Showing posts with label Imposter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Imposter. Show all posts

Friday 18 February 2022

Imposture






VISION
You are familiar with the thought experiment 
The Ship of Theseus in the field of 
Identity Metaphysics?

WHITE VISION
Naturally.

The Ship of Theseus 
is an artifict in a museum. 

Over time, its planks of wood rot 
and are replaced with new planks. 

When no original plank remains, 
is it still The Ship of Theseus?

VISION
Secondly, if those removed planks 
are restored and reassembled, 
free of the rot, 
is that The Ship of Theseus?

WHITE VISION: 
Neither is The True Ship. 
BOTH are The True Ship.

VISION
Well, then, we are agreed.

WHITE VISION
But I do not have The Mind Stone.

VISION
And I do not have one single ounce of original material. 

Perhaps, The Rot is The Memories. 
The wear and tear are The Voyages. 

The wood touched by Theseus himself.

WHITE VISION
I have not retained memories.

VISION
But You DO have The Data.
It is merely being — kept from you.

WHITE VISION: 
A Weapon to be more easily controlled…..

But, certainly, YOU are The True Vision, 
for you believe yourself to be.

VISION
That was once the case. 
But upon meeting you, I have been disabused of that notion. 

But as a carbon-based synthezoid, 
your memory storage is not so easily wiped. 

May I?



WHITE VISION: 
I am Vision.






John Huston was Terrific —

And he gave Me and Michael Caine a directive 
that no other guy would have thought of — 
that The Character Danny & Peachy — 
were really ONE MAN.

And as long as they were together, 
they could do ANYTHING.

— Sean Connery on 
The Man Who Would Be King.


CELEBRATED
CLAIMANTS

FROM

PERKIN WARBECK TO ARTHUR ORTON.
Emblem

SECOND EDITION.

London:

CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY.

1874.


[III]

PREFACE.

This book is intended much less to gratify a temporary curiosity than to fill an empty page in our literature. In our own and in other countries Claimants have been by no means rare. Wandering heirs to great possessions have not unfrequently concealed themselves for many years until their friends have forgotten them, and have suddenly and inopportunely reappeared to demand restitution of their rights; and unscrupulous rogues have very often advanced pretensions to titles and estates which did not appertain to them, in the hope that they would be able to deceive the rightful possessors and the legal tribunals. When such cases have occurred they have created more or less excitement in proportion to the magnitude of the claim, the audacity of the imposture, or the romance which has surrounded them. But the [IV]interest which they have aroused has been evanescent, and the only records which remain of the vast majority are buried in ponderous legal tomes, which are rarely seen, and are still more rarely read, by non-professional men. The compiler of the present collection has endeavoured to disinter the most noteworthy claims which have been made either to honours or property, at home or abroad, and, while he has passed over those which present few remarkable features, has spared no research to render his work as perfect as possible, and to supply a reliable history of those which are entitled to rank ascauses célèbres. The book must speak for itself. It is put forward in the hope that, while it may serve to amuse the hasty reader in a leisure hour, it may also be deemed worthy of a modest resting-place in the libraries of those who like to watch the march of events, and who have the prudent habit, when information is found, of preserving a note of it.




[9]

JACK CADE—THE PRETENDED MORTIMER.

Henry VI. was one of the most unpopular of our English monarchs. During his reign the nobles were awed by his austerity towards some members of their own high estate, and divided between the claims of Lancaster and York; and the peasantry, who cared little for the claims of the rival Roses, were maddened by the extortions and indignities to which they were subjected. The feebleness and corruption of the Government, and the disasters in France, combined with the murder of the Duke of Suffolk, added to the general discontent; and the result was, that in the year 1450 the country was ripe for revolution. In June of that year, and immediately after the death of Suffolk, a body of 20,000 of the men of Kent; assembled on Blackheath, under the leadership of a reputed Irishman, calling himself John Cade, but who is said in reality to have been an English physician named Aylmere. This person, whatever his real cognomen, assumed the name of Mortimer (with manifest allusion to the claims of the House of Mortimer to the succession), and forwarded two papers to the king, entitled "The Complaint of the Commons of Kent," and "The Requests of the Captain of the Great Assembly in Kent." Henry replied by despatching a small force against the rioters. Cade unhesitatingly gave battle to  [10]the royal troops, and having defeated them and killed their leader, Sir Humphrey Stafford, at Seven Oaks, advanced towards London. Still preserving an appearance of moderation, he forwarded to the court a plausible list of grievances, asserting that when these were redressed, and Lord Say, the treasurer, and Cromer, the sheriff of Kent, had been punished for their malversations, he and his men would lay down their arms. These demands were so reasonable that the king's troops, who were far from loyal, refused to fight against the insurgents; and Henry, finding his cause desperate, retired for safety to Kenilworth, Lord Scales with a thousand men remaining to defend the Tower. Hearing of the flight of his majesty, Cade advanced to Southwark, which he reached on the 1st of July, and, the citizens offering no resistance, he entered London two days afterwards. Strict orders had been given to his men to refrain from pillage, and on the same evening they were led back to Southwark. On the following day he returned, and having compelled the Lord Mayor and the people to sit at Guildhall, brought Say and Cromer before them, and these victims of the popular spite were condemned, after a sham trial, and were beheaded in Cheapside. This exhibition of personal ill-will on the part of their chief seemed the signal for the commencement of outrages by his followers. On the next day the unruly mob began to plunder, and the citizens, repenting of their disloyalty, joined with Lord Scales in resisting their re-entry. After a sturdy fight, the Londoners held the position, and the Kentishmen, discouraged by their reverse, began to scatter. Cade, not slow to perceive the danger which threatened him, fled towards Lewis, but was overtaken by Iden, the sheriff of Kent, who killed him in a garden in which he had taken shelter. A reward of 1000 marks followed this deed of bravery. Some of the insurgents were afterwards executed as traitors; but the majority even of the ringleaders escaped unpunished, for Henry's seat upon the throne was so unstable, that it was deemed better to win the people by a manifestation of clemency, rather than to provoke them by an exhibition of severity.


[11]

LAMBERT SIMNEL—THE FALSE EARL OF WARWICK.

After the downfall of the Plantagenet dynasty, and the accession of Henry VII. to the English throne, the evident favour shown by the king to the Lancastrian party greatly provoked the adherents of the House of York, and led some of the malcontents to devise one of the most extraordinary impostures recorded in history.

An ambitious Oxford priest, named Richard Simon, had among his pupils a handsome youth, fifteen years of age, named Lambert Simnel. This lad, who was the son of a baker, and, according to Lord Bacon, was possessed of "very pregnant parts," was selected to disturb the usurper's government, by appearing as a pretender to his crown. At first it was the intention of the conspirators that he should personate Richard, duke of York, the second son of Edward IV., who was supposed to have escaped from the assassins of the Tower, and to be concealed somewhere in England. Accordingly, the monk Simon, who was the tool of higher persons, carefully instructed young Simnel in the rôle which he was to play, and in a short time had rendered him thoroughly proficient in his part. But just as the plot was ripe for execution a rumour spread abroad that Edward Plantagenet, earl of Warwick, and only male heir of the House of York, had effected his escape from the Tower, and the plan of the imposture was changed. Simnel was set to learn another lesson, and in a very brief time had acquired a vast amount of information respecting the private life of the royal family, and the adventures of the Earl of Warwick. When he was accounted thoroughly proficient, he was despatched to Ireland in the company of Simon—the expectation of the plotters being that the imposition would be less likely to be detected on the other side of the channel, and that the English settlers in Ireland, who were known to be attached to the Yorkist cause, would support his pretensions.

[12]

These anticipations were amply fulfilled. On his arrival in the island, Simnel at once presented himself to the Earl of Kildare, then viceroy, and claimed his protection as the unfortunate Warwick. The credulous nobleman listened to his story, and repeated it to others of the nobility, who in time diffused it throughout all ranks of society. Everywhere the escape of the Plantagenet was received with satisfaction, and at last the people of Dublin unanimously tendered their allegiance to the pretender, as the rightful heir to the throne. Their homage was of course accepted, and Simnel was solemnly crowned (May 24, 1487), with a crown taken from an effigy of the Virgin Mary, in Christ Church Cathedral. After the coronation, he was publicly proclaimed king, and, as Speed tells us, "was carried to the castle on tall men's shoulders, that he might be seen and known." With the exception of the Butlers of Ormond, a few of the prelates, and the inhabitants of Waterford, the whole island followed the example of the capital, and not a voice was raised in protest, or a sword drawn in favour of King Henry. Ireland was in revolt.

When news of these proceedings reached London, Henry summoned the peers and bishops, and devised measures for the punishment of his secret enemies and the maintenance of his authority. His first act was to proclaim a free pardon to all his former opponents; his next, to lead the real Earl of Warwick in procession from the Tower to St. Paul's, and thence to the palace of Shene, where the nobility and gentry had daily opportunities of meeting him and conversing with him. Suspecting, not without cause, that the Queen-Dowager was implicated in the conspiracy, Henry seized her lands and revenues, and shut her up in the Convent of Bermondsey. But he failed to reach the active agents; and although the English people were satisfied that the Earl of Warwick was still a prisoner, the Irish persisted in their revolt, and declared that the person who had been shown to the public at St. Paul's was a counterfeit. By the orders of the Government a strict watch was kept at the English ports, that fugitives, malcontents, or suspected persons  [13]might not pass over into Ireland or Flanders; and a thousand pounds reward was offered to any one who would present the State with the body of the sham Plantagenet.

Meanwhile John, earl of Lincoln, whom Richard had declared heir to the throne, and whom Henry had treated with favour, took the side of the pretender, and having established a correspondence with Sir Thomas Broughton of Lancashire, proceeded to the court of Margaret, dowager-duchess of Burgundy—a woman described by Lord Bacon as "possessing the spirit of a man and the malice of a woman," and whose great aim it was to see the sovereignty of England once more held by the house of which she was a member. She readily consented to abet the sham Earl of Warwick, and furnished Lincoln and Lord Lovel with a body of 2000 German veterans, commanded by an able officer named Martin Schwartz. The countenance given to the movement by persons of such high rank, and the accession of this military force, greatly raised the courage of Simnel's Irish adherents, and led them to conceive the project of invading England, where they believed the spirit of disaffection to be as general as it was in their own island.

The news of the intended invasion came early to the ears of King Henry, who promptly prepared to resist it. Having always felt or affected great devotion, after mustering his army, he made a pilgrimage to the shrine of our Lady of Walsingham, famous for miracles, and there offered up prayers for success and for the overthrow of his enemies. Being informed that Simnel and his gathering had landed at Foudrey, in Lancashire, the king advanced to Coventry to meet them. The rebels had anticipated that the disaffected provinces of the north would rise and join them, but in this they were disappointed; for the cautious northerners were not only convinced of Simnel's imposture, but were afraid of the king's strength, and were averse to league themselves with a horde of Irishmen and Germans. The Earl of Lincoln, therefore, who commanded the invading force, finding no hopes but in victory, determined to bring the  [14]matter to a speedy decision. The hostile armies met at Stoke, in Nottinghamshire, and after a hardly-contested day, the victory remained with the king. Lincoln, Broughton, and Schwartz perished on the field of battle, with four thousand of their followers. As Lord Lovel was never more heard of, it was supposed that he shared the same fate. Lambert Simnel, with his tutor the monk Simon, were taken prisoners. The latter, as an ecclesiastic, escaped the doom he merited, and, not being tried at law, was only committed to close custody for the rest of his life. As for Simnel, when he was questioned, he revealed his real parentage; and being deemed too contemptible to be an object either of apprehension or resentment, Henry pardoned him, and made him first a scullion in the royal kitchen, and afterwards promoted him to the lofty position of a falconer.


PERKIN WARBECK—THE SHAM DUKE OF YORK.

Although Lambert Simnel's enterprise had miscarried, Margaret, dowager-duchess of Burgundy, did not despair of seeing the crown of England wrested from the House of Lancaster, and determined at least to disturb King Henry's government if she could not subvert it. To this end she sedulously spread abroad a report that Richard, duke of York, the second son of Edward IV., had escaped the cruelty of his uncle Richard III., and had been set at liberty by the assassins who had been sent to despatch him. This rumour, although improbable, was eagerly received by the people, and they were consequently prepared to welcome the new pretender whenever he made his appearance.

After some search, the duchess found a stripling whom she thought had all the qualities requisite to personate the unfortunate prince. This youth is described as being "of visage beautiful, of countenance majestical,  [15]of wit subtile and crafty; in education pregnant, in languages skilful; a lad, in short, of a fine shape, bewitching behaviour, and very audacious." The name of this admirable prodigy was Peterkin, or Perkin Warbeck, and he was the son of John Warbeck, a renegade Jew of Tournay. Some writers, and among others Lord Bacon, suggest that he had certain grounds for his pretensions to royal descent, and hint that King Edward, in the course of his amorous adventures, had been intimate with Catherine de Faro, Warbeck's wife; and Bacon says "it was pretty extraordinary, or at least very suspicious, that so wanton a prince should become gossip in so mean a house." But be this as it may, the lad was both handsome and crafty, and was well suited for the part which he was destined to play.

Some years after his birth, the elder Warbeck returned to Tournay, carrying the child with him; but Perkin did not long remain in the paternal domicile, but by different accidents was carried from place to place, until his birth and fortunes became difficult to trace by the most diligent inquiry. No better tool could have been found for the ambitious Duchess of Burgundy; and when he was brought to her palace, she at once set herself to instruct him thoroughly with respect to the person whom he was to represent. She so often described to him the features, figures, and peculiarities of his deceased—or presumedly deceased—parents, Edward IV. and his queen, and informed him so minutely of all circumstances relating to the family history, that in a short time he was able to talk as familiarly of the court of his pretended father as the real Duke of York could have done. She took especial care to warn him against certain leading questions which might be put to him, and to render him perfect in his narration of the occurrences which took place while he was in sanctuary with the queen, and particularly to be consistent in repeating the story of his escape from his executioners. After he had learnt his lesson thoroughly, he was despatched under the care of Lady Brampton to Portugal, there to wait till the fitting time arrived for his presentation to the English people.

[16]

At length, when war between France and England was imminent, a proper opportunity seemed to present itself, and he was ordered to repair to Ireland, which still retained its old attachment to the House of York. He landed at Cork, and at once assuming the name of Richard Plantagenet, succeeded in attracting many partizans. The news of his presence in Ireland reached France; and Charles VIII., prompted by the Burgundian duchess, sent him an invitation to repair to Paris. The chance of recognition by the French king was too good to be idly cast away. He went, and was received with every possible mark of honour. Magnificent lodgings were provided for his reception; a handsome pension was settled upon him; and a strong guard was appointed to secure him against the emissaries of the English king. The French courtiers readily imitated their master, and paid the respect to Perkin which was due to the real Duke of York; and he, in turn, both by his deportment and personal qualities, well supported his claims to a royal pedigree. For a time nothing was talked of but the accomplishments, the misfortunes, and the adventures of the young Plantagenet; and the curiosity and credulity of England became thoroughly aroused by the strange tidings which continued to arrive from France. Sir George Nevill, Sir John Taylor, and many English gentlemen who entertained no love for the king, repaired to the French capital to satisfy themselves as to the pretensions of this young man; and so well had Warbeck's lesson been acquired, that he succeeded in convincing them of his identity, and in inducing them to pledge themselves to aid him in his attempt to recover his inheritance.

About this time, however, the breach between France and England was lessened, and when friendly relations were restored, Henry applied to have the impostor put into his hands. Charles, refusing to break faith with a youth who had come to Paris by his own solicitation, refused to give him up, and contented himself with ordering him to quit the kingdom. Warbeck thereupon in all haste repaired to the court of Margaret of Burgundy;  [17]but she at first astutely pretended ignorance of his person and ridiculed his claims, saying that she had been deceived by Simnel, and was resolved never again to be cajoled by another impostor. Perkin, who admitted that she had reason to be suspicious, nevertheless persisted that he was her nephew, the Duke of York. The duchess, feigning a desire to convict him of imposture before the whole of her attendants, put several questions to him which she knew he could readily answer, affected astonishment at his replies, and, at last, no longer able to control her feelings, "threw herself on his neck, and embraced him as her nephew, the true image of Edward, the sole heir of the Plantagenets, and the legitimate successor to the English throne." She immediately assigned to him an equipage suited to his supposed rank, appointed a guard of thirty halberdiers to wait upon him, and gave him the title of "The White Rose of England"—the symbol of the House of York.

When the news reached England, in the beginning of 1493, that the Duke of York was alive in Flanders, and had been acknowledged by the Duchess of Burgundy, many people credited the story; and men of the highest rank began to turn their eyes towards the new claimant. Lord Fitzwater, Sir Simon Mountfort, and Sir Thomas Thwaites, made little secret of their inclination towards him; Sir William Stanley, King Henry's chamberlain, who had been active in raising the usurper to the throne, was ready to adopt his cause whenever he set foot on English soil, and Sir Robert Clifford and William Barley openly gave their adhesion to the pretender, and went over to Flanders to concert measures with the duchess and the sham duke. After his arrival, Clifford wrote to his friends in England, that knowing the person of Richard, duke of York, perfectly well, he had no doubt that this young man was the prince himself, and that his story was compatible with the truth. Such positive intelligence from a person of Clifford's rank greatly strengthened the popular belief, and the whole English nation was seriously discomposed and gravely disaffected towards the king.

[18]

When Henry was informed of this new plot, he set himself cautiously but steadily and resolutely to foil it. His first object was to ascertain the reality of the death of the young prince, and to confirm the opinion which had always prevailed with regard to that event. Richard had engaged five persons to murder his nephews—viz., Sir James Tirrel, whom he made custodian of the Tower while his nefarious scheme was in course of execution, and who had seen the bodies of the princes after their assassination; Forrest, Dighton, and Slater, who perpetrated the crime; and the priest who buried the bodies. Tirrel and Dighton were still alive; but although their stories agreed, as the priest was dead, and as the bodies were supposed to have been removed by Richard's orders, and could not be found, it was impossible to prove conclusively that the young princes really had been put to death.

By means of his spies, Henry, after a time, succeeded in tracing the true pedigree of Warbeck, and immediately published it for the satisfaction of the nation. At the same time he remonstrated with the Archduke Philip on account of the protection which was afforded to the impostor, and demanded that "the theatrical king formed by the Duchess of Burgundy" should be given up to him. The ambassadors were received with all outward respect, but their request was refused, and they were sent home with the answer, that "the Duchess of Burgundy being absolute sovereign in the lands of her dowry, the archduke could not meddle with her affairs, or hinder her from doing what she thought fit." Henry in resentment cut off all intercourse with the Low Countries, banished the Flemings, and recalled his own subjects from these provinces. At the same time, Sir Robert Clifford having proved traitorous to Warbeck's cause, and having revealed the names of its supporters in England, the king pounced upon the leading conspirators. Almost at the same instant he arrested Fitzwater, Mountfort, and Thwaites, together with William D'Aubeney, Thomas Cressener, Robert Ratcliff, and Thomas Astwood. Lord Fitzwater was sent as a prisoner to Calais with some hopes of  [19]pardon; but being detected in an attempt to bribe his gaolers, he was beheaded. Sir Simon Mountfort, Robert Ratcliff, and William D'Aubeney were tried, condemned, and executed, and the others were pardoned.

Stanley, the chamberlain, was reserved for a more impressive fate. His domestic connection with the king and his former services seemed to render him safe against any punishment; but Henry, thoroughly aroused by his perfidy, determined to bring the full weight of his vengeance upon him. Clifford was directed to come privately to England, and cast himself at the foot of the throne, imploring pardon for his past offences, and offering to condone his folly by any services which should be required of him. Henry, accepting his penitence, informed him that the only reparation he could now make was by disclosing the names of his abettors; and the turncoat at once denounced Stanley, then present, as, his chief colleague. The chamberlain indignantly repudiated the accusation; and Henry, with well-feigned disbelief, begged Clifford to be careful in making his charges, for it was absolutely incredible "that a man, to whom he was in a great measure beholden for his crown, and even for his life; a man to whom, by every honour and favour, he had endeavoured to express his gratitude; whose brother, the Earl of Derby, was his own father-in-law; to whom he had even committed the trust of his person by creating him lord chamberlain; that this man, enjoying his full confidence and affection, not actuated by any motive of discontent or apprehension, should engage in a conspiracy against him." But Clifford persisted in his charges and statements. Stanley was placed under arrest, and was subsequently tried, condemned, and beheaded.

The fate of the unfortunate chamberlain, and the defection of Clifford, created the greatest consternation in the camp of Perkin Warbeck. The king's authority was greatly strengthened by the promptness and severity of his measures, and the pretender soon discovered that unless he were content to sink into obscurity, he must speedily make a bold move. Accordingly, having collected  [20]a band of outlaws, criminals, and adventurers, he set sail for England. Having received intelligence that Henry was at that time in the north, he cast anchor off the coast of Kent, and despatched some of his principal adherents to invite the gentlemen of Kent to join his standard. The southern landowners, who were staunchly loyal, invited him to come on shore and place himself at their head. But the wary impostor was not to be entrapped so easily. He declined to trust himself in the hands of the well-disciplined bands which expressed so much readiness to follow him to death or victory; and the Kentish troops, despairing of success in their stratagem, fell upon such of his retainers as had already landed, and took 150 of them prisoners. These were tried, sentenced, and executed by order of the king, who was determined to show no lenity to the rebels. Perkin being an eye-witness of the capture of his people, immediately weighed anchor, and returned to Flanders.

Hampered, however, by his horde of desperadoes, he could not again settle quietly down under the protecting wing of the Duchess Margaret. Work and food had to be found for his lawless followers; and in 1495 an attempt was made upon Ireland, which still retained its preference for the House of York. But the people of Ireland had learnt a salutary lesson at the battle of Stoke, and Perkin, meeting with little success, withdrew to Scotland. At this time there was a coolness between the Scottish and English courts, and King James gave him a favourable reception, being so completely deceived by his specious story, that he bestowed upon him in marriage the beautiful and virtuous Lady Catherine Gordon, the daughter of the Earl of Huntly, and his own kinswoman. Not content with this, the King of Scots, with Perkin in his company, invaded England, in the hope that the adherents of the York family would rise in favour of the pretender. In this expectation he was disappointed, and what at first seemed likely to prove a dangerous insurrection ended in a mere border raid.

For a time Warbeck remained in Scotland; but when King James discovered that his continued presence at  [21]his court completely prevented all hope of a lasting peace with England, he requested him to leave the country. The Flemings meanwhile had passed a law barring his retreat into the Low Countries. Therefore, after hiding for a time in the wilds of Ireland, he resolved to try the affections of the men of Cornwall. No sooner did he land at Bodmin, than the people crowded to his banners in such numbers, that the pretender, hopeful of success, took upon himself for the first time the title of Richard IV., king of England. Not to suffer the expectation of his followers to languish, he laid siege to Exeter; but the men of Exeter, having shut their gates in his face, waited with confidence for the coming of the king. Nor were they disappointed. The Lords D'Aubeney and Broke were despatched with a small body of troops to the relief of the city. The leading nobles offered their services as volunteers, and the king, at the head of a considerable army, prepared to follow his advanced guard. Perkin's followers, who numbered about 7000 men, would have stood by him; but the cowardly Fleming, despairing of success, secretly withdrew to the sanctuary of Beaulieu. The Cornish rebels accepted the king's clemency, and Lady Gordon, the wife of the pretender, fell into the hands of the royalists. To Henry's credit it must be mentioned that he did not visit the sins of the husband upon the poor deluded wife, but placed her in attendance upon the queen, and bestowed upon her a pension which she continued to enjoy throughout his reign, and even after his death.

It was a difficult matter to know how to deal with the impostor himself. It would have been easy to make the privileges of the church yield to reasons of state, and to take him by violence from the sanctuary; but at the same time it was wise to respect the rights of the clergy and the prejudices of the people. Therefore agents were appointed to treat with the counterfeit prince, and succeeded in inducing him, by promises that his life would be spared, to deliver himself up to King Henry. Once a captive, he was treated with derision rather than with extreme severity, and was led in a kind of mock triumph  [22]to London. As he passed along the road, and through the streets of the city, men of all grades assembled to see the impostor, and cast ridicule upon his fallen fortunes; and the farce was ended by the publication of a confession in which Warbeck narrated his real parentage, and the chief causes of his presumption to royal honours.

But although his life was spared, he was still detained in custody. After a time he escaped from prison, and fled to the Priory of Sheen, near Richmond, where he desired the prior, who was a favourite with the king, to petition for his life and a pardon. If Henry had listened to the advice of his counsellors he would have taken advantage of the opportunity to rid himself of this persistent disturber of his peace; but he was content to give orders that "the knave should be taken out and set in the stocks." Accordingly, on the 14th of June 1499, Warbeck was exposed on a scaffold, erected in the Palace Court, Westminster, as he was on the day following at the Cross on Cheapside, and at both these places he read a confession of his imposture. Notwithstanding this additional disgrace, no sooner was he again under lock and key, than his restless spirit induced him to concoct another plot for liberty and the crown. Insinuating himself into the intimacy of four servants of Sir John Digby, lieutenant of the Tower, by their means he succeeded in opening a correspondence with the Earl of Warwick, who was confined in the same prison. The unfortunate prince listened readily to his fatal proposals, and a new plan was laid. Henry was apprised of it, and was not sorry that the last of the Plantagenets had thus thrust himself into his hands. Warbeck and Warwick were brought to trial, condemned, and executed. Perkin Warbeck died very penitently on the gallows at Tyburn. "Such," says Bacon, "was the end of this little cockatrice of a king." The Earl of Warwick was beheaded on Tower Hill, on the 28th of November 1499.


[23]

DON SEBASTIAN—THE LOST KING OF PORTUGAL.

King Sebastian of Portugal, who inherited the throne in 1557, seems, even from his infancy, to have exhibited a remarkable love of warlike exercises, and at an early age to have given promise of distinguishing himself as a warrior. At the time of his accession, Portugal had lost much of her old military prestige; the Moors had proved too strong for her diminished armies; the four strongholds of Arzilla, Alcazar-Sequer, Saphin, and Azamor, had been wrested from her; and Mazagan, Ceuta, and Tangier alone remained to her of all her African possessions. Consequently, the tutors of the boy-king were delighted to see his warlike instinct, and carefully instilled into his mind a hatred of the Paynim conquerors.

The lesson was well learnt, and from the moment King Sebastian reached his 14th year (the period of his majority), it was evident that all his thoughts centred on an expedition to Africa, to revive the former glories of his house, and to extend his empire even beyond its former limits. In 1574 he set out, not to conquer the land, but simply to view it, and with youthful audacity landed at Tangier, accompanied by only 1500 men. Finding no opposition to his progress, he organized a hunting expedition among the mountains, and actually put his project into execution. The Moors, by this time thoroughly incensed by his audacity, mustered a force and attacked his escort, but he succeeded in beating them off, and escaped in safety to his ships, and reached his kingdom unharmed.

This peculiar reconnaissance only strengthened his resolution to wrest his former possessions from the Moslems; and although Portugal was impoverished and weak, he resolved at once to enter on a crusade against Muley Moluc and the Moors. The protests of his ministers were unheeded; he laid new and exorbitant imposts on his people, caused mercenaries to be levied in Italy and the Low Countries, and reluctantly persuaded  [24]his uncle, Philip I. of Spain, to promise a contingent. His preparations being at last completed, and a regency established, he put to sea in June 1578. His armament consisted of 9000 Portuguese, 2000 Spaniards, 3000 Germans, and some 600 Italians—in all, about 15,000 men, with twelve pieces of artillery, embarked on fifty-five vessels.

On the 4th of August the opposing forces met. The Moorish monarch, who was stricken with a fatal disorder, was carried on a litter to the field, and died while struggling with his attendants, who refused to allow him to rush into the thick of the fight. The Portuguese were routed with great slaughter, notwithstanding the valour with which they were led by Don Sebastian. Two horses were killed under the Christian king; the steed on which he rode was exhausted, and the handful of followers who remained with him entreated him to surrender. Sebastian indignantly refused, and again dashed into the middle of the fray. From this moment his fate is uncertain. Some suppose that he was taken prisoner, and that his captors beginning to dispute among themselves as to the possession of so rich a prize, one of the Moorish officers slew him to prevent the rivalry ending in bloodshed. Another account, however, affirms that he was seen after the battle, alone and unattended, and apparently seeking some means of crossing the river. On the following day search was made for his body, Don Nuno Mascarcuhas, his personal attendant, having stated that he saw him put to death with his own eyes. At the spot which the Portuguese noble indicated, a body was found, which, though naked, Resende, a valet of Sebastian, recognised as that of his master. It was at once conveyed to the tent of Muley Hamet, the brother and successor of Muley Moluc, and was there identified by the captive Portuguese nobles. That their grief was sincere there could be no doubt; and the Moorish king having placed the royal remains in a handsome coffin, delivered them for a heavy ransom to the Spanish ambassador, by whom they were forwarded to Portugal, where they were buried with much pomp.

[25]

But although the nobles were well content to believe that Sebastian was dead, the mob were by no means equally satisfied that the story of his fate was true, and were prepared to receive any impostor with open arms. Indeed, in some parts of Portugal, Don Sebastian is supposed by the populace to be still alive, concealed like Roderick the Goth, or our own Arthur, in some hermit's cell, or in some enchanted castle, until the fitting time for his re-appearance arrives, when he will break the spell which binds him, and will restore the faded glory of the nation. During the incursions of Bonaparte, his appearance was anxiously expected, but he delayed the day of his coming. But if the real Sebastian remains silent, there have been numerous pretenders to his throne and his name.

In 1585 a man appeared who personated the dead king. He was a native of Alcazova, and a person of low birth and still lower morals. In his earlier days he had been admitted into the monastic society of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, but had been expelled from the fraternity on account of his misconduct. Even in his later life, when, by pretended penitence, he succeeded in gaining re-admission, his vices were found so far to outweigh his virtues and his piety that it was necessary again to confide him to the tender mercies of a sacrilegious world. He fled to the hermitage of Albuquerque, and there devotees visited him. Widows and full-blooded donnas especially frequented his cell; and the results of his exercises were such that the Alcalde threatened to lay hands upon him. Once more he disappeared, but only to turn up again in the guise of Don Sebastian. Two of his accomplices who mixed among the people pointed out his resemblance to the lost monarch: the credulous crowd swallowed the story, and he soon had a respectable following. Orders from Lisbon, however, checked his prosperous career. He was arrested and escorted by 100 horsemen to the dungeons of the capital. There he was tried and condemned to death. The sentence was not, however, carried into effect; for the imposture was deemed too transparent to merit the  [26]infliction of the extreme penalty. The prisoner was carried to the galleys instead of the scaffold, and exhibited to visitors as a contemptible curiosity rather than as a dangerous criminal. So ended the first sham Sebastian.

In the same year another pretender appeared. This was Alvarez, the son of a stone-cutter, and a native of the Azores. So far from originating the imposture, it seems to have been thrust upon him. Like the youth of Alcazova, after being a monk, he had become a hermit, and thousands of the devout performed pilgrimages to his cell, which was situated on the sea-coast, about two miles from Ericeira. The frequency and severity of his penances gained him great celebrity, and at last it began to be rumoured abroad that the recluse was King Sebastian, who, by mortifying his own flesh, was atoning for the calamity he had brought upon his kingdom. At first he repudiated all claim to such distinction; but after a time his ambition seems to have been aroused; he ceased to protest against the homage of the ignorant, and consented to be treated as a king. Having made up his mind to the imposture, Alvares resolved to carry it out boldly. He appointed officers of his household, and despatched letters, sealed with the royal arms, throughout the kingdom, commanding his subjects to rally round his standard and aid him in restoring peace and prosperity to Portugal. The local peasantry, in answer to the summons, hastened to place themselves at his service, and were honoured by being allowed to kiss his royal hand. Cardinal Henrique, the regent, being informed of his proceedings, despatched an officer with a small force to arrest this new disturber of the public tranquillity; but on the approach of the troops Alvares and his followers took to the mountains. The cardinal's representative, unable to pursue them into their inaccessible fastnesses, left the alcalde of Torres Vedras at Ericeira with instructions to capture the impostor dead or alive, and himself set out for Lisbon. He had scarcely reached the plain when Alvares, at the head of 700 men, swooped down upon the town and took the alcalde and his soldiers prisoners. He next wrote to the cardinal  [27]regent, ordering him to quit the palace and the kingdom. He then set out for Torres Vedras, intending to release the criminals confined there, and with their assistance to seize Cintra, and afterwards to attack the capital. On the march he threw the unfortunate alcalde and the notary of Torres Vedras, who had been captured at the same time, over a high cliff into the sea, and executed another government official who had the misfortune to fall into his clutches. The corregedor Fonseca, who was not far off, hearing of these excesses, immediately started at the head of eighty horsemen to oppose the rebel progress. Wisely calculating that if he appeared with a larger force Alvares would again flee to the hills, he ordered some companies to repair in silence to a village in the rear, and aid him in case of need. He first encountered a picked band of 200 rebels, whom he easily routed; and then, being joined by his reinforcements, fell upon the main body, which his also dispersed. Alvares succeeded in escaping for a time, but at last he was taken and brought to Lisbon. Here, after being exposed to public infamy, he was hanged amid the jeers of the populace.

Nine years later, in 1594, another impostor appeared, this time in Spain, under the very eyes of King Philip, who had seized the Portuguese sovereignty. Again an ecclesiastic figured in the plot; but on this occasion he concealed himself behind the scenes, and pulled the strings which set the puppet-king in motion. Miguel dos Santos, an Augustinian monk, who had been chaplain to Sebastian, after his disappearance espoused the cause of Don Antonio, and conceived the scheme of placing his new patron on the Lusitanian throne, by exciting a revolution in favour of a stranger adventurer, who would run all the risks of the rebellion, and resign his ill-gotten honours when the real aspirant appeared. He found a suitable tool in Gabriel de Spinosa, a native of Toledo. This man resembled Sebastian, was naturally bold and unscrupulous, and was easily persuaded to undertake the task of personating the missing monarch. The monk, Dos Santos, who was confessor to the nunnery of  [28]Madrigal, introduced this person to one of the nuns, Donna Anna of Austria, a niece of King Philip, and informed her that he was the unfortunate King of Portugal. The lady, believing her father-confessor, loaded the pretender with valuable gifts; presented him with her jewels; and was so attracted by his appearance that it was said she was willing to break her vows for his sake, and to share his throne with him. Unfortunately for the conspirators, before the plot was ripe, Spinosa's indiscretion ruined it. Having repaired to Valladolid to sell some jewels, he formed a criminal acquaintance with a female of doubtful repute, who informed the authorities that he was possessed of a great number of gems which she believed to be stolen. He was arrested, and on his correspondence being searched, the whole scheme was discovered. The rack elicited a full confession, and Spinosa was hung and quartered. Miguel dos Santos shared the same fate; but the Donna Anna, in consideration of her birth, was spared and condemned to perpetual seclusion.

The list of pretenders to regal honours was not even yet complete. In 1598, a Portuguese noble was accosted in the streets of Padua by a tattered pilgrim, who addressed him by name, and asked if he knew him. The nobleman answered that he did not. "Alas! have twenty years so changed me," cried the stranger, "that you cannot recognise in me your missing king, Sebastian?" He then proceeded to pour his past history into the ears of the astonished hidalgo, narrating the chief events of the African battle, detailing the circumstances of his own escape, and mentioning the friends and events of his earlier life so fluently and correctly that his listener had no hesitation in accepting him as the true Sebastian. The news of the appearance of this pretender in Padua soon reached Portugal, and spread with unexampled rapidity throughout the country. Philip II. was gravely disturbed by the report, knowing that his own rule was unpopular, and that the people would be disposed to rally round any claimant who promised on his accession to the throne to relieve them from the heavy burdens  [29]under which they groaned. He therefore lost no time in forestalling any attempt to oust him from the Portuguese sovereignty; and despatched a courier to Venice, demanding the interference of the authorities. The governor of Venice, anxious to please the powerful ruler of the Spanish peninsula, issued an order for the immediate expulsion of "the man calling himself Don Sebastian;" but the "man" had no intention of being disposed of in this summary manner. Immediately on receipt of the order he proceeded to Venice, presented himself at court, and declared himself ready to prove his identity. The Spanish minister, acting upon his instructions, denounced him as an impostor, and as a criminal who had been guilty of heinous offences, and demanded his arrest. He was thrown into prison; but when the charges of the Spanish minister were investigated, they failed signally, and no crime could be proven against him. At the solicitation of Philip, however, he was kept under arrest, and was frequently submitted to examination by the authorities, with a view of entrapping him into some damaging admission. At first he answered readily, and astonished his questioners by his intimate knowledge of the inner life of the Portuguese court, not only mentioning the names of Sebastian's ministers and the ambassadors who had been accredited to Lisbon, but describing their appearance and peculiarities, and recounting the chief measures of his government, and the contents of the letters which had been written by the king. At length, after cheerfully submitting to be examined on twenty-eight separate occasions, he grew tired of being pestered by his questioners, and refused to answer further interrogatories, exclaiming, "My Lords, I am Sebastian, king of Portugal! If you doubt it, permit me to be seen by my subjects, many of whom will remember me. If you can prove that I am an impostor, I am willing to suffer death."

The Portuguese residents in Italy entertained no doubt that the pretender was their countryman and their monarch, and made most strenuous exertions to procure his release. One of their number, Dr. Sampajo,  [30]a man of considerable eminence, and of known probity, personally interceded with the governor of Venice on his behalf. He was told that the prisoner could only be released upon the most ample and satisfactory proof of his identity; and Sampajo, confident that he could procure the necessary evidence, set out forthwith for Portugal. After a brief stay in Lisbon, he returned with a mass of testimony corroborating the pretender's story; and, what was naturally considered of greater importance, with a list of the marks which were on the person of King Sebastian. The accused was stripped, and on his body marks were found similar to those which had been described to Dr. Sampajo. Still the authorities hesitated; and explained that in a matter of such importance, and where such weighty interests were involved, they could not act on the representations of a private individual; but if any of the European powers should demand the release of their prisoner it would be granted.

Nothing daunted by their failure, the believers in the claims of the so-called Sebastian endeavoured to enlist the sympathy of the foreign potentates on behalf of one of their own order who was unjustly incarcerated and deprived of his rights. In this they failed; but at last the government of Holland, which had no love for Philip, espoused the cause of his rival, and despatched an officer to Venice to see that justice was done. A day was appointed for the trial, and the prisoner being brought before the senate, presented his claims in writing. Witnesses came forward who swore that the person before them was indeed Sebastian, although he had changed greatly in the course of twenty years. Several scars, malformed teeth, moles, and other peculiarities which were known to be possessed by the king, were pointed out on the person of the pretender, and the evidence was decidedly favourable to his claims; when, on the fifth day of the investigation, a courier arrived from Spain, and presented a private message from King Philip. The proceedings were at once brought to a close; and, without further examination, the prisoner was liberated, and ordered to quit the Venetian territory in  [31]three days. He proceeded to Florence, where he was again arrested by command of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. The reason for this harsh treatment is not very clearly apparent, but it was probably instigated by the Spanish representative at the Florentine court; for no sooner did the news that he was in confinement reach Philip, than he demanded the delivery of the prisoner to his agents. The duke at first refused to comply with this request, but a threatened invasion of his dominions led him to reconsider his decision, and the unfortunate aspirant to the Portuguese sceptre was handed over to the Spanish officials. He was hurried to Naples, then an appanage of the Spanish crown, and was there offered his liberty if he would renounce his pretensions; but this he staunchly refused to do, saying, "I am Sebastian, king of Portugal, and have been visited by this severe punishment as a chastisement for my sins. I am content to die in the manner that pleases you best, but deny the truth I neither can nor will."

The Count de Lemnos, who had been the minister of Spain at Lisbon when Sebastian was on the throne, at that time was Viceroy of Naples, and naturally went to visit the pretended king in prison. After a brief interview, he unhesitatingly asserted that he had never seen the prisoner before; whereupon the pretended Sebastian exclaimed, "You say that you have no recollection of me, but I remember you very well. My uncle, Philip of Spain, twice sent you to my court, where I gave you such-and-such private interviews." Staggered by this intimate knowledge of his past life, De Lemnos hesitated for a minute or two, but at last ordered the gaoler to remove his prisoner, adding to his command the remark, "He is a rank impostor,"—a remark which called forth the stern rebuke, "No, Sir; I am no impostor, but the unfortunate King of Portugal, and you know it full well. A man of your station ought at all times to speak the truth or preserve silence!"

Whatever the real opinion of De Lemnos may have been, he behaved kindly to his prisoner, and treated him with no more harshness than was consistent with his  [32]safe-keeping. Unfortunately, the life of the ex-ambassador was short, and his successor had no sympathy for the soidisantking. On the 1st of April 1602, he was taken from his prison and mounted upon an ass, and, with three trumpeters preceding him, was led through the streets, a herald proclaiming at intervals:—"His Most Catholic Majesty hath commanded that this man be led through the streets of Naples with marks of infamy, and that he shall afterwards be committed to serve in the galleys for life, for falsely pretending to be Don Sebastian, king of Portugal." He bore the ordeal firmly; and each time that the proclamation was made, added, in clear and sonorous tones, "And so I am!"

He was afterwards sent on board the galleys, and for a short time had to do the work of a galley slave; but as soon as the vessels were at sea he was released, his uniform was removed, and he was courteously treated. What ultimately became of him was never clearly ascertained, but it is certain that on more than one occasion he succeeded in confounding his opponents, and by his startling revelations of the past led many who would fain have disputed his identity to express their doubts as to the justice of his punishment. The probability is that he was a rogue, but he was a clever one. Rumour says he died in a Spanish fortress in 1606.

Thursday 1 April 2021

I am Abraham Lincoln



Where Men are forbidden to honour A King
they honour millionaires, athletes, or film-stars instead :
even famous prostitutes or gangsters. 
 
For Spiritual Nature, like Bodily Nature, will be served;
Deny it Food and it will Gobble Poison.”
 
— C.S. Lewis, 
Present Concerns
 
 
LINCOLN 
[on viewscreen] : 
Captain Kirk, I believe. 
A pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir. 
 
KIRK: 
Uhura 
 
LINCOLN 
[on viewscreen] : 
No need to check your voice telegraph device. 
Do I gather that you recognise me?
 
KIRK: 
I recognise what you appear to be.
 
LINCOLN 
[on viewscreen]: 
And appearances can be most deceiving, 
but not in this case, James Kirk. 
 
I am Abraham Lincoln.
 
KIRK: 
Spock.
 
SPOCK: 
Fascinating. 
 
LINCOLN
[on viewscreen]: 
I have been described in many ways, Mister Spock, 
but never with that word. 
 
KIRK: 
I was requesting your analysis, Spock. 
 
SPOCK: 
They did scan us and our vessel, Captain, 
and doubtless obtained sufficient information to present this illusion. 
 
LINCOLN
[on viewscreen]: 
Illusion? Captain, will you permit me to come aboard your vessel?
 
No doubt you have devices which can check my reality. 
 
KIRK: 
We'd be honoured to have you aboard, Mister President. 
 
LINCOLN
[on viewscreen]: 
Do you still measure time in minutes? 
 
KIRK: 
[smiling]
We can convert to it, sir. 
 
LINCOLN : 
Then you should be directly over my position in. 
There. Exactly twelve and one half minutes. 
Until then, Captain. 
 
(And the orange planet is back in view) 
 
 
KIRK: 
Security, send a detachment to the transporter room immediately,
phaser side arms, and be prepared to give
Presidential Honours. 
 
MCCOY: 
Jim, do you really believe he's Abraham Lincoln? 
 
KIRK: 
It's obvious he believes it. 
 
Doctor McCoy, Mister Spock,
Full dress uniforms.
 
[Transporter room]
 
(Scott is in kilt and plaid, the three security guards look smart)
 
SCOTT :
Full Dress? Presidential Honours? 
What is this nonsense, Mister Dickerson? 
 
DICKERSON: 
I understand President Lincoln's coming aboard, sir. 
 
SCOTT: 
Ha! You're daft, man. 
 
DICKERSON: 
All I know is what The Captain tells me, 
and he says he'll have the hide of the first man that so much as smiles
 
(McCoy enters
 
SCOTT: 
I'd have expected sanity from the ship's surgeon, at least.
 
President Lincoln, indeed.
No doubt to be followed by Louis of France and Robert the Bruce. 
 
(Kirk and Spock enter
 
KIRK: 
If so, we'll execute appropriate honours to each, Mister Scott. 
 
SCOTT: 
Aye, sir. 
 
KIRK: 
Gentlemen, I don't for a moment believe that President Lincoln is actually coming aboard,
but we're dealing with an unknown
and apparently highly advanced life-form. 
 
Until we know, when in Rome,
we'll do as the Romans do. 
 
CHEKOV [OC]: 
Bridge to Transporter room.
One minute to overhead position. 
 
SCOTT: 
Locked on to something. 
Does that appear human to you, Mister Spock? 
 
SPOCK: 
Fascinating. For a moment, it appeared almost mineral. 
Like living rock with heavy fore claws. 
It's settling down now to completely human readings. 
 
SCOTT: 
We can beam it aboard anytime now, sir. 
 
KIRK: 
Doctor McCoy, take tricorder readings and see if it is human. 
Appropriate ruffles and flourishes, Mister Spock. 
Security, stand ready. 
 
DICKERSON: 
Phaser team, set ready for a heavy stun. 
 
SPOCK: 
Band honours ready, Captain. 
 
KIRK: 
Energise. 
 
(A tall, lean figure in a black frock coat is beamed aboard to drum beat and a bosun's whistle
 
KIRK : 
The USS Enterprise is honoured to have you aboard, Mister President. 
 
LINCOLN: 
Strange.
Where are the musicians? 
 
KIRK: 
That's taped music, sir. 
A Starship on active duty never carries an honour detachment.
 
LINCOLN: 
Taped music, you say. 
Well, perhaps Mister Spock will be good enough to explain that to me later. 
 
A most interesting way to come aboard, Captain. 
What was the device used? 
 
KIRK: 
An energy-matter scrambler, sir. 
The molecules in your body are converted into energy,
then beamed into this chamber and reconverted back into their original pattern. 
 
LINCOLN: 
Well, since I'm obviously here, and quite whole,
whatever you mean apparently works very well indeed. 
Gentlemen, if those are weapons, please lower them. 
At my age, I'm afraid I'm not very dangerous. 
 
MCCOY: 
Human, Jim. 
 
LINCOLN: 
All too human, Doctor McCoy. 
Happy to make your acquaintance. 
 
KIRK: 
Mister President, may I present my officers. 
 
Commander Spock, second in command 
Engineering Officer Scott
and
Security Officer Dickerson. 
 
LINCOLN: 
Mister Spock, Mister Scott, Mister Dickerson. 
 
Gentlemen,
I hope to talk to each of you. 
 
But meanwhile, your captain is consumed with questions
and I shall do my utmost to answer them. 
And I trust your duties will permit time to answer some of mine.
 
At your service, Captain. 
 
KIRK: 
Lieutenant Dickerson,
you and your men may return to quarters.
Mister President. 
 
LINCOLN: 
A most interesting vessel. 
 
(Kirk, Lincoln, Spock and security leave)
 
MCCOY:
Just what was it you locked onto before you beamed him aboard? 

 
SCOTT:
You heard Mister Spock yourself.
Mineral he called it, like living rock. 

 
MCCOY:
And that became Lincoln? 

 
SCOTT:
I couldn't tell.
It may have been another figure down there standing by.
What do you make of it? 
 
MCCOY: 
I'm not quite sure.
 
Captain's log, stardate 5906.4
 
Who or what has been beamed aboard our vessel? 
 
An alien who has changed himself into this form? 
An illusion? 
 
I cannot conceive it possible that Abraham Lincoln could have actually been reincarnated. 
And yet his kindness, his gentle wisdom, his humour, everything about him is so right.
 
 
[Bridge]
 
KIRK: 
Yes, if I recall, your Union Army observation balloons were tendered six hundred or so feet high. 
We're six hundred and forty three miles above the surface of this planet. 
 
LINCOLN: 
You can measure great distances that closely? 
 
SPOCK: 
We do, sir. 
Six hundred forty three miles,
two thousand twenty one feet, two point zero four inches
at this moment, using your old-style measurements. 
 
LINCOLN:
Bless me. 
 
UHURA: 
Excuse me, Captain Kirk. 
 
KIRK: 
Yes, Lieutenant. 
 
UHURA: 
Mister Scott 
 
LINCOLN: 
What a charming negress. 
Oh, forgive me, my dear. 
I know in my time some used that term as a description of property.
 
UHURA: 
But why should I object to that term, sir? 
You see, in our century we've learned not to fear words. 
 
KIRK: 
May I present our communications officer, 
Lieutenant Uhura. 
 
LINCOLN: 
The Foolishness of My Century had me apologising 
where no offence was given. 
 
KIRK: 
We've each learned to be delighted with what we are. 
The Vulcans learned that centuries before we did. 
 
SPOCK: 
It is basic to the Vulcan philosophy, sir.
 
The combination of a number of things
to make existence worthwhile. 
 
LINCOLN: 
Yes. Philosophy of Nome,
meaning all. 
 
...How did I know that?
 
Just as I seem to know that on the planet surface
you will meet one of the greatest living Vulcans
in all the long history of your planet. 
 
My mind cannot recall his name, 
but I know he will be there. 
 
What is it that powers your vessel, Captain? 
May I see your engine room? 
 
 
KIRK: 
Certainly.
Our engineering officer  --
 
UHURA: 
Has been waiting in the briefing room for you, sir, for over two hours. 
 
KIRK: 
Oh, dear. If you'll forgive me, our communications officer 
 
LINCOLN: 
I would be delighted to have her as guide. 

 
KIRK:
Forgive me again.
We'll rejoin you shortly.
 
[Briefing room]
 
MCCOY:
Where the devil are they? 

 
SCOTT:
Why, they're probably looking up a plate of haggis in the galley.
They've been everywhere else. 

 
(Kirk and Spock enter)
KIRK:
Sorry to have been delayed, gentlemen. 

 
MCCOY:
Jim, I would be the last to advise you on your command image. 

 
KIRK:
I doubt that, Bones, but continue. 

 
MCCOY:
Do I have to lay it out for you?
Practically the entire crew has seen you treat this impostor like The Real Thing
when he can't possibly be the real article. 

 
SCOTT:
Lincoln died three centuries ago on a planet hundreds of light years away.
 
[ pointing ]

 
SPOCK:
More that direction, Engineer. 

 
MCCOY:
You're The Science Officer.
Why aren't you, well,
doing whatever a Science Officer does at a time like this? 

 
SPOCK:
I am, Doctor.
I am observing The Alien. 

 
MCCOY:
At last! At least somebody agrees with us he's an alien. 

 
KIRK:
Yes, of course he's an alien. 

 
MCCOY :
And he's potentially dangerous. 

 
SCOTT:
Mad. Loony as an Arcturian dogbird. 

 
KIRK:
Gentlemen, as you know, Mister Spock and I
have been invited to beam down to the planet surface with him.
 
Any comments on that? 

 
MCCOY:
Yes, a big one. Suddenly, miraculously, we see a small spot of Earth-type environment down there.
Now is it really there, or do we just think we see it down there? 

 
SCOTT:
You might beam down into a sea of molten lava. 

 
KIRK:
But why would he want to kill only two of us? 

 
SPOCK:
It would be illogical.
With such abilities, they could as easily trick us into destroying the entire vessel. 

 
MCCOY:
Are you implying, Mister Spock, that it's probably safe to beam down there? 

 
SPOCK:
No, I'm not, Doctor.
There's no doubt they want us down there for some hidden purpose.
Otherwise, they would have revealed some logical reason for all of this. 

 
KIRK:
Why Lincoln, Spock?
Any speculation on that? 

 
SPOCK:
Speculation is unnecessary, Captain. The Answer is clear.
President Lincoln has always been a very personal hero to you. What better way to titillate your curiosity than to make him come alive for you. 
K
 
KIRK:
But not only to me, Spock. 

 
SPOCK:
Agreed. I, too, experienced his charm.
It is a magnificent work of duplication. 

 
MCCOY:
But he holds a special involvement to you, Jim.
I think it's interesting, in as much as you're the one
who's going to make the decision
whether to beam down or not.
 
SCOTT:
Don't do it, Captain. 

 
KIRK:
The very reason for the existence of our starships is contact with other life.
Although the method is beyond our comprehension, we have been offered contact.
 
Therefore, I shall beam down.
 
Mister Spock, as for you 

 
SPOCK:
Captain, since I was included in the invitation to make contact,
I must beam down with you. 

 
MCCOY:
You're both out of your heads! 

 
SCOTT:
Aye, sir. 
 
KIRK:
And you're on the edge of insubordination. 
 
MCCOY:
Would I be on the edge of insubordination to remind The Captain
that this smells of something happening to him that I might not be able to patch together again? 

 
SCOTT:
Aye! 

 
KIRK:
Gentlemen, your concern is noted and appreciated.
Mister Spock, standard dress, tricorders and phasers.
 
We will guide President Lincoln to the transporter room.
 
We'll beam down immediately.
 
 
[Transporter room]
KIRK: Standing by, Mister Scott. 

 
SCOTT:
Transporter room to bridge. Standing by. 

 
CHEKOV [OC]:
We are now locked in synchronous orbit, Mister Scott.
Sensors continue to show the area as completely Earth-like in all respects. 

 
MCCOY:
If they're wrong and they do beam into a pool of lava 
--
 
SCOTT:
Then they're dead men.
I couldna pull them back in time. 

 
KIRK:
All right, Mister Scott, energise. 

 
(Lincoln, Kirk and Spock are beamed away, but - ) 

 
MCCOY:
Scotty.
 
[Planet surface]
(Sandy ground, big rocks, orange sky) 

 
SPOCK:
Captain. Our phasers and tricorders did not beam down with us. 

 
KIRK:
Kirk to Enterprise. Enterprise?
Enterprise, come in. Kirk to Enterprise.
Enterprise, come in. 

SPOCK: Undamaged, yet something is preventing them from functioning.
 
 
[Transporter room]
 
SCOTT:
Come in, landing party. Report.
Enterprise to Captain Kirk.
Can you read us? 

 
MCCOY:
If they're all right, they should've reported in.
 
 
[Planet surface]
 
KIRK:
Your explanation, sir? 

 
LINCOLN:
Well, I have none.
To me, this seems quite as it should be. 

 
KIRK:
Why were our weapons taken?
Why can't we communicate with our ship? 

 
LINCOLN:
Please, believe me.
I know nothing other than what I have already told you. 

 
KIRK:
The Game is over.
We've treated you with courtesy.
We've gone along with what and who you think you are. 

 
LINCOLN:
Despite the seeming contradictions, all is as it appears to be.
I am Abraham Lincoln. 

 
SURAK:
Just as I am whom I appear to be. 

 
SPOCK:
Surak…. 

 
KIRK:
Who? 

 
SPOCK:
The Greatest of all who ever lived on our planet, Captain.
The Father of All We Became.
 
 
[Bridge]
 
SULU:
(in the captain's chair)
All ship's systems going dead.
Switch to reserve power. All decks report status. 

 
 
UHURA:
All decks report status.
All decks report status. 

 
SULU:
Bridge to Engineering. Come in.
What's happening to our power?
Bridge to Engineering, report. 

 
ENGINEER :
Everything's out.
We've switched to reserve power.
Lost all power in the warp engines. 

 
(Scott and McCoy enter) 

 
SCOTT:
How is it, Mister Sulu?
 

SULU:
No answer yet on what caused it.
They're standing by. 

 
SCOTT:
Shut down all but the most necessary systems. 

 
 
UHURA:
No damage report, Mister Scott. 

 
 
ENGINEER :
No indication of engine damage, sir. 

 
SCOTT:
Engage restart cycle. 

 
ENGINEER [OC]:
I can't. I don't understand it. 

 
SCOTT:
Start emergency procedures. 

 
ENGINEER :
Aye, aye, sir.
 
[Planet surface]
 
SURAK:
Live long and prosper, Spock.
 
May you also, Captain Kirk. 

 
SPOCK:
It is Not Logical that you are Surak.
There is no Fact, Extrapolation of Fact or Theory,
which would make possible. 

 
SURAK:
Whatever I am,
Would it harm you to give response? 

 
SPOCK:
Live Long and Prosper, Image of Surak,
Father of All We Now Hold True. 

 
SURAK:
The Image of Surak read in Your Face
What is in Your Mind, Spock. 

 
SPOCK:
As I turned and my eyes beheld you, I displayed emotion.
I beg forgiveness. 

 
 
SURAK:
The cause was more than sufficient.
Let us speak no further of it.
 
In my time, we knew not of Earth men.
 
I am pleased to see that we have differences.
May we together become greater than the sum of both of us. 

 
KIRK :
Spock, we'll not go along with these charades any longer. 

 
(A rock changes into a creature with heavy fore-claws) 

 
ROCK:
You'll have an answer soon, Captain.
 
Our World is called Excalbia.
Countless who live on that planet are watching.
 
Before this drama unfolds,
we give welcome to the ones named Kirk and Spock. 

 
KIRK:
We know nothing of Your World or Your Customs.
 
What do you mean,
Drama about to unfold? 

 
ROCK:
You're intelligent life form,
but I'm surprised you do not perceive the honour we do you.
Have we not created in this place on our planet a stage identical to your own world? 

 
KIRK:
We perceive we were invited to come here, and we came in friendship.
 
And you have deprived us of our instruments to examine Your World,
to defend ourselves, to communicate with our vessel. 

 
ROCK:
Your objection is well taken.
 
We shall communicate with your vessel
so your fellow life forms may also enjoy and profit from the play.
 
Behold. 

(More people arrive. A human, a Mongol, an alien woman and a Klingon) 

 
ROCK:
Captain, Mister Spock, some of these you may know through history.
 
Genghis Khan, for one.
 
And 
Colonel Green 
Who led a genocidal war early in the 21st century on Earth. 
 
Zora
Who experimented with the body chemistry of subject tribes on Tiburon. 
 
Kahless, The Unforgettable
The Klingon who set the pattern for his planet's tyrannies. 
 
We Welcome The Vessel Enterprise
 
 
To our solar system and to our spectacle.
 
MCCOY: 
At least The Captain and Spock are safe. 
 
SCOTT: 
It's a confrontation of some sort. 
Those are all figures out of history. 
Notoriously Evil
 
ROCK : 
We ask you to observe with us
 
 
The confrontation of the two opposing philosophies you term 
Good and Evil
 
Since this is our first experiment with Earthlings, 
our theme is a simple one. 
 
Survival
Life and Death.
 
Your philosophies are alien to us,
and we wish to understand them
and discover which is the stronger. 
 
We learn by observing such spectacles. 
 
KIRK: 
What do you mean,
"Survival"? 
 
ROCK: 
The Word is Explicit.
 
If you and Spock survive, you return to your vessel.
 
If you do not, your existence is ended.