546 Account of Thomas Mi ajor’s Confinement in the Bastille. [July % 
hearing T was taken up, and imprisoned 
also in thesame place, had very obligingly 
got me inserted in the same warrant; by 
which means I had the pleasure of this 
kind visit. 
T immediately accosted him in. English, 
upon. which the governor desired we 
would speak French; he placed me in a 
chair on one side of the chimney, oppo- 
site my friend; and seated himself be- 
tween us. 
conversation; fer it is not permitted to 
speak. of the cause of a person’s con- 
finement, or any thing relative thereto; 
this is an invariable rule. Mr. Selwin 
told me to make myself easy, that my 
friends were endeavouring to get my re-: 
lease, he doubted not of their success, 
and hoped he should see me at his 
table in a few days. His friendship in 
coming at this time, and the hopes he 
had given me of 2 speedy deliverance, 
chased the cloud of sadness, and entirely 
dispelled all apprehensions of my long 
continuancé’ liere. 
not hearing from my friends, fearing 
their good intentions towards me would 
prove ineffectual, and felt a sinking of 
spirits, and sickness of heart, from hope 
deferred; for I could by no means fami- 
liarize myself to my loathsome cage, as 
every hour seemed a day, from the sus- 
pense wasin. To the unfortunate, days 
seem as tedious as years; and to embitter 
their condition, every thing is seen in 
the worst light. At length, however, 
the keeper came one afternoon, and told 
me to make up my packet, for there was 
an order come for my going. out. This 
was joyful tidings to a mind, that. had 
just before been cruelly agitated. I 
made up my bundle of linen in a hand- 
kerchiet, and folléyed my guide.* He 
bronght me before the governor, who 
said, he had received an order- for my. 
release, and congratulated: me thereon. 
At that time, I did not fully comprehend 
the extensive meaning of a congratu- 
Jation:on my lucky discharge. As‘an 
innocent man, and as an Englishman, I 
78> BA OD 1024 are 
* Although some instances have been 
known of persons being restored to society; 
after having been immured in the Bastille 
for a creat length of time, yet such is the 
zicom’ and horror of its appearance, that . 
every part of-it seemed to repeat, to its 
wretched inhabitants, tht words which 
Danté read on the gates of hell. 
é¢ Jasciaté ogni Speranza, voi che’ntrate.” 
6¢ You who enter hére, abandon all hopes,” 
wrt 
From the joy at seeing him, - 
He was witness to all our: 
I now began to be. 
remarkably impatient and uneasy, at 
freedom, that other nations envied. 
thought liberty my birth-right; and’ did 
not look on this as an obligation, or an 
act of justice, but a claim that was my 
due; not then knowing, how few per- 
sons, who unhappily enter this place, 
come out alive from these subterraneous 
sepulchres, and that it may be almost 
said to be the bourn, from whence no 
traveller returns, unless it be feet for- 
wards, to the parish of St. Paul, where 
they are buried (if Roman-catholics), 
and generally registered under the false 
denomination of servants, let their con- 
dition be what it will. This is done 
witha view to deceive posterity. Had I 
died in this place, (as an heretic) the. 
ceremony would have been short. f 
should have been thrown upon’a dung- | 
hill. I was a sorrowful witness of this 
method of burial, at the interment of my 
intimate friend, Mr. Andrew Lawrence, 
engraver, natural son of Mr. Lawrence, 
apothecary to Queen Anne, He wasan 
honour to his country, as an Englishman, 
by his unrivalled performances in the 
arts, and to the world in general, as a. 
pious good man, endowed with the most 
extraordinary talents. He was buried at 
midnight, in a timber-yard, without the 
gates of St. Anthony, at Paris. Mr. 
Soubeyran, engraver, (afterwards ‘di- 
rector of the academy at Geneva), Mr. 
Blakey, painter; Mr. Ingram, engraver ;* 
and myself, went in a Hackney-coach, 
and by order of the commissary of that _ 
quarter, we were attended by four sol- 
diers, armed, to protect us from the in- 
solence and rage of the populace, who 
otherwise would have torn us in. pieces, _ 
so strong are the prejudices of the com- 
Mon people, which are continually 
fomented by the Romish clergy, against 
the protestants. They carry their in- 
* My .countryman, and intimate friend, 
Mr. Ingram, (who had lived many years in 
France, had been-a pupil 6f Mr. Le Bas, and 
was constantly employed.by Mr. Cochin, the 
king’s engraver), having occasion to come to 
England, to see his relations, had made some 
stay, much longer than he intended, and 
therefore he was unwilling to return to 
France, notwithstanding he had an employ- 
ment there, as engraver to the Royal Academy 
of Sciences; and being a Roman catholic, he 
had a pension settled upon him. ik a 
His knowlesge of the persons then in 
power, and the little reliance he could have 
of their probity, made him apprehensive of 
‘his being confined, at his return. «The dread 
of the Bastille determined him to finish his 
days in his own country, where he knew he 
was in. safety, and epjoy that liberty and 
~ veterate 
