prisoner. He told me that they were able to communicate with him
by means of the flue of the chimney, but on asking him why he persisted
in not revealing his name and the cause of his imprisonment, he replied
that such an avowal would be fatal not only to him but to those to whom
he made it.

"Whether it were so or not, to-day the name and rank of this political
victim are secrets the preservation of which is no longer necessary to
the State; and I have thought that to tell the public what I know would
cut short the long chain of circumstances which everyone was forging
according to his fancy, instigated thereto by an author whose gift of
relating the most impossible events in such a manner as to make them seem
true has won for all his writings such success--even for his Vie de
Charles XII"

This theory, according to Jacob, is more probable than any of the others.

"Beginning with the year 1664.," he says, "the Duc de Beaufort had by his
insubordination and levity endangered the success of several maritime
expeditions. In October 1666 Louis XIV remonstrated with him with much
tact, begging him to try to make himself more and more capable in the
service of his king by cultivating the talents with which he was endowed,
and ridding himself of the faults which spoilt his conduct. 'I do not
doubt,' he concludes, 'that you will be all the more grateful to me for
this mark of my benevolence towards you, when you reflect how few kings
have ever shown their goodwill in a similar manner.'" ( 'Oeuvres de Louis
XIV', vol. v. p. 388). Several calamities in the royal navy are known to
have been brought about by the Duc de Beaufort. M. Eugene Sue, in his
'Histoire de la Marine', which is full of new and curious information,
has drawn a very good picture of the position of the "roi des halles,"
the "king of the markets," in regard to Colbert and Louis XIV. Colbert
wished to direct all the manoeuvres of the fleet from his study, while it
was commanded by the naval grandmaster in the capricious manner which
might be expected from his factious character and love of bluster (Eugene
Sue, vol. i., 'Pieces Justificatives'). In 1699 Louis XIV sent the Duc
de Beaufort to the relief of Candia, which the Turks were besieging.
Seven hours after his arrival Beaufort was killed in a sortie. The Duc
de Navailles, who shared with him the command of the French squadron,
simply reported his death as follows: "He met a body of Turks who were
p