By an excellent arrangement, the Palais de Justice is enabled to lodge
its criminals in one of its dependencies, the prison of the
Conciergerie, whence the guards conduct them directly, by private
staircases, to the court-room where they are to be tried,--thus avoiding
any unseemly exposure of these unfortunates to the populace. An
ingenious supposition as to the origin of the name of this famous
prison, a barracks under the old kings of France, is furnished by M.
Pottet,--that it was inhabited by a certain captain who provided himself
with the title of _Comte des Cierges_ [Count of Candles], concierge,
janitor, or house-porter. Those who are confined in the Conciergerie are
the criminals who are to appear before the Cour d'Assises; those
convicted by the police correctionnelle of the departments, waiting the
result of their appeal to a higher court, and those condemned to death
during the three days which the law allows them for their appearance _en
cassation_.
[Illustration: REVERSE.