The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1870-11-01
NO.. 80.
The History of the Iron Mask.

In the reign of Louis XIV, an un-
known prisoner Of noble mein, was sent in
profound secrecy to an Island on the coast
Of Province. The captive wore while
travelling mask said to have been Of
iron; a strict order having been given
that if be disclosed his features he should
instantly be put to death. St. Mars, his
keeper, removed him from one prison to
another, finally to the Bastile in Paris,
where he died and was buried at night.
He played the guitar and dressed sump-
tuously. No complaint ever escaped him
nor did he attempt to make himself
known. The same secrecy was always
maintained as to who the masked captive
was, and his physician never saw his face.
The war minister who succeeded Louis,
was entreated even on his death bed by
his son-in-law to explain the mystery Of
the Iron Mask, but he replied that it was
a solemn secret of state, which he had
sworn never to reveal,
Various surmises have arisen respect
ing the name and station of the masked
prisoner. At one time be was Foquet
the disgrsced minister of finance, at an
other an American patriarch. He was
imagined to be the Duke Of Monmoth,
whom the Londoners. if their eyes did
not deceive them, saw executed on Tower
Hill in 1886. Again he was thought to
have been the twin brother Of Louis XIV
himself.
But ia truth he was without doubt
Ercolo Antonio Matthioli, a senator of
Mantua, a private agent Of Ferdinand
Charles Duke of Mantua and be suffered
his long and strange Imprisonment for
having deceived Lows XIV. in secret
treaty for the purchase of Casal the key
to Italy, the agents of Spain and Austria
having offered him higher bribe. Louis,
as soon as he found he had been duped,
arrested Matthioli. Though armed he
made no resistance, but was carried that
night to Piguerel, his gard alone knowing
his name, and he called him L'Estang 40
that he might conceal his true name.
During his confinement his mind began
to wander, when he was placed in the
same room with Jacobin Monk. In 1851
the Count and Monk we're removed under
military escort to Exiles, few leagues
from Pignero. Here the Monk died in
1887. St. Mars, the guard, then re.
moved with his charge to Isle Of Sain,
Marguerite. In this Isle he spent eleven
years. In 1898, St Mars removed him
to the Bastile at Paris. travelling thither
in litter, When St. Mars halted neal
bis own estate at Pinteau. the unknown
man was seen in his mask, and the peas.
ants observed that he was tall, had gray
hair. aud his teeth and lips we're seer
through the mask.
The mask wns fastened behind his
head by paddock and seal, 50 he could
eat. drink and breath. The mask by
some has been said not TO have been Of
iron, for it could not have been worn SC
long upon the face ,bpt-to haga. haan.e
bone. His imprisonment lasted twenty
four aud half years. ia accordance with
the edict of Louis XIV, that he should
have nothing which could make lif,
agreeable.
He died in November, 1903, aged six
ty-three years After his death his keep
ers scraped and white-wsShed his prison
walls. The doors and window frames
were burned, aud all the metal vessel
which had been used in his service wers
melted down. When the records of tn,
Bastile were made public in 1859, th'
register was searched in vain for sny
thing that would throw light on this af
fair, but the leaf OF The register which
contained it had been carefully removed
But the history Of it was found and ex
tracted from documents in the French
Archives by Hon. Gen. Agar Ellis, ant
may now be found enshrined in volum
entitled, The Curiositie- of History.
From the writings Of the above nance
author, learned the facts, from which
have ventured TO write this article. Sncl
is the true story of the Iron Mask.