Belgium and Western Germany in 1833 Volume 2; Including Visits to Baden-Baden, Wiesbaden, Cassel, Hanover, the Harz Mountains (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SECRET TRIBUNAL. 55 CHAPTER XIV. Confinement in the Secret Tribunal ? Spiral Staircase ? Chamber from which the Prisoners were let down ? Theatre ? Gambling?Strasbourg?Cathedral ?Mummies?Maniac?Monument of Marechal Saxe ? Return to Baden ? Remarkable Characters?Departure. I Have already dwelt so long on the chambers of the Secret Tribunal, that I am almost afraid to recur to them again: and yet our second visit deserves to be mentioned, because we are probably the only persons who have been fairly locked up within their ghastly precincts since the days of the francs Juges, Our motives for returning to the dismal scene were twofold;?one being to indulge Mr. H. in his wish for a sketch of the passage leading to the Oubliette: and the other to try if we could persuade our black-eyed Alsacienne to let us mount to the chamber from whence prisoners were let down in the dungeons. By the aid of perseverance we succeeded in both. The damsel seemed rather surprised at seeing us again; and, when informed of our wish to be 56 OUBLIETTE. permitted to remain for some time in the vaults, looked as if she suspected that we had, one and all, lost our wits. I shall not forget the look she gave Mr. H. when he made her understand his object. " Faire un tableau la!" she exclaimed;'' mais c'est drole." After thinking about it for a moment, she said; that if we were determined upon this, we must consent to be locked up in the dungeons; for that she was particularly enjoined never to leave them open. I am not quite sure that this was not said to try my courage; for there was "a laughing devil in her eye" that made it by no means improbable. However, I did not shrink from the undertaking; and we were accordingly once more led down to this region of blackest night. Having told us t...