Of the life of the prisoners inside the prison little is known. We know that Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt procured the privilege of holding a market and a fair at Princetown, and that daily markets were held within the precincts of the prison for the sale by the country people of vegetables, etc., to the prisoners. There are rumours that the prisoners gambled away their clothing and rations; but their life as prisoners on Dartmoor must have been infinitely preferable to that endured by those who were previous thereto confined in hulks and transports; but the details of the life are wanting, and even the pamphlet written by Capt. Vernon Harris, for many years Governor of Dartmoor Prison after it was re-opened, gives no great information on the subject. Many writers of fiction have founded romances on the prison and the prisoners, but for the most part on imagination. Probably the best of the kind, and most accurate in detail, is _The Queen of the Moor_, by the Rev. Frederick Adye, who was for many years resident in the district, and therefore well acquainted with the surrounding country and the rumours of the neighbourhood. Monsieur Jules Poulain, a Frenchman who is said to have lived at Princetown to be near a friend who was confined there, has written in the French language an interesting book entitled _Dartmoor, or the Two Sisters_. He, in describing Dartmoor, says:—“Think of the ocean waves changed into granite during a tempestuous storm, and you will then form an idea of what Dartmoor is like,” which indeed gives rather a vivid picture of the rolling hills and valleys. Many of the prisoners of war were allowed out on parole. From Capt. Vernon Harris’ interesting pamphlet we learn the form of parole was as follows:— Whereas the Commissioners for conducting His Majesty’s Transport service and for the care and custody of French officers and sailors detained in England have been pleased to grant A. B. leave to reside in .... upon condition that he gives his parole of honour not to withdraw one mile from the boundaries prescribed there without leave for that purpose from the said Commissioners, that he will behave himself decently and with due regard to the laws of the Kingdom, and also that he will not directly or indirectly hold any correspondence with France during his continuance in England, but by such letter or letters as shall be shewn to the Agent of the said Commissioners under whose care he is or may be in order to their being read and approved by the superiors. He does hereby declare that he having given his parole of honour will keep it inviolably. (Signature)