To have a different opinion from the sovereign, as to the merit of any one whom he placed in office, was a heavy offence. M. de Montespan expiated, by imprisonment in Fort-l’Evêque, his having doubted the wisdom of choosing M. Montausier as governor to the dauphin. Some were thrown into the Bastile for impossible crimes; such was the case of St. Severin, a priest, who was accused of sorcery. Of others, the fault and the meaning of their punishment are now undiscoverable. With respect to L’Epine, a priest, for example, we are only told that he was discharged from the Bastile, on condition of quitting Paris within twenty-four hours, and going to Egypt. The reason of this singular species of banishment must remain an enigma. One of the instances in which despair prompted an inmate of the Bastile to commit suicide, occurred in 1669, and is recorded by Patin. “A state prisoner,” says he, “has poisoned himself in the Bastile, terrified by the punishment which could not fail to be inflicted on him, for having spoken very badly _de Domino Priore_.” CHAPTER VIII. The Poisoners—The Marchioness of Brinvilliers—Penautier—La Voisin and her accomplices and dupes—The “Chambre Ardente”—The Countess of Soissons—The Duchess of Bouillon—The Duke of Luxembourg—Stephen de Bray—The Abbé Primi—Andrew Morell—Madame Guyon—Courtils de Sandraz—Constantine de Renneville—The Man with the Iron Mask—Jansenists—Tiron, Veillant, and Lebrun Desmarets—The Count de Bucquoy—The Duke de Richelieu—Miscellaneous Prisoners. In the year 1676, the Bastile received a criminal, whose guilt was of the blackest dye, and who was soon followed by a crowd of imitators, more profoundly wicked, if possible, than she herself was. Poisoning was their crime, and the practice of it became so common, that Madame de Sévigné expresses a fear that, in foreign countries, the words Frenchman and poisoner would be considered as synonymous. Foremost in the dark catalogue stands the Marchioness of Brinvilliers, the daughter of Dreux d’Aubrai, the Civil Lieutenant. She was beautiful, reserved in her manners, and apparently devout; but her heart was corrupted to the core. From her own confession, it appears, that when she was only seven years old, she had already lost her maiden innocence, and had also set fire to a house. Her later years were worthy of this beginning. Between 1666 and 1670, she poisoned her father, two brothers, a sister, and many of her acquaintance. She is said to have administered poison to her husband, though without effect; and also, with fatal success, to the poor, and the sick in the hospitals, to whom she gave biscuits, in which deadly drugs were mixed. The latter facts are denied by Voltaire; they are, however, positively affirmed by Madame de Sévigné.