324 



B A S T I L E. 



Bastiic. ally under different nronarchs. It was in the towers 

 " that the prisoners were usually confined. The struc- 



ture of all these was nearly uniform ; so that, from a 

 description of one, the reader may be able to form an 

 idea of the rest. Each tower consisted of four stories, 

 besides the dungeon. This last was arched, paved, 

 and lined with stone ; the top, or ceiling, being al- 

 most on a level with the court, and the floor raised 

 considerably above the bottom of the ditch. In 

 some of the dungeons there was a slit in the wall for 

 the admission of light, but in others there was none. 

 There was no stove or fire-place in any of them. It 

 ' is said, that these abodes of darkness and misery- 

 were intended for the punishment of such as endea- 

 voured to escape from their confinement. It may 

 have been so ; but, after making every allowance for 

 exaggeration, it is not to be denied, that the unhap- 

 pyvictims of tyranny, who, for whatever reason, were 

 doomed to occupy them, were not unfrequently the 

 subjects of the most studied and persevering cruelty. 

 In these dungeons the princes of Armagnac were 

 immured by the orders of Louis XI. One of them, 

 sinking under the weight of wretchedness and despair, 

 became disordered in his mind during his confine- 

 ment ; and the other, upon a change in the govern- 

 ment, recovered his liberty, and afterwards published 

 an account of his sufferings. Above the dungeons 

 rose successively four apartments, each occupying' a 

 single story. The uppermost, named la calotte, was 

 somewhat smaller than the others. The intermediate 

 ones were irregular polygons, nearly 18 feet across 

 the floor, and of the same height. From the dun- 

 geon ran a winding staircase towards the apartments 

 above. The walls were 12 feet thick at the highest 

 part of the tower, and increased in diameter as you 

 approached the bottom. On the parapet some pieces 

 of ordnance were usually mounted. 



With regurd to the individual apartments, the same 

 massy strength and gloomy grandeur which charac- 

 terised the rest of the building appeared in them also. 

 The doors were of oak, and double, each three inches 

 in thickness. None of the rooms had more than one 

 window, which, in every instance, was secured by an 

 iron grate of prodigious strength on the outside, 

 and by another of sirrrSJar dimensions fastened in the 

 centre of the wall. The frame, containing the glass, 

 moved upon hinges, and opened inwards, after the 

 manner of a door. In some instances, the embrazure, 

 or under part of the window-case, reached the level 

 of the floor, but in others it was necessary to ascend 

 to it by a flight of steps. In the lower stories the 

 windows were built up nearly the half of their length 

 with stone, lest the prisoner should be discovered by 

 any one from without. The chimney was likewise 

 secured by iron grates, crossing the vent at proper 

 distances. The floors were laid with stone, or tiles. 

 Most of the apartments had the same kind of furni- 

 ture, both as to the number of articles and their qua- 

 lity. It usually consisted of a bed, a table, and a 

 chair, a bason and ewer, a large earthen pitcher for 

 holding water, a candlestick, generally of brass, a 

 night-stool, a pot'de chambrc, a broom, and a tinder- 

 box, with a supply of matches. Persons of dictinc- 

 tion, however, were often better accommodated, ha- 

 ving rooms according to their dignity, and being al- 



lowed) in particular circumstances, the conn;- 



of their own furniture. Each apartment was mim- ' 



bered ; and as every tower had its name, it was not 



at any time necessary to say who the prisoners were 



when orders were given with respect to them, or 



when they happened to be the subjects of coi 



tion ; but only to mention them in the language cf 



the place, as No. 1 . Du Tresor j No. '2. De la ( 



No. 3. Du Coin, &c. 



The officers who had the direction and charge of 

 the Bastile were the following : The governor ; the 

 lieutenant du roi; a maj'-r with two adjntantt ; a sur- 

 geon and his assistant ; a chaplain ; four turnkey? ; 

 together with a company of invalids under their usual 

 officers forming the garrison. All these had their 

 apartments within the walls of the castle. Besides 

 these, there were the physician ; two priests assistants 

 of the chaplain, enjoying each a salary of 400 livrcs; 

 a keeper of the registers ; a clerk ; a supcrintendant 

 of the works, and an engineer. The attendance of 

 these was occasional, and they usually lived in the 

 city. To the governor was entrusted the whole in- 

 ternal management of the Bastile : he administered 

 the oath of allegiance to the inferior officers : he re- 

 ceived from the king a certain allowance for the sup- 

 port of each prisoner, according to his rank ; and the 

 cooks and other persons belonging to the kitchen 

 were all engaged and paid in his name. The main- 

 tenance of a prince of the blood was estimated at fifty 

 livres daily ; that of a marcchal de France at thirty- 

 six ; that of a lieutenant-general at twenty-four ; that 

 of a member of the French parliament at fifteen ; that 

 of a judge, priest, or person holding any situation of 

 importance under the crown, at ten ; and that of a 

 respectable citizen at five. In each of these in- 

 stances, however, the estimate is to be considered ex- 

 clusively of the charges for fire and candles, as well 

 as the expense of washing. It belonged to the ma- 

 jor to examine the prisoners immediately after their 

 arrival, or, according to the orders received, in pre. 

 sence of the lieutenant du roi. The officer last men- 

 tioned had also the charge of the keys, which were 

 delivered to him every night as soon as the bridge 

 was drawn up. Certain individuals of the staff made 

 their rounds daily, and gave an account of what they 

 had seen and heard at their visits, either to the go- 

 vernor in person, or in his absence to some one ap- 

 pointed by him. But the governor and all the of- 

 ficers mentioned above, were wholly passive ; they 

 did nothing without orders from the lieutenant of po- 

 lice, and he himself indeed acted only as deputy to 

 the minister of Paris, in whose department the Bas- 

 tile was situated. It was by that minister, or by one 

 of the secretaries of state, that the lettret tie cachet 

 were countersigned ; those awful intimations of des- 

 potism, by which thousands were deprived of then- 

 liberty and their reason, and not unfrequently of their 

 lives. These letters were sometimes addressed to the 

 individual, whom the caprice of the monarch or of 

 his favourite had doomed to confinement, sometimes 

 to the governor of the Bastile exclusively, but com- 

 monly to both. The following is an instance of a 

 Litre de cachet, inscribed " A mon cousin le Prince 

 de Monaco, brigadier en mon enfantcric," by Louis. 

 XV. 





