B A S T I L E, 
790 
by difeafe. T recoiled! with humble gratitude the firft 
gleam of comfort that (hot acrofs this gloom. It was the 
idea, that neither maffive walls, nor tremendous bolts, 
nor all the vigilance of fufpicious keepers, could conceal 
me from the fight of God. This thought I fondly che- 
rifhed, and it gave me infinite confplation in the courfeof 
my imprifonment, and principally Contributed to enable 
me to fupport it with a degree of fortitude and refigna- 
tion that I have (nice wondered at. I no ionger felt my- 
felf alone. At eleven, my reflections were interrupted by 
the turnkey, who entered with my dinner. Having fpread 
the table with a clean napkin, he placed the di(lies on it, 
cut the meat, and retired, taking away the knife. The 
diflies, plates, fork, fpoon, and goblet, were of pewter. 
The dinner confided of Coup and bouiliic, a piece of roaft- 
ed meat, a bottle of good table wine, and a pound loaf of 
the bed kind of houfehold bread. In the evening at feven 
lie brought toy flipper, which confided of a road difli and 
a ragout. The fame ceremony was obferved in cutting 
the meat, to render the knife unneceffary to me. He took 
away the didies he had brought for dinner, and returned 
at eight the next morning to take away the fupper-things. 
Fridays and Saturdays being fad or maigrc days, the dinners 
confided of foup, a didi of dfh, and two didies of vege¬ 
tables; (.he flippers, of two ditties of garden-duff, and an 
omelet, or fomething made with eggs and milk. The din¬ 
ners and fuppers of each day of the week were different, 
but every week was the fame: fo that the ordinary clafs 
of prifoners law in the courfe of the firft week their bill 
of fare for fifty years, if they (laid fo long. 
“ 1 had remained in my room about three vteeks, when 
I was one morning carried down to the council-chamber, 
where I found the comniiftary. He began by afking mod 
of the quedions that had been put to me before. He then 
afked if I had any knowledge of fome works lie named, 
meaning tliofe that had been written by me ;—if I was ac¬ 
quainted with the author of them ; whether there were 
any perfons concerned with him; and if 1 knew whether 
they had been printed ? I told him, ‘That, as I did not 
mean to conceal any tiling, I diould avoid giving him 
needleis trouble; that I myfelf was the author of the 
works lie had mentioned, and gueffed I was there on that 
account; that they never had been printed ; that the work, 
which I conceived was the caufe of my confinement, had 
never been diewn to any but one perfon, whom 1 thought 
my friend ; and, having no accomplices, the. offence, if 
there was any, reded (olely with myfelf.’ He (aid my ex¬ 
amination was one of the fhorted he had ever been employed 
at, for it ended here.—I v\ as carried back to my room, and 
the next day was diavcd for the firft time (nice my confine¬ 
ment. A few days afterwards I wrote to the lieutenant of 
the police, requeding to be indulged with the life of books, 
pen, ink, and paper, which was granted; but I was not 
allowed to go down to the library to choofe tlie books. 
Several volumes were brought to me by the turnkey, who, 
when I dedred it, carried them back and brought others. 
After my lad examination, I was taken down alrnod daily, 
and allowed to walk about an hour in the court within 
view of the fentinel: but my walks were frequently inter¬ 
rupted; for, if any one appeared, the fentinel called out 
‘Au cabinet !' 1 and I was then obliged to conceal myfelf 
hadily in a kind of dark clofet in the wall near the chapel. 
The fheets of my bed were changed once a fortnight, I 
was allowed four towels a week, and niv linen was taken 
to.be wafhed every Saturday. I had a tallow candle daily, 
and in the cold feafon a certain number of pieces of fire¬ 
wood. I was told that the allowance of fire to the prifon¬ 
ers began the id of November and ceafed on the id of 
April, and that my having a fire in April was a particular 
indulgence. After being detained above eight months, 1 
was informed that an order had come to di (charge me. I 
was defiled to go down to the council-chamber: every 
thing I had brought with me was returned, together with 
the key of my apartment, which 1 found exactly in the 
date 1 left it on the morning of the zd of April, 1771. 
During my confinement I wrote many letters to feveral of 
my friends, which were always carried away with civility, 
but not one of them had been delivered.” 
Among the didrefling wants to which perfons confined in 
this prifon were expofed, the mod important, perhaps, 
was, that they were prevented feeing any one in whom they 
could place confidence, from whom they could afk advice, 
or receive the confolation that is to be found in frienddiip. 
Ever obliged to be on their guard in all they (aid ; uncer¬ 
tain of their own dediny, and of the fate of the wife, the 
child, or the midrefs, they had left behind them; igno¬ 
rant of what paffed beyond the walls of their chamber, 
their thoughts, fhut up in their own bofoms, condantly ru¬ 
minated upon their unhappy fate, to which they faw no 
end. The day, the year, revolved in one continued fcer.e 
of filent wretchednefs ; and the mind never being diverted 
from the objeCt of its grief, not even by frefli misfortunes, 
it cannot feem furprifing that many perfons, who had ne¬ 
ver before diewn fymptoms of infanity, lod, with their li¬ 
berty, their reafcn. 
It appears that the profits of the governor were in pro¬ 
portion to the number of his prifoners; the commiffary 
was paid a certain fum for each examination ; hence it be¬ 
came the advantage of the one to detain, and of the other 
to torment, them : the fentiments of humanity were there¬ 
by condantly oppofed by felf-intered, which could affume 
the mafk of zeal and duty. It is laid, that they fome- 
times confined a fpy of the police in the fame room with 
a prifoner, who, under the appearance of a fellow-fuffer- 
er, tried to difcover his fecrets; and, when they had ob¬ 
tained what they widied to know, or found the attempt 
ineffectual, he was withdrawn, tinder the pretence of re¬ 
moving him to another apartment. Some prifoners had 
permiflion, at dated times, to walk on the top of the caf- 
tle, and in the garden ; but this indulgence was but fel- 
dom granted. The idea that was entertained, that prifon¬ 
ers were fometimes privately put to death, feems to be en¬ 
tirely a popular prejudice. A fkeleton that was brought 
out when the place was dedroyed, confirmed the notion, 
and gave birth to a variety of idle dories. A moment’s 
reflection was fufficient to convince any one, that, if fo dc- 
tedable a crime had been committed, the body would have 
been interred ; and it afterwards appeared that the Ikele- 
ton had been brought thither by the furgeon, for his flu- 
dies in anatomy. It was announced in the newfpapers, 
that, in demolidiing the foundations of the Badile, three 
Ikeletons had been found ; and it was indnuated that they 
were the remains of perfons who had been privately put 
to death. But two advertifements afterwards appeared, 
one from the lieutenants de maire, and committee who had 
the direction of the public works, the other from fome 
members of the Academy of Sciences, to fay, that they 
had carefully inquired into the fiibjeCt; that the Ikeletons 
were found twenty-five feet under the furface of the earth, 
in the ruins of fome old works that had formerly flood 
where the* outwork was; that they mult confequentlv have 
been buried there before that work was conflruCted, and 
from this circunidance, and their appearance, might have 
lain there fome centuries. Upon the whole, it does not 
appear that any one has either been privately put to death, 
or to the torture, (ince the time of Louis XIV. If a pri¬ 
foner died in the Badile, the governor immediately appri- 
fed the minifler of Paris, and the lieutenant-general of the 
police. The king’s commiffary of the Badile came thi¬ 
ther, and, in the prefence of the major, the phyfician, 
and furgeon, made out what is called a proccs verbal., or 
declaration, that, being called to the Badile on fuch a day 
and hour, he faw a perfon named fo and fo, lying dead ; 
that lie was informed by fuch perfons, naming the phyfi¬ 
cian, furgeon, &c. that he died of fuch a difeafe ; that lie 
found in the room fuch and fuch articles, and fo on. This 
being done, orders were given to bury the body. The 
interment was always in the evening, at the burying-ground 
of St. Paul’s, and at lead two perfons belonging to the 
Badile accompanied it a who figned the parilh regifter ; but 
