Celebrated Claimants from Perkin Warbeck to Arthur OrtonAnonymous
History
Celebrated Claimants from Perkin Warbeck to Arthur Orton
Anonymous
Impostors and imposture -- Biography
The infatuated ex-bishop in the meantime was wandering about the
country, endeavouring by every possible means to procure his release;
and when he heard that the _pseudo_-prince was to be transferred from
one prison to another, spent night after night wandering on the high
road, or sitting at the foot of some village cross, hoping to
intercept the prisoner on his way, and perhaps rescue him from the
gens d'armes who had him in custody. Of course, he did not succeed in
his quixotic undertaking; and when he subsequently demanded admission
to see the prince in Soissons jail, he was himself arrested and
detained until the government had decided whether to treat him as a
conspirator or a lunatic.
At Soissons, as at Vitry, Chalons, and Rheims, crowds flocked to pay
homage to the pretender, until at last Bonaparte, disgusted with the
attention which was given to this impudent impostor, caused him to be
removed to the Bicetre, then a prison for vagabonds and suspects. The
place was thronged with the offscourings of Paris, and Hervagault
found himself in congenial quarters. Certain enjoyments were permitted
to those of the inmates who could afford to pay for them; and, as the
so-called prince had plenty of money, and spent it liberally, his
claims were as unhesitatingly recognised by his fellow-prisoners as
they had been by the royalists of the provinces. Gradually his
partizans found means to approach his person, and to procure for him
extraordinary indulgences, which were at first denied to him; but when
intelligence of this new demonstration in his favour reached the ears
of the First Consul, he at once gave orders that he should be placed
in solitary confinement, and that the ex-bishop of Viviers, who was at
large under the surveillance of the police, should be arrested and
shut up in Charenton as hopelessly mad. His instructions were fully
carried out, and the unfortunate bishop shortly afterwards ended his
days in the madhouse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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