prisoner. He was conducted to this prisoner's room by the
governor himself, and found the patient suffering from violent headache.
He spoke with an English accent, wore a gold-flowered dressing-gown of
black and orange, and had his face covered by a napkin knotted behind
his head."

This story does not hold water: it would be difficult to form a mask out
of a napkin; the Bastille had a resident surgeon of its own as well as a
physician and apothecary; no one could gain access to a prisoner
without a written order from a minister, even the Viaticum could only be
introduced by the express permission of the lieutenant of police.

This theory met at first with no objections, and seemed to be going
to oust all the others, thanks, perhaps, to the combative and restive
character of its promulgator, who bore criticism badly, and whom no one
cared to incense, his sword being even more redoubtable than his pen.

It was known that when Saint-Mars journeyed with his prisoner to
the Bastille, they had put up on the way at Palteau, in Champagne, a
property belonging to the governor. Freron therefore addressed himself
to a grand-nephew of Saint-Mars, who had inherited this estate, asking
if he could give him any information about this visit. The following
reply appeared in the 'Annee Litteraire (June 1768):--

"As it appears from the letter of M. de Sainte-Foix from which you
quote that the Man in the Iron Mask still exercises the fancy of your
journalists, I am willing to tell you all I know about the prisoner. He
was known in the islands of Sainte-Marguerite and at the Bastille as
'La Tour.' The governor and all the other officials showed him great
respect, and supplied him with everything he asked for that could be
granted to a prisoner. He often took exercise in the yard of the prison,
but never without his mask on. It was not till the 'Siecle' of M. de
Voltaire appeared that I learned that the mask was of iron and furnished
with springs; it may be that the circumstance was overlooked, but he
never wore it except when taking the air, or when he had to appear
before a stranger.

"M. de Blainvilliers, an infantry officer who was acquainted with M.
de Saint-Mars both at Pignerol and Sainte-Marguerite, has often told me
that the lot of 'La Tour' greatly excited his curiosity, and that he had
once borrowed the clothes and arms of a soldier whose turn it was to be
sentry on the terrace under the prisoner's window at Sainte-Margueri