“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-Marguerite, and undertaken the duty himself; that he had seen the prisoner distinctly, without his mask; that his face was white, that he was tall and well proportioned, except that his ankles were too thick, and that his hair was white, although he appeared to be still in the prime of life.  He passed the whole of the night in question pacing to and fro in his room.  Blainvilliers added that he was always dressed in brown, that he had plenty of fine linen and books, that the governor and the other officers always stood uncovered in his presence till he gave them leave to cover and sit down, and that they often bore him company at table.

“In 1698 M. de Saint-Mars was promoted from the governorship of the Iles Sainte-Marguerite to that of the Bastille.  In moving thither, accompanied by his prisoner, he made his estate of Palteau a halting-place.  The masked man arrived in a litter which preceded that of M. de Saint-Mars, and several mounted men rode beside it.  The peasants were assembled to greet their liege lord.  M. de Saint-Mars dined with his prisoner, who sat with his back to the dining-room windows, which looked out on the court.  None of the peasants whom I have questioned were able to see whether the man kept his mask on while eating, but they all noticed that M. de Saint-Mars, who sat opposite to his charge, laid two pistols beside his plate; that only one footman waited at table, who went into the antechamber to change the plates and dishes, always carefully closing the dining-room door behind him.  When the prisoner crossed the courtyard his face was covered with a black mask, but the peasants could see his lips and teeth, and remarked that he was tall, and had white hair.  M. de Saint-Mars slept in a bed placed beside the prisoner’s.  M. de Blainvilliers told me also that ’as soon as he was dead, which happened in 1704, he was buried at Saint-Paul’s,’ and that ’the coffin was filled with substances which would rapidly consume the body.’  He added, ’I never heard that the masked man spoke with an English accent.’”