IV. NOTICE OF AN IRON MASK. BY JAMES DRUMMOND, ESQ., U.S.A., F.S.A., SCOT. (PLATE XX.) The mystery of the having lately heen brought prominently before the public, it occurred to me that the exhibition at this meeting of an iron mask in my possession would interest the mem- Societye berth y intentiof n so doinI m ., t however gso o no t n s i t i , enter into any discussion as to who really was the victim known in history as the Man in the Iron Mask, further than to remark, that no better illustration coul givee db n wiln thao g lme n r thifa sw storho f yo in advocatin gfavourita e idea, eve defiancn ni f historicao e l e prooth o t f contrary. Amon e theoriegth s advanced e mosth , t probable t firsa , t sights wa , that it was a twin-brother of Louis XIV., who was thus kept in life I

NOTICE OF AN IKON MASK. 429

durance r statfo , e reasons; unfortunatel reliablo yn e fact "bn e ca sadduce d that such a person ever existed. Then came the Count of Vermandois (a son of Louis XIV. and the Duchess de la Yalliere), although it is well- authenticated e midsa tha campth e dief h o tn ti d , after some days' buries illnesswa dd witan , h great cathedrae pomth n pi l churc Arrasf ho , in 1683. Even the beheading of the Duke of Monmouth on Tower Hill, in 1685, did not prevent his being brought forward. But there was one more extraordinary still, Henry Cromwell, the youngest son of the Lord Protector, who, after returning froe governmenmth f Irelando t , settled quietly upo s estatnhi t Spinnea e y Abbey, wher diee eh 1674n i d , being burie Wicken di n Church, wher eblaca k marble tablet still marks hi s burial-place. Claims have r Mahommeevefo np u bee t se nd IV.e th , Turkis hs depose Sultanwa o n 1687i dn Armeniawh a , s alsr a , fo o n patriarch. Fouquet finance th , e ministe f Louio r s XIV., having crossed his master in some of his projects, was, with that king's usual vindictive- ness, accused of treason, sentenced to perpetual imprisonment, and thrown int Bastile oth 1661n ei , from whencs remove e prisowa th e ef h o nt do Pignerol, where he died in 1680. So far this looks very like the real e Iroth n n i Mask n ,Ma prisonerwhoeve e th t e wash rbu ; , lived till 1703 whicn i , h yeaBastilee diee th rh n di . Present opinio favoun i s ni r of Count Matthioli, who had been secretary of state under Charles III., Duke of Mantua; but who having entered into a secret treaty with Louis XIV., to deliver up Casale, and thus open the way for the admission of e Frencth h army into Italy, betraye e secre de Italiath somo th t t f o en Courts. Louis finding himself deceived Coune th d t ha ,secretl y arrested in 1679. After this nothing is heard of.Matthioli; hut evidence has been adduced, on apparently good authority, identifying him with the Man in the Iron Mask. To call what was used on the above occasion an " iron mask, misnomera s "i wels i t i l s knowa , havo nt e been blac"f o k velvet, stiffened with whalebone furnished an , d abou s loweit t r part with steel springs, which permitted its wearer to breathe, eat, drink, and sleep with- t difficultyou t coverefasteneI s . wa whole facee d dth th d an f , behineo d wit hpadloca k "—in other wordssimpls wa t yi , use concealmentr dfo . That submi whicrathew r o bee s no , his ha I rtknight'n a s helmef o t the sixteenth century (see Plate XX.), the bevor and vizor of which piece(beine on )n gi have been riveteundee th chir o dt o r n part side th , e 430 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, JUNE 13, 1870.

joints have also been unfastened e endth sd filean , d away, their place being supplied by two rude hinges at the brow, and thus forming a sort of rude box, whic s heli h strono d tw clos y gb e hasps,e b whic y ma h fixed by a padlock or chain; and if used, as I conjecture it must have been, would be an instrument of torture of the most barbarous nature, for the purpose of starving a man into confession or perhaps to death. A few small openings for breathing or seeing certainly; but for food, none. Once shut int , farewel oit worlde th o t l; hope being shut ou t wit e lashth t e padlock clicth e las f th tko e chain r riveth o , A f o .t more horrible death could hardly be conceived. I acquired it at the dis- persion of the collection of the late Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, who very s "a rusta likel helmet.d p u yol y t t knepu A " s s historywit wa t I . firs I thought t mighi t t have been tropha par f o t y hung ove knight'a r s tom church a examininbeen d n o bi ha that nw t i bu converte;sa t , git d meane byth s described int iron oa n mask. Proceeding's o£ tne Society of

LITH. W.& A.K.JOHNS TON-

IRON MASK PROPERTE TH , MF YO DRUMMOKD , R.S.A. R