The career of an unlucky criminal may thus be described in his own picturesque but awful language. The “pègre” (_thief_), or “escarpe” (_murderer_), who has been imprudent enough to allow himself to be “paumé marron” (_caught in the act_) whilst busy effecting a “choppin” (_theft_), or committing the more serious offence of “faire un gas à la dure” (_to rob with violence_), using the knife when “lavant son linge dans la saignante” (_murdering_), or yet the summary process of breaking into a house and killing all the inmates, “faire une maison entière,” will probably be taken by “la rousse” (_police_), first of all before the “quart d’œil” (_police magistrate_), from whose office he will be conveyed to the dépôt in the “panier à salade” (_prison van_), having perhaps in the meanwhile spent a night in the “violon” (_cells at the police station_). In due time he will be brought into the presence of a very inquisitive person, the “curieux,” who will do his utmost to pump him, “entraver dans ses flanches,” or make him reveal his accomplices, “manger le morceau,” or, again, to say all he knows about the affair, “débiner le truc.” From two to six months after this preliminary examination, he will be brought into the awful presence of the “léon” (_president of assize court_), at the “carré des gerbes,” where he sits in his red robes, administering justice. Now, suffering from a violent attack of “fièvre” (_charge_), the prisoner puts all his hopes in his “parrains d’altèque” (_witnesses for the defence_), and in his “médecin” (_counsel_), who will try whether a “purgation” (_speech for the defence_) will not cure him of his ailment, especially should he have an attack of “redoublement de fièvre” (_new charge_). Should the medicine be ineffectual, and the “hésiteurs opinants” (_jurymen_) have pronounced against him, he leaves the “planche au pain” (_bar_) to return whence he came, to the “hôpital” (_prison_), which he will only leave when “guéri” (_free_). But should he be “un cheval de retour” (_old offender_), he will probably be given a free passage to go “se laver les pieds dans le grand pré” (_be transported_) to “La Nouvelle” (_New Caledonia_), or “Cayenne les Eaux;” or, worse still, he may be left for some time in the “boîte au sel” (_condemned cell_) at La Roquette, attired in a “ligotante de rifle” (_strait waistcoat_), attended by a “mouton” (_spy_), who tries to get at his secrets, and now and then receiving the exhortations of the “ratichon” (_priest_). At an early hour one morning he is apprised by the “maugrée” (_director_) that he is to suffer the penalty of the law. After “la toilette” by “Charlot” (_cutting off the hair by the executioner_), he is assisted to the “Abbaye de Monte-à-regret” (_guillotine_), where, after the “sanglier” (_priest_) has given him a final embrace, the “soubrettes de Charlot” (_executioner’s assistants_) seize him, and make him play “à la main chaude” (_hot cockles_).