“In the evening, the lieutenant of police came, according to custom, to welcome me. I manifested so violent a repugnance to such a populous flock bed, that they were gracious enough to permit me to put on a new covering, and to have the mattress beaten, the whole at my own cost. As feather beds are prohibited articles in the Bastile, doubtless because such luxuries are not suitable for persons to whom the ministry wishes above all things to give lessons of mortification, I was very desirous that, every three months at least, my shabby mattress should have the same kind of renovation. But, though it would have cost him nothing, the proprietory governor opposed it with all his might, ‘because,’ said he, ‘it wears them out.’” Each prisoner was supplied with flint, steel, and tinder, a candle a day, a broom once a week, and a pair of sheets every fortnight. Captives of rank were undoubtedly somewhat better accommodated, and, where there were no particular reasons for annoying them, they were favoured by being allowed to receive articles from their homes; but the common run of convenience and comfort appears not to have gone beyond what is described by M. Linguet. The food of the prisoners was paid for by the king at so much per head, according to a graduated scale; but the supply and management of it were left, seemingly without controul, in the hands of the governor. By this arrangement the prisoners were placed at the mercy of their jailor, who, if he happened to have a great love of gain, and a scanty portion of humanity, might fill his purse by furnishing bad provisions, or not sufficient to sustain life. “There are prisoners in the Bastile,” says Linguet, “who have not more than four ounces of meat at a meal; this has been ascertained more than once by weighing what was given to them; the fact is notorious to all the under officers, who are grieved by it.” In estimating the amount of the wrong thus inflicted, it must be borne in mind, that the man who is in bonds requires more and better nourishment, to keep nature from sinking, than is necessary for the man who is a free agent. There was, in this instance, no excuse for stint. The sum allowed by the king for the maintenance of the captives was exceedingly liberal. It was nearly half a crown a day for an individual of the humblest class; four shillings for a tradesman; eight shillings for a priest, a person in the finance department, or an ordinary judge; twelve shillings for a parliament counsellor; twenty shillings for a lieutenant general in the army; one pound ten for a marshal of France; and two guineas for a prince of the blood. If the sovereign oppressed those who incurred his anger, he at least did not mean to starve them.