BAS' 
eonvulfionary. In 1740, John Lewis Tanier, curate of 
Saint Denis, acculed of ('educing women.—The chevalier 
de Mony, employed by the lieutenant-general of the po¬ 
lice to write for him, but who feeretly gave copies of 
what he wrote to the marechal de Belle Ifie, the cardinal 
■de Tonclin, the duke de Richlieu, and the- count de Saxe. 
—The Sieur George Hufquin Beaudouin, called Bdlecour, 
a man of bad. conduit, and violent enemy of M. Orry de 
Tulvy, the king’s commiffary for the affairs of the Eaft- 
India company. In 1742,-and onwards to the commence¬ 
ment of the reign of Louis XVI. the prifoners confided 
chiefly of authors, printers, and bookfellcrs, who had 
written or publiflied itriclures on religion, or on the king 
and government. 
Upon the acceflion of Louis XVI. he evinced great cle. 
mency and jultice, by infpedting the regiilers of the Baftile, 
and fetting many prifoners at liberty, which feems to ac¬ 
count for the fmall number found in the Baftile when it 
was deftroyed. Among the liberated was an old man, 
who had groaned in confinement for forty-leven years. 
Hardened by adverfity, which Ilrengthens both the mind 
and the conllitution, he had refilled the horrors of his long 
imprifonment with an invincible and manly fpirit. His 
locks, white, thin, and fcattered, had almoft acquired the 
rigidity of iron; whilfit his body, environed for fo long a 
time as it were by a coffin of (lone, had borrowed from it 
a firm and compact habit. The narrow door of his cell, 
turning upon its grating hinges, opened not as ufual by 
halves; and an unknown voice announced his liberty, 
and bade him depart. Believing this to be a dream, he 
helitated ; but at length rofe up and walked forth with 
trembling fteps, amazed at the fpace he traverfed : the 
flairs of the prifon, the halls, the court, feemed to him 
. vaft, immenfe, and almoft without bounds. He flopped 
from time to time, and gazed around like a bewildered 
traveller: his vifion was with difficulty reconciled to the 
clear light of day: he contemplated the heavens as a new 
objeeft: his eyes remained fixed, and he could not even 
weep. Stupified with the newly-acquired power of chang¬ 
ing his polition, his limbs, like his tongue, refufed, in 
f'pite of his efforts, to perforin their office; at length he 
.got through the formidable gates. When he felt the mo¬ 
tion of the carriage-prepared to tranfport him to his for- 
. mer habitation, he fereamed out, and uttered fome inar¬ 
ticulate founds; and, as he could not bear this new move¬ 
ment, he was obliged to defeend. Supported by a bene¬ 
volent arm, he fought out the ftreet where he had formerly 
refided : he found it, but no trace of his houfe remained ; 
one of the public edifices occupied the I pot where it had 
flood. He now faw nothing that brought to his recollec¬ 
tion, either that particular quarter, the city itfelf, or the 
objects with which he had formerly been acquainted. The 
houfes of his neared neighbours, which were frefh in his 
memory, had affumed a new appearance. In vain were 
his looks directed to all the objects around him ; he could 
difeover nothing of which he had the fmalleft remem¬ 
brance. T errified, he flopped and fetched a deep figh. 
-To him what did it import that the city was peopled with 
living creatures ! None of them were alive to him ; he 
was unknown to all the world, and he knew nobody : and, 
whilft he wept, he regretted his dungeon. 
At the name of the Baftile, which lie often pronounced 
and even claimed as an afylum, and the fight of his clothes 
that marked a former age, the crowd gathered round him : 
curiolity, blended with pity, excited their attention. The 
moll aged alked him many queftions, but had no remem- 
■ brance of the circum'ftances he recapitulated. At length 
accident brought in his way an ancient domeftic, now a 
fuperannuated porter, who, confined to his lodge for fif¬ 
teen years, had barely fufficient ftrength to open the gate : 
even he did not.know’ the mailer he had ferved; but in¬ 
formed him that grief and misfortune had brought his wife 
to the grave thirty years before, that his children were 
gone abroad to diftant climes, and that of all his relations 
and friends none now remained. This recital was made 
• VoL. II. No. 103. 
T' l L E. _ ! 793 
with the indifference which people difeover for events 
long pad, and almoft forgot. The miferable man groan¬ 
ed, and groaned alone. The crowd around, offering only 
unknown features to his view, made him feel the exedfs 
of his calamities even more than he would have done in 
the dreadful folitude that he had left. Overcome with fur¬ 
row, he prefented himfelf before the minifter to whole 
humanity he owed that liberty which was now a burden 
to him. Bowing down, he faid, “ Reftore me again to 
that prifon from which you have taken me: I cannot fiu- 
vive the lofsofmy nearell relations ; my friends, and, in 
one word, of a whole generation : is it poflible in the fame 
moment to be informed of this univerfal deftruttion, and 
not to wilh for death > This general mortality, which to 
the reft of mankind comes (lowly and by degrees, iias to 
me been inftantaneous, the operation of a moment.' Whilft 
fecluded from fociety, I lived with myfelf only ; but here 
I can neither live with myfelf nor with this new race, to 
whom my anguifii and defpair appear only as a dream. 
There is nothing terrible in dying; but it is dreadful in¬ 
deed to be the lait.” The minifter was melted ; he cashed 
the old domeftic to attend this unfortunate perfon, as only 
he could talk to him of his family'. This difeourfe was 
the Angle confolation that he received : for he (hunned all 
intercourfe with a new race, born fince he had been exiled 
from the world; and he paffed his time in the midft of 
Paris in the fame folitude as he had done whilft confined 
in a dungeon for almoft half a century. But the chagrin 
and mortification of meeting no perfon who could fay to 
him, ‘We were formerly known to one another,’ foon put 
an end to his exiftence. 
Such was the callle of the Baftile ; and this famous ftate- 
prifon, which had been the feene of mifery and diftrefs to 
fo many innocent perfons for upwards of four hundred 
years, and had become a fubjecl of wonder and alarm to 
every free country in Europe, was demolilhed on the 14th 
of July, 1789. The demolition of this engine of defpotifm 
may be ranked among the firft fymptoms of the revolution 
in France. Upwards of 12,000 citizens, armed with muf- 
kets, fabres, and hatchets, and headed by the grenadier 
guards, affembled early in the morning of the above day, 
and demanded of the governor, M. de Launay, that the 
prifoners fhould be fet at liberty, and that the Baftile 
Ihould be furrendered into their hands. The governor 
diflembled, but faid he would comply ; and ordered the 
outer gate to be opened, under pretence of admitting a 
party to take poffellion of it. But no fooner had they en¬ 
tered, than the gate was (hut upon them, and the draw¬ 
bridge over which they had palled was inftantly taken up. 
The governor then ordered the foldiers of the garrifon to 
fire upon them through loop-holes and turrets, until eve¬ 
ry perfon admitted was either killed or wounded. The 
people without, on hearing the firing, and learning the 
perfidy of the governor, inftantly affaulted the caftle in 
all quarters. They fetched the cannon from the king’s 
garde-incublc in the place Louis XV. one of which was in¬ 
laid with (ilver; thefe they planted againft the Baftile un¬ 
til a breach was made, when it was taken by ftonu. The 
above treachery of the governor Has been palliated by 
fome writers, and totally denied by others ; who aftert, 
that the whole was owing to a miftake ; and that in the 
confulion of the moment the people fired upon one ano¬ 
ther, and imputed the deftruefion they made among theni- 
felves to the foldiers on the walls and ramparts. But that 
the contrary was the faff, feems little to be doubted ; for 
w r hen the breach was carried, and the governor faw almoft; 
every part of the Baftile filled with people, and that no 
hope remained for themfelves, he attempted to fet fire to 
the magazine, containing 250 barrels of gunpowder, which 
would not only have deftroyed every living creature about 
the premifes, but probably half the city of Paris. From 
the execution of this defperate attempt he was prevented 
by two of his own (erjeants, named Ferrand and Beguard, 
who caught him By the arm, and wrefted the piftol from 
him, juft as he was about to fire into an open barrel of 
9 Q^. gunpowder. 
