Note 286 — XXXI. 1786. April–May. ARREST OF THE FORGER VILLETTE—HIS EXAMINATIONS AND CONFRONTATIONS.

If this statement was true it is difficult to conceive how the cardinal and the jewellers could have been deceived by the signature affixed to the contract, for there is not the slightest resemblance between Villette’s bold upright style of penmanship as it appears in the numerous signatures appended to his depositions, etc., and the cramped, slanting, handwriting of Marie-Antoinette. Even if the cardinal was unacquainted with the precise character of the queen’s handwriting at this epoch, it is most improbable that Böhmer was in a like state of ignorance.