B A S T I L E. 



325 



Bastile. '' Mon Cousin, 



<r ' " Etant peu satisfait de votre conduite, je vous 



fais cctte lettre, poar vous dire ; que mon intention 

 est aussitot qu'elle vous aura ete remise, vous ayez a 

 rous rendre en mon chateau de la Bastile, pour y 

 rester, jusqu' a nouvel ordre de moi. Sur ce je prie 

 Dieu qu'il vous ait mon cousin, en sa sainte garde. 

 Ecrit a Versailles, le 25 June 1748. 



Signe Louis. 



VoYER d'ArGENSOS." 



La Sieur Prince 

 de Monaco. 



When tyranny was at its height, the letlrcs de 

 cachet were subscribed by the king and given to 

 the minister, with spaces left for the names of those 

 who were so unhappy as to incur the displeasure of 

 either : And the minister, thus unwisely put in pos- 

 session of absolute authority, became, in many in- 

 stances, the terror and the aversion of all who were 

 sufficiently eminent to attract his notice. In allusion 

 to this absolute authority, it was sarcastically said by 

 one of the wits of France, " you must hold the pot 

 de chambre to the minister when he is in office, but 

 you may pour its contents on his head when he goes 

 out." 



The registers of the Bastile are three in number. 

 1. A book containing the names of the prisoners, the 

 dates of their arrival and dismission, the number of 

 the apartment which each of them occupied, with 

 remarks on their circumstance and behaviour. 2. A 

 book of inventories, or lists of the articles found upon 

 searching the prisoners, as they arrived: the name of 

 each prisoner was likewise set down in this book, op- 

 posite the catalogue of the articles belonging to him. 

 3. A discharge-book : This contained the receipts 

 granted by the prisoners after the period of confine- 

 ment had elapsed, when their effects were restored to 

 them : It contained also the subscription of each pri- 

 soner, by which he bound himself under the obliga- 

 tion of an oath, to maintain an inviolable secrecy 

 with respect to all that he had seen or heard in the 

 Bastile. 



The manner of arresting tho'se whose incarcera- 

 tion was decreed varied, according to circumstances, 

 but their treatment after their arrival had, in most 

 instances, a great similarity : " JLa Bastile," says 

 Linguet, " comme la mort, egalize tous ceux qu'elle 

 engloutit." A short examination before the lieute- 

 nant du roi being over, the prisoner was commanded 

 to give up his money, watch, and jewels; and the 

 reason was assigned, lest he should corrupt the turn- 

 keys, or inferior servants of the place. He was next 

 ordered to part with his scissars and pen-knife ; and 

 here, too, the reason was given with unfeeling plain- 

 ness, lest he should either cut his own throat, or as- 

 sassinate those whose business it was to visit and in- 

 spect him. At this ceremony, the officers who were 

 present, utterly regardless of the terror and appre- 

 hension often appearing in every look and motion of 

 the prisoner, commonly indulged themselves in a 

 brutal pleasantry as the different articles were pro- 

 duced. It was then enquired what room was empty; 



and on receiving a proper answer, the wretched in- 

 dividual was conducted to his apartment. Here he 

 sometimes remained for a long time, even for several 

 months, before he was allowed to be shaved. This 

 indulgence was never granted till the prisoner had 

 been examined a second time, or till all the informa- 

 tion which was wished for had been obtained : * and in 

 no instance could it be granted without permis- 

 sion in writing from the minister of Paris, through 

 the medium of his deputy the lieutenant of the police. 

 The operation was performed twice a week by the 

 surgeon of the house ; always, however, in presence 

 of a turnkey, who had strict orders to prevent the 

 captive from touching the razors : The surgeon 

 likewise pared the nails of the prisoner, under simi- 

 lar precautions. As the governor supplied the pri- 

 soners with clothes, furniture, and faggots, out of an 

 allowance made to him by the king for that purpose, 

 the provision of these articles was often exceedingly 

 scanty. Hence the wretches intrusted to his care 

 were subjected without remedy to all the severities 

 and changes of the climate ; to the intolerable cold 

 of large apartments, with high ceilings, in winter, and 

 to the heats of summer in rooms not capable of ven- 

 tilation ; a grievance rendered yet more distressing 

 by the steams issuing from the water that putrified 

 in the ditch. When upon a certain occasion a pri- 

 soner made application to the governor for more 

 comfortable clothing, or leave to purchase it with 

 his own money, the answer of that inhuman monster 

 was, " If faut ne se pas mettre dans le cas d'etre a 

 la Bastille, ou savoir souffrir quand on y est." At 

 this reply the very Porte-clefs were obliged to turn 

 aside their heads. 



It has been doubted whether the accounts given 

 by authors of the iron-cages and instruments of tor- 

 ture used in the Bastile were founded in fact. After 

 some enquiry, it appears to us, that though these 

 accounts have been exaggerated, tf>e modes of pu- 

 nishment referred to, were unquestionably practised, 

 not perhaps in the reign of Louis XVI., but certain- 

 ly in those of former monarchs. The Count de Bou- 

 lainviliers relates, that he saw at the Chateau Duples,- 

 sis, an iron cage in which the Cardinal de la Balue, 

 first minister to Louis XL had been confined. Louis 

 XII. while Duke of Orleans, experienced a similar 

 fortune with the Cardinal. A wooden cage 9 feet 

 long, 6 broad, and % high, was to be seen previous 

 to the revolution at St Michael in Normandy. In this 

 cage, the editor of a newspaper published at Leyden, 

 who had written a satire on Louis XIV. was shut up, 

 and died after a confinement of many years. It war 

 placed in the centre of a room every way resembling 

 the apartments of the Bastile ; and from the great 

 strength of the walls rendering an escape nearly im- 

 possible, it must have been designed not for security, 

 but for punishment. Some of the bars were marked 

 with landscapes and figures of different kinds, which 

 the miserable captive had imprinted on it with his 

 nails. La Porte, premier Valet de Chambre to Louis 

 XIV. when enumerating the various means employed 

 by the officers of the Bastile to force from him the 

 secrets of the queen, with which they supposed he 



Bastile. 



* From the register of prisoners, it appears that a German, called VeiUart, underwent no fewer than 89 examinations. 



