even been one of the
candidates for the mysterious dignity of the Iron Mask. In his dungeon
he could learn nothing of what was passing in the world. Lauzun, whose
every-day life seemed more unreal and romantic than the dreams of
ordinary men, was confined in Pignerol. Active and daring as Jack
Sheppard, he dug through the wall of his cell, and discovered that his
next neighbor was Fouquet. When he told his fellow-prisoner of his
adventures and of his honors, how he had lost the place of Grand Master
of the Artillery through Louvois, and had only missed being the
acknowledged husband of the grand-daughter of Henry IV. because Madame
de Montespan persuaded the King to withdraw his consent, Fouquet, who
recollected him as a poor _cadet de famille_, thought him crazy, and
begged the jailer to have him watched and properly cared for.

The Surintendant had twice wounded the vanity of his King. He had
presumed to have a more beautiful _chateau_ than his master, and had
unluckily fancied the same woman. Louis revenged himself by burying his
rival alive for twenty years. That Fouquet had plotted rebellion nobody
believed. He was too wise a politician not to know that the French were
weary of civil war and could not be tempted to exchange one master for
half a dozen military tyrants. That he had taken the public money for
his own use was not denied, even by his friends; and banishment would
have been a just punishment, although, perhaps, a harsh one. For it is
hardly fair to judge Fouquet by our modern standard of financial
honesty, low as that may be. We, at least, try to cover up jobs,
contracts, and defalcations by professions or appearances. The
difficulty of raising money for the expenses of Government in a state
impoverished by years of internal commotions had accustomed public men
to strange and irregular expedients, and unscrupulous financiers catch
fine fish in troubled waters. Mazarin openly put thousands of livres
into his pocket; the Surintendant imitated him on a smaller scale. But,
if he paid himself liberally for his services, he also showed energy and
skill in his attempts to restore order and economy in the administration
of the revenue. After his disgrace money was not much more plenty.
France, it is true, tranquil and secure within her borders, again showed
signs of wealth, and was able to pay heavier taxes; but the King wasted
them on his wars, his _chateaux_, and his mistresses, as recklessly as
the Surintend