ases, that the water to be administered to the
prisoners shall be taken from "the next sink or puddle nearest to the
jail."[E] It was further ordered, that one of the turnkeys should sleep
in the cell that formed a sort of anti-chamber to my apartment. Though
every convenience was provided, to render this chamber fit for the
reception of a personage of a dignity so superior to the felon he was
appointed to guard, he expressed much dissatisfaction at the mandate:
but there was no alternative.

[Footnote E: In the case of the _peine forte et dure_. See State Trials,
Vol. I. _anno_ 1615.]

The situation to which I was thus removed was, apparently, the most
undesirable that could be imagined but I was not discouraged; I had for
some time learned not to judge by appearances. The apartment was dark
and unwholesome; but I had acquired the secret of counteracting these
influences. My door was kept continually shut, and the other prisoners
were debarred access to me; but if the intercourse of our fellow-men has
its pleasure, solitude, on the other hand, is not without its
advantages. In solitude we can pursue our own thoughts undisturbed; and
I was able to call up at will the most pleasing avocations. Besides
which, to one who meditated such designs as now filled my mind, solitude
had peculiar recommendations. I was scarcely left to myself, before I
tried an experiment, the idea of which I conceived, while they were
fixing my handcuffs; and, with my teeth only, disengaged myself from
this restraint. The hours at which I was visited by the keepers were
regular, and I took care to be provided for them. Add to which, I had a
narrow grated window near the ceiling, about nine inches in
perpendicular, and a foot and a half horizontally, which, though small,
admitted a much stronger light than that to which I had been accustomed
for several weeks. Thus circumstanced, I scarcely ever found myself in
total darkness, and was better provided against surprises than I had
been in my preceding situation. Such were the sentiments which this
change of abode immediately suggested.

I had been a very little time removed, when I received an unexpected
visit from Thomas, Mr. Falkland's footman, whom I have already mentioned
in the course of my narrative. A servant of Mr. Forester happened to
come to the town where I was imprisoned, a few weeks before, while I was
confined with the hurt in my ankle, and had called in to see me. The
account he gav