--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.
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