FOOTNOTES:
[593] Unpublished despatch:—Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Savoy, 68.
[594] Unpublished despatch from the Abbé Morel to Louis XIV.:—Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Mantua, 15.
[595] Unpublished despatch from Louis XIV. to the Abbé Morel:—Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Mantua, 15.
[596] Unpublished despatch from the Abbé Morel to Louis XIV.:—Ibid.
[597] Unpublished despatch from Louvois to Villebois, March 30, 1682:—Archives of the Ministry of War.
[598] Ibid., April 13, 1682.
[599] Ibid., December 11, 1685.
[600] Here followed “de chambre,” but these two words have been erased.
[601] Unpublished despatches from Louvois to Villebois of May 1, 1684, and November 26, 1689.
[602] Unpublished despatch from Barbézieux to Laprade, July 28 1692.
[603] Ibid., December 27, 1693.
[604] Letter from Tessé to Barbézieux, December 1693:—Archives of the Ministry of War, 1271. Given by M. Rousset, vol. iv. p. 531.
[605] Unpublished despatches from Barbézieux to Laprade, March 20, 1694, and from Louis XIV. to the Marquis d’Herleville, March 19, 1694.
[606] Unpublished despatch from Marshal de Tessé to Barbézieux, March 27, 1694:—Archives of the Ministry of War.
[607] January 11, 1694, Barbézieux writes to Saint-Mars: “The Sieur de Laprade, to whom the King has confided the care of the prisoners who are confined by his Majesty’s orders in the donjon of Pignerol, writes me word that the one who has been imprisoned longest is dead, and that he does not know his name. As I have no doubt but that you remember it, I beg you to inform me of it in cipher.” The oldest prisoner was Eustache d’Auger, who was confined, as we have seen, in 1669. Anyhow it could not be Matthioly, since we have given a few pages back a despatch from Laprade, December 27, 1693, in which he mentions his name in reference to what he had written on the lining of his coat. Now Laprade would never have asked in January, 1694, the name of a prisoner whom he knew in December, 1693.
[608] Unpublished despatch from Barbézieux to Saint-Mars, February 20, 1694.
[609] Ibid., March 20, 1694.
[610] Despatch from Catinat to Louvois, May 3, 1679:—Given by Delort, p. 212.
[611] Unpublished despatch from Barbézieux to Saint-Mars, May 5, 1692:—Archives of the Ministry of War.
[612] Pp. 322-331, ante.
[613] Unpublished despatch from Barbézieux to Saint-Mars, July 20, 1694.
[614] Ibid., December 5, 1694.
[615] Ibid., December 20, 1694.
[616] A despatch overlooked by M. Topin when writing this work, but subsequently published by him, and in which Saint-Mars describes the minute precautions he adopts in order to ensure the safe custody of his prisoners and prevent them from communicating with any one, is sufficiently curious to be given at full length:—
“Monseigneur,—
“You command me to inform you how people would act when I am absent or ill, with reference to the precautions which are taken and the visits which are paid every day to the prisoners who are committed to my care.
“My two lieutenants give them to eat at fixed hours, as they have seen me do, and as I still do very often when I am well; and this is how, Monseigneur. The senior of my lieutenants takes the keys of the prison of my old prisoner, with whom they commence, opens the three doors and enters the chamber of the prisoner, who politely hands him the dishes and plates which he has placed on the top of one another in order to give them to the lieutenant, who only goes out through two of the doors to hand them to one of my sergeants, who receives them and carries them to a table two paces off, where is my second lieutenant, who examines everything that enters or leaves the prison, so that he may see that there is nothing written on the plate; and after everything necessary has been given him [the prisoner], a search is made in and under his bed and among the window-bars of his chamber, as well as in the whole of the chamber, and very often on himself; after having very civilly asked him if he has need of anything, they shut the doors and go to do the same for the other prisoners.
“Twice a week their table-linen is changed, as well as their shirts and the linen of which they make use, which is given to them and taken away again after having been counted and after everything has been well searched.
“One can be very much cheated about the linen when it leaves and enters for the service of prisoners who are people of consideration, as I have had some who have wished to bribe the laundresses, who have acknowledged to me, which they had little difficulty in doing, what had been said to them, on account of which I used to have all their linen steeped in water on leaving their chambers, and when it was clean and half dry, the laundresses came to iron and smooth it in my apartments in the presence of one of my lieutenants, who locked up the baskets in a chest until they were handed over to the servants of messieurs the prisoners. There is much to be distrusted in candles; I have found some which on being broken or used contained paper instead of wicks. I used to send to buy some at Turin at shops not tampered with. It is also very dangerous for ribbon to leave a prisoner’s apartment, as he writes on it as on linen without any one being aware of it.
“The late Monsieur Fouquet made fine and good paper on which I allowed him to write, and afterwards I went and took it from a little pocket which he had made in the seat of his breeches, which I sent to Monseigneur your late father.”
[The commencement of the second leaf has been torn; the following only remains:—]
“As a last precaution, the prisoners are searched from time to time, both day and night, at hours which are not fixed, when it is often found that they have written on dirty linen that which they alone are able to read, as you will have seen from that which I have had the honour to forward you. If it is necessary, Monseigneur, that I should do anything else in order to more completely fulfil my duty, I shall glory all my life in obeying you with the same respect and submission as I am,
“Monseigneur,
“Your very humble, very obedient, and very obliged servant,
“De Saint-Mars.
“At the Islands, this January 6, 1696.”
The above despatch, as well as the one given on p. 324, note 17, ante, is to be found in draft in the collection of M. Mauge-du-Bois-des-Entes. They have both been given by Monmerqué and Champollion-Figeac.—Trans.
[617] Unpublished despatch from Barbézieux to Saint-Mars.
[618] Ibid., October 29, 1696.
[619] See p. 61, ante.
[620] I have read one by one all the despatches addressed during the years 1698-1708 by the Ministers Chamillart and Voysin (successors of Barbézieux at the Ministry of War) to Lamothe-Guérin, and nothing in them applies to Matthioly.
Barbézieux, incensed at the elevation of his rival Chamillart, gave himself up to dissipation in order to drown his annoyance. He retired to his château of L’Etang at the boundary of the park of Saint-Cloud, where he feasted and rioted with his friends, and was seized with a fever consequent upon his excesses, of which he died a few days afterwards at the age of thirty-three. See Mémoires de Saint-Simon.—Trans.
[621] Unpublished despatch from Barbézieux to Saint-Mars. I reproduce it word for word:—
“At Versailles, the first of March, 1698.
“I commence by offering you my condolence on the death of your brother-in-law, for which you will not doubt I am very sorry, both on account of his services and of my friendship for him.
“I also write to you concerning the proposal to exchange your governorship of the Isles Sainte-Marguerite against that of the Bastille. The reply which you have made to him has been handed to me since his death. The revenue of this governorship consists of 15,168 livres on the estates of the King, besides two thousand additional which M. Bezemaux derived from the shops around the Bastille and the ferry-boats depending on the governor.
“It is true that out of this M. Bezemaux was obliged to pay a number of sergeants and soldiers for the guard of the prisoners in his care, but you know, from what you derive from your company, to what these expenses amount. Having enumerated the value of this governorship, I shall now say to you that it is for you to know your own interests, that the King does not force you to accept it, if it is not agreeable to you, and at the same time I do not doubt that you will take account of the profit that is generally made upon what the King gives for the keep of the prisoners, which profit may become considerable. There is also the pleasure of being in Paris with one’s family and friends, instead of being confined to an extremity of the kingdom. If I may give my opinion, it seems to me very advantageous, and I believe, for the reasons given above, that you would not lose by the exchange. I beg you nevertheless to write me your opinion frankly concerning that:”—Archives of the Ministry of War.
[622] P. 164, ante.
[623] The Count de Pontchartrain to Saint-Mars, November 3, 1698: “The King approves of your prisoner from Provence confessing and communicating whenever you think proper.”