Note 527 — Chapter XXI

Louvois writes to Saint-Mars, May 15, 1679: “It is not the intention of the King that the Sieur de Lestang [the name given to Matthioly after his arrest] should be well treated, nor that, except the absolute necessaries of life, anything should be given to him that would enable him to pass his time agreeably.” Again, on May 22, he writes: “You must keep the individual named Lestang in the severe confinement I enjoined in my preceding letters, without allowing him to see a physician unless you know him to be in absolute need of one.” In July he is allowed pen and ink “to put into writing whatever he may wish to say.” In February, 1680, Saint-Mars writes to Louvois that Lestang “complains that he is not treated as a man of his quality and the minister of a great prince ought to be,” to which Louvois replies in the July following: “With regard to the Sieur de Lestang, I wonder at your patience, and that you should wait for an order to treat such a rascal as he deserves when he is wanting in respect to you:”—Louvois to Saint-Mars and vice versâ, Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.—Trans.