Letter to the Countess of T. on a Second French Theater in Paris

24
1

You give us an example of this, Monsieur, in your letter: will posterity know who the man in the masque de fer iron mask is? Which Prince? Is it the Duke of Beaufort? Is it the Count of Vermandois?Natural son of Louis XIV and Madame de la Vallière. Is it Lord Monmouth?Natural son of Charles II, King of England, and Lucy Walters. The role he played, however, makes his person quite interesting: his imprisonment on the Isle of Sainte-Marguerite, his transfer to the Bastille, mark epochs in the history of the reign of Louis XIV. Despite all this, we still do not know who this prisoner is, nor his name, nor his rank, nor even his condition: regarding this, we have only simple conjectures. Each historian designates this state criminal as he imagines him: M. de Voltaire, M. de la Grange-Chancel, and the author of the Secret Memoirs to Serve the History of Persia, and you yourself, Monsieur, you also offer your reflections, or rather your opinion. Thus, from now on, history will be a novel, where there will always be a problem to solve or an enigma to guess. It will be permitted for every historian to establish his system, to advance his opinion, to combat