Who would have thought that
in the midst of such festivity danger was lurking rife, in the midst of
such quiet, rebellion?
Charenton was the great lunatic asylum of Paris, and it was to this
repository that the scornful journalist consigned the pretender to the
throne of Louis XVI.
But on the next day, viz. Saturday, the 29th February, the same journal
contained a paragraph of a much more startling and serious import; in
which, although under a mask of carelessness, it was easy to see the
Government alarm.
On Friday, the 28th February, the Journal des Debats contained a
paragraph, which did not occasion much sensation at the Bourse, so
absurd did its contents seem. It ran as follows:--
"ENCORE UN LOUIS XVII.! A letter from Calais tells us that a strange
personage lately landed from England (from Bedlam we believe) has been
giving himself out to be the son of the unfortunate Louis XVI. This is
the twenty-fourth pretender of the species who has asserted that his
father was the august victim of the Temple. Beyond his pretensions, the
poor creature is said to be pretty harmless; he is accompanied by one
or two old women, who declare they recognize in him the Dauphin; he
does not make any attempt to seize upon his throne by force of arms, but
waits until heaven shall conduct him to it.
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