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been either plot or instigation. In short, he knows little of the human mind, who does not know that fanaticism renders the populace capable of anything.

The author of the Siecle de Louis XIV.

passed on the wife of a marshal of France, nation. When a few sparks from the fire an attendant on the queen, as a reputed that keeps their superstitious heads asorceress, do very little honour either to boiling, fall on some violent and wicked the chivalry or to the jurisprudence of that spirit-when some ignorant and furious day. But I know not why the historian man thinks he is imitating Phineas, Ehud, makes use of these words:-"If these Judith, and other such personages, he has two wretches were not accomplices in the more accomplices than he is aware of. king's death, they at least deserved the Many incite to murder without knowing most rigorous chastisement: it is certain it. Some individuals drop a few indisthat, even during the king's life, Concini creet and violent words; a servant reand his wife had connections with Spain peats them, with additions and embellishin opposition to the king's designs." ments; a Châtel, a Ravaillac, or a DaThis is not at all certain, nor is it even miens listens to them, while they who Ekely. They were Florentines; the pronounced them little think what misGrand Duke of Florence was the first to chief they have done; they are involunacknowledge Henry IV., and feared no-tary accomplices, without there having thing so much as the power of Spain in Italy. Concini and his wife had no influence in the time of Henry IV.; if they intrigued with the court of Madrid, it could only be through the queen, who st, therefore, have betrayed her husband. Besides, let it once more be ob- (Age of Louis the Fourteenth), is the first served, that we are not at liberty to bring who has spoken of the MAN IN THE IRON forward such accusations without proofs. MASK, in any authentic history. He was What! shall a writer pronounce a defa-well acquainted with this circumstance, mation from his garret, which the most enlightened judges in the kingdom would tremble to hear in a court of justice?-Why are a marshal of France and his wife, one of the queen's attendants, to be alled two wretches? Does Marshal D'Anere, who raised an army against the rebels at his own expense, merit an epithet suitable only to Ravaillac or Cartouche to public robbers, He was first confined at Pignerol, behommiators? or public ca-fore he was sent to the Isles of Ste. Marguerite, and afterwards to the Bastille, It is but too true, that one fanatic is always under the care of the same man, sufficient for the commission of a parri- that St. Marc, who saw him die. Father cade, without any accomplice. Damiens Griffet, a jesuit, has communicated to the hand none; be repeated four times, in the public the journal of the Bastille, which rse of his interrogatory, that he com-certifies the dates. He had no difficulty mitted his crime solely through a principle in obtaining this journal, since he exerknowing the convulsionaries, I may say the prisoners confined in the Bastille. of religion. Having been in the way of cised the delicate office of confessor to that I have seen twenty of them capable { of any act equally horrid, so excessive has

which is the astonishment of the present age, and will be that of posterity, but which is only too true. He had been deceived respecting the time of the death of this unknown and singularly unfortunate person, who was interred, at the church of St. Paul, 3rd of March, 1703, and not in 1704.

The Man in the Iron Mask is an enigma, which each one attempts to solve.

been their infatuation. Religion, ill-un- Some have said that he was the Duke of derstood, is a fever, which the smallest Beaufort; but the Duke of Beaufort was occurrence raises to frenzy. It is the killed by the Turks in the defence of property of fanaticism to heat the imagi- Candia, in 1669, and the Man in the

never his face. As for his age, he himself told the apothecary of the Bastille, a little before his death, that he believed he was about sixty: the apothecary's son-in

Iron Mask was at Pignerol in 1662. Besides, how should the Duke of Beaufort have been arrested in the midst of his army? how could he have been transferred to France without some one's know-law, Marsolam, surgeon to Marshal De ing something about it? and why should he have been imprisoned? and why masked?

Others have imagined that he was Count Vermandois, natural son to Louis XIV., who, it is well known, died of the smallpox when with the army in 1683, and was buried in the town of Arras.

Richelieu, and afterwards to the Duke of Orleans the regent, has repeated this to me several times. To conclude; why was an Italian name given to him? he was always called Marchiali. The writer of this article, perhaps, knows more on the subject than Father Griffet, though he will not say more.

It is true that Nicholas Fouquet, superintendant of the finances, had many friends in his disgrace, and that they persevered even uutil judgment was passed on him. It is true that the chancellor, who presided at that judgment, treated the illustrious captive with too much rigour. But it was not Michel le Tellier, as stated in some editions of the Siecle de Louis XIV.; it was Pierre Seguier.This inadvertency, of having placed one for the other, is a fault which must be corrected.

It has since been supposed that the Duke of Monmouth, who was publicly beheaded by order of King James in 1685, was the Man in the Iron Mask. But either the duke must have come to life again, and afterwards have changed the order of time, putting the year 1662 for the year 1685; or King James, who never pardoned any one, and therefore merited all his misfortunes, must have pardoned the Duke of Monmouth, and put to death in his stead some one who perfectly resembled him. In the latter case, a person must have been found kind enough to have his head publicly cut off to save the Duke of Monmouth; all England must have been deceived in the person; then King James must have begged of Louis XIV. that he would be so goodcurrences; but this serves to prove how as to become his gaoler. Louis XIV. having granted King James this small favour, could not have refused to show the same regard for King William and Queen Anne, with whom he was at war; but would have been careful to maintain the dignity of gaoler, with which King James had honoured him, to the end of the chapter.

It is very remarkable that no one knows where this celebrated minister died; not that it is of any importance to know it, for his death, not having led to any event whatever, is like all other indifferent oc

completely he was forgotten towards the close of life-how worthless that worldly consideration is which is so anxiously sought for-and how happy they are who have no higher ambition than to live and die unknown. This knowledge is far more useful than that of dates.

Father Griffet does his utmost to per All these illusions being dissipated, it suade us that Cardinal Richelieu wrote a remains to be known who this constantly- bad book. Well! many statesmen have masked prisoner was, at what age he died, done the same. But it is very fine to see and under what name he was buried. It him strive so hard to prove that, accordis clear that, if he was not allowed to walking to Cardinal Richelieu, "our allies, in the court of the Bastille, nor to see his physician, except in a mask, it was for fear that some very striking resemblance would be discovered in his features. He was permitted to show his tongue, but

the Spaniards," so happily governed by Bourbon, "are tributary to hell, and makes the Indies tributary to hell!"Cardinal Richelieu's POLITICAL TESTAT MENT is not that of a polite man.

money away.

That" France had more good ports on memory shall be reproached with this unthe Mediterranean than the whole Spanish fortunate work, full of anachronisms, igmonarchy."--This Testament exaggerates. {norance, ridiculous calculations, and That "to keep up an army of fifty thou-acknowledged falsities. Let people strive sand men, it is best to raise a hundred as hard as they please to persuade themthousand." This Testament throws selves that the greatest minister was the most ignorant and tedious as well as the most extravagant of writers; it may afford some gratification to those who detest his tyranny. It is also a fact worth preserving in the history of the human mind, that this despicable work was praised for more than thirty years, while it was believed to be that great minister's; and quite as true, that the pretended

That "when a new tax is imposed, the pay of the soldiers is increased."-Which has never been done either in France or elsewhere.

That "the parliaments and the other superior cours should be made to pay the taille."-An infallible means of gaining their hearts, and making the magistracy respectable.

That "the Noblesse should be forced to serve and to enrol themselves in the cavalry."-The better to preserve their privileges.

That "Genoa was the richest city in
Italy."-Which I wish it were.
That "we must be very chaste.”—The
testator might add, like certain preachers,
Do what I say, not what I do.

Than "an abbey should be given to the holy Chapel at Paris."-A thing of great importance at the crisis in which Europe then stood.

Testament made no noise in the world

until thirty years after the Cardinal's death; that it was not printed until fortytwo years after that event; that the orinal signed by him has never been seen; that the book is very bad; and that it scarcely deserves to be mentioned.

Did Count de Moret, son of Henry IV., who was wounded in the little skirmish at Castelnaudari, live until the year 1693 under the name of the hermit Jean Baptiste? What proof have we that this hermit was the son of Henry IV ?— None.

Did Jeanne d'Albret de Navarre, mother of Henry IV. after the death of Antoine, marry a gentleman named Guyon, who was killed in the massacre of St. Bartholomew? Had she a son by him, who preached at Bourdeaux ? These facts are detailed at great length in the Remarks on Bayle's Answers to the Questions of a Provincial, folio, page

That "Pope Benedict XI. gave a deal of trouble to the Cordeliers, who were piqued on the subject of poverty, that is to say, of the revenues of the order of St. Francis. They were exasperated against him to such a degree, that they made war upon him by their writings."-More important still; and more learned !-especially when John XXII. is taken for Benedict XI.; and when, in a Political 689. Testament, nothing is said of the manner in which the war against Spain and the Empire was to be conducted, nor of the means of making peace, nor of present dangers, nor of resources, nor of alliances, nor of the generals and ministers who were to be employed, nor even of the Dauphin, whose education was of so much importance to the State, nor, in short, of any one object of the ministry. I consent with all my heart, since it must be so, that Cardinal Richelieu's

Was Margaret of Valois, wife to Henry IV., brought to bed of two children secretly after her marriage?

We might fill volumes with inquiries like these. But how much pains should we be taking to discover things of no use to mankind! Let us rather seek cures for the scrofula, the gout, the stone, the gravel, and a thousand other chronic or

acute diseases. Let us seek remedies for

the distempers of the mind, no less terrible and no less mortal; let us labour to

bring the arts to perfection, and to lessen God? He was at most unfaithful only the miseries of the human race; and let to Athanasius and his party, at a time us not waste our time over the anas, the when the world was divided between the anecdotes, and curious stories of our day, Athanasians and the Eusebians. But the collections of pretended bon-mots, Theodoric could not regard him as a man &c. the Letters to a friend, the Anony-unfaithful to God, because he had remous letters, the Reflections on the newjected the term consubstantial, after adtragedy, &c. &c. &c.

I read in a book lately published, that Louis XIV. exempted all new-married men from the taille for five years. I have not found this fact in any collection of edicts, nor in any memoir of that time.

mitting it at first. To cut off his favourite's head for such a reason could certainly be the act of none but the wickedest fool and most barbarous blockhead that ever existed. What would you say of Louis XIV. if he had beheaded the Duke de la Force because the Duke de la Force had quitted Calvinism for the reli

I read in the same book that the King of Prussia has fifty livres given to every girl with child. There is, in truth, nogion of Louis XIV? better way of laying out money, nor of encouraging propagation: but I do not believe that this royal munificence is true; at least I have never witnessed it.

An anecdote of greater antiquity has just fallen under my eye, and appears to me to be a very strange one. It is said in a Chronological History of Italy, that the great Arian, Theodoric, he who is represented to have been so wise, had, amongst his ministers, a Catholic, for whom he had a great liking, and who proved worthy of all his confidence. This minister thought he should rise still higher in his master's favour by embracing Arianism; but Theodoric had him immediately beheaded, saying, If a man is not faithful to God, how can he be faithful to me, who am but a man? The compiler remarks, that this trait does great honour to Theodoric's manner of thinking with respect to religion!

I have just opened a History of Holland, in which I find that, in 1672, Marshal De Luxembourg harangued his troops in the following manner-“ Go, my children, plunder, rob, kill, ravish ; and if there be anything more abominable, fail not to do it, that I may find I have not been mistaken in selecting you as the bravest of men."

This is certainly a very pretty harangue. It is as true as those given us by Livy, but it is not in his style. To com{plete the dishonour of typography, this fine piece is inserted in several new dictionaries, which are no others than impostures in alphabetical order.

It is a trifling error in the Abrégé Chronologique de l'Histoire de France {(Dhronological Abridgment of the History of France) to suppose that Louis XIV., after the peace of Utrecht, for which he was indebted to the English, I pique myself on thinking, in matters after nine years of misfortune, and after of religion, better than Ostrogoth, Theo- the many great victories which the Engdoric, the assassin of Symmachus and lish had gained, said to the English amBoëtius; because I am a good Catholic,bassador, "I have always been master at and he was an Arian. But I declare this king worthy of being confined as a madman, if he were so atrociously besotted. What! he immediately cut off his minister's head, because that minister had at last come over to his own way of thinking. How was a worshipper of God, who passed from the opinion of Athanasius to that of Arius and Eusebius, unfaithful to

home, and sometimes abroad; do not remind me of it." This speech would have been very ill-timed, very false as it regarded the English, and would have exposed the king to a most gallant reply.

The anthor himself confessed to me, that the Marquis de Torcy, who was present at all the Earl of Stair's audiences, had always given the lie to this anecdote.

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It is, assuredly, neither true nor likely, and has remained in the later editions of this book only because it was put in the first. This error, however, does not at all disparage this very useful work, in which all the great events, arranged in the most convenient order, are perfectly authenticated.

tenant of police went to take this madman, who was pointed out to him. He found a man making reverences in a way different from the French, speaking in a singing tone, and looking quite astonished. He expressed great pity for his derangement, ordered his hands to be tied behind him, and sent him to CharenAll these little tales, designed to em-ton, where, like the Abbé Desfontaines, bellish history, do but dishonour it; and he was flogged twice a-week. The Chiunfortunately, almost all ancient histories nese did not at all understand this meare httle else than tales. Mallebranchethod of receiving strangers; he had was right, when, speaking on this subject, passed only two or three days in Paris, he said, "I think no more of History and had found the manners of the French then I do of the news of my parish." very odd. He lived two years on bread and water, amongst madmen and keepers; and believed that the French nation con

dancing while the other flogged them.

At length, when two years had elapsed, the ministry changed, and a new Heutenant of police was appointed. This magistrate commenced his administration by

In 1723, Father Fouquet, a Jesuit, returned to France from China, where hesisted of these two species, the one part had passed twenty-five years. Religious disputes had embroiled him with his brethren; he had carried with him to China a gospel different from theirs, and now brought back to France memorials agast them. Two Chinese literati madevisiting the prisons. He also saw the the voyage along with him; one of them died on the way, the other came with Father Fouquet to Paris. This Jesuit was to take the Chinese to Rome secretly, as a witness of the conduct of the good fathers in China, and in the mean time Fouquet and his companion lodged at the house of the Professed, Rue St. An

toine.

The reverend fathers received advice of their reverend brother's intentions. Fouquet was no less quickly informed of the desgas of the reverend fathers; he lost not a moment, but set off post the same might for Rome. The reverend fathers bad interest enough to get him pursued; but the Chinese only was taken. This poor fellow did not understand a word of Freach. The good fathers went to Cardinal Dubois, who at that time needed their support; and told him that they had amongst them a young man who had gone mad, and whom it was necessary to confine. The Cardinal immediately granted a lettre-de-cachet, than which there is sometimes nothing which a minister is more ready to grant. The lieu

lunatics at Charenton. After conversing with them, he asked if there were no other persons for him to see? He was told that there was one more unfortunate man, but that he spoke a language which nobody understood. A Jesuit, who accompanied the magistrate, said it was the peculiarity of this man's madness, that he never gave an answer in French; nothing would be got from him, and he thought it would be better not to take the trouble of calling him. The minister insisted. The unfortunate man was brought, and threw himself at his feet. The lieutenant sent for the king's interpreters, who spoke to him in Spanish, Latin, Greek, and English; but he constantly said Kanton, Kanton, and nothing else. The Jesuit assured them he was possessed. The magistrate, having at some time heard it said that there was a province in China called Kanton, thought this man might perhaps have come from thence. An interpreter to the foreign missions was sent for, who could murder Chinese. All was discovered. The magistrate knew not what to do, nor the Jesuit what to say. The Duke de

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