New-York tribune., 1901-07-20
A KINGS REVENGE.
LOUIS XIV AND THE MAN WHO MADE
HIM A LAUGHING STOCK.


gan TO esk one another, who was the sheh III
the Iron Nask?" No one knew. or. rathef' no
one knew who would tell. Presently the ques-
+fon WAS reDeated outside of France; 1t was
asked all over Europe, and. as everybody knows
~ finally rose TO the dignity Of first class
enigma in modern history The subject haH cre-
ated a literature Of its own. in which more than
one great writer has ranged himself on the siee
OF a quite impossible solution. Voitaire gave tiie
sanction Of his name TO an hypothesis suDhiieiy
shsurd The elder Dumas lent the glamour or
his art 10 the support OF legend OF the Man
in the Iron Mask altogether Incompatible Win
the facts of history. Those facts have very
slowly come TO light 1t was only in 1915 Ihat
NJ Funck- -Brentano. profting by the invaiuapie
labors of NJ Top.n but carrying the investiga-
ton further than II had ever gone petore pun
lished In his "IAgendes ct Archives de la Bas-
tillen the final, authoritative word on the mys-
terry He ratified conclusively the identification
az the famous masked prisoner with Ercoie
Antonio Mattioli, favorite OF Charles Nv. Duke
of Mantua. who, in pretending to serve his mas
ter and Louis XIV of France, tried chiefly to
serve himself and so won terrible imprison-
ment and an enduring place in French history
NJ Funck- -Brentano did this, however. more
or less incidentally. He had other things to oeai
with when he wrote about the Bastlie. ihere-
fore although his book has been translated into
English, Mr. Tighe Hopkins has done well TO
set forth at greater length the story or the ui-
fortunate Italian. Half Of his volume Is taken
up with q systematic examination OF the FaFi-
GUS prodigious theories which have been ao-
vanced in the effort to discover the identity Oh
the prisoner. The other half gives the truth
The first part he labels 1.-The Man In the Moon
The second IS called THE Man in the Mask"
fara arad
all. has swayed the Imagination of the world
too long for any TO see it d!screoited wlthout
mingled emotions One gives up the ancient
warns willingly enough, since desires TO be
faithful to the muse Of history But before they
are cast into the melting pot insists upon
having them lawfully tried and tested. Proofs
must be forthcoming before We abandon the
picture Of the prisoner scratching message OF
despair upon a silver plate, and tossing IL out
of the window for some sympathetic Soul 10
find; We VIII not yield the mask OF riveted metal
before we have seen documentary evidence 'hat
il never existed. And, be it said In passing
even though the evidence is brought TO the sur
face II Is unlikely that the legend viii ever Ole
Somewhere there will always be men believing
that the blood Of the house Of Bourbon ran IN
the veins of ''the Sphinx of French history :
,bat the sphinx-though deprived of liberty
furniture; and that the mask was worthy, in
its eiaborateness of a genius in the working or
metals.
TbA truth as regards Mattion includes the
truth about certain negotiations which he was
allowed to facilitate between the Duke OF Man
t1a and the French king. The latter already
possessed the fortress of Pignerol. He wanted
that OF Casale, as with French force in that
stronghold he would then have been able TO
control the gateway TO Northern Italy The
Duke was spendthrift, and would have sold
his soul for cash. To part with Casale seemed
to him no very great hardship. At the same
time the sale was the last thing in the world
to recommend itself TO certain North Italian
courts: he knew that he would have to reckon
with Spain and Austria. However. he thought
that when the scheme was once arranged the
protection of Louis XIV would be ample against
all corners. Louis himself was sure of this. and
he had reason on his side. At the same time
secrecy was considered necessary, until the
new garrison should have actually moved into
Casals. Mattiol kept both rulers in good
hurnor Everything seemed secure. Then, for
reasons which we will probably never know,
perhaps through remorse at betraying his coun-
try perhaps through a desire TO gain more
money he revealed his secret to the powers
necessarily inimcal to the transfer Of the Dukes
territory to France. and the fat was In the fire.
If he had only offended the Duke by his
treachery he might have escaped severe punish
rnent But as the facts leaked out they put
Louis XIV in a pitiable plight The Roi Soleil
liked TO think himself all powerful; he took him
self with the most tremendous seriousness. and
now. behold the world in position to
glance at him with covert smile. Msttioli
had gone too far. He had made Jest Of the
sgnnI ZINC
ridiculous and for that crime It was hard to
find reward crushing enough. Had he been
an ordinary varlet he might have been disposed
Of without much difficulty. AS a man standing
in close relations TO the duke. his capture had
TO be brought about with some caution. By
stratagern he was lured the frontier.
seized by the French and conducted to dun
gson in the fortress at Pignerol. Twenty-four
years later he died IN the Bastille, and not for
one hour in all that long period was he a free
man sgain. sant-Mars. his jailer at Pgnerol
was crafty, ruthless brute. "A mortal ugly
little man, looking eighty at the least, ell bent
and t6ttering, incessantly in passion, swear
ing and blaspheming horribly inexorably cruel
Such is the portrait drawn Of him by one con-
temporary The letter from Louvois warning
him that Mattiou would soon be placed under
his charge contains this promising passage:
You will guard him in such a manner that, not
only may he have no communication with any
one but that he may have cause to repent his
conduct and that no one may know you have
a new prisoner" Does this suggest the lkeli-
hood OF Mattioli's receiving the treatment in
which the legend asks us to believe? Does IL
hint silver dishes. dainty food. purple and fine
linen, and a jailer too respectful TO seat himself
or remain uncovered in the presence of the pris-
oner? The Kings vengeance was to cut to