France, within the last fifty years, has had no less than three or four false dauphins; one of whom, of very recent date, was a German watchmaker. The most conspicuous of them were, however, Jean Marie Hervegault, and Maturin Bruneau. The former of these was the son of a tailor, at St. Lo. The strong resemblance of his features to those of Louis XVI. was doubtless that which inspired him with the hope of passing for the son of that monarch. He had a good address, much art, and a large stock of impudence, and succeeded in making numerous proselytes, even among people of education and fortune. He was several times imprisoned, but his blind admirers still persisted in paying him royal honours. He died in the Bicêtre in 1812. His successor, Maturin Bruneau, had neither equal skill nor equal success with Hervegault, yet he found a considerable number of credulous dupes. His career was stopped in 1818, by a sentence of seven years’ imprisonment, two years of which were imposed for his daring insolence to the court by which he was tried. CHAPTER VI. DISGUISES ASSUMED BY, OR IN BEHALF OF, ROYALTY. Disguise of Achilles--Of Ulysses--Of Codrus--Fiction employed by Numa Pompilius--King Alfred disguised in the Swineherd’s Cottage--His Visit, as a Harper, to the Danish Camp--Richard Cœur de Lion takes the Garb of a Pilgrim--He is discovered and imprisoned--Disguises and Escape of Mary, Queen of Scots--Escape of Charles the Second, after the Battle of Worcester--Of Stanislaus from Dantzic--Of Prince Charles Edward from Scotland--Peter the Great takes the Dress of a Ship Carpenter--His Visit to England--Anecdote of his Conduct to a Dutch Skipper--Stratagem of the Princess Ulrica of Prussia--Pleasant Deception practised by Catherine the Second of Russia--Joan of Arc--Her early Life--Discovers the King when first introduced at Court--She compels the English to raise the Siege of Orleans--Joan leads the King to be crowned at Rheims--She is taken Prisoner--Base and barbarous Conduct of her Enemies--She is burned at Rouen--The Devil of Woodstock--Annoying Pranks played by it--Explanation of the Mystery--Fair Rosamond. “Uneasy lies the head which wears a crown,” are the emphatic words of Shakspeare; and that a penalty of no light sorrow is often attached to the pomp and grandeur of royalty, is a fact which receives confirmation from the earliest traditionary accounts we have of the histories of kings and princes.[8] To avoid the dangers inseparable from war; or, during war, to overpower an enemy by guile, as well as by force of arms; or, in political troubles, to seek a temporary concealment; have been occasionally the objects of men celebrated in after-times as heroes, and as examples worthy and proper to be followed by such as aimed at future conquest or greatness.