The Lock and Key Library: The Most Interesting Stories of All Nations: Real Life
Science
The Lock and Key Library: The Most Interesting Stories of All Nations: Real Life
Detective and mystery stories; Fiction; Parapsychology
On July 19, 1698, Barbezieux bade Saint-Mars come to assume the
command of the Bastille. He is to bring his "old prisoner," whom
not a soul is to see. Saint-Mars therefore brought his man MASKED,
exactly as another prisoner was carried masked from Provence to the
Bastille in 1695. M. Funck-Brentano argues that Saint-Mars was now
quite fond of his old Mattioli, so noble, so learned.
At last, on September 18, 1698, Saint-Mars lodged his "old
prisoner" in the Bastille, "an old prisoner whom he had at
Pignerol," says the journal of du Junca, Lieutenant of the
Bastille. His food, we saw, was brought him by Rosarges alone, the
"Major," a gentleman who had always been with Saint-Mars. Argues
M. Funck-Brentano, all this proves that the captive was a
gentleman, not a valet. Why? First, because the Bastille, under
Louis XIV., was "une prison de distinction." Yet M. Funck-Brentano
tells us that in Mazarin's time "valets mixed up with royal plots"
were kept in the Bastille. Again, in 1701, in this "noble prison,"
the Mask was turned out of his room to make place for a female
fortune-teller, and was obliged to chum with a profligate valet of
nineteen, and a "beggarly" bad patriot, who "blamed the conduct of
France, and approved that of other nations, especially the Dutch."
M. Funck-Brentano himself publishes these facts (1898), in part
published earlier (1890) by M. Lair.[1] Not much noblesse here!
Next, if Rosarges, a gentleman, served the Mask, Saint-Mars alone
(1669) carried his food to the valet, Dauger. So the service of
Rosarges does not ennoble the Mask and differentiate him from
Dauger, who was even more nobly served, by Saint-Mars.
[1] Legendes de la Bastille, pp. 86-89. Citing du Junca's Journal,
April 30, 1701.
On November 19, 1703, the Mask died suddenly (still in his velvet
mask), and was buried on the 20th. The parish register of the
church names him "Marchialy" or "Marchioly," one may read it either
way; du Junca, Lieutenant of the Bastille, in his contemporary
journal, calls him "M. de Marchiel." Now, Saint-Mars often spells
Mattioli, "Marthioly."
This is the one strength of the argument for Mattioli's claims to
the Mask. M. Lair replies, "Saint-Mars had a mania for burying
prisoners under fancy names," and gives examples. One is only a
gardener, Francois Eliard (1701), concerning whom it is expressly
said that, as he is a prisoner, his real name is not to be given,
so he is registered as Pierre Maret (others read Navet, "Peter
Turnip"). If Saint-Mars, looking about for a false name for
Dauger's burial register, hit on Marsilly (the name of Dauger's old
master), that MIGHT be miswritten Marchialy. However it be, the
age of the Mask is certainly falsified; the register gives "about
forty-five years old." Mattioli would have been sixty-three;
Dauger cannot have been under fifty-three.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account