The pension granted to him by Louis placed Primi above the necessity of resorting to deception for a livelihood; nor, indeed, was the part which he had been playing one which could be carried on for any length of time. He married the daughter of Frederic Leonard, an eminent Parisian printer, and sought to gain reputation by chronicling the actions of the French monarch. In an Italian narrative, which he wrote, of the Dutch campaign of Louis, he divulged the secret of the private treaty between that monarch and our Charles II. For this he was sent to the Bastile; but he was soon released, and received an ample present. The publication is believed to have, in fact, been authorized by the king, to punish the defection of Charles; the imprisonment of the author being merely a blind, to prevent his master from being suspected. Louvois, who will for ever be infamously remembered for his outrages upon humanity, was the tyrant who twice consigned to the Bastile the celebrated medallist, Andrew Morell. Berne was the native place of Morell, who was born in 1646. He was remarkable for his memory and acuteness. The study of history led him to that of numismatics, in which he made an almost unequalled progress; and he learned drawing, in order to render his medallic knowledge more perfect and available. Charles Patin, the son of Guy, then an exile from France, who was himself no mean numismatist, became acquainted with Morell, and aided him by his counsel and purse. It was probably by his advice that, in 1680, Morell visited Paris, where he met with a warm reception from the most distinguished men of learning and science. Encouraged by them, he undertook the laborious task of publishing a description of all the antique medals which were contained in the numerous cabinets of Europe. As a prelude, he gave a specimen to the world. But his scheme was interrupted, for the moment, by a circumstance which would ultimately have benefited it, had he not been ungenerously treated. He was appointed coadjutor of Rainssart, the keeper of the king’s medals. In assiduously arranging and reducing to order the vast collection which was placed under his care, he spent several years. When he claimed his promised reward it was withheld, and, on his venturing to resent this breach of faith, he was committed to the Bastile, in 1688, by Louvois. His friends obtained his release; but, in little more than twelve months, he was again immured in that prison, probably for the same reason as before. Yet, while he was thus persecuted by an arrogant minister, he continued to enjoy the esteem of Louis XIV.; a curious fact, which proves how strong was the influence of Louvois over his master. While he was in the Bastile, his colleague died, and he was offered the vacant place of sole keeper of the king’s cabinet, on condition that he would change his religion. Morell, however, rejected the offer.