Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1870-02-03
THELAST OPTHE STUARTS

7 IN n04 OF sucn preteuCcfS aS tneSe tlat
write-Dor Of real pretenders 70 thrones,
whicl, they or their ancestors have right
fully or wrongfully forfeited. bas Of the
sham pretendcrs 10 great historical names,
that in all ages, and 10 all countries, start
IN. whenever . great heritage is myste-
riously vacant. or an ancient family has
no accredited representative. Do these
pretenders in any csse believe in their own
claims? Or are they all swindlers and
adveLturers? For instance. did all or
sny Of the half iozen people, French,
German. American and E,glish, who
within the last sixty or seventy years
have pretended 70 be Louis XVII, the
poor child who perishcd in prison under
the brutal treatment Of the cobbler who
had charge o. him, really believe himself
TO be wha, he asserted Were they all
impostors-Augus'us NJ yes in England.
Rev. Eleazcr Wright in America, and all
the rest Of them-impostors knowing
themselves to be such? Or old one or
two more act upon honest conviction tha,
he really was she person ne represented
himself TO be 7 Did all the handsome
young fellows in Highland garb, assuming
20 be lincal and legitimate descendants o,
King James VII, of Scotland, believe in
their royal pedigree or did they play
the part TO g"t money out Of it and gain
consideration by it !; or out Of the love OF
hoaxing or because in life they really
ksew no other part they could play 50
we'll Without veniuriug to assert that
not ore "f,he many claimants to be the real
Louis XVII. or of the legitimate repre-
sentative Of Prince Charles E.ward Stu
art. may have been true mrn, it may
without waat Of kindly charity be admit
ted. that those among them who wore not
rogues mus. have be, n more or less fools;
in other words crazy. Perhaps this is
tho simple explanation Of the fact tha. so
many Of such characters have appeared.
Madness often takes this form.
1T happened that five or six years ago
made the acqulintance of = remarkable
old gentleman, or rather the remarkable
old gentleman made my acquaintance, and
confi,lcd to me the secret Of his birth, pa
reptage. education aud very modest pre-
Tensions. H. was very high person
age, according to his story; but did not
aim at high fortune, or anything, in fact,
except to be let alone. was at the time
temporarily resident in a great and pop
ulous city Of the New World, which its
inhabitants called Gofham, and which |
shall call Gotham here. What took me
70 Gotham l need not tell. Suffice it to
say that was very we'll known in the
city. and had the nnnoyancc-pcrhaps. if
all the truth were known, il was the hon
or-of being often attacked in the col
umns Of more than one of the Gothamite
journals. In short. ! was for the time
being the best abused Englishman in
Gotham and my name and business were
familiar to thousands os people Of whom
l knew nothing nor cared to know any
thing. 1t was hot, a very hot, day in
July. when there walked in my ofice,
entirely unannounced. a venerable gen.
t!cman with long white hair. and coun-
tcnanec. SO full Of dignity and nobility of
expression that it would have excited at
teu,ion anywhere. He was very careful
to 81 ut the door behind him, and seeing
a young mau in the room with me, he
asked Cooking very suspiciously around
him) whether he could speak TO me in
private. 1t was time when mems po-
Iitical passions were violently excited, and
it especially behoovcd me to be on my
guard. lest the Go,hamite journals. in
their stacks on me with pen and ink
should inspire some luna.ic or some ruf.
6an with the happy idea OF attacking me
with revolver. But this mau was Sc
old and so pleasant looking that had nc
other fear from him than tha. he had come
20 whcedle some dollars from my poke.
So led him into my inner sanctum and
asked him to sit down and tell me hi.
name and business. He sat down, but
not before making sure that the door was
closed. could not help gazing at him
rather mere earnestly than was quite coz
sisteut with good manners, by reason OF
his striking resemblance to the statue oi
Charles H.. in Edinburgh, which had
long beon familiar to my memory, and Of
the very picturesque character Of his no
ble head aud forehead. He was clad in
suit Of homespun blue; wore very thick
soled shoes, tLa, did not appear 10 have
been blackened for many day /; and had
economically turned up the euds Of bis
trousers 10 prevent their contact with the
mud. He carried . servicsablc black
thorn stick in bis hard hand ahand that
bore the uu ,oub,ed marks Of manual
drudsery he had a gold chain OF an.
,iqae fashion, hanging from the antique
fob, now so seldom seen and had alto
ge,her the air of weli-to-io-farmer in q
rough country. where people are aecas'
toned TO hard work, and are not particu.
larly nice, either in dress or manners.
my uame," he said, ''is Of no conse.
quence. My real uame I DO not care &c
call myself by-shere's danger in il; but
am known to my ncishbors as Mr.. -
(le, Us say Mr.. Blauk.)
"well, Mr.. Blank, il there anything
can do for you =
"Mueh." he replied; " bus I mus
warn you, that to do me q service i.
to incur danger. very great danger; auc
You shall not incur 1t. until you know
who am. Shall tell you, or are yo,
afraid y
"Yoa may tell me. and am no
afraid" l replied. beginning to feel ad
disioual interest in my mysserioss visi
'~.