n
gentleman to Holland to the Abbe Morlet. From Holland the Abbe, the
boy, and Mrs. Meves went to Paris, "and the deaf and dumb boy was
placed in certain hands to accomplish her son's liberation at the most
convenient time, but at what precise date such was carried into effect
remains to be ascertained."

It is, however, more than suggested that the worn-out child seen by
Lasne and Gomin, who was so abnormally reticent, was the deaf and dumb
boy; and there is a wild attempt to prove either that he never spoke
at all, or that, if the captive under their care did speak, it must
have been a fourth child who had been substituted for the mute. The
whole tale is unintelligible and incoherent; assertions are freely
made without an iota of proof from its beginning to its end. If we are
to credit the sons of the pretender, the dauphin was educated by Mr.
Meves as a musician, and knew nothing of his origin till the year
1818, when Mrs. Meves declared it to him. In the years 1830 and 1831 he
addressed letters (which were not answered) to the Duchess of
Angouleme, stating the circumstances in which he had been conveyed to
England, but making an egregious blunder as to the date, which his
sons vainly endeavour to conceal or explain. They say, also, that a
very large section of the French nobility had no hesitation in
admitting the royal descent of their father. Thus the Count Fontaine
de Moreau expressed himself convinced that the man before him was the
missing dauphin, after examining with singular interest some blood
spots on his breast, resembling "a constellation of the heavens." The
Count de Jauffroy not only called and wrote down his address--21
Alsopp's Terrace, New Road--but declared his opinion that the British
government was perfectly aware that "at 8 Bath Place, lives the true
Louis XVII." "But, sir," the count went on to say, "the danger lies in
acknowledging you, as from the energy of your character you might put
the whole of Europe into a state of fermentation, as you are not only
King of France in right of your birth, but you are also heir to Maria
Theresa, empress of Germany." His sons add that "Louis Napoleon is
aware, and has been for many years, that the person called 'Augustus
Meves' was the veritable Louis XVII." At the time these words were
penned the Emperor of the French was alive in this country, and a
_Times'_ reviewer not unreasonably said, "If, indeed, the illustrious
exile of Chiselhurst be aware of so