Part 5
[48] Victor Amadeus II., at this time a minor, and under the Regency of his mother, Mary Jane de Nemours. In 1713, he became King of Sicily, which kingdom he was compelled to exchange for that of Sardinia, in 1720; abdicated the throne in favour of his son, in 1730; and died in 1732. This prince possessed in an eminent degree, the attributes of his race--valour and skill in military matters, and faithlessness in his treaties and engagements with his brother sovereigns.
[49] Leopold I. succeeded Ferdinand III. in 1657, died in 1705.
[50] Charles II. the last King of Spain of the House of Austria.--Died in 1700.
[51] Appendix, Nos. 68, 69, 89.
[52] See ante, note, page 18.
[53] Appendix, No. 66.
[54] Appendix, No. 68.
[55] Appendix, No. 67.
[56] Namely, of the delivery of Casale.
[57] Appendix, No. 72.
[58] Appendix, Nos. 75, 79, 81, 83, 88.
[59] Mary Jane Baptista of Savoy, daughter of Charles Amadeus, Duke of Nemours and Aumale, (who was killed in a duel by his brother-in-law, the Duke of Beaufort). Married May 11th, 1665, to Charles Emmanuel II., Duke of Savoy; Regent of the territories of her son during his minority. Died March 15th, 1724.
[60] Delort. Appendix, Nos. 87, 92, 95.
[61] Appendix, No. 92.
[62] Appendix, No. 70.
[63] Delort.
[64] Appendix, No. 75.
[65] Appendix, No. 71.
[66] Benigne d’Auvergne de Saint-Mars, Seigneur of Dimon and Palteau; Bailli and Governor of Sens; successively Governor of Exiles, the Island of St. Marguerite, and the Bastille. At Pignerol he had only the command of the state prisoners, the Marquis d’Herleville being governor of the fortress. St. Mars came to Pignerol a short time before the arrival there of Fouquet, who was the first prisoner confided to his care.
[67] Roux (Fazillac.)
[68] Appendix, Nos. 79, 81.
[69] Delort.
[70] Appendix, No. 88.
[71] Appendix, No. 82.
[72] Delort.
[73] M. Roux (Fazillac) gives these particulars, upon the authority of a letter from Estrades to Pomponne, of May 7th, 1679; and of one from Catinat to Louvois of the same date; neither of which are published.
[74] Roux (Fazillac.)
[75] Appendix, No. 84.
[76] Ibid.
[77] Delort.
[78] Appendix, No. 85.
[79] Appendix, No. 84.
[80] Ibid. No. 85.
[81] Appendix, Nos. 96, 103, 104.
[82] Ibid. No. 48.
[83] Nicholas Fouquet, “Surintendant des Finances,” in 1653. The most lavish, but the most amiable of financiers.--Disgraced in 1664, when he was condemned, by the commissioners appointed to inquire into his conduct, to banishment. The sentence was commuted by the King himself to perpetual imprisonment; and Fouquet died in the citadel of Pignerol, in 1680. On his trial he defended himself with great spirit and talent. See Madame de Sévigné’s interesting Letters to M. de Pomponne upon the subject.
[84] Anthony Nompar de Caumont, Marquis of Peguilhem, and afterwards Duke of Lauzun: whose adventures and eccentricities are too well known to require relation here. It is in speaking of him that La Bruyère says, “Il n’est pas permis aux autres hommes de rêver, comme il a vécu.”
[85] Anne Mary Louisa, of Orleans, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, commonly called the “Grande Mademoiselle.”--A woman of an unpleasant character, according to her own showing in her Memoirs; but who certainly did not deserve to be the victim, as she was, in different ways, of two such men as Lewis and Lauzun.
[86] Appendix, Nos. 85, 87, 91, 92, 94, 95, 97.
[87] Ibid. No. 97.
[88] Ibid. Nos. 84, 85.
[89] Appendix, No. 90.
[90] Ibid. No. 93.
[91] Ibid. No. 96.
[92] Ibid. No. 101.
[93] Charles IV. or V., for he is sometimes called one and sometimes the other, was the son of Nicholas Francis, Cardinal, and afterwards Duke of Lorrain. On the death of his uncle, Charles IV., he took the barren titles of Duke of Lorrain and Bar, but never obtained possession of his territories, (which were usurped by France,) “though his military, political, and Christian virtues and talents, made him worthy to occupy the first throne in the universe.” He commanded the armies of the Emperor for some years with the greatest distinction, married the Archduchess Eleanor, widow of Michael Wiecnowiecki, King of Poland, and died in 1690. Lewis the Fourteenth, on hearing of his death, said of him, “that he was the greatest, wisest, and most generous of his enemies.”
[94] Appendix, No. 102.
[95] Appendix, No. 107.
[96] Appendix, No. 106.
[97] Appendix, No. 108.
[98] Appendix, No. 103.
[99] Appendix, No. 104.
[100] Ibid.
[101] Appendix, No. 105.
[102] If we were to judge of the Christian religion by the manner in which it was professed by Lewis the Fourteenth, we should indeed have a most perverted idea of its precepts. It seems as if the pseudo-christianity of that monarch, only incited him to acts of narrow-minded bigotry and cruelty, allowing, at the same time, full latitude to every kind of licentious excess; while it debarred him from the exercise of humanity and toleration. A good measure of the nature and extent of his religious knowledge and feelings is acquired, by the anecdote respecting Fontpertuis and the Duke of Orleans. When the latter was going into Spain, Lewis objected to his taking the former with him, because he was a Jansenist; but withdrew the objection when assured by the duke that he was only an atheist!
[103] M. Roux (Fazillac), quoting from an unpublished letter of Louvois to St. Mars, dated December 14th, 1681.
[104] About 1_l._ 12_s._ 0_d._ Appendix, No. 126.
[105] Exiles was taken from the French in 1708, by the Duke of Savoy, but restored to them by the treaty of Utrecht.
[106] Appendix, No. 111.
[107] Appendix, No. 111.
[108] Appendix, No. 112.
[109] Appendix, No. 111.
[110] Appendix, No. 112.
[111] Ibid.
[112] Appendix, No. 115.
[113] Appendix, No. 111.
[114] Appendix, No. 117.
[115] Appendix, No. 113.
[116] Appendix, Nos. 114, 115.
[117] Appendix, No. 120.
[118] Appendix, No. 121.
[119] Appendix, No. 121.
[120] Appendix, No. 123.
[121] Roux (Fazillac).
[122] Ibid.
[123] Ibid.
[124] Appendix, Nos. 124, 125.
[125] Appendix, No. 124.
[126] Appendix, No. 125.
[127] Appendix, No. 124.
[128] Appendix, No. 126.
[129] Delort.
[130] Extract of Dujonca’s journal, in Mr. Craufurd’s article upon “L’Homme au Masque de fer.”
[131] Delort.
[132] Papon in his “Histoire générale de Provence” informs us that he went to see the room.
[133] “Histoire générale de Provence, du Père Papon.”
[134] See “Mélanges d’Histoire et de Littérature,” by Mr. Quintin Craufurd.
[135] See the same work of Mr. Quintin Craufurd.
[136] This must have been Lewis Francis Le Tellier, Marquis de Barbezieux, who, in the preceding year, had succeeded his father, Louvois, in the post of Secretary of State for the War Department. He was an indolent but intelligent Minister.--Died in 1701, aged 33.
[137] Appendix, No. 127.
[138] Delort.
[139] Delort, quoting from an unpublished letter (probably from Barbezieux), dated August 4th, 1698.--It may be as well to mention here that M. Delort frequently quotes portions of letters from the French Archives, but does not publish them in his appendix. When in the course of this narrative the name of M. Delort is given as an authority, it is, for the most part, under these circumstances.
[140] Such is the account given by M. de Palteau, the direct descendant of St. Mars, in a letter to Freron, dated Palteau, June 19th, 1768. It was published in the “Année Littéraire” for that year, and has since been republished by Mr. Craufurd, in his paper on the Iron Mask.
[141] Delort.
[142] The place of “Lieutenant de Roi,” at the Bastille, was created by Lewis the Fourteenth, for M. Dujonca, who had been “Exempt” of one of the regiments of the King’s Body-guards. He acquired great credit by his endeavours to procure the release of the prisoners under his care, whom, upon inquiry, he found to be unjustly detained. Some one represented to him that he would deprive himself of a great portion of his profits by thus diminishing the number of prisoners--to which he replied, “_I can only lose my money, but these unhappy people are deprived of what is more valuable to them than even life itself._”
[143] These towers are supposed to have been so called from the names of the architects who built them.
[144] Rosarges was made Major of the Bastille by St. Mars.
[145] Extract from the Journal of Dujonca, first published by Griffet, then by St. Foix, and subsequently by Mr. Craufurd.
[146] Appendix, No. 128.
[147] Mr. Craufurd, on the authority of Linguet.
[148] Delort and Craufurd.
[149] Appendix, No. 129.
[150] Appendix, No. 129.
[151] Delort.
[152] Mr. Craufurd, on the authority of M. Delaunay, Governor of the Bastille. Also Register of the Bastille; for which see Appendix, No. 129.
[153] Stephen Francis, Duke de Choiseul, Prime Minister under Lewis the Fifteenth, for above twelve years. A man of some talent, but an unskilful and extravagant minister; in spite of which, on his disgrace, (through the means of Madame du Barri, in 1770) he was turned into a martyr, by the influence of the ladies of the court, who were angry with the King for choosing his mistresses from the lower orders, instead of among them. To do him honour snuff-boxes were made, bearing the head of Sully on one side, and that of the Duke de Choiseul on the other. One of them being shown to _Sophie Arnoud_, the actress, celebrated for her repartees, she looked at the two sides, and said, “_C’est la recette--et la dépense_.”
[154] This first answer of the king ought not to be entirely overlooked; as, it will be remembered, that at the time it was made, the minister of the Duke of Mantua had not been mentioned by any one as the Iron Mask. He was first suggested to have been that prisoner, by the Baron de Heiss, in a letter to the authors of the “Journal Encyclopédique,” dated Phalsbourg, June 28th, 1770; in which he grounded his opinion upon a letter, published in a work entitled “L’Histoire Abregée de l’Europe;” published at Leyden in 1687; giving a detailed account of the arrest, by French agents, of a secretary of the Duke of Mantua.[155] M. Dutens, in his “Correspondance Interceptée,” published in 1789, held the same opinion, grounded upon the same authority. He afterwards repeated the same opinion in his “Mémoires d’un Voyageur, qui se repose.” Finally, M. Roux, (Fazillac) in 1801, published his work upon the Iron Mask; in which he supported the same opinion; and attached to the Secretary the name of Matthioli.
[155] See Appendix, No. 133.
[156] Jane Antoinette Poisson, married to a financier named Le Normand d’Etioles; created Marquise de Pompadour by Lewis the Fifteenth, of whom she was first the mistress, and afterwards the minister of his disgraceful debauches. At her death, in 1765, the King showed no signs of grief; and on seeing her funeral go by his windows on a rainy day, his only remark was, “La Marquise aura aujourd’hui un mauvais temps pour son voyage!”
[157] Appendix, No. 131.
[158] Appendix, Nos. 131, 132. Madame Campan mentions having heard Lewis the Sixteenth tell his wife, that the Count de Maurepas (who, both from his age and situation, was very likely to know the truth,) had informed him that the _Iron Mask_ was “a prisoner dangerous from his intriguing disposition, and a subject of the Duke of Mantua.”
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
No. 1.
ESTRADES TO LEWIS THE FOURTEENTH.
Commencement of the Negociation.--State of the Court of Mantua.--Influence of the Spaniards there.
Venice, Dec 18th, 1677.
SIRE,
As the grief I felt at having displeased your Majesty was extreme, so my joy is not less to learn from M. de Pomponne, that your Majesty has had the goodness to pardon me my too great facility; and that you have been graciously pleased to listen to the reasons, which I took the liberty to offer to you, in justification of the innocence of my intentions; however, Sire, this misfortune will oblige me, in future, to act in all things with so great a circumspection, that your Majesty will, I hope, never have cause to be dissatisfied with my conduct.
I have thus far deferred informing your Majesty of a project, which my anxiety for your service has suggested to me, because the success of it appeared so difficult that I did not venture to propose it, till I saw some chance of being able to accomplish it; but, as the affair is at present in a favourable state, I can almost assure your Majesty, that the conclusion of it will depend upon yourself. I shall now give you an exact account of it, in order that I may receive the orders it shall please you to send me; which I will take care to execute punctually. About four months ago, having become more particularly acquainted with the divisions at the Court at Mantua than before was the case, and having heard that the Duke of Mantua was not so abandoned to his pleasures, but that he still had some ambition, and much chagrin at the state to which he was reduced by his mother, and his suspicions of the Spaniards; I hoped that it would not be impossible, to detach him entirely from them, to induce him to enter into the views of your Majesty, and to persuade him really to treat respecting Casale. I have thought that I could not employ any one in this affair more proper to conduct it, than a certain Count Matthioli, who is entirely devoted to that prince; I had already known him for some time, and he had testified a great desire of rendering himself agreeable to your Majesty by some service. I knew that he had been Secretary of State to the late Duke of Mantua, that the present one had preserved much affection for him, and that he was well-informed of the different interests of the Princes of Italy; but as he had been much in the Milanese, and had had a good deal of access to the Spanish ministers, I would not put any confidence in him, till I had first tried him. I therefore charged the individual, named Giuliani, to whom your Majesty had the goodness to make six months ago a gratification, and who has a zeal for your service which prevents my having any doubt of his fidelity, to observe Matthioli attentively and secretly; and after I had been sufficiently informed that he was much discontented with the Spaniards, who had always amused him with hopes, and afterwards abandoned him, I sent Giuliani, in the month of last October, to Verona, where he went under pretext of his private affairs; but in fact, to put Matthioli, who was there, upon the subject of the Duke of Mantua, according to the instruction I had given him, and to represent to him that those who had an attachment for their prince, could not but be much afflicted to see him, at his age, still under the guidance of his mother; without money, without authority, always in a state of suspicion against those who are habitually about him; and what is worse, in so insensible a state, that he only thought of passing his life with actresses and women of the town; which had made him lose the esteem of every body, and the consideration which his rank ought to have given him: that so strange a way of life, as well as the opinion that was prevalent that he would never have children by his wife, though she was as young as himself, induced the Spaniards to foment the divisions that existed in this Court, in order to profit by them, and to try and obtain possession of Casale and of all the Montferrat; that the said Giuliani had heard me say, that I was well-informed that the Empress Eleanor had already declared her pretensions to put herself in possession of that part of the territories of Mantua; that the king of Spain supported strongly those of a Spanish nobleman, who, in virtue of his marriage with the niece of the Duke of Guastalla, by whom he has children, maintains that he is the sole heir of that duke, to the prejudice of the Duke of Mantua, who has married his daughter, and who is besides his nearest relation; that, on the other hand, the absolute control over all the territories of this prince, and all the revenues, were in the hands of his mother and of the monk Bulgarini; that, of all those who serve him as ministers, some are gained by the Spaniards, others by the Empress Eleanor, and the rest by the Duke of Guastalla; that his mother has also a part of them on her side, but that these are the smallest number, and in short, that it is a sort of miracle that he has not been already deprived of his territories, but that he runs the risk of it every day, and that the misfortune may happen to him when he is the least prepared for it; that he has no choice of the means to be made use of to guarantee himself against it, but that it is the protection of your Majesty which is alone able to give him complete security. Matthioli replied to him, that all he had been saying to him was quite true, and that he had long, with grief, seen the truth of it; but that there was still a remedy for so great an evil; that he was sufficiently acquainted with the Duke of Mantua to know that he had more talent and ambition than he was thought to have; that, if I approved of it, he would discover his real sentiments, and that he would charge himself with whatever negociation I wished. That, meanwhile, he would go to----[159], in order to be nearer to Mantua, where he could not go without making himself suspected by the different parties who governed there, and that there he would wait till I made known to him my intentions. Some days afterwards, he sent me word that he had found means to have a secret interview with the Duke of Mantua; and that he wished me, in order that we might act in concert, to send him Giuliani, whom I have always made use of in the different journeys that were to be made, because his employment of sending the news through the different parts of Italy, gave him occasion to go from one town to another, and prevented any suspicion of him, as there would have infallibly been, if I had sent any one of my household. I despatched him, therefore, with a new instruction, and not only had he an audience of the Duke of Mantua, to whom he spoke as I had desired him, but this prince even approved very much of the proposition that was made him, to deliver him from the continual inquietudes caused him by the Spaniards, and that, for this purpose, Casale should be put into your Majesty’s hands, with the understanding that I should try to obtain from you in his favour all that he could reasonably ask for. Finally, he declared that his resolution was taken upon this subject, but, that things might be better adjusted, he wished to communicate it to two of his counsellors, in whom he had the most confidence, and that he gave the selection of them to Matthioli, in order that he might be quite secure of them. Matthioli named the Marquis Cavriani and Joseph Varano, in whom he has confidence. Meanwhile the Duke of Mantua sent Giuliani to me, to acquaint me with what had passed, and recommended him to return as soon as possible, in order to receive the draft of the plan, which would then be prepared--and to convey it to me. I was much pleased, Sire, to see the affair in so good a train. I sent Giuliani back quickly, and ordered him to tell the Duke of Mantua that I entreated him to allow me to have a conference with him; that your Majesty had not as yet any knowledge of the proposed treaty, because I could not venture to go so far as that, without being certain first that he would not disavow me in what I should have the honour of writing to your Majesty, and also that he would have sufficient power to execute what had been arranged.