The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-02-06 00:00:00

i'ORTR Y.

ME THREE BLIND TIPPLERS.

From The New Monthly Magaxiael
Three sightless inmates of the sky,
Whose names were Justico—Fortune--Cuj
Finding thcir public life on high
Somewhat monotonous and stupid,
Resolved one morning to unite
Their powers in an Alliance Holy,
And purify the Earth, whose plight
They all agreed was melancholy.
Quoth Justice—Of the world below
I doubtless have the best idea.
Since in the Golden Age, you know,
I ruled it jointly with Asters;
While, therefore, we on earth abide,
For fear our forces should be parted,
Let use be your perpetual guide:—
Agreed, went. C 0.,, and off they started.
Love first, and Fortune next descends.
Then Justice, though awhile she tarried,
When Cupid cries--This flight, my friends,
Has made my throttle somewhat arid:
Beneath each wing, before our trip,
I popp'd a golden rase of nectar,
And I for one should like a sip,
What soya our worshipful director P
The proposition, 'twos decreed,
Redounded to the mover's glory,
So down they sate upon the mead,
And plied the flagon ems assure ;
But not reflecting that the draught
With air of earth was mix'd and muddled,
Before the second vase was guard,
They all became completely fuddled.
Now reeling, wrangling, t'.ey proceed,
Each loudly backing his opinion,
And 'stead of letting Justice lead,
All straggle fierceli for dominion :
. Whereat her sword is wrath she draws,
And throws it in her scales with fury,
Maintaining that the rightful cause
Requires no other judge and jury.
Fortune, purloining Cupid's darts,
Tips them with gold for sordid suitors,
Making sad havoc in the hearts

Or matrimonial computer* ;-
1V hile lore on Fortune's wheel apain
Plagues mortals with incessant changed,
Gives flying glimpses of his face,
Then presto ! pass !--away he ranges.
Their pranks, their squabbles day by day,
Gave consortia a better handle,
Till Jove, impatient of their stay,
Aud anxious to arrest the et-andel,
Bade Fortune—Justice—Love return ;
But to atone for their miscarriage,
Lest men for substitutes should yearn,
Be sent them down, Luck, Law, and Marriage.

THE MAN IN 7'HE IRON MASK.

The author of the Sit:We de Loris XIY. (Age of Louis
the Fourteenth) is the first who has spoken of the " Man
in the Iron Mask," in any authentic history. Hewn well
acquainted with this circumstance, which is tbe astonish-
ment of the present age. and will be that of posterity, but
which is only too true. He had been deceived respecting
the time of the death of this unknown and singularly un-
fortunate person, who was interred, at the church of St.
Paul, 3d of March, 1703, and not in 1704.

He was first confined at Pignerol, before he was sent to
the Isles of Ste. Marguerite, and afterwards to the Bastille,
always under the care of the wine man, that St. Marc,
who saw him die. Father Griffet, a jesuit, has communi-
cated to the public the journal of the Bastille, which cer-
tifies the (lake. Ile had no difficulty in •,btaining this
journal, sin*: he exercisei the delicate office of confessor to
the prisoners confined in the Bastille.
The Man in the Iron Mask is an enigma, which each one
attempts to solve. Sonic have said that he was the Duke
of Beaufort ; but the Duke of Beaufort was killed by the
Turkaln the defence of Candia, in 1669, and the Man in
the Iron Mask was at Pignerol in 1664. Besides, bow
ea:mid the Duke of Beaufort have been arrested in the
midst of his army ? how could he have been transferred to
France without some one's knowing something about it ?
and why should be have been imprisoned ? and why
masked ?

Others have imagined that he was Count Vermandob,
natural son to Louis XIV., who, it is well known, did of
the small-pox when with the army in 1683, and was buried
in the town of Arraa.

It has since been supposed that the Duke of Monmouth,
who was publicly beheaded by order of King James in
168 S, was the Man in the Iron Mask. But either the
Duke must have come to life again, and afterwards have
changed the order of time, putting the year 1662 for the
year 1685 ; or King James, who never pardoned any one,
and therefore merited all his misfortunes, must have par-
doned the Duke of Momnouth, and put to death in his
stead some one who perfectly resembled him. In the lat-
ter case, a person must have been found kind enough to
have his head publicly cut off to save the Duke of Mon-
mouth ; all England must have been deceived in the per-
son; thn King James must have begged of Louis XIV.
that he would be so good as to become his gaoler. Louis
XIV. having granted King James this small favour, could
not have refused to show the same regard for King Wil-
liam and Queen Anne, with whom he was at war ; but
would have been careful to maintain the dignity of gaoler,
with which King James had honoured him, to the end of
the chapter.
All these illusions being dissipated, it remains to be
known who this constantly-masked prisoner was, at what
age he died, and under what name he was buried. It is
clear that if he was not allowed to walk in the court of the
Bastille, nor to see his physician, except in a mask, it was
for fear that some very striking resemblance would be dis-
covered in his featurts. lie was permitted to show his
tongue, but never his face. As for his age, he himself told
the apothecary of the Bastille, a little before his death, that
he believed he was about sixty : the apothecary's son-in-
law, Marsolatn, surgeon to Marshal De Richelieu, and af-
terwards to the Duke of Orleans the regent, has repeated
this to me several times. To conclude, why was an
Italian name given to him ? He was always called
Marchiali. The writer of this article, perhaps, knows
more on the subject than Father Grilfet, though he will
not say mere.
It is true that Nicholas Fonquet, superintendent of the
finances, had many friends in his disgrace, and that they
persever. d even until judgment was passed on him. It is
true that the Chancellor, who presided at that judgment,

SECRET MEMOIRS of the COURT e Loers ,
ea of the REGENCY.
AAAAA CTED FROM THE GERMAN CORIMPONDERCIL or
TUE DUCHESS OF , MOTHER or THE RILOWIT.

The Duchess of Orleans, from whose papers this work is
formed, was the daughter of the Elector Palatine Charles
Louis, and of the Princess Charlotte of Here Cusel ; she
was born at the Castle of Heidelberg, in 16" anti was
the second wife of the Duke of Orleans brother of Louis
XIV. whom she married in 1671. The,firit wife of the
I Duke was Henrietta of England, who, there is no doubt,
was poisoned. The persons who committed this foul mur-
der were well known, and it was first suspected that the
Duke himself was deeply implicated in the horrible trans-
action. Be that uit may, the murderers were suffered to
escape punishment; and it is said, that Louis XIV. when
he had ascertained that his brother was not the accomplice
in the crime, appeared satisfied, and thought more of pro-
curing for the Duke a second wife, than of avenging the
murder of the first.

The Duchess, it is well known, maintained a very ex-
tensive correspondence with her friends in different Courts
of Europe ; and in this correspondence the follies and
vices of the hypocritical and corrupt Court of Louis XIV.
were pourtrayed in a strong and sarcastic description.
It was not till 1820 that a somewhat authentic extract
of the singular correspondence of the Duchess was pub-
behed, when it was &ought out at Leipsic under the au-
perintendence of M. Schutz. k'rom this last edition the
volume before us is principally compiled, and we need
hardly say, that such a production is at once both instruc-
tire and curious. It helps us totearth attaining a know-
ledge of the principal actors in a Overt, *lnch is remem-
bered only for its splentkw and its eke*.
Some notion may be formed of the epietolittory industry
of the Ducheiv, from the following passage
One of the most singular habits of heel& was the indefatigable
seal which she uisplayed is hew correepondetan P'n no pr.
sun ever wrote so many learnt as she did t, it was het ordinary and
constant occupation, in which she en as in the performance of
a task imposed by some Itdispsnieble duty, and the dill net con-
fine haself to writing mere letters or notes. but whole volumes.
The ordinary course of her correspondence she describes thus :
" On Sunday I write to my coot, the der Edemas of Sumter,
and to Lorraine; on Monday to Savoy and to the Queen of Spain;
on Tuesday to Lorraine, on Mrednorthly to Modena, on Thursday
to Hanover again, oo Friday to Lorraine, and an Saturday I bring
up the arrears of the week. sometimes. after ho written in
the course of the day twenty sheets to the Princes. Wales, ten
or twelve to my daughter, and twenty to the Queen of Sicily, I
am es tired, that I can hardly set one foot before the other." It is
not dlscult to believe the latter fact. She does not include in this
enumeration ha regular eorrespoodeoce with her old preseperess,
with Prince Ulric of Brunswick, the Queen of Pivots, and many
other persons, from which she also received very ihnodant effu-
sions. This rage he writing letters often took her flom the society
of Monsieur her husband, which was truly not of the most en-
gaging description: debauched men and shameless women com-
posed it generally, and it may be easily conceived that a Princess,
who was neither intriguing nor frivolous, could find little satisfac-
tion in such company. Saint Simon says, somewhat sarcastically,
that " she passed her days in her cabinet, contemplating the pie.
tures of German princes, with which she had hung st, and in
writing whole volumes to them."
This malicious description of the manner in which she passed
her time is refuted by • passage in one of the Princess's letters :
" Although I do not play, I am never dull, because I can always
find something to employ me in my cabinet. I peewee a fine series
of medals in gold ; my aunt has given me an equal number in
bronze and silver; I have front two to three hundred canines in
stone, end a eollection of engravings, of which I am very fund ;
besides which, as I love reed'm . the time never seems bog to me."
Occupations so wholesome might appear ridiculous at the Court of
the brother of Louis XIV., sod it is not surprising that Saint
Simon, although he did not entirely postale of the -general frivo-
lity, should join in the simian of the amnion.

From the Historical Anecdotes of various persons who
moved in the Court of the Fourteenth Louis, we make the
following esti-sets :
The Chevalier de Saint George is one of the best men In the
world, and complaisance itself. He one day said to Lord Douglas.
" What should I do to gain the good will of my countrymen ?"
Douglas replied, " Only embark hence, with twelve Jesuits, and
as soon as you land in England hang every one of them publicly ;
you can do nothing so likely so recommend you to the English
Pet2Ple."
he King of Denmark has the look of a simpleton; he made
love to my daughter while he was here. When they were dancing
he used to squeeze bee band, and turn up his eyes languishingly.
Ile would begin his minuet in one corner of the Hall and finish it
in another. He stopped once in the middle of the hall, and did
not know whist to do next. I was quite uneasy at seeing him ; so
I got up, and taking his hand, led him away, or the good gentle-
man might have staid there until this time. Hs has so soups of
what is becoming or otherwise.
Cardinal Mmarin could not bear to balm asiornicate potions
about him. When he was requested to take any one into his
service his first question was, "Is he lucky r
The English gentlemen and ladies who are here tell horrible
stories of Queen Anne; they say she gets quite drunk, and that
besides • • • • but that she is in-
constant in her affections, and changes often. Lady Sandwich has
not told this to me, but she has to my son. I have seen her but
seldom, on account of the repugnance I felt at learning she had
confessed she had been present at such orgies.
I do not know whether it is true that Louvois was poisoned by
that old Maintenon; but it is quite certain that be was poisoned,
as well as his physician who committed the crime, and who said,
when be was dying, " I die by poison, but I deserve it, for having
poisoned my master, M. de Louvois; and I did this in the hope
of becoming the King's Physician, as Madame de Maintenon had
promised me." I ought to add, that some persons pretend to think
this story of Dr. Seron is a mere invention. Old Piety ( Maine*.
non) did not commit this crime without an object; but if she
really did poison Louvois, it was because he had opposed her de-
signs, and endeavoured to undeceive the King. Louvois, the
better to gain his object, had advised the King not to take her with
him to the army. The King was weak enough to repeat this to
her; and this it was that excited her against Louvois. That the
latter wan a very bad man, who feared neither heaven nor hell. no
man can deny ; but it must be contessed that he served his King
faithfully.
The Duke de Nnailles' grandfather was one of the ugliest men
in the world. Ile had one glass eye; his nose was like an owl's •
his mouth large, his teeth ugly and decayed ; his face and head
very small ; his body long and bent; und he was bitter and ill-
tempered his name was Gluinel. Madame de Cornuel one day
was reading his grandson's genealogy, and when she came to Ins
name, exclaimed, '• I always suspected, when I saw the Duke de
Noailles, that he came out of the Book of the Lamentations of
Jeremiah.

When James 11. took refuge in France from England, Madame
de Cornuel went to Saint Germain to see him. bOMO time after-
wards, she was told of the pains our King was taking to wows
his restoration to the throne, .Madame de Comuel shook her asatt,
and said ••I have seen this K;ng James; our .Monarch's earls
are all in vain ; he is good for nothing but to make poor man%
sauce, (la sauce as plover koorter..)
The elder Hargrave of Anspach was smitten with Illadetnei.
aelle d'Armagnac' but he would not many her, and said after.
wards that he had never intended to do so, because the farniv
liaritin which had passed between her and the Marquis de Ville.
quirr (1718) had disgusted him. The lady's mother would have
liked nothing better than to surprise the Hargrave with her
daughter in some critical situation : for this purpose he had suffi-
cient opportunities given him, but he was prudent, and conducted
himself with so much modesty, that he avoided the snare. To tell
the truth, 1 had given him • hint on the subject; fur I was too
. • •