barity are too well known to need any
repetition here.
This spot is now marked by a wooden cross, enclosed by an iron
railing. The remains of the Prince were dug out on the 20th March,
1816, by order of Louis XVIII. and deposited with solemn funeral
ceremony in a coffin which is placed in the same apartment where the
council of war condemned him to suffer! since transformed info a
chapel. Under a cenotaph, covered with a cloth of gold, is placed the
coffin, with a prodigious large stone lying on it, the same that was
found lying on his head, and which from its weight had crushed his
skull!
The apartment is hung with black cloth, and remains continually
lighted, with a guard placed over it. Mass is daily performed for the
repose of his soul, agreeable to the Catholic religion.
On the lid of the coffin is the following inscription:
Ici est Le Corps
De Tres-Haut, Tres-Puissant Prince
Louis-Antoine-Henri De Bourbon
Duc D'Enghien, Prince du Sang
Pair de France
Mort A Vincennes, Le 21 Mars 1804
A L'age de XXXI Ans VII mois XVIII Jours.
A marble bust of the Prince, by Bosio, is placed at the entrance.
During the periods of 1814 and 1815, when Paris was in possession
of the Allies, Vincennes continued under the command of General
Daumesnil, who declared that he held it for his country until the
Government was settled, and would not open its gates to a foreign
army. It was not attacked either of the times.
It is approached by two gates, with drawbridges, and defended by
cannon on all sides. The fosse is of great depth, and dry, extending,
I should suppose, nearly a quarter of a mile. It has nine towers, of
prodigious height and solidity: the largest, at the south western
angle, called the Donjon, is considerably more elevated than the
others. The principal entrance is fronting the forest, on the north
side, in the form of a triumphal arch, with six pillars, ornamented
in bas-reliefs, and was decorated with marble statues, which were
destroyed when it was seized by the mob.
The Donjon is surrounded by a separate ditch, within the other, of
forty feet depth, and is approached by two draw-bridges; one for
carriages, the other for foot passengers; and the main tower is
flanked by four other angular ones, each having a high turret. The
windows are treble barred within and without, so as to admit but a
faint glimmering light! Three gates of great solidity are to be passed
at the entrance; that which
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