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,
Saint James Cavalier chambers and a ramp by which cannons could reach the roof. The cavalier occupies the rear face of St. James' Bastion, and it was meant to be able to fire over the bastion's main parapet, without interfering with its fire. A number of gunpowder magazines are located to the rear of the structure. Saint James Cavalier Saint James Cavalier () is a 16th-century cavalier in Valletta, Malta, which was built by the Order of St. John. It overlooks St. James' Bastion, a large obtuse-angled bastion forming part of the Valletta Land Front. St. James was one of nine planned cavaliers