seen. Apparently his existence was as much a +hallucination or creation of the fancy of M. Benoît, as was Mrs. Harris +a creature of the imagination of Mrs. Betsy Gamp. Certainly no +Biat-Chrétien was known in America as a discoverer. + +Jacques Toussaint Benoît (de l'Hérault) was a man who had been devoted +since his youth to the secret sciences. His studies in magic and +astrology, in mesmerism, and electricity, had turned his head. Together +with real eagerness to pursue his studies, and real belief in them, was +added a certain spice of rascality. + +One day Benoît, who had by some means made the acquaintance of M. Triat, +founder and manager of a gymnasium in Paris for athletic exercises, came +to Triat, and told him that he had made a discovery which would +supersede electric telegraphy. The director was a man of common sense, +but not of much education, certainly of no scientific acquirements. He +was, therefore, quite unable to distinguish between true and false +science. Benoît spoke with conviction, and carried away his hearer with +his enthusiasm. + +"What is needed for the construction of the machine?" asked M. Triat. + +"Only two or three bits of wood," replied Benoît. + +M. Triat took him into his carpenter's shop. "There, my friend," he +said, "here you have wood, and a man to help you." + +M. Triat did more. The future inventor of the instantaneous +communication of thought was house-less and hungry. The manager rented a +lodging for him, and advanced him money for his entertainment. Benoît +set to work. He used a great many bits of wood, and occupied the +carpenter a good part of his time. Other things became necessary as +well as wood, things that cost money, and the money was found by M. +Triat. So passed a twelvemonth. At the end of that time, which had been +spent at the cost of his protector, Benoît had arrived at no result. It +was apparent that, in applying to M. Triat, he had sought, not so much +to construct a machine already invented, as to devote himself to the +pursuit of his favourite studies. The director became impatient. He +declined to furnish further funds. Then Benoît declared that the machine +was complete. + +This machine, for the construction of which he had asked for two or +three pieces of wood, was an enormous scaffold formed of beams ten feet +long, supporting the Voltaic pile described by M. Allix, ensconced in +the bowls of which were the wretched snails stuck to the bottom of the +basins by some sort of glue, at intervals. This was the +Pasilalinic-sympathetic compass. It occupied one end of the apartment. +At the other end was a second, exactly similar. Each contained +twenty-four alphabetic-sympathetic snails. These poor beasts, glued to +the bottom of the zinc cups with little dribbles of sulphate of copper +trickling down the sides of the bowls from the saturated cloth placed on +them, were uncomfortable, and naturally tried to get away. They thrust +themselves from their shells and poked forth their horns groping for +some congenial spot on which to crawl, and came in contact with the wood +on which was painted the letters. But if they came across a drop of +solution of sulphate of copper, they went precipitately back into their +shells. + +Properly, the two machines should have been established in different +rooms, but no second room was available on the flat where Benoît was +lodged, so he was forced to erect both vis-à-vis. That, however, was a +matter wholly immaterial, as he explained to those who visited the +laboratory. Space was not considered by snails. Place one in Paris, the +other at the antipodes, the transmission of thought along their +sympathetic current was as complete, instantaneous and effective as in +his room on the _troisième_. In proof of this, Benoît undertook to +correspond with his friend and fellow-worker Biat-Chrétien in America, +who had constructed a similar apparatus. He assured all who came to +inspect his invention that he conversed daily by means of the snails +with his absent friend. When the machine was complete, the inventor was +in no hurry to show it in working order; however M. Triat urged +performance on him. He said, and there was reason in what he said, that +an exhibition of the pasilalinic telegraph before it was perfected, +would be putting others on the track, who might, having more means at +their command, forestall him, and so rob him of the fruit of his +labours. At last he invited M. Triat and M. Allix, as representative of +an influential journal, to witness the apparatus in working order, on +October 2nd. He assured them that since September 30, he had been in +constant correspondence with Biat-Chrétien, who, without crossing the +sea, would assist at the experiments conducted at Paris on Wednesday, +October 2nd, in the lodging of M. Benoît. + +On the appointed day, M. Triat and M. Allix were at the appointed place. +The former at once objected to the position of the two compasses, but +was constrained to be satisfied with the reason given by the operator. +If they could not be in different rooms, at least a division should be +made in the apartment by means of a curtain, so that the operator at one +compass could not see him at the other. But there was insuperable +difficulty in doing this, so M. Triat had to waive this objection also. +M. Jules Allix was asked to attend one of the compasses, whilst the +inventor stood on the scaffold managing the other. M. Allix was to send +the message, by touching the snails which represented the letters +forming the words to be transmitted, whereupon the corresponding snail +on M. Benoît's apparatus was supposed to thrust forth his horns. But, +under one pretext or another, the inventor ran from one apparatus to the +other, the whole time, so that it was not very difficult, with a little +management, to reproduce on his animated compass the letters transmitted +by M. Jules Allix. + +The transmission, moreover, was not as exact as it ought to have been. +M. Jules Allix had touched the snails in such order as to form the word +_gymnase_; Benoît on his compass read the word _gymoate_. Then M. Triat, +taking the place of the inventor, sent the words _lumiere divine_ to M. +Jules Allix, who read on his compass _lumhere divine_. Evidently the +snails were bad in their orthography. The whole thing, moreover, was a +farce, and the correspondence, such as it was, was due to the incessant +voyages of the inventor from one compass to the other, under the pretext +of supervising the mechanism of the two apparatuses. + +Benoît was then desired to place himself in communication with his +American friend, planted before his compass on the other side of the +Atlantic. He transmitted to him the signal to be on the alert. Then he +touched with a live snail he held in his hand the four snails that +corresponded to the letters of the name BIAT; then they awaited the +reply from America. After a few moments, the poor glued snails began to +poke out their horns in a desultory, irregular manner, and by putting +the letters together, with some accommodation CESTBIEN was made out, +which when divided, and the apostrophe added, made _C'est bien_. + +M. Triat was much disconcerted. He considered himself as hoaxed. Not so +M. Allix. He was so completely satisfied, that on the 27th October, +appeared the article from his pen which we have quoted. M. Triat then +went to the inventor and told him point blank, that he withdrew his +protection from him. Benoît entreated him not to throw up the matter, +before the telegraph was perfected. + +"Look here!" said M. Triat; "nothing is easier than for you to make me +change my intention. Let one of your compasses be set up in my +gymnasium, and the other in the side apartment. If that seems too much, +then let a simple screen be drawn between the two, and do you refrain +from passing between them whilst the experiment is being carried on. If +under these conditions you succeed in transmitting a single word from +one apparatus to the other, I will give you a thousand francs a day +whilst your experiments are successful." + +M. Triat then visited M. de Girardin who was interested in the matter, +half believed in it, and had accordingly opened the columns of _La +Presse_ to the article of M. Allix. M. de Girardin wished to be present +at the crucial experiment, and M. Triat gladly invited him to attend. He +offered another thousand francs so long as the compasses worked. "My +plan is this," said M. de Girardin: "If Benoît's invention is a success, +we will hire the _Jardin d'hiver_ and make Benoît perform his +experiments in public. That will bring us in a great deal more than two +thousand francs a day." + +Benoît accepted all the conditions with apparent alacrity; but, before +the day arrived for the experiment, after the removal of the two great +scaffolds to the gymnasiums--he had disappeared. He was, however, seen +afterwards several times in Paris, very thin, with eager restless eyes, +apparently partly deranged. He died in 1852! + +Alas for Benoît. He died a few years too soon. A little later, and he +might have become a personage of importance in the great invasion of the +table-turning craze which shortly after inundated Europe, and turned +many heads as well as tables. + + + + +The Countess Goerlitz. + + +One of the most strange and terrible tragedies of this century was the +murder of the Countess Goerlitz; and it excited immense interest in +Germany, both because of the high position of the unfortunate lady, the +mystery attaching to her death, and because the charge of having +murdered her rested on her husband, the Count Goerlitz, Chamberlain to +the Grand-Duke of Hesse, Privy Councillor, a man of fortune as well as +rank, and of unimpeachable character. There was another reason why the +case excited general interest: the solution remained a mystery for three +whole years, from 1847 to 1850. + +The Count Goerlitz was a man of forty-six, a great favourite at the +Court, and of fine appearance. He had married, in 1820, the daughter of +the Privy Councillor, Plitt. They had no children. The Countess was aged +forty-six when the terrible event occurred which we are about to relate. + +The Count and Countess lived in their mansion in the Neckarstrasse in +Darmstadt--a large, palatial house, handsomely furnished. Although +living under the same roof, husband and wife lived apart. She occupied +the first floor, and he the parterre, or ground floor. They dined +together. The cause of the unfriendly terms on which they lived was the +fact that the Countess was wealthy, her family was of citizen origin, +and had amassed a large fortune in trade. Her father had been ennobled +by the Grand-Duke, and she had been his heiress. The Count, himself, had +not much of his own, and his wife cast this fact in his teeth. She loved +to talk of the "beggar nobility," who were obliged to look out for rich +burghers' daughters to gild their coronets. The Count may have been hot +of temper, and have aggravated matters by sharpness of repartee; but, +according to all accounts, it was her miserliness and bitter tongue +which caused the estrangement. + +There were but four servants in the house--the Count's valet, the +coachman, a manservant of the Countess, and the cook. + +Every Sunday the Count Goerlitz dined at the palace. On Sunday, June 13, +1847, he had dined at the Grand-Duke's table as usual. As we know from +the letters of the Princess Alice, life was simple at that Court. Hours +were, as usual in South Germany, early. The carriage took the Count to +dinner at the palace at 3 P.M., and he returned home in it to the Neckar +Street at half-past six. When he came in he asked the servant of the +Countess, a man named John Stauff, whether his wife was at home, as he +wanted to see her. As a matter of fact, he had brought away from the +dinner-table at the palace some maccaroons and bonbons for her, as she +had a sweet tooth, and he thought the attention might please her. + +As John Stauff told him the Countess was in, he ascended the stone +staircase. A glass door led into the anteroom. He put his hand to it and +found it fastened. Thinking that his wife was asleep, or did not want +to be disturbed, he went downstairs to his own room, which was under her +sitting-room. There he listened for her tread, intending, on hearing it, +to reascend and present her with the bonbons. As he heard nothing, he +went out for a walk. The time was half-past seven. A little before nine +o'clock he returned from his stroll, drew on his dressing-gown and +slippers, and asked for his supper, a light meal he was wont to take by +himself in his own room, though not always, for the Countess frequently +joined him. Her mood was capricious. As he had the bonbons in his +pocket, and had not yet been able to present them, he sent her man +Stauff to tell her ladyship that supper was served, and that it would +give him great satisfaction if she would honour him with her presence. +Stauff came back in a few moments to say that the Countess was not at +home. "Nonsense!" said the husband, "of course she is at home. She may, +however, be asleep. I will go myself and find her." Thereupon he +ascended the stairs, and found, as before, the glass door to the +anteroom fastened. He looked in, but saw nothing. He knocked, and +received no answer. Then he went to the bedroom door, knocked, without +result; listened, and heard no sound. The Count had a key to the +dressing-room; he opened, and went in, and through that he passed into +the bed-chamber. That was empty. The bed-clothes were turned down for +the night, but were otherwise undisturbed. He had no key to the anteroom +and drawing-room. + +Then the Count went upstairs to the laundry, which was on the highest +storey, and where were also some rooms. The Countess was particular +about her lace and linen, and often attended to them herself, getting up +some of the collars and frills with her own hands. She was not in the +laundry. Evidently she was, as Stauff had said, not at home. The Count +questioned the manservant. Had his mistress intimated her intention of +supping abroad? No, she had not. Nevertheless, it was possible she might +have gone to intimate friends. Accordingly, he sent to the palace of +Prince Wittgenstein, and to the house of Councillor von Storch, to +inquire if she were at either. She had been seen at neither. + +The Count was puzzled, without, however, being seriously alarmed. He +bade Stauff call the valet, Schiller, and the coachman, Schämbs, who +slept out of the house, and then go for a locksmith. Stauff departed. +Presently the valet and coachman arrived, and, after, Stauff, without +the locksmith, who, he said, was ill, and his man was at the tavern. The +Count was angry and scolded. Then the coachman went forth, and soon came +back with the locksmith's apprentice, who was set at once to open the +locked doors in the top storey. The Countess was not in them. At the +same time the young man noticed a smell of burning, but whence it came +they could not decide. Thinking that this smell came from the kitchen on +the first storey--that is, the floor above where the Count lived--they +attacked the door of the kitchen, which was also locked. She was not +there. Then the Count led the way to the private sitting-room of the +Countess. As yet only the young locksmith had noticed the fire, the +others were uncertain whether they smelt anything unusual or not. The +key of the apprentice would not fit the lock of the Countess' ante-room, +so he ran home to get another. Then the Count went back to his own +apartment, and on entering it, himself perceived the smell of burning. +Accordingly, he went upstairs again, to find that the coachman had +opened an iron stove door in the passage, and that a thick pungent smoke +was pouring out of it. We must enter here into an explanation. In many +cases the porcelain stove of a German house has no opening into the +room. It is lighted outside through a door into the passage. Several +stoves communicate with one chimney. The Count and his servants ran out +into the courtyard to look at the chimney stack to see if smoke were +issuing from it. None was. Then they returned to the house. The +apprentice had not yet returned. Looking through the glass door, they +saw that there was smoke in the room. It had been unperceived before, +for it was evening and dusk. At once the Count's valet, Schiller, +smashed the plate glass, and through the broken glass smoke rolled +towards them. + +The hour was half-past ten. The search had occupied an hour and a half. +It had not been prosecuted with great activity; but then, no suspicion +of anything to cause alarm had been entertained. If the Countess were at +home, she must be in the sitting-room. From this room the smoke must +come which pervaded the ante-chamber. The fire must be within, and if +the Countess were there, she must run the danger of suffocation. +Consequently, as the keys were not at hand, the doors ought to be broken +open at once. This was not done. Count Goerlitz sent the servants away. +Stauff he bade run for a chimney-sweep, and Schiller for his medical +man, Dr. Stegmayer. The coachman had lost his head and ran out into the +street, yelling, "Fire! fire!" The wife of Schiller, who had come in, +ran out to summon assistance. + +The Count was left alone outside the glass door; and there he remained +passive till the arrival of the locksmith's man with the keys. More time +was wasted. None of the keys would open the door, and still the smoke +rolled out. Then the apprentice beat the door open with a stroke of his +hammer. He did it of his own accord, without orders from the Count. That +was remembered afterwards. At once a dense, black, sickly-smelling smoke +poured forth, and prevented the entrance of those who stood without. + +In the meantime, the coachman and others had put ladders against the +wall, one to the window of the ante-room, the other to that of the +parlour. Seitz, the apprentice, ran up the ladder, and peered in. The +room was quite dark. He broke two panes in the window, and at once a +blue flame danced up, caught the curtains, flushed yellow, and shot out +a fiery tongue through the broken window. Seitz, who seems to have been +the only man with presence of mind, boldly put his arm through and +unfastened the valves, and, catching the burning curtains, tore them +down and flung them into the street. Then he cast down two chairs which +were flaming from the window. He did not venture in because of the +smoke. + +In the meanwhile the coachman had broken the window panes of the +ante-room. This produced a draught through the room, as the glass door +had been broken in by Seitz. The smoke cleared sufficiently to allow of +admission to the parlour door. This door was also found to be locked, +and not only locked, but with the key withdrawn from it, as had been +from the ante-chamber door. This door was also burst open, and then it +was seen that the writing-desk of the Countess was on fire. That was all +that could be distinguished at the first glance. The room was full of +smoke, and the heat was so great that no one could enter. + +Water was brought in jugs and pails, and thrown upon the floor. The +current of air gradually dissipated the smoke, and something white was +observed on the floor near the burning desk. "Good heavens!" exclaimed +the Count, "there she lies!" + +The Countess lay on the floor beside her writing-desk; the white object +was her stockings. + +Among those who entered was a smith called Wetzell; he dashed forward, +flung a pail of water over the burning table, caught hold of the feet of +the dead body, and dragged it into the ante-room. Then he sought to +raise it, but it slipped through his hands. A second came to his +assistance, with the same result. The corpse was like melted butter. +When he seized it by the arm, the flesh came away from the bone. + +The body was laid on a mat, and so transported into a cabinet. The upper +portion was burnt to coal; one hand was charred; on the left foot was a +shoe, the other was found, later, in another room. More water was +brought, and the fire in the parlour was completely quenched. Then only +was it possible to examine the place. The fire had, apparently, +originated at the writing-desk or secretaire of the Countess; the body +had lain before the table, and near it was a chair, thrown over. From +the drawing-room a door, which was found open, led into the boudoir. +This boudoir had a window that looked into a side street. In the +ante-room were no traces of fire. In the drawing-room only the +secretaire and the floor beneath it had been burnt. On a chiffonier +against the wall were candlesticks, the stearine candles in them had +been melted by the heat of the room and run over the chiffonier. + +In this room was also a sofa, opposite the door leading from the +ante-chamber, some way from the desk and the seat of the fire. In the +middle of the sofa was a hole fourteen inches long by six inches broad, +burnt through the cretonne cover, the canvas below, and into the horse +hair beneath. A looking-glass hung against the wall above; this glass +was broken and covered with a deposit as of smoke. It was apparent, +therefore, that a flame had leaped up on the sofa sufficiently high and +hot to snap the mirror and obscure it. + +Left of the entrance-door was a bell-rope, torn down and cast on the +ground. + +Beyond the parlour was the boudoir. It had a little corner divan. Its +cover was burnt through in two places. The cushion at the back was also +marked with holes burnt through. Above this seat against the wall hung +an oil painting. It was blistered with heat. Near it was an étagère, on +which were candles; these also were found melted completely away. In +this boudoir was found the slipper from the right foot of the Countess. + +If the reader will consider what we have described, he will see that +something very mysterious must have occurred. There were traces of +burning in three distinct places--on the sofa, and at the secretaire in +the parlour, and on the corner seat in the boudoir. It was clear also +that the Countess had been in both rooms, for her one slipper was in the +boudoir, the other on her foot in the drawing-room. Apparently, also, +she had rung for assistance, and torn down the bell-rope. + +Another very significant and mysterious feature of the case was the fact +that the two doors were found locked, and that the key was not found +with the body, nor anywhere in the rooms. Consequently, the Countess had +not locked herself in. + +Again:--the appearance of the corpse was peculiar. The head and face +were burnt to cinder, especially the face, less so the back of the head. +All the upper part of the body had been subjected to fire, as far as the +lower ribs, and there the traces of burning ceased absolutely. Also, the +floor was burnt in proximity to the corpse, but not where it lay. The +body had protected the floor where it lay from fire. + +The police were at once informed of what had taken place, and the +magistrates examined the scene and the witnesses. This was done in a +reprehensibly inefficient manner. The first opinion entertained was that +the Countess had been writing at her desk, and had set fire to herself, +had run from room to room, tried to obtain assistance by ringing the +bell, had failed, fallen, and died. Three medical men were called in to +examine the body. One decided that this was a case of spontaneous +combustion. The second that it was not a case of spontaneous combustion. +The third simply stated that she had been burnt, but how the fire +originated he was unable to say. No minute examination of the corpse was +made. It was not even stripped of the half-burnt clothes upon it. It was +not dissected. The family physician signed a certificate of "accidental +death," and two days after the body was buried. + +Only three or, at the outside, four hypotheses could account for the +death of the Countess. + +1. She had caught fire accidentally, whilst writing at her desk. + +2. She had died of spontaneous combustion. + +3. She had been murdered. + +There is, indeed, a fourth hypothesis--that she had committed suicide; +but this was too improbable to be entertained. The manner of death was +not one to be reconciled with the idea of suicide. + +The first idea was that in the minds of the magistrates. They were +prepossessed with it. They saw nothing that could militate against it. +Moreover, the Count was Chamberlain at Court, a favourite of the +sovereign and much liked by the princes, also a man generally respected. +Unquestionably this had something to do with the hasty and superficial +manner in which the examination was gone through. The magistrates +desired to have the tragedy hushed up. + +A little consideration shows that the theory of accident was untenable. +The candles were on the chiffonier, and no traces of candlesticks were +found on the spot where the fire had burned. Moreover, the appearance of +the secretaire was against this theory. The writing-desk and table +consisted of a falling flap, on which the Countess wrote, and which she +could close and lock. Above this table were several small drawers which +contained her letters, receipted bills, and her jewelry. Below it were +larger drawers. The upper drawers were not completely burnt; on the +other hand, the lower drawers were completely consumed, and their +bottoms and contents had fallen in cinders on the floor beneath, which +was also burnt through to the depth of an inch and a half to two inches. +It was apparent, therefore, that the secretaire had been set on fire +from below. Moreover, there was more charcoal found under it than could +be accounted for, by supposing it had fallen from above. Now it will be +remembered that only the upper portion of the body was consumed. The +Countess had not set fire to herself whilst writing, and so set fire to +the papers on the desk. That was impossible. + +The supposition that she had died of spontaneous combustion was also +entertained by a good many. But no well-authenticated case of +spontaneous combustion is known. Professor Liebig, when afterwards +examined on this case, stated that spontaneous combustion of the human +body was absolutely impossible, and such an idea must be relegated to +the region of myths. + +There remained, therefore, no other conclusion at which it was possible +for a rational person to arrive who weighed the circumstances than that +the Countess had been murdered. + +The Magisterial Court of the city of Darmstadt had attempted to hush-up +the case. The German press took it up. It excited great interest and +indignation throughout the country. It was intimated pretty pointedly +that the case had been scandalously slurred over, because of the rank of +the Count and the intimate relation in which he stood to the royal +family. The papers did not shrink from more than insinuating that this +was a case of murder, and that the murderer was the husband of the +unfortunate woman. Some suspicion that this was so seems to have crossed +the minds of the servants of the house. They recollected his +dilatoriness in entering the rooms of the Countess; the time that was +protracted in idle sending for keys, and trying key after key, when a +kick of the foot or a blow of the hammer would have sufficed to give +admission to the room where she lay. It was well known that the couple +did not live on the best terms. To maintain appearances before the +world, they dined and occasionally supped together. They rarely met +alone, and when they did fell into dispute, and high words passed which +the servants heard. + +The Countess was mean and miserly, she grudged allowing her husband any +of her money. She had, however, made her will the year before, leaving +all her large fortune to her husband for life. Consequently her death +released him from domestic and pecuniary annoyances. On the morning +after the death he sent for the agent of the insurance company with +whom the furniture and other effects were insured and made his claim. He +claimed, in addition to the value of the furniture destroyed, the worth +of a necklace of diamonds and pearls which had been so injured by the +fire that it had lost the greater part of its value. The pearls were +quite spoiled, and the diamonds reduced in worth by a half. The agent +refused this claim, as he contended that the jewelry was not included in +the insurance, and the Count abstained from pressing it. + +To the Count the situation became at length intolerable. He perceived a +decline of cordiality in his reception at Court, his friends grew cold, +and acquaintances cut him. He must clear himself of the charge which now +weighed on him. The death of the Countess had occurred on June 13, 1847. +On October 6, that is four months later, Count Goerlitz appeared before +the Grand-Ducal Criminal Court of Darmstadt, and produced a bundle of +German newspapers charging him with having murdered his wife, and set +fire to the room to conceal the evidence of his crime. He therefore +asked to have the case re-opened, and the witnesses re-examined. Nothing +followed. The Court hesitated to take up the case again, and throw +discredit on the magistrates' decision in June. Again, on October 16, +the Count renewed his request, and desired, if this were refused, that +he and his solicitor might be allowed access to the minutes of the +examination, that they might be enabled to take decided measures for the +clearing of the Count's character, and the chastisement of those who +charged him with an atrocious crime. On October 21, he received a +reply, "that his request could not be granted, unless he produced such +additional evidence as would show the Court that the former examination +was defective." + +On October 25, the Count laid a mass of evidence before the Court which, +he contended, would materially modify, if not absolutely upset the +conclusion arrived at by the previous investigation. + +Then, at last, consent was given; but proceedings did not begin till +November, and dragged on till the end of October in the following year, +when a new law of criminal trial having been passed in the grand-duchy, +the whole of what had gone before became invalid, save as preliminary +investigation, and it was not till March 4, 1850--that is, not till +_three years_ after the death of the Countess--that the case was +thoroughly sifted and settled. Before the promulgation of the law of +October, 1848, all trials were private, then trial by jury, and in +public, was introduced. + +However, something had been done. In August 1848--that is, over a year +after the burial of the Countess--the body was exhumed and submitted to +examination. Two facts were then revealed. The skull of the Countess had +been fractured by some blunt instrument; and she had been strangled. The +condition in which the tongue had been found when the body was first +discovered had pointed to strangulation, the state of the jaws when +exhumed proved it. + +So much, then, was made probable. A murderer had entered the room, +struck the Countess on the head, and when that did not kill her, he had +throttled her. Then, apparently, so it was argued, he had burnt the +body, and next, before it was more than half consumed, had placed it +near the secretaire, and, finally, had set fire to the secretaire. + +He had set fire to the writing-desk to lead to the supposition that the +Countess had set fire to herself whilst writing at it; and this was the +first conclusion formed. + +That a struggle had taken place appeared from several circumstances. The +bell-rope was torn down. Probably no servant had been in the house that +Sunday evening when the bell rang desperately for aid. The seat flung +over seemed to point to her having been surprised at the desk. One shoe +was in the boudoir. The struggle had been continued as she fled from the +sitting-room into the inner apartment. + +Now, only, were the fire-marks on the divan and sofa explicable. The +Countess had taken refuge first on one, then on the other, after having +been wounded, and her blood had stained them. The murderer had burnt out +the marks of blood. + +She had fled from the sitting-room to the boudoir, and thence had hoped +to escape through the next door into a corner room, but the door of that +room was locked. + +The next point to be determined was, where had her body been burnt. + + + locked | boudoir + room | + o|o + ---------+---------- + |a|o + -| + anteroom | parlour + + +In the sitting-room, the boudoir, and a locked corner room were stoves. +The walls of these rooms met, and in the angles were the stoves. They +all communicated with one chimney. They were all heated from an opening +in the anteroom, marked _a_, which closed with an iron door, and was +covered with tapestry. The opening was large enough for a human being to +be thrust through, and the fire-chamber amply large enough also for its +consumption. + +Much time had passed since a serious examination was begun, and it was +too late to think of finding evidence of the burning of the body in this +place. The stoves had been used since, each winter. However, some new +and surprising evidence did come to light. At five minutes past eight on +the evening that the mysterious death took place, Colonel von +Stockhausen was on the opposite side of the street talking to a lady, +when his attention was arrested by a dense black smoke issuing suddenly +from the chimney of the Count Goerlitz' palace. He continued looking at +the column of smoke whilst conversing with the lady, uncertain whether +the chimney were on fire or not, and whether he ought to give the alarm. +When the lady left him, after about ten minutes, or a quarter of an +hour, he saw that smoke ceased to issue from the chimney. He accordingly +went his way without giving notice of the smoke. + +So far every piece of evidence went to show that the Countess had been +murdered. The conclusion now arrived at was this: she had been struck on +the head, chased from room to room bleeding, had been caught, strangled, +then thrust into the fire-chamber of the stove over a fire which only +half consumed her; taken out again and laid before the secretaire, and +the secretaire deliberately set fire to, and all the blood-marks +obliterated by fire. That something of this kind had taken place was +evident. Who had done it was not so clear. The efforts of the Count to +clear himself had established the fact that his wife was murdered, but +did not establish his innocence. + +Suddenly--the case assumed a new aspect, through an incident wholly +unexpected and extraordinary. + +The result of inquiry into the case of the death of the Countess +Goerlitz was, that the decision that she had come to her end by +accident, given by the city magistrates, was upset, and it was made +abundantly clear that she had been murdered. By whom murdered was not so +clear. + +Inquiry carried the conclusion still further. She had been robbed as +well as murdered. + +We have already described the writing-desk of the Countess. There were +drawers below the flap, and other smaller drawers concealed by it when +closed. In the smaller drawers she kept her letters, her bills, her +vouchers for investments, and her jewelry. Among the latter was the +pearl and diamond necklace, which she desired by her will might be sold, +and the money given to a charitable institution. The necklace was indeed +discovered seriously injured; but what had become of her bracelets, +brooches, rings, her other necklets, her earrings? She had also a chain +of pearls, which was nowhere to be found. All these articles were gone. +No trace of them had been found in the cinders under the secretaire; +moreover, the drawers in which she preserved them were not among those +burnt through. In the first excitement and bewilderment caused by her +death, the Count had not observed the loss, and the magistrates had not +thought fit to inquire whether any robbery had been committed. + +A very important fact was now determined. The Countess had been robbed, +and murdered, probably for the sake of her jewels. Consequently the +murderer was not likely to be the Count. + +When the case was re-opened, at Count Goerlitz's repeated demand, an +"Inquirent" was appointed by the Count to examine the case--that is, an +official investigator of all the circumstances; and on November 2, 1847, +in the morning, notice was given to the Count that the "Inquirent" would +visit his mansion on the morrow and examine both the scene of the murder +and the servants. The Count at once convoked his domestics and bade them +be in the house next day, ready for examination. + +That same afternoon the cook, Margaret Eyrich by name, was engaged in +the kitchen preparing dinner for the master, who dined at 4 P.M. At +three o'clock the servant-man, John Stauff, came into the kitchen and +told the cook that her master wanted a fire lit in one of the upper +rooms. She refused to go because she was busy at the stove. Stauff +remained a quarter of an hour there talking to her. Then he said it was +high time for him to lay the table for dinner, a remark to which she +gave an assent, wondering in her own mind why he had delayed so long. He +took up a soup dish, observed that it was not quite clean, and asked her +to wash it. She was then engaged on some sauce over the fire. + +"I will wash it, if you will stir the sauce," she said. "If I leave the +pan, the sauce will be burnt." + +Stauff consented, and she went with the dish to the sink. Whilst thus +engaged, she turned her head, and was surprised to see that Stauff had a +small phial in his hand, and was pouring its contents into the sauce. + +She asked him what he was about; he denied having done anything, and the +woman, with great prudence, said nothing further, so as not to let him +think that her suspicions were aroused. Directly, however, that he had +left the kitchen, she examined the sauce, saw it was discoloured, and on +trying it, that the taste was unpleasant. She called in the coachman and +the housekeeper. On consultation they decided that this matter must be +further investigated. The housekeeper took charge of the sauce, and +carried it to Dr. Stegmayer, the family physician, who at once said that +verdigris had been mixed with it, and desired that the police should be +communicated with. This was done, the sauce was analysed, and found to +contain 15½ grains of verdigris, enough to poison a man. Thereupon +Stauff was arrested. + +We see now that an attempt had been made on the life of the Count, on +the day on which he had announced that an official inquiry into the +murder was to be made in his house and among his domestics. + +Stauff, then, was apparently desirous of putting the Count out of the +way before that inquiry was made. At this very time a terrible tragedy +had occurred in France, and was in all the papers. The Duke of Praslin +had murdered his wife, and when he was about to be arrested, the duke +had poisoned himself. + +Did Stauff wish that the Count should be found poisoned that night, in +order that the public might come to the conclusion he had committed +suicide to escape arrest? It would seem so. + +John Stauff's arrest took place on November 3, 1847, four months and a +half after the death of the Countess. He was, however, only arrested on +a charge of attempting to poison the Count, and the further charge of +having murdered the Countess was not brought against him till August 28, +1848. The body of the murdered woman, it will be remembered, was not +exhumed and examined till August 11, 1848--eight months after the +re-opening of the investigation! It is really wonderful that the mystery +should have been cleared and the Count's character satisfactorily +vindicated, with such dilatoriness of proceeding. One more instance of +the stupid way in which the whole thing was managed. Although John +Stauff was charged with the attempt to poison on November 3, 1847, he +was not questioned on the charge till January 10, 1849, that is, till he +had been fourteen months in prison. + +It will be remembered that the bell-rope in the Countess's parlour was +torn down. It would suggest itself to the meanest capacity that here was +a point of departure for inquiry. If the bell had been torn down, it +must have pealed its summons for help through the house. Who was in the +house at the time? If anyone was, why did he not answer the appeal? +Inconceivable was the neglect of the magistrates of Darmstadt in the +first examination--they did not inquire. Only several months later was +this matter subjected to investigation. + +In the house lived the Count and Countess, the cook, who also acted as +chambermaid to the Countess, Schiller, the valet to the Count, Schämbs, +the coachman, and the Countess's own servant-man, John Stauff. Of these +Schiller and Schämbs did not sleep in the house. + +June 13, the day of the murder, was a Sunday. The Count went as usual to +the grand-ducal palace in his coach at 3 P.M. The coachman drove him; +Stauff sat on the box beside the coachman. They left the Count at the +palace and returned home. They were ordered to return to the palace to +fetch him at 6 P.M. On Sundays, the Count usually spent his day in his +own suite of apartments, and the Countess in hers. On the morning in +question she had come downstairs to her husband with a bundle of coupons +which she wanted him to cash for her on the morrow. He managed her +fortune for her. The sum was small, only £30. At 2 P.M. she went to the +kitchen to tell the cook she might go out for the afternoon, as she +would not be wanted, and that she must return by 9 P.M. + +At three o'clock the cook left. The cook saw and spoke to her as she +left. The Countess was then partially undressed, and the cook supposed +she was changing her clothes. Shortly after this, Schiller, the Count's +valet, saw and spoke with her. She was then upstairs in the laundry +arranging the linen for the mangle. She was then in her morning cotton +dress. Consequently she had not dressed herself to go out, as the cook +supposed. At the same time the carriage left the court of the house for +the palace. That was the last seen of her alive, except by John Stauff, +and, if he was not the murderer, by one other. + +About a quarter past three the coach returned with Schämbs and Stauff +on the box. The Count had been left at the palace. The coachman took out +his horses, without unharnessing them, and left for his own house, at +half-past three, to remain there till 5 o'clock, when he must return, +put the horses in, and drive back to the palace to fetch the Count. A +quarter of an hour after the coachman left, Schiller went out for a walk +with his little boy. + +Consequently--none were in the house but the Countess and Stauff, and +Stauff knew that the house was clear till 5 o'clock, when Schämbs would +return to the stables. What happened during that time? + +At a quarter past four, the wife of Schiller came to the house with a +little child, and a stocking she was knitting. She wanted to know if her +husband had gone with the boy to Eberstadt, a place about four miles +distant. She went to the back-door. It was not fastened, but on being +opened rang a bell, like a shop door. Near it were two rooms, one +occupied by Schiller, the other by Stauff. The wife went into her +husband's room and found it empty. Then she went into that of Stauff. It +also was empty. She returned into the entrance hall and listened. +Everything was still in the house. She stood there some little while +knitting and listening. Presently she heard steps descending the +backstairs, and saw Stauff, with an apron about him, and a duster in his +hand. She asked him if her husband had gone to Eberstadt, and he said +that he had. Then she left the house. Stauff, however, called to her +from the window to hold up the child to him, to kiss. She did so, and +then departed. + +Shortly after five, Schämbs returned to the stable, put in the horses, +and drove to the palace without seeing Stauff. He thought nothing of +this, as Stauff usually followed on foot, in time to open the coach door +for the Count. On this occasion, Stauff appeared at his post in livery, +at a quarter to six. At half-past six both returned with their master to +the house in Neckar Street. + +Accordingly, from half-past three to a quarter past four, and from +half-past four to half-past five, Stauff was alone in the house with the +Countess. But then, from a quarter to five to half-past five she was +quite alone, and it was possible that the murder was committed at that +time. The Count, it will be remembered, on his return, went upstairs and +knocked at the door of the Countess' apartments, without meeting with a +response. Probably, therefore, she was then dead. + +At seven o'clock the coachman went away, and Stauff helped the Count to +take off his court dining dress, and put on a light suit. He was with +him till half-past seven, when the Count went out for a walk. The Count +returned at half-past eight; during an hour, therefore, Stauff was alone +in the house with the Countess, or--her corpse. + +What occurred during that hour? Here two independent pieces of evidence +come in to assist us in determining what took place. At five minutes +past eight, Colonel von Stockhausen had seen the column of black smoke +issue from the chimney of the house; it ascended, he said, some fifteen +feet above the chimney, and was so dense that it riveted his attention +whilst he was talking to a lady. + +At about a quarter-past eight the smoke ceased. + +The reader may remember that the window of the inner boudoir did not +look into the Neckar Street, but into a small side street. Immediately +opposite lived a widow lady named Kekule. On the evening in question, +her daughter, Augusta, a girl of eighteen, came in from a walk, and went +upstairs to the room the window of which was exactly opposite, though at +a somewhat higher level than the window of the boudoir. Looking out of +her window, Augusta Kekule saw to her astonishment a flickering light +like a lambent flame in the boudoir. A blind was down, so that she could +see nothing distinctly. She was, however, alarmed, and called her +brother Augustus, aged twenty years, and both watched the flames +flashing in the room. They called their mother also, and all three saw +it flare up high, then decrease, and go out. The time was 8.15. On +examination of the spot, it was seen that the window of Miss Kekule +commanded the corner of the boudoir, where was the divan partly burnt +through in several places. + +What was the meaning of these two appearances, the smoke and the flame? +Apparently, from half-past seven to half-past eight the murderer was +engaged in burning the body, and in effacing with fire the blood-stains +on the sofas. During this time John Stauff was in the house, and, beside +the Countess, alive or dead, John Stauff only. + +Stauff was now subjected to examination. He was required to account for +his time on the afternoon and evening of Sunday, June 13. + +He said, that after his return from the palace, that is, about ten +minutes past three, he went into his room on the basement, and ate bread +and cheese. When told that the wife of Schiller stated she had seen him +come downstairs, he admitted that he had run upstairs to fetch a duster, +to brush away the bread crumbs from the table at which he had eaten. +After the woman left, according to his own account, he remained in his +room below till five o'clock, when the Countess came to the head of the +stairs and called him. He went up and found her on the topmost landing; +she went into the laundry, and he stood in the door whilst she spoke to +him, and gave him some orders for the butcher and baker. She wore, he +said, a black stuff gown. Whilst he was talking to her, Schämbs drove +away to fetch the Count. He gave a correct account of what followed, up +to the departure of the Count on his walk. After that, he said, he had +written a letter to his sweetheart, and at eight went out to get his +supper at an outdoor restaurant where he remained till half-past nine. +He was unable to produce evidence of anyone who had seen him and spoken +to him there; but, of course, much cannot be made of this, owing to the +distance of time at which the evidence was taken from the event of the +murder. According to his account, therefore, no one was in the house at +the time when the smoke rose from the chimney, and the flame was seen in +the boudoir. + +If we sum up the points determined concerning the murder of the +Countess, we shall see how heavily the evidence told against Stauff. + +She had been attacked in her room, and after a desperate struggle, which +went on in both parlour and boudoir, she had been killed. + +Her secretaire had been robbed. + +Her body had been burnt. + +The blood-stains had been effaced by fire. + +The secretaire had been set fire to; and, apparently, the body removed +from where it had been partially consumed, and placed near it. + +Now all this must have taken time. It could only be done by one who knew +that he had time in which to effect it undisturbed. + +John Stauff was at two separate times, in the afternoon and evening, +alone in the house for an hour, knowing that during that time he would +be undisturbed. + +If his account were true, the murder must have been committed during his +brief absence with the coach, and the burning of the body, and setting +fire to the room, done when he went out to get his supper. But--how +could the murderer suppose he would leave the house open and unprotected +at eight o'clock? Was it likely that a murderer and robber, after having +killed the Countess and taken her jewels at six o'clock, would hang +about till eight, waiting the chance of getting back to the scene of his +crime unobserved, to attempt to disguise it? not knowing, moreover, how +much time he would have for effecting his purpose? + +It was possible that this had been done, but it was not probable. + +Evidence was forthcoming from a new quarter that served to establish +the guilt of Stauff. + +On October 6, 1847, an oilman, Henry Stauff, in Oberohmen, in Hesse +Cassel, was arrested, because he was found to be disposing of several +articles of jewelry, without being able to give a satisfactory account +of where he got them. The jewelry consisted of a lump of molten gold, +and some brooches, bracelets and rings. + +Henry Stauff had been a whitesmith in his youth, then he became a +carrier, but in the last few years, since the death of his wife, he had +sold knives, and been a knife-grinder. He was very poor, and had been +unable to pay his rates. In July of 1847, however, his affairs seemed to +have mended; he wore a silver watch, and took out a licence to deal in +oil and seeds. When he applied for the patent, the burgomaster was +surprised, and asked him how he could get stock to set up business, in +his state of poverty. Thereupon, Henry Stauff opened his purse and +showed that it contained a good amount of silver, and--with the coins +was a gold ring with, apparently, a precious stone in it. + +The cause of his arrest was his offering the lump of gold to a +silversmith in Cassel. It looked so much as if it was the melting up of +jewelry, that the smith communicated with the police. On his arrest, +Henry Stauff said he was the father of four children, two sons and two +daughters; that his sons, one of whom was in the army, had sent him +money, that his daughter in America had given him the jewelry, and that +the gold he had had by him for several years, it had been given him by +a widow, who was dead. The silver watch he had bought in Frankfort. +Henry Stauff had a daughter at home, name Anna Margaretta, who often +received letters from Darmstadt. One of these letters had not been +stamped, and as she declined to pay double for it, it lay in the +post-office till opened to be returned. Then it was found to be dated +September 29, 1847, and to be from her brother, John Stauff. It simply +contained an inclosure to her father; this was opened; it contained an +angry remonstrance with him for not having done what he was required, +and sent the money at once to the writer. + +Was it possible that this had reference to the disposal of the jewelry? + +On July 7, three weeks after the death of the Countess, Henry Stauff was +at Darmstadt, where one son, Jacob, was in the army; the other, John, +was in service with the Goerlitz family. + +This led the magistrates in Cassel to communicate with those in +Darmstadt. On November 10, John Stauff was questioned with reference to +his father. He said he had often sent him money. He was shown the +jewelry, and asked if he recognised it. He denied having ever seen it, +and having sent it to his father. + +The jewelry was shown to Count Goerlitz, and he immediately identified +it as having belonged to his wife. A former lady's-maid of the Countess +also identified the articles. The Count, and a maid, asserted that these +articles had always been kept by the deceased lady in the small upper +drawers of her secretaire. The Countess was vain and miserly, and often +looked over her jewelry. She would, certainly, have missed her things +had they been stolen before June 13. + +The articles had not been stolen since, found among the ashes, and +carried off surreptitiously, for they showed no trace of fire. + +Here we must again remark on the extraordinary character of the +proceedings in this case. The articles were identified and shown to John +Stauff on November 10, 1847, but it was not till ten months after, on +August 28, 1848, that he was told that he was suspected of the murder of +the Countess, and of having robbed her of these ornaments. Another of +the eccentricities of the administration of justice in Darmstadt +consisted in allowing the father Henry, and his son John, to have free +private communication with each other, whilst the latter was in prison, +and thus allowing them to concoct together a plausible account of their +conduct, with which, however, we need not trouble ourselves. + +On September 1, 1848, on the fourth day after Stauff knew that he was +charged with the murder of the Countess, he asked to make his statement +of what really took place. This was the account he gave. It will be seen +that, from the moment he knew the charge of murder was brought against +him, he altered his defence. + +He said, "On June 20, 1847," (that is, a week after the murder), "about +ten o'clock in the evening, after the Count had partaken of his supper +and undressed, he brought me a box containing jewelry, and told me he +would give it to me, as I was so poor, and that it would place my father +and me in comfortable circumstances. I then told the Count that I did +not know what to do with these jewels, whereupon he exhorted me to send +them to my father, and get him to dispose of them. He told me that he +required me solemnly to swear that I would not tell anyone about the +jewels. I hid the box in a stocking and concealed it in some bushes on +the Bessungen road. Later I told my brother Jacob where they were, and +bade him give them to my father on his visit to Darmstadt." + +When Stauff was asked what reason he could assign for the Count giving +him the jewels, he said that the Count saw that he, John Stauff, +suspected him of the murder, and he named several circumstances, such as +observing blood on the Count's handkerchief on the evening of the +murder, which had led him to believe that the Count was guilty, and the +Count was aware of his suspicions. + +On March 4, 1850, began the trial of John Stauff for the murder of the +Countess, for robbery, for arson, and for attempt to poison the Count. + +At the same time his father, Henry Stauff, and his brother, Jacob +Stauff, were tried for concealment of stolen goods. The trial came to an +end on April 11. As many as 118 witnesses were heard; among these was +the Count Goerlitz, as to whose innocence no further doubts were +entertained. + +John Stauff was at that time aged twenty-six, he was therefore +twenty-four years old at the time of the murder. He had been at school +at Oberohmen, where he had shown himself an apt and intelligent scholar. +In 1844 he had entered the grand-ducal army, and in May 1846 had become +servant in the Goerlitz house, as footman to the Countess. In his +regiment he had behaved well; he had been accounted an excellent +servant, and both his master and mistress placed confidence in him. +Curiously enough, in the autumn of 1846, he had expressed a wish to a +chambermaid of the Countess "that both the Countess and her pack of +jewels, bracelets and all, might be burnt in one heap." + +When the maid heard of the death of the Countess in the following year, +"Ah!" she said, "now Stauff's wish has been fulfilled to the letter." + +He was fond of talking of religion, and had the character among his +fellow-servants of being pious. He was, however, deep in debt, and +associated with women of bad character. Throughout the trial he +maintained his composure, his lips closed, his colour pale, without +token of agitation. But the man who could have stood by without showing +emotion at the opening of the coffin of his mistress, at the sight of +the half-burnt, half-decomposed remains of his victim, must have had +powers of self-control of no ordinary description. During the trial he +seemed determined to show that he was a man of some culture; he +exhibited ease of manner and courtesy towards judges, jury, and lawyers. +He never interrupted a witness, and when he questioned them, did so with +intelligence and moderation. He often looked at the public, especially +the women, who attended in great numbers, watching the effect of the +evidence on their minds. When, as now and then happened, some ludicrous +incident occurred, he laughed over it as heartily as the most innocent +looker-on. + +The jury unanimously found him "guilty" on every count. They +unanimously gave a verdict of "guilty" against his father and brother. +Henry Stauff was sentenced to six months' imprisonment; Jacob Stauff to +detention for three months, and John to imprisonment for life. At that +time capital punishment could not be inflicted in Hesse. + +On June 3, he was taken to the convict prison of Marienschloss. On July +1, he appealed to the Grand-Duke to give him a free pardon, as he was +innocent of the crimes for which he was sentenced. The appeal was +rejected. Then he professed his intention of making full confession. He +asked to see the Count. He professed himself a broken-hearted penitent, +desirous of undoing, by a sincere confession, as much of the evil as was +possible. + +We will give his confession in his own words. + +"When, at five o'clock, I went to announce to the Countess that I was +about to go to the palace, I found both the glass door of the ante-room, +and that into the sitting-room, open, and I walked in through them. I +did not find the Countess in her parlour, of which the curtains were +drawn. Nor was she in her boudoir. I saw the door into the little corner +room ajar, so I presumed she was in there. The flap of her desk was +down, so that I saw the little drawers, in which I knew she kept her +valuables, accessible to my hand. Opportunity makes the thief. I was +unable to resist the temptation to enrich myself by these precious +articles. I opened one of the drawers, took out a gold bracelet, one of +gold filigree, two of bronze, a pair of gold ear-rings, a gold brooch, +and a triple chain of beads or Roman pearls; and pocketed these +articles, which my father afterwards had, and, for the most part, melted +up. + +"Most of these articles were in their cases. At that moment the Countess +appeared on the threshold of her boudoir and rushed towards me. I do not +remember what she exclaimed; fear for the consequences, and anxiety to +prevent the Countess from making a noise and calling assistance, and +thereby obtaining my arrest, prevailed in my mind, and I thought only +how I might save myself. I grasped her by the neck, and pressed my +thumbs into her throat. She struggled desperately. I was obliged to use +all my strength to hold her. After a wrestle of between five and seven +minutes, her eyes closed, her face became purple, and I felt her limbs +relax. + +"When I saw she was dead I was overcome with terror. I let the body +fall, whereby the head struck the corner of the left side of the +secretaire, and this made a wound which began to bleed. Then I ran and +locked both the doors, hid what I had taken in my bed, and left the +house. On my way to the palace, I stepped into Frey's tavern and drank +three glasses of wine. I was afraid I should arrive too late at the +palace, where I appeared, however, at half-past five. The Count did not +return till half-past six, as dinner that day lasted rather longer than +usual. + +"When the Count went upstairs to see his wife and take her something +good he had brought away with him from table, I was not uneasy at all, +for I knew that he would knock and come away if he met with no response. +So he did. He came down without being discomposed, and remarked that he +fancied the Countess had gone out. At half-past seven he left the house. +In the mean time I had been considering what to do, and had formed my +plan. Now my opportunity had arrived, and I hastened to put it into +execution. My plan was to efface every trace of my deed by fire, and to +commit suicide if interrupted. + +"As the weather was chilly, the Count had some fire in his stove. I +fetched the still glowing charcoal, collected splinters of firwood and +other combustibles, and matches, and went upstairs with them. Only the +wine sustained me through what I carried out. I took up the body. I put +a chair before the open desk, seated the corpse on it, placed one arm on +the desk, laid the head on the arm, so that the body reposed in a +position of sleep, leaning on the flap of the desk. I threw the red hot +charcoal down under the head, heaped matches, paper, and wood splinters +over them; took one of the blazing bits of wood and threw it on the +divan in the boudoir; locked both doors, and flung away the keys. + +"Then I went to my own room and lighted a fire in the stove, and put the +jewel cases on the fire. The fire would not burn well, and thick smoke +came into the room. Then I saw that the damper was closed. I opened +that, and the smoke flew up the chimney; this is what Colonel von +Stockhausen saw. There were a lot of empty match-boxes also in the +stove, and these burnt with the rest." + +Such was the confession of Stauff. How far true, it is impossible to +say. He said nothing about the bell-pull being torn down, nothing about +the holes burnt in the sofa of the sitting-room. According to the +opinion of some experimentalists, the way in which he pretended to have +burnt the Countess would not account for the appearance of the corpse. + +His object was to represent himself as the victim of an over-mastering +temptation--to show that the crime was wholly unpremeditated. + +This was the sole plea on which he could appeal for sympathy, and expect +a relaxation of his sentence. + +That sentence was relaxed. + +In 1872 he obtained a free pardon from the Grand-Duke, on condition that +he left the country and settled in America. Including his imprisonment +before his trial, he had, therefore, undergone twenty-five years of +incarceration. + +When released he went to America, where he probably still is. + + + + +A War-and-Honey-Moon. + + +In the history of Selenography, John Henry Maedler holds a distinguished +place. He was the very first to publish a large map of the lunar +surface; and his map was a good one, very accurate, and beautifully +executed, in four sheets (1834-6). For elucidation of this map he wrote +a book concerning the moon, entitled "The Universal Selenography." Not +content with this, he published a second map of the moon in 1837, +embodying fresh discoveries. Indeed as an astronomer, Maedler was a +specialist. Lord Dufferin when in Iceland met a German naturalist who +had gone to that inclement island to look for one moth. It is of the +nature of Teutonic scientific men not to diffuse their interests over +many branches of natural history or other pursuits, but to focus them on +a single point. Maedler was comparatively indifferent to the planets, +cold towards the comets, and callous to the attractions of the nebulæ. +On the subject of the moon, he was a sheer lunatic. + +He died at Hanover in 1874 at the age of eighty, a moon gazer to the +last. Indeed, he appeared before the public as the historian of that +science in a work published at Brunswick, the year previous to his +death. The study of astronomy, more than any other,--even than +theology--detaches a man from the world and its interests. Indeed +theology as a study has a tendency to ruffle a man, and make him bark +and snap at his fellow men who use other telescopes than himself; it is +not so with astronomy. This science exercises a soothing influence on +those who make it their study, so that an Adams and a Le Verrier can +simultaneously discover a Neptune without flying at each other's noses. + +Astronomy is certainly an alluring science; set an astronomer before a +telescope, and an overwhelming attraction draws his soul away through +the tube up into heaven, and leaves his body without mundane interests. +An astronomer is necessarily a mathematician, and mathematics are the +hardest and most petrifying of studies. The "humane letters," as classic +studies are called, draw out the human interests, they necessarily carry +men among men, but mathematics draw men away from all the interests of +their fellows. The last man one expects to find in love, the last man in +whose life one looks for a romantic episode, is a mathematician and +astronomer. But as even Cæsar nods, so an astronomer may lapse into +spooning. The life of Professor Maedler does not contain much of +animated interest; but it had its poetic incident. The curious story of +his courtship and marriage may be related without indiscretion, now that +the old Selenographer is no more. + +Even the most prosaic of men have their time of poetry. The swan is said +to sing only once--just before it dies. The man of business--the +stockbroker, the insurance-company manager, the solicitor, banker, the +ironmonger, butcher, greengrocer, postman, have all passed through a +"moment," as Hegel would call it, when the soul burst through its rind +of common-place and vulgar routine, sang its nightingale song, and then +was hushed for ever after. It is said that there are certain flowers +which take many years coming to the point of bloom, they open, exhale a +flood of incense, and in an hour wither. It is so with many. Even the +astronomer has his blooming time. Then, after the honeymoon, the flower +withers, the song ceases, the sunshine fades, and folds of the fog of +common-place settle deeper than before. + +Ivan Turgenieff, the Russian novelist, says of love, "It is not an +emotion, it is a malady, attacking soul and body. It is developed +without rule, it cannot be reckoned with, it cannot be overreached. It +lays hold of a man, without asking leave, like a fever or the cholera. +It seizes on its prey as a falcon on a dove, and carries it, where it +wills. There is no equality in love. The so-termed free inclination of +souls towards each other is an idle dream of German professors, who have +never loved. No! of two who love, one is the slave, the other is the +lord, and not inaccurately have the poets told of the chains of love." + +But love when it does lay hold of a man assumes some features congruent +to his natural habit. It is hardly tempestuous in a phlegmatic +temperament, nor is a man of sanguine nature liable to be much +influenced by calculations of material advantages. That calculations +should form a constituent portion of the multiform web of a +mathematician's passion is what we might anticipate. + +It will be interesting to see in a German professor devoted to the +severest, most abstract and super-mundane of studies, the appearance, +course, and dying away of the "malady" of love. We almost believe that +this case is so easy of analysis that the very _bacillus_ may be +discovered. + +Before, however, we come to the story of Professor Maedler's love +episode, we must say a word about his previous history. + +Maedler was born at Berlin on May 29th, 1794, in the very month of love, +though at its extreme end. He began life as a schoolmaster, but soared +in his leisure hours into a purer atmosphere than that of the +schoolroom; he began to study the stars, and found them brighter and +more interesting than the heads of his pupils. + +In 1828 William Beer, the Berlin banker, brother of the great composer, +Meyerbeer, a Jew, built a small observatory in the suburbs of Berlin. He +had made the acquaintance of Maedler, they had the same love of the +stars, and they became close friends. + +The Beers were a gifted family, running out in different directions. +Michael, a third brother, was a poet, and wrote tragedies, one or two of +which occasionally reappear on the boards. + +The result of the nightly star gazings was an article on Mars when in +opposition, with a drawing of the surface as it appeared to Beer and +Maedler, through the telescope of the former. + +But Mars did not admit of much further scrutiny, it presented no more +problems they were capable of solving, so they devoted themselves to the +moon. A gourmand exists from dinner to dinner, that meal is the climax +of his vitality, that past he lapses into inertness, indifference, +quiescence. Full moon was the exciting moment of the periods in +Maedler's life, which was divided, not like a gourmand's day, into +periods of twenty-four hours, but into lunar months. When the moon began +to show, Maedler began to live; his interest, the pulses of his life +quickened as full moon approached, then declined and went to sleep when +there was no lunar disc in the sky. From 1834 to 1836 he issued his +great map of the moon, and so made his name. But beyond that, in the +summer of 1833 he was employed by the Russian Government on a +chronometrical expedition in the Baltic. + +When his map came out, he was at once secured by the Prussian Government +as assistant astronomer to the observatory at Berlin, recently erected. +In 1840 he became a professor, and was summoned to take charge of the +observatory, and lecture on astronomy, in the Russian University of +Dorpat. There he spent six uneventful years. He was unmarried, +indifferent to female society, and as cold as his beloved moon. He was +as solitary, as far removed from the ideas of love and matrimony, as the +Man in the Moon. + +At last, one vacation time, he paid a long deferred visit to a friend, a +Selenologist, at Gröningen, the University of the Kingdom of Hanover. +Whilst smoking, drinking beer, and talking over the craters and luminous +streaks in the moon, with his friend, who was also a professor, that +gentleman drew his pipe from his mouth, blew a long spiral from between +his lips, and then said slowly, "By the way, professor, are you aware +that we have here, in this kingdom, not, indeed, in Gröningen, but in +the town of Hanover, a lady, the wife of the Herr Councillor Witte, who +is, like yourself, devoted to the moon; a lady, who spends entire nights +on the roof of her house peering at the face of the moon through one +end--the smaller--of her telescope, observing all the prominences, +measuring their altitudes, and sounding all the cavities. Indeed, it is +asserted that she studies the face and changes of the moon much more +closely than the features and moods of her husband. Also, it is +asserted, that when the moon is shining, the household duties are +neglected, the dinners are bad, the maids--" + +"O dinners! maids! you need not consider them; there are always dinners +and maids," said the Dorpat astronomer contemptuously, "but the moon is +seen so comparatively rarely. The moon must be made much of when she +shows. Everything must then be sacrificed to her." + +Dr. Maedler did not call the moon _she_, but _he_; however, we are +writing in English, not in German, so we change the gender. + +The Astronomer Royal of the University of Gröningen went on, without +noticing the interruption: "Frau von Witte has spent a good deal of her +husband's money in getting the largest procurable telescope, and has +built an observatory for it with a dome that revolves on cannon balls, +on the top of her house. Whilst Herr von Witte slumbers and snores +beneath, like a Philistine, his enlightened lady is aloft, studying the +moon. The Frau Councilloress has done more than observe Luna, she has +done more than you and Beer together, with your maps--she has modelled +it." + +"Modelled it!--modelled the moon!--in what?" + +"In white wax." + +Professor Maedler's countenance fell. He had gained great renown, not in +Germany only, but throughout Europe by his maps of the moon. Here was an +unknown lady, as enthusiastic a devotee to the satellite as himself, who +had surpassed him. "You see," continued the Hanoverian professor, "the +idea is superb, the undertaking colossal. You have a fixed strong light, +you make the wax moon to revolve on its axis, and you reproduce in the +most surprising and exact manner, all the phases of the moon itself." + +This was indeed an idea. Maedler looked at his hands, his fingers. Would +they be capable of modelling such a globe? Hardly, he had very broad +coarse hands, and thick flat fingers, like paddles. He suddenly stood +up. + +"What is the matter? Whither are you going?" asked his friend. + +"To Hanover, to Frau Witte, to see the wax moon." No persuasion would +restrain him, he was in a selenological fever, he could not sleep, he +could not eat, he could not read, he must see the wax moon. + +And now, pray observe the craft of Cupid. The professor was aged +fifty-two. In vain had the damsels of Berlin and Dorpat set their caps +at him. Not a blonde beauty of Saxon race with blue eyes had caught his +fancy, not a dark Russian with large hazel eyes and thick black hair, +had arrested his attention. His heart had been given to the cold, chaste +Diana. It was, with him, the reverse of the tale of Endymion. + +He had written a treatise on the occultation of Mars, he had described +the belts of Saturn, he had even measured his waist. Venus he had +neglected, and now Cupid was about to avenge the slight passed on his +mother. There was but one avenue by which access might be had to the +professor's heart. The God of Love knew it, and resolved to storm the +citadel through this avenue. Dr. Maedler packed his trunk himself in the +way in which unmarried men and abstract thinkers do pack their +portmanteaus. He bundled all his clothes in together, higglety-pigglety. +The only bit of prudence he showed was to put the pomatum pot into a +stocking. His collars he curled up in the legs of his boots. Copies of +his astronomical pamphlets for presentation, lay in layers between his +shirts. Then as the trunk would not close, the Professor of Astronomy +sat down heavily on it, stood up, then sharply sat down on it again, and +repeated this operation, till coats, trousers, linen, pamphlets, brushes +and combs had been crushed together into one cohesive mass, and so the +lock would fasten. + +No sooner was Dr. Maedler arrived at his inn in Hanover, and had dusted +the collar of his coat, and revolved before the _garçon_ who went over +him with a clothes brush, revolved like the moon he loved, than he +sallied forth in quest of the house of the Wittes. There was no +mistaking it--with the domed observatory on the roof. + +Dr. Maedler stood in the square, looking up at it. The sight of an +observatory touched him; and now, hard and dry as he was, moisture came +into his eyes, as he thought that there, on that elevated station, an +admirable woman spent her nights in the contemplation of the moon. What +was Moses on Pisgah, viewing the Promised Land, what was Simeon Stylites +braving storm and cold, to this spectacle? + +Never before had the astronomer met with one of the weaker sex who cared +a button for the moon, _qua_ moon, and not as a convenience for +illumining lovers' meetings, or for an allusion in a valentine. Here was +an heroic soul which surged, positively surged above the frivolities of +her sex, one who aspired to be the rival of man in intelligence and love +of scientific research. + +Professor Maedler sent in his card, and a letter of introduction from +his friend at Gröningen, and was at once admitted. He had formed an +ideal picture of the Selenographic lady, tall, worn with night watching, +with an arched brow, large, clear eyes. He found her a fat little woman, +with a face as round and as flat as that of the moon, not by any means +pale, but red as the moon in a fog. + +The lady was delighted to make the acquaintance of so renowned an +astronomer. She made him pretty speeches about his map, at the same time +letting him understand that a map was all very well, but she knew of +something better. Then she launched out into a criticism of his +pamphlets on Mars and Saturn, on which, as it happened, he was then +sitting. He had put a crumpled copy in each of his tail-coat pockets for +an offering, and was now doubly crumpling them. Then she asked his +opinion about the revolution and orbit of Biela's comet, which had been +seen the preceding year. Next she carried him to Hencke's recently +discovered planet, Astræa; after that she dashed away, away with him to +the nebulæ, and sought to resolve them with his aid. Then down they +whirled together through space to the sun, and the luminous red +protuberances observable at an eclipse. Another step, and they were +plunging down to earth, had reached it in safety, and were discussing +Lord Rosse's recently erected telescope. It was like Dante and Beatrix, +with this difference, that Maedler was not a poet, and Frau Witte was a +married woman. + +The Professor was uneasy. Charming as is a telescope, delightful as is +the sun, fascinating as Astræa may be, still, the moon, the moon was +what he had come to discuss, and wax moon what he had come to see. + +So he exercised all his skill, and with great dialectic ability +conducted his Beatrix away on another round. They gave the fixed stars a +wide berth, dived in and out among the circling planets and planetoids +without encountering one, avoided the comets, kept their feet off +nebulous matter, and at last he planted his companion firmly on the +moon, and when there, there he held her. + +To her words of commendation of his lunar map, he replied by expressing +his astonishment at her knowledge of the several craters and so-called +seas. Presently Frau Witte rose with a smile, and said, "Herr Professor, +I may, perhaps, be allowed to exhibit a trifle on which I have been +engaged for many years:--an independent work that I have compared with, +but not copied from, your excellent selenic map." + +The doctor's heart fluttered; his eyes brightened; a hectic flush came +into his cheeks. + +Frau Witte took a key and led the way to her study, where she threw open +a mahogany cupboard, and exposed to view something very much like a meat +cover. This also she removed, it was composed of the finest silk +stretched on a frame, and exposed to view--the wax moon. + +The globe was composed of the purest white beeswax, it stood upon a +steel needle that passed through it, and rested on pivots, so that the +globe was held up and held firm, and could be easily made to revolve. +Frau Witte closed the shutters, leaving open only one orifice through +which the light could penetrate and fall on the wax ball. + +The doctor raised his hands in admiration. Never had he seen anything +that so delighted him. The globe's surface had been most delicately +manipulated. The mountains were pinched into peaks, the hollows indented +to the requisite depth, the craters were rendered with extraordinary +precision, the striæ being indicated by insertions of other tinted wax. +A shadow hung sombre over the mysterious Sea of Storms. + +Professor Maedler returned to his hotel a prey to emotion. He inquired +the address of a certain Rollmann, whom he had known in former years at +Berlin, and who was now professor in the Polytechnic school at Hanover. +Then he rushed off in quest of Rollmann. The Polytechnic Professor was +delighted to see his friend, but disturbed at the condition of mind in +which he found him. + +"What has brought you to Hanover, dear Professor?" he asked. + +"The moon! the moon! I have come after the moon." + +"The moon! How can that be? She shines over Dorpat as surely as over our +roofs in Hanover." + +"I've just seen her." + +"Impossible. The moon is new. Besides, it is broad daylight." + +"New! of course she is new. Only made lately." + +Professor Rollman was puzzled. + +"The moon is certainly as old as the world, and even if we give the +world so limited an age as four thousand years--" + +"I was not allowed to touch her, scarcely to breathe near her," +interrupted Maedler. + +"My dear colleague, what is the matter with you? You are--what do you +say, seen, touched, breathed on the moon? The distance of the moon from +the earth is two hundred and forty thousand miles." + +"Not the old moon--I mean the other." + +"There is no other, that is, not another satellite to this world. I am +well aware that Jupiter has four moons, two of which are smaller than +the planet Mars. I know also that Mars--" + +"My dear Rollman, there is another--here in Hanover." + +"I give it up, I cannot understand." + +"Happy Hanover to possess such an unique treasure," continued the +excited Maedler, "and such a woman as Frau Witte." + +"Oh! her wax moon!" said Rollmann, with a sigh of relief. + +"Of what else could I speak?" + +"So you have seen that. The old lady is very proud of her performance." + +"She has cause to be proud of it. It is simply superb." + +"And the sight of it has nearly sent you off your head!" + +"Rollmann! what will become of that model? Frau Councilloress Witte will +not live for ever. She is old, puffy, and red, and might have apoplexy +any day. Is her husband an astronomer?" + +"O dear no! he regards astronomy as as unprofitable a study as +astrology. It is quite as expensive a pursuit, he says." + +"Merciful heavens! Suppose she were to predecease--he would have the +moon, and be unable to appreciate it. He might let it get dusty, have +the craters and seas choked; perhaps the mountain-tops knocked off. He +must not have it." + +"It cannot be helped. The moon must take its chance." + +"It must not be. She _must_ outlive the Councillor." + +"If you can manage that--well." + +"But--supposing she does outlive him, she is not immortal. Some day she +must die. Who will have the moon then?" + +"I suppose, her daughter." + +"What will the daughter do with it?" + +"Melt it up for waxing the floors." + +Professor Maedler uttered a cry of dismay. + +"The object is one of incalculable scientific value. Has the daughter no +husband, a man of intelligence, to stay her hand?" + +"The daughter is unmarried. There was some talk of a theological +candidate--" + +"A theological candidate! An embryo pastor! Just powers! These men are +all obscurantists. He will melt up the moon thinking thereby to +establish the authority of Moses." + +"That came to nothing. She is disengaged." + +Professor Maedler paced the room. Perspiration bedewed his brow. He +wiped his forehead, more drops formed. Suddenly he stood still. +"Rollmann," he said, in a hollow voice, "I must--I will have that moon, +even if I have to marry the daughter to secure it." + +"By all means. Minna is a pleasant young lady." + +"Minna! Minna! is that her name?" asked the distracted professor; then, +more coolly, "I do not care a rush what her name is. I want, not her, +but the moon." + +"She is no longer in the bloom of early youth." + +"She is an exhausted world; a globe of volcanic cinder." + +"She is of real solid worth." + +"Solid--she is of solid wax--white beeswax." + +"If she becomes yours--" + +"I will exhibit her at my lectures to the students." + +"As you are so much older, some provision will have to be made in the +event of your death." + +"I will leave her to the Dorpat museum, with directions to the curator +to keep the dust off her." + +"My dear Professor Maedler, I am speaking of the young lady, _you_ of +the moon." + +"Ah so! I had forgotten the incumbrance. Yes, I will marry the moon. I +will carry her about with me, hug her in my arms, protect her most +carefully from the fingers of the Custom House officers. I will procure +an ukase from the Emperor to admit her unfingered over the frontier." + +"And Minna!" + +"What Minna?" + +"The young lady." + +"Ah so! She had slipped out of my reckoning. She shall watch the box +whilst I sleep, and whilst she sleeps I will keep guard." + +"Be reasonable, Maedler. Do you mean, in sober earnest, to invite Minna +Witte to be your wife?" + +"If I cannot get the moon any other way." + +"But you have not even seen her yet." + +"What does that matter? I have seen the moon." + +"And you are in earnest!" + +"I _will_ have the moon." + +"Then, of course, you will have to propose." + +"I propose!" + +"And, of course, to make love." + +"I make love!" + +Professor Maedler's colour died away. He stood still before his friend, +his pocket-handkerchief in hand, and stared. + +"I have not the remotest idea how to do it." + +"You must try." + +"I've had no experience. I am going on to fifty-three. As well ask me +to dance on the trapeze. It is not proper. It is downright indecent." + +"Then you must do without the wax moon." + +"I cannot do without the wax moon." + +"Then, there is no help for it, you must make love to and propose to the +fair Minna." + +"Friend," said the +Russian-imperial-professor-of-astronomy-of-the-University-of-Dorpat, as +he clasped Rollmann's hand. "You are experienced in the ways of the +world. I have lived in an observatory, and associated only with fixed +stars, revolving moons, and comets. Tell me how to do it, and I will +obey as a lamb." + +"You will have to sigh." + +"O! I can do that." + +"And ogle the lady." + +"Ogle!--when going fifty-three!" + +"Learn a few lines of poetry." + +"Yes, Milton's Paradise Lost. Go on." + +"Tell the young lady that your heart is consumed with love." + +"Consumed with love, yes, go on." + +"Squeeze her hand." + +"I cannot! That I cannot!" gasped Professor Maedler. "Look at my +whiskers. They are grey. There is a point beyond which I cannot go. +Rollmann, why may I not settle it all with the mother, and let you court +the young lady for me by proxy." + +"No, no, you must do it yourself." + +"I would not be jealous. Consider, I care nothing for the young girl. It +is the moon I want. That you shall not touch or breathe on." + +"My dear Maedler, you and I are sure to be invited to dine with the +family on Sunday. After dinner we will take a stroll in the garden. +During dinner mind and be attentive to Miss Minna, and feed her with +honeyed words. When we visit the garden I will tackle the mother, as +Mephistopheles engages Martha, and you, you gay Faust, will have to be +the gallant to Minna." + +"My good Rollmann! I dislike the simile. It offends me. Consider my age, +my whiskers, my position at the Dorpat University, my map of the moon in +four sheets, my paper on the occultation of Mars." + +"Pay attention to me, if you want your wax globe. Frau Witte, the +Councillor and I will sit drinking coffee in the arbour. You ask Minna +to show you the garden. When you are gone I will begin at once with the +mother, praise you, and say how comfortably you are provided for at +Dorpat, laud your good qualities, and bring her to understand that you +are a suitor for the hand of her daughter. Meanwhile press your cause +with ardour." + +"With ardour! I shall not be able to get up any warmth." + +"Think of the wax moon! direct your raptures to that." + +"This is all very well," said Maedler fretfully, "but you have forgotten +the main thing. I know you will make a mistake. You have asked for the +hand of the daughter, and said nothing about the moon." + +"Do not be concerned." + +"But I am concerned. It would be a pretty mischief if I got the +daughter's hand instead of the face of the moon." + +"I will manage that you have what you want. But the moon must not rise +over the matrimonial scene till the preliminaries are settled. I will +represent to the old lady what credit will accrue to her if her moon be +exhibited and lectured on at the Dorpat University by so distinguished +an astronomer as yourself. Then, be well assured, she will give you the +wax moon along with her daughter." + +"Very well, I will do what I can. Only, further, explain to me the whole +process, that I may learn it by heart. It seems to me as knotty to a +beginner as Euler's proof of the Binomial Theorem." + +"It is very easy. Pay attention. You must begin to talk about the +fascination which a domestic life exerts on you; you then say that the +sight of such an united household as that in which you find yourself +influences you profoundly." + +"I see. Causes a deflection in my perihelion. That deflection is +calculable, the force excited calculable, the position of the attractive +body estimable. I direct my telescope in the direction, and +discover--Minna. Put astronomically, I can understand it." + +"But you must _not_ put it astronomically to her. Paint in glowing tints +the charms of the domestic hearth--that is to say, of the stove. Touch +sadly on your forlorn condition, your unloved heart--are you paying +attention, or thinking of the moon?" + +"On the contrary, I was thinking of myself, from a planetary point of +view. I see, a wife is a satellite revolving round her man. I see it +all now. Jupiter has four." + +"Sigh; let the corners of your mouth droop. Throw, if you can, an +emotional vibration into your tones, and say that hitherto life has been +to you a school, where you have been set hard tasks; not a home. Here +shake your head slowly, drop a tear if you can, and say again, in a low +and thrilling voice, 'Not a home!' Now for the poetry. Till now, you +add, you have looked into the starry vault--" + +"It is not a vault at all." + +"Never mind; say this. Till now you have looked into the starry vault +for your heaven, and not dreamed that a heaven full of peaceful lights +was twinkling invitingly about your feet. That is poetical, is it not? +It must succeed." + +"Quite so, I should never have thought of it." + +"Then turn, and look into Miss Minna's eyes." + +"But suppose she is looking in another direction?" + +"She will not be. A lady is always ready to help a stumbling lover over +the impediments in the way of a declaration. She will have her eyes at +command, ready to meet yours." + +"Go on." + +"You will presently come to a rose tree. You must stop there and be +silent. Then you must admire the roses, and beg Miss Minna to present +you with one." + +"But I do not want any roses. What can I do with them? I am lodging at +an hotel." + +"Never mind, you _must_ want one. When she has picked and offered it--" + +"But perhaps she will not." + +"Fiddlesticks! Of course she will. Then take the rose, press your lips +to it, and burst forth into raptures." + +"Excuse me, how am I to do the raptures?" + +"Think of the wax moon, man. Exclaim, 'Oh that I might take the fair +Minna, fairer than this rose, to my heart, as I apply this flower to my +buttonhole!'" + +"Shall I say nothing about the wax moon?" + +"Not a word. Leave me to manage that." + +"Go on." + +"Then she will look down, confused, at the gravel, and stammer. Press +her for a Yes or No. Promise to destroy yourself if she says No. Take +her hand and squeeze it." + +"Must I squeeze it? About how much pressure to the square-foot should I +apply?" + +"Then say, 'Come, let us go to your parents, and obtain their blessing.' +The thing is done." + +"But suppose she were to say No?" + +Rollmann stamped with impatience. "I tell you she will not say No, now +that the theological candidate has dropped through." + +"Well," said Professor Maedler, "I must go along with it, now I have +made up my mind to it. But, on my word, as an exact reasoner, I had no +idea of the difficulties men have to go through to get married. Why, the +calculation of the deflections of the planets is nothing to it. And the +Grand Turk, like Jupiter, has more satellites than one!" + +A few months after the incident above recorded Professor Maedler +returned to Dorpat, not alone; with him was the Frau +Professorinn--Minna. Everything had gone off in the garden as Rollmann +had planned. + +The moon and Minna, or Minna and the moon, put it which way you will, +were secured. + +When the Professor arrived at Dorpat with his wife, the students gave +him an ovation after the German style, that is to say, they organized a +Fackel-zug, or torch-light procession. + +Three hundred young men, some wearing white caps, some green caps, some +red, and some purple, marched along the street headed by a band, bearing +torches of twisted tow steeped in tar, blazing and smoking, or, to be +more exact, smoking and blazing. Each corps was followed by a hired +droschky, in which sat the captain and stewards of the white, red, +green, or purple corps, with sashes of their respective colours. Behind +the last corps followed the elephants, two and two. By elephants is not +meant the greatest of quadrupeds, but the smallest esteemed of the +students, those who belong to no corps. + +The whole procession gathered before the house of the Professor, and +brandished their torches and cheered. Then the glass door opening on the +balcony was thrown back, and the Professor John Henry Maedler appeared +on the balcony leading forth his wife. The astronomer looked younger +than he had been known to look for the last twenty years. His whiskers +in the torchlight looked not grey, but red. The eyes, no longer blear +with star-gazing, watered with sentiment. His expression was no longer +that of a man troubled with integral calculus, but of a man in an +ecstasy. He waved his hand. Instantly the cheers subsided. "My +highly-worthy-and-ever-to-be-honoured sirs," began the Professor, "this +is a moment never to be forgotten. It sends a _fackel-zug_ of fiery +emotion through every artery and vein. +Highly-worthy-and-ever-to-be-honoured sirs, I am not so proud as to +suppose that this reception is accorded to me alone. It is an ovation +offered to my highly-beloved-and-evermore-to-be-beloved-and-respected +consort, Frau Minna Maedler, born Witte, the daughter of a distinguished +lady, who, like myself, has laboured on Selenography, and loved +Selenology. Highly-worthy-and-ever-to-be-respected sirs, when I announce +to you that I have returned to Dorpat to endow that +most-eminent-and-ever-to-become-more-eminent-University with one of the +most priceless treasures of art the world has ever seen, a monument of +infinite patience and exact observation; I mean a wax moon; I am sure I +need only allude to the fact to elicit your unbounded enthusiasm. But, +highly-worthy-and-ever-to-be-honoured sirs, allow me to assure you that +my expedition to Hanover has not resulted in a gain to the highly +eminent University of Dorpat only, but to me, individually as well. + +"That highly-eminent-and-evermore-to-become-more-eminent University is +now enriched through my agency with a moon of wax, but I--I, +sirs--excuse my emotion, I have also been enriched with a moon, not of +wax, but of honey. The wax moon, gentlemen, may it last undissolved as +long as the very-eminent-and-evermore-to-become-more-eminent University +of Dorpat lasts. The honey moon, gentlemen, with which I have been +blessed, I feel assured will expand into a lifetime, at least will last +also undissolved as long as Minna and I exist." + + + + +The Electress's Plot. + + +The Elector Frederick Christian of Saxony reigned only a few weeks, from +October 5th to December 13, 1763; in his forty-first year he died of +small-pox. He never had enjoyed rude health. The mother of the +unfortunate prince, Marie Josepha of Austria, was an exceedingly ugly, +but prolific lady, vastly proud of her Hapsburg descent. The three first +children followed each other with considerable punctuality, but the two +first, both sons, died early. Frederick Christian was the third. The +Electress, a few months before his birth, was hunting, when a deer that +had been struck, turned to her, dragging its broken legs behind it. This +produced a powerful impression on her mind; and when her son was born, +he was found to be a cripple in his legs. His head and arms were well +formed, but his spine was twisted, and his knees, according to the +English ambassador, Sir Charles Williams--were drawn up over his +stomach. He could not stand, and had to be lifted about from place to +place. At the age of five-and-twenty he had been married to Maria +Antonia, daughter of the Elector of Bavaria, afterwards the Emperor +Charles VII. + +His brother, Francis Xavier, was a sturdy fellow, like his father, and +the Electress mother tried very hard to get Frederick Christian to +resign his pretentions in favour of his brother, and take holy orders. +This he refused to do, and was then married to Maria Antonia, aged +twenty-three. Her mother had also been an Austrian princess, Amalia, and +also remarkable for her ugliness. The choice was not happy, it brought +about a marriage between cousins, and an union of blood that was +afflicted with ugliness and infirmity of body. + +Maria Antonia had not only inherited her mother's ugliness, but was +further disfigured with small-pox. She was small of stature, but of a +resolute will, and of unbounded ambition. English tourists liked her, +they said that she laid herself out to make the Court of Dresden +agreeable to them. Wraxall tells a good story of her, which shows a +certain frankness, not to say coarseness in her conversation--a story we +will not reproduce. + +She had already made her personality felt at the Bavarian Court. Shortly +after the death of her father, in imitation of Louisa Dorothea, Duchess +of Gotha, she had founded an "Order of Friendship, or the Society of the +Incas." The founding of the Order took place one fine spring day on a +gondola in the canal at Nymphenburg. Her brother, the Elector of +Bavaria, was instituted a member, the Prince of Fürstenberg was made +chancellor, and was given the custody of the seal of the confraternity +which had as its legend "La fidelité mêne." The badge of the Order was a +gold ring on the little finger of the left hand, with the inscription, +"L'ordre de l'amitié--Maria Antonia." Each member went by a name +descriptive of his character, or of that virtue he or she was supposed +to represent. Thus the chancellor was called "Le Solide." + +Sir Charles Williams says that on the very first night of her appearance +in Dresden she made an attempt to force herself into a position for +which she had no right; to the great annoyance of the King of Poland +(Augustus, Elector of Saxony). + +At Dresden, she favoured the arts, especially music and painting. She +became the patroness of the family Mengs. She sang, and played on the +piano, and indeed composed a couple of operas, "Thalestris" and "Il +trionfo della fidelita," and the former was actually put on the stage. +Sir Charles Williams in 1747 wrote that, in spite of her profession that +in her eyes no woman ought to meddle in the affairs of state, he +ventured to prophecy, she would rule the whole land in the name of her +unfortunate husband. + +Nor was he wrong. The moment that her father-in-law died, she put her +hand on the reins. She was not likely to meet with resistance from her +husband, he was not merely a cripple in body, but was contracted in his +intellect; he was amiable, but weak and ignorant. Sir Charles Williams +says that he once asked at table whether it was not possible to reach +England by land--_although_ it was an island. + +Frederick Christian began to reign on 5th October 1763, and immediately +orders were given for the increase of the army to 50,000 men. Maria +Antonia was bent on becoming a queen, and for this end she must get her +husband proclaimed like his father, King of Poland. She was allied to +all the Courts of Europe, her agreeable manners, her energy, gained her +friends in all quarters. She felt herself quite capable of wearing a +royal crown, and she wrote to all the courts to urge the claims of her +husband, the Elector, when--the unfortunate cripple was attacked by +small-pox, had a stroke, and died December 17th. Small-pox had carried +off his ancestor John George IV., and in that same century it occasioned +the death of his brother-in-law, Max Joseph of Bavaria, and of the +Emperor Joseph I. + +He left behind him four sons, his successor, Frederick Augustus, and the +three other princes, Charles, his mother's favourite, Anthony, and +Maximilian Joseph, the third of whom died the same year as his father. +He had also two daughters. + +The death of her husband was a severe blow to the ambition of the +Electress; her eldest son, Frederick Augustus, was under age, and the +reins of government were snatched from her hands and put into those of +the uncle of the young Elector, Xavier, who had been his mother's +favourite, and in favour of whom his elder brother had been urged to +resign his pretensions. Xavier was appointed administrator of Saxony, +and acted as such for five years. + +When, at the age of eighteen, Frederick Augustus III. assumed the power, +he endeavoured to fulfil his duties with great diligence and +conscientiousness, and allowed of no interference. He had, indeed, his +advisers, but these were men whom he selected for himself from among +those who had been well tried and who had proved themselves trusty. + +The Electress-mother had, during the administration of Prince Xavier, +exercised some little authority; she now suddenly found herself +deprived of every shred. Her son was too firm and self-determined to +admit of her interference. Moody and dissatisfied, she left Dresden and +went to Potsdam to Frederick II., in 1769, apparently to feel the way +towards the execution of a plan that was already forming in her restless +brain. She does not seem to have met with any encouragement, and she +then started for Italy, where she visited Rome in 1772, and sought Mengs +out, whose artistic talents had been fostered under her care. + +Under the administration of Prince Xavier, the Electress Dowager had +received an income of sixty thousand dollars; after her son had mounted +the throne, her appanage was doubled, more than doubled, for she was +granted 130,000 dollars, and in addition her son gave her a present of +500,000 dollars. This did not satisfy her, for she had no notion of +cutting her coat according to her cloth, she would everywhere maintain a +splendid court. Moreover, she was bitten with the fever of speculation. +The year before her son came of age and assumed the power, she had +erected a great cotton factory at Grossenhain, but as it brought her in +no revenue, and cost her money besides, she was glad to dispose of it in +1774. The visitor to Dresden almost certainly knows the Bavarian tavern +at the end of the bridge leading into Little Dresden. It is a tavern now +mediævalised, with panelled walls, bull's eye glass in the windows, old +German glass and pottery--even an old German kalendar hanging from the +walls, and with a couple of pretty Bavarian Kellnerins in costume, to +wait on the visitor. There also in the evening Bavarian minstrels +jodel, and play the zither. + +This Bavarian tavern was established by the Electress Mother, who +thought that the Saxons did not drink good or enough beer, and must be +supplied with that brewed in her native land. + +But this speculation also failed, and her capital of five hundred +thousand dollars was swallowed up to the last farthing, and to meet her +creditors she was obliged to pawn her diamond necklace and the rest of +her jewels. This happened in Genoa. When her allowance came in again she +redeemed her jewelry, but in 1775 had to pawn it again in Rome. Unable +to pay her debts, and in distress for money, she appealed repeatedly, +but in vain, to her son. + +Frederick Augustus was, like his father, of feeble constitution, and +moreover, as he himself complained later on in life, had been at once +spoiled and neglected in his youth; and he was unable through weakness +to ascend a height. He did not walk or ride, but went about in a +carriage. The January (1769) after he came to the Electoral crown, he +married Amelia Augusta of Zweibrücken, sister of Max Joseph, afterwards +first King of Bavaria. She was only seventeen at the time. + +The favourite son of his mother was Charles. This prince had been hearty +and in full possession of his limbs in his early age, but when he +reached the years of eleven or twelve, he became crippled and doubled up +like his father. Wraxal says that beside him Scarron would have passed +as a beauty. He was so feeble and paralysed that he could only be moved +about on a wheeled chair. He died in 1781. His elder brother, the +Elector, though not a vigorous man, was not a cripple. + +One of the attendant gentry on the Electress Mother, in Rome, was the +Marquis Aloysius Peter d'Agdolo, son of the Saxon Consul in Venice, +Colonel of the Lifeguard, and Adjutant General to Prince Xavier whilst +he was Administrator. + +Agdolo advised the Electress Mother to raise money to meet her +difficulties by selling to her son, the Elector, her claims on the +Bavarian inheritance. Her brother, Maximilian Joseph, was without +children; and the nearest male claimant to the Electoral Crown of +Bavaria was the Count Palatine of Sulzbach, only remotely connected. It +was, therefore, quite possible that Bavaria might fall to a sister. Now +on the death of her brother, the Dowager Electress of Saxony certainly +intended to advance her claims against any remote kinsman hailing +through a common ancestor two centuries ago. But whether she would be +able to enforce her claim was another matter. She might sell it to her +son, who would have the means of advancing his claim by force of arms +and gold. This was in 1776. Maria Antonia was delighted with the scheme +and at once hastened to Munich to put it in execution, taking with her +all her diamonds which she had managed to redeem from pawn. + +Whilst she was on her way to Munich, Agdolo was despatched to Dresden, +to open the negociation with her son, not only for the transference of +her rights on Bavaria, but also for the pawning of her diamonds, to her +son. + +She had urgent need of money, and in her extremity she conceived an +audacious scheme to enable her at the same time to get hold of the +money, and to retain her rights on Bavaria. The plan was this:--As soon +as she had got the full payment from the Elector for the resignation of +her claims in his favour, she had resolved suddenly to proclaim to the +world that he was no son at all of the late Elector Frederick +Christian--that he was a bastard, smuggled into the palace and passed +off as the son of the Elector, much as, according to Whig gossip, James +the Pretender was smuggled into the palace of James II. in a warming +pan, and passed off as of blood royal, when he was of base origin. + +Frederick Augustus thus declared to be no son of the House of Saxony, +the Electoral crown would come to her favourite son Charles, who was a +cripple. The Elector was not deformed--evidence against his origin; +Charles was doubled up and distorted--he was certainly the true son of +the late Elector, and the legitimate successor. + +If Maria Antonia should succeed--she would rule Saxony in the name, and +over the head of her unfortunate son Charles, and her rights on Bavaria +would not have been lost or made away with. + +Arrived in Munich, she confided the whole plan to her ladies-in-waiting. +She told them her hopes, her confidence in Agdolo, who was gone to +Dresden to negociate the sale, and who was thoroughly aware of her +intentions. + +Agdolo, as all the ladies knew, was a great rascal. He had been +pensioned by Prince Xavier with six hundred dollars per annum, and he +had what he received from the Electress Mother as her +gentleman-in-waiting. He was married to the Princess Lubomirska, widow +of Count Rutowska, had quarrelled with her, and they lived separate, but +he had no scruple to receive of an insulted wife an annual allowance. +All these sources of income were insufficient to meet his expenses; and +no one who knew him doubted for a moment that he would lend himself to +any intrigue which would promise him wealth and position. The plot of +the Dowager Electress was a risky one--but, should it succeed, his +fortune was assured. + +At Dresden he was well received by the Elector; and Frederick Augustus +at once accepted the proposition of his mother. He consented to purchase +Maria Antonia's resignation in his favour of her claims on the allodial +inheritance of the family on the extinction of the Bavarian Electoral +house in the male line, and to pay all her debts, and to find a sum +sufficient to redeem the diamonds, which were represented as still in +pawn at Rome. + +Maria Antonia and her confidant appeared to be on the eve of success, +when the plan was upset, from a quarter in which they had not dreamed of +danger. Among the ladies of the court of the Dowager Electress was one +whose name does not transpire, who seems to have entertained an ardent +passion for Agdolo. He, however, disregarded her, and paid his +attentions to another of the ladies. Rage and jealousy consumed the +heart of this slighted beauty, and when the Electress Mother confided to +her the plan she had formed, the lady-in-waiting saw that her +opportunity had arrived for the destruction of the man who had slighted +her charms. She managed to get hold of her mistress' keys and to make a +transcript of her papers, wherein the whole plan was detailed, also of +copies of her letters to Agdolo, and of the Marquis's letters to her. +When she had these, she at once despatched them--not to the Elector of +Saxony, but to Frederick II. at Berlin, who stood in close relations of +friendship with the Elector of Saxony. She had reckoned aright. Such +tidings, received through the Court of Prussia, would produce a far +deeper impression on Frederick Augustus, than if received from her +unknown and insignificant self. It is possible also that she may have +known of her mistress having been at Berlin and there thrown out hints +of something of the sort, so that Frederick II. would at once recognise +in this matured plan the outcome of the vague hints of mischief poured +out at Potsdam a few years before. + +All was going on well at Berlin. Adolphus von Zehmen, Electoral +Treasurer, had already started for Munich, furnished with the requisite +sums. He was empowered to receive the deed of relinquishment from the +Dowager Electress, and also her diamond necklace, which, in the +meantime, was to be brought by a special courier from Rome. Maria +Antonia, on her side, had constituted Councillor Hewald her +plenipotentiary; she wrote to say that he would transact all the +requisite negociation with the Treasurer Zehmen, and that the diamond +necklace had arrived and was in his hands. + +Agdolo received orders from the Electress Mother on no account to leave +Dresden till the middle of September, 1776, lest his departure should +arouse suspicion. + +The conduct of the Marquis was not in any way remarkable, he moved about +among old friends with perfect openness, often appeared in Court, and +was satisfied that he was perfectly safe. He was not in the least aware +that all his proceedings were watched and reported on, not by order of +the Elector, but of his own mistress, who received regular reports from +this emissary as to the behaviour and proceedings of the Marquis, so +that she was able to compare with this private report that sent her by +Agdolo, and so satisfy herself whether he was acting in her interest, or +playing a double game. + +This bit of cunning on her part, was not surprising, considering what a +man Agdolo was, and, as we shall see, it proved of great advantage to +her, but in a way she least expected. + +The Marchese d'Agdolo had paid his farewell visit to the Elector, and +received leave to depart. Frederick Augustus had not the remotest +suspicion that his mother was playing a crooked part, and he seemed +heartily satisfied with the negociation, and made the Marquis a present. + +On September 15, 1776, Agdolo was intending to start from Dresden, on +his return to Munich, and the evening before leaving he spent at the +house of a friend, Ferber, playing cards. Little did he suspect that +whilst he was winning one stake after another at the table, the greatest +stake of all was lost. That evening, whilst he was playing cards, a +courier arrived from Berlin, in all haste, and demanded to see the +Elector in person, instantly, as he had a communication of the utmost +importance to make from Frederick II. He was admitted without delay, and +the whole of his mother's plot was detailed before the astonished +Elector. + +"The originals of these transcripts," said the courier, "are in the +hands of the Marchese d'Agdolo, let him be arrested, and a comparison of +the documents made." + +The Privy Council was at once assembled, and the papers received from +Frederick II. were laid before it. The members voted unanimously that +the Marquis should be arrested, and General Schiebell was entrusted with +the execution of the decree. No surprise was occasioned by the entry of +General Schiebell into the house of Ferber. It was a place of resort of +the best society in Dresden; but when the General announced that he had +come to make an arrest, many cheeks lost their colour. + +"In the name of his Serene Highness the Elector," said the General, "I +make this man my prisoner," and he laid his hand on the shoulder of +Agdolo, who had served under him in the Seven Years' War. He was taken +at once to his own lodgings, where his desks and boxes--already packed +for departure--were opened, and all his papers removed. The same night, +under a strong guard, he was transported at 10 o'clock, to Königstein. +In that strong fortress and state prison, perched on an isolated +limestone crag, the rest of his life was to be spent in confinement. + +But the Marchese, like a crafty Italian, had made his preparations +against something of the sort; for among his papers was found a +communication addressed by him to the Elector, revealing the whole plot. +It was undated. If the search of his rooms and the discovery of his +papers had been made earlier, the Elector might have believed that the +man had really intended to betray his mistress, but, he had postponed +the delivery of the communication too late.[17] + +A few days later, the Marchese received a sealed letter from the +Elector; and he was treated in his prison without undue severity; his +pension was not withdrawn; and the Elector seems never to have quite +made up his mind whether Agdolo really intended to make him aware of the +plot at the last minute, or to go on with the plan after his mistress's +orders. + +After some years, when Agdolo began to suffer in his chest, he was +allowed to go to the baths of Pirna, under a guard. His wife never +visited him in prison. She died, however, only two years later, in 1778, +at the age of fifty-six. Agdolo lived on for twenty-three years and a +half, and died August 27, 1800. All his papers were then sent to +Frederick Augustus III., who read them, dissolved into tears, and burnt +them. + +We must return for a moment to Munich. No sooner had the emissary of the +Electress Mother heard of the news of the arrest of Agdolo, than he +hastened to Munich with post horses as hard as he could fly over the +roads. Maria Antonia, when she heard the news, at once made fresh +dispositions. She sent word that same night to Hewald to make off, and +in another half hour he had disappeared with the diamonds. + +Next day the completion of the resignation of claims was to be made. The +Electress Mother requested the Treasurer Zehmen to go to the dwelling of +her Councillor Hewald, who, as we can understand, was not to be found +anywhere. Herr von Zehmen was much surprised and disconcerted, and the +Dowager Electress affected extreme indignation and distress, charging +her plenipotentiary with having robbed her of her diamonds, and bolted +with them. Then she took to her bed, and pretended to be dangerously +ill. Next day the news reached Zehmen of what had occurred at Dresden, +and with the news came his recall. She saw the treasurer before his +departure, and implored him to get both Agdolo and Hewald arrested and +punished, because, as she declared, they had between them fabricated a +wicked plot for her robbery and ruin. + +Hewald went to Frankfort with the jewels, where he was stopped and taken +by an officer of Frederick Augustus, and brought on Jan. 27, 1777, to +Dresden. He was sent to the Königstein, but was released in 1778. + +In 1777 died the Elector of Bavaria, but his sister was unable to obtain +any recognition of her claims; and she died 23rd April, 1780, without +any reconciliation with the eldest son. Next year died her favourite +son, the cripple, Charles. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[17] This is supposed to have been the contents of the packet addressed +to the Elector, the contents have never been revealed. + + + + +Suess Oppenheim. + + +On December the sixteenth, 1733, Charles Alexander, Duke of Würtemberg, +entered Stuttgart in state. It was a brilliant though brief winter day. +The sun streamed out of a cloudless heaven on the snowy roofs of the old +town, and the castle park trees frosted as though covered with jewels. +The streets were hung with tapestries, crimson drapery, and wreaths of +artificial flowers. Peasants in their quaint costume poured in from all +the country round to salute their new prince. From the old castle towers +floated the banners of the Duchy and the Empire--for Würtemberg three +stag-horns quartered with the Hohenstauffen black lions. The Duke was +not young: he was hard on fifty--an age when a man has got the better of +youthful impetuosity and regrets early indiscretions--an age at which, +if a man has stuff in him, he is at his best. + +The land of Würtemberg is a favoured and smiling land. At the period of +which we write, it was not so ample as the present kingdom, but +fruitful, favoured, and called the Garden of the Empire. For twenty +years this Duchy had been badly governed; the inhabitants had been +cruelly oppressed by the incompetent Duke Eberhardt Ludwig, or rather by +his favourites. The country was burdened with debt; the treasury was +exhausted. It had, as it were, lain under winter frost for twenty years +and more, and now though on a winter day laughed and bloomed with a +promise of spring. + +And every good Würtemberger had a right to be glad and proud of the new +duke, who had stormed Belgrade under Prince Eugene, and was held to be +one of the bravest, noblest minded, and most generous of the German +princes of his time. + +As he rode through the streets of Stuttgart all admired his stately +form, his rich fair hair flowing over his shoulders, his bright +commanding eye, and the pleasant smile on his lip; every Würtemberger +waved his hat, and shouted, and leaped with enthusiasm. Now at last the +Garden of Germany would blossom and be fruitful under so noble a duke. + +But in the same procession walked, not rode, another man whom none +regarded--a handsome man with dark brown hair and keen olive eyes, a +sallow complexion, and a finely moulded Greek nose. He had a broad +forehead and well arched brows. He was tall, and had something noble and +commanding in his person and manner. But his most remarkable feature was +the eye--bright, eager, ever restless. + +This man, whom the Würtembergers did not observe, was destined to play a +terrible and tragic part in their history--to be the evil genius of the +duke and of the land. His name was Joseph Suess Oppenheim. + +Joseph's mother, Michaela, a Jewess, had been a woman of extraordinary +beauty, the only child of the Rabbi Salomon of Frankfort. She had been +married when quite young to the Rabbi Isachar Suess Oppenheim, a singer. +Joseph was born at Heidelberg in 1692, and was her child by the Baron +George of Heydersdorf, a soldier who had distinguished himself in the +Turkish war, and with whom she carried on a guilty intrigue. From his +father Joseph Suess derived a dignified, almost military bearing, and +his personal beauty from his mother. + +The Baron's romance with the lovely Jewess came to an end in 1693, when +he held the castle of Heidelberg against the French. He surrendered +after a gallant defence; too soon, however, as the court-martial held on +him decided; and he was sentenced to death, but was pardoned by the +Emperor Leopold, with the loss of all his honours and offices, and he +was banished the Empire. + +Suess had a sister who married a rich Jew of Vienna, but followed her +mother in laxity of morals, and, after having wasted a good fortune in +extravagance, fell back on her mother and brother for a maintenance. He +had a brother who became a factor at the court of Darmstadt. They lived +on bad terms with each other, and were engaged in repeated lawsuits with +one another. This brother abjured Judaism, was baptised, and assumed the +name of Tauffenberg. Joseph Suess was connected, or nominally connected, +through Isachar, his reputed though not his real father, with the great +and wealthy Jewish family of Oppenheim. The branch established in Vienna +had become rich on contracts for the army, and had been ennobled. One +member failed because the Emperor Leopold I. owed him many millions of +dollars and was unable to pay. Joseph began life in the office of the +court bankers and army contractors of his family at Vienna. Here it was +that he obtained his first ideas of how money could be raised through +lotteries, monopolies, and imposts of all kinds. But though Joseph was +put on the road that led to wealth, in the Oppenheim house at Vienna, he +missed his chance there, and was dismissed for some misconduct or other, +the particulars of which we do not know. + +Then, in disgrace and distress, he came to Bavaria, where he served a +while as barber's assistant. Probably through the influence of some of +the Oppenheims, Joseph was introduced into the court of the family of +Thurn and Taxis, which had acquired vast wealth through the monopoly of +the post-office. Thence he made his way into an office of the palatine +court at Mannheim. + +This was a period in which the German princes were possessed with the +passion of imitating the splendour and extravagance of Louis XIV. +Everyone must have his Versailles, must crowd his court with +functionaries, and maintain armies in glittering and showy uniforms. + +Germany, to the present day, abounds in vast and magnificent palaces, +for the most part in wretched repair, if not ruinous. The houses of our +English nobility are nothing as compared in size with these palaces of +petty princes, counts, and barons. + +To build these mansions, and when built to fill them with officials and +servants, to keep up their armies, and to satisfy the greed of their +mistresses, these German princes needed a good deal of money, and were +ready to show favour to any man who could help them to obtain it--show +where to bore to tap fresh financial springs. All kinds of new methods +of taxation were had recourse to, arousing the bitter mockery of the +oppressed. The tobacco monopoly was called the nose-tax; it was felt to +be oppressive only by the snuff-takers and smokers; and perhaps the +stamp on paper only by those who wrote; but the boot and shoe stamp +imposed by one of the little princes touched everyone but those who went +barefoot. + +Joseph Suess introduced the stamp on paper into the palatinate. He did +not invent this duty, which had been imposed elsewhere; but he obtained +the concession of the impost, and sold it to a subfactor for 12,000 +florins, and with the money invested in a speculation in the coinage of +Hesse-Darmstadt. All the little German princes at this time had their +own coinage, down to trumpery little states of a few miles in diameter, +as Waldeck, Fulda, Hechingen, and Montfort; and Germany was full to +overflow of bad money, and barren of gold and silver. Suess, in his +peregrinations, had obtained a thorough insight into the mysteries of +this branch of business. He not only thoroughly understood the practical +part of the matter--the coinage--but also where the cheapest markets +were, in which to purchase the metals to be coined. Now that he had some +money at his command, he undertook to farm the coinage of +Hesse-Darmstadt; but almost immediately undersold it, with a profit to +himself of 9,000 florins. He took other contracts for the courts, and +soon realised a comfortable fortune. Even the Archbishop of Cologne +called in his aid, and contributed to enrich him, in his efforts to get +a little more for himself out of the subjects of his palatinate. In the +summer of 1732 Joseph Suess visited the Blackforest baths of Wildbad, +for the sake of the waters. At the same time Charles Alexander of +Würtemberg and his wife were also undergoing the same cure. Oppenheim's +pleasant manners, his handsome face, and his cleverness caught the fancy +of Charles Alexander, and he appointed him his agent and steward; and as +the Prince was then in want of money, Suess lent him a trifle of 2,000 +florins. Charles Alexander had not at this time any assurance that he +would ascend the ducal throne of Würtemberg, though it was probable.[18] +The reigning Duke, Eberhardt Louis, had, indeed, just lost his only son; +but it was not impossible that a posthumous grandson might be born. +Charles Alexander was first-cousin of the Duke. It is said that Suess on +this occasion foretold the future greatness of the Prince, and pretended +to extract his prophecy from the Cabala. It is certain that Charles +Alexander was very superstitious, and believed in astrology, and it is +by no means improbable that Suess practised on his credulity. He had at +his disposal plenty of means of learning whether the young Princess of +Würtemberg was likely soon to become a mother--her husband had died in +November--and he was very well aware that the old Duke was failing. The +loan made by Suess came acceptably to Prince Charles Alexander just as a +Jewish banker, Isaac Simon of Landau, with whom he had hitherto dealt, +had declined to make further advances. + +When the Prince returned to Belgrade, where he resided as stadtholder of +Servia, under the Emperor, he was fully convinced that he had +discovered in Suess an able, intelligent, and devoted servant. His wife +was a princess of Thurn and Taxis, and it is possible that Suess, who +had been for some time about that court at Ratisbon, had used her +influence, and his acquaintance with her family affairs, to push his +interests with the Prince, her husband. + +On October 31, 1733, died the old Duke Eberhardt Louis, and Charles +Alexander at once hastened from Belgrade to Vienna, where, in an +interview with the Emperor, without any consultation with the Estates, +or consideration for the treasury of Würtemberg, he promised Leopold a +contingent of 12,000 men to aid in the war against France. Then he went +on to Stuttgart. + +Poor Würtemberg groaned under the burdens that had been imposed on it; +the favourites had been allowed to do with it what they liked; and +Charles Alexander's first public declaration on entering his capital +was: "From henceforth I will reign over you immediately, and myself see +to the reform of every grievance, and put away from my people every +burden which has galled its shoulders. If my people cry to me, my ears +shall be open to hear their call. I will not endure the disorder which +has penetrated everywhere, into every department of the State; my own +hand shall sweep it away." + +And as a token of his sincerity he ordered every office-holder in Church +and State to put on paper and present to him a schedule of every payment +that had been made, by way of fee and bribe, to obtain his office. This +was published on December 28, 1733. The older and wiser heads were +shaken; the Duke, they said, was only heaping trouble on his shoulders; +let the past be buried. He replied, "I must get to the bottom of all +this iniquity. I must get inured to work." + +But the hero of Belgrade had all his life been more accustomed to the +saddle than the desk, and to command in battle--a much simpler +matter--than to rule in peace. The amount of grievances brought before +him, the innumerable scandals, peculations, bewildered him. The people +were wild with enthusiasm, but the entire bureaucracy was filled with +sullen and dogged opposition. + +Würtemberg enjoyed a constitution more liberal than any other German +principality. The old Duke Eberhardt with the Beard, who died in 1496, +by his will contrived for the good government of his land by providing +checks against despotic rule by the dukes his successors. On the +strength of this testament the Estates deposed his successor. The +provisions of this will were ratified in the Capitulation of Tübingen, +in 1514, and every duke on assuming the reins of government was required +to swear to observe the capitulation. Duke Charles Alexander took the +oath without perhaps very closely examining it, and found out after it +was taken that he was hampered in various ways, and was incapacitated +from raising the body of men with which he had undertaken to furnish the +Emperor, independent of the consent of the Parliament. It may here be +said that there was no hereditary house of nobles in Würtemberg; the +policy of the former dukes had been to drive the hereditary petty +nobles out of the country, and to create in their place a clique of +court officials absolutely dependent on themselves. By the constitution, +no standing army was to be maintained, and no troops raised without the +consent of the Estates; the tenure of property was guaranteed by the +State, all serfage was abolished, and no taxes could be imposed or +monopolies created without the consent of the Estates. + +The Estates consisted of fourteen prelates, pastors invested with +dignities which entitled them to sit in the House, and seventy +deputies--some elected by the constituencies, others holders of certain +offices, who sat _ex officio_. The Estates had great power; indeed the +Duke could do little but ask its consent to the measures he proposed, +and to swallow humble pie at refusal. It not only imposed the taxes, but +the collectors were directly responsible to the Estates for what was +collected, and paid into its hands the sum gathered. Moreover, any +agreement entered into between the Duke and another prince was invalid +unless ratified by the Estates. + +When Duke Charles Alexander, who had been accustomed to the despotic +command of an army as field-marshal, found how his hands were tied and +how he was surrounded by impediments to free action on all sides, he was +very angry, and quarrelled with the Ministers who had presented the +capitulation to him for signature. He declared that the paper presented +for him to sign had not been read to him in full, or had the obnoxious +passages folded under that he should not see them, or that they had been +added after his signature had been affixed. + +He became irritable, not knowing how to keep his promise with the +Emperor, and disgusted to find himself a ruler without real authority. + +Now, as it was inconvenient to call the Assembly together on every +occasion when something was wanted, a permanent committee sat in +Stuttgart, consisting of two parts. This committee acted for the Estates +and were responsible to it. + +Wanting advice and help, unwilling to seek that of the reliable +Ministers--and there were some honest and patriotic--the Duke asked +Joseph Suess to assist him, and Suess was only too delighted to show him +a way out of his difficulties. The redress of grievances was thrust +aside, abuses were left uncorrected, and the Duke's attention was turned +towards two main objects--the establishment of a standing army, and the +upsetting of the old constitution. + +Würtemberg was then a state whose limits were not very extensive, nor +did they lie within a ring fence. The imperial cities of Reutlingen, +Ulm, Heilsbronn, Weil, and Gmünd were free. It might not be convenient +for the Emperor to pay with hard cash for the troops the Duke had +promised to furnish, but he might allow of the incorporation of these +independent and wealthy cities in the duchy. Moreover, it was a feature +of the times for the princes to seek to conquer fresh districts and +incorporate them. France had recently snatched away Mompelgard from +Würtemberg, and Charles Alexander recovered it. The duchy had suffered +so severely from having been overrun by French troops that the Estates +acquiesced, though reluctantly, in the Duke's proposal that a standing +army should be maintained. Having obtained this concession, Suess +instructed him how to make it a means of acquiring money, by calling men +to arms who would be thankful to purchase their discharge. The army soon +numbered 18,000 soldiers. His general-in-chief was Remchingen, a man who +had served with him in the Imperial army and was devoted to his +interests. The Duke placed his army under officers who were none of them +Würtembergers. At the head of an army officered by his own creatures, +the Duke hoped to carry his next purpose--the abrogation of the +capitulation, and the conversion of the State from a constitutional to a +despotic monarchy. Suess now became the Duke's most confidential +adviser, and, guided by him, Charles Alexander got rid of all his +Ministers and courtiers who would not become the assistants in this +policy, and filled their places with creatures of his own, chief of whom +was a fellow named Hallwachs. In order to paralyse the Assembly the Duke +did not summon it to meet, and managed to pack the committee with men in +his interest; for, curiously enough, the committee was not elected by +the delegates, but itself elected into the vacancies created in it. By +means of the committee the Duke imposed on the country in 1736 a double +tax, and the grant of a thirtieth of all the fruits; and this was to +last "as long as the necessities of the case required it." + +Suess himself was careful to keep in the background. He accepted no +office about court, became Minister of no branch of the State; but every +Minister and officer was nominated by him and devoted to him. Towards +these creatures of his own he behaved with rudeness and arrogance, so +that they feared him almost more than the Duke. If the least opposition +was manifested, Suess threatened the gallows or the block, forfeiture of +goods, and banishment; and as the Duke subscribed every order Suess +brought him, it was well known that his threats were not idle. + +Suess employed Weissensee, a pastor, the prelate of Hirsau, as his court +spy. This worthless man brought to the favourite every whisper that +passed within his hearing among the courtiers of the Duke, everything +that was said in the committee, and advised whether the adhesion of this +or that man was doubtful. + +Suess so completely enveloped the Duke in the threads of the web he spun +about him, that Charles Alexander followed his advice blindly, and did +nothing without consulting him. + +In 1734 Suess farmed the coinage of Würtemberg, with great profit to +himself, and, having got it into his own hands, kept it there to the +end. But there is this to be said for his coinage, that it was far +better than that of all the other states of Germany; so that the +Würtemberg silver was sought throughout Germany. There was nothing +fraudulent in this transaction, and though at his trial the matter was +closely investigated, no evidence of his having exceeded what was just +could be produced against him. + +It was quite another matter with the "Land Commission," a +well-intentioned institution with which the Duke began his reign. +Charles Alexander was overwhelmed with the evidence sent in to him of +bribery under the late Duke, and, unable to investigate the cases +himself, he appointed commissioners to do so, and of course these +commissioners were nominated by Suess. The commission not only examined +into evidence of bribery in the purchase of offices, but also into +peculation and neglect of duty in the discharge of offices. Those +against whom evidence was strong were sentenced to pay a heavy fine, but +were not necessarily deprived. Those, on the other hand, who had +acquired their offices honourably and had discharged their functions +conscientiously were harassed by repeated trials, terrified with +threats, and were forced to purchase their discharge at a sum fixed +according to an arbitrary tariff. Those who proved stubborn, or did not +see at what the commissioners aimed, were subjected to false witnesses, +found guilty, and fined. These fines amounted in some instances to +£2,000. + +After the commission had exhausted the bureaucracy, and money was still +needed, private individuals became the prey of their inquisitorial and +extortive action. + +Any citizen who was reported to be rich was summoned before the tribunal +to give an account of the manner in which he had obtained his wealth; +his private affairs were investigated, his books examined, and his trial +protracted till he was glad to purchase his dismissal for a sum +calculated according to his income as revealed to the prying eyes of the +inquisitors. + +But as this did not suffice to fill the empty treasury, recurrence was +had to the old abuse which the Land Commission had been instituted to +inquire into and correct. Every office was sold, and to increase the +revenue from this source fresh offices were created, fresh titles +invented, and all were sold for ready money. Every office in Church as +well as State was bought; indeed, a sort of auction was held at every +vacancy, and the office was knocked down to the highest bidder. + +This sort of commerce had been bad enough under the late Duke, but it +became fourfold as bad now under the redresser of abuses, for what had +before been inchoate was now organised by Suess into a system. + +Not only were the offices sold, but after they had been entered upon, +the tenant was expected to pay a second sum, entitled the gratuity, +which was to go, it was announced, towards a sustentation fund for +widows and orphans and the aged. It is needless to say that none of this +money ever reached widows, orphans, or aged. + +A special bureau of gratuities was organised by decree of the Duke, and +filled with men appointed by Suess, who paid into his hands the sums +received; and he, after having sifted them, and retained what he thought +fit, shook the rest into the ducal treasury. This bureau was founded by +ducal rescript in 1736. + +Side by side with the Office of Gratuities came the Fiscal Office into +being, whose function it was to revise the magisterial and judicial +proceedings of the courts of justice. This also was filled by Suess with +his creatures. The ground given to the world for its establishment was +the correction of judicial errors and injustices committed by the courts +of law. It was the final court of revision, before which every decision +went before it was carried into effect. Legal proceedings, moreover, +were long and costly, and the Fiscal Court undertook to interfere when +any suit threatened to be unduly protracted to the prejudice of justice. +But the practical working of the Fiscal Court was something very +different. It interfered with the course of justice, reversing +judgments, not according to equity, but according to the bribes paid +into the hands of the board. In a very short time the sources of justice +were completely poisoned by it, and no crime, however great and however +clearly established, led to chastisement if sufficient money were paid +into the hands of the court of revision. The whole country was overrun +with spies, who denounced as guilty of imaginary crimes those who were +rich, and such never escaped without leaving some of their gold sticking +to the hands of the fiscal counsellors. + +As usual with Joseph Suess, he endeavoured to keep officially clear of +this court, as he had of the Office of Gratuities, and of all others. +But the Duke nominated him assistant counsellor. Suess protested, and +endeavoured to shirk the honour; but as the Duke refused to release him, +he took care never once to attend the court, and when the proceedings +and judgments were sent him for his signature he always sent them back +unsigned; and he never was easy till relieved of the unacceptable title. +For Suess was a clever rogue. In every transaction that was public, and +of which documentary evidence was producible that he had been mixed up +with it, he acted with integrity; but whenever he engaged on a +proceeding which might render him liable to be tried in the event of +his falling into disfavour, he kept himself in the background and acted +through his agents; so that when, eventually, he was tried for his +treasonable and fraudulent conduct, documentary evidence incriminating +him was wholly wanting. + +After the death of the Duke, it was estimated from the records of the +two courts that they had in the year 1736-7 squeezed sixty-five thousand +pounds out of the small and poor duchy. + +Suess had constituted himself jeweller to the Duke, who had a fancy for +precious stones, but knew nothing of their relative values. When Suess +offered him a jewel he was unable to resist the temptation of buying it, +and very little of the money of the Bureau of Gratuities ever reached +him; he took the value out in stones at Suess' estimation. When some of +his intimates ventured to suggest that the Jew was deceiving him as to +the worth of the stones, Duke Charles Alexander shrugged his shoulders +and said with a laugh, "It may be so, but I can't do without that +coujon" (_cochon_).[19] . At the beginning of 1736 a new edict for wards +was issued by the Duke, probably on Suess' suggestion, whereby he +constituted a chancery which should act as guardian to all orphans under +age, managing their property for them, and was accountable to none but +the Duke for the way in which it dealt with the trust. Then a commission +was instituted to take charge of all charitable bequests in the duchy; +and by this means Suess got the fingering of property to the amount of +two hundred thousand pounds, for which the State paid to the Charities +at the rate of three per cent. + +Then came the imposition of duties and taxes. Salt was taxed, +playing-cards, groceries, leather, tobacco, carriages, even the sweeping +of chimneys. A gazette was issued containing decrees of the Duke and +official appointments, and every officer and holder of any place, +however insignificant, under Government was compelled to subscribe to +this weekly paper, the profits of which came to the Duke and his +adviser. Then came a property and income tax; then in quick succession +one tormenting edict after another, irritating and disturbing the +people, and all meaning one thing--money. + +Lotteries were established by order of the Duke. Suess paid the Duke +£300 for one, and pocketed the profits, which were considerable. At the +court balls and masquerades Suess had his roulette tables in an +adjoining room, and what fell to the _croupier_ went into his +pocket.[20] + +At last his sun declined. The Duke became more and more engrossed in his +ideas of upsetting the constitution by means of his army, and listened +more to his general, Remchingen, than to Suess. He entered into a +compact with the elector of Bavaria and with the Bishops of Würzburg and +Bamberg to send him troops to assist him in his great project, and, as a +price for this assistance, promised to introduce the Roman Catholic +religion into Würtemberg. + +The enemies of Suess, finding that he was losing hold of the Duke, took +advantage of a precious stone which the Jew had sold him for a thousand +pounds, and which proved to be worth only four hundred, to open the eyes +of Charles Alexander to the character of the man who had exercised such +unbounded influence over him. Suess, finding his power slipping from +him, resolved to quit the country. The Duke stopped him. Suess offered +five thousand pounds for permission to depart; it was refused. Charles +Alexander was aware that Suess knew too many court secrets to be allowed +to quit the country. Moreover, the necessities of the Duke made him feel +that he might still need the ingenuity of Suess to help him to raise +money. As a means of retaining him he granted him a so-called +"absolutorium"--a rescript which made him responsible to no one for any +of his actions in the past or in the future. Furnished with this +document, the Jew consented to remain, and then the Duke required of him +a loan of four thousand pounds for the expenses of a journey he +meditated to Danzig to consult a physician about a foot from which he +suffered. The "absolutorium" was signed in February 1737. + +On March 12 following, Charles Alexander started on his journey from +Stuttgart, but went no farther than his palace at Ludwigsburg. + +Although the utmost secrecy had been maintained, it had nevertheless +transpired that the constitution was to be upset as soon as the Duke had +left the country. He had given sealed orders to his general, Remchingen, +to this effect. The Bavarian and Würtemberg troops, to the number of +19,000 men, were already on the march. The Würtemberg army was entirely +officered by the Duke's own men. Orders had been issued to forbid the +Stuttgart Civil Guard from exercising and assembling, and ordering that +a general disarmament of the Civil Guard and of the peasants and +citizens should be enforced immediately the Duke had crossed the +frontier. All the fortresses in the duchy had been provided with +abundance of ammunition and ordnance. + +At Ludwigsburg the Duke halted to consult an astrologer as to the +prospect of his undertaking. Suess laughed contemptuously at the +pretences of this man, and, pointing to a cannon, said to Charles +Alexander, "This is your best telescope." + +The sealed orders were to be opened on the 13th, and on that day the +stroke was to be dealt. Already Ludwigsburg was full of Würzburg +soldiers. A courier of the Duke with a letter had, in a drunken +squabble, been deprived of the dispatch; this was opened and shown to +the Assembly, which assembled in all haste and alarm. It revealed the +plot. At once some of the notables hastened to Ludwigsburg to have an +interview with their prince. He received them roughly, and dismissed +them without disavowing his intentions. The consternation became +general. The day was stormy; clouds were whirled across the sky, then +came a drift of hail, then a gleam of sun. At Ludwigsburg, the wind blew +in whole ranges of windows, shivering the glass. The alarm-bells rang in +the church towers, for fire had broken out in the village of Eglosheim. + +The Assembly sent another deputation to Ludwigsburg, consisting of +their oldest and most respected members. They did not arrive till late, +and unable to obtain access through the front gates, crept round by the +kitchen entrance, and presented themselves unexpectedly before the Duke +at ten o'clock at night, as he was retiring to rest from a ball that had +been given. Dancing was still going on in one of the wings, and the +strains of music entered the chamber when the old notables of +Würtemberg, men of venerable age and high character, forced their way +into the Duke's presence. + +Charles Alexander had but just come away from the ball-room, seated +himself in an arm-chair, and drunk a powerful medicine presented him by +his chamberlain, Neuffer, in a silver bowl. Neuffer belonged to a family +which had long been influential in Würtemberg, honourable and patriotic. +Scarce had the Duke swallowed this draught when the deputation appeared. +He became livid with fury, and though the interview took place with +closed doors the servants without heard a violent altercation, and the +Duke's voice raised as if he were vehemently excited. Presently the +doors opened and the deputation came forth, greatly agitated, one of the +old men in his hurry forgetting to take his cap away with him. Scarcely +were they gone when Neuffer dismissed the servants, and himself went to +a further wing of the palace. + +The Duke, still excited, suddenly felt himself unwell, ran into the +antechamber, found no one there, staggered into a third, then a fourth +room, tore open a window, and shouted into the great court for help; +but his voice was drowned by the band in the illumined ball-room, +playing a valse. Then giddiness came over the Duke, and he fell to the +ground. The first to arrive was Neuffer, and he found him insensible. He +drew his knife and lanced him. Blood flowed. The Duke opened his eyes +and gasped, "What is the matter with me? I am dying!" He was placed in +an armchair, and died instantly. + +That night not a window in Stuttgart had shown light. The town was as a +city of the dead. Everyone was in alarm as to what would ensue on the +morrow, but in secret arms were being distributed among the citizens and +guilds. They would fight for their constitution. Suddenly, at midnight, +the news spread that the Duke was dead. At once the streets were full of +people, laughing, shouting, throwing themselves into each other's arms, +and before another hour the windows were illuminated with countless +candles.[21] + +Not a moment was lost. Duke Charles Rudolf of Würtemberg-Neuenstadt was +invested with the regency, and on March 19, General Remchingen was +arrested and deprived of his office. + +For once Suess' cleverness failed him. Relying on his "absolutorium," he +did not fly the country the moment he heard of the death of the Duke. He +waited till he could place his valuables in safety. He waited just too +long, for he was arrested and confined to his house. Then he did manage +to escape, and got the start of his enemies by an hour, but was +recognised and stopped by a Würtemberg officer, and reconducted to +Stuttgart, where he was almost torn to pieces by the infuriated +populace, and with difficulty rescued from their hands. On March 19, he +was sent to the fortress of Hohenneuffen; but thence he almost succeeded +in effecting his escape by bribing the guards with the diamonds he had +secreted about his person. + +At first Suess bore his imprisonment with dignity. He was confident, in +the first place, that the "absolutorium" would not be impeached, and in +the second, that there was no documentary evidence discoverable which +could incriminate him. But as his imprisonment was protracted, and as he +saw that the country demanded a victim for the wrongs it had suffered, +his confidence and self-respect left him. Nevertheless, it was not till +the last that he was convinced that his life as well as his ill-gotten +gains would be taken from him, and then he became a despicable figure, +entreating mercy, and eagerly seeking to incriminate others in the hopes +of saving his own wretched life thereby. + +There were plenty of others as guilty as Suess--nay, more so, for they +were natives of Würtemberg, and he an alien in blood and religion. But +these others had relations and friends to intercede for them, and all +felt that Suess was the man to be made a scape-goat of, because he was +friendless. + +The mode of his execution was barbarous. His trial had been protracted +for eleven months; at length, on February 4, 1738, he was led forth to +execution--to be hung in an iron cage. This cage had been made in 1596, +and stood eight feet high, and was four feet in diameter. It was +composed of seventeen bars and fourteen cross-bars, and was circular. +The gallows was thirty-five feet high. The wretched man was first +strangled in the cage, hung up in it like a dead bird, and then the cage +with him in it was hoisted up to the full height of the gallows-tree. +His wealth was confiscated. + +Hallwachs and the other rascals who had been confederated with him in +plundering their country were banished, but were allowed to depart with +all their plunder. + +Remchingen also escaped; when arrested, he managed to get rid of all +compromising papers, which were given by him to a chimney-sweep sent to +him down the chimney by some of the agents of the Bishop of Würzburg. + +Such is the tragic story of the life of Suess Oppenheim, a man of no +ordinary abilities, remarkable shrewdness, but without a spark of +principle. But the chief tragedy is to be found in the deterioration of +the character of Duke Charles Alexander, who, as Austrian field-marshal +and governor of Servia, had been the soul of honour, generous and +beloved; who entered on his duchy not only promising good government, +but heartily desiring to rule well for his people's good; and who in +less than four years had forfeited the love and respect of his subjects, +and died meditating an act which would have branded him as +perjured--died without having executed one of his good purposes, and so +hated by the people who had cheered him on his entry into the capital, +that, by general consent, the mode of his death was not too curiously +and closely inquired into. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[18] There was some idea of a younger brother being elected. + +[19] In three years Suess gained a profit of 20,000 florins out of the +sale of jewellery alone. + +[20] The Duke, at Suess's instigation, wrote to the Emperor to get the +Jew factotum ennobled, but was refused. + +[21] On the following night a confectioner set up a transparency +exhibiting the Devil carrying off the Duke. + + + + +Ignatius Fessler. + + +On December 15th, 1839, in his eighty-fourth year, died Ignatius +Fessler, Lutheran Bishop, at St. Petersburg, a man who had gone through +several phases of religious belief and unbelief, a Hungarian by birth, a +Roman Catholic by education, a Capuchin friar, then a deist, almost, if +not quite, an atheist, professor of Oriental languages in the university +of Lemberg, finally Lutheran Bishop in Finland. + +He was principally remarkable as having been largely instrumental in +producing one of the most salutary reforms of the Emperor Joseph II. + +His autobiography published by him in 1824, when he was seventy years +old, affords a curious picture of the way in which Joseph carried out +those reforms, and enables us to see how it was that they roused so much +opposition, and in so many cases failed to effect the good that was +designed. + +Fessler, in his autobiography, paints himself in as bright colours as he +can lay on, but it is impossible not to see that he was a man of little +principle, selfish and heartless. + +The autobiography is so curious, and the experiences of Fessler so +varied, the times in which he lived so eventful, and the book itself so +little known, that a short account of his career may perhaps interest, +and must be new to the generality of readers. + +Ignatius Fessler was the son of parents in a humble walk of life +resident in Hungary, but Germans by extraction. Ignatius was born in the +year 1754, and as the first child, was dedicated by his mother to God. +It was usual at that time for such children to be dressed in +ecclesiastical habits. Ignatius as soon as he could walk was invested in +a black cassock. His earliest reading was in the lives of the saints and +martyrs, but at his first Communion his mother gave him a Bible. That +book and Thomas à Kempis were her only literature. Long-continued +prayer, daily reading of religious books, and no others, moulded the +opening mind of her child. Exactly the same process goes on in countless +peasant houses in Catholic Austria and Germany and Switzerland at the +present day. No such education, no such walling off of the mind from +secular influences is possible in England or France. The first +enthusiasm of the child was to become a saint, his highest ambition to +be a hermit or a martyr. At the age of seven he was given to be +instructed by a Jesuit father, and was shortly after admitted to +communion. At the age of nine Ignatius could read and speak Latin, and +then he read with avidity Cardinal Bona's _Manductio ad Coelum_. His +education was in the hands of the Carmelites at Raab. Dr. Fessler +records his affectionate remembrance of his master, Father Raphael. +Ignatius lounged, and was lazy. "Boy!" said the Father, "have done with +lounging or you will live to be no good, but the laughing stock of old +women. Look at me aged seventy, full of life and vigour, that comes of +not being a lounger when a boy." From the Carmelite school Ignatius +passed into that of the Jesuits. His advance was rapid; but his reading +was still in Mystical Theology and his aim the attainment of the +contemplative, ecstatic life of devotion. So he reached his seventeenth +year. + +Then his mother took him to Buda, to visit his uncle who was lecturer on +Philosophy in the Capuchin Convent. The boy declared his desire to +become a Franciscan. His mother and uncle gave their ready consent, and +he entered on his noviciate, under the name of Francis Innocent. "The +name Innocent became me well--really, at that time, I did not know the +difference between the sexes." + +In 1774, when aged twenty, he took the oaths constituting him a friar. +All the fathers in the convent approved, except one old man, Peregrinus, +who remonstrated gravely, declaring that he foresaw that Fessler would +bring trouble on the fraternity. Father Peregrinus was right, Fessler +was one to whom the life and rules and aim of the Order could never be +congenial. He had an eager, hungry mind, an insatiable craving for +knowledge, and a passion for books. The Capuchins were, and still are, +recruited from the lowest of the people, ignorant peasants with a +traditional contempt for learning, and their teachers embued with the +shallowest smattering of knowledge. Fessler, being devoid of means, +could not enter one of the cultured Orders, the Benedictines or the +Jesuits. Moreover, the Franciscan is, by his vow, without property, he +must live by begging, a rule fatal to self-respect, and fostering +idleness. S. Francis, the founder, was a scion of a mercantile class, +and the beggary which he imposed on his Order, was due to his revolt +against the money-greed of his class. But it has been a fruitful source +of mischief. It deters men with any sense of personal dignity from +entering the Order, and it invites into it the idle and the ignorant. +The Franciscan Order has been a fruitful nursery of heresies, schisms +and scandals. Now old Father Peregrinus had sufficient insight into +human nature to see and judge that a man of pride, intellectual power, +and culture of mind, would be as a fish on dry land in the Capuchin +fraternity. He was not listened to. Fessler was too young to know +himself, and the fathers too eager to secure a man of promise and +ability. + +"The guardian, Coelestine, an amiable man, took a liking to me. He +taught me to play chess, and he played more readily with me than with +any of the rest, which, not a little, puffed up my self-esteem. The +librarian, Leonidas, was an old, learned, obliging man, dearly loving +his flowers. I fetched the water for him to his flower-beds, and he +showed me his gratitude by letting me have the run of the library." + +The library was not extensive, the books nearly all theological, and the +volume which Fessler was most attracted by was Barbanson's "Ways of +Divine Love." + +In 1775, Fessler made the acquaintance of a Calvinist Baron, who lent +him Fleury's "Ecclesiastical History." This opened the young man's eyes +to the fact that the Church was not perfect, that the world outside the +Church was not utterly graceless. He read his New Testament over seven +times in that year. Then his Calvinist friend lent him Muratori's +"Treatise on the Mystical Devotions of the Monks." His confidence was +shaken. He no longer saw in the Church the ideal of purity and perfect +infallibility; he saw that Mystical Theology was a geography of cloud +castles. What profit was there in it? To what end did the friars live? +To grow cabbages, make snuff-boxes, cardboard cases, which they +painted--these were their practical labours; the rest of their time was +spent in prayer and meditation. + +Then the young friar got hold of Hofmann-Waldau's poems, and the +sensuousness of their pictures inflamed his imagination at the very time +when religious ecstasy ceased to attract him. + +What the result might have been, Fessler says, he trembles to think, had +he not been fortified by Seneca. It is curious to note, and +characteristic of the man, that he was saved from demoralisation, not by +the New Testament, which did not touch his heart, but by Seneca's moral +axioms, which convinced his reason. The Franciscans are allowed great +liberty. They run over the country collecting alms, they visit whom they +will, and to a man without principle, such liberty offers dangerous +occasions. + +Fessler now resolved to leave an Order which was odious to him. +"Somewhat tranquillized by Seneca, I now determined to shake myself +loose from the trammels of the cloister, without causing scandal. The +most easy way to do this was for me to take Orders, and get a cure of +souls or a chaplaincy to a nobleman." He had no vocation for the +ministry; he looked to it merely as a means of escape from uncongenial +surroundings. On signifying his desire to become a priest, he was +transferred to Gross Wardein, there to pass the requisite course of +studies. At Wardein he gained the favour of the bishop and some of the +canons, who lent him books on the ecclesiastical and political history +of his native land. He also made acquaintance with some families in the +town, a lady with two daughters, with the elder of whom he fell in love. +He had, however, sufficient decency not to declare his passion. It was +otherwise with a young Calvinist tailor's widow, Sophie; she replied to +his declaration very sensibly by a letter, which, he declares, produced +a lasting effect upon him. + +In 1776 he was removed to Schwächat to go through a course of Moral +Theology. His disgust at his enforced studies, which he regarded as the +thrashing of empty husks, increased. He was angry at his removal from +the friends he had made at Wardein. Vexation, irritation, doubt, threw +him into a fever, and he was transferred to the convent in the suburbs +of Vienna, where he could be under better medical care. The physician +who attended him soon saw that his patient's malady was mental. Fessler +opened his heart to him, and begged for the loan of books more feeding +to the brain than the mystical rubbish in the convent library. The +doctor advised him to visit him, when discharged as cured from the +convent infirmary, instead of at once returning to Schwächat. This he +did, and the doctor introduced him to two men of eminence and influence, +Von Eybel and the prelate Rautenstrauch, a Benedictine abbot, the +director of the Theological Faculties in the Austrian Monarchy. This +latter promised Fessler to assist him in his studies, and urged him to +study Greek and Hebrew, also to widen the circle of his reading, to make +acquaintance with law, history, with natural science and geography, and +undertook to provide him with the requisite books. + +On his return to Schwächat, Fessler appealed to the Provincial against +his Master of Studies whom he pronounced to be an incompetent pedant. At +his request he was moved to Wiener-Neustadt. There he found the lecturer +on Ecclesiastical Studies as superficial as the man from whom he had +escaped. This man did not object to Fessler pursuing his Greek and +Hebrew studies, nor to his taking from the library what books he liked. + +The young candidate now borrowed and devoured deistical works, Hobbes, +Tindal, Edelmann, and the Wolfenbüttel Fragments. He had to be careful +not to let these books be seen, accordingly he hid them under the floor +in the choir. After midnight, when matins had been sung, instead of +returning to bed with the rest, he remained, on the plea of devotion, in +the church, seated on the altar steps, reading deistical works by the +light of the sanctuary lamp, which he pulled down to a proper level. He +now completely lost his faith, not in Christianity only, but in natural +religion as well. Nevertheless, he did not desist from his purpose of +seeking orders. He was ordained deacon in 1778, and priest in 1779. "On +the Sunday after Corpus Christi, I celebrated without faith, without +unction, my first mass, in the presence of my mother, her brother, and +the rest of my family. They all received the communion from my hand, +bathed in tears of emotion. I, who administered to them, was frozen in +unbelief." + +The cure of souls he desired was not given him, no chaplaincy was +offered him. His prospect of escape seemed no better than before. He +became very impatient, and made himself troublesome in his convent. As +might have been suspected, he became restive under the priestly +obligations, as he had been under the monastic rule. It is curious that, +late in life, when Fessler wrote his memoirs, he showed himself blind to +the unworthiness of his conduct in taking on him the most sacred +responsibilities to God and the Church, when he disbelieved in both. He +is, however, careful to assure us that though without faith in his +functions, he executed them punctually, hearing confessions, preaching +and saying mass. But his conduct is so odious, his after callousness so +conspicuous, that it is difficult to feel the smallest conviction of his +conscientiousness at any time of his life. + +As he made himself disagreeable to his superiors at Neustadt, he was +transferred to Mödling. There he made acquaintance with a Herr Von +Molinari and was much at his house, where he met a young Countess +Louise. "I cannot describe her stately form, her arching brows, the +expression of her large blue eyes, the delicacy of her mouth, the music +of her tones, the exquisite harmony that exists in all her movements, +and what affects me more than all--she speaks Latin easily, and only +reads serious books." So wrote Fessler in a letter at the time. He read +Ovid's Metamorphoses with her in the morning, and walked with her in the +evening. When, at the end of October, the family went to Vienna, "the +absence of that noble soul," he wrote, "filled me with the most poignant +grief." The Molinari family were bitten with Jansenism, and hoped to +bring the young Capuchin to their views. Next year, in the spring of +1781, they returned to Mödling. + +"This year passed like the former; in the convent I was a model of +obedience, in the school a master of scholastic theology: in Molinari's +family a humble disciple of Jansen, in the morning a worshipper of the +muse of Louise, in the evening an agreeable social companion,"--in +heart--an unbeliever in Christianity. + +A letter written to an uncle on March 12th, 1782, must be quoted +verbatim, containing as it does a startling discovery, which gave him +the opportunity so long desired, of breaking with the Order:-- + +"Since the 23rd February, I sing without intermission after David, in my +inmost heart, 'Praise and Glory be to God, who has delivered my enemies +into my hand!' Listen to the wonderful way in which this has happened. +On the night of the 23rd to 24th of February, after eleven o'clock, I +was roused from sleep by a lay-brother. 'Take your crucifix,' said he +'and follow me.' + +"'Whither?' I asked, panic struck. + +"'Whither I am about to lead you.' + +"'What am I to do?' + +"'I will tell you, when you are on the spot.' + +"'Without knowing whither I go, and for what purpose, go I will not.' + +"'The Guardian has given the order; by virtue of holy obedience you are +bound to follow whither I lead.' + +"As soon as holy obedience is involved, no resistance can be offered. +Full of terror, I took my crucifix and followed the lay-brother, who +went before with a dark lantern. Passing the cell of one of my fellow +scholars, I slipped in, shook him out of sleep, and whispered in Latin +twice in his ear, 'I am carried off, God knows whither. If I do not +appear to-morrow, communicate with Rautenstrauch.' + +"Our way led through the kitchen, and beyond it through a couple of +chambers; on opening the last, the brother said, 'Seven steps down.' My +heart contracted, I thought I was doomed to see the last of day-light. +We entered a narrow passage, in which I saw, half way down it, on the +right, a little altar, on the left some doors fastened with padlocks. My +guide unlocked one of these, and said, 'Here is a dying man, Brother +Nicomede, a Hungarian, who knows little German, give him your spiritual +assistance. I will wait here. When he is dead, call me.' + +"Before me lay an old man on his pallet, in a worn-out habit, on a straw +palliasse, under a blanket; his hood covered his grey head, a snow-white +beard reached to his girdle. Beside the bedstead was an old +straw-covered chair, a dirty table, on which was a lamp burning. I spoke +a few words to the dying man, who had almost lost his speech; he gave me +a sign that he understood me. There was no possibility of a confession. +I spoke to him about love to God, contrition for sin, and hope in the +mercy of heaven; and when he squeezed my hand in token of inward +emotion, I pronounced over him the General Absolution. The rest of the +while I was with him, I uttered slowly, and at intervals, words of +comfort and hope of eternal blessedness. About three o'clock, after a +death agony of a quarter-of-an-hour, he had passed out of the reach of +trouble. + +"Before I called the lay-brother, I looked round the prison, and then +swore over the corpse to inform the Emperor of these horrors. Then I +summoned the lay-brother, and said, coldly, 'Brother Nicomede is gone.' + +"'A good thing for him, too,' answered my guide, in a tone equally +indifferent. + +"'How long has he been here?' + +"'Two and fifty years.' + +"'He has been severely punished for his fault.' + +"'Yes, yes. He has never been ill before. He had a stroke yesterday, +when I brought him his meal.' + +"'What is the altar for in the passage?' + +"'One of the fathers says mass there on all festivals for the lions, and +communicates them. Do you see, there is a little window in each of the +doors, which is then opened, and through it the lions make their +confession, hear mass, and receive communion.' + +"'Have you many lions here?' + +"'Four, two priests and two lay-brothers to be attended on.' + +"'How long have they been here?' + +"'One for fifty, another for forty-two, the third for fifteen, and the +last for nine years.' + +"'Why are they here?' + +"'I don't know.' + +"'Why are they called lions?' + +"'Because I am called the lion-ward.' + +"I deemed it expedient to ask no more questions. I got the lion-ward to +light me to my cell, and there in calmness considered what to do. + +"Next day, or rather, that same day, Feb. 24th, I wrote in full all that +had occurred, in a letter addressed to the Emperor, with my signature +attached. Shortly after my arrival in Vienna I had made the acquaintance +of a Bohemian secular student named Bokorny, a trusty man. On the +morning of Feb. 25th, I made him swear to give my letter to the Emperor, +and keep silence as to my proceeding. + +"At 8 o'clock he was with my letter in the Couriers' lobby of the +palace, where there is usually a crowd of persons with petitions +awaiting the Emperor. Joseph took my paper from my messenger, glanced +hastily at it, put it apart from the rest of the petitions, and let my +messenger go, after he had cautioned him most seriously to hold his +tongue. + +"The blow is fallen; what will be the result--whether anything will come +of it, I do not yet know." + +For many months no notice was taken of the letter. It was not possible +for the Emperor to take action at once, for a few days later Pius VI. +arrived in Vienna on a visit to Joseph. + +Joseph II. was an enthusiastic reformer; he had the liveliest regard for +Frederick the Great, and tried to copy him, but, as Frederick said, +Joseph always began where he ought to leave off. He had no sooner become +Emperor (1780) than he began a multitude of reforms, with headlong +impetuosity. He supposed that every abuse was to be rooted up by an +exercise of despotic power, and that his subjects would hail freedom and +enlightenment with enthusiasm. Regardless of the power of hereditary +association, he arbitrarily upset existing institutions, in the +conviction that he was promoting the welfare of his subjects. He +emancipated the Jews, and proclaimed liberty of worship to all religious +bodies except the Deists, whom he condemned to receive five-and-twenty +strokes of the cane. He abolished the use of torture, and reorganised +the courts of justice. + +The Pope, alarmed at the reforming spirit of Joseph, and the innovations +he was introducing into the management of the Church, crossed the Alps +with the hope that in a personal interview he might moderate the +Emperor's zeal. He arrived only a few days after Joseph had received the +letter of Ignatius Fessler, which was calculated to spur him to enact +still more sweeping reforms, and to steel his heart against the papal +blandishments. Nothing could have come to his hands more opportunely. + +In Vienna, in St. Stephen's, the Pope held a pontifical mass. The +Emperor did not honour it by his presence. By order of Joseph, the back +door of the papal lodging was walled up, that Pius might receive no +visitors unknown to the Emperor, and guards were placed at the entrance, +to scrutinize those who sought the presence of the Pope. Joseph lost +dignity by studied discourtesy; and Kaunitz, his minister, was allowed +to be insulting. The latter received the Pope when he visited him, in +his dressing-gown, and instead of kissing his hand, shook it heartily. +Pius, after spending five weeks in Vienna without affecting anything, +was constrained to depart. + +Fessler saw him thrice, once, when the Pope said mass in the Capuchin +Church, he stood only three paces from him. "Never did faith and +unbelief, Jansenism and Deism, struggle for the mastery in me more +furiously than then; tears flowed from my eyes, excited by my emotion, +and at the end of the mass, I felt convinced that I had seen either a +man as full of the burning love of God as a seraph, or the most +accomplished actor in the world." Of the sincerity and piety of Pius VI. +there can be no question. He was a good man, but not an able man. "At +the conclusion he turned to us young priests, asked of each his name, +length of time in the Order, and priesthood, about our studies, and +exhorted us, in a fatherly tone, to be stout stones in the wall of the +house of Israel, in times of trouble present and to come." + +Before Pius departed, he gave his blessing to the people from the +balcony of the Jesuit Church. "The Pope was seated on a throne under a +gold-embroidered canopy. Fifty thousand persons must have been assembled +below. Windows were full of heads, every roof crowded. The Pope wore his +triple-crowned tiara, and was attended by three cardinals and two +bishops in full pontificals. He intoned the form of absolution, in +far-reaching voice, which was taken up by the court choir of four +hundred voices. When this was done, Pius rose from his throne, the tiara +was removed from his head, he stepped forward, raised eyes and arms to +heaven, and in a pure ecstasy of devotion poured forth a fervent prayer. +Only sighs and sobs broke occasionally the perfect silence which +reigned among the vast throng of kneeling persons in the great square. +The Pope seemed rather to be raised in ecstasy from his feet, than to +stand. The prayer lasted long, and the bishops put their hands to stay +up his arms; it was like Moses on the mountain top, with the rod of God +in his hand, supported by Aaron and Hur, as he prayed for his people +striving below with Amalek. At last this second Moses let his arms fall, +he raised his right hand, and blessed the people in the name of the +Triune God. At the Amen, the cannon of the Freiung boomed, and were +answered by all the artillery on the fortifications of the city." + +The Pope was gone, and still no notice taken of the petition. Molinari +spoke to Fessler, who was very hot about reform, and had drawn up a +scheme for the readjustment of the Church in the Empire, which he sent +to some of the ministers of the Emperor. "My friend," said Molinari, "to +pull down and to rebuild, to destroy and to re-create, are serious +matters, only to be taken in hand by one who has an earnest vocation, +and not to be made a means for self-seeking." + +Fessler admits that there was truth in the reproach, he was desirous of +pushing himself into notice, and he cared for the matter of "the lions," +only because he thought they would serve his selfish purpose. Joseph now +issued an order that no member of a monastic order was to be admitted to +a benefice who had not passed an examination before the teachers of the +Seminaries. The superiors of the Capuchins forbade their candidates +going into these examinations. Fessler stirred up revolt, and he and +some others, acting under his advice, demanded to be admitted to +examination. His superior then informed him that he was not intended by +the Order to take a cure of souls, he was about to be appointed lecturer +on Philosophy in one of the convents in Hungary. In order to prevent his +removal, and to force the Order to an open rupture with him, Fessler had +recourse to a most unseemly and ungenerous act. Whilst in Vienna, he had +made the acquaintance of an unmarried lady, the Baroness E. He had +assisted her in her studies, giving her instructions usually by letter. +His acquaintance, Von Eybel, had written a book or tract, which had made +a great stir, entitled, "Who is the Pope?" Fessler wrote another, +entitled, "Who is the Emperor?" He sent a copy to the publisher, but +retained the original MS. Fessler now wrote under a feigned name, and in +a disguised hand, a letter to Father Maximus, guardian of the convent, +charging himself with carrying on a guilty correspondence with the +Baroness E., and with the composition of an inflammatory and +anti-religious pamphlet, "Who is the Emperor?" Maximus at once visited +the Baroness, and showed her the letter. The lady in great indignation +produced the entire correspondence, and handed the letters to him. +Maximus put them in the hands of the Lector of the convent, who visited +Fessler, and asked him if he acknowledged the authorship of "these +scandalous letters." + +"Scandalous, they are not," answered Fessler. + +"_Impius, cum in profundum venerit, contemnit_," roared the friar. "They +are not only scandalous, but impious. Look at this letter on platonic +love. Is that a fit letter for such as you to write to a lady?" + +In consequence of these letters, and the MS. of the pamphlet being found +upon him, Fessler was denounced to the Consistorial Court of the +Archbishop. He was summoned before it at the beginning of August, when +he was forced to admit he had been wont to kiss the lady to whom he +wrote on platonic love, and the Consistory suspended him from the +exercise of his priestly functions for a month. + +"I and the Lector returned to the convent silent, as if strangers. When +we arrived, the friars were at table. I do not know how I got to my +place; but after I had drunk my goblet of wine, all was clearer about +me. I seemed to hear the voice of Horace calling to me from heaven, +_Perfer et obdura!_ and in a moment my self-respect revived, and I +looked with scorn on the seventy friars hungrily eating their dinner." + +Of his own despicable conduct, that he had richly deserved his +punishment, Fessler never seems to have arrived at the perception. He +was, indeed, a very pitiful creature, arousing disgust and contempt in a +well-ordered mind; and his Memoirs only deserve notice because of the +curious insight they afford into the inner life of convents, and because +he was the means of bringing great scandals to light, and in assisting +Joseph II. in his work of reform. + +At the beginning of September, 1782, Fessler was the means of bringing a +fresh scandal before the eyes of the Emperor. During the preceding year, +a saddler in Schwächat had lost his wife, and was left, not only a +widower, but childless. His niece now kept house for him, and was much +afraid lest her uncle should marry again, and that thus she should not +become his heir. She consulted a Capuchin, Father Brictius. Fessler had +been in the Schwächat convent, and knew the man. Soon after, the niece +assured her uncle that the ghost of her aunt had appeared to her, and +told her she was suffering in Purgatory. For her release, she must have +ten masses said, and some wax candles burnt. The saddler was content to +have his old woman "laid" at this price. But, after the tenth mass, the +niece declared she had seen her aunt again, and that the spirit had +appeared to her in the presence of Father Brictius, and told her, that +what troubled her most of all was the suspicion she was under, that her +husband purposed marrying again; and she assured him, that were he so to +do, he would lose his soul, in token whereof, she laid her hand on the +cover of the niece's prayer-book, and left the impression burnt into it. + +Father Brictius carried the scorched book all round the neighbourhood, +the marks of thumb and five fingers were clearly to be seen, burnt into +the wooden cover. Great was the excitement, and on all sides masses for +souls were in demand. Some foolish pastors even preached on the marvel. + +It happened that a Viennese boy was apprenticed to a tinker at +Schwächat; and the boy came home every Saturday evening, to spend the +day with his parents, at Vienna. He generally brought Fessler some +little presents or messages from his friends at Schwächat. One day, the +boy complained to Fessler that he had been severely beaten by his +master. On being asked the reason, he replied, that he had been engaged +with the tinker making an iron hand, and that he had spoiled it. Shortly +after this, the rumour of the miraculous hand laid on the prayer-book, +reached the convent. Fessler put the circumstances together, and +suspected he was on the track of a fraud. He went at once to one of the +ministers of the Emperor, and told him what he knew. + +An imperial commission was issued, the tinker, the saddler's niece, and +Father Brictius, were arrested, cross-questioned, and finally, confessed +the trick. The tinker was sent to prison for some months, the woman, for +some weeks, and the Franciscan was first imprisoned, and then banished +the country. An account of the fraud was issued, by Government +authority, and every parish priest was ordered to read it to his +parishioners from the pulpit. + +The Capuchins at Vienna, after this, were more impatient than before to +send Fessler to Hungary, and he was forced to appeal to the Emperor to +prevent his removal. + +Suddenly, quite unexpectedly, in the beginning of October--seven months +after Fessler had sent the Emperor an account of the prison in the +convent, and when he despaired of notice being taken of it--some +imperial commissioners visited the convent, and demanded in the name of +the Emperor to be shown all over it. At the head of the Commission was +Hägelin, to whom Fessler had told his suspicions about the iron hand. + +The commissioners visited all the cells, and the infirmary, then asked +the Guardian thrice on his honour, and in the name of the Emperor, +whether there was a prison in the convent. Thrice the Guardian replied +that there was not. "Let us now visit the kitchen," said Hägelin, and in +spite of the protests and excuses of the Guardian, he insisted on being +taken there. Beyond the kitchen was the wash-house. The commissioners +went further, and found a small locked door. They insisted on its being +opened. Then the Guardian turned pale and nearly fainted. The door was +thrown open, the cells were unlocked, and the lay brothers ordered to +bring the prisoners into the refectory. There the commissioners remained +alone with the unfortunates to take down their depositions. It was found +that three, Fathers Florentine, and Paternus, and the lay brother, +Nemesian, were out of their minds. The "lion-ward" was summoned to +answer for them. From his account, it transpired that Nemesian had gone +out of his mind through religious enthusiasm; he was aged seventy-one, +and had been fifty years in the dungeon. Father Florentine was aged +seventy-three, he had been in confinement for forty-two years for boxing +the Guardian's ears in a fit of temper. Father Paternus was locked up +because he used to leave his convent without permission, and when +rebuked would not give up his independent conduct. He had been fifteen +years in prison. His confinement had bereft him of his senses. As the +remaining two were in full possession of their faculties, the +"lion-ward" was now dismissed. The lay brother Barnabas said he had been +a shopkeeper's servant in Vienna, he had fallen in love with his +master's daughter. As his master refused to have him as his son-in-law, +out of despair he had gone into the Capuchin Order. During his +noviciate, the master died; the master of the novices stopped the letter +informing him of this, and he took the vows, to discover, when too late, +that the girl loved him, and was ready to take him. In his mad rage, he +flung his rosary at the feet of the Guardian, declaring he would never +confess to, or receive the communion from the hands of a father of this +accursed Order. He had been nine years in prison, and was thirty-eight +years old. + +Father Thuribius had been caught reading Wieland, Gellert, Rabener, &c.; +they had been taken from him. He got hold of other copies, they were +taken away a second time. A third time he procured them, and when +discovered, fought with his fists for their retention. He had been +repeatedly given the cat o' nine tails, and had been locked up five +months and ten days. His age was twenty-eight. + +The commissioners at once suspended the Provincial and the Guardian till +further notice, and the five unfortunates were handed over to the care +of the Brothers of Charity. + +That same day, throughout the entire monarchy, every monastery and +nunnery was visited by imperial commissioners. + +At the same time, the Emperor Joseph issued an order that Fessler was on +no account to be allowed to leave Vienna, and that he took him under his +imperial protection against all the devices of his monastic enemies. + +"Now came the sentence on the Guardian and the Provincial from the +Emperor. They were more severely punished than perhaps they really +deserved. I felt for their sufferings more keenly, because I was well +aware that I had been moved to report against them by any other motive +rather than humanity; and even the consequences of my revelation, the +setting at liberty of a not inconsiderable number of unfortunate monks +and nuns throughout the Austrian Empire, could not set my conscience at +rest. Only the orders made by the Emperor rendering it impossible to +repeat such abuses, brought me any satisfaction. The monastic prisons +were everywhere destroyed. Transgression of rules was henceforth to be +punished only by short periods of seclusion, and cases of insanity were +to be sent to the Brothers of Charity, who managed the asylums." + +If Joseph II. had but possessed commonsense as well as enthusiasm, he +would have left his mark deeper on his country than he did. + +Fessler laid before him the schedule of studies in the Franciscan +Convents. Joseph then issued an order (6th April, 1782), absolutely +prohibiting the course of studies in the cloisters. When Fessler saw +that the Guardian of his convent was transgressing the decree, he +appealed against him to the Emperor, and had him dismissed. Next year +Joseph required all the students of the Capuchin Order to enter the +seminaries, and pass thence through the Universities. But, +unfortunately, Joseph had taken a step to alienate from him the bishops +and secular clergy, as well as the monks and friars. He arbitrarily +closed all the diocesan seminaries, and created seminaries of his own +for the candidates for Orders, to which he appointed the professors, +thus entirely removing the education of the clergy from the hands of the +Church. When the Bishop of Goritz expressed his dissatisfaction, Joseph +suppressed his see and banished him. The professors he appointed to the +universities, to the chairs which were attended by candidates for +Orders, were in many cases free-thinkers and rationalists. The professor +of Biblical Exegesis at Vienna was an ex-Jesuit, Monsperger, "His +religious system," says Fessler, who attended his course, "was simply +this,--a wise enjoyment of life, submission to the inevitable, and +prudence of conduct. That was all. He had no other idea of Church than a +reciprocal bond of rights and duties. In his lectures he whittled all +the supernatural out of the Old Testament, and taught his pupils to +regard the book as a collection of myths, romance, and contradictions. +His lectures brought me back from my trifling with Jansenism to the +point I had been at four years before under the teaching of Hobbes, +Tindal, and the Wolfenbüttel Fragments. I resolved to doubt everything +supernatural and divine, without actually denying such thing.--Strange! +I resolved to disbelieve, when I never had believed." + +On Feb. 6th, 1784, he received the Emperor's appointment to the +professorships of Biblical Exegesis and Oriental languages in the +University of Lemberg. On the 20th Feb., on the eve of starting for +Lemberg, for ever to cast off the hated habit of S. Francis, and to +shake off, as much as he dare, the trammels of the priesthood, Fessler +was in his cell at midnight, counting the money he had received for his +journey. "To the right of me, on the table was a dagger, given me as a +parting present by the court secretary, Grossinger. I was thinking of +retiring to rest, when my cell door was burst open, and in rushed Father +Sergius, a great meat-knife in his hand, shouting, _Moriere +hoeretice!_ he struck at my breast. In an instant I seized my dagger, +parried the blow, and wounded my assailant in the hand. He let the knife +fall and ran away. I roused the Guardian, told him what had occurred, +and advised what was to be done. Sergius, armed with two similar knives, +had locked himself into his cell. At the command of the Guardian six +lay-brothers burst open the door, and beat the knives from his hands +with sticks, then dragged him off to the punishment-cell, where they +placed him under watch. Next morning I went with the Guardian, as I had +advised, to the president of the Spiritual Commission, the Baron von +Kresel, to inform him that Father Sergius had gone raving mad, and to +ask that he might be committed to the custody of the Brothers of Mercy. +This was at once granted; and I left the Guardian to instruct the +fanatic how to comport himself in the hospital as a lunatic, so as not +to bring his superiors into further difficulties." + +The first acquaintance Fessler made in Lemberg, was a renegade +Franciscan friar, who had been appointed Professor of Physic, "He was a +man of unbounded ambition and avarice, a political fanatic, and a +complete atheist." Joseph afterwards appointed this man to be mitred +abbot of Zazvár. He died on the scaffold in 1795, executed for high +treason. + +The seminarists of the Catholic and of the Uniat Churches as well as the +pupils from the religious Orders were obliged to attend Fessler's +lectures. These were on the lines of these of Monsperger. Some of the +clergy in charge of the Seminarists were so uneasy at Fessler's teaching +that they stood up at his lectures and disputed his assertions; but +Fessler boasts that after a couple of months he got the young men round +to his views, and they groaned, hooted and stamped down the +remonstrants. He published at this time two works, _Institutiones +linguarum orientalium_, and a Hebrew anthology for the use of the +students. In the latter he laid down certain canons for the +interpretation of the Old Testament, by means of which everything +miraculous might be explained away. + +It was really intolerable that the candidates for orders should be +forcibly taught to disbelieve everything their Church required them to +hold. In his inspection of the monasteries, in the suppression of many, +Joseph acted with justice, and the conscience of the people approved, +but in this matter of the education of the clergy he violated the +principles of common justice, and the consequence was such wide-spread +irritation, that Joseph for a moment seemed inclined to give way. That +Joseph knew the rationalism of Fessler is certain. The latter gives a +conversation he had with the Emperor, in which they discussed the +"Ruah," the Spirit of God, which moved on the face of the waters, as +said in the first chapter of Genesis. Fessler told him that he +considered "the expression to be a Hebrew superlative, and to mean no +more than that a violent gale was blowing. Possibly," he added, "Moses +may have thought of the Schiva in the Hindoo Trimurti; for he was reared +in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, who were an Ethiopic race, which was +in turn an Indian colony." Dr. Fessler's Ethnology was faulty, whatever +may be thought of his Theology. + +After having given this explanation to the Emperor, Fessler boldly asked +him for a bishopric--he who loathed his priesthood and disbelieved in +revealed religion! + +Joseph did not give him a mitre, but made him Professor of Doctrinal +Theology and Catholic Polemics as well as of Biblical Exegesis. This did +not satisfy the ambitious soul of Fessler, he was bent on a mitre. He +waited with growing impatience. He sent his books to Joseph. He did his +utmost to force himself into his notice. But the desired mitre did not +come. + +Fessler complains that scandalous stories circulated about him whilst at +Lemberg, and these possibly may have reached the imperial ears. He +asserts, and no doubt with perfect truth, that these were unfounded. He +had made himself bitter enemies, and they would not scruple to defame +him. He boasts that at Lemberg he contracted no Platonic alliances; he +had no _attachements de coeur_ there at all. + +The Emperor seemed to have forgotten him, to have cast aside his useful +tool. Filled with the bitterness of defeated ambition, in 1788 he wrote +a drama, entitled James II., a covert attack on his protector, Joseph +II., whom he represented as falling away in his enthusiasm for reform, +and succumbing to the gathering hostility of Obscurantists and Jesuits. + +This was not the case, but Joseph was in trouble with his refractory +subjects in the Low Countries, who would not have his seminaries and +professors, who subscribed for the support of the ousted teachers, and +rioted at the introduction of the new professors to the University of +Louvain. + +The play was put into rehearsal, but the police interfered, and it was +forbidden. Fessler either feared or was warned that he was about to be +arrested, and he escaped over the frontier into Prussian Silesia. Joseph +II. died in 1790, broken in spirit by his failures. + +Fessler, after his escape from Austria, became a salaried reader and +secretary to the Count of Carolath, whose wife was a princess of +Saxe-Meiningen. + +After a while he married a young woman of the middle class; he seems to +have doubted whether they would be happy together, after he had +proposed, accordingly he wrote her a long epistle, in the most pedantic +and dictorial style, informing her of what his requirements were, and +warning her to withdraw from the contemplated union, if she were not +sure she would come up to the level of the perfect wife. The poor +creature no doubt wondered at the marvellous love letter, but had no +hesitation in saying she would do her duty up to her lights. The result +was not happy. They led together a cat-and-dog life for ten years. She +was a homely person without intellectual parts, and he was essentially a +book-worm. He admits that he did not shine in society, and leaves it to +be understood that the loss was on the side of inappreciative society, +but we can not help suspecting that he was opinionated, sour, and +uncouth. All these qualities were intensified in the narrow circle of +home. After ten years of misery he divorced his wife on the ground of +mutual incompatibility. For a livelihood he took up Freemasonry, and +went about founding lodges. There were three rogues at that period who +worked Freemasonry for their own ends, the Darmstadt Court Chaplain, +Starck, a Baron von Hundt, and a certain Becker, who called himself +Johnson, and pretended to be a delegate from the mysterious, unknown +head of the Society in Aberdeen. They called themselves Masons of the +Strict Observance, but were mere swindlers. + +After a while, Freemasonry lost its attractions for Fessler, probably it +ceased to pay, and then he left Breslau, and wandered into Prussia. He +wrote a novel called "Marcus Aurelius," glorifying that emperor, for +whom he entertained great veneration, and did other literary work, which +brought him in a little money. Then he married again, a young, beautiful +and gifted woman, with a small property. He was very happy in his +choice, but less happy in the speculation in which he invested her money +and that of her sisters. It failed, and they were reduced to extreme +poverty. What became of the sisters we do not know. Fessler with his +wife and children went into Russia, and sponged for some time on the +Moravian Brothers, who treated him with great kindness, and lent him +money, "Which," he says, in his autobiography, "I have not yet been able +to pay back altogether." + +He lost some of his children. Distress, pecuniary embarrassments, and +sickness, softened his heart, and perhaps with that was combined a +perception that if he could get a pastorate he would be provided +for;[22] this led to a conversion, which looks very much as if it were +copied from the famous conversion of St. Augustine. It possibly was, to +some extent, sincere; he recovered faith in God, and joined the Lutheran +community. Then he had his case and attainments brought under the notice +of the Czar, who was, at the time, as Fessler probably knew, engaged in +a scheme for organising the Lutheran bodies in Finland into a Church +under Episcopal government. He chose Fessler to be bishop of Saratow, +and had him consecrated by the Swedish bishops, "Who," says Fessler, +"like the Anglican bishops, have preserved the Apostolic succession." He +makes much of this point, a curious instance of the revival in his mind +of old ideas imbibed in his time of Catholicity. . According to his own +account, he was a bishop quite on the Apostolic model, and worked very +hard to bring his diocese into order. His ordination was in 1820. In +1833, the Saratow consistory was dissolved, and he retired to St. +Petersburg, where he was appointed general superintendent of the +Lutheran community in the capital. He married a third time, but says +very little of the last wife. He concludes with this estimate of his own +character, which is hardly that at which a reader of his autobiography +would arrive. "Earnestness and cheerfulness, rapid decision, and +unbending determination, manly firmness and childlike +trueheartedness--these are the ever recurring fundamental +characteristics of my nature. Add to these a gentle mysticism, to +surround the others with colour and unite them in harmony. Sometimes it +may be that dissonances occur, it may be true that occasionally I +thunder with powerful lungs in my house, as if I were about to wreck and +shatter everything, but that is called forth only by what is wrong. In +my inmost being calm, peace, and untroubled cheerfulness reign supreme. +Discontent, wrath, venom and gall, have not embittered one moment of my +life."[23] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[22] He had, however, just received a pension from the Czar, so that he +was relieved from abject poverty. + +[23] "Of myself," he says, "I must confess that I have heard great and +famous preachers, true Bourdaloues, Massillons, Zollikofers, &c, in +Vienna, Carolath, Breslau, Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Hanover, and have +been pleased with the contents, arrangement, and delivery of their +sermons; but never once have I felt my heart stirred with religious +emotion. On the contrary, on the 25th March, 1782, when Pius VI. said +mass in the Capuchin Church, and on the 31st March, when he blessed the +people, I trembled on the edge of conviction and religious faith, and +was only held back by my inability to distinguish between religion and +the Church system. Still more now does the Sermon on the Mount move me, +and for the last 23 years the divine liturgical prayer in John xvii., +does not fail to stir my very soul." + + +THE END. + +_S. Cowan & Co., Printers, Perth._ + + + + +ADVERTISEMENTS + + +MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST OF NEW AND FORTHCOMING WORKS. + + +_By the Author of_ "DONOVAN," "WE TWO," _&c._ + + + Derrick Vaughan, Novelist. By EDNA LYALL. Post 8vo, 2s. 6d. + _Twenty-fourth Thousand._ + + + Our English Villages: their Story and their Antiquities. By P. H. + DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.R.H.S., Rector of Barkham, Berks. Post 8vo, 2s. + 6d. _Illustrated._ + + +_By the Author of_ "MEHALAH," "JOHN HERRING," _&c._ + + + Historic Oddities and Strange Events. By S. BARING GOULD, M.A. + First Series. Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. + + +_By the same Author._ + + + Old Country Life. With numerous Illustrations, Initial Letters, &c. + Cr. 8vo. + + +_By the same Author._ + + + Yorkshire Oddities. New and Cheaper Edition. (_In the Press._) + + +_By the same Author._ + + + Strange Survivals and Popular Superstitions. (_In Preparation._) + + +_By the same Author._ + + + Arminell: A Social Romance. In 3 vols. Cr. 8vo. (_On November 1._) + + +_Novel by a New Writer._ + +Alderdene. By Major NORRIS PAUL. Cr. 8vo. + + +_Edited by_ REV. F. LANGBRIDGE. + + + Ballads of the Brave: Poems of Chivalry, Enterprise, Courage, and + Constancy--from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Edited by F. + LANGBRIDGE. Cr. 8vo. + + +_By_ T. RALEIGH, M.A. + + + Irish Politics: An Elementary Sketch. By T. RALEIGH, M.A., Fellow + of All Souls Coll., Oxford. Fcp. 8vo. This book will form the first + vol. of a popular series on Elementary Politics edited by Mr. + RALEIGH. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Historic Oddities, by Sabine Baring-Gould + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44245 *** |