One of the greatest mysteries attending the Bastille is that of the Man in the Iron Mask. A great deal has been said and written about him, some of it being fact, and some of it fiction. Who he was is not positively known. It is very certain that he was a personage of great importance, whom it was desirable to keep out of the way, and at the same time very desirable not to kill. He was always treated with the utmost consideration. Every one of his attendants uncovered his head when in presence of the mysterious personage. His clothing was of the finest character, his food was of the best quality, and served on the choicest table-ware. He was rarely left alone, and then only in a place whence he could not escape; his face was always covered with a mask of black velvet, fastened behind his head with steel bands. His private governor was De Saint Mars, and it is supposed that he was answerable with his own life for the safety of the Man in the Iron Mask, and for the preservation of his incognito. When first heard of he was confined in the Marguerite Islands, in the Mediterranean. One day a fisherman, passing near the place of his confinement, saw a hand wave towards him from a window, and a moment after, a silver plate was thrown out. The fisherman picked up the plate and looked at it; saw that some words were engraved upon it, and immediately took it to the governor of the prison. The governor looked at it carelessly, and then asked the fisherman if he had shown it to any one, or had read it. The fisherman answered, “No, your excellency, I have shown it to no one, and as for myself I cannot read.” “That is fortunate,” said the governor; and giving the fisherman a gold piece, he dismissed him. The gold piece, however, did the fisherman very little good, as he was assassinated that night by some unknown person. Every piece of linen, every scrap of paper, everything which in any way would convey information, was scrupulously examined. One day the mysterious man made some writing on one of his shirts which was going out to the wash. By some means this escaped the notice of the jailers, and was found by the washerwoman. She could not read, and when she returned the linen, she called the attention of the governor to the writing. She was rewarded for her fidelity with a gold piece, and she, like the fisherman, was assassinated on the night after she had obtained her reward. After this, the Man in the Iron Mask was always furnished with new linen every day, and that which he had worn was immediately destroyed. [Sidenote: AN ILLUSTRIOUS PRISONER.] From the Marguerite Islands, he was moved to the Bastille, where he died on the 19th of November, 1703. He was buried the next day in the cemetery of St. Paul, under the name of Marchiatti.