The Black Mozart by Walter E Smith

Author:Walter E Smith [Smith, Walter E]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781418407964
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Published: 2004-08-10T04:00:00+00:00

There is no doubt that this duel took place on the given date but to this particular account, there is great doubt as to the details, as they are presented by the author. The most obvious error is that she states that Saint-Georges was 28 years old. According to his date of birth, he was 48 years old, or even if one takes the other date given in memoirs of several of his contemporaries as his birth date, that of 1748, he would have been 39.

It seems that this author wished to present her heroine in the most favorable light, and it seems at the expense of Saint-Georges' reputation as a fencer. I do not wish to be accused of doing the same for the hero of my book, but I cannot accept this account which is contrary to everything that has been written about Saint-Georges.

I have given reports of Saint-Georges' prowess as a fencer from La Boëssière, one of the greatest fencing-masters of the time, and from other duels that he had with such notables as Faldoni, one of the best fencers of that time. It was said that Saint-Georges was "inimitable and invincible" and from all the sources, there was no match for Saint-Georges. Now, this account assumes to reveal that Saint-Georges was not only beaten but completely out-classed and did not even touch this "little frail old lady, walking slowly, apparently with difficulty."

I fear that I may seem less objective but it is difficult for me to believe that an old lady in her sixties, "But now-bent with rheumatism and age, shrouded and encumbered in flowing draperies," could do what younger, and supposedly greater, fencers could not do. The author makes Saint-Georges look even worse by saying that:

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