The Sun.
London, England, 1804-10-17 00:00:00

THE I U)N krisk.

The history oldie man with the iron'. niltilirp. of
• whom so much has already been said and 'written,
will soon btaugmented with a new chapter. &pet-
*On, who thinks, hiniself able to explain this mss.
tery in a More satisfactory manner, is preparing to
publish his conj:clures, Heßretends to know, from a
letter of Lou Lobs, XVI. that this Prince was unac.
painted with the secret who that unfortunate per.
son really,' was,who lived and died within iron mask
over his rice. It is.ki4n, that one Of the suppo.
tions which has obtained.thost credit isoliat he was
the Counr I) V.samArinots, natural sun of Liitris
XIV. by the DlItCheSS Di LA VALLIERE ; that
the motive to, this extreme :Optic was an,ad pf,
brutality of Count Ds. VERMANDOIS towards. the.
.:,DAUPHIN. But .as , the Count was pulalicly
buried, is supposed tbit, the :funeral Care-
monies performed ,for him were merely means`
to mislead ,the histOrians of that time, and that
a log of wood was buried in his ,ptace. It is
'the verification of his coffin, antivwhat i! corttos,
*hid) is the Objet of the above mentioned letter
Louis XVI. now in the hands.of a:Member of rlie
National Institute. :The King ordered the Bishop
,of Arras to, Orr), the, and to take a pr;tef-•
(verbal of-its contents, and to send it. to his Majesty.
Louis XVI. consequently' did not know any thing
certain on this solids. This Letter will be dep_
sited in the-Imperial Library, as-an his*torical record,
where every one may see
.and read its contents. It is
said, that after the-Publk have li•enmade acquainted'
with the new e.tplanation ready: to appear, the !up'.
of the iron Mask will cease to inspire the same in
west as he has hitherto dotie.---::-(Gazetit de Fnvice.)

The Public, is now .about to be plagued wish the
hundredth
,supposition concerning the,ttutti the
iron Mask, in consequence of a Letter Which Lotits
XVI. wrote to the Bishop
of Al 4 RAS, to have the
coffin of the Count Da VE•IiN-SAN6.O ; arid
wlpch. Was found to contain the bones or ashes. of
• styne dead periou
.of the eke in 1,010. the (7,9unt
died. Thar Loot, XVI, should he ignorant of whit
Was I to his ancestors, and even to the courtiers
and u. iters of Itis'oti'it times, is totally improbilo,
Both the he bake Of Riciai vv and Vot.;6ta:f
Were ac,qoainteel. With the name, birth, and rank,'of
the person known; under the name of the min with
the ire?: musk, though in fan., this mask was of velvet
with iron 'springs. The 111[11611;as of, this person
are 'now no longer Mysterious, since a manuscript
coptvin Vourm a ti's hand writing, is in die hands
of his niece,. Madame Da Vra.L.ETTE, eXpbilliffithe
Whole, and,which, Wi;h:other,ineditett manuscripts
of that great Thilosopher, are bequeathed by her to
a literary friend, on rendition of not being printed
before tcn years, after her death. Many persons have,
however, been permitted to peruse it; and, we can
assure our Readers„ upon the most authentic.docu.
merits, that the man with the iron ina4 was the
son of the Qaten Dowager of Louis XIII. and the
mother of Louis XIV, by Cardinal MAZAR /N, to
whom she' vis-privately married, and chit he was
-born in the Palais Royal, at Paris r 64.8. It ia.well
known that MAznat re, though a Caldinal, had not
taken Priests' orders, and rhat Louts XIV. alwayt
treated him with the same respen :ind regard as it
he had been• his parent. It was after: MAZARINri
death, that the public first heard of the iron mask,
becanse; during his life, his' son was travelling
Abroad with a private tutor, without knowing who
were his parents or relatives. This tutor dying
some time afterwards suddenly at Brussels, his pa.
pare unforttinately discovered to yoUng M:tzAit,N,
his high birth, who, in consequence, went ;6 Paris,
and expostulated, rather imprudently, withisis mo.
ther, who, to conceal what she thought 'her family
. disgrace, by such a Marriage, consented to the
treattnent, which her, youngest son„ afterwards. exile-
rienced, and who, on aecount of his great likeness
to his brother,. LOUIS XIV, 'was obliged to wear
a black velvet mask over his face... He was, hoW.
ever, treated, in his confinement, with all the re.
aped dui to a Prince of the blood, and even the
Governor of the ItaStile dared' not to sit down in his
presence without hit 'permission. He was always
served upon plate; with• she choicest dishes and
Wines, and'wore the finest, clothes and linen. Ex.
cept his Libeity, he could command .every thing,
and' every. one, about' him. Thesepareicalars
TAT RR hatl:nnt only from his friend, the old. Duke
of It cent,tau, but front the Duke of ORLIAN,
the Regent undrir the mbiOrityL of 'Loir XV. The
Letter of toti,s XVI. to the Bishop of ARRAS can,
therefore, be nothing else but a mere matter of curi-
osity un the part of this- Prince, if it be teal ; but
many thiok it 'one of' the many fabricated in his
•narne by the Jacobins of 175 z, and 3793..--:(Afaia.
d'.threcdoter.)

On %ruby night Mrs. Hays, a most respeetable
old Lady, above So years of age, and who has te:.
'sided above thirty years in her house in Pall. Malt:
court, retired to *Chamber, attended
by her, servant, about ten o'clock, her usual hour
a rest when undresied and put to bed, the servant
joined the rest of the servants in the kitchen, white
they were at supper.' Mrs. HATYS chaMber was on
the attic story, for the benefit of the air, About
'-eleven o'clock the servants heard a most dreadful
crash and a groan beekwards. On running out,
they found their mistress, in her night-gown, fas.
toned, by the spikes; having entered her thighs two'
inches, above the kneel, to the railing, her back
broke, and her skull flaftured in two ‘Aacet. On
being carrird into. the house she expired. It ap-
pears that the she had been for scime months in a state
of childhood, and it is supposed something, as she
slept, alarmed lw r, and that site opened the Windt*
and threW herself out.

• ,
The unforitinate'GCntlernan. who shot himself dn
Priddy last, in a geld adjoining
.the Jew's Hate
House, is
sLieutenant M.LeAti, of the Royal
Noyy. The deceased was yesterday recovised by
several Gentleincn, wh2 knew him when on board
His Majest);').'Shill Leander, in whiChhe recently
arrived id.K.ii,lank4 In the' afternoon the' bOdy
was rernoyed trerrit theln6rmary, in the New Road,
to rite Undertaker's, in order to be decuntly inter;
red. No cause assigned for cdmiditting the
suicide.