Not so, O poet! We shall never see again what we have seen; the phantom child which you have invoked from its premature grave was only to be seen by history as a pale spectre held up to view in a dim poetic distance, as Astyanax or Britannicus; the days that have been we shall know no more. But the future was reserving a still more extraordinary vision for us, which was to confirm the words Dr. Schlegel said to me in 1838: "History has been invented to prove the futility of the examples she sets before us." Meanwhile Barthélemy was being sentenced to three months' imprisonment and a fine of 1000 francs, in spite of, or perhaps because of, his pleading. But if the prisoner had not done with Justice, neither had Justice done with the prisoner. Barthélemy was hardly inside the prison before he received the following letter from M. Guillebert, Registrar:-- "PARIS, 6 _May_ 1830 "MONSIEUR,--I had the honour of asking you in my letter of 22 March last, to settle the fines and expenses which you were sentenced to pay by order of the Royal Court on 7 January last, amounting to:-- _Invoice_ francs Fine.. 1,000 00 Ten per cent.. 100 00 Legal expenses and appeal ditto.. 81 45 Total, 1,181 45 "I repeat my request, as I made a mistake in my first application, for 1208 francs 95 centimes. I beg you to discharge these payments by the 10th instant, to avoid the putting into execution of legal methods according to Article 52 of the _Code pénal._ "I have the honour to remain "GUILLEBERT, _Registrar"_ And M. Guillebert, who would have been as polite to any prisoner but would, undoubtedly, not have been so punctilious with him if he had not been a poet, had the complaisance to put that 52nd Article of the _Code pénal_, to which he alluded so delicately, in a postscript. This is the article which, I suppose, has remained unaltered under the government of King Louis-Philippe I., and under that of M. Bonaparte:-- _Article_ 52 "Distraining for fines, restitutions, damages and interest, and for costs, can be enforced by means of imprisonment." To this letter Barthélemy replied, on 9 May 1830, by an epistle entitled _La Bourse ou la Prison._ But in comparison with Fontan and Magallon, Barthélemy had nothing to complain of: he was lodged in a palace. The palace was rent free, but he gives us the tariff for the cost of furnishing it:-- francs Ordinary bed, two mattresses, sheets, one blanket and bolster . . . . . . 4 50 For every extra blanket. . . . . 6 50 One pillow . . . . . 9 50 One chair. . . . . . 6 50