SOME ACCOUNT OF A CAPTIVITY. 317 



water being the only thing brought down to us in the course of the 

 day neither bread,, soup, nor meat. Morning came, and with it our 

 order to march, the dead conscript keeping undisturbed possession of 

 his dungeon and his straw. 



When drawn up in the yard, we received a pound and a half of 

 bread each and twopence-halfpenny (five sous), and away to the 

 road again, but without irons, ropes, or fastenings of any kind. It 

 was a fine day for the time of year, and we had a comparatively 

 happy day's walk of it. In the evening we arrived at Donay, where 

 we halted for the night, and our next day's journey brought us to 

 Cambray. Every body knows that Cambray is a fortified town, and 

 possesses a very large and well fortified citadel. But they, perhaps, 

 are not aware that in this citadel some three or four thousand British 

 subjects soldiers, sailors, passengers, &c.c. were confined for years 

 without hope of release. For myself, after the first two years, I 

 made my mind up that I was to end my days there. 



As we passed over the drawbridge, which defends the citadel, we 

 were received with a loud and continuous shout of " Prisoners, oh ! 

 prisoners, oh !" which I afterwards understood was the shout with 

 which the arrival of new prisoners was made known to the general 

 body. In an instant every room was emptied, every walk was for- 

 saken, and down rushed the whole mass in order to ascertain where 

 we came from, where we belonged to each anxious to find a towny 

 or even a man from the same country as himself; and if any such 

 were found, the last penny, the last loaf, every thing was spent in 

 treating him and making him welcome. It not unfrequently hap- 

 pened that prisoners arrived in the greatest state of destitution ; and, 

 to the honour of British subjects be it spoken, that in such cases 

 every sacrifice of food, clothes, and money was made to make them 

 comfortable. 



Napoleon having refused to an exchange of prisoners during the war, 

 many of the poor fellows by whom we were now surrounded had been 

 eight and some even ten years in confinement, and still their hopes of 

 release were as far from being realized as ever. A good many who 

 had been taken when little boys were now grown up strong and 

 powerful men, and there were not a few whose recollections of 

 England were of the slightest and most vague description. In this 

 grand depot were we domiciled, and these were our companions in 

 adversity. 



In the citadel there were large and convenient buildings, consider- 

 ing that it was a prison. We were allowed to walk about the yard 

 during the day, but at night we were locked in our rooms. These 

 rooms were about twenty-four feet by twenty, and in each of these 

 twenty-eight men were confined. We were allowed a stove and a 

 portion of coals, and in this one room we had to eat, drink, sleep, 

 cook, and wash. In summer we were summoned into the yard by a 

 bell at five o'clock in the morning ; we were mustered and counted 

 at noon, and at seven o'clock in the evening we were counted and 

 locked up for the night. Our allowance consisted of a coarse brown 

 holland tick, a single blanket, and two bundles of straw every four 

 months for each two men the blankets were all patched, having 



