When they reached Paris, Duval presented Primi to the Abbé de la Baume, who was afterwards archbishop of Embrun; and the abbé introduced him to the Duke of Vendôme, and his brother, the Grand Prior. The trick played off in the stage was talked over, and it was agreed that a repetition of it in the French capital would be productive of infinite amusement. Primi was therefore kept carefully secluded, for nearly two months, till he had learned by heart the genealogy and the secret history of most of the persons about the court. When he had obtained a thorough knowledge of their connexions, amours, rivalships, enmities, and presumed motives, his skill in his novel kind of divination was spread about by his employers, and all the rank and fashion of France soon flocked to consult him. Among the distinguished females who patronized him, were the Countess of Soissons and the Duchess of Orleans; the latter of whom Primi firmly convinced of his powers, by mentioning many circumstances relative to her correspondence with the Count de Guiche. The duchess prevailed on Louis XIV. to let her show his handwriting to the Italian. To her utter astonishment, Primi no sooner saw it than he declared it to be written by a miserly curmudgeon, who was not possessed of a single good quality. When she returned the paper to Louis, and told him what Primi had said, the king was no less astonished than she was. The paper was indeed written by a man of whom his enemies spoke in the same manner as Primi. It was the handwriting of Rose, the king’s cabinet secretary, who wrote exactly like Louis, and whom he often employed to answer letters, that he might himself avoid trouble. To get at the bottom of this mystery, the king ordered Primi to be brought into his cabinet. “Primi,” said the monarch, “I have only two words to say—disclose to me your secret, for which I will pay you with a pension of two thousand livres—or else make up your mind to be hanged.” There was no resisting the bribe and the threat, and Primi consequently related his own history, and all that had come to his knowledge since he had lived in the capital. On going into the queen’s apartment, Louis mentioned, before the courtiers, that he had admitted Primi to an interview, and he added, “I must acknowledge that he told me things which no being of his kind has ever before revealed to any one.” This strong testimony to the merit of Primi contributed not a little to enhance his reputation.