DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70302#0373
LOUISA, OR LADY OF THE HAY-STACK.
333
larly guarded in his expressions. On one occasion she
informed him, that she would send him two more pictures
with one of which, she requested him to compare her
own. The count, not receiving them, urged her to fulfil
her promise. She replied, the she had sent them to a
jeweller, to take them out of a casket, in which they were
set with diamonds, and that as soon as he returned them,
they should be dispatched to Brussels. About a fortnight
afterwards, the count received the portraits of the empe-
ror and empress ; the former of which was known by Prince
Charles to have been painted by Liotard.
In the month of December, the count received an ex-
traordinary letter, dated “ Vienna—From my bed, two
in the morning in which he was highly commended for
the good advice he had given the young stranger, and re-
quested to continue his attentions. He was likewise de-
sired to inculcate economy, and particularly admonished
of the importance of the secret. This letter was without
signature.
In the beginning of the year 1769, Count Cobenzel re-
ceived some dispatches from Vienna, containing several
extraordinary circumstances relative to the stranger. The
court of Vienna had sent a requisition to that of Versailles
to apprehend Mademoiselle la Friilen, and to send her to
Brussels to be examined by Count Cobenzel, and the first
president M. de Neny. At the same time Prince Charles
received a letter from the empress, enjoining him to be
careful that the prisoner should not escape, and conclud-
ing as follows:—“ This wretch wishes to pass for the
daughter of our late royal master. If there was the least
probability in the story, I would love her and treat her like
one of my own children ; but I am convinced she is an
impostor. I wish every possible effort to be made to pre-
vent this unhappy creature from profaning any longer the
dear and venerable name of our departed lord.” Her
majesty
333
larly guarded in his expressions. On one occasion she
informed him, that she would send him two more pictures
with one of which, she requested him to compare her
own. The count, not receiving them, urged her to fulfil
her promise. She replied, the she had sent them to a
jeweller, to take them out of a casket, in which they were
set with diamonds, and that as soon as he returned them,
they should be dispatched to Brussels. About a fortnight
afterwards, the count received the portraits of the empe-
ror and empress ; the former of which was known by Prince
Charles to have been painted by Liotard.
In the month of December, the count received an ex-
traordinary letter, dated “ Vienna—From my bed, two
in the morning in which he was highly commended for
the good advice he had given the young stranger, and re-
quested to continue his attentions. He was likewise de-
sired to inculcate economy, and particularly admonished
of the importance of the secret. This letter was without
signature.
In the beginning of the year 1769, Count Cobenzel re-
ceived some dispatches from Vienna, containing several
extraordinary circumstances relative to the stranger. The
court of Vienna had sent a requisition to that of Versailles
to apprehend Mademoiselle la Friilen, and to send her to
Brussels to be examined by Count Cobenzel, and the first
president M. de Neny. At the same time Prince Charles
received a letter from the empress, enjoining him to be
careful that the prisoner should not escape, and conclud-
ing as follows:—“ This wretch wishes to pass for the
daughter of our late royal master. If there was the least
probability in the story, I would love her and treat her like
one of my own children ; but I am convinced she is an
impostor. I wish every possible effort to be made to pre-
vent this unhappy creature from profaning any longer the
dear and venerable name of our departed lord.” Her
majesty