as carefully replaced, and the
intervening mortar as carefully preserved; the whole had, probably, been
whitewashed a hundred times; and, that I might fill up all remaining
interstices, I pounded the white stuff this afforded, wetted it, made a
brush of my hair, then applied this plaster, washed it over, that the
colour might be uniform, and afterwards stripped myself, and sat with my
naked body against the place, by the heat of which it was dried.

While labouring, I placed the stones and bricks upon my bedstead, and had
they taken the precaution to come at any other time in the week, the
stated Wednesday excepted, I had inevitably been discovered; but, as no
such ill accident befell me, in six months my Herculean labours gave me a
prospect of success.

Means were to be found to remove the rubbish from my prison; all of
which, in a wall so thick, it was impossible to replace; mortar and stone
could not be removed. I therefore took the earth, scattered it about my
chamber, and ground it under my feet the whole day, till I had reduced it
to dust; this dust I strewed in the aperture of my window, making use of
the loosened night-table to stand upon, I tied splinters from my bedstead
together, with the ravelled yarn of an old stocking, and to this I
affixed a tuft of my hair. I worked a large hole under the middle
grating, which could not be seen when standing on the ground, and through
this I pushed my dust with the tool I had prepared in the outer window,
then, waiting till the wind should happen to rise, during the night I
brushed it away, it was blown off, and no appearance remained on the
outside. By this simple expedient I rid myself of at least three hundred
weight of earth, and thus made room to continue my labours; yet, this
being still insufficient, I had recourse to another artifice, which was
to knead up the earth in the form of sausages, to resemble the human
faeces: these I dried, and when the prisoner came to clean my dungeon,
hastily tossed them into the night-table, and thus disencumbered myself
of a pound or two more of earth each week. I further made little balls,
and, when the sentinel was walking, blew them, through a paper tube, out
of the window. Into the empty space I put my mortar and stones, and
worked on successfully.

I cannot, however, describe my difficulties after having penetrated about
two feet into the hewn stone. My tools were the irons I had dug out,
which fastened may bedstead a