Miscellaneous Back Matter [pp. 472A-RD06]

THE BASTILE.
and he heard the sound of the water in the moat beneath.
Having counted two hundred steps, he let himself down into
the mingled ice and water four feet in depth. He held the ladder steady until his companion rejoined him. They now had
another wall to pass, which was twenty feet in height and five
feet in thickness. As a sentinel passed around upon it every
half hour with a lantern, they dared not attempt to climb it.
With two of the bars from the grateswhich they had brought
with tlhem, they began to remove stones in order to pass
through the wall. Whenever the sentinel passed, they suspended labor and dived under the water. Once the sentinel
paused. They expected every moment to hear the report of
an arquebus. But-he passed on. Having passed this wall
they were wading through the second moat, when suddenly
they lost their footing. D'Alegre could not swimn, and he
caught his friend in his arms. Latude, knocking him off, took
him by the hair and swam across with him. They now had
another wall to pass, similar to the last. But there being no
sentinel oIL this, they affixed their ladder; and just as daylight
was making its appearance, they found themselves firee.
They embraced and separated. Soon after, however, they
were both arrested in different cities of Holland. Latude,
while the officers were putting chains on him, could not be prevented fi-om making a sl)eech to the populace, telling them his
history and the cause of his arrest. The name of Madame
Pdml)ad()ur was infamous, The excited crowd rushled to the
rescue. Btut the officers silenced the tumult by telling, them
that the story of the prisoner was a mere fabrication, that he
was the greatest malefactor in France. Such was the treatment of l)'Alegre, after his return to the Bastile, that he
became a nianiac, and was transferred to the Bicetre. Many
years afterward, when Lattlde went there to see him. lie did
not know his friend, rejected his embraces, and threw himself
in an agony of frenzy on the pavement, producing death.
Does the reader desire to know how Latude was treated
when he was returned to the Bastile? If so, he can read the
followiii, translation of an authentic letter, yet extant, whlich
was written by the physician Dejean, who was sent by the
lieutenant of police to examine him:
SIR: By your orders I have been several times to see a prisoner in the
Bastile. After having examined his eyes, and reflected well on what lie
told me, I do not find it extraordinary that he has lost his sight. He has
been for forty months, with irons on his feet and hands, in a dungeon. It is
impossible not to weep under such great afflictions. If~a too great salivation affelcts the breast, and even the whole body, we cannot doubt but that
such an abundance of tears has contributed to deprive this prisoner of
sight.
The winter of 175.6 and 1757 was extremely severe. The Seine was
frozen as in last winter; and during that time the prisonei was in a dungeon, with irons on his hands and feet, with a pallet of straw and without
496