“My two lieutenants give them to eat at fixed hours, as they have seen me do, and as I still do very often when I am well; and this is how, Monseigneur. The senior of my lieutenants takes the keys of the prison of my _old prisoner_, with whom they commence, opens the three doors and enters the chamber of the prisoner, who politely hands him the dishes and plates which he has placed on the top of one another in order to give them to the lieutenant, who only goes out through two of the doors to hand them to one of my sergeants, who receives them and carries them to a table two paces off, where is my second lieutenant, who examines everything that enters or leaves the prison, so that he may see that there is nothing written on the plate; and after everything necessary has been given him [the prisoner], a search is made in and under his bed and among the window-bars of his chamber, as well as in the whole of the chamber, and very often on himself; after having very civilly asked him if he has need of anything, they shut the doors and go to do the same for the other prisoners. “Twice a week their table-linen is changed, as well as their shirts and the linen of which they make use, which is given to them and taken away again after having been counted and after everything has been well searched. “One can be very much cheated about the linen when it leaves and enters for the service of prisoners who are people of consideration, as I have had some who have wished to bribe the laundresses, who have acknowledged to me, which they had little difficulty in doing, what had been said to them, on account of which I used to have all their linen steeped in water on leaving their chambers, and when it was clean and half dry, the laundresses came to iron and smooth it in my apartments in the presence of one of my lieutenants, who locked up the baskets in a chest until they were handed over to the servants of messieurs the prisoners. There is much to be distrusted in candles; I have found some which on being broken or used contained paper instead of wicks. I used to send to buy some at Turin at shops not tampered with. It is also very dangerous for ribbon to leave a prisoner’s apartment, as he writes on it as on linen without any one being aware of it. “The late Monsieur Fouquet made fine and good paper on which I allowed him to write, and afterwards I went and took it from a little pocket which he had made in the seat of his breeches, which I sent to Monseigneur your late father.” [The commencement of the second leaf has been torn; the following only remains:--]