I write to you just as things come into my head, having taken very few
notes, and those, as you must perceive, often without much regard to
_unison_ or _time_. It has this minute occurred to me, that I omitted to
tell you on my journey onwards, that I visited a little town in
_Picardie_, called _Ham_, where there is so strong a castle, that it may
be called a _petit Bastile_, and which was then and still is, full of
state prisoners and debtors. To this castle there is a monstrous tower,
the walls of which are thirty six feet thick, and the height and
circumference are proportionable thereto; it was built by the _Conetable
de St. Paul_, in order to shut up his master, _Charles_ the VIth, King
of France, and contemporary, I think, with our _Henry_ the Vth; but such
are the extraordinary turns of all human affairs, that _Mons. le
Conetable_ was shut up in it himself many years, and ended his days
there.--The fate of this constable brings to my mind a circumstance that
happened under my _administration_, at _Land-Guard Fort_, when the King
was pleased to trust me with the command of it. I had not been
twenty-four hours in possession of what I thought a small sovereignty,
before I received a letter in the following terms:
"SIR, Having observed horses grazing on the covered way, that _hath_
done apparent damage, and may do more, I think it my duty to inform you,
that his Majesty does not permit horses to feed thereon, &c. &c.
(Signed)
"ANTHONY GOODE,
Overseer of the Works."
I never was more surprized, than to find my wings were to be thus clipt,
by a civil officer of the board of ordnance; however wrong I or my
horses had acted, I could not let Mr. GOODE _graze_ so closely upon my
authority, without a reprimand; I therefore wrote him an answer in terms
as follow: "that having seen a fat impudent-looking strutting fellow
about the garrison, it was my order that when his duty led him to
communicate any thing to me relative to the works thereof, that he came
himself, instead of writing impertinent letters." Mr. _Goode_ sent a
copy of his letter and mine to Sir _Charles Frederick_; and the post
following, he received from the Office of Ordnance, several printed
papers in the King's name, forbidding horses grazing on the WORKS, and
_ordering Mr. Goode_ to nail those orders up in different parts of the
garrison! but as I had not then learnt that either he, or his _red
ribband master_, had any authority to give out, even the King's orders,
in a garrison I commanded, but through my hands, I took the liberty,
while Mr. _Goode_ and his assistant-son were nailing one up _opposite to
my parlour window_, to send for a file of men and put them both into the
Black-hold, an apartment Mr. _Goode_ had himself built, being a
Master-Mason. By the time he had been ten minutes _grazing_ under this
_covered way_, he sent me a message, that he was _asthmatic_, that the
place was too close, and that if he died within a _year and a day_, I
must be deemed accessary to his death. But as I thought Mr. _Goode_
should have considered, that some of the poor invalids too might now and
then be as subject to the asthma as he, it was a proper punishment, and
I kept him there till he knew the duty of a soldier, as well as that of
a mason; and as I would _his betters_, had they come down and ventured
to have given out orders in a garrison under my command; but instead of
getting me punished as a _certain gentleman_ aimed at, that able General
_Lord Ligonier_ approved my conduct, and removed the man to another
garrison, and would have dismissed him the ordnance service, had I not
become a petitioner in his favour; for he was too fat and old to work,
too proud and arrogant to beg, and he and _his advisers_ too
contemptible to be angry with.--But I must return to the castle of
_Ham_, to tell you what a dreadful black-hold there is in that tower; it
is a trap called by the French _des Obliettes_, of so horrible a
contrivance, that when the prisoners are to suffer in it, the mechanical
powers are so constructed, as to render it impossible to be again
opened, nor would it signify, but to see the body _molue_, i.e. ground
to pieces.
There were formerly two or three _Obliettes_ in this castle; one only
now remains; but there are still several in the _Bastile_.--When a
criminal suffers this frightful death, (for perhaps it is not very
painful) he has no previous notice, but being led into the apartment, is
overwhelmed in an instant. It is to be presumed, however, that none but
criminals guilty of high crimes, suffer in this manner; for the state
prisoners in the _Bastile_ are not only well lodged, but liberal tables
are kept for them.
An Irish officer was lately enlarged from the _Bastile_, who had been
twenty-seven years confined there; and though he found a great sum of
money in the place he had concealed it in a little before his
confinement, he told Colonel C----, of Fitz-James's regiment, that
"having out-lived his acquaintance with the world, as well as with men,
he would willingly return there again."
At _Ham_ the prisoners for debt are quite separated from the state
prisoners; the latter are in the castle, the former in the tower.
The death of _Lewis_ the XVth gave liberty to an infinite number of
unhappy people, and to many who would have been enlarged before, but had
been forgotten. When one of these unhappy people (a woman of fashion)
was told she might go out; then, (said she) I am sure _Lewis_ the XVth
is dead; an event she knew nothing of, tho' it was a full year after the
King's death.--Things are otherwise conducted now than in his reign; a
wicked vain woman then commanded with unlimited power, both in war and
domestic concerns. In this reign, there are able, and I believe virtuous
ministers.
I suppose you think as I did, that Madame _Pompadour_ governed by her
own powerful charms; but that was not the case; she governed as many
other women do, by borrowed charms; she had a correspondence all over
the kingdom, and offices of intelligence, where _youth_, _beauty_, and
_innocence_, were registered, which were sent to her according to order;
upon the arrival of the _goods_, they were dressed, and trained for
_use_, under her inspection, till they were fit to be _shewn up_. She
had no regard to birth, for a shoe-maker's daughter of great beauty,
belonging to one of the Irish brigades, being introduced to the King,
he asked her whether she knew him? No: she did not: But did you ever see
me before, or any body like me? She had not, but thought him very like
the face on the _gros Eccuis_ of France. Madame _Pompadour_ soon found
out which of these girls proved most agreeable to the King, and such
were retained, the others dismissed.--The expence of this traffick was
immense. I am assured where difficulties of birth or fashion fell in the
way, ten thousand pounds sterling have been given. Had _Lewis_ the XVth
lived a few years longer, he would have ruined his kingdom. _Lewis_ the
XVIth bids fair to aggrandize it.