Of all the tawdry fictions invented by pretenders to the name and title
of "Louis the Seventeenth," none are so ridiculous as the tale told by
the Meves family, if that really be their name, and yet none have so
persistently troubled the public with printed assertions of their
claims as they. The quantum of probability in their story may be
gauged by telling it in the words of Augustus Meves, _alias_ "Auguste
de Bourbon, son of Louis the Seventeenth." However, the tale cannot be
given _in extenso_ from the works issued by this illustrious man, as,
not only has it required several volumes to put it before the world,
but it is so contradictory, and at times obscure, that it requires no
slight manipulation to render it comprehensible.
Beginning his career with the Temple epoch, this pseudo-dauphin,
contrary to the accounts of his competitors, declares that he has no
recollection of Simon the jailer having ever wilfully ill-treated him,
and that owing to a person named Hebert having wounded him in a fit of
passion, Madame Simon's womanly feelings were aroused on his behalf,
and she determined to save him. His rescue was thus brought about: Tom
Paine, author of "The Rights of Man," who was at this time a member of
the French National Convention, wrote to a lady friend in London, to
bring him a deaf and dumb boy to Paris. This lady, unable to execute
the commission, communicated the secret to her bosom friend Mrs. Meves,
and she naturally informed her husband. It so happened that Mr. Meves
had a son who, being in delicate health, his father was naturally
desirous of getting rid of. Mr. Meves, therefore, without confiding in
his wife, went to Paris with his son, who, by the way, was neither deaf
nor dumb, and placed him in the hands of certain people, who
substituted him for the dauphin. The exchange was effected at a time
when public interest being concentrated on the Queen's trial, the
vigilance at the Temple, says "Auguste de Bourbon," was relaxed.
According to the recollection of the dauphin, his escape was thus
managed: "It seems to my reflective powers that I was lying on the sofa
in the parlour of the small Tower of the Temple, and was awakened by
Madame Simon saying, '_Votre pere est arrive_.' She then aroused me
from the sofa, taking the pillow therefrom, and putting it into a kind
of hamper-basket, and after placing me in it, she covered me with a
light dress, and carried the basket across the ground. A coach was
waiting at the gate, into which she placed the basket, when we were
driven to where Mr. Meves resided. The coach needed to carry Madame
Simon's linen disgorged its contents, and in due time the Duke of
Normandy was landed in England, where he took the place of Mr. Meves'
son, that iron-hearted gentleman having made a vow to Marie Antoinette,
whom he contrived to get an interview with, that the young prince
should be brought up in utter ignorance of his true origin. And that
secret," says "Auguste de Bourbon," "he kept to the end of his
existence."
Whether Louis Charles so readily forgot his real parents and position
does not, probably, need investigation. He was placed at a day-school,
where after a fashion he learnt English, and, subsequently, at a
boarding-school at Wandsworth. Meanwhile, Mrs. Meves having discovered
that her son had had to take the place of young Louis in the Temple,
very naturally wished to effect _his_ release. She obtained a deaf and
dumb boy, and by a roundabout route took him to Paris. Vigilance
being, apparently, again relaxed at the Temple, the unfortunate deaf
and dumb scapegoat was now substituted for Augustus Meves, and his
escape was effected. "At what precise date this was accomplished,"
says "Auguste de Bourbon," "is not definitely fixed, but it is
suggested after July 1794. Mrs. Meves did not stay in Paris till its
accomplishment (_i.e._, her son's release), but returned to England in
the month of May."
Augustus Meves now disappears from the scene, although it is suggested
that he may have been the pretender Naundorff, but the "Dauphin King"
was carefully educated by the unnatural parents, who had their adopted
child taught the pianoforte. The boy made such progress that an
unnamed Scotch newspaper deemed him "only to be equalled by the great
Mozart." This success made the foster-father afraid the lad's origin
might come to light, so he placed him in the seclusion of a friend's
counting-house. His Royal Highness did not admire this occupation, and
by Mrs. Meves' aid was enabled to resume his former vocation. He
became a volunteer, and joined the "Loyal British Artificers," and in
1811 was promoted to the rank of captain. In 1813 he relinquished the
musical profession to become "a speculator at the rotunda of the Bank
of England." In 1814 he visited Calais, but the return of Napoleon in
1815 prevented him, says his son, "going to Paris." In this latter
year he "observed a lady scrutinising him," at the Old Argyle Rooms,
Regent Street, and was informed that it was the Duchess d'Angouleme,
the unfortunate victim of all the pseudo dauphins. In 1816 he visited
Paris, and found many of the sights quite familiar to his memory. In
1818 Mr. Meves died, and so faithful was he to his promise to Marie
Antoinette of keeping the secret of the dauphin's origin, that in his
will he absolutely declared the young man to be "his illegitimate son."
This naturally aroused the ire of Mrs. Meves, who, bound by no oath,
informed her adopted son of his real parentage, declaring somewhat
rashly, "Your identity can be proved as positive as the sun at
noon-day."
"This disclosure," says "Auguste de Bourbon," "naturally unsettled and
perplexed the dauphin, for his early recollections were but vaguely
defined." He obtained an order for his putative father's disinterment,
but that does not appear to have solved the mystery any more than did
the fact that "in 1821 the dauphin became a speculator, and experienced
its vicissitudes." In 1823 Mrs. Meves died, after having advised the
"dauphin" not to be "induced to read any private memoirs of the queen
of France, as it will only set your mind wool-gathering."
Unfortunately, Augustus did not follow this prudent advice, and the
consequence was that the unfortunate Duchess d'Angouleme was bothered
with more fraternal appeals, and with the information that the writer
possessed a mole "on the middle of the stomach." Ultimately a French
nobleman visited Augustus, and told him that in his opinion the British
Government knew who he was, but feared to acknowledge him, as, from the
energy of his character, he might put the whole of Europe in a state of
fermentation, because, pointed out this Frenchman, "he was not only
King of France in right of birth, but also heir to Maria Theresa,
Empress of Germany."
On the 9th of May, 1859, this pretender died, but unfortunately his
pretensions did not die with him. He left two sons, of whom the elder,
known to the public generally as William Meves, has published several
ungrammatical and illogical works respecting his alleged royal lineage,
under the assumed name of "Auguste de Bourbon."