49. ESCAPE FROM THE BASTILLE.

(1749-1756.)

To any man who had the least notion of the situation of the Bastille, its extent, its towers, its discipline, and the incredible precautions to chain its victims, the mere idea of escaping from it would appear the effect of insanity, and would inspire nothing but pity for a wretch so devoid of sense as to dare to conceive it.

A moment's reflection would show that it was hopeless to attempt an escape by the gates. We had no resource but by the outside. There was in our chamber a fireplace, the chimney of which came out in the extreme height of the tower; it was full of gratings and bars of iron, which in several parts of it scarcely left a free passage for the smoke. Should we be able to get to the top of the tower, we should have below us a precipice of great height, at the bottom of which was a broad ditch, surrounded by a very lofty wall.

We were without assistance, without tools, without materials, constantly watched night and day, and guarded, besides, by a great number of sentinels. So many obstacles, so many dangers, did not deter me. I hinted my scheme to my comrade; he thought me a madman, and relapsed into despair. I was obliged alone to digest my plan, to anticipate the frightful host of difficulties, and find the means of remedying them all.

To accomplish our object, we had to climb to

the top of the chimney, notwithstanding the many iron gratings which were opposed to our ascent; and then, in order to descend from the top of the tower into the ditch, we required a ladder of eighty feet at least, and another ladder, necessarily of wood, to get out of the ditch. If I could get these materials, I must hide them from every eye, must work without noise, deceive all our spies, and this for months together.

Our first

Now for the details of my operations. object was to find a place of concealment for our tools and materials, in case we should be so fortunate as to procure any. By dint of reflecting on the subject, a thought struck me which appeared to me a very happy one. I had occupied several different chambers in the Bastille, and had always observed, whenever the chambers either above or below me were inhabited, that I had heard very distinctly any noise made in either. On the present occasion I heard all the movements of the prisoner above, but not of him below; nevertheless I felt confident there was a prisoner there. I conjectured at last that there might be a double floor with a space between.

By making a calculation, I came to the conclusion that there must be, between the floor of our chamber and the ceiling of that below, a space of five feet six inches, which could not be filled up either by stones or wood on account of their weight. As soon as we were shut up and bolted in, I embraced D'Alegre with delight. "My friend," said I, “ patience and courage; we are saved! We can hide our ropes

and materials; that is all that is wanted! saved!"

We are

"What!" said he, "have you not given up your dreams? Ropes and materials! where are they, and where shall we get them?" "Ropes!" said I; “why, we have more than we want: that trunk" (showing him mine)" contains a thousand feet of them." Looking at me steadfastly, he replied, "My good friend, try to regain your senses and to calm your frenzy. I know the contents of your trunk: there is not a single inch of rope in it." "Ay," said I; "but have I not a large stock of linen-twelve dozen of shirts, a great number of napkins, stockings, nightcaps, and other things; will not they supply us? We will unravel them, and we shall have ropes enough.”

But how are we to extract the iron gratings of our chimney?" said D'Alegre. "Where are we to get the materials for the wooden ladder which we shall want? where obtain tools for all these works? We cannot create things." 'My friend," I replied,

it is genius which creates; and we have that which despair gives, that will guide our hands. Once more, we are saved!" We had a flat table supported by iron legs; we gave them an edge by rubbing them on the tiled floor. Of the steel of our tinder-box we made, in less than two hours, a good knife, with which we formed two handles to these iron legs. The principal use of these was to force out the gratings of our chimney.

In the evenings, after the daily inspection, with these iron legs we raised some tiles of our floor; and

by digging for about six hours, we discovered that there was a vacant space of about four feet between the floor and the ceiling. We replaced the tiles, so that they scarcely appeared to have been raised.

This done, we ripped the seams and hems of two shirts, and drew out the threads of them one by one. We twisted these and formed a cord about fifty-five feet long, and with it constructed a rope ladder, which was intended to support us aloft while we drew the bars and spikes of iron out of the chimney.

This was the most painful and troublesome of our labours, and cost us six months' toil, the recollection of which makes one shudder. We could only work by bending our bodies in the most painful positions; an hour at a time was all we could well bear, and we never came down without hands covered with blood. The iron bars were fastened with an extremely hard mortar, which we had no means of softening but by blowing water with our mouths into the holes as we worked them.

Judge what this work must have been when we were well pleased if, in a whole night, we had worked away the eighth of an inch of this mortar. When we got a bar out, we replaced it in its holes, that when we were inspected the deficiency might not appear, and so as to enable us to take all of them out at once should we be in a situation to escape. After six months of this obstinate and cruel work, we applied ourselves to the wooden ladder which was necessary to mount from the ditch upon the parapet,