u_." In just what manner the
punishment was applied one can best imagine for himself.

The Revolutionary role of the Conciergerie is a thing apart from the
purport of this book, hence is not further referred to.

Going back to the time of Francis I, among the famous prisoners of state
were Louis de Berquin, the Comte de Mongomere, the regicides Ravaillac
and Damiens, the Marechal d'Ancre, Cartouche, Mandrin and others.
To-day, as a prison, the Conciergerie still performs its functions
acceptably, safeguarding those up for the assizes, and those condemned
to death before being sent on their long journey.

The three great flanking towers of the Conciergerie are its chief
architectural distinction to-day. That of the left, the largest, is the
Tour d'Argent, that of the middle, the Tour Bonchet, and the third, the
Tour de Cesar or the Tour de l'Horloge. This last is the only one which
has preserved its mediaeval crenulated battlements aloft. The great clock
has been commonly considered the largest timepiece of its kind extant,
but it is doubtful if this now holds good with railways and insurance
companies vying with each other to furnish the hour so legibly that he
who runs may read.

Across the Pont au Change, from the Palais de la Cite, by the Louvre and
out into the Faubourg Saint Antoine, one comes to the Place des Vosges,
the old Place Royale, which occupies almost the same area as was covered
by the courtyard of the Palais des Tournelles, so called from its many
towers.

All around the Palais des Tournelles was located a series of splendid
_hotels prives_ of the nobility. In one of these, the Hotel de Saint
Pol, the king once lodged twenty-two visiting princes of the quality of
Dauphin (the eldest son of a ruling monarch), their suites and
domestics.

Charles V in his time amalgamated with his royal palace three of these
magnificent private dwellings, the Hotel du Petit Musc, the Hotel de
l'Abbe de Saint Maur and the Hotel du Comte d'Etampes.

The palace proper really faced on what is now the Rue Saint Antoine,
opposite the Hotel Saint Pol. Its historic and romantic memories of the
sword and cloak period of gallantry were many, but the edifice was
demolished by the order of Catherine de Medici.

In the palace Charles VI was confined, during the period of his
insanity, by order of the cruel Isabeau de Baviere. The Duke of Bedford,
when regent for the minor Henry VI, lodged here, and upon the expulsion
of the