The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-12-17

| Natthloli had proved false 20 MS french
| engagements, and asked for more money
The French Envoy. EsIrades. pretendih'
| TO crafty his avaflce. sent him 10 Marshh
| Catinet who had intended 70 hold the gar
rtson Instead Of getting pay. Mattnlol
was sent to st. Mars az Pigueroi' unue'
| the false name OF Estang.
| Catinet. reporting the case TO the ihi'iis-
| ter OF war, Louvois, says:
Nobody knows the name OF inns
scamp" and asked permission to put
him 10 torture. LOuvois afterwards wrote
to st. Mars that his former letters nave
shown you that the King does not want
Icstang 10 be well-treated; he should not
be made comfortable beyond the neces-
saries Of life. He was not 10 have a doc
tor. unless the governor deemed il .ndis-
pcnsable In about ten months Matthioli
became insane, and wrote with charcoal
on the walls OF his cell. This was re-
ported 10 Louvois. who wrote TO 81. Mars:
II admire your patience, and hope you
viii treat the rascal as he deserves,
whenever he fails OF being respectful.
Matthioli was the prisoner taken by bt-
Mars to Exilcs. IN 1881, I'm company with
another whose name was not given, and
who was undoubtedly the veritable Mask.
In 1851 he ceased TO speak Of two pris-
oncrs-he now had only one. Matthioi
also various chronological difficulties
which forbid the identification OF Mat
thiou win the genuine Mask. but they
need not be enumerated. The fact that
the Italian was brutally treated is enough
so show that ne could not be the prisoner
TO whom uncommon Difference was shown,
at least after his arrival at Exies, and
later at the Bastilc.
" ithin few years, -. jung French
officer. attempted to show that the Mask
was "A cOnspirator Of some rank, who was
put I'm the Bastile and thence taken 20
Pigiierol and elsewhere by ST. Mars IL
is the general opinion that while Jung mas
made n plain that st. Mars had n mys-
terious prisoner, he has failed to do more
than guess his connection with the con-
spiracies Of the day The Mask was
closely guarded. but respectfully treated,
and Louis XIV. was not the man 10 be-
more tolerant 10 a domestic conspirator
than to "a tricky Italian. The same reason
ing would apply 60 the case Of the insuh-
ordinate General Bulonde He may have
been imprisoned al Piguer0l and masked
but this does not imply the singular
which characterized the seclusion
Of the great unknown. Only one theory,
and that by no means a recent one, meets
al! the requirements. The Mask must
have been man Of illustrious birth,
whose personality i'm some way threatened
trouble to the State.
There is no evidence that Anne Of Aus
ria seriously intrigued with the Duke
II Buckingham. or strayed from virtue
XIII. Neither is there proof of her secret
XII. Neither is there proof Of her secret
marriage to Cardinal Mazarin, or Of the
b. pothesis that when Louis KAY. was born
Oh a ipfb vi An of
'ossiole facts, the last especially, Will
ully eXpain the Masks Imprisonment
nd the veing Of his face, and no other |
qual plausible theory has been suggested. !
The records Of the Bastile, though not !
S full as could be desired bear on the |
ase and lend weight to the suppOsition |
'hich we have just mentioned. The chief |
turnkey, Dujonca, kept register or a |
ournal, in which he mentions what he |
bserved. His statements were first pub |
shed many years later by Father Grinet, |
haplain OF the prison. Father Grinet |
armed Of the Delaunay, governor Of the /
'astie who died in 9-forty-six years
tter the Mask-that when the latter
led his effects were all burned, including
9th clothes and bedding; the walls Of his
Dom were scraped end whitewashed. and
was matter Of gossip that the head Of
he corpse was removed from the body.
hevalier, later governor OF the prison,
avs, after an examination of the records,
nat the prisoner was treated with great
lstinction; that no one but the governor
no one other officer was ever admitted TO
IS presence. lie was simply known by
ne name of Marchioli. IL was observed
nat he had a special taste for linen Of
reat fneness. Anne Of Austria. mother
! Louis XIV, had the same peculiarly.
80 strict was the censorship Of the press
q the old French monarchy. that IL was
OF until lt45 that any writer ventured To
I'll the story. He wrote anonymously.
al his book printed in Amsterdam. and
'cated the history in Persia In his opin-
N the Mask was the COmte De Verman-
DIS, illigitimate son of Louis XIV. Vol
IRE followed in 1851 with his pseudony-
ously published Steele de Louis XIV |
9th the above writer's tell the story Of
ne silver plate thrown by the prisoner
ON his window with writing scratched
BON 1t. Its truth has been disputed
Rough the elder Dumas adapted IL i'm
IS 'Bragelonne." I'm 1863 NJ de Palteau.
grand nephew Of the Mask keeper. ST.
ars, told how he had heard from the
ders that on the journey to the Bastile
: Mars stopped with the Mask at their
'use. The latter wore his mask at din
r. which be took alone. 81. Mars sit
ng opposite to him with pair Of loaded
stols.