Celebrated Claimants from Perkin Warbeck to Arthur OrtonAnonymous
History
Celebrated Claimants from Perkin Warbeck to Arthur Orton
Anonymous
Impostors and imposture -- Biography
About the same time considerable interest was excited by a trashy
novel, called the "Cemetery of the Madeleine," which pretended to give
a circumstantial account of the life of the dauphin in the Temple. Out
of this book the secretaries and their employer proceeded to construct
"The Historical Memoirs of Charles of Navarre;" but after they had
finished their work, they found that it was so ridiculously absurd
that there was no probability that it would deceive the public for a
moment. They accordingly handed the manuscript over to a more skilful
rogue with whom they were acquainted, and this man, who was called
Branzon, transformed their clumsy narrative into a well-written and
plausible history. He did more, and "coached" the pretender in all
the petty circumstances which he could find out respecting the Bourbon
family. Manuscript copies of the "Memoirs" were assiduously
distributed in influential quarters in Rouen, and particularly among
the officers of the third regiment of the royal guard, then quartered
in the town. A copy fell into the hands of a Vendean officer named De
la Pomeliere, who recollected the story of the pretended son of Baron
de Vezins, and half-suspected a similar imposture in this instance.
With some difficulty he procured admission to the royal presence, and
induced the sham dauphin to speak of La Vendee. During the
conversation he remarked, that when the chateau of Angrie, the
residence of the Viscountess de Turpin, was mentioned, the pretender
slightly changed colour and became embarrassed. The acknowledgment
that he was acquainted with the mansion, and the accurate description
which he gave of it, gave the first clue whereby proof was obtained of
his identity with Maturin Bruneau.
But although M. de la Pomeliere, from his previous knowledge, had a
hazy idea of the truth, the uninformed public continued devoted to the
cause of the pretender; and the convict secretaries, if they failed to
stir up the educated classes, at least succeeded in entrapping the
ignorant. The prison cell of Bruneau was converted into a scene of
uninterrupted revelling. Persons of all classes sent their gifts--the
ladies supplying unlimited creature comforts for their king, while
their husbands strove to compensate for their incapacity to
manufacture dainties by filling the purse of the pretender. Nothing
was forgotten: fine clothes and fine furniture were supplied in
abundance; and the adoring public were so anxious to consider the
comfort of the illustrious prisoner, that they even subscribed to
purchase a breakfast service of Sevres, so that the heir to the throne
might drink his chocolate out of a porcelain cup.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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