These studies in secret history follow no chronological order. The
affair of James de la Cloche only attracted the author’s attention after
most of the volume was in print. But any reader curious in the veiled
intrigues of the Restoration will probably find it convenient to peruse
‘The Mystery of James de la Cloche’ after the essay on ‘The Valet’s
Master,’ as the puzzling adventures of de la Cloche occurred in the
years (1668-1669), when the Valet was consigned to lifelong captivity,
and the Master was broken on the wheel. What would have been done to
‘Giacopo Stuardo’ had he been a subject of Louis XIV., ‘’tis better only
guessing.’ But his fate, whoever he may have been, lay in the hands
of Lord Ailesbury’s ‘good King,’ Charles II., and so he had a good
deliverance.
The author is well aware that whosoever discusses historical mysteries
pleases the public best by being quite sure, and offering a definite and
certain solution. Unluckily Science forbids, and conscience is on the
same side. We verily do not know how the false Pucelle arrived at her
success with the family of the true Maid; we do not know, or pretend to
know, who killed Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey; or how Amy Robsart came by
her death; or why the Valet was so important a prisoner. It is only
possible to restate the cases, and remove, if we may, the errors and
confusions which beset the problems. Such a tiny point as the year
of Amy Robsart’s marriage is stated variously by our historians. To
ascertain the truth gave the author half a day’s work, and, at last,
he would have voted for the wrong year, had he not been aided by the
superior acuteness of his friend, Mr. Hay Fleming. He feels morally
certain that, in trying to set historians right about Amy Robsart, he
must have committed some conspicuous blunders; these always attend such
enterprises of rectification.
With regard to Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, Mr. A. W. Crawley-Boevey points
out to me that in an unpublished letter of Mr. Alexander Herbert Phaire
in 1743-44 (Addit. MSS. British Museum 4291, fol. 150) Godfrey is spoken
of in connection with his friend Valentine Greatrakes, the ‘miraculous
Conformist,’ or ‘Irish Stroker,’ of the Restoration. ‘It is a pity,’ Mr.
Phaire remarks, ‘that Sir Edmund’s letters, to the number of 104, are
not in somebody’s hands that would oblige the world by publishing them.
They contain many remarkable things, and the best and truest secret
history in King Charles II.’s reign.’ Where are these letters now? Mr.
Phaire does not say to whom they were addressed, perhaps to Greatrakes,
who named his second son after Sir Edmund, or to Colonel Phaire, the
Regicide. This Mr. Phaire of 1744 was of Colonel Phaire’s family. It
does not seem quite certain whether Le Fevre, or Lee Phaire, was the
real name of the so-called Jesuit whom Bedloe accused of the murder of
Sir Edmund.
Of the studies here presented, ‘The Valet’s Master,’ ‘The Mystery of
Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey,’ ‘The False Jeanne d’Arc,’ ‘The Mystery of Amy
Robsart,’ and ‘The Mystery of James de la Cloche,’ are now published for
the first time. Part of ‘The Voices of Jeanne d’Arc,’ is from a paper by
the author in ‘The Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research.’
‘The Valet’s Tragedy’ is mainly from an article in ‘The Monthly Review,’
revised, corrected, and augmented. ‘The Queen’s Marie’ is a recast of a
paper in ‘Blackwood’s Magazine’; ‘The Truth about “Fisher’s Ghost,”’ and
‘Junius and Lord Lyttelton’s Ghost’ are reprinted, with little change,
from the same periodical. ‘The Mystery of Lord Bateman’ is a recast of
an article in ‘The Cornhill Magazine.’ The earlier part of the essay on
Shakespeare and Bacon appeared in ‘The Quarterly Review.’ The author is
obliged to the courtesy of the proprietors and editors of these serials
for permission to use his essays again, with revision and additions.*
*Essays by the author on ‘The False Pucelle’ and on ‘Sir Edmund
Berry Godfrey’ have appeared in The Nineteenth Century (1895) and in The
Cornhill Magazine, but these are not the papers here presented.
The author is deeply indebted to the generous assistance of Father
Gerard and Father Pollen, S.J.; and, for making transcripts of
unpublished documents, to Miss E. M. Thompson and Miss Violet Simpson.
Since passing the volume for the press the author has received from
Mr. Austin West, at Rome, a summary of Armanni’s letter about Giacopo
Stuardo. He is led thereby to the conclusion that Giacopo was identical
with the eldest son of Charles II.--James de la Cloche--but conceives
that, at the end of his life, James was insane, or at least was a
‘megalomaniac,’ or was not author of his own Will.