The Laughing Cavalier (novel) The Laughing Cavalier (novel) The Laughing Cavalier is a 1913 adventure novel by Baroness Orczy, which revolves around Percy Blake, a foreign adventurer and ancestor of Orczy's famous character, the Scarlet Pimpernel. The story takes place in Holland in 1623/1624 and is partly inspired by Frans Hals' painting "The Laughing Cavalier": in the novel, Blake is Frans Hals' adopted son and the man who poses for the painting of the Laughing Cavalier. The sequel to this book, continuing the story of Percy Blake, is "The First Sir Percy". In March 1623, the Dutch nobleman Willem van Oldenbarnevelt, Lord of Stoutenburg,
Jean Cavalier him and he settled at Dublin, where he published "Memoirs of the Wars of the Cévennes under Col. Cavalier", written in French and translated into English with a dedication to Lord Carteret (1726). Though Cavalier received, no doubt, assistance in the publication of the "Memoirs", it is nonetheless true that he provided the materials, and that his work is the most valuable source for the history of his life. He was made a general on 27 October 1735, and on 25 May 1738 was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Jersey. Writing in the following year (26 August 1739) he says: "I