s to the unlimited learning and research of the bibliophile,
has the greatest number of documents with the various interpretations
thereof, the greatest profusion of dates, on its side.

For it is certain--

1st, that the precautions taken when Fouquet was sent to Pignerol
resembled in every respect those employed later by the custodians of the
Iron Mask, both at the Iles Sainte-Marguerite and at the Bastille;

2nd, that the majority of the traditions relative to the masked prisoner
might apply to Fouquet;

3rd, that the Iron Mask was first heard of immediately after the
announcement of the death of Fouquet in 1680;

4th, that there exists no irrefragable proof that Fouquet's death really
occurred in the above year.

The decree of the Court of justice, dated 20th December 1664, banished
Fouquet from the kingdom for life. "But the king was of the opinion
that it would be dangerous to let the said Fouquet leave the country, in
consideration of his intimate knowledge of the most important matters
of state. Consequently the sentence of perpetual banishment was commuted
into that of perpetual imprisonment." ('Receuil des defenses de
M. Fouquet'). The instructions signed by the king and remitted to
Saint-Mars forbid him to permit Fouquet to hold any spoken or written
communication with anyone whatsoever, or to leave his apartments for
any cause, not even for exercise. The great mistrust felt by Louvois
pervades all his letters to Saint-Mars. The precautions which he ordered
to be kept up were quite as stringent as in the case of the Iron Mask.

The report of the discovery of a shirt covered with writing, by a
friar, which Abbe Papon mentions, may perhaps be traced to the following
extracts from two letters written by Louvois to Saint-Mars: "Your letter
has come to hand with the new handkerchief on which M. Fouquet has
written" (18th Dec. 1665 ); "You can tell him that if he continues too
employ his table-linen as note-paper he must not be surprised if you
refuse to supply him with any more" ( 21st Nov. 1667).

Pere Papon asserts that a valet who served the masked prisoner died in
his master's room. Now the man who waited on Fouquet, and who like
him was sentenced to lifelong imprisonment, died in February 1680 (see
letter of Louvois to Saint-Mars, 12th March 1680). Echoes of
incidents which took place at Pignerol might have reached the Iles
Sainte-Marguerite when Saint-Mars transferred his "former prisoner" from
one