THE HISTORY OF A DELUSION. 741 



tried to persuade her to it is another matter. As to myself, I always 

 answered that I held to the judgment of my mother, who has often 

 said, like the old margravine, 'It is impossihle.'" 



But King Louis had on his side all the malcontents of the grand- 

 duchy. Every gaming-master who complained of a denial of jus- 

 tice, every solicitor who had been refused, avenged his injury by 

 saying, "Caspar Hauser became inconvenient to you, and you had 

 him assassinated." The name of the mysterious personage who was 

 supposed to have conducted the affair was boldly given, and Count 

 Stanhope was accused of having been a go-between in the crime. 

 The field was beaten for proofs of the accusations. Time and again 

 some sharp-witted man in want of money would send word to the 

 court of Carlsruhe that he was the possessor of secret papers in which 

 the tragic adventure was related from point to point. He would ask 

 for a large sum, and they would give nothing, and then he would pub- 

 lish his papers. Persons of keen scent and reading could recognize in 

 his little work whole chapters from old factions, which had fallen into 

 oblivion, and scenes extracted from a romance by Seybold, which was 

 no longer read. Such, according to Herr von der Linde, was the his- 

 tory of the famous pamphlet of 1882, on which the tribunal of Ratis- 

 bon executed justice. 



Merker reduced the question to these terms : We know nothing of 

 Caspar Hauser except what it has pleased himself to tell us, and no 

 one ever passed a week with him without surprising him more than 

 once in a lie. What credit does a story deserve that is founded on 

 the testimony of a downright liar ? But believers would object : 

 Is it possible to suppose that a young man of an uncultivated and 

 very narrow mind should have a genius for invention, and that he 

 could maintain his imposture to the end without betraying himself or 

 departing from his assumed part ? To this the doubters replied : that 

 the public had kindly taken it in hand to facilitate his task for him, 

 and open the way for him, which he had not even had to take the 

 trouble to mark out. Some one has said that in France the first day 

 is for infatuation, the second for criticism, and the third for indiffer- 

 ence. The infatuation of the people of Nuremberg seems to have been 

 more enduring than usual ; for the days of criticism and indifference 

 never came for Caspar Hauser. 



There are two kinds of cunning. One, which sometimes has genius 

 in it, composes in advance a grand plan, conforms all its conduct to it, 

 and prepares afar off, for its adversaries, traps which shall be sprung 

 suddenly and surely. That is the cunning of Ulysses and the politi- 

 cians. Caspar Hauser had nothing but the passive cunning of the 

 chameleon, which changes color to agree with the objects around it. 

 He accommodated himself to circumstances ; he lent himself with un- 

 limited compliance to the desires and prejudices of his benefactors, 

 and he worked upon their prepossessions and their open credulity. 



