Note 7 — Chapter XLVI

This statement is drawn up from the printed narrative by Van Halen, and from a manuscript one by Eroles. Marshal Suchet’s brief account is erroneous in stating that Tortosa was the last place at which the stratagem was tried instead of the first. He says that Van Halen deserted, monté sur un cheval dérobé, et laissant à Barcelone des dettes criardes. (T. 2. 366.) Concerning the horse, it is not likely that in such circumstances the adventurer would be scrupulous; but as to his debts, he left a letter at Barcelona, saying, that there were the arrears of his pay to liquidate them, being more by one-half than all that he owed amounted to.

Van Halen afterwards got into the Inquisition as a freemason and a liberal, got out of it, published his adventures in English, went to Brussels, headed the inhabitants in that insurrection the success of which they have had so much reason to repent, was suspected of treachery by the party whom he had served, thrown into prison, and after awhile released. And there the drama of his unquiet life breaks off.