These two victims of fortune, reunited at Pignerol through such opposite causes, and of whom one was not to leave the place alive, whilst the other was to quit his prison to be again the hero of singular adventures, supported their captivity in a very different manner. “M. Fouquet only thinks of praying to God,” writes Saint-Mars, on June 20, 1672; “he is as patient and moderate as my other prisoner is furious.”[425] The outbursts of Lauzun had for their cause not only the failure of his attempts at escape,[426] but also the very arbitrary conduct of Louis XIV., inspired by Louvois. The ex-favourite cruelly expiated the favours of which he had been the object. Not satisfied with depriving him of his liberty, they tried in addition to wrest from him the offices and the immense possessions that an excessive generosity had heaped upon his head, but of which he ought not to have been despoiled by means of the pressure easily put upon a captive. Captain of the Body-guard, he received from Seignelay the invitation to resign this post.[427] Endowed by Mademoiselle with the county of Eu, the duchy of Aumale, the principality of Dombes, and the estate of Thiers, he only recovered his liberty on condition of renouncing all his possessions in favour of the Duke de Maine, natural son of Louis XIV. and Madame de Montespan. At first he angrily repulsed the proposition of Seignelay, and loaded with insults Louvois, whose influence he recognized, and Saint-Mars, the interpreter of Seignelay’s orders.[428] Little by little, however, calmness returned to this spirit, till then so agitated and unquiet. Lauzun understood with reason that everything ought to be sacrificed for liberty, and he hoped one day to be able to return to that culminating point of fortune from which his inconsiderate conduct had precipitated him, and which he was in fact again to attain by a supreme effort of audacity. “At court one must always take one thing with another; everything comes in turn,” said Madame de Montespan to the Grande Mademoiselle.[429] Lauzun ended by following this maxim, and, by resigning himself to his lot, at length permitted Saint-Mars to taste some repose. ) The unhappy gaoler had seen himself reduced, by his excessive scruples and by the conduct of Lauzun, to the most singular extremities. Scarcely had Fouquet renounced the hope of escape and given himself up to study and prayer, than Lauzun had come to renew and increase the inquietude of Saint-Mars. The ill-temper and despair of the new captive were such that he behaved with the utmost violence[430] towards his gaoler. For a long time insensible to his insults, Saint-Mars had at first submitted to them with indifference; but this was soon no longer possible, and he had to discontinue his visits. How then was he to execute the orders received and exercise his surveillance? The unfortunate gaoler, too much ill-treated to be able to revisit Lauzun, and too scrupulous to