1832.] The Galley Slaves. 543 



refused to listen to either bribe, menace, or solicitation. It was confound- 

 edly vexatious. Whilst expostulating with the turnkey, I caught a 

 glimpse through a barred window of the interior court, athwart which 

 the chains lay extended, whilst in one railed off even from this the con- 

 victs were crowded, marching round and round precaution forbade their 

 remaining still and uttering from time to time such yells and impreca- 

 tions as might deafen and appal a Mohawk. " I have caught a glimpse 

 at least," thought I, as we were unceremoniously turned out. 



My friend, the surgeon, bade us, however, not despair. When the man 

 of influence arrived he hoped to prevail ; and in the mean time he led us 

 to view the other curiosities of Bicetre. There was the well, the kitchen, 

 the anatomical theatre. The courts were crowded with aged paupers, 

 who each well knew that his carcase would undergo what laceration the 

 scalpel of my friend and his comrades chose to inflict upon it. But the 

 thought seemed not to affect them so much as it did us. Methought the 

 business of dissecting dead subjects might have been carried on more 

 remote from the living candidates j but I was wrong, for mystery and 

 secrecy always beget fear. 



The mad-house was another curiosity. It contains many whose brain 

 the revolution of July, 1830, had turned. One man, a fine youth, had 

 travelled on foot from a distant part of the kingdom, to shed his blood as 

 a sacrifice to the memory of Napoleon. He gave his last franc to obtain 

 admission within the pillar of the Place Vendome, and when there opened 

 the veins of both his arms, crying out, " I offer the blood of the brave to 

 the manes of Napoleon." His rolling black eye was now contrasted with 

 a face pale as death. He had lost so much blood that few hopes were 

 entertained of his recovery. 



But by far the most curious patient of the mad-house, was a young man 

 who imagined himself to be a woman. He was handsome, but not femi- 

 nine in appearance. He adored a little mirror, with which he was grati- 

 fied. Rags of all colours were his delight ; and he had made a precious 

 collection. His coquetry was evident ; and he answered pertinently all 

 questions, never belying at the same time his fixed opinion, that he was 

 endowed with a maiden's charms. 



We looked over the book of reports, and found seven-eighths of the 

 female patients to have become deranged from love ; whilst, with the 

 majority of the males, the hallucination proceeded from disappointments 

 of ambition. Surprised, I could make out no case of a religious maniac j 

 glad, I could discover none of a student. 



We now returned to machinations for the purpose of entering the for- 

 bidden prison. Aprons were handed us, not unlike a barber's. They 

 were surgeons' aprons, always worn by those of the establishment when 

 on duty. Might not then the'barbers' aprons be a tradition of the barber- 

 surgeons ? I refrained from asking the question in that company. The 

 scheme was, that we should pass for Carabins such is the nickname of 

 French students in chirurgery and in this quality demand admission, 

 The Cerberus of the prison grinned at the deceit, but wearied and amused 

 by our importunities, he actually opened the quicket and admitted us. 

 There are two grated doors of this kind, one always locked whilst the 

 other is opened. In an instant we were in Pandemonium. 



The buildings, which surrounded and formed the courts, evidently the 

 oldest and strongest of Bicetre, harmonised in dinginess with the scene. 



.- ?T, 



