The Comte de ST Germain - 9781606201022

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THE COMTE DE
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The Secret of Kings
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ISAB,EL COO'PER-O'AKLEY
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ISBN 9781606201022
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iii [original title page]
THE COMTE DE ST. GERMAI
The Secret of kings: A Monograph
By Isabel Cooper-Oakley
Milano, G. Sulli-Rao
[1912}
I
First published 1912
Republished 2008 by Forgotten Books
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PUBLISHER'S PREFACE
About the Book "The original 'International Man of Mystery,' the Count St. Germain, was an
18th century European aristocrat of unknown origin. He had n visible mea ns of su pport, but no lack of resou rces, and moved in h ig socia I circles. He was a renowned conversationalist and a skilled musi ian. He dropped hints that he was centu ries old and cou Id grow d iamo ds. He never ate in public, was ambidextrous, and as far as anyone co Id tell, totally celibate. He served as a backchannel diplomat between Engl nd and France, and may have played some role in Freemasonry. He hob obbed with Marie Antoinette, Catherine the Great, Voltaire, Rousseau, esmer, and Casanova. He dabbled in materials and textile technology as well as alchemy, as did many intellectuals of the time (e.g., Newton). Th se are esta blished historica I facts, docu me nted by the extensive colle tion of contemporary accounts in this book. Less well understood are some of the other stories that have bee about the elusive Count: he always appeared about forty years old, up from time to time after his official death (on February 27th, 178 spot-on, una m biguous prophecies, co uId tra nsmute matte r, and neously teleported to distant locations. This has made him a su interest for students of the esoteric. The Theosophists, (of wh Cooper-Oakley was a founding member), considered St. Germain to ofthe hidden immortals who manipulate history. In the 20th centu Am" Activity, and its successors such as Elizabeth Clare Prophet' rents, elevated Master.' St. Germain to the status of a demigod, made opped ,made ject of ch Ms. be one ,the "I adhe-
an 'A cended
There is probably a good explanation for some of the anomalie in the na rrative. Ma ny of the me moirs of St. Germa in we re writte n yea rs a er the events, and undoubtedly embellished in the telling. He appears 0 have been conflated with several other aristocrats with similar last name, which may explai n the te lepo rtation ru mors. The Cou nt aIso inspi red id icu Ie, both high and low. Voltaire made a sarcastic comment that the Co nt was 'a ma n who knows eve ryth ing and never dies,' wh ich some have nfortu-
viii
-V
tak n literally. (I'm guessing that Voltaire meant that it was to get him to shut up!) A contemporary Parisian comedian rd Gower had a popular routine in which St. Germain told even vagant stories, including having advised Jesus, and some of may have been mixed up with the Count's own tall tales in
nately
impossible named Mil more extr these gags
popular m mary. Then there are the imposters. Casanova pretended to be him in 176 during a trip to Switzerland. Aleister Crowley toyed with the idea of dis uising himse If as the Cou nt. A menta lIy ill French ma n got a n TV in 1972 an claimed to be St. Germain. So was he hoax perp book, the f for any dis time traveler? A vampire? Secret agent of the Illuminati? Or a tuated by an unrelated series of charlatans? This enjoyable rst biography of St. Germain, is the indispensible starting point ussion of the mysterious Cou nt."
(Quote from sacred-texts.com)

About the Isabel Coo er-Oakley (1853 - 1914) "Isabel Cooper-Oakley, (1853/4) was a prominent Theosophist and author. She was b rn in Amritza, India, and married Alfred J. Oakley. They then both chan ed their surname to Cooper-Oakley. Mr Cooper-Oakley stayed some year at Adyar, India as an assistant to Olcott. He left to become Registrar a the University of Madras. Sometime in the late 1890s, G.R.5. Mead bec me her brother-in-law when he married her sister, another prominent heosophist, Laura Cooper. Isabel Cooper-Oakley 1914, at Bu apest, Hungary." died March 3,
(Quote from wikipedia.org)
CON ENTS
PUBLISHER'S
PREFACE
VII
MYSTIC AND PHILOSOPHER HIS TRAVELS AND KNOWLEDGE THE COMING TRAGICAL POLITICAL MASONIC MASONIC APPENDICES DOCUMENTS THE COMTE CONCERNING THE A ARTMENT B IN CHAMBORD OFFERED TO DE SAINT GERMAIN BETWEEN LOUIS XV. (1758) MTE DE ST. GERMAIN, FROM THE DANGER PROPHECIES WORK PAPERS" T DITIONS TRADITION WORK AND AUSTRIAN
1 14 30 43 56 65 75 81 96 97
IN THE "MITCHELL
CORRESPONDENCE D'AFFRY WITH ARCHIVES IN PARIS
TH E DUC DE CHOISEUL AND TH E COMTE 101 IN THE ARCHIVES OF 128 F HARDEN BROCK" (EDITION OF THE 138 ORIENT" OF 140 F HOLLAND, TRANSLATED FROM THE
REGARD TO THE C
FROM THE PAPERS OF SIEUR BENT NCK VAN RHOON, THE PALACE OF H. M. THE QUEEN DUTCH EXTRACTS FROM THE "MEMOIRS HISTORISCH GENOOTSCHAP FROM THE DUTCH ORIGINAL.
OF U RECHT), VOL. I, P. 220; TRANSLATED
MASON IC DOCU M ENT FROM TH E ODGE OF TH E "GRAND FRANCE ADDITIONAL DESPATCHES, BI BUOGRAPHY MITCHELL PAPERS, V
L. XV. LORD HOLDERNESSE'S 1 (12) 141 150 159
ETC., 1760.6818,
PL T. P. L. CLXVIII.,
MISCELLANEOUS
PAPERS FROM E GUSH RECORD OFFICE
Th
Comte de St. Germain
MYSTIC AND PHILOSOPHER
E was, perhaps, one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived. The friend of humanity, wishing for money only that he might give to the poor, a friend to animals, his heart was concerned only with happiness of others.v-Mernoires de Mon Temps, p. 135. S. A. LE L NDGRAVE CHARLES, PRINCE DE HESSE.(Copenhagen, 1861.) D th H a RING the last quarter of every hundred years se Masters, of whom I have spoken, to help on manity. Towards the close of each century you outpou ring or upheava I of spiritua lity--or caII it an attempt is made by the spiritual progress of will invariably find that mysticism if you prefe r--
h s taken place. Some one or more persons have appeared in the world as th ir agents, and a greater or less amount of occult knowledge or teaching h s been given out.--The Key to Theosophy (p. 194). H. P. BLAVATSKY T E Comte de St. Germain was certainly the greatest E rope has seen during the last centuries.--Theosophical B VATSKY. Oriental Adept Glossary, H. P.
ONG the strange mysterious beings, with which the eighteenth century w s so richly dowered, no one has commanded more universal comment a d attention than the mystic who was known by the name of the Comte d St. Germain. A hero of romance; a charlatan; a swindler and an a venturer; rich and varied were the names that showered freely upon hi. Hated by the ma ny, loved and revere nced by the few, time has not yet Ii ed the veil which screened his true mission from the vulgar speculators of the period. Then, as now, the occultist was dubbed charlatan by the ig orant; only some men and women here and there realised the power of w ich he stood possessed. The friend and councillor of kings and princes, a enemy to min isters who were ski lied in deceptio n, he brought h is great knowledge to help the West, to stave off in some small measure the storm cI uds that were gathering so thickly around some nations. Alas! his words of warning fell on deafened ears, and his advice went all unheeded.
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Looking back from this distance of ime it will be of interest to many students of mysticism to trace the lif , so fa r as it may yet be told, of th is great occultist. Sketches are to be ound here and there from various writers, mostly antagonistic, but no oherent detailed account of his life has yet appeared. This is very largely owing to the fact that the most interesting and important work, don by M. de St. Germain, lies buried in the secret archives of many princely nd noble families. With this fact we have become acquainted during the areful investigations which we have been making on the subject. Where t e archives are situated we have also learned, but we have not yet in all cases received permission to make the necessa ry resea rch es. It must be borne in mind that the C mte de St. Germain, alchemist and mystic, does not belong to the Fren h family of St. Germain, from which descended Count Robert de St. Ger ain; the latter was born in the year 1708, at Lons-Ie-Sa uInie r, was first a Jesu it, and e nte red late r in tu rn the French, Palatine, and Russian military services; he became Danish Minister of War under Count Struensee, then e-entered the French service, and at the beginning of the reign of Louis VI., he tried, as Minister of War, to introduce various changes into the rench army; these raised a violent storm of indignation; he was disgrace by the king and finally died in 1778. He is so often confounded with his m stic and philosophic namesake, that for the sake of clearing up the ignor nce that prevails on the matter it is well to give these brief details, sho ing the difference between the two men; unfortunately the disgrace into hich the soldier fell is but too often attributed to the mystic, to whom we ill now turn our entire attention. That M. de St. Germain had intimate relations with many high persons in various countries is quite undeniabl , the testimony on this point being overwhelming. That such relations hould cause jealousy and unkindly speculation is unfortunately not rare in any century. Let us, however, see what some of these princely friends ay. When questioned by the Herzog Karl August as to the supernatural ge of this mystic, the Landgraf von Hessen-Phillips-Barchfeld replied: "w cannot speak with certainty on that point; the fact is the Cou nt is acq ua inted with deta ils about wh ich on Iy contemporaries of that period coul give us information; it is now the fashion in Cassel to listen respectfu Iy to his statements and not to be astonished at anything. The Count i known not to be an importunate sycophant; he is a man of good socie y to whom all are pleased to attach themselves .... He at all events stan s in close relation with many men of
The Comte de St. Germain
considerable importance, and ex others. My cousin the Landgraf they are eager Freemasons, and . He is supposed to have interco who appear at his call." 1 Herr Mauvillon, in spite of his per is obliged to acknowledge the alchemist. For on his supposed newspaper of the period, wherei ma n of lea rn ing," "a lover of trut
rcises an incomprehensible influence on arl von Hessen is much attached to him; ork together at all sorts of hidden arts ... rse with ghosts and supernatural beings,
onal prejudice against M. de St. Germain, eeling of the Duke towards the great eath being mentioned in the Brunswick M. de St. Germain was spoken of as "a ," lid evoted to the good" and "a hater of
baseness and deception," the Du e himself wrote to the editor, expressing his approbation ofthe announce ent.2 In Fra nce M. de St. Ge rma ina ppe rs to have been unde r the persona I ca re, and enjoying the affection of Lo is XV., who repeatedly declared that he would not tolerate any mockery fthe Count, who was of high birth. It was th is affection and protection tha ca used the Prime Mi nister, the Duc de Choiseul, to become a bitter ene y of the mystic, although he was at one time friendly to him, since the Baron de Gleichen in his memoirs says: "M. de St. Germain frequented the ouse of M. de Choiseul, and was well received there." 3 The same writer, who later beca the fact that M. de St. Germain according to a strict regime. Louis Chateau de Chambord, and h Versailles with the King and the r One of the chief difficulties we constant changes of name and aroused much antagonism and howeve r, have made the pu b lic ( have been the practice of person e one of his devoted students, testifies to ate no meat, drank no wine, and lived XV. gave him a suite of rooms in the royal constantly spent whole evenings at yal family. ind in tracing his history consists in the itle, a proceeding which seems to have no little doubt. This fact should not, f the period) d isl ike him, for it a ppea rs to of position, who did not wish to attract
AKSAKOF, A., Psychische Studien, MAUVILLON, J., Geschichte
Monatliche
Zeitschrift,
xii., p. 430. Leipzig, ii.,
1885.
2
Ferdin nds, Herzog von Braunschweig-Luneberg,
p. 479. Leipzig, 1794.

3
GLEICHEN (E. H. Baron de), Souveni s, Paris, 1868, p. 126.
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vul th M Ge
ar curiosity; thus, for instance, we have the Duc de Medici travelling in years 1698 and 1700 under the name of the Conte di Siena. The Graf rcolini, when he went from Dresden to Leipzig to meet M. de St. ma in, adopted anoth er na me. The Kur-Prinz Fried rich-Ch ristia n von
Sa hsen travelled in Ita Iy from 1738 to 1740, under the na me Comte La sitz. Nearly all the members of the royal families in every country, du ing the last century, and even in this, adopted the same practice; but when M. de St. Germain did so, we have all the small writers of that period an later calling him an adventurer and a charlatan for what appears to ha e been, practically, a custom ofthe time. Le us now make a list of these names and titles, bearing in mind that they er a period of ti me dating from 1710 to 1822. The first date is menrei Ge ag int ed by Baron de Gleiche n, who says: "I have hea rd Ramea u and an old tive of a French ambassador at Ven ice testify to having known M. de St. ma in in 1710, whe n he had the appea ra nce of a ma n of fifty yea rs of ." 1 The second date is mentioned by Mme. d' Ad herna r in her most resting Souvenirs sur Marie Antoinette. 2 During this time we have M.
de St. Germa in as the Ma rq uis de Montferrat, Comte Bella ma rre or Ayma r at Venice, Chevalier Schoening at Pisa, Chevalier Weldon at Milan and zig, Comte Soltikoff at Genoa and Leghorn, Graf Tzarogy at Schwalbach an Triesdorf, Prinz Ragoczy at Dresden, and Comte de St. Germain at Paris, th Hague, London, and St. Petersburg. No doubt all these varied changes ga e ample scope and much material for curious speculations. A ew words may fitly here be said about his personal appearance and ed cation. From one contemporary writer we get the following sketch:-"H looked about fifty, is neither stout nor thin, has a fine intellectual co ntenance, dresses very simply, but with taste; he wears the finest diamonds on snuff-box, watch and buckles. Much of the mystery with which he is surrounded is owing to his princely liberality." Another writer, who knew him when at Anspach, says: "He always dined alone and very si ply; his wants were extremely few; it was impossible while at Anspach to ersuade him to dine at the Prin ce 's ta ble."
1G 2
EICHEN, Op. cit., p. 127. 'ADH E MAR (La Comtesse),
Souvenirs
sur Marie
Antoinette,
Archiduchesse
d' utriche, Reine de France, et sur la Cour de Versaille, Paris, 1836.
Karl von Span ish ve
rmain appears to have been very highly educated. According to eber,l "he spoke German, English, Italian, Portuguese and well, and Fre nch with a Pied montese accent."
st universally accorded that he had a charming grace and courtliness f manner. He displayed, moreover, in society, a great variety of gifts, playe several musical instruments excellently, and sometimes showed fa ilities and powers which bordered on the mysterious and incomprehe sible. For example, one day he had dictated to him the first twenty vers s of a poem, and wrote them simultaneously with both hands on two sep rate sheets of paper--no one present could distinguish one sheet from he other.
In order to arrive at some orderly sequence, it will be well to divide our material int three parts:-i. Theories bout his birth and character, which we h ve briefly noticed. ii. His trave I and knowledge. iii. His politi al and mystical work. Beginning, hen, with our first division, the theories about his birth and nationality re many and various; and different authors, according to their prejudices, race his descent from prince or tax-gatherer, apparently as fancy dictat s. Thus, among other parentages, we find him supposed to be descen ded rom:-1. Z. A Portug 3. An Alsati 4. A tax-gat
with personal details, some of
of Charles II. (King of Spain)--the father a Madrid banker. ese Jew. n Jew. erer in Rotondo.
WEBER (Dr Carl von), Aus vier Jahrhunderten. Mittheilungen aus dem HauptStaats-Archiv ,Zu Dresden, i., p. 312. Tauchnitz, Leipzig, 1857.
1
6 5. King of Portu al (natural son). 6. Franz-Leopol
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,Pri nce Ragoczy, of Tra nsylvan ia. to the most to which we
This last seems to have been the correct view, according reliable sources hat have been found, and other information have had access on this point.
This theory is al 0 held by Georg Hezekiel in his Abenteuerliche Gesellen, i., 35, Berlin, 1862 Karl von Weber (op. cit., i:, 318) also says that M. de St. Ge rma in ope nIy appea red in Lei pzig in 1777 as Prince Ragoczy, and that he was often know as the Graf Tzarogy, which latter is merely an anagram for Ragotzy (Ragocz ). This last fact we have verified in another interesting set of articles, to w ich we shall refer later, written by a person who knew him at Anspach under the name Tzarogy. Another writer remarks: "His real origin wou Id, perha ps, if revea led, have compromised importa nt pe rsons." And this is the c nclusion to which, after careful investigation, we have also come. Prince Ka I of Hesse, 1 writing of M. de St. Germain, says:-"Some curiosity truthfu Iness, ac tions. He told m and that he was may be felt as to his history; I will trace it with the utmost ord ing to his own words, add ing any necessa ry expla nathat he was eighty-eight years of age when he came here, the son of Prince Ragoczy 2 of Transylvania by his first wife,
a Tekeli. He wa placed, when quite young, under the care of the last Duc de Medici (Gian astone), who made him sleep while still a child in his own room. When M. de St. Germain learned that his two brothers, sons of the Princess of He se-Wahnfried (Rheinfels), had become subject to the Emperor Charle VI., and had received the titles and names of St. Karl and St. Elizabeth, h said to himself: 'Very well, I will call myself Sanctus Ge rma no, the H Iy Brother.' I ca nnot in truth gua ra ntee his birth, but that he was tremen ously protected by the Duc de Medici I have learnt from another sou rce.
I
Another well-kn wn writer speaks on the same point, an author, moreover, who had access 0 the valuable Milan archives; we refer to the late CEsare Cantu, librarian of the great library in Milan, who in his historical work,
HESSE-CASSEL arl, Prinz de), Mernoires
de Mon Temps,
p. 133. Copenhagen,
Rakoczv,
1861.
2
Rag6czy is the G rman spelling ofthis name. In Hungary it is written
Illustri Italiani, ii., 18, says: "The Mar uis of San Germano appears to have bee n the son of Prince Ragotzy (Rago zy) of Tra nsylva nia; he was aIso much in Italy; much is recounted of his trav Is in Italy and in Spain; he was greatly protected by the last Gra nd Du ke 0 Tusca ny, who had ed ucated him." It has been said that M. de St. Germain was educated at the University of Siena; Mme. de Genlis in her Memo res mentions having heard of him in Siena d uri ng a visit that she pa id to that town. The whole life of M. de St. Germain seems to have been more or less shadowed by the political troubles an struggles of his father. In order to understand this we m st take a brief survey of his family history, a survey which will moreov r give us some clues, helping us to unravel the tangled web of mysterio s elements which surrounded the life and wo rk of the great occu Itist. Few pages of history are more dee impotent struggle than those which Ragoczy after another to preserve th save it from being swallowed up by under the influence of the Roma Ge nea logische Arch iva rius aus dem J Iy scored with sorrow, suffering and ell the life story of the efforts of one freedom of their principality, and to the rapidly growing Austrian Empire Church. In an old German book, hr 1734, pp. 409, 410, 438, Lei pzig, a
sketch is given, on the death of Prince Ragoczy, of his family, his antecedents and descendants, from whic we will quote some leading facts: Francis Leopold Racozi, or Rakoczy, according to the later spelling--the father of the famous mystic--made i effectual efforts to regain his throne, the principality of Siebenbi.irgen. Th va Iua ble, and Prince Fra ncis, gra ndf writing, had lost his life in a hopeless death, his widow and children were hence the son, Francis Leopold, was our informant says: "The widowed Tekelil was forced to hand over her Emperor, who said he would become their ed ucation." Th is arra nge ment however, Prince Francis came of age, and limitations, were given back to h this Prince Ragoczy married at K61nof the Landgraf Karl von Hesse-Wahn marriage there were three children, Ragoczy property was wealthy and ther of the mystic of whom we are struggle to retain his freedom; on his seized by the Austrian Emperor, and rought up at the Court of Vienna. As Princess (who had remarried Graf children with their properties to the their guardian and be responsible for was made in Ma rch, 1688. When, his properties, with many restrictions m by the Emperor of Austria. In 1694 m-Rhein, Charlotte Amalia, daughter ried (of the line of Rhein-fels). Of this oseph, George and Charlotte. Almost
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im med iate Iy afte r th is pe riod Prince Ragoczy began to lead the conspiracies of his noblemen against the Austrian Empire, with the object of regaining his independent power. The history of the struggle is most interesting in every way, and singularly pathetic. The Prince was defeated and all his properties were confiscated. The sons had to give up the name of Ragoczy, and to ta ke the titles of St. Cario and St. Elizabeth. Let us notice what Hezekiel ' has to say on this point, for he has made some very careful investigations on the subject: "We are, in fact, inclined to think the Comte de St. Germa in was the you nge r son of the Prince Franz-Leopold Ragoczy and the Princess Charlotte Amalia of Hesse-Wahnfried. FranzLeopold was married in 1694, and by this marriage he had two sons, who were taken prisoners by the Austrians and brought up as Roman Catholics; they were also forced to give up the dreaded name of Ragoczy. The eldest son, calling himself the Marquis of San Carlo, escaped from Vienna in 1734. In this year, after fruitless struggles, his father died at Rodosto in Turkey, and was buried in Smyrna. The eldest son then received his father's Turkish pension, and was acknowledged Prince of Siebenbi.irgen (Transylvania). He carried on the same warfare as his father, fought against and was driven away by Prince Ferdinand of Lobkowitz, and finally died forgotten in Turkey. The younger brother took no part in the enterprises of his elder brother, and appears, therefore, to have been always on good terms with the Austria n Gove rn me nt." Adverse writers have made much mystery over the fact that St. Germain was rich and always had money at his disposal; writers who enjoyed calling him a "charlatan and a swindler" also from hinting that his money must have been ill-gotten; the Comte de indeed, those did not refrain many even go
so far as to say that he made it by deceiving people and exercising an undue influence over them. If we turn to the old Archivarius already mentioned, we find some very definite information that not only shows us whence the large fortune possessed by this mystic was derived, but also why he was so warmly welcomed by the King of France, and was so well known at all the courts of Europe. No obscure adventurer is this with whom we are dealing, but a man of princely blood, and of almost royal descent. Turning back to the old chronicle we find in the volume for 1736 the will of the late Prince Franz-Leopold Ragoczy, in wh ich both his sons are me nlOp. cit., i., 45.
I
tioned who have been alre dy named, and also a third son. 1 It also states that Louis XIV. had bought I nded prope rty for th is Pri nce Ragoczy from the Polish Queen Maria, the ents of which property were invested by the order of the King of France in the Hotel de Ville in Paris. We also find that considerable legacies wer left which were to be demanded from the Crown of France. The exec tors of this will were the Duc de Bourbon, the Duc de Maine and the C mte de Charleroi and Toulouse. To their care Prince Ragoczy committed is third son, to whom also he left a large legacy and other rights on this valuable property. Hence we must cast aside the theories that M. de St. Ger ain was a homeless and penniless adventurer, seeking to make money ou of any kindly disposed person. These were the views and ideas of the n wspaper and review writers of that day, put forward in the leading p riodicals. Unfortunately the law of heredity prevails in this class of peo Ie, and there is a remarkable similarity between the epithets hurled by the ress of the n inetee nth centu ry at th e ventu resome occultist of to-day a d those flung at M. de St. Germain and other mystics of lesser importanc and minor merit.
We will now pass from thi portion of our subject to some of the personal incidents related of M. de St. Germain; perhaps the most interesting are those given by one who kn w him personally in Anspach during the period that he was in close connection with the Markgraf. It appears that the mystic made two visits at different times to Schwalbach, and thence he we nt to Triesdorf. We will I t the writer spea k for himself on th is point:-"On hearing that a stran er, both remarkable and interesting, was at Schwalbach, the Markgraf f Brandenburg-Anspach invited him to come to Triesdorf in the spring, and the Graf Tzarogy (for this was the name under which he appeared) acce ed this invitation, on the condition that they would allow him to live in h is own way quite unnoticed and at peace. He was lodged in the lowe Mademoiselle Clairon. The The Graf Tzarogy had no s in his own room, which he he avoided a II ge nera I soc only the Markgraf, Made
1 This
rooms of the Castle, below those occupied by Markgraf and his wife lived in the Falkenhaus. rvant of his own; he dined as simply as possible eldom left. His wants were extremely few, and ety, spe nd ing the even ings in the com pa ny of oiselle Clairon, and those persons whom the
is the son, mentioned b Prince Charles of Hesse, who was placed under the care ofthe last ofthe Medici.
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former was pleased to have round him. It was impossible to persuade the Graf Tzarogy to dine at the P ince's table, and he only saw the Markgrafin a few times, although she was ery curious to make the acquaintance of this strange individual. In conve sation the Graf was most entertaining, and showed much knowledge of he world and of men. He was always specially glad to speak of his childh od and of his mother, to whom he never referred without emotion, a d often with tears in his eyes. If one could bel ieve him, he had bee n bro ght up Ii ke a Prince. One day Tza rogy showed the Markgraf an invitation hich he had received, sent by a courier, from the Graf Alexis Orloff, who as just returning from Italy; the letter pressed Graf Tzarogy to pay him visit, as Graf Orloff was passing th rough Nuremberg .... The Mar raf went with Graf Tzarogy to Nuremberg, where the Graf Alexis Orlo had already arrived. On their arrival Orloff, with open arms, came forwa d to meet and embrace the Graf Tzarogy, who now appeared for the first t me in the uniform of a Russian General; and Orloff called him several tim s, 'Caro padre,' 'Caro amico.' The Graf Alexis received the Ma rkgraf of Bra nden bu rg-Anspach with the most ma rked polite ness, and tha nked hi severa I times for the protectio n wh ich the Markgraf had accorded to his worthy friend; they dined together at midday. The conversation w s most interesting; they spoke a good deal of the campaign in the Archipel go, and. still more about useful and scientific discoveries. Orloff showed th Markgraf a piece of unignitable wood, which when tested produced neith r flames nor cinders, but simply fell to pieces in light ashes, after it had sw lien up like a sponge. After dinner Graf Orloff took the Graf Tzarogy into t e next room, where they remained for some considerable time together. he writer, who was standing at the window under which the carriages of raf Orloff were drawn up, remarked that one of the Graf's servants came, pened one of the carriage doors and took out from the box under the seat large red leather bag, and carried it upstairs to the other room. After the r return to Anspach the Graf Tzarogy showed them, for the first time, hi credentials as a Russian General with the Imperia I sea I attached; he aft rwa rds informed the Ma rkgraf that the na me Tzarogy was an assumed na e, and that his real name was Ragotzy, and that he was the sole repre entative and descendant of the late exiled Prince Ragotzy of Siebe nbi.irg n of the time of the Emperor Leopold ". 1
1 curiositaten
der Literarisch-his orischen Vor- and Mitwelt,
pp. 285, 286. Weimar,
1818.
So fa r th is narrative is tolera bly accu rate, but after th is pint the autho r proceeds with the history of what he considers the "u veiling" of the "notorious Comte de St. Germa in," in wh ich aII the va riou theories about his birth, to which we have already referred, are retold ith embellishments. Amongst other wild reports, it was stated that M. de St. Germain had only become acquainted with the Orloffs in Leghorn i 1770, whereas there are various historical proofs showing, without doubt that he was in 1762 in St. Petersbu rg, whe re he knew the Orloffs well. We have moreove r heard in Russia that he was staying with the Princess arie Galitzin at Archangelskoi on March 3rd, 1762. The following details were found in Russia, and sent by a Ru sian friend:--
"The Comte de St. Germain was here in the time of Peter III. and left when Catherine II came to the throne. M. Pyliaeff 1 thinks eve before Catherine's time. "At St. Petersburg St. Germain lived with Count Rotari, th famous Italian painter, who was the painter of the beautiful portraits hich are in the Peterhof palace. "The street where they lived is supposed to be the Gr fsky pereoulok ('pereoulok' means small street, and 'Grafsky' comes from raf-Count) near the Anitchkoff bridge where the palace is, on the Newsky. t. Germain was a splend id violin ist, he 'played like an orchestra.' In th 'Story of the Razoamovsky family' Alexis R. was reported to have spoken of a beautiful moonstone St. Germain had in his possession. "M. Pyliaeff has seen (he cannot remember where now) a piece of music, some air for the harp, dedicated to Countess Ostermann y St. Germain's own hand signed. It is bound beautifully in red maroquin. T e date is about 1760. "M. Pyliaeff thinks that St. Germain was not in Mosco . He says the
Youssoupoff family have many MSS. in old chests and that t. Germain was in relations with a Prince Youssoupoff to whom he gave t e elixir for long life. He says, too, that St. Germain did not bear the na e of Saltykoff (Soltikow) in Russia but that in Vienna he did take this nam .
1 Told
by M. Pyliaeff, mem ber of the "Novoie Vremia,"
author of"
Id Petersburg."
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"About the music signed by St. Germain, M. Pyliaeff now belonged to him himself. He bought it at some sale and time. Then he gave it to the famous composer Peter present. It must now be in Chaikowsky's papers, but as th had very little order, M. Pyliaeff thinks it very unlikely found, especially as at Chaikowsky's sudden death all was directions be ing give n about the prope rty."
ecollects that it had it for some haikowsky as a great musician hat it could be left without any
We have said that the political events in his family had to some extent shadowed the life of M. de St. Germain; one remarkable in tance of this we will now cite: it is, as far as we know, the only one in hich he himself makes any direct reference to it, and it occurs some tim later than the events which we have just been relating. After the return of the Markgraf from Italy, whither he had gone in 1776, and where he ha heard some of the legends and fabrications above referred to, he appears to have sent the writer whom we have quoted to Schwalbach to see the Graf Tzarogy, and to test his bona fides. We will continue the history as he gives it. "On his arrival, he found M. de St. Germain ill in bed. When he matter was explained to him, he admitted with perfect coolness that e had assumed from time to time all the names mentioned, even down to hat of Soltikow; but he said he was known on all sides, and to many peo Ie, under these names, as a man of honour, and that if any calumniator re venturing to accuse him of nefarious transactions, he was ready to exc Ipate himself in the most satisfactory man ner, as soon as he knew of what he was accused, and who the accuser was who dared to attack him. He teadily asserted that he had not told the Markgraf any lies with reference 0 his name and his family. The proofs of his origin, however, were in the h nds of a person on whom he was dependent (i.e., the Emperor of Austria, a dependence which had brought on him, in the course of his life, the gre test espionage . . . . When he was asked why he had not informed the Ma kgraf about the different names under which he had appeared in so many different places, the Graf Tzarogy answered that he was under no ob igations to the Markgraf, and that since he offended no one and did no p rson any harm, he would only give such personal information after and n t before he had dealings with them. The Graf said he had never abused t e confidence of the Markgraf; he had given his real name .... after this he still remained at Schwa Ibach." A Iittle late r the author of the pa ragra ph just uoted rema rks:
"What resources M. de St. Germain had, to defray th of his existence, is ha rd to guess." 1
necessary expenses
It appears curious to us that the writer knew so Ii Ie of contemporary history. As we have seen, all the sons of Prince agoczy were amply provided for, and the proofs were even more accessible than they are in our day. He goes on to say in conclusion: "It would be n ungrateful task to declare that this man was a swindler; for this proofs a e required and they are not to be had." Th is is tru Iy an ingen ious stat ment, but borders somewhat on libel; to speak of anyone as a swindler without any proof is beyond the bounds of ordinary fairness, and it is espe ially incongruous in view of the final paragraph, which is as follows: "As I ng as the Graf had dealings with the Markgraf, he never asked for nything, and never received anything of the slightest value, and never ixed himself up in anything which did not concern him. On account of is extremely simple life, his wants were very limited; when he had money e shared it with the poor." If we compare these words with those spoken of M. friend Prince Charles of Hesse, we shall find they are i only wonder is that a writer who speaks such words of that his su bject might be a "swi nd ler." If such words of an "adventu rer," the n wou Id it be we II for the world sort could be found. We shall find similar extraordinary contradictions proceed further with the life of M. de St. Germain. in rious writers as we e St. Germain by his perfect accord. The praise can even hint n be rightly spoke n if a few more of Iike
1 Curiositaten,
op. cit., pp. 287, 289,293.294.

I
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HIS TRAVELS AND KNOWLE GE
HE pure cult of Nature in the earliest patriarchal days ... became the heirloom of those alone who could dis ern the noumenon beneath the phenomenon. Later, the Initiat s transmitted their knowledge to the human kings, as their divine Mast rs had passed it to their forefathers. It was their prerogative and duty to eveal the secrets of Nature that were useful to mankind .... No Initiate wa one if he could not heal--aye, recall to life from apparent death (coma) hose who, too long neglected, would have indeed died during their I thargy. Those who showed such powers were forthwith set above the crowds, and were regarded as Kings and Initiates. The Secret Doctrine, iii. 263. LET us now trace, as far as we can with any detailed in of M. de St. Germain in some of his extended travels. Africa, India and China we gather from various hints from facts stated by many writers at different time. should seem aimless and trivial to the same writers surprise, but to students of mysticism, and especially "Great Lodge" is a fact and a necessity in the spiritual e to those students the widely extended travels of thi ormation, the steps hat he had been in e gives us, and also That such travels is not a matter of those to whom the olution of mankind, "messenger" from
that Lodge will not be surprising; rather they will see below the surface, and try to understand the mission and the work that h came to do among the children of men. We must bear in mind, moreover, that in the ancien sciences were regarded as divine gifts; the gifts of th 'Divine Dynasties,' they gave the first impulse to civili the mind with which they had endued men, to the inve of all the arts and sciences." 1 world the arts and gods. "Kings of the ation, and directed tion and perfection
Conceited in their shallow ignorance the generality 0 mankind scorn the gifts and turn away from the givers. Some few centuries ago such givers and teache rs we re sile nced at the sta ke, like Giorda 0 Bru no, and ma ny others whom time has now justified in the eyes of m n. Then, later, after
1
BLAVATSKY (H. P.). The Secret Doctrine, ii., p. 380. London,
893.
the reaction of free tho ght in the eightee nth centu ry we fi nd Mesme rand the Comte de St. Germ in giving up, not their lives, but their good names and characters in trying to help those to whom they were sent by the Great Lodge. Let us now ta ke up the hread of these travels, and in order to ma ke them as clea r as possible folio the m in the 0 rder of thei r dates. These range, as we ha e seen in our las chapter from 1710 to 1822. We shall, however, not be able to deal very fully with each period, for M. de St. Germain often disappe red for many months at a time. The earliest records we can gather are as fol ows:-"There appeared at th Court
1
in these days an extraordinary
man, who
called himself Comte e St. Germain. At first he distinguished himself through his cleverness nd the great diversity of his talents, but in another respect he soon arouse the greatest astonishment. "The old Countess v. G orgy who fifty years earlier had accompanied her
husband to Venice wh re he had the appointment of ambassador, lately met St. Germain at Mm . de Pompadour's. For some time she watched the stra nge r with signs of t e greatest su rp rise, in wh ich was mixed not a little fear. Finally, unable to ontrol her excitement, she approached the Count more out of cu riosity th n in fea r. '"Will you have the kin ness to tell me,' said the Countess, 'whether your father was in Ve nice abut the yea r 17107' '" No, Mada me,' repl ie longer since I lost my fa the last and the begin court then, and you w composing which we us the Cou nt quite unconcerned, 'it is very much her; but I myself was living in Venice at the end of ing of this century; I had the honour to pay you re kind enough to admire a few Barcarolles of my d to sing together.'
'"Forgive me, but that s impossible; the Comte de St. Germain I knew in those days was at least 45 years old, and you, at the outside, are that age at prese nt. '
1 The
Court of Louis
xv.
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'''Madame,'
replied the Count smilin ,'I am very old.'
'''But then you must be nearly 100 ye rs old.' "That is not impossible.' And then t e Count recounted to Mme. v. Georgy a number of familiar little details which had reference in common to both, to their sojourn in the Venitian Stat s. He offered, if she still doubted him, to bring back to her memory certain ircumstances and remarks, which ... "No, no,' interru pted the old ambass dress, 'I am aIready co nvinced. For aII that you are a most extraordinary m n, a devil.' '''For pity's sake!' exclaimed St. Ge main in a thundering names!' "He appeared to be seized with a c amp-like trembling left the room immediately. "I mean to get to know this peculiar an more intimately. voice, 'no such
in every limb, and
"St. Germain is of medium height and elegant manners; his features are regular; his complexio brown; his air black; his face mobile and full of genius; his carriage bears the impres and the nobility common only to the great. The Cou nt dresses simply but ith taste. His on Iy Iuxu ry consists of a large number of diamonds, with whi h he is fairly covered; he wears them on every finger, and they are set in his snuffboxes and his watches. One evening he appeared at court with s oebuckles, which Herr v. Gontaut, an expert on precious stones, estimated at 200,000 Francs. "A matter worthy of remark is th German, Italian, Spanish and Portug when he converses with any of the their mother tongue, they are un accent. The Learned and the Orient of the Count St. Germain. The forme of Homer and Virgil than themselv Chinese, Arabic in such a manner as lengthy stay in Asia, and that the I learned in the Colleges of Louis The t the Count speaks French, English, ese equally perfectly; so much so that inhabitants of the above countries in ble to discover the slightest foreign I scholars have proved the knowledge found him more apt in the languages s; with the latter he spoke Sanscrit, 0 show them that he had made some nguages of the East were but poorly reat and Montaigne.
"The Comte de St. Germain accompanied on the piano without music, not only every song bu also the most difficult concerti, played on various instruments. Rameau was much i pressed with the playing of this dilettante, and especially struck at his improvising. "The Count paints beautifully in oils; ut that which makes his paintings so remarkable is a particular colour, a ecret, which he has discovered, and which lends to the painting an ext aordinary brilliancy. In his historical pieces, St. Germain always introd ces into the dress of the women, sapphires, rubies and emeralds of su h brilliant hue that they seem to have borrowed their beauty from the orig nal gems. Vanloo, who never tires in his ad m iration of the su rprising colou ing, has ofte n req uested the Cou nt to let him participate in his secret; the la ter, however, will not divulge it. "Without attempting to sit in judge ent on the knowledge of a fellow-
being, of whom at this very moment hat I am writing, both court and town have exhausted all surmises, one ca ,I think, well assert that a portion of his miracles is due to his knowledg of physics and chemistry in which sciences he is well grounded. At all e ents it is palpable that his knowledge has laid the seeds for him of sound g od health; a life which will--or which has overstepped the ordinary time al otted to man; and has also endowed him with the means of preventing t e ravages of time from affecting the body. Among other stateme nts, once rn ing the Co unt's astou nd ing qualities, made to the Favourite by me. v. Georgy after her first meeting with the Count after this lapse of y ars, was that during her first stay in Venice, she received from him an lixir which for fully a quarter of a century preserved unaltered the y uthful charms she possessed at 25. Elderly gentlemen, whom Mme. de P mpadour questioned concerning this pecu lia r incident, gave the assu ra nc that th is was the truth, add ing that the standing still in youthful appearance of Mme. v. Georgy supported by the testimony of these old men woul make it appear still more probable. "One evening at a party St. Germai the young Comtesse afterwards de Geniis, then aged ten years. accompanied several Italian airs for
so ce ebrated under the name of Comtesse
"When she had finished singing, the
ount said to her: 'in five or six years
you will have a very beautiful voice, hich you will preserve a long time; in order to perfect the charm you shou d also preserve your beauty; this will be your happy fate between your 16t and 17th yea r.'
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'" But, Co unt,' answered the ch ild, wh ile alIowing her pre ty finge rs to glide ove r the notes, 'that does not lie ina ny one's power.' '"Oh yes,' answered the Count carelessly, 'only tell me whether give you pleasure to remain atthat age?' '"Tru Iy that wou Id be cha rming.' '"Welll promise it you.' And St. Germain spoke of other by the friendliness of this fashionable m the Countess' it would
"Encouraged
mother ventured to ask him if Germany was his Fatherlan '" Mada me,' said he, sigh ing dee ply, 'the re are some th ings of wh ich one may not speak. Suffice it to know that at seven years of ge I was wandering in woods, and that a price was set upon my head. 0 mother, whom I was not to see again, bound her portrai will shew itto you.' "At these words St. Germain threw up his sleeve and che miniature of an exceptionally peculiar costume. my birthday my round my arm; I
ed the ladies the in rather a
beautiful woman, but represented
"To what date does this dress belong?' asked the young
ountess. Without
answering this question, the Count put down his sleeve a ain, and brought forward another topic. Every day one was surprised by fresh miracle in Count St. Germain's company. Some little time previous y he had brought Mme. de Pompadour a bonbonniere which was universally admired. It was worked very beautifully in black enamel, and on the lid as an agate. The Count begged the Marquise to place the bonbonniere n ar the fire; a few minutes later she went to take it away. How great was th astonishment of all present: the agate had disappeared, and in its place was to be seen a pretty she pherdess in the midst of he r flock. "After the bonbonniere had again been placed near the fire, the shepherdess disappeared, and the agate re-appeared." 1
Taken from "Chroniques, de l'Clil de BCEuf." Written do n by the widowed Countessv. B.....

I
Th is episode was writte in 1723. It must be ca r St. Germain were in hig of high birth and noble Prince Kaunitz, Prince Joseph von Lamberg, m
down in 1750, but the facts me ntioned too k place ulIy noticed that aII the perso na I friends of M. de position, chiefly Austrians and Hungarians, all men amily, his own kith and kin; among them we find erdinand Lobkowitz, Graf Zobor, Graf Maximilian n of public position, and well known families.
From 1737 to 1742, ou r mystic was at the Cou rt of the Shah of Persia, and it is here that he pro ably acquired his knowledge of diamonds and precious stones, for ac ording to his own very credible statement, it was here that he began to u derstand the secrets of Nature; but his arduously acquired knowledge lea s us to infer a long period of careful study. These hints we gather from F. W. von Barthold 1 in his interesting work, and they confirm the statement ade by another writer that M. de St. Germain had been pursuing his resea ches in Persia. We next find suspected quoted. him in arrested. Jacobite Revolution of 1745, Two interesting extracts can here be
The first is from Horace British Envoy at Florenc all the excitements pro seized an odd man wh been here these two y professes that he does violin wonderfu Ily, is ma The second reference Weekly Jou rna I or Britis "The author
alpole's
amusing letters to Sir Horace Mann, the
. Writing 0 n Dec. 9th, 1745, Wa Ipole, after relating uced by the Revolution, says: "The other day they goes by the name of Count St. Germain. He has ars, and will not tell who he is or whence, but ot go by his right name. He sings and plays on the ,a nd not ve ry se nsi ble."
0
this stay in England may be found
in Read's
Gazetteer, May 17th, 1760, an d is as follows:
of the Bru sels' Gazette tells us that the person who styles
himself Comte de St. G rmain, who lately arrived here from Holland, was born in Ita Iy in 1712. H spea ks Germa nand French as flue ntly as Ita lia n,
BARTHOLD (F. W. von),
ie Geschichtlichen
Personlichkeiten
in Jacob Casanova's
Mernoiren, Vol. ii., Berlin 1 46. 2 Letters of Horace Walpo e, Earl of Orford, to Sir Horace Mann, ii., pp. 108, 109. London, 1833.
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and expresses himself pretty well in English. He has a sm ttering of all the arts and sciences, is a good chemist, a virtuoso in m sick, and a very agreeab Ie com pa nion. In 1746 [1745 accord ing to Wa Ipol ], he was on the point of being ruined in England. One who was jealous 0 him with a lady, slipt a letter into his pocket as from the young Pretender (thanking him for his services and desiring him to continue them), and im ediately had him ta ken up by a messenge r. His in nocence be ing fu Ily prove on his exa mi nation, he was d ischa rged out of the custody of the messe ge rand asked to dinner by Lord H. [Probably William Stanhope, Earl of Ha rington, who was Secretary of the Treasury and Treasurer of the Chambe at this date; he died 1760.] Those who know him will be sorry (says M. aubert) to hear that he has incu rred the Ch ristia n king's d ispleasu re." This last paragraph alludes to what occurred at a later per od. After this date, 1745, it seems that M. de St. Germain w nt to Vienna, and spent so me ti me, in that city, 1 and in 1755 went to Ind a, for the second time, as we gathe r from a letter of his writte n to the Gra vo n Lamberg, to wh ich we sha II refer aga in late ron. "I am indebted," he writes, "for my knowledge of mel ing jewels to my
second jou rney to Ind ia, in the yea r 1755, with Ge nera I Clive, who was I under Vice Admiral Watson. On my first journey I had onl a very faint idea of the wonderful secret of which we are speaking; all the attempts that I made in Vienna, Paris and London, are worthless as expe iments; the great work was inte rru pted at the ti me I have mentioned." Every writer, adverse or favourable, mentions and la s stress on the wonderful power of improving precious stones that was possessed by M. de St. Germain. Indeed almost every sort of art seems t have been more or less known to him, judging by the many testimonies that we have on these points. "He had lived as a pri nce in Vienna from 1745 to 1746, was ve ry well received, and the first minister of the Emperor [Francis I.], Prince Ferdin nd von Lobkowitz, was his most p. 36 intimate friend. The latter introduced im to the French Marechal de Belle-Isle who had been sent by King Louis XV. 0 a special embassy to the Court at Vienna. Belle-Isle, the wealthy grandson of Fo quet, was so taken with the brilliant and witty St. Germain, that he persuaded hi to accompany him on a visit to Paris." Historische Herinneringen, van C. A. van SY ESTEYN;sGraven' hage, 1869.
1

I
The Comte de S • Germain
Our next dat , 1757, brings us to the period which is best known to the public. M. de St. Germain was introduced at Paris by the then Minister of War, Marechal and Comte de Belle-Isle; but as we have seen from the records alre dy cited, neither M. de St. Germain nor his family were unknown to ouis xv. Hence we do not wonder at the cordial and gracious reception wi h which he met, nor can we be astonished that the king assigned him a suite of rooms at his royal Chateau of Chambord. Here there was a I boratory fitted up for experiments, and a group of students gathered rou d our mystic. Among these we find the Baron de Gleichen, and Marquis d'Urfe and also the Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, mother of Catherine II. f Russia. Madame de Genlis, 1 speaking of him at this period, says:-"He was well acquainted with physics, and was a very great chemist. My father, who as well qualified to judge, was a great admirer of his abilities in this way .... He had discovered a secret respecting colours which was rea Ily wonde uI, and wh ich gave an extraord ina ry effect to his pictu res .... M. de St. Ge main never would consent to give up his secret." Madame du Hausset relat s in her memoirs an interesting instance of his knowledge of
"The King," s ys she, "ordered a middling-sized in it, to b br Comte: 'The thousand livr Will you un
diamond which had a flaw
ught to him. After having it weighed, his Majesty said to the alue of this diamond as it is, and with the flaw in it, is six s; without the flaw it would be worth at least ten thousand. ertake to make me a gainer of four thousand livres?' St.
Germain exa ined it very attentively, and said, 'It is possible; it may be done. I will bing it to you again in a month.' "At the tim appointed the Comte de St. Germain brought back the
diamond wit out a spot, and gave it to the King. It was wrapped in a cloth of amianthos which he took off. The king had it weighed immediately, and found it very little diminished. His Majesty then sent it to his jeweller by M. de Gontaut, ithout telling him of anything that had passed. The jeweller thousa nd six h und red livres for it. The King, however, se nt nd back again, and said he would keep it as a curiosity. He
GENLIS (Com sse de), Mernoires aris, 1825. lnedits pour servir
Histoire des XVIII. et XIX.
Siecles, p. 88.
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could not overcome his surprise, and said M. de St. Germain must be worth millions, especially if he possessed the secret of making large diamonds out of sma II ones. Th e Comte neithe r said that he cou Id or cou Id not, but positively asserted that he knew how to make pearls grow, and give them the finest water. The King paid him great attention, and so did Madame de Pompadour. M. du Quesnoy once said that St. Germain was a quack, but the King reprimanded him. In fact, his Majesty appears infatuated with him, and sometimes talks of him as if his descent were illustrious." One fact in this Parisian period must not be omitted; it appears from statements made by Madame du Hausset,l Herr von Barthold and the Baron de Gleichen, that a young Englishman, at that time resident in Paris, Lord Gower by name, used to amuse himself and other idle people by passing himself off as M. de St. Germain, so that most of the silly and foolish tales about him, which ran riot in the gossiping "salons" of the period, originated in the sayings of this idle young fellow. Various details of his doings are to be found, but they are not worth further notice, beyond the fact that M. de St. Germain had to bear the blame for utterances which did not originate with him. Says Heer van Sypesteyn: 2 "Many of the wild stories had probably nothing to do with M. de St. Germain and were invented with the object of injuring him and making him ridiculous. A certain Parisian wag, known as 'Milord Gower,' was a splendid mimic, and went into Paris salons to play the part of St. Germain--naturally it was very exaggerated, but very many people were taken in by this make-believe St. Germain. Meanwhile our philosopher worked on with those whom he was able to hel p and teach in va rio us ways. In 1760 we find him sent by Louis XV. to the Hague on a political mission: the circumstances are variously told by different writers. In April, 1760, we find M. de St. Germain passing through East Friesla nd to Engla nd. 3 Next, in The London Ch ron ide of June 3 rd, 1760, we have a long accou nt of a "myste rious foreigne r," who had just arrived on England's shores. It is also said by one writer that he was well received at Court, and many papers ofthe period mention him as a "person of note" to whom marked attention was paid." In the British Museum
HAUSSET (Madame du), Mernoires, p. 148, seq.; Paris, 1824. 20 p. Cit. . 3 HEZEKIEL 1. op. cit. Gazette of the Netherlands. Jan. 12th, 1761.
I
there are pieces of music composed by the Comte e St. Germain on both his visits, for they are dated 1745 and 1760. It w s said everywhe re, by ene mies as we II as by friends, that he was a sple n id violin ist; he "played like an orchestra." There is one most interesting souvenir of M. de St. ermain, which we have had the good fortune to see. It is preserved in the library of the grand old castle of Raudnitz in Bohemia, the property of Prince Ferdinand von Lobkowitz. Amongst the MSS. wad other treasures of that rar collection we found a book of music composed by M. de St. Germain, fro which, by the gracious permission of the present Prince, we have had traced the inscription and autograph. It runs thus:-"Pour Ie Prince de Lobkowitz, Musique Raisonee, selon Ie bon sens, aux Dames Angloises qui aiment Ie vrai goGt en cet art. "Par ... de St. Germain." The first letter, or letters, of the sign atu re are quite undeci phera ble, although they have been most carefully traced fo us by the librarian at Raudnitz. We next have to pass on to St. Petersburg where, a cording to the words of the Graf Gregor Orloff to the Margrave of Branden urg-Anspach, M. de St. Ge rma in had" played a great pa rt in the ir revolution." 1
The Hague, Jan. 2nd. "Letters from Paris state that when starting for this c without asking permission ofthe King, M. de St. Germai but it is practically certain that he has an understanding "The 3rd. "The so-ca IIe d Count of St. Germa in is ani ncom pre hensi is known: neither his name nor his origin, nor his positi one knows from whence it is derived; acquaintances, made them; entry into the Cabinets of Princes witho them!" 1 Curiositaten der Literarisch-historischen Vor and Mitw 1818.
untry, to which he came returned his Red Ribbon: ith the King of Denmark. ble man of whom nothi ng n; he has an income, no no one knows where he being acknowledged by It, pp. 285, 286. Weimar,

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He is mentioned as having been in St. Pe ersburg by another writer, rather in an anonymous book, the translati n of the title of which runs: "A few Words about the First Helpers of C therine
or
II." (xviii. Bk. 3, p. 343,
1869).
The writer has other details in her posses unverified and come rather as fragments accurate information, which she hopes to lead us to suppose that M. de St. Germain we have noticed already the Princess of ion, but as they are at present it is better to wait for more rocure. Various hints, however, passed some time in Russia. As Anhalt-Zerbst, the mother of
Catherine 11.,was very friendly to him; inde d he passed much time at her house in Paris. In 1763, howeve r, we get a deeply intere ing accou nt of ou r ph ilosopher in the shape of a letter from the Graf Karl Cobenzl to the Prince Kaunitz, the Prime Minister. The details it gives are 0 interesting that it is better to quote it in full:-"BRUSSELS,April 8th, 1763. "GRAF KARL COBENZLTO KAUNITZ. "It was about three months ago that the person known by the name of the Comte de St. Germain passed this way, an came to see me. I found him the most singular man that I ever saw in my life. I do not yet precisely know his birth; I believe, however, that he is the son of a clandestine union in a powerful and illustrious family. Possessin great wealth, he lives in the greatest sim plicity; he knows everyth ing, and shows an uprightness, a goodness of soul, worthy of admiration. mong a number of his accomplishments, he made, under my own eyes, ome experiments, of which the most important were the transmutation of ron into a metal as beautiful as gold, and at least as good for all goldsmith' work; the dyeing and preparation of skins, carried to a perfection whic surpassed all the moroccos in the world, a nd the most perfect ta nning; he dye ing of sil ks, carried to a perfection hitherto unknown; the like dyeing of woollens; the dyeing of wood in the most brilliant colours penetra ing through and through, and the whole without either indigo or co hineal, with the commonest ingredients, and consequently at a very mo erate price; the composition of colours for painting, ultra-marine is as perf ct as is made from lapis lazuli;
and finally, removing t e smell from painting oils, and making the best oil of Provence from the ils of Navette, of Colsat, and from others, even the worst. I have in my han s all these productions, made under my own eyes; I have had them under 0 the most strict examinations, and seeing in these articles a profit which ight mount up to millions, I have endeavoured to ta ke adva ntage of the f ie ndsh ip that th is ma n has fe It fo r me, and to lea rn from him all these sec ts. He has given them to me, and he asks nothing for himself beyond a p yment proportionate to the profits that may accrue from them, it being un erstood that this shall be only when the profit has been made. As the arvellous must inevitably seem uncertain, I have avoided the two point which appeared to me to be feared, the first, the being a dupe, and t e second, the involving myself in too great an expenditure. To avoid he first, I took a trusty person, under whose eyes I had the experiments m de, and I was fully convinced of the reality and the cheapness of these pr ductions. And as to the second, I referred M. de Zurmont (which is the name that St. Germain has taken) to a good and trustworthy me rcha nt t Tou rnay, with whom he is working, and I have had advances made which ount up to very little, through Nettine, whose son, and the son-in-law of alckiers, are the persons who will carry on these manufactures, when t e profits of the first experiments place us in a position to esta blish hem, without risking anyth ing of ou r own. The moment for deriving th profit is already close at hand". 1 From another source, Iso, we hear of de St. Germain at Tournay, namely, from the memoirs of C "Casanova on the road to Tournay was informed of the presence of M. Ie
Comte de St. Germain, nd desired to be presented to him. Being told that the Comte received no one, he wrote him to request an interview, which was granted under th restriction of coming incognito, and not being invited to partake of fo d with him. Casanova found the Comte in the dress of an Armenian with a I In this interview, M. e St. Germain informed arranging a Fabrique fo the Graf Cobenzl 2. Casanova that he was
ARNETH (A. Ritter von)
Graf Philipp Cobenzl and seine Mernoiren,
p. 9, note.
Wien, 1885.
2
CASANOVA (F. Seingalt de), Mernoires: vi., p. 76.
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From 1763, the date at which we have now arrived, up to 1769, we only g t the details of one year in Berlin, and this account comes from the memoi s of M. Dieudonne Thiebault, who gives the following interesting sketch: "There came to Berlin and remained in that city for the space of a year a remarkable man, who passed by the name of the Comte de St. Germai . The Abbe Pernety was not slow in recognising in him the characteristi s wh ich go to ma ke up an ade pt, and came to us with wonde rfu I stories." The author then goes on to relate that the Princess Arnelie went to call n him, and he also remarks that the old Baron Knyhausen was alwa s add ressed by M. de St. Ge rma in as "my so n." Says 0 ur author:-"Madame de Troussel was also anxious to see him. The Abbe Perne
arranged the matter for her, and the Comte came to her house one evening to supper. They chanced to make mention of the 'Philosopher s Stone,' and the Comte curtly observed that most people who were n pursuit of that were astonishingly illogical, inasmuch as they employed no agent but fire, forgetting that fire breaks up and decomposes, and th t consequently it was mere folly to depend upon it for the building up of a new composition. He dwelt much upon this, and finally led the convers tion back to more general topics. In appearance M. de St. Germain w s refined and intellectual. He was clearly of gentle birth, and had moved in good society; and it was reported that the famous Cagliostro (so w II known for his mystification of Cardinal Rohan and others at Paris) had been his pupil. The pupil, however, never reached the level of his master an , while the latter 'finished his career without mishap, Cagliostro was often rash to the point of criminality, and died in the prison of the Inquisition t Rome .... In the history of M. de St. Germain, we have the history of a wi e and prudent man who never wilfully offended against the code of honou , or did aught that might offend our sense of probity. Marvels we ha e without end, neve r anyth ing mea n or scanda lous." 1 The exact date of this visit to Berlin we cannot accurately give, but it com s in before the stay in Venice, where he was found by the Graf Max von Lamberg." at this time Chamberlain to the Emperor Joseph 11., and in h s
1 THIEBAULT
(D.), Mes Souvenirs de Vingt Ans de Sejour
Berlin, iv., p. 83. Pari,
1813. 2 LAM BERG (Graf Max von), Le Memorial
d'un Mondain, p. 80. London, 1775.
I
book we have some Germain under the na of experiments with fl had established quite would appear that h paper published at FI heading "News ofthe
most interesting details. The Graf finds M. de St. e of Marquis d'Aymar, or Belmare, making a variety x, which he was bleaching to look like Italian silk; he a large place, and had about a hundred workers. It then travelled with the Graf von Lamberg, for in a rence Le notizie del Mondo (July, 1770), under the orld," we find the following paragraph:-"TUNIS, July 1770.
"The Comte Maximili
n de Lamberg,
Chamberlain of M.M.L.L. II. and RR.
having paid a visit to he Island of Corsica to make various investigations, has been staying here since the end of June, in compa ny with the Signor de St. Germain, celebra d in Europe for the vastness of his political and philosophical knowled No further details ar given of this journey, Germain being in Man ua in the year 1773. One important point de St. Germain was at Russian uniform, and was, moreover, in this Prime Minister, his en "All his abilities, but we hear of M. de St.
hich belongs to the year 1770 has been omitted. M. Leghorn when the Russian fleet was there; he wore a as called Graf Saltikoff by the Graf Alexis Orloff. It year that he returned to Paris, on the disgrace of the my, the Duc de Choiseul.
esp cially his extraord ina ry kind ness," says Heer va n
Sypesteyn (op. cit.), " es, even magnanimity, which formed his essential characteristics, had m de him so respected and so beloved, that when in 1770, after the fa II f the Duc de Choise uI, his arch ene my, he again appeared in Paris, it as only with the greatest expressions of sorrow that the Parisians allowed him to depart .... M. de St. Germain came to the Hague after the deat of Louis XV (May 10th, 1774), and left for Schwalbach in 1774. This as the last time he visited Holland. It cannot be
Some interesting mat er concerning the Comte de St. Germain is printed in a most interesting book la ely published, Casanova et son temps, by E. Maynial. One entirely new and most i teresting fact is given by him: a correspondence has been found at Prague betwee the Comte de Lamberg and M. de St. Germain and is now in the hands of a well k own Austrian writer, who is putting it in order; no doubt before long M. Gugitz wi I publish these documents.
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ascertained ith accuracy how often he was there .... It is stated in a German biog aphy that he was in Holland in 1710, 1735, 1742,1748, 1760 and 1773." This last date brings us to the period that we have already noticed, the stay at Triesdorf and at Schwalbach, where many alchemical and other experiments ere carried on by the Markgraf and the Comte. The former we hear wa proud of his medical knowledge, and obtained from the English Cons I at Leghorn a copy of the prescription for the "Russian Tea" or "Aq ua Be edetta," made by M. de St. Ge rma in, wh ich was used in the Russian fleet, then in the Archipelago, to preserve the health of the troops under the se ere heat. From 1774 u ti 11776 we have the visit to Triesdorf; in 1776 we hea r of ou r mystic in Lei zig, and the following year in Dresden; with these periods we sha II have t dea lin ou r next pa pe r. About 1779 we hea r of M. de St. Germain at H mburg; thence he goes to Prince Karl of Hesse and stays with him for som time as his loved and honoured guest. They began various experiments ogether, experiments which were in all cases to be of use to the hu ma n ace. Writing of the knowledge and aIlud ing to the ea rly education of . de St. Germain by the Duc de Medici, the Prince says: "This House Medici), as is well known, was in possession of the highest knowledge, nd it is not surprising that he should have drawn his earlier knowledge fr m them; but he claimed to have learned that of Nature by his own applica ion and researches. He thoroughly understood herbs and plants, and h d invented the medicines of which he constantly made use, and which p longed his life and health. I still have all his recipes, but the physicians ra riot much against his science after his death. There was a physician, Lo sau, who had been an apothecary, and to whom I gave 1,200 crowns a ye r to work at the medicines which the Comte de St. Germain taught him, mong others and chiefly his tea, which the rich bought and the poor rec ived gratis .... After the death of this physician, disgusted by the talk I hea d on all sides, I withdrew all the recipes, and I did not replace Lossau." 1 L oking back at the record of all the powers and abilities possessed b this great man, one point comes out clearly: either he was following so e definite plan, a plan not known to the general world, or he wandered fr m place to place without aim, without family, without human
HESSE-CASSE ,Op. cit., p. 135.
ties--a sorrowful
life, tr Iy, for so gifted a mortal, if this were so. But since
he appeared always c ntented, though knowing more than those with whom he came into con act, always giving, and never in need, ever helping, but never claiming aid- surely with such evidence it becomes obvious to even the critical sceptic footsteps and life of th before quoted says: hat some power, some plan, must have guided the Comte de St. Germain. Indeed, one of the writers
"Sometimes he fell into a trance, and when he again recovered, he said he had passed the time wile he lay unconscious in far-off lands; sometimes he disappeared for a co siderable time, then suddenly re-appeared, and let it be understood that h had bee n ina nother wo rid in commu nication with the dead. Moreover, he prided himself on being able to tame bees, and to make snakes listen to m The author seems unaw re that the ordinary Yogis of India have this power over snakes; and doub less M. de St. Germain learned his knowledge in India. The power, also, f communicating with the dead has had more light thrown on it in this nin teenth century, thanks to those who follow in the footste ps of M. de St. G rma ina nd who are aid ing in the same great work. Nevertheless, although the above-quoted writer is sceptical on these points, he awards a t ibute of honest merit to our philosopher noticing, when writing:worth
"However this may be, St. Germain was in many respects a remarkable man, and wherever he as personally known he left a favourable impression behind, and the re embrance of many good and sometimes of many noble deeds. Many a p or father of a family, many a charitable institution, was helped by him in se ret ... not one bad, nor one dishonourable action was ever known of him, and so he inspired sympathy everywhere, and not least in Holla nd." Thus clearly stands ou the character of one who by some is called a "messenger" from that piritual Hierarchy by whom the world's evolution is gu ided; such is the mor I worth of the ma n whom the sha lIow critics of the ea rth ca II "adve ntu re r."
1 SYPESTEYN(J.
van) Histo ische Herinneringen.
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THE COMING DANGER
HE following extracts are translated from the very rare and valuabl Souven irs de Ma rie-Antoinette, by the Cou ntess d' Ad herna r, wh had been an intimate friend ofthe Queen, and who died in 1822.
1 in
I have not been able to find a single copy of this rare work
any library i
England, or on the Continent, to which I have so far had access. Bu fortunately a copy exists at Odessa in the library of Madame Fadeef, th aunt and frie nd of Mada me H. P. Blavatsky, and th is may lend it a additional interest in the opinion of some of our readers. One of our members has been kindly permitted to make some extract from the four volumes and thanks are due to Madame Fadeef for s graciously Iend ing the work for th is pu rpose. Mada me d' Ad herna r appea r to have kept a daily diary, after the fashion of the period, and to have late written her Souvenirs from this diary, occasionally interjecting an explana tory re ma rk. They cover a long period of ti me, ra nging from 1760 to 1821. One very interesting fact as to dates occurs in a note written by the hand 0 the Countess, fastened with a pin to the original MS. and dated May 12th, 1821. She died in 1822. It refers to a prophecy made to her by St. Germai about the year 1793, when he warned her of the approaching sad fate 0 the Queen, and in response to her query as to whether she would see hi again, he replied, "Five times more; do not wish for the sixth." The Countess writes: "I saw M. de St. Germain again, and always to m unspeakable surprise: at the assassination of the Queen; at the coming 0 the 18th Brumaire; the day following the death of the Duke d'Enghie
Since this was written I have been able to get this work; and the presen d'Adhernar informed me that there are documents concerning th Comte de St. Germain in their family papers. Madame H. P. Blavatsky was visiting the family and stayed at the Chatea d'Adhernar in 1884. This was one of the numerous aristocratic families which wer ruined in the Revolution. The present Comtesse d'Adhernar is an American; th docume nts are in Am erica.
1
Corntesse
I
[1804]; in the month of January, 1813; and on the e e of the murder of the Duke de 8erri [1820]. I await the sixth visit when God wills."
These dates are of interest because of the generall received opinion that St. Germain died in 1784; some few writers say he only retired from public work. These varying opinions will be treated later. Says Madame d'Adhernar 1:__ "Since my pen is again writing the name of the Comt de St. Germain, I will say something about him. He appeared (that is the word) at the Court of France long before me. It was in 1743; the rumour pread that a stranger, enormously rich to judge by the magnificence of is jewellery, had just arrived at Versailles. Whence did he come? That is what no one has ever been able to learn. His countenance, haughty, int lIectual, acute, struck one at first sight. He had a pliant, graceful figure, elicate hands, a small foot, an elegant leg which set off a well-fitting sil stocking. The smallclothes, very tight, also suggested a rare perfecti n of form; his smile showed the most beautiful teeth in the world, a pre ty dimple adorned his ch in, his ha ir was black, his eyes we re soft and pe ne rati ng. Oh! what eyes! I have nowhere seen their equal. He appeared about forty to forty-five years old. He was met again in the smaller apartments where he had free ad mission, at the begin ning of 1768. He did not see ada me d u 8a rry, but he was prese nt at the catastrophe of Mada me de Ch "When this lady died, the King who had only know the Count for a year, had nevertheless so much confidence in him that he asked him for an antidote for the dying Duchess. The Count refused, aying: 'It is too late." She continues: "At this same period a very singular adventure befell me. I was alone in Paris, M. d' Ad herna r having gone to vis t some relations of his own name that he had in Languedoc. It was one Su day at eight o'clock in the morning. I am accustomed to hear Mass at noon, time for my toilette and for preparing to go out. I ro had scarcely thrown on my morning wrapper whe head waiting-woman in whom also I placed entire tell me that a gentleman wished to speak to me. so that.1 had but little e hurriedly, then, and Mdlle. Rostande, my onfidence, came in to
l'
ADHEMAR, op. crt., vol. I, p. 294.

I
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"To pay a visit to a woman at eight o'clock was agai st all accepted rules. 'Is it my procurator, my lawyer?' I asked. For one h s always one of these gentlemen at one's heels, however little property one may possess. 'Is it my arch itect, my sadd Ier, 0 r one of my fa rmers?' "To each question a negative answer. '''But who is it, then, my dear?' "I treated my maid with familiarity. She was born in the same house, that of my father, with the di the world in a handsome apartmen and she in porter. Her father, a worthy Languedoc ma n, pensioner in our service. '''I thought,' answered my maid, 'with all due he same day as myself, erence that I came into he lodge of our house was a su pe ran n uated
espect to Madame
la
Comtesse, that the devil had long since made a this personage.' "I passed in review all those of my acquaintance w
antle out of the skin of
could have deserved
any special treatment by Satan, and I found so ma y of them that I did not know on whom to fasten my conjectures. "'Since Mada me does not guess,' conti nued Md lie. osta nde, 'I will ta ke the libe rty of telling he r that it is the Comte de Saint-Ge rma in!' '''Comte de Saint-Germain!' '''Himself.' "My surprise was great on finding that he was at aris and in my house. It I exclaimed, 'the man
0
miracles.'
was eight years since he had left France, and no on knew in the least what had become of him. Heeding nothing but my cu iosity, I ordered her to show him in. '''Did he tell you to announce him to me under his
0
n name?'
'''It is M. de Saint-Noel that he calls himself no . No matter, I should recogn ise him among a thousa nd.' "She we nt out, nd a moment afte r the Count appeared. He looked fresh and well, and al ost grown younger. He

I
T e Comte de St. Germain
p id me the same compliment, s ncere as mine.
but it may be doubted
whether
it was as
" You have lost,' I said to him, 'a friend, a protector
in the late King.'
" I doubly regret this loss, both for myself and for France.' " The nation is not of you r opi nion; it looks to the new reign for its we Ifare.' " It is a m ista ke; th is reign will be fata I to it.' " What are you saying?' I replied, lowering my voice and looking around
e.
"The truth .... A gigantic conspiracy is being formed, which as yet has no v sible chief, but he will appear before long. The aim is nothing less than t e overthrow of what exists, to reconstruct it on a new plan. There is illill towards the royal family, the clergy, the nobility, the magistracy. There still ti me, however, to baffle the plot; later, th is wou Id be impossi ble.' here have you seen all this? Is it in dreaming, or awake?' " artly with the help of my two ears, and partly through King of Fra nce, I repeat, has no time to lose.' revelations. The
" You must seek an audience of the Comte de Maurepas, and let him know y ur fea rs, for he ca n do eve ryth ing, be ing entirely in the confide nce of the King.' " He can do everything I know, except save France; or rather, it is he who ill hasten her ruin. This man will undo you, Madame.' " You are telling me enough about it to get yourself sent to the Bastille for t e rest of your days.' " I do not spea k th us exce pt to friends of whom I am su re.' "Nevertheless, see M. de Maurepas; anting in ability.' he has good intentions, though
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'''He would reject the evidence; besides, he detests me. Do you not know the silly quatrain which caused his exile? 'Beautiful Marquise, they praise your cha ms. Lovely are you and very frank; But all that does not prevent You r flowers being flowers.'
"The rhyme is inaccurate, Count.'

'''Oh! the Marquise paid little attention to it; but she knew that M. de
Maurepas was the author of it, and he pr tended that I had taken away the original manuscript from him to send it 0 the haughty Sultana. His exile followed the publication of these wretch d verses, and from that time he included me in h is schemes of venge nee. He will neve r forgive me. Nevertheless, Madame la Comtesse, this s what I propose to you. Speak of me to the Quee n, of the services that I ha e rende red to the gove rn ment in the missions that have been entrusted to me at the various courts of Europe. If her Majesty will listen to me, I will reveal to her what I know; then she will judge whether it will be w II for me to enter into the King's presence; without the intervention, how ver, of M. de Maurepas--that is my sine qua non.' "I listened attentively to M. de Saint-G and I understood all the
dangers that would again fall on my hea On the other hand, I knew the Count European politics, and I feared to lose th and the King. The Comte de Saint-Germa me:--
, if I interfered in such an affair. to be perfectly conversant with opportunity of serving the State n, guessing my perplexity, said to
'''Think over my proposal; I am in Paris ncognito; do not speak of me to anyone; and if to-morrow you will come to meet me in the church of the Jacobins in the Rue Saint-Honore, I will a ait your answer there at eleven o'clock precisely.' '''I would rather see you in my own house' '''Willi ngly; to-morrow, then, Mada me.'
The Comte de St Germain
"He departed I pondered all day on this apparition, as it were, and on the menacing wo ds of the Comte de Saint-Germain. What! we were on the eve of social happy auspic text, I deter consented to resolution tha answe red in France. isorganisation; this reign, which was ushered in under such s, was brewing the tempest! After long meditation on this ined to present M. de Saint-Germain to the Queen, if she t. He was punctual to the appointment, and delighted at the I had made. I asked him if he was going to settle in Paris; he he negative, his pia ns no longe r pe rmitting him to live in
"'A ce ntu ry will pass,' he said, 'before I sha II re-a ppea r the re.' "I burst out Versa ilies; I p Misery there, as soon as sh aughing, and he did the same. That very day I went to ssed th rough the sma II apa rtme nts, and find ing Mada me de I begged her to let the Queen know that I wished to see her could receive me. The head chamber-woman returned with
the command to conduct me in. I entered; the Queen was sitting in front of a charming p rcelain writing-table, which the King had given her; she was writing, and urning her head she said to me with one of her gracious smiles:-'''What do yo want with me?'
'''A trifle, Mad me; I merely aspire to save the monarchy.' "Her Majesty ooked at me with amazement. I mentioned the Comte de Saint-
'''Explain you self.' "At this command
Germain; I to d all that I knew of him, of his intimacy with the late King, Madame de P mpadour, the Duke de Choiseul; I spoke of the real services that he had r ndered to the State by his diplomatic ability; I added that since the dea h of the Marquise he had disappeared from Court, and that no one knew he place of his retirement. When I had sufficiently piqued the Queen's curio ity, I ended by repeating to her what the Count had said to me the previo s day, and had confirmed that morning. "The Queen a peared to reflect; then she replied. '''It is strange; yesterday I received a letter from my mysterious correspondent; he war ed me that an important communication would shortly be
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ma e to me, and that I must take it into serious consideration, on pain of the greatest misfortunes. The coincidence of these two things is remarkable unless, however, they come from the same source; what do you think ab ut it?' '''I carcely know what to say of it. Here has the Queen been receiving the e mysterious communications for several years, and the Comte de Sai t-Germa in re-a ppea red on Iy yesterday.' rha ps he acts in th is way in order the bette r to concea I himself.' at is possible; nevertheless, something tells me that one ought to put in his words." '''After all, one is not sorry to see him, were it only in
fait
pas ing. I authorise you, then, to bring him to-morrow to Versailles, dis uised in your livery. He shall remain in your apartments, and as soon as it is possible for me to admit him, I will have you both summoned. I will not list n to him exce pt in yo ur presen ce; that, too, is my sine qua non.' "I ow les rec owed profoundly, and the Queen dismissed me with the usual signal. I , however, that my confidence in the Comte de Saint-Germain was ened by the coincidence of his coming to Paris with the warning ived the day before by Marie-Antoinette. I fancied I saw in it a regular
sch me of trickery, and I asked myself if I ought to speak to him about it; but considering all, I resolved to be silent, certain that he was prepared bef re ha nd to answe r th is question. "M de Saint-Germain was awaiting me outside. As soon as I perceived him, I st my not the Iw pped my carriage; he got into it with me, and we returned together to house. He was present at my dinner, but according to his custom he did eat; after this he proposed to go back to Versailles. He would sleep at inn, he added, and rejoin me the next day. I consented to this, eager as s to neglect noth ing for the success of th is busi ness.
* **
"W were in my dwelling, then, in quarters which at Versailles were called a site of apartments, when one of the Queen's pages came to ask me on her Majesty's behalf for the second volume of the book that she had des red me to bring her from Paris. This was the signal agreed upon. I
handed the page a volume of some new no know not what, and as soon as he had gone, I followed, accompanied by my lackey. "We entered through the cabinets; Madame e Misery conducted us into the private room where the Queen was awai ing us. She rose with affable dignity. '" Monsieu r Ie Comte,' she said to him, 'Versa il es is a place wh ich is fa mil iar to you.' '"Madame, for nearly twenty years I was on ntimate terms with the late
King; he deigned to listen to me with kindne s; he made use of my poor abilities on several occasions, and I do not think that he regretted having given me his confidence.' '"You have wished Madame d'Adhernar to bing you to me; I have great
affection for her and I do not doubt that what you have to tell me deserves listening to.' n voice, 'will in her wisdom weigh what I am about to confide to her. Th Encvclopaedist party desire power; they will only obtain it by the absolut downfall of the clergy, and to ensure this result they will overthrow th monarchy. This party, who seek a chief among the members ofthe royal mily, have turned their eyes on the Duc de Chartres; this prince will beco e the tool of men who will sacrifice him when he has ceased to be useful 0 them; the crown of France will be offered him, and he will find the scaff Id instead of the throne. But before this day of retribution, what crueltie ! what crimes! Laws will no longer be the protection of the good and the terror of the wicked. It is these last who will seize power with their bl od-stained hands; they will abolish the Catholic religion, the nobility, the agistracy.'
"The Queen,' answered the Count in a sole
"'So that noth ing but roya Ity will be left!' inter upted the Queen, im patiently. '"Not even royalty! ... but a greedy republic, of the executioner.' hose sceptre will be the axe
"At these words I could not contain myself, interrupt the Count in the Queen's presence:
and taking
upon
me to

I
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'"Monsieur!' I cried, 'do you think of what you are saying, and before whom you are spea king?' '"In truth,' added Marie-Antoinette, a little agitat d, 'these are things that my ea rs are not accustomed to hea r.' '"An d it is in the gravity of the circu msta nces hat I find th is bold ness,' coolly replied M. de Saint-Germain. 'I have not c me with the intention of paying a homage to the Queen of which she mus be weary, but indeed to point out to he r the da nge rs wh ich th reate n he r c own, if pro mpt measu res are not taken to avertthem.' '"You are positive, Monsieu r,' said Ma rie-Antoine e, petu la ntly.
'"I am deeply grieved to displease your Majesty, but I can only speak the truth .' '" Monsieu r,' re plied the Quee n, affecti ng a playfu tone, 'the true, perha ps, may sometimes not be the probable.' '"I admit, Madame, that this is a case in point; bu me in my tu rn to remind you that Cassandra fore that they refused to believe it. I am Cassand ra, Priam. Some years yet will pass by in a deceitful c the kingdom will up men greedy for vengeance, f they will overthrow all in their way. The seditious members of the State will lend them support; a possession of the citizens; civil war will burst out bring in its train murder, pillage, exile. Then it w not listened to; perhaps I shall be asked for again, . . the storm will have swept all before it.' your Majesty will permit old the ruin of Troy, and ra nce is the kingdom of 1m; then from all parts of r power, and for money; populace and some great pirit of delirium will take with all its horrors; it will II be regretted that I was but the time will be past .
'"I confess, Monsieur, that this discourse astoni hes me more and more, and did I not know that the late King ha dan affec ion for you, and that you had served him faithfully .. You wish to speak to t '"Yes, Madame.' "' But without the concu rrence of M. de Ma ure pas. '

I
'''He is my enemy; besides, I ra k him among those who will further ruin of the kingdom, not from m lice, but from incapacity.' '''You are a severe judge majority.'
u
the
of
man who
has the
approbation
of the
He is more th an prime mi nister Mada me, and by right of th is he is su re to
have flatte re rs. ' '''If you exclude him from your find it difficult to approach his adviser.' '''I shall be at their Majesties' co elations with the King, I fear that you will ajesty, who cannot act without his chief
mand as long as they wish to employ me;
but as I am not thei r su bject, aII bed ie nce on my pa rt is a gratu itous act.' '''Monsieur,' said the Queen, wh at this period could not treat any matter seriously for long together, ' here were you born?' '''At Jerusalem, Madame.' '''And that was ... when?' "The Queen will permit me to h ve a weakness common to many persons. I never Iike to te II my age; that b ings misfortu ne.' '''As for me, the Royal Almanac does not allow of any illusion about my own. Farewe II, Monsieu r; the pi asu re of the King sha II be commu nicated to you.' "This was a dismissal; we retire Saint-Germain said to me:-, and in returning home with me M. de
'" I too am about to leave yo u, ada me, and for a long ti me, for I do not propose to re ma in more tha n fo r days in France.' '''What is it that makes you decide to start so quickly?' "The Queen will repeat to the ing what I have said to her, Louis XVI. will tell it again in his turn to M. d Maurepas, this Minister will draw up a
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warrant (Iettre de ca het) against me, and the head of the police will have orders to put it into execution. I know how these things are done, and I have no desire to go a the Bastille.' '"What wou Id it matt r to you? You wou Id get out th rough the key-hole.'
'"I prefer not to need recourse to a miracle. Farewell, Madame.' '"But ifthe King shou d summon you?' '"I will return.' '"How shall you kno it?'
'"I have the means a doing so: do not trouble yourself on that point.' '" Mea nwh ile, I sha II e co mpromised!' '"Not so; farewell.' "He departed, as so troubled. I had told out her wishes, I Madame de Misery no good from this e n as he had taken off my livery. I remained greatly he Queen that in order to be the better able to carry auld not leave the chateau .... Two hours after, ame to seek me on behalf of her Majesty. I augured gerness. I found the King with Marie-Antoinette. She
appeared to me emb rrassed; Louis XVI., on the contrary, came up to me in a frank way, and too my hand, which he kissed with infinite grace, for he had charming manners when he pleased. '"Madame wizard?' d'Adhern r,' he said to me, 'what have you done with your
"The Comte de Saint Germain, Sire? He has started for Paris.' '"He has seriously a armed the Queen. Had he previously same way to you?" '"Not with so many d tails.' '"I bear no ill-will t you for it, nor does the Queen either, for your intentions are good; ut I blame the stranger for daring to foretell reverses to us wh ich a II the fur qua rte rs of the globe cou Id not offer in the co urse spoken in the
The Comte de St. G rmain
of a century. A de Maurepas, were necessary speak to him 0 shall not refus grandfather lik wished to reas appearance of t be held clea r.'
ove all, he is wrong in concealing himself from the Comte ho would know how to lay aside his personal enmities if it to sacrifice them to the interests of the monarchy. I shall the subject, and if he advises me to see Saint-Germain, I to do so. He is credited with intellect and ability; my d his society; but before granting him a conference, I ure you as to the possible consequences of the fresh is mysterious personage. Whatever may happen, you will
"My eyes filled with tears at this striking
proof of the kindness of their
Majesties, for t e Queen spoke to me as affectionately as did the King. I returned calme , but vexed, nevertheless, at the turn that this affair had taken, and I in ardly congratulated myself that M. de Saint-Germain had foreseen all. "Two hours lat r, I was still in my room, absorbed in my own thoughts, when there wa a knock at the door of my modest dwelling. I heard an unusual comm tion, and almost immediately the two folding doors opened, and M nseigneur Ie Comte de Maurepas was announced. I rose to receive him wi h rather more briskness than if it had been the King of France. He ca e forwa rd with a smi ling cou nte na nce. '" Pardo n me, Madame,' he sa d, 'for the uncere mon iousness of my visit; but I have some enquiries to make of you, and politeness required that I should come to seekyou.' "The cou rtiers f this period showed an exqursrte politeness to women, which was no onger to be found in its purity after the storm which overturned eve hing. I replied, as I was bound to do, to M. de Maurepas, and these preli '"Well!' returned? jugglery.' he . friend the Comte de Saint-Germain has his
e is already at his old tricks, and has recommenced
"I was about to
xcla im; but stopping me with a gestu re of entreaty:--
'"Believe me,' h added, 'I know the rogue better than you do, Madame. One thing only urprises me; the years have not spared me, and the Queen declares that th Comte de Saint-Germain presented the appearance of a
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man of forty. Hower that may be, we must know whence he has gained this information, so circumstantial, so alarming .... He did not give you his address, I will warr nt?'
'''It will be discover d, our police hounds have a keen scent .... Further ... the King thanks y u for your zeal. Nothing grievous will befall SaintGermain, except th well warmed, until cu rious th ings.' being shut up in the Bastille, where he will be well fed, e condescends to tell us where he has got at so many
"At this moment ur attention was diverted by the noise made by the open ing of the do r of my room .... It was the Comte de Saint-Germa in who entered! A cry escaped me, while M. de Maurepas hurriedly rose, and I must say that h s countenance changed a little. The thaumaturgist, approaching him, s id:-'''M. Ie Comte de aurepas, the King summoned you to give him good
advice, and you thi k only of maintaining your own authority. In opposing yourself to my seei g the Monarch, you are losing the monarchy, for I have but a limited time t give to France and, this time over, I shall not be seen here aga in until aft r th ree consecutive gene rations have gone down to the grave. I told the Q een all that I was permitted to tell her; my revelations to the King would have been more complete; it is unfortunate that you should have interv ned between His Majesty and me. I shall have nothing to reproach myself ith when horrible anarchy devastates all France. As to these calamities, y u will not see them, but to have prepared them will be sufficient memorial of you .... Expect no homage from posterity, frivolous and incapable Minister! You will be ranked among those who cause the ru in of empi res.' "M. de Saint-Germ in, having spoken thus without taking breath, turned towards the door a ain, shut it, and disappeared" 1. All efforts to find th Cou nt fa iled!
1 ADHEMAR,
Op. cit., i., pp. 52-72.
TRAGICAL PROPHECIES
Germain strove to overshadowing it. He had Queen from the time of adviser" of whom mention
HE most deeply interesting of all the incidents re orded in this diary of Madame d'Adhernar are those which sho how M. de St.-warn the Royal Family of th evils which were evidently watched over the unfortunate young her entry into France. He s the "mysterious is frequently made.
He it was who strove to make the King and Queen un erstand that M. de Maurepas and their other advisers were wrecking their ingdom. The friend of Royalty, he was yet the one most accused by the Abbe Barruel of leading the Revolution. "Time proves aII," and time has aIlowed the accuse r to sin k into a well-deserved oblivion, while the accused stand out as true friend and true prophet. Let the voice of the dead woma n bea its own witness:-"The future was darkening; we were nearing the terribl catastrophe which was about to overwhelm France. The abyss was at our feet; yet averting our heads, struck with a fatal blindness, we hurried fro fete to fete, from pleasure to pleasure. It was like a kind of frenzy which hrust us gaily on to our destruction. Alas! how can a storm be controlled when one sees it not? "Meanwhile, from time to time, some troubled or obse ant minds tried to snatch us from this fatal security. I have already said tha the Comte de St.-Germain had tried to unseal the eyes of Their Majesti perceive the approach of danger; but M. de Maurep salvation of the country to come from anyone but thaumaturgist, and he re-appeared no more." 1 The date at which these events were taking place was 1 however, did not culminate until 1793. Madame d'Ad events and does not in every case put the exact date. T King and Throne were increasing in violence and bitte owing to the fatal blindness already alluded to by our w s, by making them s, not wishing the imself, ousted the
88; the final crash, ernar is reviewing e attacks upon the ness year by year, iter. The frivolity of
1 ADHEMAR,
op. cit., iv., 1.
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oks.org
the Court increased pari passu with the hatred of its enemi s. The unfortunate Queen, indeed, did make efforts to understand the co dition of affairs, but in vain. Madame d'Adhernar gives some of the de ails as follows: "I cannot refrain from copying here, in order to give an idea of th debates [in the National Assembly], a letter written by M. de parliamentary adviser to the Chambres de Requetes, and addressed of his friends, a member of the parliament at Toulouse .... This was spread abroad and read with avidity; many copies of it were cir in Paris. Before the original reached Toulouse, it was spoken of drawing-room ofthe Duchesse de Polignac. "The Queen, turning to me, asked me if I had read it, and requeste procure it for her. This request caused me real embarrassment; I wi obey Her Majesty, and at the same time I feared to displease th Minister; however my attachment to the Queen prevailed. "Marie-Antoinette read the article in my presence, and then sighi Madame d'Adhernar,' she said, 'how painful all these attacks authority of the King are to me! We are walking on dangerous gr und; I begin to believe that your Comte de St.--Germain was right. W were wrong not to listen to him, but M. de Maurepas imposed a skil ul and despotic dictatorship upon us. To what are we coming? 1 " ... The Queen sent for me, and I hastened to her sacred order. Sh letter in he hand. 'Madame d'Adhernar,' she said, 'here is another
to one ccount ulated in the
ruling
issive
from my unknown. Have you not heard people talking again of the Comte de St.--Germain?' '" No,' I re plied; 'I have not seen him, and noth ing has reached m him.' "Th is time,' added the Quee n, 'the oracle has used the languag becomes him, the epistle is in verse; it may be bad, but it is n cheering. You shall read it at your leisure, for I have promised an a to the Abbe de Ballivieres, I wish that my friends could live on good t fro m
wh ich t very dience rms!'
1 ADHEMAR,
op. cit., iv., p. 63.
The Comte de S • Germain
'''Especially,' "The unkno
ventured to add, 'as their enemies triumph
in their quarrels.'
n says the same as you do; but who is wrong or right?'
"The Queen may satisfy both parties by means of the first two vacant Bishoprics.' '''You are mi taken; the King will give the episcopal mitre neither to the Abbe d'Erse nor to the Abbe de Ballivieres, The protectors of these gentlemen a d our Abbe will believe that the ill-will is on my side; you might, since Baroness de maker of the to reason.' " dispel the m ou are compared to the heroes of Ariosto (the speech of the Stael had occurred to the Queen), play the part of peacegood King Sobrir; behold the Countess Diana, make her listen I will ta Ik reason to he r,' said I, trying to laugh in orde r to lancholy ofthe Queen. replied Her Majesty, 'however, she loves her
'''Diana is a spoilt child,' friends.' '''Yes, Mada obey the Qu "They came
,even to showing herself implacable to their enemies!
I will
inform
Marie-Antoinette
that the Abbe de Ballivieres had
arrived acco ding to her command. I passed into the small closet, where having aske Madame Campan for pen, ink, and paper, I copied the following pa sage, obscure then, but which afterwards became only too clear. "The time is ast approaching when imprudent France, Surrounded y misfortune she might have spared herself, Will call to m nd such hell as Dante painted. This day, 0 ueen! is near, no more can doubt remain, A hydra vile nd cowardly, with his enormous horns Will carry off the altar, throne, and Themis; In place of common sense, madness incredible Will reign, an all be lawfu I to the wicked. Yea! FalIing s aII we see sceptre, cense r, scales, Towers and scutcheons, even the white flag: Henceforth ill all be fraud, murders and violence, Which we sh II find instead of sweet repose.
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Great treams of blood are flowing in each town; Sobs nIy do I hea r, and exiles see! On all ides civil discord loudly roars, ering cries on all sides virtue flees, the assembly votes of death arise. ad! who ca n re ply to mu rderous judges? what brows august I see the sword descend! p. 79 onste rs treated as the pee rs of heroes! sors, oppressed, victors, vanquished ... rm reaches you all in turn, in this common wreck, What rimes, what evils, what appalling guilt, Mena e the subjects, as the potentates! And are tha none usu rper triu m phs in com ma nd, More han one heart misled is humbled and repents. At last closing the abyss and born from a black tomb There ises a young lily, more happy, and more fair.'
"Thes prophetic verses, written by a pen we already knew, astonished me. I rack d my brains to guess their meaning; for how could I believe that it was t eir simplest meaning that I ought to give them! How imagine, for instan e, that it was the King and Queen who would die a violent death, and a the result of iniquitous sentences? We could not, in 1788, have such clear s ght; it was an impossibility.
"Whe I returned to the Queen, and no indiscreet person could listen, she said :-"'Wha do you ma ke of these th reaten ing verses?' But they cannot affect your Majesty. People do say words turn out to be
'''They are dismaying!
incred ble things, follies; if, however, the prophetic true, t ey will concern our posterity.' '''Pray 'howe taken witho now gleam
heaven you speak truly, Madame d'Adhernar.' replied the Queen; er, these are strange experiences. Who is this personage who has n interest in me for so many years without making himself known, t seeking any reward, and who yet has always told me the truth? He arns me of the overthrow of everything that exists and, if he gives a of hope, it is so distant that I may not reach it.'
"I strove to comfort the Queen; above all, I told her, she must make her friends live on good terms with each other, and not I t their private quarrels be known outside. Marie-Antoinette answere me in these memorable words:-'''You fancy that I possess credit or power in our Salon. You are mistaken; I had the misfortune to believe that a Queen was permitted The conseq ue nce is that aII try to ru Ie me, or to use m personal advantage. I am the centre of a crowd of intrigu difficulty in avoiding. Everyone complains of my ingratitud role of a Queen of France. There is a very fine verse which I ma king a cha nge in the read ing: "Kings are conde mned to should say with more reason: "Kings are condemned to b lone liness." '''So I should act were I to begin my career again."
1
have friends. for their own s, which I have . This is not the pply to myself, agn ifice nce." I weary in utter
0
Madame d'Adhernar does not give any very definite dates i her diary, and it is chiefly by the historical episodes, which led up to the inal crash, that we are able to mark the passage of time. Passing on fr m the general events, deeply interesting in themselves, but not bearing 0 the Comte de St. Germain, we come to the proscription which was pas ed against the Royalists in 1789, and once more the unfortunate Qu en received a warning from her unknown adviser, whose advice alas! ell on ears too wea k to unde rsta nd. Hea ring of the proceed ings aga ins the Polignacs, Marie-Antoinette sent to warn the Duchess about her a proaching fall. Madame d' Ad herna r gra ph ica lIy tells the ta Ie as follows:-"I arose, and showing the pain that this commission gave Madame de Polignac. I could have wished to find her alone. Duke, her husband, her sister-in-law, the Count de Vaudreu de Ballivieres, On seeing my solemn look when I entered, still wet with the tears that had mingled with those of the that I had come for a sad reason; the Duchess held out her e, I went off to I met there the I and M. l'Abbe y swollen eyes ueen, they felt and to me.
'''What have you to tell me?' she said; 'I am prepared for ev ry misfortune.'
1 ADHEMAR,
op. cit., iv., pp. 74-97. The date here mentioned
is 1 88.
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'"Not,'
said I, 'for that whic
is about to burst upon you. Alas! my sweet
frie nd, bea r it with resignat on and cou rage .... ' "These words died away on my lips, and the Countes , taking up the words, said:-'"You are causing my sister Madame, what is the matte ?' "The Quee n,' I said, 'in order to avoid the proscri ption that th reate ns you-you and yours--wishes you t go for some months to Vienna.' "The Queen d rives me awa , and you come to te II me!' cried the Duchess, rising.
u
thousand
sufferings by your reticence. Well,
Unjust frie nd!' I answered, 'let me tell you aII that rema ins to be told.' had
"Then I went on and repea ed word for word what Marie-Antoinette charged me to tell her.
"There were more cries, m re tears, more despairings; I did not know to whom to listen; M. de V udreuil showed no more firmness than the Polignacs. '"Alas!' said the Duchess, 'it s my duty to obey, I will certainly depart, since the Queen wills it; but wi I she not permit gratitude for her innumerab e kindnesses?' me to repeat verbally my
'" Never,' said I, 'd id she th i k of you r going before she had consoled you; go then to he r cha mber, h r reception will ma ke ame nds to you for th is appa rent d isfavou r.' "The Duchess begged me to ccompany her, and I consented. My heart was broken at the sad interview etween these friends who loved each other so warmly. It was a flood of omplaints, tears, sighs; they embraced each other so closely that they auld not tear themselves apart; it was truly pitiful to see. "At this moment a letter w s brought to the Queen, curiously sealed; she glanced at it, shuddered a she looked at me, and said: 'It is from our unknown.'
'" In truth,' said I, 'it seemed stra nge to me that he shou Id ave re ma ined quiet in such circumstances as these; besides, he has only an icipated me.' "Madame de Polignac from her expression appeared eager to know what me.
was so familiarto
"A sign that I made let the Queen know this. Her Majesty t en proceeded to say: "'From the time of my arrival in France, and in every imp rtant event in which my interests have been concerned, a mysterious protector has disclosed what I had to fear; I have told you something of t, and to-day I dou bt not that he is advising me what to do.' "'Here, Madame d'Adhernar.' she said to me, 'read this lette ; your eyes are less tired than Madame de Polignac's and mine.' "Alas! the Queen referred to the tears that she never ceased to shed. I took the paper and having opened the envelope I read what folio s. "'Madame--I have been a Cassandra; my words have fallen n your ears in
vain, and you have reached the period of which I inform d you. It is no longer a question of tacking but of meeting the storm ith thundering energy; in order to do this and to increase your stren th, you must separate yourself from the persons whom you most love s as to remove all pretext from the rebels. Moreover these persons run t e risk of their lives; all the Polignacs and their friends are doomed to eath and are pointed out to the assassins who have just murdered the officers of the Bastille and the provost of the me rcha nts. The Comte d' A ois will perish; they th irst for his blood; let him ta ke heed to it. I hasten 0 te II you th is, later on I will communicate further with you about it.' "We were in the stupor which such a menace inevitably ca ses, when the Comte d'Artois was announced. We all started, and h himself was astounded. He was questioned, and, unable to keep silence, he told us that the Duc de Liancourt had just told him as well as the King, t at the men of the Revolution, in order to consolidate it, had made up thei minds to take his life (that of the Comte d' Artois), and that of th e Duches e de Polignac, and of the Duc, and also the lives of Messieurs de Vaudreu I, de Vermont, de Guiche, of the Ducs de Broglie, de la Vauguyon, de Cast ies, the Baron
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de Brete uil, Messieu rs de Villede uil, d' Amec a real proscription .... 1
u rt, des Polastrons--in a word
"On returning home, a note was given to me thus worded:-'"AII is lost, Countess! This sun is the last which will set on the monarchy; to-morrow it will exist no more, chaos will p evail, anarchy unequalled. You know all I have tried to do to give affairs a different turn; I have been scorned; now it is too late. '" ... Keep yo urself in retire ment, I will wa you will survive the tempest that will hav desi re that I have to see you; what shou Id w ask of me the impossible; I can do nothin Queen, nothing for the Royal Family, nothi who will be triumphant to-morrow, and w the Capitol to be th rown from the top of the you would care very much to meet with o'clock Mass at the Recollets, and enter t hand. '" I have the honou r t ch ave r you; be prudent, and beaten down all. I resist the say to each other? You wou Id for the King, nothing for the g even for the Duc d'Orleans, 0, all in due course, will cross Ta rpeia n rock. Neverthe less, if n old friend, go to the eight e second chapel on the right
be ... "'COMTE DE ST.--GERMAIN.'
"At this name, already guessed, a cry of sur rise escaped me; he still living, he who was said to have died in 1784, and hom I had not heard spoken of for long years past--he had suddenly re-app ared, and at what a moment, what an epoch! Why had he come to Fra n ? Was he the n never to have done with life? For I knew some old people who had seen him bearing the stamp of forty or fifty years of age, and that at the beginning of the eighteenth century! "It was one o'clock at night when I read his etter; the hour for the rendezvous was early, so I went to bed; I slept lit Ie, frightful dreams tormented me and, in their hideous grotesqueness, I beheld the future, without however understanding it. As day dawned, I arose worn out. I had ordered my butler to bring me some very strong co ee, and I took two cups of it, op. cit., iv., pp. 189-193.
1 ADHEMAR,

I
wh ich revived me. At ha If past seven I su mmoned a seda n cha ir, and, followed by my confidential old servant, I repaired to the Recollets. "The ch urch was em pty; I P sted my Laroche as se nti nel and I e nte red the chapel named; soon after, nd almost before I had collected my thoughts in the presence of God, behold a man approaching .... It was himself in person .... Yes! with the ame countenance as in 1760, while mine was covered with furrows and arks of decrepitude .... I stood impressed by it; he smiled at me, came for ard, took my hand, kissed it gallantly. I was so troubled that I allowed him 0 do it in spite ofthe sanctity ofthe place. '"There you are!' I said. 'Wh re have you come from?' '"I am come from China and Japan .... ' '"Or rathe r from the othe r orld!'
'"Yes, indeed, pretty nea rly so! Ah! Mada me, down the re (I underli ne the expression) nothing is so strange as what happens here. How is the monarchy of Louis XIV. dis osed of? You who did not see it cannot make the compa rison, but I. ... ' '"I have caught you, man of '"Who does not know the esterday!' history of this great reign? And Cardinal
Richelieu, if he were rebor , it would send him mad. What! not rule! What did I tell you, and the Que n too? that M. de Maurepas would let everything be lost, because he ompromised everything. I was Cassandra, or a prophet of evil, and now ho do you stand?' '"Ah! Comte, you r wisdom wi II be useless.' '" Mada me, he who sows the wind reaps the whirlwind. esus said so in the Gospel, perhaps not before me, but at any rate His wo ds remain written, and people could only have profited by mine.' '"Aga in!' I said, tryi ng to s ile, but he without said :-replying to my excla mation
'"I have written it to you, I an do nothing, my hands are tied by a stronger than myself. There are peri ds oftime when to retreat is impossible, others
52
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when He has pronounced . ,1 entering. '''Will you see the Queen?' '''No, she is doomed.' '''Doomed! To what?' '''To death!'
and the decree
ill be executed. Into this we are
"Oh, this time I could not keep back a c ,I rose on my seat, my hands repulsed the Comte, and in a trembling va ce I said: '''And you too! you! what, you too!' '''Yes, 1------1,like Cazotte.' '''You know .... ' '''What you do not even suspect. Retur Queen to take heed to herself, that this plot, murder is premeditated.' '''You fill me with horror, but the Comte take fright, and will hide himself.' '''But M. de Lafayette .... ' '''A balloon puffed out with wind! Even with him, whether decided.' he shall be instrume ow they are settling what to do t or victim; by noon all will be to the Palace, go and tell the ay will be fatal to her; there is a
'Estaing has promised.'
'''He will
"' Monsieu r,' I said, 'you cou Id rende r grea services to au r Save reigns if you would.' '''And if I cannot?'
1 The
italics are in the original.
Th
Comte de St. Germain
'" es; if I cannot? I thought I should not be listened to. The hour of repose is past, and the decrees of Providence must be fu Ifilled.' '"In plain words, what do they want?' '" he complete ruin of the Bourbons; they will expel them from all the thrones they occupy, and in less than a century they will return to the rank o sim pie private ind ivid ua Is in thei r d iffe rent bra nches.' '" nd France?' '" ingdom, Republic, Empire, mixed Governments, tormented, agitated, t rn; from clever tyrants she will pass to others who are ambitious without m rit. She will be divided, parcelled out, cut up; and these are no pleon sms that I use, the coming times will bring about the overthrow of the E pire; pride will sway or abolish distinctions, not from virtue but from v nity, and it is through vanity that they will come back to them. The Fr nch, like children playing with handcuffs and slings, will play with titles, h nours, ribbons; everything will be a toy to them, even to the shoulderb It of the National Guard; the greedy will devour the finances. Some fifty m lIions now form a deficit, in the name of which the Revolution is made. ell! under the d ictatorsh ip of the ph ila nth ropists, the rhetoricia ns, the fi e ta Ike rs, the State debt will exceed seve ra I thousa nd mi lIions!'
"' 0 u
are a te rrible prophet! When sha III see yo u aga in?'
'" ive times more; do not wish for the sixth.' "I confess that a conversation so solemn, so gloomy, so terrifying, inspired m with little wish to continue it. M. de St.--Germain oppressed my heart
Ii e a night-mare, it is strange how much we change with age, how we look

w c b s c th indifference, even disgust, on those whose presence formerly armed us. I fo und myself in th is cond ition unde r present ci rcu msta nces; sides, the immediate danger of the Queen pie-occupied me. I did not fficiently urge the Count, perhaps if I had entreated him he would have me to her; there was a pause, and then, resuming the conversation:--
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"Do not let me detain you longer'
he said; 'there is already disturbance
in
the city. I am like Athalie, I wishe to see and I have seen. Now I will take up my part again and leave you I ave a journey to take to Sweden; a great crime is brewing there, I am going to try to prevent it. His Majesty Gustavus III. inte rests me, he is worth more ha n his renown.' '"And he is menaced?' "'Yes; no lange r wi II" ha ppy as a ki gil be said, and still less as a queen.' '"Farewell, then, Monsieur; in trut "Thus it is ever with us truthful upon whoever says that which revoir! ' I wish I had not listened to you.' eople; deceivers are welcomed, but fie ill come to pass! Farewell, Madame; au
"He departed; I remained abso bed in deep meditation, not knowing whether I ought to inform the Q een of this visit or not; I decided to wait till the end of the week, and to ke p si Ience if it teemed with misfortu nes. I arose at last and when I had faun Laroche again I asked him if he had seen the Comte de St.--Germain as he "The Minister, Madame?' '"No, he has long been dead; the "'Ah! the cleve r conj uror?' '"No, Madame; did Madame la Co tesse meet him? '"He went out just now, he pa sed close to You.' '"I must have been
distracted, for I did not notice him' 'lilt is impossible, Laroche, you are joking.' "The worse the times are the mo '"What! respectful I am to Madame.'
by this door--close to you -he has passed?' id not strike my eye.'
'" I do not mea n to de ny it, but he
T e Comte de St. Germain
'" he n he had made himself invisible! I am lost in aston ish ment'."
T ese are the last words that the Cou ntess d' Ad he ma r writes in con nection ith the Comte de St. Germain or that friend who had tried so vainly to s ve them from the storm which was then raging on all sides. One i portant note which has been already noticed may, however, here again b fitly quoted. It is evidently from the pen of the biographer that we get t is important little memo, which is as follows: " ote written by the hand of the Countess, fastened with a pin to the o iginal MS. and dated the 12th May, 1821. She died in 1822. "I saw M. de S . Germain again, and always to my unspeakable surprise: at the assassin tion of the Queen; at the com ing of the 18th Bru ma ire; the day fo lIowi ng t e death of the Duc d'Enghien; in the month of January, 1813; and on the e e of the murder of the Duc de Berri. I await the sixth visit when God
T us does a voice from the dead contradict the malicious diatribes made a ainst th is teacher, and aIso refute the unfou nded assertions about his d ath in 1784, made by Dr. Bieste r of Berl in, wh ich have bee n already fu lIy n ted. Perhaps the most interesting passages are those which give the u terances of the Comte de St. Germain with regard to the future of F nce. It is now a hundred and thirty years since those words were u tered, and we can see that they have been accurately correct in every d tail. The Bourbons are now but a private family. The honour of France h s been wrecked by those who had arrogated to themselves positions of h nour and trust, in which their moral characters were not able to stand t e strain; cases may be cited as instances illustrating, but too clearly, the t uth of the sorrowful forecast made by the Mystic Messenger of the last c ntu ry. He might have fitly quoted the words of the Prophet foreru nner, "I a the voice of one crying in the wilde rness." 2 But, alas for Fra nce, ne ither p ophecies nor warnings availed her; slowly and sadly has the wheel of her Ii e turned round, proving the veracity and accuracy of that prophet who as sent to warn her ofthe doom to come.
DHEMAR, op. cit., iv., pp. 254-261.

2
saiah, xl. 3.
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POLITICAL WORK
Whe n sketch ing the portra its of those who were received into inti Louis XV. at Versailles, she says: "The King was also much attached Duchesse de Choiseul, nee Crozat; her simplicity, her frankness virtues than were necessary to make a success at Versailles, had triu over the drawback of her birth, and she was frequently present suppers in the smaller apartments. One man also had long enjoy favour, the celebrated and mysterious Comte de St. Germain, my who has not been rightly known, and to whom I shall devote som when I have to speak of Cagliostro. From 1749, the King employed diplomatic missio ns and he acq uitted himself honou ra bly in them."
HE earliest definite hint of any political work on the part of the Comte de St. Germain is from the pen of Madame d'Adhernar 1 acy by to the more phed at the d this friend pages im on
This passage would remain incomprehensible, unless we glance br efly at the history of th period. Dark and stormy is the scene on which we enter; difficult indeed is it to disentangle the knotted web of European olitics which enmeshed the various nations. Austria and France had signed in 1756 an offensive and defen sive aIlia nce, especia lIy directed ga inst England and Prussia; Russia was with them; during the Seven Yea s' War the throne of Prussia tottered more than once, until the Austrian were defeated at Torga u in 1760. Pola nd, th at "N iobe of Natio ns," was w tch ing the clouds gather slowly on her horizon; racked within by strife sti red up by Russia, she struggled vainly against the stronger Powers; her d y was slowly ending. England, at war in America and with France, striving Iso to conquer India, was also a centre of discord. All Europe was in dissens on. Into this arena of combat the Comte de St. Germain was asked to tep by the King of France, in order to make that peace which his Min sters-involved in thei r own pia ns--cou Id not, or wou Id not, ma ke. Louis XV. was practically the originator of the whole system of secret diplomacy, which in the eighteenth century seems to stand out as a new
1 Souvenirs
sur Marie-Antoinette,
i., p. 8
I
The Comte de t. Germain
departure in the diplomatic political world. The Gordian knot which could not be dise tangled, Louis XV. tried to cut; hence we find the King of France employing secret agents, men who could be trusted with delicate missions, m n foredoomed to bear the blame of failure, fated never to be crowned wit the palm of success. Outside the various Foreign Offices, or beyond the pale of their secret archives, it s very little known that the Comte de St. Germain had any diplomatic ission whatsoever. In many histories and memoirs there is no mention of his phase of his life; therefore it is necessary to cite such write rs as ar ava ila ble to bea r the ir testimony on th is poi nt. Not least a ongst these sta nds Volta ire, the sceptic, who in his volu mi nous correspondence with Frederick of Prussia says, April 15th, 1758: "Your ministers ar doubtless likely to have a better outlook at Breda than I; M. Ie Duc de Choi eul, M. de Kaunitz, and M. Pitt do not tell me their secret. It is said to be nly known by a M. de St. Germain, who supped formerly at Trent with t e Council Fathers, and who will probably have the honour of seeing your Majesty in the course of fifty years. He is a man who never dies, and wh knows eve ryth ing." 1 The allusion "supped at Trent" is a reference to the gossip which originated from Lord ower's impersonation and misrepresentation of M. de St. hich mention has already been made. The important point in this letter i that Voltaire refers to a political connection of M. de St. Germain with the Prime Ministers of England, France and Austria, as if he were in the ntimate council of these leaders. The Baron de Gleichen gives some detail in his memoirs, and as he became later deeply interested in the mystical work of the Comte de St. Germain, his version is of much value, giving as it does an insight into some of the complications in France. He writes: " he Marshal [de Belle-Isle] was incessantly intriguing to get a special trea y of peace made with Prussia, and to break up the alliance between Fr nce and Austria, on which rested the credit of the Duc de Choiseul. Louis XV. and Madame de Pompadour wished for this special treaty of pace. . . . The Ma rsha I drew up the instructions; the King del ive red th m himself with a cipher to M. de St. Ge rma in." 2
1 VOLTAIRE, 2
uvres. Lettre cxviii., ed. Beuchot, Iviii., p. 360. GLEICH EN( . H. Baron de) Mernoires. Paris, 1868, xi., p. 130.
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Th us, the n, is the as we shall see, e distrust which so St. Germa in arriv the accredited A dorial despatches giving an interesti
mission duly signed and sea led by the King h imse If, but, en the royal protection could not avert the suspicion and npleasant a position naturally incurred, and when M. de d at the Hague he came into collision with M. d' Affry, 1 bassador from France. Before entering on the ambassahere are a few words from Herr Barthold to be noticed, g account of this diplomatic mission; he--after criticising
somewhat severel ,and with good reason, the unreliable statements about our philosopher ade by the Marquise de Crequi and the Markgrafin von Anspach--goes 0 : "But of this mysterious mission of the Adept, as fina ncie r to the cr wn and diplomatic Agent, to wh ich he was in itiated, not at the ministerial desk, but in the laboratory of Chambord, she makes no mention. Nor has this point--so essential to the understanding of the way business was con ucted in France, both in Cabinet and State, at this period-ever been much commented on. About this time we find St. Germain at the Hague, evide tly on a private mission, where the Comte d'Affry was French Ambassad r, but the two had no relations with each other. Voltaire, who is generally good reporter, ascribes the Comte's appearance to the Secret Treaty of eace." 2 The date mentioned by this author is not quite accurate, as we sh II see. That the Duc de reached him, is t intrigues against d'Affry "bitterly r hoiseul was profoundly annoyed when this information be understood; his pet schemes were in jeopardy, his ngland were on the eve of failure; it appears that M. proached M. de Choiseul for having sacrificed an old
friend of his fath r, and the dignity of an Ambassador, to the ambition of making a Treaty Peace under his very eyes without informing him of it, through an obscu e foreigner. M. de Choiseul immediately sent back the courier, ordering . d'Affry to make a peremptory demand to the StatesGeneral to deliver bound hand and f in Council the de casting his eyes h rou nd on King an time to take the
0
up M. de St. Germain and, that being done, to send him ot to the Bastille. The next day M. de Choiseul produced patch of M. d'Affry; he then read his own reply; then, ughtily on his colleagues, and fixing them alternatively on M. de Belle-Isle, he added: 'If I did not give myself ders of the King, it is beca use I am convinced that no one
Ludwig Augustin d Affry, a Swiss, born 1715 at Versailles, p. 98 Ambassador at the Hague in 1755, bec me in 1780 Colonel of the Swiss Guard, died in 1793 at his castle Barthelemy i Waadt. 2 BARTHOLD, ie Geschichtlichen D Personlichkeiten. Berlin, 1846, ii., p. 81.
1
here would be bold enough to desire to negotiate a Trea y of Peace without the knowledge of Your Majesty's Minister for Foreig Affairs!' He knew that this Prince had established, and always mai tained, the principle, that the Minister of one department should not me die with the affairs of another. It turned out as he had foreseen. The King c st down his eyes like a guilty person, the Marshal dared not say a word and M. de Choiseul's action was approved; but M. de St. Germain escap d him. Their Highnesses, having made good their assent, despatched a I rge body of guards to arrest M. de St. Germain, who, having been priva ely warned, fled to England. I have some grounds for believing that he soo left it again to go to St. Petersbu rg." 1 No better account could be given than this, by one present a the French Cabinet Council, of the way in which Louis XV., weak an irresolute, allowed his arrangements to be cancelled without a w rd. Passing, however, rapidly on to follow the events at the Hague, we ne have some interesting despatches from M. de Kauderbach, Minister fro the Saxon Court at the Hague, wherein he recounts much that has alread been given in these pages in praise of the Comte de St. Germain, of his powers and knowledge and then goes on to say: "I had a long conversation with him on the causes of the troubles of France, and on the changes in t e choice of Minister in this kingdom. This, Monseigneur, is what he said t me on the subject: 'The radical evil is the monarch's want of firmness. Those who surround him, knowing his extreme good nature, abuse i, and he is surrounded only by creatures placed by the Brothers Paris, who alone cause all the trouble of France. It is they who corrupt everything, and thwarted the plans of the best citizen in France, the Marshal e Belle-Isle. Hence the disunion and jealousy amongst the Ministers, wh serve a different monarch. All is corrupted by the Brothers France, provided they may attain their object of gaining ei millions! Unhappily the King has not so much sagacity as good not, therefore, aware of the malice of the people aroun knowing h is lack of firm ness, are sole Iy occu pied in flatte ring h through it are ever preferably listened to. The same defect as t found in the mistress. She knows the evil and has not courag it.' It is he the n, M. de St. Germa in, who wi II u nderta ke to cu r
1 GLEICHEN
seem all to aris; perish ht hundred ature; he is him who, s foible, and firmness is to remedy it rad ica lIy;
(c. H. Baron de) Mernoires, xi., pp. 131, 132. The Brothers Paris-Duverney were the great financiers, the bank m narchs, in the time of Louis XV.
2

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he ta kes upon himself to put down by his inf ue nce and 0 perations in Holland the two names so prejudicial to the S ate, which have hitherto bee n rega rded as ind ispensa bly necessa ry. Hea ri n him spea k with so much freedom, one must look upon him either as a an sure of his ground, or else as the greatest fool in the world. I could ntertain your Excellency much longer with this singular man and with his nowledge of physics, did I not fear to weary you with tales which must s em rather romantic than real." 1 The Saxon diplomatist, from whose despat hes these extracts are gathered, very shortly changed his friendly tone, n finding that the Duc de Choiseul did not favour the plans of Louis XV.; th self-respecting diplomat then began to disparage the man whom so la ely he had lauded as a prodigy, hence the next despatch is amusingly di erent in tone, and runs as follows: "Apri I 24th, 1760. I have th is mome nt hea rd th t the cou rier whom the Comte d' Affry received last Monday brought him an orde r to dema nd from the State the arrest and extradition of the f mous St. Germain as a dangerous character, and one with whom his most Christian Majesty has reason to be dissatisfied. M. d' Affry, having com unicated this order to the Pensionnaire, this Minister of State reported it 0 the Council of Deputy Commissioners for the province of Holland, a assembly of which the Comte de Bentinck is Preside nt. The latter ga e the ma n wa rn ing, and made him sta rt for Engla nd. The day before his d pa rtu re, St. Germa in was four hours with the English Minister. He boast d of being authorised to make peace." Later on, in another despatch, this wary diplom tis returns once more to the attack. "The adventurer gave himself here th airs of a secret negotiator, selected by the Marshal de Belle-Isle, from which there were in fact some traces of confid understood that the principles of the Marshal, de Choiseul, and more in accordance with th Pompadour, were warmly in favour of peace; painting in the strongest colours the cabals, dissension that he declared reigned in France, hom he showed letters in nce. He wished it to be iffering from those of M. inclination of Mme. de e darkened the picture, the d ifficu Ities and the nd by these flatteries he
TAILLANDIER, SAINT-RENE, Un Prince Allemand
du
VIII. Siecle. Revue des deux
Mondes, Ixi., pp. 896, 897.
thought to gain the confidence of the English pa had written to the Ma rsha Ide Belie-Isle, that M. appreciate or carry out the plans of the Comte was a man of the best intentions in the world, himself useful to France in order to promote th
y. On the other hand he d' Affry knew not how to de Bentinck-Rhoon, who nd desired only to make success of her negotia-
tions with England. These letters were sent back to M. d'Affry, with a command to forbid St. Germain to meddle with a y transactions, on pain of expiating his rashness for the rest of his days in a dungeon on his return to France." 1 Truly ludicrous is the difference in the tone of th Germain was endeavourin to carry out the wishe help an exhausted country; these efforts for pe Choiseul, who had his own schemes to forward natural could have occurred than that the new by the opposite pa rty. se documents; M. de St. ofthe King, and trying to ce were frustrated by de ith Austria. Nothing more elper should be attacked
It is evident, from the paper cited, that M. de St. Germain was in the confidence of the Marshal de Belle-Isle--who al 0 wanted peace--for the Saxon Ambassador uses the phrase "some tra s of confidence," when speaking of the correspondence he had seen a d the evidence of confidence he was forced to admit. From this distanc the picture of France sketched by M. de St. Ger dark: France impoverished, rushing wildly on to which was to be a scene of blood and butchery. seeing the evil days that were drawing so steadil picture too darkly, when endeavouring to stay the of time we can see that ain was by no means too greater ruin, the end of e who had the power of nigh, could he paint that ruin of fair France?
But we must take up some other threads of this angled skein. The King of Prussia was, at this period, in Freyberg, and his 0 n agent, M. d'Edelsheim, had just arrived in London to confer with th English Ministers; the following account is given later by Frederick II. 0 the condition of affairs: "On his arrival in that city [London], anoth r political phenomenon appeared there, a man whom no one has been a Ie to understand. He was known under the name of the Comte de St. Germain. He had been employed by France, and was even so high in f vour with Louis XV., that
1 TAILLANDIER,
op. cit., p. 897.

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this Prince had thought de 1759 1760).1
of giving him the Palace of C ambord"
(De I'hiver
The mission of M. d'Edelsheim is not clearly stated, ut we find that not only did M. de St. Germain have to leave London, faili g to bring about the peace so sorely desired, but that the Prussian agent f red even worse; the details are given by Herr Barthold 2: "The Prussian ne otiator ... returning from London via Holland to fetch his luggage from aris, was induced to remain a few days with the Bailly de Froulay, and th n, receiving a Lettre de Cachet, he was put into the Bastille. Choiseul assu ed the prisoner that it was only by these means that he could silence t e suspicions of the Imperial Minister, Stahremberg, but this 'scene indekente' was simply a trap to get hold of the Baron's papers. Choiseul, ho ever, found nothing and told him to decamp, advising him on his leaving urin not to re-enter the kingdom. Frederick ta kes care not to find fa uIt ith his agent, who through over-zeal had drawn discredit on himself in Paris; on the other hand, one may conclude that it was he who, thro gh an article London Chronicle, succeeded in frustrating St. Germai 's project." In this extraordinary maze of secret negotiations it i truth, for in the work just cited we hear that St. Ger Bois de Boulogne in May, 1761. When the Marquise Duc de Choiseul of his presence in Paris that Prime n' en suis pas su rpris, pu isq u'i I a passe la nuit da ns informant proceeds: "Casanova is therefore satisfied in the
difficult to find the ain was seen in the d'Urfe informed the Minister replied: "Je mon ca binet." 3 Th is hat de Choiseul had
only pretended to be annoyed with M. de St. Germ in, so as to make it easier for him to be sent to London as agent; Lord alifax however saw through the plan." This would indeed be one method of cutting the political entanglement of France !--a n intrigue of a pronou nced so rt arra nged by the King, appa rently without the knowledge of his chief Minister, in order to arrive at a peace for wh ich the whole cou ntry pined. In th is d ifficu It situ tion the Ma rsha I de Belle-Isle selected the Comte de St. Germain as the essenger of peace. Alas! missions of peace ra rely resu It in a nyth ing but d i comfort and sla nde r
1 2 3
FREDERICII., Rai de Prusse, CIuvres Pasthumes. Berlin, 17 8, iii., p. 73. BARTHOLD, op, cit., pp. 93. 94. BARTHOLD, Op. cit., p. 94.

I
for the bearer of the message, and the history of the world recorded one more fa ilu re, a fa ilu re ca used by the ambitions of t e pol itica I lead ers. Leaving now the condition of affairs in France an passing on to England, we find some very interesting correspondence bet een General Yorke, the English representative at the Hague, and Lord H Idernesse in London. By especial permission from the Foreign Office we ha e been kindly permitted to make use of these extracts. The full correspo dence is too lengthy to print in the limited space permissible in these pa es. The first despatch is from General Yorke to the Earl of Holdernesse; it is dated March 14th, 1760, and gives the fu II acco unt of a long intervie between the Comte de St. Germain and himself. The former claims, he sa s, to have been sent by France to negotiate conce rn ing the Peace, but s ys that Mo ns. d' Affry is not in the secret. The answer to this document comes from "Whitehall, Ma rch 21st, 1760," and is fro m Lord Holdernesse 0 Gene raI Yorke; in th is he directs the latter "to tell M. de St. Germain tha by the King's orders he cannot discuss the subject with him unless he p proof of his being employed with the consent and King." In the next despatch, dated Wh ite ha II, Ma r directs that the same answer shou Id be retu rned oduces some authentic nowledge ofthe French h 28th, 1760, "the King to Mons. d' Affry as has
already been given to M de St. Germain. The King t inks it probable that M. de St. Germain was authorised to talk to General Yorke in the manner he did, and that his comm ission is unknown to the Du de Choise u I." The insight of George III. in this case is remarka correspondence with Louis XV. some hint as to th may have been given by one king to the other. In that owing to M. de Choiseul the Treaty of Peace we have seen, M. de St. Germain passed on f Tu rn ing now to some other witnesses, we find Ie, unless in his private real condition of things ny case the fact remains as not arranged; and, as om England to Russia.
M. Thiebault in his memoirs saying: "While this sin ular man was at Berlin, I ventured one day to speak of him to the French envoy, the Marquis de Pons Saint-Maurice; I privately expressed to him m great surprise that this man should have held private and intimate relati rank, such as the Cardinal de Bernis, from wh confidential letters, written at the time when portfolio for Foreign Affairs, etc.; on this last poin ns with persons of high m he had, it was said, the Cardinal held the the envoy made me no

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reply."
1 Th i
passage im plies other diplomatic
missions, of wh ich no deta ils
are to be fo nd. Another wri to the effec offered him Leipzig in 1 conceal the er, who has also been quoted, makes an important statement that when M. de St. Germain was in Leipzig the Graf Marcolini a high public position at Dresden. Our philosopher was at 76, under the name of Chevalier Weldon, and did not at all fact that he was a Prince Ragotzy. This informant says: "The
Lord High C amberlain, Graf Marcolini, came from Dresden to Leipzig and made to the Comte--in the name of the Court--certain promises; M. de St. Ge rma in re used them, but he came in 1777 to Dresden, wh ere he had much interc urse with the Prussia n Ambassador, von Alve nslebe n." 2 Th is statement c n be corroborated by the writer of the life of Graf Marcolini, which has b en carefully compiled from the secret archives of the Saxon Court (with special permission) by the Freiherr O'Byrn. The Graf Marcolini was a man renowned for his integrity and upright character; h s biographer says: "Considering the strong opposition shown by the Graf he extende more wond interviewing We IIdou n, Germain an the State; th arcolini to the swindling in the Schr6pfer affair, the sympathy to the Comte de St. Germain on his arrival in Saxony is all the rful. ... Graf Marcolini repaired to Leipzig with the intention of St. Germain on hearing of his arrival under the name of ctobe r 1776 ... the meeti ng resu Ited in the Graf offeri ng St. mportant post in Dresden if he would render a great service to 'Wonder Ma n' howeve r refused these offers." 3
Nowhere ar to be found the details of any of these diplomatic missions; we can onl gather the fragments and, piecing them together, the fact sta nds clea r y proved, that from Cou rt to Co urt, among kings, princes, and ambassador, th e Comte de St. Germa in was received a nd known, was trusted as fr end, and by none feared as enemy.
1 THIEBAULT,D., op. 2 3
cit., iv., p. 84; 3rd ed. HEZEKIEL, Abenteuerliche Geselien, i., p. 46. Berlin, 1862. G, Q'BYRN,F. ., Camilio, Graf Marcolini: Eine Biographische Skizze.Dresden, 1877.
IN THE "MITCHELL PAPERS"
HE diplomatic correspondence which forms almost the whole of this paper is practically an appendix to the last chapter. The details given are interesting and importa nt lin ks in that cha in of vents wh ich brought M. de St. Germain to England. Chance, good-fort beneficent power gave the clue to these hidden records. The "Mitchell Papers," in which these interesting letters have been so long
concealed, have never yet been entirely published. It appear that George III. requested that these documents should not be made pu lic during his life, and they were accordingly consigned to the personal care of Mr. Pianta, Keepe r of the British Museu m. This correspondence was bought by the Trustees of the Mus um from Sir William Forbes, the heir of Sir Andrew Mitchell, who had b en Envoy at Berlin during the time that all these events took place. A cert in portion of the record of his diplomatic career was published by Mr. Biss t in 1850; no mention, however, was made of M. de St. Germain, and the letters which treated of him were unnoticed. of silence" There appears, curiously enough, to have been a "conspira amongst the diplomatists and writers of this period and lat r, for it is a constantly recurring experience to find all reference to ou ph ilosophe r carefully excluded, even in cases where the original sources ontain much information about him. A striking instance of such omission is found by searching editions of works in which M. de St. Germain is mention editions usually exclude the information given in the earlier may this be seen in a work 1 already referred to, by Dr. Car he different d; the later nes. Notably von Weber,
Keeper of the Saxon Archives in Dresden. In the first edition of this work there is a long article on M. de St. Germain, which is not to b found in the
WEBER (Dr. Carl von), Aus vier Jahrhunderten. zu Ore sd en, Leipzig, 1857.
Mittheilungen
a s dem
Haupt-
Sta ats-Archive
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later editions of these volumes. Instances might be easily multiplied steady omission wherever possible.
of this
Now the Foreign Office records contain a volumin us correspondence, which is by permission at length being gathered toget er; this includes the letters of Prince Galitzin, who was at the period Russian Minister in Engla nd. All the corresponde nce is ma rked "secret," nd ca n on Iy be seen when sanctioned. The British Museum records have no such restricti ns, hence the docu-
ments which make up this paper have been copied wi hout delay. The first letter appears to show that Lord Holdernesse alread knew of M. de St. Germain, but no facts have so far been found on this oint. The language is quaint, and the style somewhat heavy, but the conte ts present a page of history well worth our study. It must be remembered that the mission undertaken Germain was a secret one, and that he had to disgui the confidence of Louis XV.; with this point in min understand the difficulties in which he was involved. documents, we find that the first letter is from Genera MITCHELL PAPERS,VOL. XV. LD. HOLDERNESSE'SDESPATCHES, etc. 1760; 6818, PUT. P. L., CLXVIII. 1. (12). Copy of General Yorke's letter to the Earl of Holder esse; Hague, March 14th, 1760. In Lord Holde rnesse 's ofthe 21st, 1760. Se ret. "Hag e, March 14th, 1760. "MY LORD, "My present situation is so very delicate that I am se sible I stand in need by the Comte de St. e how far he was in it will be easier to Turning now to the Yorke.
of the utmost indulgence, which I hope I shall conti ue to find from His Majesty's unbounded goodness, and that your Lords ip is convinced that whatever I say, or do, has no other motive but the ad antage of the King's service. As it has pleased His Majesty to convey to Fra ce His sentiments in general upon the situation of affairs in Europe, and 0 express by me His
The Co te de St. Germain
wishes imagin that 0 pa ins t
for restoring the public tranquillity, I suppose the Court of Versailles s the same channel may be the proper one for addressing itself to England. This is, at least, the most natural way of accounting for the ke n by France to employ anybody to ta Ik to me.
"Your ordship knows the history of that extraordinary man, known by the name f Count St. Germain, who resided some time in England where he did no hing; and has within these two or three years resided in France whe re he has bee n upon the most fa miliar footi ng with the French King, Mada e Pompadour, M. de Belle-isle, etc.; which has procured him a grant of the Royal Castle of Chambord, 1 and has enabled him to make a certain figu re n that cou ntry. "He a and ta Hague volubil su bjec not th peared, for some days, at Amsterdam where he was much caressed ked of, and upon the marriage of Princess Caroline alighted at the The same curiosity created the same attention to him here. His ty of tongue furnished him with hearers; his freedom upon all s, aII kinds of su ppositions--a mong wh ich his being sent about Peace least.
ffry treats him with respect and attention but is very jealous of him and di not so much as renew my acquaintance with him. He called, howev r, at my door. I returned his visit; and yesterday he desired to speak with e in the afternoon, but did not come as he appointed, and therefore he re ewed his application this morning and was admitted. He began im me iate Iy to ru n on about th e bad state of France--the ir wa nt of Peace-their d sire to make it, and his own particular ambition to contribute to an event 0 desirable for humanity in general; he ran on about his predilection for En land and Prussia which he pretended at present made him a good frie nd 0 France. "As I k ew so much of this man, and did not choose to enter into conversation w thout being better informed, I affected at first to be very grave and dry--t Id him that those affairs were too delicate to be treated between persons who had no vocation and therefore meant I suppose this style was irksome to him, he pr duced to me, by way of credentials, Belleis e, one dated the 4th, the other the 26th
1 An
desired to know what he for immediately afterwards two letters from Marshal of February. In the first he
Ap rtment
in the Castle: v. Appendix I.
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sends him the French King's passport en blanc for him to fi I up; in the second he expresses great impatience to hear from him, and n both runs out in praises of his zeal, his ability, and the hopes that are founded upon what he is gone abo ut. I have no dou bt of the authenticity of th se letters. "After perusing them, and some commonplace compliments, I sked him to explain himself, which he did as follows:--the King, the Dauphin, Madame Pompadour, and all the Court and Nation, except the Duke hoiseul and Mr. Berrier, desire peace with England. They can't do otherw se, for their interior requires it. They want to know the real sentiments of E gland, they wish to ma ke up matters with some honou r. M. d' Affry is not i the secret, and the Duke Choiseul is so Austrian that he does not tell all he receives; but that sign ifies noth ing, for he will be tu rned out. Mada me P mpadou r is not Austrian, but is not firm, because she does not know what 0 trust to; if she is sure of Peace, she will become so. It is she, and the Mars al Belleisle, with the French King's knowledge, who send St. Germain a the forlorn hope. Spain is not relied upon; that is a turn given by the Duke Choiseul, and they don't pretend to expect much good from that quart r. This, and much more, was advanced by this political Adventurer. I felt myself in a great doubt whether I should enter into conversation; b t as I am convinced he is really sent, as he says, I thought I should n t be disapproved if I talked in general terms. I therefore told him th t the King's desire for Peace was sincere, and there could be no doubt of it, since we had made the proposa I in the midd Ie of ou r success wh ic had much increased since; that with our Allies, the affair was easy, w thout them impossible; and that France knew our situation too well, t want such information from me; that as to particulars, we must be convi ced of their desire, before they could be touched upon, and that, beside, I was not informed; I talked of the dependence of France upon the tw Empresses, and the disagreeable prospect before them even if the King 0 Prussia was unfortunate, but declined going any farther than the most gen ral, though the most positive, assu ra nce of a desi re for Peace on His Majes y's pa rt. "As the conversation grew more animated I asked him what Fr nce had felt the most for in her losses, whether it was Canada? No, he said, for they felt it had cost them thirty-six millions, and brought them no re urn. Guadalou pe? They wou Id never stop the Peace for that, as they wou I have suga r enough without it. The East Indies? That he said was the sam place, as it was connected with all their money affairs. I asked him what they said of Dunkirk? He made no difficulty to demolish it, and that I m ght depend
upon it. He then asked me what we thought about Minorca? I that we had forgot it, at least, nobody ever mentioned it; that, have told them over and over again, and they are embarrassed expense. "This is the material
ays he, I with the
part of what passed in the course of thr e hours'
conversation which I promised to relate; he begged the secret might be kept, and he should go to Amsterdam, and to Rotterdam, till he knew whether I had any answer; which I neither encouraged, nor di couraged him from expecting. "I humbly hope His Majesty will not d isa pprove what I have don ; It IS not easy to conduct oneself under such circumstances, though I can as easily break off all intercourse as I have taken it up. "The King seemed desirous to open the door for Peace, and Fra ce seems in great want of it; the opportunity looks favourable, and I shall wait for orders before I stir a step farther. A General Congress seems n t to their taste, and they seem willing to go farther than they care to say, but they would be glad of some offer; and H. M. C. M., and the Lady, a e a little indolent in taking a resolution. "I have, etc.
"J. YORKE."
It is clear that the English Envoy found himself in a difficult po credentials of the Comte de St. Germain were sufficiently good t hearing, but he was not an accredited Minister. George II. seem understood the complication to some extent, as it would appear answer sent at his command, by Lord Holdernesse, which runs as ition; the ensure a to have from the ollows:
Copy of letter from the Earl of Hold ernesse to Majo r-Gene ra I York . Secret. "Whitehall, "SIR, March 2 st, 1760.
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"I have th
pleasure to acquaint you that His Majesty entirely
approves
ct in the conversation you had with Count St. Germain, of which you give a accou nt in you r secret lette r of the 14th. "The King tion with you right I general te detriment articularly applauds your caution of not entering into conversa-
im, till he produced two letters from Marshal Belleisle, which observe were a sort of credential; as you talked to him only in ms, and in a way conformable to your former instructions, no cou Id arise to His Majesty's se rvice we re everyth ing you said
publicly kn wn. "His Maje ty does not think it unlikely that Count St. Germain may really have bee Christian ta Ik as he can be 0 between authorised (perhaps even with the knowledge of His Most ajesty) by some Persons of weight in the Councils of France to has done, and no matte r what the cha nnel is if a desira ble end tained by it. But there is no venturing farther conversations ne of the King's accredited Ministers and such a person as this
St. Germain is, according to his present appearance. What you say will be authentic; whereas, St. Germain will be disavowed with very little ceremony whenever the Court of France finds it convenient. And by his own acco nt his commission is not only unknown to the French Ambassador at the Hague, but even to the Minister for Foreign Affairs at Versailles, who, thou h threatened with the same fate that befel the Cardinal Bernis, is still the pparent Minister. "It is the r fore His Majesty's pleasu re that you shou Id acq ua int Cou nt St. Ge rma in t at ina nswe r to the letters yo u wrote me in conseq ue nce of you r conversati n with him, you are directed to say, that you cannot talk with him upon such interesting subjects unless he produces some authentic proof of h s being really employed with the knowledge and consent of His Most Chri tian Majesty. But at the same time you may add, that the King, ever read to prove the sincerity and purity of his intentions to prevent the farther e usion of Christian blood, will be ready to open Himself on the conditions of a Peace, if the Court of France will employ a person duly authorised to negotiate on that subject; provided always, that it be previously explained and understood, that in case the two Crowns shall come to a ree on the terms of their Peace, that the Court of France shall expressly nd confidentia lIy agree th at His Majesty's Allies, and no rnrnement the ing of Prussia, are to be comprehended in the accomodement faire.
"It is unnecessary to add that
England
ill never so much as hear any pre hend His Majesty as Elector.
Pou rpa rle rs of a Peace wh ich is not to co "I am, etc,
"HOLDERNESSE." In a passage quoted from the M moirs of Baron de (THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW, xxii., 45), we ha e seen with how little M. de St. Germain was thrown over t the King's Council, Holdernesse spoke truly when writing:" hat you will say will be whereas St. Germain will be disavowed wi h very little ceremony the Court of France finds it convenient." The next letter from General Yorke sho working against this much desired peace. Copy of letter from Major-General Yorke t Gleichen ceremony and Lord authentic; whenever
s that the Duc de Choiseul was
the Earl of Holderness. Secret. "Hague, April 4th, 1760.
"MY LORD, "The credit of my political Adventurer, M. e St. Germain, does not seem to have gained ground since my last; and th Duc de Choiseul seems so much set upon discrediting him that he takes t ue pains to prevent his meddling in any affairs. I have not seen him since 0 r second interview, and I thought it more prudent to let him alone till he p oduces something more authentic, comformable still here. to the tenor of the orders I had received; he is, however,
"The Duc de Choise uI has, however, acq ainted M. d' Affry that he shou Id again renew to him peremptorily to meddle in nothing which related to the political affairs of France, and accompanie this order with a menace of the consequence if he did. Madame de Po padour is not pleased with him neithe r for insin uating th ings aga inst . d' Affry, of wh ich, either from inclination or apprehension, she has acq ainted the Duc de Choiseul. So that he has acquired an enemy more th n he had. Marshal Belleisle, too, had wrote to him under M. d'Affry's cove, but in civil terms, thanking him
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for his zeal and activity, but telling him, at the same French King had an Ambassador at the Hague in wh confidence, he might safely communicate to him what h the service of France; the tone of Marshal Belleisle's lett had been more connected with St. Germain than the Du is outrageous against him and seems to have the upper h
ime, that as the m he placed his thought was for rs shows that he de Choiseul, who nd.
"In all this correspondence, however, there has appear d as yet nothing about St. Germain and me. The whole relates to the affairs of Holland, the insinuations St. Germain had made of the wrong measur s they took here, and the bad hands they were in; I take it for granted, ho ever, that as the Duc de Choiseul has got the better of him in one instance he will be able to do it in all the others, especially as in that Minister's letter to M. d'Affry, he desires him to forewarn all the Foreign Ministers from Ii tening to him, as the Court might lose all credit and confidence either abo t Peace or War, if such a man gained any credit. "A person of conseque ce, to whom M. d' Affry showed aII the letters, gave me th is acco unt, to whom he added, Who knows what he may have said to Mr. Yorke, as I kn w he has been to wait upon him. M. d'Affry told this person likewise, hat he was fully authorised to receive any proposals from England, and that France having the worst of the quarrel could not make the first prop sals: that he had opened himself to me, as far as could be expected at firs, but that as I had taken no notice of him since, they imagined England wen back. "I won't pretend to draw any other conclusion from all th s except that they seem still cramped with the unnatural connexion of Vie na which the Duc de Choiseul has still credit enough to support, and conse uently, as long as that prevails, we cannot expect anything but chicanes nd delays in the negotiations; they have been repeatedly told that His M jesty cannot and will not treat but in conjunction with his Ally; the King f Prussia is to be excluded, from whence it is reasonable to conclude that they will try their chance in war once more, tho' Those who govern seem inclined to keep the door ope n for coming ba ck aga in if necessa ry. "I have the honou r to be, etc., "JOSEPH YORKE." In some of this correspondence there are long passages in cipher (numerto
als), to which there is no key for the public. It is impossible, therefore,

I
know whethe the written words contain the exact meaning or not. Space will not permi the whole correspondence to appear, so we must pass on to a letter from L rd Holdernesse to Mr. Mitchell, the English Envoy in Prussia. The Earl of H Idernesse. R. 17th, May at Meissen (by a Prussian Messenger).l "Whitehall, "SIR, "You between Gen persuaded Ge formal disavo to come into French Minist "Accordingly learnt by several of my late letters, all that has passed ral Yorke and Count St. Germain at the Hague, and I am eral Yorke will not have failed to inform you as well of the al he has met with from M. de Choiseul as of his resolution England in order to avoid the further resentment of the r. e arrived here some days ago. But as it was evident that he May 6th, 1760.
was not auth rised, even by that part of the French Ministry in whose name he pret nded to talk, as his sejour here could be of no use, and might be atte nded b d isagre ea bIe co nseq uences, it wa s th 0 ug ht pro pe r to seize him upon his arrival here. His examination has produced nothing very material. His c nd uct and language are artfu I, with an odd mixtu re wh ich it is difficult to d fine. "Upon the wh Ie it has been thought most advisable not to suffer him to
remain in En land, and he set out accordingly on Saturday morning last with an inten ion to take shelter in some part of his Prussian Majesty's Dominions, d ubting whether he would be safe in Holland. At his earnest and repeated request he saw Baron Knyphausen during his confinement, but none ofth King's Servants saw him.
This letter fr m Lord Holdernesse is to Mr. Mitchell, who was the English Representative t the Prussian Court. From this it appears that M. de St. Germain was taken in c stody on arriving in England; and Lord Holdernesse sends word to this effect to the Prussian King. This Baron Knyphausen has been already mentioned as a friend of M. de St. Germain by Mons. Dieudonne Thiebault (Mes Souvenirs de vi gt ans de sejour a Berlin, vol. iv., p. 83, 3rd ed., Paris, 1813), who gives an accoun oftheir meeting in Berlin at a much later date.
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"The King thought it right you should be informed of this transaction; it is the King's pleasure you should communicate the subs ance of this letter to his Prussian Majesty. "I am, with great truth and regard, ir, "Your most obedient and humble Se ant, "HO LDERNESSE. "MR. MITCHELL." There is a mystery about this visit of M. de St. Germai to England which is not solved by the letter of Lord Holdernesse. Even if e did leave at once, his return must have been almost immediate, since he newspapers and magazines ofthe period com ment on his arriva I in Ma and June, 1760. In the London Chron icle, June 3 rd, 1760, there is a long accou nt of his arrival in England, speaking of him in favourable ter s. There are hints to be found in various places that he did not really leave; but so far the actual facts of what occurred are not quite clear. There is m re yet to be learned in this curious bye-way of European politics. Peace appears more difficult to arrange than war, and the personal desires of the French Ministers blocked the way of this mis ion. Difficult indeed must have been the undertaking for the Comte de St. Germain, k thankless the work; at every turn he met opposition, and could ot count on support. All this forms a deeply interesting study, but we mus now pass on to the mystica I a nd ph ilosoph ica I side ofth is little understoo life.

I
MASONIC TRADITION
SONNET PHllOSOPHIQUE ATTRIBUE AU FAMEUX ST. GERMAIN
CURIEUX scrutateur de la nature entiere, J'aicon nu d u gra nd tout Ie principe et la fin. J'ai vu I'or en puissance au fond de sa rniniere, J'ai saisi sa matiere et surpris son leva in. J'expliquai par quel art l'arne aux flancs d'une mere, Fait sa maison, I'emporte, et comment un pepin Mis contre un grain de ble, sous I'humide poussiere, l'un plante et I'autre cep, sont Ie pain et Ie vin. 1 Rien n'etait, Dieu voulut, rien devint quelque chose, J'en doutais, je cherchai sur quoi I'univers pose, Rien ga rda it I'eq uilibre et serva it de soutie n. Enfin, avec Ie poids de I'eloge et d u bla me, Je pesai l'eternel, il appela mon arne, Je mourus, j'adorai, je ne savais plus rien. 2 ONLY a mystic could write, and none but mystics can gauge, words so potent in their meaning, treating as they do of those great mys ries that are unfolded, in their entirety, only to the Initiated. The "Veil of Isis" ever hides the earnest student of the Great Science from the vulgarl curious; hence in approach ing the ph ilosoph ic and mystic side of th is myst rious life the difficulties of research become even more complicated by eason of that veil which hides this Initiate from the outer world. Gli pses of knowledge rare among men; indications of forces unknow to the "general"; a few earnest students, his pupils, striving their tmost to permeate the material world with their knowledge of the unsee spiritual
1 2
Referring to occult em bryol ogy. Poemes Philosophiques sur I'Homme. Chez Mercier. Paris, 1795.
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life; such are the signs that surround the Comte de St. Germain, the evidences of his connection with that great Centre from which he came. No startling public movement springs up, no hing in which he courts the public gaze as leader, although in many societie his guiding hand may be found. In modern Freemason literature the eff and even, in some instances, to assert Masonic movement of the last centu charlatan by leading Masons. Careful re archives proves this to be untrue; indeed for M. de St. Germain was one of th French Masons at their great conventio says: "The Germans who distinguished rt is made to eliminate his name, that he had no real part in the , and was regarded only as a earch, however, into the Masonic the exact contrary can be shown, selected representatives of the at Paris in 1785. As one account hemselves on this occasion were
Bade, von DaIbe rg, Forste r, Du ke Fe dina nd of Bru nswick, Baron de Gleichen, Russworm, von Wollner, Lava er, Ludwig Prince of Hesse, RossKampf, Stork, Thaden von Wachter .... The French were honourably represented by St. Germa in, St. Ma in, Touzet-Ducha ntea u, Ette ila, Mesme r, Dutrou sset, d' He recou rt, an d C gliostro." 1 The same category of names, but wit schamps. 2 We find Deschamps speaking Templars. An account is also given of Comte de St. Germain, and the ritual us been that of the Knights Templar. It wa Jesuits brought the wildest and most dis St. Germain, M. de St. Martin and many infidelity, anarchy, etc. The charges wer "Rite des ph ilaletes ou Che rche urs de Masonic Lodge of "Les Arnis-Reunis." more detail, is given by N. Def M. de St. Germain as one of the he initiation of Cagliostro by the d on this occasion is said to have in this year also that a group of raceful accusations against M. de others, accusations of immorality, levelled at the Philaletheans, or la Verite," fou nded 1773 in the rince Karl of Hesse, Savalette de
Lange (the Royal Treasurer), the Vicom e de Tavanne, Count de Gebelin, and all the really mystic students of the ime were in this Order. The Abbe sarrue!" indicted the whole body, indivi ually and collectively, in terms so violent and on charges so unfounded hat even non-Masons and antiMystics protested. He accused M. de St. ermain and his followers of being
Magazin der BeweisfOhrer
fOr Verurtheilu
g des Freimaurer-Ordens,
i., p. 137;
von Dr. E. E. ECKERT, Leipzig, 1857.

2
Les Societes Secretes et la Societe, ou Phil sophie de I' Histoire Contemporaine, du Jacobinisme, ii., . 554. Paris, 1797.
ii., p. 121. Paris, 1881. 3 Mernoires sur I'Histoire
Jacobins, of fomenting immorality.
and
inciting
the
Revolution,
of atheism
and
These charges were carefully investigated and reject Mounier, a writer who was neither Mystic nor Mas honest dealing. Mounier says: "There are accusati before adopting them a just man must seek the mos he who fears not to publish them, without being i decided proofs, should be severely punished by la fails, by all right-minded people. Such is the proc
d as worthless by J. J. n, but only a lover of ns so atrocious, that authentic testimony; the position to give and, where the law dure adopted by M.
Barruel against a Society that used to meet at Ermen nville after the death of Jean Jacques Rousseau, under the direction f the Charlatan St. Germain." 1 Th is view appea rs to be well corroborated, and is uph Id by va rious writers; in fact, the proof is conclusive that M. de St. Germ in had nothing to do with the Jacobin party as the Abbe Barruel and the bbe Migne have tried to insist. ere formed in Paris; their protectors were the Ma rq uises de Gi ra rd in a d de Bouille: Several Lodges were held at Ermenonville, the property of he first-named. Their chief aim was 'd'etablir une communication entre D eu et I'homme par Ie moyen des etres interrnediaires." 2 Now both the Marquis de Girardin and the Mar staunch Royalists and Catholics; it was the latter, mo unhappy Louis XVI. and his family in their attempted these Catholic nobles were personal friends of M. de hardly appears possible that the assertions of the Ab had any veracious foundation, since the establishin uis de Bouille were eover, who aided the scape. Again, both of St. Germain; hence it es Barruel and Migne of "Catholic Lodges" Another writer says: "At this time Catholic Lodges
certainly does not appear atheistical in tendency, n r the close friendship of true Roya lists ala rmingly revolutiona ry. Accord i g to the well-known writer Eliphas Levi, 3 M. de St. Germain was a Catholi in outward religious observance. Although he was the founder of the 0 der of St. Joachim in
De l'lnfluence
attri buee aux Philosophes, aux Franc-mat;
ns et aux Illumines, sur
la Revolution de France, p. 154. TObingen, 1801. 2 Der Signatstern, v., art. 19. Berlin, 1809.
3
Histoire de la Haute Magie, pp. 419, 420. Paris, 1860.

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Bohemia, he separated himself from this society theories began to spread among its members.
s soon as revolutionary
Some of the assemblies in which the Comte de St. Germain taught his ph iloso phy were held in the Rue Platrie re; oth r meetings of the "ph ilaletes" were held in the Lodge "des Arnis-Re nis" in the Rue de la Sourdiere: According to some writers, there was a strong osicrucian foundation-from the true Rosicrucia n trad ition--in th is Lod e. It appea rs that the members were studying the conditions of life on higher planes, just as Theosoph ists of to-day are doing. Practica I ccu Itism and spiritua I mysticism were the end and aim of the Philaleth ans; but alas, the karma of France overwhelmed them, and scenes of bloo shed and violence swept them and their peaceful studies away. A fact that disturbed the enemies of the Comte de St. Germain was the personal devotion of his friends, and that the e friends treasured his portrait. In the d'Urfe collection, in 1783, was a picture of the mystic engraved on copper, with the inscription:-"The Comte de St. Germa in, cele brated Alche mist, followed
I
by the words:
"Ainsi que Prornethee, il deroba Ie feu, Par qui Ie monde existe et par qui tout respire; La nature sa voix obeit et se meurt. S'il n'est pas Dieu lui-rnerne, un Dieu puissant I'in pire."
This copper-plate
engraving
was dedicated
to
he Comte
de Milly,
an
intimate friend of M. de St. Germain, a well-know man of the period, and Cheva lie r de l'Ord re Roya I et Mil ita ire de St. Lou i , et de I'Aigle Rouge de Braunschweig. This unlucky portrait, however, p oduced a furious attack from Dr. Biester, the editor of the Berlinische Mo atschrift, in June, 1785. Amongst some amusing diatribes, the following is worthy of notice, if only to show how inaccurate an angry editor can be. s we have already seen, M. de St. Germain was in the year 1785 chos n representative at the Masonic Conference in Paris. Nevertheless, Herr Dr. Biester, in the same year, opens his remarks with the astonishing stat ment: "This adventurer, who died two years ago in Danish Holstein"!
Our editor then proceeds to clinch the argument
as follows:
"I even
now
that tho' he is dead, many now believe that he is still living, and will soon come forth alive! Whereas he is dead as a door-nail, probably mould and rotting as any ordinary man who cannot work miracles, and who no prince has eve r greeted." Ignora nce alone must excuse ou r ed itor from the cha rge of bei ng a lit ra ry Ananias; but indeed in our own days critics of matters occult are j st as ignorant and equally positive as they were a century ago, no matter what their lea rn ing in othe r respects. And indeed there was some justification Biester, for a more recent writer says:-"The church register of Eckernforde for the statements of He r Dr.
shows St. Germain died on Feb uary
27th, 1784 in th is town in whose ch urch he was entombed quite pri ately on Ma rch 2 nd. In the ch u rch registe r we read as follows: "Deceas don Februa ry 27th, bu ried on Ma rch 2 nd, 1784 the so-ca lied Comte eSt. Germain and Weldon--further information not known--privately dep in th is ch urch." In the ch urch accou nts it is said: "On Ma rch 1st, for the here deceased Comte de St. Germain a tomb in the Nicolai Church h re in the burial-place sub N. 1, 30 years time of decay 10 Rthlr. and for op of the same 2 Rthlr., in all 12 Rthlr." Tradition tells that the land afterwards got St. Germain buried in Siesvig in the Friederiksberg chyard there in order to consult his ghost in late hours of the night. 0 the third of April the mayor and the council of Eckernforde gave legal otice concerning his estate. In that it is said: "As the Comte de St. Ger ain, known abroad, as also here, under the name of Comte de St. Germai and Weldon, who during the last four years has been living in this country, died recently here in Eckemforde. his effects have been legally sealed, and t has been found necessary as well to his eventual intestate heirs, as until now nothing has been ascertained concerning a left will .... etc .... Ther fore all creditors are called upon to come forward with their claims on 0 ober 14th."l Th is passage shows defin ite Iy that M. de St. Germa in was we II known the name of Welldown (it is written in very many different ways).
BOBE (Louis), Johan Caspar Lavater's Rejse til Danmark i Sommeren 1898. 1793,
156. Copenhagen,
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But--as to the death--we have much evidence that he did d'Adhernar says speaking of M. de St. Germain:-"He is believed to have deceased in 1784, at Schleswig, Elector of Hesse-Cassel; the Count de Chalons, however, 0 his Ve netia n em bassy in 1788, told me of his having spok de Saint-Germain in the place Saint Marc the day before go on an embassy to Portuga I. I saw him aga in on 0 ne othe And again from a Masonic source we get the following
ot die: Madame
when with the returning from n to the Co mte e left Venice to occasion." 1
stat ment:-at Wilhelmsbad artin and ma ny
"Amongst the Freemasons invited to the great conference 15th Feb. 1785 we find St. Germa in included with St. others." 2
And again from a thoroughly Catholic source: the late Libra ian of the Great Ambrosiana Library at Milan says:-"And whe n, in orde r to bring about a concil iation between he va rious sects of the Rosicrucians, the Necromantists, the Cabalists, th Illuminati, the Humanitarians, there was held a great Congress at Wilh Imsbad, then in the Lodge of the "Amici ri uniti" there a Iso was Cagliostro, with St. Ma rti n, Mesme rand Saint-Germa in." 3 Evidence there is on both sides, and "Church records" are not always
infallible; how many a cause celebre has arisen from a fi titious death. If the Comte de St. Germain wished to disappear from public life, this was the best way to accomplish his wish.
ADHEMAR, op. ut., 1., p. 229. 2 Freimaurer BrOderschaft in Frankreich, Latomia, Vol. ii., p. 9. 3 CANTU CESARE,Gli Eretici d'italia. Turin, 1867, Vol. iii., Disc. Iii.,
l'
. x, 402.

I
MASONIC WORK AND AUSTRIAN TRAD TIONS
ASSING now from France to AUstria, let us see what Graffer says in his interesting, though curiously written, sketches. 0 give, then, a few extracts out of many: ST. GERMAIN AND MESMER
"An unknown ma n had come on a short visit to Vie nna. "But his sojourn there extended itself. "H is affa irs had reference to a fa r-off time, na mely, the twe n ieth centu ry. "He had really come to Vienna to see one person only. "This person was Mesmer, still a very young man. "Mesmer was struck by the appearance of the stranger. 'y u must be the man,' said he, 'whose anonymous letter I received yest rday from the Hague?' '"I am he.' '"You wish to speak with me to-day, at this hour, on my id as concerning magnetism?' '"I wish to do so.' 'lilt was the man who has just left me, who in a fatherly way has guided my ideas in th is cha nnel. He is the celebrated astronome r He II." '"I know it.' '" My fu nda menta I ideas, however, are sti II chaotic; who can ive me light?' Maximilian Hell (Imperial Court Astronomer). To this highly resp cted scholar are due thanks for having given the impulse to take up magnetism cientifically and practically. SeeOesterr. National Encvdopadie, art. "Mesmer."
1
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so.' uld make me happy, sir.' '''I have "The str nge r motioned Mesme r to lock the door.
"The ke nel of their conversation
centred round the theory of obtaining the of magnetism in a series of
elemen s of the elixir of life by the employment permut tions. "The co ference lasted three hours ....
"They a ra nged a fu rthe r meeting in Paris. Then they pa rted."
That St. Germain and Mesmer were connected in the mystical work of the last cen ury we know from other sources, 2 and that they again met and worked ogether in Paris, is verified by research among the records of the Lodge eetings already mentioned. This meeting in Vienna must have taken pi ce before Mesmer began his work in Paris judging by the context. Vienna as the great centre for the Rosicrucians and other allied Societies, such as the "Asiatische Brlide r," the "Ritter des Lichts," etc. The forme r were t e largest body who really occupied themselves deeply with alchemi al researches and had their laboratory in the Landstrasse, behind the Hos ita I. Among them we find a group of St. Ger-main's followers. Franz Graffer aga in:-"One d enigma passed th rough y the report was spread that the Comte de St. Germain, the most ical of all incomprehensibles, was in Vienna. An electric shock hrough all who knew his name. Our Adept circle was thrilled and th rough: St. Ge rma in was in Vien na! ...
1 2
Kleine H. P. B
iener Memoiren, i., 81. Wien, 1846. VATSKY, Theos. Gloss., p. 214. London, 1892.
The Comte
e St. Germain
"Barely h d Graffer [his brother news, th Among t the genia St. Germ
Rudolph]
recovered from the surprising
n he flies to Hiniberg, his country seat, where he has his papers. ese is to be found a letter of recommendation from Casanova, adventurer whom he got to know in Amsterdam, addressed to in.
"He hurri s back to his house of business; there he is informed by the clerk: 'An hour go a gentleman has been here whose appearance has astonished us all. Th proportio . . He sai presence, in 1713." hou r we s gentleman was neither tall nor short, his build was strikingly ate, everything about him had the stamp of nobility . in French, as it were to himself, not troubling about anyone's the words: "I live in Fedalhofe, the room in which Leibnitz lodged We we re abo ut to spea k, whe n he was aIready gone. Th is last ave been, as you see, sir, petrified.' .
"In five inutes Fedalhofe is reached. Leibnitz's room is empty. Nobody knows w en 'the American gentleman' will return home. As to luggage, nothing i to be seen but a small iron chest. It is almost dinner time. But who would think of dining! Graffer is mechanically urged to go and find Baron Li den; he finds him at the 'Ente.' They d rive to the Landstrasse, wh ithe r certa in someth ing, an obscu re presentiment, impe Is them to drive pos haste. ratory is unlocked; a simultaneous cry of astonishment escapes table is seated St. Germain, calmly reading a folio, which is a aracelsus. They stand dumb at the threshold; the mysterious lowly closes the book, and slowly rises. Well know the two men that this apparition can be no other in the world than the onders. The description of the clerk was as a shadow against a was as if a bright splendour enveloped his whole form. Dignity eignty declared themselves. The men were speechless. The Count ard to meet them; they enter. In measured tones, without but in an indescribably ringing tenor, charming the innermost ays in French to Graffer: 'You have a letter of introduction from Seingalt; but it is not needed. This gentleman is Baron Linden. I you wou Id both be he re at th is moment. You have another lette r m Bruhl. But the painter is not to be saved; his lung is gone, he Iy 8th, 1805. A man who is still a child called Buonaparte will be to blame. And now, gentlemen, I know of your doings; can I be of e to you? Speak.' But speech was not possible.
both; at work of intruder perplexe man of reality. It and sove steps for formality, soul, he Herr von knew tha for me fr will die J indirectly any servi
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"Linden laid a small table, too confectionery placed it before him and went nto the cellar. "The Count signs to Graffer t
from a cupboard in the wall,
sit down, seats himself and says: 'I knew
your friend Linden would retir , he was compelled. I will serve you alone. I know you through Angelo Soli an, to whom I was able to render service in Africa. If Linden comes I wil send him away again.' Graffer recovered himself; he was, however, to overwhelmed to respond more than with the words: 'I unde rsta nd you: I have a presentime nt.' "Meanwhile Linden returns nd places two bottles on the table. St.
Ge rma in smiles the reat with ani ndescriba ble d ign ity. Linden offers him refresh ment. The Co unt's smil increases to a laugh. 'I ask you,' said he, 'is there any soul on this earth w 0 has ever seen me eat or drink?' He points to the bottles and remarks: 'T is Tokay is not direct from Hungary. It comes from my friend Katherine of ussia. She was so well pleased with the sick man's paintings of the engage ent at Modling, that she sent a cask of the same.' Graffer and Linden wer astounded; the wine had been bought from Casanova. "The Count asked for writi g materials; Linden brought them. The 'Wu nderma nn' cuts from a sh et of pa pe r two q uarte rs ofthe sheet, places them quite close to each othe , and seizes a pen with either hand simultaneously. He writes with both, autographs, sir; choose one 0 which; the content is the sa 'stroke for stroke, both handw of!' alf a page, signs alike, these sheets, it is a e.' 'No, it is magic,' itings agree, no trace and says: '[You collect matter of indifference exclaim both friends, of difference, unheard
"The writer smiles; places b th sheets on one another; holds them up against the window-pane; it s ems as if there were only one writing to be seen, so exactly is one the fa simile of the other; they appear as if they were impressions from the sa e copper-plate. The witnesses were struck dumb. "The Count then said: 'One
0
these sheets I wish delivered to Angelo as
quickly as possible. In a qua er of an hour he is going out with Prince Lichte nste in; the bea rer will re eive a little box .... '
The Comte d
St. Germain
"St. Germa n then gradually passed Into a solemn mood. For a few seconds he became words, be became re his depart again will rigid as a statue, his eyes, which were always expressive beyond ame dull and colourless. Presently, however, his whole being nimated. He made a movement with his hand as if in signal of re, then said: 'I am leaving (ich scheide): do not visit me. Once ou see me. To-morrow night I am off; I am much needed in
Constantin pie; then in England, there to prepare two inventions which you will h ve in the next century--trains and steamboats. These will be needed in Germany. The seasons will gradually change--first the spring, then the s mmer. It is the gradual cessation of time itself, as the announceme t ofthe end ofthe cycle. I see it all; astrologers and meteorologists know othing, believe me; one needs to have studied in the Pyramids as I have s udied. Towards the end of this century I shall disappear out of Europe, an betake myself to the region ofthe Himalayas. I will rest; I must rest. Exactl in eighty-five years will people again set eyes on me. Farewell, I love you. After these solemnly uttered words, the Count repeated the sign with is hand. The two adepts, overpowered by the force of such unprecede ted impressions, left the room in a condition of complete stupefaction. In the same moment there fell a sudden heavy shower, accompani d by a peal of thunder. Instinctively they return to the laboratory or shelter. They open the door. St. Germain is no more there ...
"He re," co tin ues Graffer, "my story ends. It is from me mory th roughout. A peculiar irr sistible feeling has compelled me to set down these transactions in w iting once more, after so long a ti me, just to-day, June 15th,
1843.
"Further, I make this remark, that these events have not been hitherto reported. 5 he rewith do I ta ke my leave." 1 The cu riou cha racter of Franz Graffe r's sketches is stri king. From othe r
sources it an be learned that both of these Graffers were personal friends
lOp. cit., ii. pp. 136-162. It is to be regretted that Grafter's florid account opens the door to slight suspicion of charlatanry in the mind of the modern student of occultism. I is probably, however, his way of looking at the matter which is at fault. A mo e experienced student would probably have described the interview far otherwis , although he might have testified as strongly to precisely the same facts.
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of St. Germain, both were also Rosicrucians. And though no date is given of the interview here recorded, we can deduce it approximately from another article in the same volume, where it is said: "St. Germain was in the year '88, or '89, or '90, in Vienna, where we had the never-to-be-forgotten honou r of meeting him." 1 That the Comte de St. Germain was also a Rosicrucian there is no doubt. Constantly, in the Masonic and Mystic literature of the last century the evidences are found of his intimacy with the prominent Rosicrucians in Hungary and Austria. This mystic body originally sprang up in the central European States; it has, at various times and through different organisations, spread the Sacred Science and Knowledge with which some of its Heads were entrusted--the same message from the one Great Lodge which guides the spiritual evolution of the human race. Traces of this teaching, as given by our mystic, are clearly found, and are quoted by Madame Blavatsky, who mentions a "Cypher Rosicrucian Manuscript" 2 as being in his possession. She emphasises also the entirely Eastern tone of the views held by M. de St. Germain. The fact that M. de St. Germain possessed this rare work shows the position held by him. Turning again to The Secret Doctrine,3 we find his teaching on "Numbers" and their values, and this important passage links him again with the Pythagorean School, whose tenets were purely Eastern. Such passages are of deep interest to the student, for they prove the unity which underlies all the outward diversity of the many societies working under different names, yet with so much in common. On the surface it would appear that better results might have been attained had all these small bodies been welded into one large Society. But in studying the history of the eighteenth century, the reason is evident. In Austria, Italy and France, the Jesuits were all-powerful and crushed out any body of people who showed signs of occult knowledge. Germany was at war, England also at war; any large masses of students would certainly have been suspected of political designs. The various small organizations were safer, and it is evident that M. de St. Germain went from one society to another, guiding and teach ing; of his consta nt con nection with the Mason ic ci rcles we have other proofs; M. Bj6rnstahl writes in his book oftravels:--
lOp. cit., iii., p. 89. 2 The Secret Doctrine, ii., p. 212, 3rd ed. 3 ii., pp. 616, 617.
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