s sentiments to overcome his
reason, and has verified the truthfulness of his statements before
giving them to the public. His book is the result of twenty years'
labour and research, and he freely reproduces his authorities for the
inspection and judgment of his readers. He was personally acquainted
with Lasne and Gomin, the two last keepers of the Tower, and the
government aided him if it did not patronise him in his work.
Certificates, reports, and proclamations are all proved, and
lithographs of them are given. The book is a monument of patient
research as well as of love, and the mass of readers will find no
difficulty in believing that it embodies the truth, or that Louis
XVII. really died in the Temple on the 8th of June 1795.

* * * * *

But in a land such as France, it is not remarkable that the utmost
should have been made of the mystery which surrounded the fate of the
youthful dauphin, or that pretenders should have endeavoured to
personate the son of Louis XVI. The first of these was a lad called
Jean Marie Hervagault, a young scamp, who was a native of St. Lo, a
little village in the department of La Manche, and who resided there
during his early youth with his father, who was a tailor. This
precocious youth, who was gifted with good looks, and who undoubtedly
bore some resemblance to the deceased prince, ran away from home in
1796, and, by his plausible manners and innocent expression, succeeded
in ingratiating himself with several royalist families of distinction,
who believed his story that he was the son of a proscribed nobleman.
His good luck was so great that he was induced to visit Cherbourg, and
tempt his fortune among the concealed adherents of the monarchy who
were resident there; but he was quickly detected, and was thrown into
prison.

His father, learning his whereabouts, repaired to the jail, and
implored his prodigal son to return to the needle and the shop-board
at St. Lo, but his entreaties were unavailing, and the would-be
aristocrat plainly announced his intention of wearing fine clothes
instead of making them. Accordingly, when he was released, he assumed
feminine attire, had recourse to prominent royalists to supply his
wants, and explained his disguise by mysterious allusions to political
motives, and to his own relationship to the Bourbons. The officers of
the law again laid hands on him, and threw him into prison at Bayeux,
and his father had once