Famous Imposters 30

Famous Imposters 30

“The Chevalier d’Eon with justice complains of our public prints; they

are eternally sending him to France while he is in body and soul fixed

in this country; they have lately confined him in the Bastille, when he

fled to England as a country of liberty; and they lately made a Woman

of him, when not one of his enemies dared to put his manhood to the

proof. He makes no complaints of the English Ladies.”

 

In an issue of the same paper 9th November, of the same year, it is

mentioned that the Rt. Hon. Lord Ferrars, Sir John Fielding, Messrs.

Addington, Wright and other worthy magistrates and gentlemen and

their ladies did the Chevalier d’Eon the honour to dine with him in

Brewer St., Golden Square (common proof that the Chevalier d’Eon is

not confined in the Bastille). D’Eon was much too wily and too much

accustomed to attack to allow diplomatic insinuations to pass unheeded.

He was now beginning to apply his garnered experience to his own

protection.

 

From the above extract of 16th November one can note how the allegation

as to his sex was beginning to rankle in the soldier’s mind, and how

an open threat of punishment is conveyed in diplomatic form. Indeed

he had reason to take umbrage at the insinuation. More than once had

attempts been made to carry him off for the purpose of settling bets

by a humiliating personal scrutiny. From something of the same cause

his friends on his death caused an autopsy to be made before several

witnesses of position and repute. Amongst these were several surgeons

including Père Elisée, First Surgeon to Louis XVIII. The medical

certificate ran as follows:

 

“Je certifie, par le présent, avoir inspecté le corps du chevalier

d’Eon, en présénce de M. Adair, M. Wilson et du Père Elysée, et avoir

trouvé les organs masculins parfaitement formés.”

 

 

 

 

X. THE BISLEY BOY

 

 

A. PROLEGOMENON

 

Queen Elizabeth, the last of the House of Tudor, died unmarried. Since

her death in 1603, there have been revolutions in England due to

varying causes, but all more or less disruptive of family memories.

The son of James I had his head cut off, and after the Commonwealth

which followed, Charles I’s son James II, had to quit on the coming of

William III, by invitation. After William’s death without issue, Anne,

daughter of James II, reigned for a dozen years, and was succeeded

by George I, descended through the female line from James I. His

descendants still sit on the throne of England.

 

 

NO DESCENDANTS

 

The above facts are given not merely in the way of historical

enlightenment but rather as a sort of apologetic prolegomenon to the

ethical consideration of the matter immediately before us. Had Queen

Elizabeth had any descendants, they need not have feared any discussion

of her claims of descent. The issue of the legality of her mother’s

marriage had been tried exhaustively both before and after her own

birth, and she held the sceptre both by the will of her dead father

and the consent of her dead half-sister who left no issue. But Queen

Elizabeth, whatever her origin, would have been a sufficient ancestor

for any King or any Dynasty. Still, had she left issue there might

have been lesser people, descendants, whose feelings in the matter of

personal and family pride would have required consideration; and no

person entering on an analysis of historical fact would have felt quite

free-handed in such an investigation.

 

 

B. THE QUEEN’S SECRET

 

There are quite sufficient indications throughout the early life of

Queen Elizabeth that there was _some_ secret which she kept religiously

guarded. Various historians of the time have referred to it, and now

and again in a way which is enlightening.

 

In a letter to the Protector Somerset in 1549, when the Princess

Elizabeth was 15, Sir Robert Tyrwhitt says:

 

“I do verily believe that there hath been some secret promise

between my Lady, Mistress Ashley, and the Cofferer” [Sir Thomas

Parry] “never to confess to death, and if it be so, it will never

be gotten of her, unless by the King’s Majesty or else by your

Grace.”

 

In his _Girlhood of Queen Elizabeth_ Mr. Frank A. Mumby writes of

this:--

 

“Elizabeth was as loyal to Parry as to Mrs. Ashley; she

reinstated him after a year’s interval, in his office as

Cofferer, and on her accession to the throne she appointed

him Controller of the royal household. She continued to confer

preferment upon both Parry and his daughter to the end of their

lives--“conduct,” remarks Miss Strickland, “which naturally

induces a suspicion that secrets of great moment had been

confided to him--secrets that probably would have touched not

only the maiden name of his royal Mistress, but placed her life

in jeopardy, and that he had preserved these inviolate. The same

may be supposed with respect to Mrs. Ashley, to whom Elizabeth

clung with unshaken tenacity through every storm.”

 

Major Martin Hume in his _Courtships of Queen Elizabeth_ says of the

favourable treatment of the Governess and the Cofferer:--

 

“The confessions of Ashley and Parry are bad enough; but they

probably kept back more than they told, for on Elizabeth’s

accession and for the rest of their lives, they were treated

with marked favour. Parry was knighted and made Treasurer of the

Household, and on Mrs. Ashley’s death in July 1565 the Queen

visited her in person and mourned her with great grief.”

 

The same writer says elsewhere in the book:

 

“Lady Harrington and Mrs. Ashley were, in fact, the only ladies

about the Queen who were absolutely in her confidence.”

 

In a letter to the Doge of Venice in 1556 Giovanni Michiel wrote:

 

“She” [Elizabeth] “I understand, having plainly said that she

will not marry, even were they to give her the King’s” [Philip of

Spain] “son” [Don Carlos, Philip’s son by his first wife] “or

find any other great prince, I again respectfully remind your

serenity to enjoin secrecy about this.”

 

Count de Feria wrote in April, 1559:

 

“If my spies do not lie, which I believe they do not, for a

certain reason which they have recently given me, I understand

that she [Elizabeth] will not bear children.”

 

At this time Elizabeth was only 26 years of age.

 

The following extract is taken from Mr. Mumby’s _Girlhood of Queen

Elizabeth_ in which is given the translation taken from Leti’s _La Vie

d’Elizabeth_. The letter is from Princess Elizabeth to Lord Admiral

Seymour, 1548 (_apropos_ of his intentions regarding her):--

 

“It has also been said that I have only refused you because I

was thinking of some one else. I therefore entreat you, my lord,

to set your mind at rest on this subject, and to be persuaded by

this declaration that up to this time I have not the slightest

intention of being married, and, that if ever I should think of

it (_which I do not believe is possible_) you would be the first

to whom I should make known my resolution.”

 

 

C. BISLEY

 

The place known to the great public as Bisley is quite other than that

under present consideration. Bisley, the ground for rifle competitions,

is in Surrey, thoughtfully placed in juxtaposition to an eminent

cemetery. It bears every indication of newness-so far as any locality

of old earth can be new.

 

But the other is the original place of the name, possessing a

recorded history which goes back many hundreds of years. It is in

Gloucestershire high up on the eastern side of the Cotswold Hills at

their southern end where they rise above the Little Avon which runs

into the embouchure of the Severn to the Bristol Channel. The trace of

Roman occupation is all over that part of England. When the pioneers

of that strenuous nation made their essay on Britain they came with

the intention of staying; and to-day their splendid roads remain

unsurpassed--almost unsurpassable. In this part of the West Country

there are several of them, of which the chief are Irmin (or Ermine)

Street, running from Southampton through Cirencester and Gloucester

to Caerleon, and Ikenild Street running from Cirencester, entering

Gloucestershire at Eastleach. I am particular about these roads as we

may require to notice them carefully. There is really but one Bisley in

this part of the country, but the name is spelled so variously that the

simple phonetic spelling might well serve for a nucleating principle.

In all sorts of papers, from Acts of Parliament and Royal Charters

down to local deeds of tenancy, it is thus varied--Bisleigh, Bistlegh,

Byselegh, Bussely. In this part of the Cotswolds “Over” is a common

part of a name which was formerly used as a prefix. Such is not always

at once apparent for the modern cartographer seems to prefer the modern

word “upper” as the prefix. Attention is merely called to it here as

later on we shall have to consider it more carefully.

 

The most interesting spot in the whole district is the house

“Overcourt,” which was once the manor-house of Bisley. It stands close

to Bisley church from the grave-yard of which it is only separated by a

wicket-gate. The title-deeds of this house, which is now in possession

of the Gordon family show that it was a part of the dower of Queen

Elizabeth. But the world went by it, and little by little the estate

of which it was a portion changed hands; so that now the house remains

almost as an entity. Naturally enough, the young Princess Elizabeth