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 of him as
Betsy Prig thought of Mrs. Harris.
NOTE.--Since the publication of these essays I have learned,
through the courtesy of a Polish nobleman, that there was
nothing mysterious in the origin and adventures of the Major
Fraser mentioned in pp. 274-276. He was of the Saltoun
family, and played a part in the civil wars of Spain during
the second quarter of the nineteenth century.
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