an egregious blunder as to the date, which his sons vainly endeavour to conceal or explain.  They say, also, that a very large section of the French nobility had no hesitation in admitting the royal descent of their father.  Thus the Count Fontaine de Moreau expressed himself convinced that the man before him was the missing dauphin, after examining with singular interest some blood spots on his breast, resembling “a constellation of the heavens.”  The Count de Jauffroy not only called and wrote down his address—­21 Alsopp’s Terrace, New Road—­but declared his opinion that the British government was perfectly aware that “at 8 Bath Place, lives the true Louis XVII.”  “But, sir,” the count went on to say, “the danger lies in acknowledging you, as from the energy of your character you might put the whole of Europe into a state of fermentation, as you are not only King of France in right of your birth, but you are also heir to Maria Theresa, empress of Germany.”  His sons add that “Louis Napoleon is aware, and has been for many years, that the person called ’Augustus Meves’ was the veritable Louis XVII.”  At the time these words were penned the Emperor of the French was alive in this country, and a Times’ reviewer not unreasonably said, “If, indeed, the illustrious exile of Chiselhurst be aware of so remarkable a fact, he will surely soon proclaim it, together with his reasons for being aware of it.  Aspirants to the throne of France cannot touch him further; and the triumphant proof of Augustus Meves’ heirship to Louis XVI. would not only confound the councils of Frohsdorff, but it would turn the grandest legitimist of Europe into little better than a usurper, if, as was said by the Count de Jauffroy, Augustus Meves must of necessity not only be the eldest son of St. Louis, but the eldest son of Rudolf of Hapsburg to boot.”

Napoleon passed away, and made no sign; but the sons of Augustus Meves (who himself died in 1859) show no disposition to under-rate his pretensions.  The elder, who styles himself Auguste de Bourbon, and upon whom the royal mantle is supposed to have fallen, is not indifferent to the political changes of the time, and has again and again endeavoured to thrust his claims to the French throne before the public.  In a letter dated June 17, 1871, he says—­“Several articles have recently appeared respecting the chances of the Comte de Chambord succeeding to power, in virtue of his right of birth as the eldest representative of legitimate monarchy.  This supposition by many is admitted; nevertheless, it is a palpable hallucination, for the representative of legitimate hereditary monarchy by actual descent is directly vested in the eldest son of Louis XVII.  Periodically, the Comte de Chambord issues a manifesto, basing his right for doing such as representing, by the right of hereditary succession, the head of the House of Bourbon.  Whenever such appears, duty demands that I should protest against his pretensions.  Great the relief would indeed