Latude

Latude, HENRI MAZERS DE, prisoner in the Bastille, was born at Montagnac, in Languedoc, 23d March 1725. A young artillery officer, he sought to secure Madame de Pompadour's favour by revealing to her a plot to poison her. The plot was discovered to be of his own contriving, and he was sent to the Bastille in 1749. In spite of ingenious efforts to escape, he remained in prison till 1777, when he was released on condition of living in his native village. But having come to Paris again, he was imprisoned till 1784. At the Revolution he was treated as a victim of despotism; but he died forgotten, 1st January 1805. See the monograph by Thierry (1792; new ed. 1889).