CHAPTER XIII.

The Chevalier de Taulès—How he was led to believe that Avedick was the Man with the Iron Mask—A clear Proof furnished him of the impossibility of his Theory—Taulès persists and accuses the Jesuit Fathers of Forgery—Examination of Dujonca’s Journal—Its complete Authenticity and the unaffected Sincerity of the Writer cannot be doubted—New Proofs of this Authenticity and of Dujonca’s Exactitude.

“I have discovered the Man with the Iron Mask, and it is my duty to render an account to Europe and to posterity of my discovery,” exclaims the Chevalier de Taulès,[277]with a conviction which posterity does not share, and a solemnity of manner so little justified by results, that an extreme reserve is imposed on those who venture after him to engage in a pursuit so fruitful in checks.

The intelligence of this discovery was at first received with a confidence which was explained by the position of the individual who claimed to have made it. Sprung from one of the oldest and most respectable families of Bearn; admitted, in 1754, into the gendarmes of the King’s Guard; starting, ten years afterwards, in the career of diplomacy, which he pursued always with honour, sometimes with success; sent successively to Switzerland, Poland, and laterto Syria, as consul-general; corresponding on terms of friendship with Voltaire, who showed some deference for his opinions;[278]M. de Taulès enjoyed among his contemporaries an authority due as much to the qualities of his mind as to his honourable character. He had lived through the first Empire without desiring to re-enter the service of the State, and had devoted to historical studies the leisure which his independent spirit had created. It was the perusal of an unpublished manuscript memorandum of the Marquis de Bonnac, ambassador at Constantinople, that revealed to Taulès the existence of the Grand Patriarch, Avedick, and his abduction by Ferriol. The writer of this memorandum added that Avedick had been afterwards sent to the Isles Sainte-Marguerite, and then transferred to the Bastille, where he had died. “On reading this passage,” says Taulès, “the thought suddenly struck me that this individual might very well be the Iron Mask. Becoming subsequently more and more confirmed in this conjecture by a number of facts which the perusal of the memorandum had confusedly recalled to me, I said to myself, with fresh assurance, ‘Yes, it is himself: this is the Iron Mask!’”[279]

In truth, this very natural thought must arise in the mind of every one who reads this memorandum; and if Taulès believed that he at length possessed the solution of the problem, there were many others who would have felt equally self-persuaded. His only fault—but it was a greatone—was that of obstinately holding to this opinion when a more complete study of the question would have shown him his error; and of endeavouring to support his theory when it was being shattered, by an accusation of forgery as grave as it was unjust.

Assuredly, the interest which Louis XIV. had in hiding the existence of such a prisoner as Avedick, the indispensability there was of shrouding from every eye the victim of so enormous a crime against the law of nations, the necessity, too, of removing from the ex-Patriarch every means of informing the Ottoman Porte of the country where he was detained, the clamour which his disappearance had caused throughout the entire East, the precarious situation in which the King of France then found himself, constrained as he was to treat Turkey with consideration, were all so many arguments that crowded upon the mind in favour of Taulès’ opinion. This theory presented, moreover, the advantage of explaining several circumstances, true or supposed, in the life of Saint-Mars’ mysterious prisoner. For instance, the silence almost constantly observed by him, which caused it to be continually said that he was condemned to it under pain of death, was accounted for by the Armenian Patriarch’s ignorance of our language. Again, that strange accent noticed by the surgeon Nélaton, in a visit made by him to the Bastille,[280]and which struck him in the few syllables articulated by the prisoner, finds its natural explanation in Avedick. The famous reply of Louis XV. to his valet-de-chambre, Laborde, who questioned him about the Man with the Iron Mask, “The imprisonment of thisunfortunate individual has wronged nobody but himself,” applied sufficiently exactly to the Patriarch. Lastly, in default of those official despatches, which, to-day, a sovereign and indispensable proof, alone allow one to erect a theory upon a firm basis, the suggestion of Taulès united in its favour several strong presumptions, and did not at the outset meet with any fundamental objection.

But the originator was not to experience for long an unmixed joy. His conviction was most firmly rooted. “Perhaps nothing,” he says, “has ever appeared to me so very plainly.I do not more clearly feel my existence than I recognize the Patriarch in all the features of the Iron Mask.”[281]All at once, the Minister of Foreign Affairs,[282]who had ordered researches to be made among his archives, caused the Chevalier de Taulès to be informed that an important Armenian personage had really been abducted from Constantinople and taken to France, but that as indisputable despatches established the fact that he was still in Turkey during the early part of 1706, he could not be the prisoner brought by Saint-Mars from the Isles Sainte-Marguerite to the Bastille on September 18, 1698, and who died in that fortress on November 19, 1703. Taulès at first accepted with resignation this truly startling revelation. His theory was completely overthrown, his reasoning destroyed, his discovery annihilated. He acknowledged it. He regretted not having sooner recalled that maxim which he had often heard repeated by D’Alembert himself, “In this world one must neither deny nor affirm anything.” He avowed his mistake, and the man of sense gracefully repaired the very excusable error committedby the historian. But his theory had become so profoundly and tenaciously impressed upon his brain, that he could not entirely rid himself of it. A germ remained which developed by degrees, and in a fashion which of itself deserves attention, independently of the interest which is inspired by everything that relates to the Man with the Iron Mask.

“Is it possible,” Taulès asks himself, “that a proof so powerful can yet leave me any resources? To argue in the train of afact so destructive to my opinion, and the truth of which I am obliged to admit, would it not be endeavouring in a deliberate manner to push prejudice to its utmost length?”[283]We see that at first Taulès did not contest the accuracy of the two dates, and the impossibility of reconciling them with his theory; but by degrees he modifies the terms of the problem to be resolved. He no longer makes it his business to discover who was the Man with the Iron Mask, but to prove, in spite of a capital objection, that the Man with the Iron Mask was Avedick. This fact is worthy of remark, and the chain of Taulès’ successive ideas is here very significant. He does not commence by seeking if a forgery has been committed by the Jesuits, in order to establish afterwards that Avedick is the Man with the Iron Mask. No. It is the necessity in which he believes himself placed, of establishing this identity, that first gives him the idea of a forgery, then we have his inquiry, and then the certainty that this forgery has been committed. “However bold my observation may appear, I shall dare to make it,I feel hope revive in my soul, and in spite of all I have just avowed against myself, I do not renounce my discovery.... If I am deceiving myself, I shall deserveto be doubly confounded. But if, as everything assures me I shall do, I come victorious out of this struggle, confusion will altogether be the portion of those who have wished to deprive me of the honour of this discovery.”[284]From this time all Taulès’ efforts tended to destroy the positive information till then accepted by him. Not being able to deny the authenticity of the despatches of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs establishing that Avedick was still at Constantinople in 1706, and this obstacle being insurmountable, Taulès directed his attention towards Dujonca’s journal. Father Griffet was the first who quoted[285]the two pages of this journal relating to the mysterious prisoner and bearing the dates of September 19, 1698, the day of his arrival at the Bastille, and of November 18, 1703, the day of his death. But Father Griffet was a Jesuit. On this score, and in the interest, in his eyes superior to all other, of the order to which he belonged, might he not have been able to alter, to falsify this document, in such a manner that it might be opposed to those who should one day, perhaps, arise to accuse the Jesuits of the abduction of Avedick, and perhaps see in this individual the Man with the Iron Mask? This suspicion had scarcely entered the mind of Taulès before it took possession of it and ruled it, when everything immediately became for him an irresistible argument for, and formal proof of a falsification.

This journal is divided into two parts, each forming a volume. The first has for title: “List of prisoners who are sent by the King’s order to the Bastille, to commence fromWednesday the eleventh of the month of October, when I am entered into the office of Lieutenant of the King, in the year 1690,” and at the back of folio 37 we have word for word what follows:—

“On thursday 18th September 1698, at 3 o’clock of the afternoon, Monsieur de St.-Mars governor of the château of the bastille has arrived to enter upon his functions coming from his government of the isles St.-Marguerite honorat having brought with him in his litter an old prisoner whom he had at pignerol whom he always kept masked [and] whose name was not mentioned and having had him placed on leaving the litter in the first chamber of the tower of the bassinnière until the night in order to place him and conduct him myself at 9 o’clock of the evening with M. de rosarges one of the sergeants whom monsieur the governor had brought into the third chamber south of the tower of the Bretaudière[286]which I had had furnished with everything some days before his arrival having received Monsieur de St.-Mars’ order for it which prisoner will be subject to and served by Mr. de rosarge and provisioned by monsieur the Governor.”

The second part, of which the title is, “List of prisoners who left the Bastille, to commence from the eleventh of the month of October, when I am entered into possession in the year 1690,” contains, at the back of folio 80, what follows:—

“On the same day monday 19th november 1703——the unknown prisoner always masked with a mask of black velvet whom Monsieur de St.-Mars governor had broughtwith him on coming from the isles St.-Marguerite whom he had guarded since a long time [and] who having found himself yesterday rather ill on leaving mass died to-day at ten o’clock at night without having had any great illness he could not have had less. M. Giraut our chaplain confessed him yesterday [but] surprised by his death he has not received the sacraments and our chaplain exhorted him a moment before dying and this unknown prisoner so long detained was interred on tuesday 20th november at four o’clock of the afternoon in the cemetery of St-Paul our parish on the register of deathssymbolwas also given a name unknown to monsieur de rosarges major and Mr. Reil surgeon who have signed the register.

“symbolI have since learnt that he was named on the register M. de Marchiel [and] that 40 l. were paid for his burial.”[287]

For every unprejudiced and impartial reader, these unaffected pages are conclusive, and do not inspire any doubt. But it is not the same for Taulès. According to him, Father Griffet himself, and not Dujonca, is the author of this document, in which, with infinite art, he has introduced several points of obscurity, and succeeded in misleading for ever all those who should be tempted to raise the veil. He has commenced by imagining the two dates of 1698 and 1703, so that it would be impossible to apply them to Avedick, who was still at Constantinople in 1706. It is designedly that, with an infinity of precautions, he has drawn attention to this fact which he had invented at will: “Saint-Mars had this prisoner at Pignerol,” a point onwhich he insists by saying further on: “This prisoner whom he had guarded since a long time.” To make Dujonca twice affirm that the Man with the Iron Mask was first detained at Pignerol of course absolutely sets Avedick aside. The affectation of speaking several times of the Abbé Giraut, chaplain of the Bastille, is equally significant to Taulès, in so much that it reveals the cunning intention of carefully avoiding having to name the Jesuits, even when it concerns the Bastille, to which one of them was constantly attached. It is true that the registers of the Church of Saint-Paul confirm Dujonca’s journal, since the interment of the prisoner is related in them under the date of November 20, 1703.[288]But this objection does not embarrass Taulès. Without going so far as to suppose that these registers have also been falsified, he is very willing to accept them as authentic. “But,” says he, “this prisoner interred November 20, 1703, is not the one brought by Saint-Mars to the Bastille. It is some obscure stranger, and Father Griffet finding on the registers of this church the proof of his death in 1703, has used it as a basis on which to erect his falsehoods, and by attracting to him the exclusive attention of posterity, has turned it aside from Avedick, and has necessarily rendered ulterior investigations fruitless.”

But it is nothing of the kind. In this painful episode of Louis XIV.’s reign, the Jesuits have their share of responsibility, owing to the pressure which they put upon Ferriol, but they are completely innocent of the forgeries of which they have been accused.

The perfect authenticity of Dujonca’s journal is shown by many proofs. It suffices to have read it and assured oneself that it is not composed of detached leaves afterwards bound together, but has been written all entire by the same incorrect and simple pen, in order to be convinced of the impossibility of the least alteration. Either it is a forgery from beginning to end, or the pages relating to the Iron Mask have for their author that kind of general superintendent of the Bastille, sometimes too pompously styled Lieutenant of the King, sometimes fulfilling the humble functions of turnkey, devoted to his multifarious duties,[289]who ought to be believed for his ignorance of certain things as much as for his complete knowledge of others, for the unfeigned simplicity of his language, and the tone of sincere assurance that runs uniformly throughout the entire journal. Moreover, not only is all that concerns the other prisoners corroborated by indisputable despatches deposited in otherarchives,[290]but the most reliable documents absolutely confirm the dates, and even some of the points indicated in the two accounts we have just quoted. Dujonca says in the first: “I had had his chamber furnished with everything some days before his arrival,having received M. de Saint-Mars’ order for it.” Now a despatch as yet unpublished and of especial importance contains what follows: “Barbézieux to Saint-Mars.—Marly, July 19, 1698—I have received the letter which you have taken the trouble to write to me the 9th of this month. The Kingfinds it good that you should leave the Isles Sainte-Marguerite to go to the Bastille with your old prisoner, taking your precautions to prevent his being either seen or known by any one.You can write in advance to His Majesty’s Lieutenant of this château to have a chamber ready so as to be able to place your prisoner in it on your arrival.”

This despatch cannot be questioned. It exists in the archives of the Ministry of War. It was written by the Minister, Barbézieux, a short time previous to Saint-Mars’ departure for the Bastille, and like many others which we shall quote hereafter, it establishes in a formal manner that in 1698, and not later, the Man with the Iron Mask entered the Bastille, and that no alteration has consequently been made in Dujonca’s journal.

But to these definitive proofs let us add others drawn from Avedick’s very singular end. Let us return to this individual at the moment when he treads the French soil for the first time, and let us follow him to his death, less in order to complete our demonstration that he is not the Man with the Iron Mask—which would be superfluous—than to throw every light upon this little-known individual, and pursue to itsdénoûmentthe story of this extraordinary crime.

FOOTNOTES:[277]L’Homme au Masque de Fer: Mémoire Historique par le Chevalier de Taulès, ancien consul-général en Syrie, p. 1.[278]From 1752 to 1768, Taulès and Voltaire had a long and interesting correspondence, published by Gaultier-Laguionie (Paris, 1825), at the end of various memoirs of Taulès.[279]L’Homme au Masque de Fer: Mémoire Historique, p. 21.[280]This has already been referred to in ChapterVIII.of this work. See page 93ante.[281]L’Homme au Masque de Fer, p. 61.[282]M. de Vergennes.[283]L’Homme au Masque de Fer, p. 62.[284]L’Homme au Masque de Fer, p. 63.[285]In hisTraité des Differentes Sortes de Preuves qui servent à établir la Vérité dans l’Histoire.[286]This and the tower mentioned just above are supposed to have been named after their builders.—Trans.[287]Archives of the Library of the Arsenal, Manuscript Journal of Dujonca.[288]Archives of the Hôtel de Ville,Registres des Baptêmes, Mariages et Sépultures de la Paroisse de Saint-Paul: Saint-Paul 5, 1703-1705, vol. ii No. 166.[289]I have found among the Archives of the Arsenal another document also emanating from the pen of Dujonca, whose journal up to the present time was alone known. These are notes in which he enumerates the heavy occupations that weighed him down. This document throws a certain light upon the interior arrangements of the Bastille. It is the same large writing as that of the Journal, with the same faults of language, the same simple-mindedness. It is too long to be quoted here. I merely extract the statement of everything that Dujonca had to do.“For more than a year since I have entered the Bastille I have been obliged to perform the service which follows:—“To rise every morning the first and to go to bed the last—To place the guard very often instead of the officers of Monsieur de Besemaux; to make the round and the visit every evening in the uncertainty as to whether these gentlemen will do it; to close the doors very often, not being able to rely upon any one—To take every care of the guard of the château, being unable either to trust or rely upon the governor’s two officers, who do only what pleases them, and render account of what passes only to Monsieur de Besemaux—When Monsieur de la Venice or other commissaries come to interrogate prisoners, it is necessary to go and take them from their chamber and to lead them into Monsieur de Besemaux’s room, traversing all the courts, and it is necessary to wait outside the door very often for eight hours at a time, in order to retake possession of the prisoner, and conduct him back to the place whence he had been taken—The prisoners to whom it is permitted to see visitors it is also necessary to go and take from their chambers, to lead them through all the courts into the common room, where the relations or friends await them, and it is very often necessary to remain with them quite as long as they wish, being obliged to keep them in sight, and afterwards to take them back again—It is necessary to have the same care and application for certain people of the reformed religion, who are seen and talked to by Father Bordes, M. Latour Dalier and Madame Chardon, in order to convert them—To follow and guard the prisoners who have permission to go and walk in the garden and on the terrace from time to time. All the sick prisoners it is necessary to go and visit often, and to take care of them—Those who have need of the doctor and apothecary, it is necessary to conduct where the sick go; and in order to be more assured of what passes and of the remedies which they are ordered to take, it is necessary to be present when they are brought to them—For the prisoner who is very ill and in danger of death, it is necessary to redouble all these cares in order to make him confess and receive all the sacraments, and when he is dead it is necessary to fulfil all the duties of a good Christian—On the arrival of a prisoner who is to be confined it is necessary to commence by examining and searching him all over, as well as the whole of his clothing, and to conduct him to the chamber assigned to him. Moreover, it is necessary to take care to have given and brought to him all that is essential for the furnishing of his chamber, paying very dearly for it to Monsieur de Besemaux’s upholsterer, or else themaîtresse d’autel—It is necessary, also, to search all the confined prisoners who obtain their entire liberty, and to examine their clothes before they leave in consequence of the great communication which exists between the prisoners. It is necessary also to take the same care in searching the prisoners who are confined in order to place them in the liberty of the court, which happens sufficiently often—To visit all the chambers and to search everywhere, even all the prisoners and their clothing—It is also necessary to examine everything which comes from without for the prisoners confined here, and their clothing that goes out, in order to be mended or washed—Amongst the number of prisoners there are some who daily find themselves in necessity or need of something, or else of some complaint of their food, or of the bad usage of the turnkeys who attend upon them, which prisoners in their distress are compelled to beat their doors so as to give notice of their wants; these are occasions which often happen and cause a great noise, so that it is necessary to go and make frequent visits—It is necessary to pay attention to the food given the prisoners, being very often bad, with bad wine and dirty table-linen—To frequently examine all the plate usually used for the prisoners confined here,who very often write on the dishes and plates in order to give news of themselves to one another—To keep guard over and carefully observe all the persons who enter the Bastille, especially the women and girls who come to see the prisoners who are in the liberty of the court—On the principal festivals of the year it is necessary to take every care to make those prisoners who are allowed by orders to do so, confess, hear mass, and communicate—To go several times during the day and the evening on to the platforms outside the château, in order to prevent the prisoners in one tower talking to those in another, and to send soldiers in the neighbourhood of the Bastille in order to arrest the persons who make signs to the prisoners whom they know, and very often these are prisoners who have received their liberty wishing to render service to those who remain, there being communication everywhere, and the cause of all these disorders.”[290]A single example will suffice. The person confined in the Bastille a few days before the Iron Mask is, according to Dujonca, the famous Madame Guyon, and a letter from Count de Pontchartrain to Saint-Mars, of November 3, 1698, says: “As for Madame Guyon, it is not necessary to do anything with reference to her except by the advice of the Archbishop:”—Imperial Archives, Registers of the Secretary’s office of the King’s Household.

[277]L’Homme au Masque de Fer: Mémoire Historique par le Chevalier de Taulès, ancien consul-général en Syrie, p. 1.

[278]From 1752 to 1768, Taulès and Voltaire had a long and interesting correspondence, published by Gaultier-Laguionie (Paris, 1825), at the end of various memoirs of Taulès.

[279]L’Homme au Masque de Fer: Mémoire Historique, p. 21.

[280]This has already been referred to in ChapterVIII.of this work. See page 93ante.

[281]L’Homme au Masque de Fer, p. 61.

[282]M. de Vergennes.

[283]L’Homme au Masque de Fer, p. 62.

[284]L’Homme au Masque de Fer, p. 63.

[285]In hisTraité des Differentes Sortes de Preuves qui servent à établir la Vérité dans l’Histoire.

[286]This and the tower mentioned just above are supposed to have been named after their builders.—Trans.

[287]Archives of the Library of the Arsenal, Manuscript Journal of Dujonca.

[288]Archives of the Hôtel de Ville,Registres des Baptêmes, Mariages et Sépultures de la Paroisse de Saint-Paul: Saint-Paul 5, 1703-1705, vol. ii No. 166.

[289]I have found among the Archives of the Arsenal another document also emanating from the pen of Dujonca, whose journal up to the present time was alone known. These are notes in which he enumerates the heavy occupations that weighed him down. This document throws a certain light upon the interior arrangements of the Bastille. It is the same large writing as that of the Journal, with the same faults of language, the same simple-mindedness. It is too long to be quoted here. I merely extract the statement of everything that Dujonca had to do.“For more than a year since I have entered the Bastille I have been obliged to perform the service which follows:—“To rise every morning the first and to go to bed the last—To place the guard very often instead of the officers of Monsieur de Besemaux; to make the round and the visit every evening in the uncertainty as to whether these gentlemen will do it; to close the doors very often, not being able to rely upon any one—To take every care of the guard of the château, being unable either to trust or rely upon the governor’s two officers, who do only what pleases them, and render account of what passes only to Monsieur de Besemaux—When Monsieur de la Venice or other commissaries come to interrogate prisoners, it is necessary to go and take them from their chamber and to lead them into Monsieur de Besemaux’s room, traversing all the courts, and it is necessary to wait outside the door very often for eight hours at a time, in order to retake possession of the prisoner, and conduct him back to the place whence he had been taken—The prisoners to whom it is permitted to see visitors it is also necessary to go and take from their chambers, to lead them through all the courts into the common room, where the relations or friends await them, and it is very often necessary to remain with them quite as long as they wish, being obliged to keep them in sight, and afterwards to take them back again—It is necessary to have the same care and application for certain people of the reformed religion, who are seen and talked to by Father Bordes, M. Latour Dalier and Madame Chardon, in order to convert them—To follow and guard the prisoners who have permission to go and walk in the garden and on the terrace from time to time. All the sick prisoners it is necessary to go and visit often, and to take care of them—Those who have need of the doctor and apothecary, it is necessary to conduct where the sick go; and in order to be more assured of what passes and of the remedies which they are ordered to take, it is necessary to be present when they are brought to them—For the prisoner who is very ill and in danger of death, it is necessary to redouble all these cares in order to make him confess and receive all the sacraments, and when he is dead it is necessary to fulfil all the duties of a good Christian—On the arrival of a prisoner who is to be confined it is necessary to commence by examining and searching him all over, as well as the whole of his clothing, and to conduct him to the chamber assigned to him. Moreover, it is necessary to take care to have given and brought to him all that is essential for the furnishing of his chamber, paying very dearly for it to Monsieur de Besemaux’s upholsterer, or else themaîtresse d’autel—It is necessary, also, to search all the confined prisoners who obtain their entire liberty, and to examine their clothes before they leave in consequence of the great communication which exists between the prisoners. It is necessary also to take the same care in searching the prisoners who are confined in order to place them in the liberty of the court, which happens sufficiently often—To visit all the chambers and to search everywhere, even all the prisoners and their clothing—It is also necessary to examine everything which comes from without for the prisoners confined here, and their clothing that goes out, in order to be mended or washed—Amongst the number of prisoners there are some who daily find themselves in necessity or need of something, or else of some complaint of their food, or of the bad usage of the turnkeys who attend upon them, which prisoners in their distress are compelled to beat their doors so as to give notice of their wants; these are occasions which often happen and cause a great noise, so that it is necessary to go and make frequent visits—It is necessary to pay attention to the food given the prisoners, being very often bad, with bad wine and dirty table-linen—To frequently examine all the plate usually used for the prisoners confined here,who very often write on the dishes and plates in order to give news of themselves to one another—To keep guard over and carefully observe all the persons who enter the Bastille, especially the women and girls who come to see the prisoners who are in the liberty of the court—On the principal festivals of the year it is necessary to take every care to make those prisoners who are allowed by orders to do so, confess, hear mass, and communicate—To go several times during the day and the evening on to the platforms outside the château, in order to prevent the prisoners in one tower talking to those in another, and to send soldiers in the neighbourhood of the Bastille in order to arrest the persons who make signs to the prisoners whom they know, and very often these are prisoners who have received their liberty wishing to render service to those who remain, there being communication everywhere, and the cause of all these disorders.”

“For more than a year since I have entered the Bastille I have been obliged to perform the service which follows:—

“To rise every morning the first and to go to bed the last—To place the guard very often instead of the officers of Monsieur de Besemaux; to make the round and the visit every evening in the uncertainty as to whether these gentlemen will do it; to close the doors very often, not being able to rely upon any one—To take every care of the guard of the château, being unable either to trust or rely upon the governor’s two officers, who do only what pleases them, and render account of what passes only to Monsieur de Besemaux—When Monsieur de la Venice or other commissaries come to interrogate prisoners, it is necessary to go and take them from their chamber and to lead them into Monsieur de Besemaux’s room, traversing all the courts, and it is necessary to wait outside the door very often for eight hours at a time, in order to retake possession of the prisoner, and conduct him back to the place whence he had been taken—The prisoners to whom it is permitted to see visitors it is also necessary to go and take from their chambers, to lead them through all the courts into the common room, where the relations or friends await them, and it is very often necessary to remain with them quite as long as they wish, being obliged to keep them in sight, and afterwards to take them back again—It is necessary to have the same care and application for certain people of the reformed religion, who are seen and talked to by Father Bordes, M. Latour Dalier and Madame Chardon, in order to convert them—To follow and guard the prisoners who have permission to go and walk in the garden and on the terrace from time to time. All the sick prisoners it is necessary to go and visit often, and to take care of them—Those who have need of the doctor and apothecary, it is necessary to conduct where the sick go; and in order to be more assured of what passes and of the remedies which they are ordered to take, it is necessary to be present when they are brought to them—For the prisoner who is very ill and in danger of death, it is necessary to redouble all these cares in order to make him confess and receive all the sacraments, and when he is dead it is necessary to fulfil all the duties of a good Christian—On the arrival of a prisoner who is to be confined it is necessary to commence by examining and searching him all over, as well as the whole of his clothing, and to conduct him to the chamber assigned to him. Moreover, it is necessary to take care to have given and brought to him all that is essential for the furnishing of his chamber, paying very dearly for it to Monsieur de Besemaux’s upholsterer, or else themaîtresse d’autel—It is necessary, also, to search all the confined prisoners who obtain their entire liberty, and to examine their clothes before they leave in consequence of the great communication which exists between the prisoners. It is necessary also to take the same care in searching the prisoners who are confined in order to place them in the liberty of the court, which happens sufficiently often—To visit all the chambers and to search everywhere, even all the prisoners and their clothing—It is also necessary to examine everything which comes from without for the prisoners confined here, and their clothing that goes out, in order to be mended or washed—Amongst the number of prisoners there are some who daily find themselves in necessity or need of something, or else of some complaint of their food, or of the bad usage of the turnkeys who attend upon them, which prisoners in their distress are compelled to beat their doors so as to give notice of their wants; these are occasions which often happen and cause a great noise, so that it is necessary to go and make frequent visits—It is necessary to pay attention to the food given the prisoners, being very often bad, with bad wine and dirty table-linen—To frequently examine all the plate usually used for the prisoners confined here,who very often write on the dishes and plates in order to give news of themselves to one another—To keep guard over and carefully observe all the persons who enter the Bastille, especially the women and girls who come to see the prisoners who are in the liberty of the court—On the principal festivals of the year it is necessary to take every care to make those prisoners who are allowed by orders to do so, confess, hear mass, and communicate—To go several times during the day and the evening on to the platforms outside the château, in order to prevent the prisoners in one tower talking to those in another, and to send soldiers in the neighbourhood of the Bastille in order to arrest the persons who make signs to the prisoners whom they know, and very often these are prisoners who have received their liberty wishing to render service to those who remain, there being communication everywhere, and the cause of all these disorders.”

[290]A single example will suffice. The person confined in the Bastille a few days before the Iron Mask is, according to Dujonca, the famous Madame Guyon, and a letter from Count de Pontchartrain to Saint-Mars, of November 3, 1698, says: “As for Madame Guyon, it is not necessary to do anything with reference to her except by the advice of the Archbishop:”—Imperial Archives, Registers of the Secretary’s office of the King’s Household.

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