All these illusions being dissipated, it remains to be known who this
constantly-masked prisoner was, at what age he died, and under what name
he was buried. It is clear that, if he was not permitted to walk in the
court of the Bastille, nor to see his physician--except in a mask--it
was for fear that some very striking resemblance would be discovered in
his features. He was permitted to show his tongue, but never his face.
As for his age, he himself told the apothecary of the Bastille, a little
before his death, that he believed he was about sixty. The apothecary's
son-in-law, Marsolam, surgeon to Marshal de Richelieu, and afterwards to
the duke of Orleans the regent, has repeated this to me several times.
To conclude: Why was an Italian name given to him? He was always called
_Marchiali_ The writer of this article, perhaps, knows more on the
subject than Father Griffet, though he will not say more.
It is true that Nicholas Fouquet, superintendent of the finances, had
many friends in his disgrace, and that they persevered even until
judgment was passed on him. It is true that the chancellor, who presided
at that judgment, treated the illustrious captive with too much rigor.
But it was not Michel Letellier, as stated in some editions of the
_"Siècle de Louis XIV."_, it was Pierre Seguier. This inadvertency of
having placed one for the other is a fault which must be corrected.
It is very remarkable that no one knows where this celebrated minister
died. Not that it is of any importance to know it, for his death not
having led to any event whatever, is like all other indifferent
occurrences; but this serves to prove how completely he was forgotten
towards the close of life, how worthless that worldly consideration is
which is so anxiously sought for, and how happy they are who have no
higher ambition than to live and die unknown. This knowledge is far more
useful than that of dates.
* * * * *
Father Griffet does his utmost to persuade us that Cardinal Richelieu
wrote a bad book. Well, many statesmen have done the same. But it is
very fine to see him strive so hard to prove that, according to
Cardinal Richelieu, "our allies, the Spaniards," so happily governed by
a Bourbon, "are tributary to hell, and make the Indies tributary to
hell!" Cardinal Richelieu's "Political Testament" is not that of a
polite man. He alleges: