It will be observed that, on Malesherbes' showing, the Bastille would not suffice to punish the _Preface to the Comedy_, nor even the For-l'Evêque; he asks for the most stringent of the prisons, Bicêtre. Before long, it is true, this excellent man returned to milder sentiments. An imprisonment at Bicêtre, he wrote, would be infamous. Saint-Florentin and Sartine were not hard to convince. Morellet was taken to the Bastille. "The warrant for his arrest," wrote one of his agents to Malesherbes, "was executed this morning by Inspector D'Hémery with all the amenities possible in so unpleasant a business. D'Hémery knows the Abbé Morellet, and has spoken of him to M. de Sartine in the most favourable terms." When he entered the Bastille the Abbé calculated that his imprisonment would last six months, and after acknowledging that he at that time viewed his detention without great distress, he adds: "I am bound to say, to lower the too high opinion that may be formed of me and my courage, that I was marvellously sustained by a thought which rendered my little virtue more easy. I saw some literary glory illumining the walls of my prison; persecuted, I must be better known. The men of letters whom I had avenged, and the philosophy for which I was a martyr, would lay the foundation of my reputation. The men of the world, who love satire, would receive me better than ever. A career was opening before me, and I should be able to pursue it at greater advantage. These six months at the Bastille would be an excellent recommendation, and would infallibly make my fortune." The Abbé remained at the Bastille, not six months, but six weeks, "which slipped away," he observes "--I chuckle still as I think of them--very pleasantly for me." He spent his time in reading romances, and, with admirable humour, in writing a _Treatise on the Liberty of the Press_. Afterwards the good Abbé informs us that the hopes which he had indulged were not deceived. On issuing from the Bastille he was a made man. Little known two months before, he now met everywhere with the reception he desired. The doors of the salons of Madame de Boufflers, Madame Necker, the Baron d'Holbach, flew open before him; women pitied him and admired him, and men followed their example. Why have we not to-day a Bastille to facilitate the career of writers of talent! MARMONTEL. To Marmontel his stay at the royal prison appeared as pleasant as the Abbé Morellet had found his. He had amused himself by reciting at Madame Geoffrin's a mordant satire in which the Duke d'Aumont, first groom of the stole to the king, was cruelly hit. The duke expostulated; Marmontel wrote to him declaring that he was not the author of the satire; but the nobleman stood his ground.