The Valets Tragedy | Page 4

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unpublished documents, to Miss E. M. Thompson and Miss Violet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.

I. THE VALET'S TRAGEDY

1. THE LEGEND OF THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK
The Mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask is, despite a pleasant saying
of Lord Beaconsfield's, one of the most fascinating in history. By a
curious coincidence the wildest legend on the subject, and the correct
explanation of the problem, were offered to the world in the same year,
1801. According to this form of the legend, the Man in the Iron Mask
was the genuine Louis XIV., deprived of his rights in favour of a child
of Anne of Austria and of Mazarin. Immured in the Isles
Sainte-Marguerite, in the bay of Cannes (where you are shown his cell,
looking north to the sunny town), he married, and begot a son. That son
was carried to Corsica, was named de Buona Parte, and was the
ancestor of Napoleon. The Emperor was thus the legitimate
representative of the House of Bourbon.
This legend was circulated in 1801, and is referred to in a proclamation
of the Royalists of La Vendee. In the same year, 1801, Roux Fazaillac,
a Citoyen and a revolutionary legislator, published a work in which he
asserted that the Man in the Iron Mask (as known in rumour) was not
one man, but a myth, in which the actual facts concerning at least two
men were blended. It is certain that Roux Fazaillac was right; or that, if
he was wrong, the Man in the Iron Mask was an obscure valet, of
French birth, residing in England, whose real name was Martin.
Before we enter on the topic of this poor menial's tragic history, it may
be as well to trace the progress of the romantic legend, as it blossomed
after the death of the Man, whose Mask was not of iron, but of black
velvet. Later we shall show how the legend struck root and flowered,
from the moment when the poor valet, Martin (by his prison
pseudonym 'Eustache Dauger'), was immured in the French fortress of
Pignerol, in Piedmont (August 1669).
The Man, IN CONNECTION WITH THE MASK, is first known to us

from a kind of notebook kept by du Junca, Lieutenant of the Bastille.
On September 18, 1698, he