Chapter VII.

Another Supper at the Bastile.
Seven o'clock sounded from the great clock of the Bastile, that famous clock, which, like all the accessories of the state prison, the very use of which is a torture, recalled to the prisoners' minds the destination of every hour of their punishment.

The time-piece of the Bastile, adorned with figures, like most of the clocks of the period, represented St.Peter in bonds.

It was the supper hour of the unfortunate captives.
The doors, grating on their enormous hinges, opened for the passage of the baskets and trays of provisions, the abundance and the delicacy of which, as M.de Baisemeaux has himself taught us, was regulated by the condition in life of the prisoner.

We understand on this head the theories of M.de Baisemeaux, sovereign dispenser of gastronomic delicacies, head cook of the royal fortress, whose trays, full-laden, were ascending the steep staircases, carrying some consolation to the prisoners in the shape of honestly filled bottles of good vintages.