Volume II Part 64 (1/2)

I have noticed at other times that surprise at a deed of oppression acts on me as a powerful narcotic, but I found out at the tireat surprise is also a diuretic I make this discovery over to the doctors, it is possible that some learned man may hing very heartily at Prague six years ago, on learning that soht froreat offence at the above account, which they thought I should have done well to leave out I should have left it out, perhaps, in speaking to a lady, but the public is not a pretty wo, my only aim is to be instructive Indeed, I see no impropriety in the circumstance I have narrated, which is as co; and if there is anything in it to shock too sensitive nerves, it is that we reses

It is probable that just as th by the loss of the thinking faculty, so reat part of those fluids which by their continual circulation set the thinking faculty in ht cause instantaneous death, and send one to Paradise by a cut much too short

In course of time the captain of the men-at-arms came to tell me that he was under orders to take me under the Leads Without a word I followed hi the sot into the Grand Canal, and landed at the prison quay After clie which fore's palace, crossing the canal called Rio di Palazzo On the other side of this bridge there is a gallery which we traversed We then crossed one room, and entered another, where sat an individual in the dress of a noble, who, after looking fixedly at me, said, ”E quello, mettetelo in deposito:”

This man was the secretary of the Inquisitors, the prudent Dominic Cavalli, as apparently ashamed to speak Venetian in e

Messer-Grande then made me over to the warden of The Leads, who stood by with an enoruards, hts of stairs, at the top of which followed a passage and then another gallery, at the end of which he opened a door, and I foundby twelve broad, badly lighted by ahigh up in the roof I thought this garret wasan enoraoler opened a thick door lined with iron, three and a half feet high, with a round hole in theintently at an iron machine This machine was like a horse shoe, an inch thick and about five inches across fro what could be the use to which this horrible instruaoler said, with a smile,

”I see, sir, that you wish to knohat that is for, and as it happens I can satisfy your curiosity When their excellencies give orders that anyone is to be strangled, he is made to sit down on a stool, the back turned to this collar, and his head is so placed that the collar goes round one half of the neck A silk band, which goes round the other half, passes through this hole, and the two ends are connected with the axle of a wheel which is turned by sohost, for the confessor, God be thanked! never leaves hienious, and I should think that it is you who have the honour of turning the wheel”

Hetodouble, he shut rated hole what I would like to eat

”I haven't thought anything about it yet,” I answered And he went away, locking all the doors carefully behind hirief, I leantIt was crossed, by six iron bars an inch thick, which forhtedthe roof which joined the wall below thehad not intercepted what little light ca the tour of my sad abode, my head lowered, as the cell was notthat it formed three-quarters of a square of twelve feet The fourth quarter was a kind of recess, which would have held a bed; but there was neither bed, nor table, nor chair, nor any furniture whatever, except a bucket--the use of which uessed, and a bench fixed in the wall a foot wide and four feet froround On it I placed my cloak, my fine suit, and my hat trimmed with Spanish paint and adorned with a beautiful white feather The heat was great, and , the only place where I could lean on ht in the garret, and rats of a fearful size, which walked unconcernedly about it; these horrible creatures cohtest fear At the sight of these I hastened to close up the round hole in the middle of the door with an inside shutter, for a visit froht hours in silence and without stirring,

At last the clock roused an to feel restless that no one ca ht at least let me have a chair and some bread and water I had no appetite, certainly; but were uess as much? And never in my life had I been so thirsty

I was quite sure, however, that somebody would coht o'clock strike I beca and fu this useless hubbub with loud cries Afterno one, without the slightest reason to think I could be heard, and shrouded in darkness, I shut the grating for fear of the rats, and threw th upon the floor So cruel a desertion seemed to me unnatural, and I came to the conclusion that the Inquisitors had sworn ation as to what I had done to deserve such a fate was not a long one, for in the most scrupulous examination of my conduct I could find no criaht of little besides enjoying this present life, but in all that there was no offence against the state Nevertheless, finding e and despair ainst the horrible despotism which oppressed uess, but which I will not repeat here But notwithstanding an to make itself felt, and the thirst which tormented me, and the hardness of the boards on which I lay, did not prevent exhausted nature fro constitution was in need of sleep; and in a young and healthy subject this imperious necessity silences all others, and in this way above all is sleep rightly terht awoke ret one's empty dreams I could scarcely believe that I had spent three painless hours As I lay on eton that side I felt about for it, when--heavens! as ht sent an electric shock through an to stand on end

Never had I been so alarhtsuch terror I passed three or four minutes in a kind of swoon, not only ot back rees, I tried to make myself believe that the hand I fancied I had touched was a ination; and with this idea I stretched out ain with the sa cry, and, dropping the hand I held, I drew back ot a little cal, I concluded that a corpse had been placed beside me whilst I slept, for I was certain it was not there when I lay down

”This,” said I, ”is the body of soled wretch, and they would thus warn ht e, for the third ti it toto get up, I rose upon ot hold of ht of my body and the hardness of the boards, it had lost warmth, motion, and all sensation

In spite of the humorous features in this incident, it did not cheer me up, but, on the contrary, inspired me with the darkest fancies I saw that I was in a place where, if the false appeared true, the truthwas bereaved of half its prerogatives, where the i affected would either make the reason a victiuard; and for the first tie of thirty, I called philosophy to my assistance I had within me all the seeds of philosophy, but so far I had had no need for it

I aht, in the proper sense of the word, not so ood sense, but rather because the shock necessary to the reasoning faculty in its inception has never occurred to them to lift them out of their daily habits

After what I had experienced, I could think of sleep no et up would have been useless as I could not stand upright, so I took the only sensible course and re, the sun would rise at five, and I longed to see the day, for a presentiain at liberty I was consue, nor did I conceal it from myself I saw myself at the head of the people, about to exterminate the Government which had oppressed me; I massacred all the aristocrats without pity; all ht to the dust

I was delirious; I knew the authors of my misfortune, and in ht co obedient only to the law, and of being tried only by their peers and by laws to which they have agreed-in short, I built castles in Spain Such ispassion He does not suspect that the principle which reatest enemy

I waited for a less time than I had expected, and thus I became a little more quiet At half-past four the deadly silence of the place--this hell of the living--was broken by the shriek of bolts being shot back in the passages leading to my cell

”Have you had time yet to think about what you will take to eat?” said the harsh voice of aoler from the wicket

One is lucky when the insolence of a wretch like this only shews itself in the guise of jesting I answered that I should like some rice soup, a piece of boiled beef, a roast, bread, wine, and water I saw that the lout was astonished not to hear the laain in a quarter of an hour to say that he was astonished I did not require a bed and the necessary pieces of furniture, ”for” said he, ”if you flatter yourself that you are only here for a night, you are veryo for it? Here is a pencil and paper; write it down”

I skewed his, and clothes of all sorts, a bed, table, chair, the books which Messer-Grande had confiscated, paper, pens, and so forth Onout the list to him (the lout did not kno to read) he cried, ”Scratch out,” said he, ”scratch out books, paper, pens, looking-glass and razors, for all that is forbidden fruit here, and then give ave hiaged, as I learnt afterwards, in attending on seven other prisoners ere imprisoned in cells placed far apart from each other to prevent all coaoler reappeared followed by five guards, whose duty it was to serve the state prisoners He opened: the cell door to bring in my dinner and the furniture I had asked for The bed was placed in the recess; my dinner was laid out on a small table, and I had to eat with an ivory spoon he had procured out of the ed tools being forbidden