Page:History of The man with the iron mask (1).pdf/8

8 is said to have been the Duke of Buckingham, who came to France, in May 1625, to conduct the Princess Henrietta, wife of Charles I., to England. The private letters and memoirs of those times speak very suspiciously of the queen and Buckingham: his behaviour at Amiens, whither the queen and queen-mother accompanied the princess in her way to Boulogne, occasioned much whispering; and it appears that the king, on this occasion, was extremely offended at her, and that it required all the influence and address of the queen-mother to effect a reconciliation. It is said that this child was privately brought up in the country; that when Mazarin became a favourite, he was intrusted with the care of him; and that Louis XIV., having discovered the secret on the death of the cardinal, thought it necessary to confine him in the manner above related. 2. The second, and the most probable opinion, is, that he was the twin-brother of Louis XIV., born some hours after him. This first appeared in a short anonymous work published without date, or name of place, or printer. It is therein said, - “Louis XIV. was born at St Germains en Laye on the 5th September 1638, about noon; and the illustrious prisoner, known by the appellation of the Iron Mask, was born the same day, while Louis XIII. was at supper. The king and the cardinal, fearing that the pretensions of a twin brother might one day be employed to renew those eivil wars with which France had been so often afflicted, cautiously concealed his birth, and sent him away to be brought up privately.” This opinion was confirmed in a work called Memoires de Marechal Duc de Richlieu, written by the Abbe Soulavio;