August 1845,
there died at Delft, in Holland, Charles-Louis, known as the 'Duke of
Normandy.' This individual presented one of those extraordinary
instances of doubtful identity which we find scattered over ancient
and modern biography. The mystery of his birth has not been cleared
up by his death, and continues as impenetrable as that of the
celebrated Man with the Iron Mask.

It is well known that, in 1791, Louis XVI. of France was overtaken
during his attempted flight from France at Varennes, and afterwards
dragged to the prison of the Temple. He was accompanied by his
family, which consisted of his wife, Marie Antoinette, his sister,
daughter, and his only son, the dauphin of France. On the 21st
January 1793, the unfortunate monarch was beheaded; and his son,
still a prisoner, was partially acknowledged as Louis XVII., though
only in the ninth year of his age. This was but a mockery, for his
captivity only became the more close and cruel. He was separated from
his mother, and handed over to the custody of one Simon, a ferocious
cobbler, and his wife, who, besides practising all sorts of external
cruelties on him, tried every means to demoralise his mind. When this
ruffian was promoted to a seat in the 'Commune' (a kind of common
council), the royal prisoner's hardships increased. He was shut up in
a room, rendered totally dark both night and day. In this he was kept
for a whole year, without once being allowed to leave it; neither was
his body or bed linen changed during that time. The filth, stench,
and vermin amidst which the child dragged on his existence, at
length, it is said, terminated it. On the eve of death, his
persecutors sent the physician Dessault to see if his life could be
prolonged by better treatment; but the doctor's reply was that it was
too late: nothing could save him; and his demise was announced to
have taken place on the 8th of June 1795, at the age of ten years and
two months. The National Convention, which then managed the public
affairs, appointed a commission to verify the event, and the body was
opened by two surgeons, named Pelletan and Dumangin. In speaking of
the remains, they describe them as a corpse 'represented to us as
that of Charles-Louis.' The doctor Pelletan took out the heart, and
preserved it in spirits of wine; which he gave to the deceased's
sister when she had married the Duke d'Angouleme. The rest of the
body was huddled with other corpses into a common grave in the