Note 349 — Chapter XV
Henry Vizetelly translation
An unpublished letter, written June 4, 1689, by Seignelay to Saint-Mars, who was then at the Isles Saint-Marguerite, furnishes a proof of this eagerness for gain:—Archives of Ministry of Marine, Lettres des Secrétaires d’État, 1689. Saint-Mars, like all the governors of the Bastille, left a large fortune. The profits realized in this position were, however, in no degree prejudicial to the prisoners’ nourishment, the expenses being defrayed on a very liberal footing, as M. Ravaisson has perfectly established in his learned introduction to the Archives de la Bastille, p. xxviii. et seq. He received presents from Louis XIV., one of which one day amounted to 10,000 crowns (1,250l.):—Letter from Louvois to Saint-Mars, January 11, 1677.