half-past seven. Among the articles produced
in the workroom are toy balloons, Venetian lanterns, and, in general,
all those materials for the illuminations with which Paris amuses itself
on nights of festival. The fine gentlemen in the first and second
quarters of the prison, instead of partaking of the meagre prison fare,
are nourished at the expense of the State by some restaurant designated
by themselves. This prison was erected in 1635 by the Order of the Soeurs
Repenties; it was a prison for debt till 1793; until the suppression of
the Garde Nationale, it was known familiarly as _Prison des Haricots_
[beans], because those refractory citizens who objected to serving in
this corps were here confined on a strictly vegetable diet. In the
chapel which serves as the refectory is preserved a relic of
Sainte-Pelagie. Madame de Beauharnais, afterward the Empress Josephine,
was here imprisoned in a chamber, which is still shown, on the second
floor.

In the Grande-Roquette (Depot des Condamnes), in the Rue de la Roquette,
are confined those condemned to death, or to deportation to some penal
colony. As late as the first months of 1899, the executions were public,
the guillotine being erected in front of the prison, in the space
between it and the Rue de la Roquette; the locality was marked by five
large oblong stone slabs in the pavement of the sidewalk. Hereafter the
executions will take place in the Place Saint-Jacques; and the prisoners
condemned to death will be confined in the Prison de la Sante. The three
cells devoted to these unfortunates in the Grande-Roquette were larger
than the others, and the condemned man enjoyed certain privileges. He
was not compelled to work, he was given meat every day, he could smoke,
read and write, and play cards with the two guards who kept him company
day and night until the moment when Monsieur de Paris took possession of
him. In the chapel, an upper lodge or box was provided for him, where,
behind a grating, he could hear the mass without being seen by those
below. The library which was at the disposal of these unfortunates, and
which was their principal distraction, included some four thousand
volumes. The books most read were novels and romances, and of these the
works of Dumas pere were the favorites. After these came those of
Alphonse Karr, Mayne Reid, Eugene Sue, books of travels, and the
_Magasin pittoresque_.

For those condemned to lighter penalties, the regulations were m