Note 154 — HISTORY OF THE IRON MASK.

This first answer of the king ought not to be entirely overlooked; as, it will be remembered, that at the time it was made, the minister of the Duke of Mantua had not been mentioned by any one as the Iron Mask. He was first suggested to have been that prisoner, by the Baron de Heiss, in a letter to the authors of the “Journal Encyclopédique,” dated Phalsbourg, June 28th, 1770; in which he grounded his opinion upon a letter, published in a work entitled “L’Histoire Abregée de l’Europe;” published at Leyden in 1687; giving a detailed account of the arrest, by French agents, of a secretary of the Duke of Mantua.155 M. Dutens, in his “Correspondance Interceptée,” published in 1789, held the same opinion, grounded upon the same authority. He afterwards repeated the same opinion in his “Mémoires d’un Voyageur, qui se repose.” Finally, M. Roux, (Fazillac) in 1801, published his work upon the Iron Mask; in which he supported the same opinion; and attached to the Secretary the name of Matthioli.