(_By an unknown Hand._)
The Marquis of F*, to whom the preceding Memoirs had been entrusted for
publication, dying nine weeks after the execution of his unhappy friend,
left these interesting papers to me, after I had promised him on his
death-bed to execute the last request of their ill-fated author. I have
discharged the trust reposed in me some years since, and the character
of the poor deluded young man has been vindicated in the eyes of the
public, who have received the mournful tale of his misfortunes with
tears of pity. The continuation of these extraordinary Memoirs, which I
am going to add, is so wonderful and remarkable, that I wish it had been
in my power to communicate it to the public along with the rest; the
whole being, however, a secret of state, which I am not allowed to
disclose while the persons concerned in it are alive, I shall, perhaps,
be obliged to leave the publication of the subsequent pages to my
children.
Nine years are already elapsed since the execution of the conspirators,
and the death of the Marquis of F* and--the Duke of Ca*ina, whose
hapless fate the latter has bewailed in silent grief, and who generally
is believed to have been executed with the rest of his associates, is
yet alive.
The King, who ardently wished to spare the life of the Duke, but at the
same time was afraid of counteracting the decree of the council of
state, who had doomed him to public execution, found himself in no small
embarrassment. However, the Irishman, who wished with equal ardour to
save the life of the poor misguided young man, soon found out means of
dissolving the Gordian knot. “I could,” said he to the King, “make a
mask, which no one should be able to discern from the real phisiognomy
of the Duke; and this mask I could fasten to the face of some other
person, in such a manner, that every one should believe that person to
be the Duke. If, therefore, we can find a person who resembles him in
size, and in the make of his body, and at the same time shall be willing
to lose his head in the place of the Duke, it will not be difficult to
save the life of the latter, without either offending the Senate, or
leaving him at liberty to conspire a second time against the life of
your Majesty. This person, who in every respect will answer our purpose,
is _Alumbrado_. He is of the same size with the Duke, and if informed
that he is condemned to be torn by horses, will not refuse to accept the
mask, and to die by the sword in the place of the Duke. In order to
cover this innocent fraud, we must give out that Alumbrado has escaped
from the prison, and thus the benevolent wish of your Majesty can be
accomplished with secrecy and safety.”
This plan of the Irishman was executed with the privity and assistance
of only a few persons, who took a solemn oath never to disclose the
secret, and Alumbrado was beheaded in the room of the Duke. The deceit
was carried on so dexterously, that none of those who witnessed his
execution, suspected him to be any other person but the Duke whom he
represented.
The latter, however, knew nothing of this fraud that had been practised
in his favour, for although the Irishman had modelled his face in wax,
yet he had not received the most distant hint of the purpose for which
it had been done. When he was carried out of his dungeon, a few hours
after the execution of his father and the disguised Alumbrado, and led
through a dark subterraneous passage, he fancied that he was to meet his
doom. He was conducted over many secret staircases, and at length
entered, through an iron door, a dark apartment where he was ordered to
wait. But soon after a second door was opened, and an apartment
illuminated with numberless torches presented itself to his view. There
he beheld the King sitting at a table, and a man with a sack and a sword
standing by his side, who beckoned to him to step nearer. The Duke
having entered the apartment, the door was bolted after him, and he
expected every moment to be his last. The King looked at him for some
time without speaking a word, and at last began:--“You have designed the
ruin of your country, and conspired against my life, what do you think
you deserve?” “Death!” the Duke replied. “You have been doomed by the
Council of State to suffer a very painful death; I have, however,
mitigated their sentence into that of your being executed by the sword.”
The Duke thanked the King for his clemency, and looked at the man, whom
he mistook for the executioner. “Your sentence has been executed
already!” the King resumed, after a long pause of awful expectation. The
silence of the Duke, and the expression of his features, bespoke his
desire for an explanation of these mysterious words. “You gaze at me;”
the King added, “you doubt, perhaps, the truth of what I have said?
however you shall soon be convinced.” So saying he made a signal to the
man who was standing by his side, upon which the latter opened the sack,
and taking out a head recently cut off, showed it to the Duke, who
staggered back when he discerned his own features in the face of the
bleeding head. The whole mystery was now explained to him, and the King
added: “You owe your life to my mercy and the invention of the Irishman;
it is, however, not in my power to restore you to human society.
Although you are alive, yet you will be numbered among the dead, and be
lost to the world for ever. You will pass your life banished from
society, and deprived of liberty, yet you may rest assured that none of
the comforts of life, liberty excepted, will be denied you.”
This sentence was executed literally, the Duke was confined for the rest
of his life in a strong tower situated on the river Ta*o, where handsome
apartments were allotted to him, and wanted nothing but liberty.
* * *
[The Address of the Translator of the preceding history to his
Thinking Readers, being thought worthy their attention, it will
be laid before them in our next, and succeeding number.]
* * * * *
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