El Doradoby Baroness OrczyFOREWORDThere has of late years crept so much confusion into the mind ofthe student as well as of the general reader as to the identity ofthe Scarlet Pimpernel with that of the Gascon Royalist plotterknown to history as the Baron de Batz, that the time seemsopportune for setting all doubts on that subject at rest.The identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel is in no way whateverconnected with that of the Baron de Batz, and even superficialreflection will soon bring the mind to the conclusion that greatfundamental differences existed in these two men, in theirpersonality, in their character, and, above all, in their aims.According to one or two enthusiastic historians, the