of a quantity of MSS., and was in the habit of printing them as
his own works. Some of them had belonged to an Abbe Lefranc, one of the
priests who were murdered in the diabolical massacre of the clergy in the
prisons of Paris in September, 1792; and others of the MSS. had been the
property of a M. Noel Deshayes, Cure de Compigni, whose _Memoires pour
servir a l'Histoire des Eveques de Lisieux_, were published by Seguin as
his own, but altered and disfigured under the title of--

"Histoire du Pays d'Auge et des Eveques Comtes de Lisieux, contenant
des Notions sur l'Archeologie, les Droits, Coutumes, Franchises et
Libertes du Bocage et de la Normandie; Vire, Adam, 1832."

The MS., however, from which Seguin printed his forgery, turns out to have
been but a copy; the original having since been discovered by M. Formeville
in the library of the Seminaire of Evreux, and is now about to be published
by that gentleman (see _Supercheries_, tom. iv., Paris, 1852). By a just
retribution, M. Formeville is one of the literary men to whom Sequin
refused to point out his original authorities. M. Querard quotes some {417}
passages, in juxtaposition, from Seguin's pretended work and from the
original MS., to show how the latter had been altered and corrupted in the
printed copy. M. Seguin was quite illiterate, and has committed the most
egregious blunders in his _chef d'oeuvre de plagiat_, as his _Histoire du
Pays d'Auge_ is termed by Querard. Many other authors, besides Mr. Wiffen
and M. Formeville, wrote to Seguin for his authorities on various subjects,
but he never pointed out a single one. Full details are given of his
literary thefts by M. Querard and his coadjutors. When the original work of
M. Deshayes appears, in its genuine state, as promised by M. Formeville,
the world will then learn what was really stated respecting the descent of
the Du Rozels from Bertrand de Briquebec; although the amiable and
accomplished Mr. Wiffen is no longer living to avail himself of the
information. Seguin died in 1847.

JOHN MACRAY.

Oxford.

* * * * *

FERDINAND CHARLES III., DUKE OF PARMA.

Englishmen might, perhaps, feel even more horror than they will do at the
assassination, on Mar. 26, of the Duke of Parma, if they were reminded that
he was the representative and lineal descendant of Charles I., and as such
possessed a claim, by hereditary descent, on our Crown, superior to that of
our gra