TheCodeBreakers
showered upon him: 14,000 ecus in 1653, 150,000 livres in 1672, and
an annuity, late in his life, of 12,000—to name just some of his
payments.*
As he grew old, Rossignol retired to his country home at Juvisy
though he reportedly continued to perform his special magic to the end
of his life. His last days were brightened by an unmistakable
demonstration of royal esteem: the Sun King made a detour in a progress
back to Fon-tainebleau to visit him at Juvisy—this in an age when
courtiers vied for the privilege of removing the king's pajamas at grand
and petit levees each morning! Rossignol died soon after, in December of
1682, only a few days short of his 83rd birthday on January 1.
* One story about Rossignol should be deflated, however. This is that
his solutions were made "in a fashion so marvelous to his
contemporaries that the device with which a lock is opened when the key
annaabi.ee 
