case of Saint-Germain, no date is given. The author had an idea
that the major was "an illegitimate son of some exalted person" of
the period of Charles IV. and Ferdinand VII. of Spain.


[1] An Englishman in Paris, vol. i., pp. 130-133. London, 1892.


The author does not mention Saint-Germain, and may never have heard
of him. If his account of Major Fraser is not mere romance, in
that warrior we have the undying friend of Louis XV. and Madame de
Pompadour. He had drunk at Medmenham with Jack Wilkes; as Riccio
he had sung duets with the fairest of unhappy queens; he had
extracted from Blanche de Bechamel the secret of Goby de Mouchy.
As Pinto, he told much of his secret history to Mr. Thackeray, who
says: "I am rather sorry to lose him after three little bits of
Roundabout Papers."

Did Saint-Germain really die in a palace of Prince Charles of Hesse
about 1780-85? Did he, on the other hand, escape from the French
prison where Grosley thought he saw him, during the French
Revolution? Was he known to Lord Lytton about 1860? Was he then
Major Fraser? Is he the mysterious Muscovite adviser of the Dalai
Lama? Who knows? He is a will-o'-the-wisp of the memoir-writers
of the eighteenth century. Whenever you think you have a chance of
finding him in good authentic State papers, he gives you the slip;
and if his existence were not vouched for by Horace Walpole, I
should incline to deem him as Betsy Prig thought of Mrs. Harris.