CHAPTER XXVII.
The Puritan's Prison.
Hugh Calveley, it has already been intimated, was lodged in a vault beneath the gateway.

The place was commonly used as a sort of black-hole for the imprisonment of any refractory member of the royal household, or soldier on guard guilty of neglect of duty.

Circular in shape, it contained a large pillar, to which iron rings and chains were attached.
The walls were of stone, the roof arched with ribs springing from the pillar that supported it, and the floor was paved.

Window there was none; but air was admitted through a small grated aperture in the roof; and thus imperfectly ventilated, it will not be wondered at that the vault should be damp.

Moisture constantly trickled down the walls, and collected in pools on the broken pavement; but unwholesome as it was, and altogether unfit for occupation, it was deemed good enough for those generally thrust into it, and far too good for its present tenant.
As the prisoner exhibited no violence, the thongs with which his hands were bound were removed on his entrance to the vault, and he was allowed the free use of his limbs.