ption of the day, and of the effect Vaux had
produced upon the fashionable world. "You would think that Fame [_la
Renommee_] was made only for him, he gives her so much to do at once.

'Plein d'eclat, plein de gloire, adore des mortels,
Il recoit des honneurs qu'on ne doit qu'aux autels.'"

A few days later, the Surintendant arrived at Angers, on his way to
Nantes. Arnauld writes, that the Bishop of Angers and himself waited
upon the great man to pay their respects. "From the height upon which he
stood, all others seemed so far removed from him that he could not
recognize them. He scarcely looked at us, and Madame, his wife, seemed
neither less frigid nor more civil." On the fifth of September, nineteen
days after the _fete_, the thunderbolt fell upon him.

A _Procureur-General_ could be tried only by the Parliament to which he
belonged. To make Fouquet's destruction more certain, Colbert had
induced him, by various misrepresentations, to sell out. He received
fourteen hundred thousand livres for the place, and presented the
enormous sum to the Treasury. This act of munificence, or of
restitution, did not save him. If he had been backed by fifty thousand
men, the King could hardly have taken greater precautions. His Majesty's
manner was more gracious than ever. To prevent a rising in the West,
Louis journeyed to Nantes, which is near Belleile. Fouquet accompanied
the progress with almost equal state. He had his court, his guards, his
own barge upon the Loire,--and travelled brilliantly onward to ruin. The
palace in Nantes was the scene of the arrest. Fouquet, suspecting
nothing, waited upon the King. Louis kept him engaged in conversation,
until he saw D'Artagnau, a name famous in storybooks, and the
_mousquetaires_ in the courtyard. Then he gave the signal. The
Surintendant was seized and taken to Angers, thence to Amboise,
Vincennes, and finally to the Bastille. He was confined in a room
lighted only from above, and allowed no communication with family or
friends. The mask was now thrown off, and the blow followed up with a
malignant energy which showed the determination to destroy. The King was
very violent, and said openly that he had matter in his possession which
would hang the Surintendant. His secretaries and agents were arrested.
His friends, not knowing how much they might be implicated, either fled
the kingdom, or kept out of the way in the provinces. Pellisson and Dr.
Pecquet were sent to the Bastille;