Prestwich.
_The Iron Mask_ (Vol. v., p. 474.; Vol. vii., p. 234.).--Your
correspondent A. S. A. asks with much complacency, "What authority MR.
JAMES CORNISH has for asserting (Vol. v., p. 474.) that the mysterious
secret of the _Masque de fer_ has ever been satisfactorily explained?"
MR. JAMES CORNISH does not make statements of historical facts without
authority: he therefore begs to refer A. S. A. to Delort, _Histoire de
l'Homme au Masque de fer_, Paris, 1825; and to _The True History of the
State Prisoner, commonly called "The Iron Mask," &c._, by the Hon.
George Agar Ellis: London, 1826.
I repeat "my sanguine" expectations that "Junius" will yet be
"unearthed." "Matthias" made an equal boast with the "mighty shade,"
that he would be for ever unknown.
Your Journal "N. & Q." has left no doubt about the author of _The
Pursuits of Literature_.