The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-06-22
From Harpers' Magazine.l
THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK.
BY EUGENE LAWRENCE.

about three o'clock, the guarded litter
passed the draw-bridge of the Bastile,
and the prisoner was placed in one oi
the rooms of the tower of La Bertau-
iere. Here, for five years, the Man
in the Mask is lost to sight. Yet
| tradition has thrown a faint and
doubtful light upon the strange story,
1t is said the prisoner was always
! treated with unusual Difference; that
his jailoT never sat down in his pres
ence; that he was supplied with every
luxury; that he was clothed in the
finest linen and the cOstliest laces, for
which he showed an eXtraYagant
fondness; that his table was abundant;
that he amused his leisure by playing
on the guitar. But from all inter-
course with the world around him he
was sternly cut off. His mask was
never raised even when he took his
food, and orders were given to kill
him should he attempt to remove it,.
An aged physician of the Bastile,
who had often attended him, stated
that he never saw his face, although
he had examined his tongue. He was
finely formed, said the doctor; his
complexion was dark, his voice low
and soft. Yet he never complained
of his condition, nor gave the least
indication of who he was. A perpet-
ual terror had probably broken down
within him every thought of resist
aneeI to his royal prosecutor. A
doubtful story is told that at st. Mar
guerite the prisoner one day wrote
with knife on a silver plate which
he had used at dinner, and threw it
out of the window toward boat that
lay on the shore near the foot of the
tower. A fisherman, the owner of
the boat, found the plate and brought
it to the governor. He asked the fish
erman, in astOnishment and alarm,
'iHave you read what was written on
this plate? Has any one seen it in
your possessiOn?n The man replied
that he could not read, and that he
had shown it to no one. The COVER
nor detained him until he had made
sure that he had told him the truth,
and then dismissed him, saying, at
is happy for you that you cannot
read" Another legend relates that
the prime. minister of France visited
the masked prisoner in his cell at St.
Marguerite, and during the interview
refused to sit down in his presence.
He evidently treated the miserable
captive as if he were his superior.
For five years the Man of the Iron
Mask survived his removal to the
Bastile. Winter and summer his
narrow cell in the lonely tower ech-
oed to the notes of his mOurnful gui-
tar, almost the only sound thatawoke
its utter silence. His youth and man
hood had passed away, and he had
never heard the sweet voices of SYM
pathy, of friendship, or compassion,
or of love. The suspicious tones Of
the cautious Saint Mars, and the
stealthy tread of his spies, were the
only sounds with which he was fa-
miiiar. Around him he might hear
the murmur of busy Paris; at St.Mar-
guerite he may have caught the roar
OF the tempest-tOssed waves. But he
must have forgotten, in his endless
captivity, the cheerful sounds of his
childhood, or perhaps he fancied them
revived in the gentle music of his gui-
tar. His mind, no doubt, sank into
imbecility in his solitary bondage. 1t
happened to most of the capRyes of
the magnificent LOUIS to fall into pre-
mature dOtage, and to die suTrround-
ed by mental illusions. Nor could
the Man in the Mask have escaped
the common fate of Fouquet and Lau-
yum, of Avedick and the HuguenOt
ministers. Old age came upon him
without regard. No friendly eye had
looked upon his veiled cOuntenance;
no children nor grandchildren cheer
ed his weary hours as they dropped
slowly away. The fatal purpose OF
Louis XIV. was perfectly fulfilled,
and the mysterious captive was shut
forever from all intercourse with his
fellOwmen.
At last the inevitable deliverance
came. In November, 1903, while the
great king was wrapped in his scheme
of universal rale, or reveling in his
gorgeous palaces and gay parterres,
the drawbridge of the Bastile was low.
cred, and a scanty funeral train pass
ed slowly out TO the cemetery of the
Church of st. Paul. The night was
falling, the shadows of evening hid
the last funeral rite of the Man of the
Mask. He had been taken i'll a few
days before, had sunk rapidly, and
died in his solitary cell. Around him
were only the cold and pitiless jailorsi
and no kind words or gentle faces
eheeTed his last hours on earth. He
was buried with little ceremony, and
no show of regret. Two of the Officers
of the prison alone followed to the
grave him who increditable historians
have thought the rightful King o.
France, and who is shown by all the
circumstances of his imprisonment tC
have been at least a person of import
ance. No relative, no friend was tOlC
of his fate; the king would suffer NJ
one TO know of his death.