Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 11.pdf/398

 Old French Prisons. constructed at about the same date; the palace, which was principally a fortress, was the residence of the kings; the Conciergerie was their dungeon. Rebuilt in the reign of St. Louis, it was originally the porter's lodge — hence its name, Conciergerie — servant's hall, and kitchens of that monarch's palace, and some of its apartments in the early part of the present century were still known as les eui sines de St. Louis. In 1794, externally it

367

in 1796, the arrangement of the prison dur ing the Reign of Terror was as follows: — The principal entry, as at present, was from the inner court-yard which opens into the Palais de Justice. A narrow Gothic door way led to a small inner courtyard, at the far end of which was the guiehet, or turnstile, a low door about three feet and a half high, to enter which the prisoners were obliged to bend nearly double, or even crawl on their hands and knees. Once within, they found

HALL OF THE GIRONDINS.

was cheerful enough, for the first story was occupied by a series of fashionable shops for the sale of gloves, perfumery, ribbons, and nick-nacks. Under these shops, and indeed surrounding them on all sides, was a series of dismal dungeons in which persons con victed of treason were detained pending their sentence and its execution. In 1825, the greater part of the old prison was destroyed, and with the exception of the two picturesque towers known as Julius Caesar and Montgomerie, and the cell of Marie Antoinette, nothing of the original building remains in tact. According to a very minute plan taken

themselves in a large and well-lighted chamber, where they were confronted by the chief jailer, Richard. Beyond his salon was a long dark passage, in which the women were kept until they were wanted pour la toilette. Sometimes they remained here a month, their food being handed to them through a narrow slit in the wall. Not a few died from the effects of the horrible stenches with which this stifling corridor was always filled; for the unfortunates were not allowed to leave it for a moment, day or night. A little to the left was a spacious cloister, surrounded by arcades, and having