This is just the sort of tower which seemed fitted for that inscrutable tyrant, Louis XI.; who wrote upon one of the windows, with a diamond, these words: "_O la grande Folie_!" alluding, it was believed, to what he considered his weakness, in having abandoned Guienne to his brother.
The fortifications of La Rochelle were very extensive formerly, the gates numerous.

La Porte Malvaut or Mauleon, La Porte Rambaud, du Petit Comte, de St.Nicolas, de Verite, des Canards, de Mauclair, de la Vieille Poterie, de la Grande Rue du Port, de la Petit Rue du Port, de Perot and du Pont-Vert, tell their age by their antique names.

There are but few vestiges of any of these gates, except that of Cougnes, of the ancient Porte Neuve, and la Porte Maubec: but, besides all these, there are seven still existing.

To complete the defences, there were formerly, _without_ the gates, two forts of great strength, one called St.Louis and Des Deux Moulins, the ruins of which still exist near the fine pyramidal Tour de la Lanterne, the most conspicuous of all, now used as a prison, which raises its head far above every tower and spire of La Rochelle, and which must show its _pharos_ at a great distance at sea.

The architecture of this tower is remarkable, and its ornaments very beautiful: the spire that sustains its lantern is like that of a church adorned with graceful foliage to the top: it dates from 1445, and has been repaired at different periods.