1939-08-31 — Page 57

THE CHINA MAIL, SEPTEMBER 1, 1939.

TO-DAY'S STRANGE - STORY OF REAL PEOPLE

THE WORLD'S

ACE LIAR

By URSUS MAJOR

In France, during the regin of Louis XIV., the suspicious behavior of a stranger appearing at Landrau led to his arrest as a spy. Investiga- tion by the authorities revealed that his previous record had been that of a man of mystery.

Traveling always under an as- sumed name, he never would state. just when he was born, nor where save that he was a native

the of south of France. According to his story, his parents were Roman Catho- lies, his father's family "ancient and decayed." He had been educated at a university which he would not name. He had a marked genius for languages and spoke Latin fluently.

Psalmanazar Charms The Bishop Of London.

The examination took place in the Men and women striving for cul- Governors' presence and although ture went into ecstasies upon hear- conducting himself very skilfully, ing Psalmanazar lecture upon the He had masqueraded in the, vari- Psalmanazar's impostures were detect- alleged customs of Formosa. To give ous roles of, a young theological ed by Innes, who entered with him his discourses spice, he told that the student of Irish extraction, a perse- into a secret conspiracy to exploit religion of his native land called for cuted Irish Catholic and a native him as a native of Formosa Innes then human sacrifice and admitted that he of Japan, converted to Christianity. wrote to Henry Compton, Bishop of thought it no sin to eat human flesh, Proceeding further, he had pass- London, interesting him in Psalmana- although such indulgence might be ed himself off as a Japanese of pagan zar, and the bishop directed the chap- termed a trifle unmannerly. faith, and at the various places that lain to bring his strange convert to he had stopped he had eaten raw London. meat, roots and herbs, claiming this to be his native diet. Later he de- vised a language of his own which he pretended to be his native tongué, and with great ingenuity he compiled a grammar and invented symbols England catechism into his native verting the fascinating Formosan to which ran from right to left, like "Formosan." Hebrew.

Satisfying the authorities of his innocence, he went on to Aix-la- Chapelle, serving there as a waiter

at a cafe.

Aided by the chaplain, Psalmanazar readily gained his discharge from his regiment and in 1703 arrived in Lon- don, where he presented the bishop with a translation of the Church of

to

All of this while Psalmanazar was being coached. by Innes, who engine- ered further impostures, such as an autobiography in Latin, dedicated the Bishop of London, which translated into both French and Ger- man. Then Innes, for his zeal in con-

was

Christianity, was made chaplain gen- eral of the English forces in Portugal.

Psalmanazar, now left without a pilot, began to blunder in his lying and found his patrons falling off. Later he served as a tutor, as clerk to a Lan- cashire regiment in the Jacobite re- bellion and as a painter of fans.