‘I have added that, were you curious to try the same experiment now, a new Act of Parliament, which you and your fellow-adventurers have rendered _very necessary_, would certainly have caused you to be sent to the Thames.[114] To that direct and very clear observation you have not replied a single word. ‘I have said that you were ordered by the Police in Russia, not to presume to take the name of a Colonel in the Spanish service, and to strip off your Spanish regimentals. I have given you an opportunity to vindicate yourself, by giving to understand, that there is not a Russian nobleman in London who would not certify this fact. I might have added that I have in my possession _the most respectable authority_ to say so. What have you said in reply to this? ‘I have roundly asserted that I am in possession of proofs, that you are an impostor under every possible denomination; that you have not only no pretension to any title, but not even to the rank of a sergeant. Shall this remain likewise unanswered? * * * * * ‘I am sorry to be obliged once more to name Mess^{rs.} B. & C. Bankers, to prove that your pretensions to lay a wager of 5000 guineas, are as well grounded as your pretensions to the title of a COUNT, or an _Alchemist_. It is a fact, that you _humbly_ offered to pledge in their hands the watch, of which the too long, and too much, deluded Cardinal de Rohan made you a present. It is likewise a fact _that they disdainfully refused it_. Your proposing, after this, a wager of 5000 guineas is probably no more than a new pretence to obtain credit, as you have formerly (in pretending to make great quantities of gold) obtained small sums, and little diamonds to make larger, which you afterwards declared had been given to MADAME LA COMTESSE. Those proofs, I repeat to you, _are in my possession_; they are all fully authenticated, and I will make good every one of my assertions.’ And he winds up his letter with expressing ‘the satisfaction I feel in having furnished the world with sufficient proofs to convince them that you are THE GREATEST IMPOSTOR OF THIS OR ANY OTHER AGE.’ This ended the correspondence, for the general public were beginning to meddle in it, and the editor of the _Public Advertiser_ would only open his pages to the principals in this duel. This finished Cagliostro’s career in England. He had tried to sell his quack medicines, his Egyptian pills, but the charm was broken, and he quitted England for the Continent in May, 1787, leaving his wife behind, with sufficient means, under the guardianship of the De Loutherbourgs. She afterwards sold all up, and joined him in June.