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 LIFE OF JOHN HOWARD.
 
 PRISON DIS( [PLINE ; and the Advantages. of the Separate 
 ■ Imprisonment, with :i detailed accounl of She 
 Discipline now pursued in the new County Gaol at Read- 
 . r,\ the Ri v. J. Field, M. A. 2 vols. 8vo. 20*. 
 
 !:. . Mr Field's judicious volume." — Quarterly Review. 
 
 my doubt on this point (the evils of classi- 
 ..>rk. Indeed he ha 
 
 >iili imprisonment, and illustrated 
 strongly recommeud his work to the notice 
 
 i Id is of (he highest value. * 
 
 t." — / aw Review. 
 
 ■ - | LlbUshed 
 
 irs." — North British 
 i 
 
 I . - tch <>f the improvements that 
 
 isl 
 . hristian Obi 'rver. 
 • deserves a care- 
 
 i maiion of offenders." — Church 
 
 . work, the best of its kind, on the 
 i 
 
 npromising advocates of the 
 uments for the history 
 Their value is well known, being appi highly on 
 
 I Stati s, as in England." — Daily X, ws. 
 
 nation i- collected on the prison 
 t criiui ii inal - M r. Field is a phi- 
 
 I i for (lie criminal over- 
 tation, and seeking the improvement of 
 n i philosophy ; it em - 
 works which have been written on the same 
 so 1 instruct! • i ving the 
 
 rate, and the philanthropist. So far as we know 
 item." — Britannia. 
 zeal and ability : his published opinions, and 
 ary commit ti • h ive done good service to the 
 ire worthy of respectful consideration, even 
 ■ i cliff r fr< mi them." — Athen 
 
 ether as much as diligence and zeal could gather in 
 
 I ■ 'tints connected with Prison 
 
 » both to the history and management of 
 
 ho take an interest in the question." 
 
 • will be found extremely interesting and instruc- 
 
 ther as Justici s or a~ Kei | 
 
 to show the advantages ol the Separate 
 II written ind very well adapted to its purpose, so 
 
 ho would promote improvement in 
 raid. 
 
 ri i in the poor outcasts of 
 
 i duty and reward ; to the 
 
 us ol human nature, desire to read one ol the 
 i pei usal oi Mr. 
 le with the instruction of a n oral essay. The 
 i i article. 
 
 Brown, Green, and Longmans. 
 
 • same Author. 
 
 oting Christian Knowledge. 
 ADVICE ro A PRISONER. — No. 686. 
 
 ! PARI ING WITH ONE MHO 
 
 | \ : .
 
 0X/// 
 
 .j*y <?/?/<&£ <?
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE OF JOHN HOWARD; 
 
 COMMENTS ON HIS CHAEACTER 
 
 PHILANTHROPIC LABOURS. 
 
 THE REV. J. FIELD, M. A 
 
 " Nihil est tarn regium, tam liberate, tarnque munificum, quam opem 
 ferre supplicibus, excitare afflictos, dare salutem, liberare periculis 
 homines." — Cicero. 
 
 " Health, time, powers of mind, worldly possessions, are from God. — Do 
 I consecrate them all to Him ? — So help me, my God ! " — Howard. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 PRINTED FOR 
 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, 
 
 PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 1850.
 
 London : 
 
 SPOT i nu OODBS aiiii Shau , 
 
 N. a street- Square.
 
 «S<V75 
 
 TO 
 
 HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS 
 
 THE PRINCE ALBERT, 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 WHOSE PATRONAGE AND SUPPORT OF MANY CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS 
 
 WHICH ADORN THE COUNTRY HE HAS ADOPTED, 
 
 AND WHOSE CONSTANT DESIRE AND SUCCESSFUL ENDEAVOURS TO PROMOTE VARIOUS 
 
 PLANS CALCULATED TO MITIGATE THE SUFFERINGS, 
 
 TO IMPROVE THE MORALS, AND TO AUGMENT THE HAPPINESS OF 
 
 THOSE IN A LOWER STATION, 
 
 HAVE ENDEARED HIS NAME TO ALL CLASSES, WHILST THEY HAVE ENHANCED 
 
 THE DIGNITY OF HIS OWN EXALTED RANK; 
 
 THIS UNWORTHY EFFORT, IN FURTHERANCE OF SUCH OBJECTS, 
 
 BIT AN ATTEMPT TO DESCRIBE THE CHARACTER AND RECOMMEND THE EXAMPLE 
 
 OF OUR GREAT CHRISTIAN PHILANTHROPIST, 
 
 IS, BY MOST KIND PERMISSION, VERY nUMBLY DEDICATED, 
 
 BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS'S OBEDIENT 
 
 AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 P 11 E F A C E. 
 
 In Lis schoolboy days the writer purchased Howard's " First Book 
 on Prisons." Attracted at first by its curious pictures, he soon 
 became interested in the explanations. For a time the book was 
 read as entertaining. It afforded all the excitement of a novel or 
 a tragedy. It was a favourite volume ; and, ere long, a i'eeling of 
 admiration towards its author was enkindled. 
 
 Fourteen years ago the writer was called to officiate occasion- 
 ally in a County Gaol, and during the last ten years it has been 
 his constant duty. Throughout this time his early purchase has 
 been better appreciated. He has become personally acquainted 
 with much that is described, and experience has taught him the 
 truth and wisdom of Howard's words. It became a book for the 
 study. He discovered that another volume had issued from the 
 same pen, — he searched diligently for that also, and commissioned 
 booksellers, if possible, to procure it. But for years his efforts 
 were vain ; at length, to his astonishment and delight, he found it. 
 He had bought it as another book,— for it had been bound up in 
 covers bearing a different title.* 
 
 The writer learned that two biographers had written Memoirs of 
 Howard, and he felt equally anxious to obtain a copy of each — 
 one, by Dr. Aikin, which is a mere Essay, as its title indicates : 
 " A View of Howard's Character and Public Services : " the 
 other, by Brown, published as a quarto volume of seven hundred 
 pages, and written in a style which has been complained of; but he 
 
 * A striking proof of the scarcity of these volumes was afforded at a recent 
 discussion on Prison Discipline in London, when a gentleman, who is known to 
 have given attention, for mure than twenty years, to that question, produced a 
 copy of Howard's " State of Prisons," as a bouk of inestimable value, which he 
 had never seen or heard of until a Jew days before. 
 
 a 4
 
 Vriii PREFACE. 
 
 is hime li i uch indebted to that biographer for many oi tii. 
 
 tacts he lias described, willingly to find fault. 
 
 The scarcity of Howard's Works and Memoirs was a strong 
 inducement for him to undertake the present labour; but a still 
 more powerful motive has arisen on the perusal of a recent pub- 
 lication, professedly Betting forth the opinions of that Philanthro- 
 pist. Of the Btyle and tendency of that work the Author feels at 
 some loss to express his indignation in terms sufficiently forcible. 
 The writer of it has betrayed a want of sympathy with the sub- 
 j< ,i of his Memoir. That any record of one, so noble-minded and 
 bo holy, should be made an occasion for the advocacy of democratic 
 principles, and for the aspersion of a godly prince, is a violation oi' 
 biographical license too monstrous to be tolerated in the land 
 honoured by Howard's birth — though too ignorant of his excel- 
 lence ! 
 
 In the following pages it will be a painful duty to refer more 
 than once to this volume. It shall be with as much forbearance 
 as may be consistent with truth. To vindicate Howard is a dis- 
 tingui6hed honour, of which the biographer must confess himself 
 unworthy, and a task to which he would feel incompetent if the 
 . salted character of the man did nol render it comparatively easy. 
 Hi- name i-. in every civilised country, "familiar in men's mouths 
 as a household word," yet few are acquainted with his merits, and 
 by man) his real character ia grievously misrepresented. All speak 
 of hi- benevolence; but his prudence and sound judgment are 
 -■ Idom heard of. Hena . for many a well-meant but impracticable 
 scheme i- Howard's -auction sought, and his supposed authority 
 confid< ntlv cited. Even the deluded or selfish demagogue, because 
 our philanthropist was the advocate of liberty, represents him as 
 licentious, and thus further desecrates thai venerable name. 
 
 A !.■ I. again, the excellency of Howard's character is very par- 
 tially discerned by those who see in him only the moralist, or the 
 mini self-dedicated to the mitigation or removal of human woes, 
 without observing the source whence such philanthropy had its 
 origin. Howard was a Christian. <>o.l called him to his work, 
 and qualified him for it. All hi> efforts were the fruits of " faith
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 working by love." There was more than humanity in his conduct. 
 Charity better describes it. It was the energy of holiness, actuated 
 by love. He went about doing good, because he had practically 
 learned the precept " That he who loveth God love his brother 
 also." 
 
 Yet, though a Christian, and walking so worthily of that holy 
 name as far to surpass his fellow-men, he shared their frailty. 
 Howard was imperfect, and faithfulness dares not conceal defects. 
 Nor will his life be less instructive, or less profitable, to themselves 
 and society, if men, who emulate his virtues, shall learn to avoid 
 his mistakes. 
 
 The Author's early and continued study of Howard's works 
 enabled him to make frequent reference to them in his publications 
 on " Prison Discipline." Many of his opinions he had imbibed 
 from that Philanthropist, who, whilst the unflinching advocate of 
 just punishment, was emphatically the prisoner's friend. 
 
 This biography may therefore be considered in some measure as 
 supplemental to those volumes, since longer experience gives the 
 power of additional illustration, and of adducing further proofs of 
 the wisdom and policy of many of Howard's plans. At the same 
 time, this Memoir will be a complete work in itself, imparting 
 what desirable information has been preserved of his private 
 life, and describing his official and more voluntary labours of 
 philanthropy in the several characters he sustained, — as a land- 
 lord, a magistrate, and the visitor of hospitals and prisons through- 
 out the greater part of the civilised world. 
 
 In many respects Howard was in advance of his age. Some* 
 his proposals have been since adopted ; others might be, with much 
 advantage. In tracing his life, we receive lessons and illustrations 
 upon all the social questions which engage the attention of the 
 legislator, of the administrator of the law, or of the benevolent 
 Christian in private life at the present time. A conviction of the 
 great value of such instruction chiefly induced the Author to enter 
 upon this work. He has not the time, the talent, nor the inclina- 
 tion to write a volume of mere amusement, but he has indulged a/ 
 hope that he might be enabled to offer some remarks suggested h\
 
 \ PREFACE. 
 
 nations, and founded upon the experience, of the subject 
 ol his .MriiK.il-. which mighl nol prove altogether worthless. 
 In describing, therefore, the character of Howard, he has not 
 so much sought to entertain the reader with the history of his life, 
 . oforce the sentiments for which he was distinguished. The 
 Title-page was intended to prepare for this, and must be the 
 apology if the narrative be sometimes interrupted. 
 
 In these pages our great Philanthropist must be, although not 
 entirely, yei to a great extent, his own biographer. His character 
 will be portrayed with must truth if we trace his course as de- 
 scribed by himself, recording the avowed or apparent motives for 
 his conduct, — offering occasionally a faithful comment and appli- 
 cation, and transcribing many of the humane and pious reflections 
 which abound throughout his works. 
 
 KKKA I \ 
 
 Foi • hot -house" read " root-house.' 
 1 16. for •■ prisons" read " prisoners." 
 
 foi - D.C. L. ' read •• 1. 1.. I).
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Ancestry and birth of Howard. Rank and character of his parents. 
 Death of his mother. Sent to Cardington. Providential arrange- 
 ments. Education. Mr. Eames. Apprenticeship. His father's 
 death. Anecdote of the gardener. Tour in France and Italy. 
 His return to Stoke Newington. Occupations and studies. Re- 
 ligious creed and character. Sickness. Marriage. Mrs. Howard's 
 character. Her death ... - Page 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Resolves to travel. Distribution of his wife's property. Embarks 
 for Lisbon. Captured by French privateer. Cruel treatment. Is 
 liberated. Allowed to return. Goes to Cardington. His pursuits. 
 Elected F.R.S. Second marriage. Mrs. Howard. Her illness. 
 Removes to Watcombe. Returns to Cardington. House and 
 grounds. The hermitage. Dr. Aikin's character of Howard. Mr. 
 Whitbread. Howard's charity. Conduct as a landlord. Crowded 
 cottages a cause of crime. Schools. Remarks on education. Car- 
 dington improved. Birth of his son. Death of his wife. Re- 
 flections - - - - - - -16 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Howard as a parent. His opinions on education. His mistake.-. 
 Treatment of" his child. Cowper a parallel. A warning to parents 
 Anecdotes. Howard vindicated, (iocs to Rath. Tour through 
 Holland. His son sent to school - - - - 47
 
 xii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEB IV. 
 
 Howard's health fails. Preparation for another tour. His servant. 
 II- journal. Reflections at Milan, At Turin. Christian cha- 
 racter. Source of charity. Letters. Meditations on a Sunday 
 ing. Remarks upon them. Pious reflections at Lyons. Af- 
 fection for his child. Description of his route. Arrives at Rome. 
 Descriptive letter. Solemn act of self-dedication. Diary at Rome, 
 Naples, Heidelberg, and Rotterdam - - Page 60 
 
 ill VPTER V. 
 
 Depressed state of mind. Visit to" Southampton; to Bristol. Con- 
 tinued illness. Return to Cardington. Occupations and charities. 
 rvation from an assassin. Guernsey and Jersey visited. Ap- 
 pomted sheriff of Bedfordshire. Bedford gaol inspected. State of 
 prisons in the lasl century. Vice and cruelty in the Fleet. Reasons 
 for visiting prisons. Notices of the gaols of Huntingdon, Cam- 
 bridge, Northampton, Nottingham, Derby, Stafford, Lichfield, 
 Warwick, Worcester, and Gloucester. Mr. Raikes. SirG. O.Paul 
 quoted. Gaol fever. Oxford and Aylesbury Gaols. Howard 
 return- to Cardington. Another excursion. Notes of gaols at 
 Hertford, Reading, Salisbury, Winchester, Horsham, and Guild- 
 ford. Spends vacation with his son. Visits gaols of Oakham, York, 
 Lincoln, Ely, Norwich, [pswich, Colchester, Exeter, Launceston, 
 Dchester, Hereford, and Monmouth. Rill for the suppression of 
 Howard examined before committee of the House of 
 Commons. Receives the thanks of the House - - 82 
 
 CHAPTEB VI. 
 
 Howard encouraged, resumes inspection of gaols. The Marshalsea. 
 
 I ' ons ai Durham and Morpeth. Notes on gaols of Newcastle, 
 < ai lisle, Lancaster, Preston, and Liverpool. Horrible dungeons of 
 ( I" -'' < astle. 1 Jescription of gaols at Wrexham and Shrewsbury. 
 Other prisons visited on return to Cardington. Another tour. 
 Visits gaols ai Maidstone, Canterbury, Clerkenwell, Tothill-fields. 
 
 emplary gaoler. The Fleet. The King's Bench. Gaols in 
 
 pel, Tower Hamlets, the Borough Compter. Relaxation 
 
 Returns home. Tour of prison inspection through 
 
 u Visits the bridewells in England. Their wretched state. 
 
 II '"'' public character. A candidate for Bedford with Mr. 
 Whitbrcad Visits again prisons in several counties. Long im- 
 priaonmenl before trial. Goes into Scotland and Ireland. Regu- 
 lations for J Lb. I ommittee on Bedford election - 119
 
 CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Howard's motives for a Continental tour. Arrival at Paris. Attempt 
 to enter the Bastile. Allowed to visit other prisons. The Bicetre. 
 Proceeds to Brussels. Visits Vilvorde, Ghent, Bruges, Rotterdam 
 prisons, &c. Inspects the pest-house. Prison at Delft; at the 
 Hague. Few debtors at Amsterdam. Remarks on imprisonment 
 for debt. Executions at Amsterdam. Number in England, and 
 remarks upon them. Right of pardon. Opinion of Beccaria and 
 Paley. Too great publicity of executions. The effect. A plan 
 suggested. The Rasp-house. Prisons at Bremen and Hamburgh. 
 Instrument of torture. Infamy prevented. Convicts at Lunen- 
 burgh and Hanau. Maison de Force at Manheim. Curious and 
 cruel custom. Prison at Mentz. Letter to a friend Page 151 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Howard returns from the Continent. Gaol at Dover. At Chelms- 
 ford. Returns to Cardington. More prisons visited. Shocking 
 case at Penzance. Howard's careful scrutiny. Supervision of 
 gaols required. London prisons reinspected : Newgate, Bridewell, 
 the Savoy, the Fleet. Revisits the Continental prisons. Their 
 better regulations. Paris. Lyons, its prison and l'Hotel Dieu. 
 Geneva. Few criminals in Switzerland. Galley slaves at Lau- 
 sanne and Hanau. Prisons of Solothurn and Basle. Ingenious 
 attempt to escape. Plan at Lunenburgh to prevent infamy. Pro- 
 ceeds to Holland. The rasp-houses revisited. Goes to Ghent. 
 Inferiority of English prisons- Returns to England. Resumes 
 inspection of English gaols. Pardon frustrated by extortion. Re- 
 visits Yorkshire prisons. Horrible gaol of Knaresborough. Pre- 
 pares to publish a work on prisons - - - 181 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Howard goes to Warrington. Superintends the printing of his 
 " State of Prisons." His habits of abstinence and piety. His 
 determined accuracy. Publication, dedication, and distribution of 
 his work. Summary of the same. Mode of travelling; conduct at 
 hotels ; his postilions corrected. Further improvements at Carding- 
 ton. His son at home. Death of his sister. Memoranda of religious 
 feelings. The hulks visited. Their shocking condition. Mortality 
 of convicts. The transportation question. Evils of former systems. 
 Colonies degraded. Convicts rejected : a just retribution. Present 
 treatment of convicts. Cellular imprisonment. Labour on public
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 works. Establishment at Portland. The convict transported. 
 
 Ticket of leave. His conditional pardon. Emigration of his 
 
 family. Promising results ... Page 209 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Another Continental tour. Accident at Amsterdam. Serious illness i 
 and diary during convalescence. Rasp- house at Rotterdam. At- 
 tends Divine service in prison. Proceeds to Gouda. Returns to 
 Amsterdam. Visits Dr. Brown at Utrecht. Prisons at Deventer 
 and Breda. Revisits Holland. Horrible prison at Osnaburgh. 
 Slaves at Brunswick. Goes to Magdeburgh and Berlin. Letter. 
 Conversation with Prince Henry of Prussia. State prisoners at 
 Spandan. Treadmill at Lukau. Prisons at Dresden. Goes to 
 Prague. Visit to the Capuchin Friars. Vienna, its hospitals and 
 prisons. Dying prisoner in a dungeon. Precautions against in- 
 fection. Ducking-stool for bakers. Conversation at the ambas- 
 sador's table. Goes to Venice, Padua, Ferrara, Bologna, Florence, 
 Leghorn, Loretto, and Rome. Visits prisons and hospitals. Ceme- 
 tery for malefactors. Proceeds to Naples and Civita Vecchia. 
 The pope's galley-slaves. Perilous voyage to Leghorn. Ransoms 
 a prisoner at Milan. Goes to Turin and Chambery. Returns 
 through Switzerland, Germany, Flanders, and France, revisiting 
 charitable and penal institutions. Torture at Liege. Relieves 
 prisoners of war. Howard's patriotism Returns to England 234 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Another inspection of English gaols. Prisoners of war at Plymouth, 
 Bristol, Winchester, and Forton. Improved prison at Bodmin. 
 Gaol fever. Black assize at Oxford. Visits prisons at Petworth, 
 Newport, Norwich, and other places. Proceeds to South Wales. 
 Another journey to Scotland. Revisits Durham. Education in 
 Scotland. Few criminals. Goes to Ireland. Causes of many 
 prisoners. Irish gaols. Returns to London. Reinspects metro- 
 politan prisons. Revisits North Wales. Prepares Appendix to 
 ■ of Prisons." Goes to Warrington. Cruel custom at Liver- 
 
 I I. Pamphlel on the Bastile. Appointed commissioner for building 
 
 Penitentiary. Difficulties and resignation of the office. Revisits 
 Holland. Vagrancy of children prevented. Mistaken treatment of 
 young offenders. The provision required. Howard proceeds to 
 Denmark, Punishments "I' infamy. Arrives at Copenhagen, 
 \i~ii- prisons, &c. Goes to Stockholm. King of Sweden quoted.
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 Howard at St. Pctorsburgh. Punishment of the knout. Wretched 
 prisons of Russia. Journey to Moscow. Howard's liberality. 
 Travels to Warsaw, Breslau, and Berlin. Anecdote of firm- 
 ness ...... Page 273 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Howard proceeds to Brunswick and Hanover. Torture at Osna- 
 burgh. Revisits prisons of Holland. Again inspects Flemish 
 prisons. Hospital at Bruges. Returns to England. Re-examines 
 prisons of England. Goes to Scotland. Revisits Ireland. Pri- 
 soners of war at Shrewsbury. Anecdotes of courage and bene- 
 volence. Travels again into Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. A bold 
 rebuke. Another English tour. Embarks for Spain. Public 
 establishments at Lisbon. Proceeds to Badajoz and Toledo : 
 thence to Madrid. Visits prisons and hospitals. Prisons of the 
 Inquisition at Madrid and Valladolid. Penal regulations at Burgos 
 and Pamplona. Letter to a friend. Dungeons at Bordeaux. Re- 
 visits Paris. Improvements in its prisons. Proceeds to Lisle. 
 Dangerous sickness. Goes to Amsterdam. Orphan-house at Rot- 
 terdam. Again inspects Flemish prisons. Returns to England. 
 Another Irish tour. Anecdotes of benignity - - 312 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Revisits some English gaols and hulks. Republishes " State of 
 Prisons." Burke's eulogium. Anecdotes of caution and coinage 
 Mrs. Fry at Newgate. Private benevolence. Some curious ad- 
 ventures. Profligacy of young Howard. Education in Edinburgh. 
 Enters at Cambridge. Howard resolves to visit lazarettos. Era- 
 barks for Holland. Forbidden to enter France. Proceeds to Paris. 
 A narrow escape. Travels as a physician from Lyons to Avignon. 
 Arrives at Marseilles. Christian prisoner at Toulon. Embarks for 
 Nice. Genoese lazarettos, hospitals, and prisons. Visits Pisa, 
 Florence, and Rome. Interview with the pope. Sails to Malta: 
 its hospitals and prisons. Letters. Embarks for Zante. Thence 
 to Smyrna. Successful medical practice. Faithful remonstrance. 
 Constantinople. The plague. Speedy vengeance in Turkey. 
 Seeks to undergo quarantine. Visits Salonica and Scio on return 
 to Smyrna. Embarks for Venice in infected vessel. Attacked by 
 privateer. Reaches Venice, and confined in lazaretto. Proposed 
 monument to Howard. Dr. Lettsom. Young Howard's insanity. 
 Letters -__-___ 343
 
 XVI ' ON IT. NTS. 
 
 I II \ptki; XIV 
 Howard al Venice. [ts despotic government. Tragic occurrences, 
 gails for Trieste, and thence to Vienna. Interview with the 
 Emperor. Faithful admonitions. Howard's protest against his 
 monument. Returns to Frankfort, Aix-la-chapelle, Utrecht, and 
 Amsterdam. His son's lunacy. Returns to England. Prevents 
 monument. Resumes inspection of English prisons. Bad state of 
 London gaols. Penal labour deprecated. Revisits Irish prisons 
 and schools. English gaols again inspected. Separate confine- 
 ment in gaols of Manchester, Horsham, Gloucester. Its purpose. 
 Howard's approval of the plan. His constant prudence. Religious 
 discipline - - Page 383 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Howard's pleasing retrospect. Inspection of prisons continued. Ale- 
 bouses deprecated. Present beer-houses more pernicious. Crowded 
 dungeons. Ireland revisited. Abuses in schools, hospitals, and 
 prisons. Another tour in England. London prisons. Publishes 
 work on lazarettos and prisons. Some pious maxims. A charitable 
 suggestion. Anecdotes. Providential care. Howard's abste- 
 miousness, punctuality, self-denial, and humility. Lord Thurlow's 
 eulogium. Lord Monboddo visits Cardington. Howard again at 
 home. Serious reflections. Cowper quoted - - 412 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Howard determines to revisit Russia and Turkey. His motives 
 declared. Dissuaded by friends. Presentiment of death. Takes 
 have of friends. His will. Appoints guardian of his son. Destroys 
 various records of himself. Embarks for Holland. Revisits Am- 
 sterdam. Remarks on the plague. Visit to Dr. Brown. Re- 
 inspects prisons at Osnaburgh and Hanover. Torture dungeon at 
 Brunswick. Infamous punishment at Berlin. Prisons of Spandau 
 Konigsberg. Enters Itussia. Knout-master in prison. Pious 
 reflections. Proceeds to St. Petersburgh, and thence to Moscow. 
 Letter to Dr. Pile,- - 43g 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Howard vi-its military hospitals of Russia. Proceeds to Cherson. 
 of his luggage. It- restoration. Shocking treatment of sick 
 re. Reflections. Festivities at Cherson. Interrupted by 
 
 fevei I i. • i of Howard's last illness. State of his mind. His 
 
 leath. Funeral. Personal appearance. Eulogium of his bailiff. 
 I tablet at Cardington. The monument in St. Paul's - 458 
 
 \ 111 MU \ 
 
 483
 
 L I F E 
 
 JOHN HOWARD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANCESTRY AND BIRTH OF HOWARD RANK AND CHARACTER OP 
 
 HIS PARENTS. DEATH OF HIS MOTHER. SENT TO CARDING- 
 
 TON. PROVIDENTIAL ARRANGEMENTS. EDUCATION. — MR. 
 
 EAMES. — APPRENTICESHIP. — HIS FATHER'S DEATH. ANEC- 
 DOTE OF THE GARDENER. TOUR IN FRANCE AND ITALY. 
 
 HIS RETURN TO STOKE NEWINGTON. OCCUPATIONS AND 
 
 STUDIES. — RELIGIOUS CREED AND CHARACTER. — SICKNESS. 
 
 MARRIAGE. MRS. HOWARD'S CHARACTER. HER DEATH. 
 
 The reputation of John Howard was so entirely 
 derived from bis own actions and character, that 
 we need not much regret the absence of genealogical 
 records, or occupy our pages with long statements 
 concerning ancestry, which have little foundation in 
 ascertained facts. Whether the Philanthropist was 
 connected with the illustrious families of the same 
 name, whose achievements are so conspicuous in 
 the annals of our country, is a question upon which 
 others have disputed, but his most intimate friends 
 have told us is more than doubtful. It may be 
 enough to say that the only claim to this dis- 
 
 B
 
 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 tinction which has been preferred on his behalf has 
 been founded on a circumstance mentioned in a 
 short .Memoir of Howard, published in a volume of 
 the I rniversal Magazine*, in which the writer says of 
 his father, that — 
 
 •• He was descended from a branch of the noble family 
 of that nunc, which makes such a distinguished figure in 
 Lge. The family arms of the Duke of 
 Norfolk, and of the Earls of Effingham, Suffolk, and 
 placed at the head of the tombstone which 
 Mr. Howard erected to his first wife, on the south side of 
 Whitechapel churchyard." 
 
 As to the credibility of this anonymous witness 
 the reader must determine for himself; but if the 
 evidence be received, the character of Howard's 
 father was such as to forbid the supposition that 
 he was vain enough to assume the arms of those 
 noble families, without some solid support for his 
 ns ions. 
 
 Dr. Aikin, whose description has been adopted 
 by other biographers, informs us that " Howard's 
 fal her was an upholsterer and carpet warehouseman, 
 in Long Lane, Smithfield." We have few par- 
 ticulars concerning him. He appears to have had 
 a small patrimony at the village of Cardington, 
 Bedford, and to have purchased a residence 
 and some land at Enfield, with money acquired in 
 trade. Respecting this and one or two other cir- 
 cumstances I extract the following communication 
 from an antiquarian, residing in the same village, 
 to the Editor of the Gentleman's Magazine." f 
 
 ' V,,l. Ixxxvi. p. L70. j August, 1790.
 
 RANK AND CHARACTER OF HIS PARENTS. 3 
 
 In the Court liolls of the King's manor of Enfield, 
 is the following entry of admission of Mr. Howard's 
 father to his property there, which will at least decide the 
 controversy about his profession : — " John Haward, alias 
 Howard, civis et tapetiar de London, admitted to six 
 acres in Carten-hatch Leas, Le Pottash House, and an 
 acre turned into an orchard before 1704. John Howard, 
 Esq., formerly an upholsterer, who, three years before, 
 fined for sheriff, died Sept. 9. 1742. To the property 
 above-mentioned his son was admitted in 1754 by the 
 name of John Howard." 
 
 Howard the elder was a strict Dissenter, an In- 
 dependent, which accounts for the fine above re- 
 ferred to : a fact to which we shall have occasion 
 to recur in the following pages. 
 
 About the birthtime of the subject of these 
 memoirs, other property was bought at Clapton, 
 in the parish of Hackney, whither the Howard 
 family then removed. To this circumstance chiefly 
 must be ascribed those discrepancies as to the 
 place of Howard's nativity which we observe in 
 his biographies. To Cardington, Smithfield, 
 Hackney, and Enfield, the honour has been as- 
 signed. The monument erected to his memory in 
 St. Paul's Cathedral tells us that he was born at 
 Hackney ; but other testimony is almost decisive 
 in favour of Enfield. 
 
 And as Howard's birthplace is doubtful, so the 
 date of the event is uncertain. No register de- 
 cides the day or year, and conjectures have in- 
 creased the obscurity. By comparing various cir- 
 cumstances of his life we may, however, assert
 
 4 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 that Howard must have been born between the 
 commencement of 1725 and the close of 1727. 
 
 Howard's mother, of whom I find nothing said 
 but that her maiden name was Cholmley, died 
 during his early infancy. We learn, then, that he 
 being of a weak constitution, and becoming sickly, 
 was sent to a cottager residing on his father's es- 
 tate at Cardington, where he spent some of his 
 earliest years. Here he was nursed with care and 
 kindness, and was invigorated in his country home. 
 He became so attached to the scenes of his boyhood, 
 and to the inhabitants of this village, that he after- 
 wards chose Cardington as his abode, and the 
 friends of his infancy found in their old age a 
 grateful patron. 
 
 Without anticipating his narrative, or detaining 
 the reader who wishes to become acquainted with 
 Howard rather than with the writers reflections, 
 he cannot forbear expressing admiration at the 
 wisdom of Divine Providence evinced in the very 
 dawn of Howard's days. For those chosen of God 
 for special services a writable preparation is re- 
 quired. Circumstances over which they can have 
 no control must be adapted to their coming neces- 
 sities. This provision was made through the pre- 
 science of the Almighty in the instance before us. 
 Had the parents of Howard been poor, what an 
 obstacle had been presented to God's purposes of 
 compassion which were to be accomplished by his 
 means! A competency was therefore granted. 
 Had their station in life been such as to have as-
 
 PROVIDENTIAL ARRANGEMENTS. 5 
 
 sociated them with the nobles whose name they 
 shared, how much might the son's companionship 
 from the cradle have rendered him averse from in- 
 tercourse needful to his mission ! This was pre- 
 vented. Had the mother's life been prolonged to 
 foster this infant in the bosom of maternal tender- 
 ness, her love concentrated in this only son, and 
 shown in that excessive indulgence by which such 
 fondness is commonly declared, what an enervating 
 effect and consequent unfitness for future hardships 
 might have been induced ! God in wisdom takes 
 that parent to Himself. And then lest the affection 
 of the bereaved father should be too much lavished 
 on the surviving child, sickness is sent upon him 
 and a separation is effected ! Moreover, the rough 
 fare of the humble cottage would be a better prepa- 
 ration for future endurance than the comforts of 
 the father's home ; and therefore if that parent 
 chooses to reside amidst the refinements which 
 surround the city, he is directed to prefer for his 
 son the rustic simplicity of the labourer's cot. 
 From all these dispensations, painful as some were, 
 and adverse as some might seem, there was an 
 overruling Providence and power educing good. 
 All tended to the accomplishment of His merciful 
 purposes ; whilst to the chosen agent they were 
 great and lasting blessings. These provisions, as a 
 preparation in the case of Howard, remind us of 
 Abraham's call, and, in a limited sense, the promises 
 then given to the Patriarch we see to have been 
 
 B 3
 
 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 alike applicable : — "I will bless thee, and make thy 
 name great ; and thou shalt be a blessing." 
 
 Young Howard in due time became old and 
 robust enough for school. 
 
 " As Mr. Howard's father," writes Dr. Aikin, " was a 
 strict Protestant Dissenter, it was natural for him to edu- 
 cate his son under a preceptor of the same principles. 
 But his choice for the purpose was the source of a lasting 
 misfortune, which, as it has been too frequent an occurrence, 
 deserves particular notice. There was at that time a 
 schoolmaster at some distance from London, who in con- 
 sequence of his moral and. religious character had been 
 entrusted with the education of the children of most of the 
 opulent Dissenters in the Metropolis, though extremely 
 deficient in the qualifications requisite for such an office. 
 That persons whose own education and habits of life have 
 rendered them very inadequate judges of the talents 
 necessary for an instructor of youth, should easily fall 
 into this error, is not to be wondered at; but the evil is a 
 real one, though its cause be excusable. The event with 
 respect to Mr. Howard was, as he has assured me with 
 greater indignation than 1 have heard him express upon 
 many subjects, that alter a continuance of seven years at 
 this school, he left it not fully taught any one thing. The 
 of this period was irreparable: he felt it all his life 
 after; it was but too obvious to those who conversed with 
 aim. From this school he was removed to Mr. Eames' 
 inv ; but his continuance there must, I conceive, 
 nave been of short duration; and, whatever might be his 
 acquisitions in that place, he certainly did not supply the 
 deficiencies of his earlier education. As some of the 
 ints published concerning him might inculcate the 
 that he had attained considerable proficiency in letters, 
 I myself obliged, from my own knowledge, to assert, 
 
 that he was never able to speak or write his native Ian-
 
 HIS EDUCATION. 7 
 
 guage with grammatical correctness, and that his acquaint- 
 ance with other languages, the French perhaps excepted, 
 was slight and superficial. In estimating the powers of 
 his mind, it rather adds to the account that he had this 
 additional difficult}' to combat in his pursuit of the great 
 objects of his later years."* 
 
 Somewhat severe strictures have been made upon 
 the parent's conduct in this choice of a tutor. I do 
 not transcribe any, because, as Dr. Aikin allows, 
 he being a Dissenter, sincere, however mistaken, it 
 was not unreasonable that he should select for his 
 son's instructor a person of corresponding opinions : 
 and since, as we shall see, that parent never con- 
 templated the elevation of his son to the rank he 
 attained, but supposed he would pursue a like 
 trade, and occupy a like station to himself, he 
 might well deem the education given quite suffi- 
 cient. Or it is not improbable that being dis- 
 satisfied with the tuition of the former master, it 
 was exchanged for the instruction of a man cer- 
 tainly qualified by his talents and learning, although 
 even under his instruction, Howard's sickness in 
 childhood, the loose training of the cottage life, 
 and the lack of discipline in the former school, 
 might to a great extent frustrate his exertions, and 
 prevent the rapid progress of the pupil. 
 
 But as to Howard's literary defects there is 
 surely reason to suppose the foregoing statement 
 is somewhat exaggerated. His writings neither 
 betray an inferior capacity, nor fully prove the 
 
 * See Appendix A. 
 b 4
 
 8 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 ignorance imputed. Evidence indeed we have that 
 talent is not essential to philanthropy, and that the 
 heart may be enlarged, though the intellect never 
 be developed ; but of this truth we must not cite 
 Howard as an instance. We are not informed as 
 to the exact period when the subject of our memoirs 
 left school. It was probably at the age of fifteen 
 or sixteen years : and for a short time it is likely 
 he sojourned under the paternal roof. There was 
 very much to admire in the father's conduct : 
 imperfections are discernible, but he was evidently 
 prudent, affectionate, and pious. " He main- 
 tained," we are told, " great order and regularity 
 in bis house ; and to his constant observation of 
 the Sabbath, and of the duty of Family Prayer, 
 his son was perhaps indebted for that piety, which, 
 ever after, formed a distinguishing feature in his 
 character." 
 
 Having been himself prosperous in business, 
 knowing the value of an occupation, and the un- 
 certain tenure of all he could bequeath, Mr. Howard 
 bound his son apprentice to a wholesale grocer, 
 in Watling Street, London. At the same time this 
 act of worldly prudence was accompanied with a 
 proof of his affection. His son's health must not 
 suffer from close confinement to the warehouse, 
 and therefore TOOL is the premium paid; by which 
 Liberal Mini separate apartments are obtained for 
 hiin, and pel-mission to keep a servant and two 
 Baddle-horses is purchased. Of his character as 
 an apprentice we have no account; it was unex-
 
 HIS APPRENTICESHIP. \) 
 
 Eieptionable without doubt. But commercial pur- 
 suits were neither the choice nor the proper em- 
 ployment for Howard : it was his father's appoint- 
 ment, and he submitted ; and a blessing resulted 
 from that obedience. He learned the customs of the 
 world, and was preserved from its corruptions. 
 
 "Mr. Howard," writes Dr. Aikin, " was probably in- 
 debted to this part of his education for some of that spirit 
 of order, and knowledge of common affairs, which he pos- 
 sessed ; but he did not in that situation contract any of 
 that love of aggrandisement which is the basis of all 
 commercial exertions ; and so irksome was the employ- 
 ment to him, that, on coming of age, he bought out the 
 remainder of his time."* 
 
 Just when Howard had derived from his father's 
 precepts and example all that was of real advantage 
 to the formation of his character, and the judicious 
 government of his affairs, and that parent's duty 
 was so far done, he died. Of the property he had 
 acquired, 8000^., with jewels and some other valu- 
 ables, were assigned to his daughter as her portion 
 of his estate, and to his son an ample fortune was 
 bequeathed, the interest of which he was to receive 
 at once, but, with a characteristic prudence, the 
 entire control of the property was not permitted 
 until his twenty-fourth year had been attained. So 
 remarkable, however, was the discretion of young- 
 Howard that the three executors at once intrusted 
 to him the management of his estate to a very con- 
 siderable extent. 
 
 * Aikin's View, p. 15.
 
 10 LIFE OE HOWARD. 
 
 Filial affection endeared the late residence of his 
 father at Clapton. It was dilapidated, and Howard 
 felt a melancholy pleasure in his first duty of su- 
 perintending its repairs. For this purpose he 
 \ [sited it every other day; and connected with one 
 of these visits a simple anecdote is recorded, deeply 
 interesting as showing the first-fruits of philan- 
 thropy, and in its circumstances giving much pro- 
 mise of the constancy of that benevolence which 
 was now increasing, and from which the world was 
 ere long to reap such an abundant blessing. — "A 
 venerable old man who had been gardener to Mr. 
 Howard the father, for many years, and who con- 
 tinued in that situation until the son let the house, 
 would, in the year 1790, when he had attained the 
 age of ninety years, take great pleasure in relating, 
 as an instance of his young master's punctuality 
 and goodness of disposition, that he never failed to 
 be at the long buttressed wall, which separated the 
 garden from the road, just as the baker's cart was 
 going past, when he would purchase a loaf, throw 
 it over the wall, and on entering the garden, good- 
 humouredly say, 'Harry, look among the cabbages, 
 you will find something for your family.'"* 
 
 The appointed term of apprenticeship was not 
 yel completed, but, as we have read, Howard on 
 coming of age purchased the remainder of his time, 
 and with the natural wish of a young man to see 
 something more of the world, he set out upon a 
 tour through France and [taly. Of his travels at 
 
 l!i"\\ n's Life, ]>. 12.
 
 TOUR IN FRANCE AND ITALY. 11 
 
 this time no record has been preserved : some me- 
 morials indeed were traceable in after years, in 
 those pictures and other works of art which then 
 adorned his seat at Cardington. These sufficiently 
 proved Howard to have been by no means deficient 
 in taste, although in his subsequent travels higher 
 objects engaged his time. His attention was then 
 so devoted to philanthropic efforts that neither the 
 pursuits of science were allowed to distract it, nor 
 the most perfect specimens of art to divert him 
 from his charitable course. No man could better 
 appreciate the sublime and beautiful in Nature's 
 scenes, yet even these could not attract him, nor 
 stay the active energy of that benevolence which 
 forbade interruption whilst a single sufferer sought 
 relief. 
 
 Howard's continental tour did not occupy longer 
 than one or two years. On his return the delicate 
 state of his health induced him to take lodgings at 
 Stoke Newington, where he passed his days in 
 agreeable and useful reading and in that sober re- 
 laxation by which his strength might be restored.* 
 The subjects of his study were the less abstruse 
 branches of Natural Philosophy, and the theory of 
 Medicine. From the latter especially, he derived 
 great and permanent advantage. It enabled him in 
 
 * I have before me No. 60. of the Gentleman's Magazine, in which 
 it is stated of Howard that "he used at this time to ride out of a 
 morning with a book in his pocket, dismount, turn his horse to 
 graze, and spend several hours in reading." This may be true, but 
 I observe so many inaccuracies in this piece of biograjihy, that I am 
 unwilling to insert any portion of it in the text of this work.
 
 12 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 after years to apply means both for the prevention 
 and cure of diseases in himself when visiting the 
 numerous prisons and hospitals in which they so 
 terribly prevailed, and, as we shall observe, quali- 
 fied him to prescribe for, and to be of essential ser- 
 vice to many sufferers. At this time also " he was 
 put upon a rigorous regimen of diet, which laid the 
 foundation of that extraordinary abstemiousness 
 and indifference to the gratifications of the palate 
 which ever after so much distinguished him."* 
 
 Now too the Christian piety of Howard became 
 more decided and practical. Educated as a Non- 
 conformist, and continually associated with Dis- 
 senters, it might reasonably be expected that, with- 
 out sectarian feelings, he should attach himself to 
 some portion of that body. Upon this subject I 
 transcribe the statement of his biographer: — 
 
 u His attachment to religion," writes Dr. Aikin, "was 
 a principle imbibed from his earliest years, which con- 
 tinued steady and uniform through life. The body of 
 Christians to whom he particularly united himself were the 
 Independents, and his system of belief was that of the 
 moderate Calvinists. But though he seems early to have 
 made up his mind as to the doctrines he thought best 
 founded, and tin- mode of worship he most approved, yet 
 religion abstractedly considered as the relation between 
 man and his Maker, and the grand support of morality, 
 appears to have been tin; principal object of his regard. 
 II was less solicitous about modes and opinions than the 
 internal spirit of piety and devotion; and in his estimate 
 ol different religious societies, the circumstances to which 
 incipally attended were their zeal and sincerity. . . 
 
 Aikin, p. Hi.
 
 RELIGIOUS CREED AND CHARACTER. 13 
 
 In London he seems chiefly to have joined the Baptist 
 congregation in Wild Street, long under the ministry of 
 the much respected Dr. Stennett. His connections were, 
 I believe, least with that class called Rational Dissenters; 
 yet he probably had not a more intimate friend in the 
 world than Dr. Price, who always ranked among them. 
 It was his constant practice to join in the service of the 
 Establishment when he had not the opportunity of attend- 
 ing a place of dissenting worship ; and though he was 
 warmly attached to the interests of the party he espoused, 
 yet he had that true spirit of Catholicism, which led him 
 to honour virtue and religion, wherever he found them, 
 and to regard the means only as they were subservient to 
 the end."* 
 
 Thus we observe that Howard's creed, so far as 
 it might differ from that of other Christians, was 
 not the result of controversy or even of inquiry. 
 He had received it in childhood, and it had been 
 confirmed by circumstances. But his religion, that 
 inward heartfelt influence which creates and con- 
 stitutes holiness, had been derived from another 
 source. Howard was, as respects this, taught of 
 God, and he lived under the preventing grace of 
 His Spirit. Hence he was not only preserved from 
 youthful dissipation, but enabled to prove the effi- 
 cacy of the principles he avowed. He suffered with 
 patience ; and during his affliction, selfishness was 
 not only subdued, but well-nigh expelled. He 
 learned to sympathise by what he suffered, and 
 thenceforth he laboured to relieve. We are told 
 " he became not only charitable to those who ap- 
 pealed to his benevolence, but that he sought out 
 
 * Aikin, pp. 18-20.
 
 14 LIFE 01 HOWARD. 
 
 lit objects for his bounty; remembering, in the dis- 
 tribution of all his alms, the words of the Lord 
 Jesus, how thai Be said 'It is more blessed to give 
 than to receive.' "* 
 
 It was a misfortune to the invalid, whose weak- 
 i, ndered careful and constant attention need- 
 ful, that he selected for his hostess and nurse 
 one who proved unworthy; but after patient en- 
 durance for a time he changed his lodgings. "He 
 removed to the house of Mrs. Lardeau (or Loidoire), 
 a widow lady of small independent property re- 
 siding in Church Street, Xewington.f 
 
 I [ere he was ere long attacked with a severe and 
 lingering sickness, during which the constant and 
 kind attention of his landlady formed a contrast to 
 the indifference and neglect which he had experi- 
 enced in his former residence. Howard's life was 
 preserved, and, throughout his convalescence, it 
 would seem to have been ever present tp his thoughts 
 thai he owed the continuance of his life, next to the 
 iin rev of Him who gave it, to the tender hand which 
 had ministered to his comfort. How cotdd he re- 
 ! such kindness? Howard was not one who 
 could feel an obligation without endeavouring a 
 recompense. In this case he felt that nothing he 
 I could repay, and therefore he made an 
 offer of marriage. Strange, imprudent, and con- 
 trary to all Datura] inclination, as it must have 
 appeared, he no sooner regained health than lie 
 proposed to marry this lad}', whose years numbered 
 
 a, i'. 14. f Brown, p. 15.
 
 SICKNESS. — MARRIAGE. I 5 
 
 more than double his own, who was very sickly, 
 fifty-two years of age, and who, if she ever pos- 
 sessed personal attractions, must have long parted 
 with them. It was to no purpose that the prudence 
 of the widow prompted a refusal. Howard the 
 more strenuously pressed his suit ; and, in 1752, in 
 his twenty-fifth year, the marriage was celebrated. 
 If Howard's conduct in this affair betrayed a want 
 of foresight, and was censurable, our reluctance to 
 reproach may find a plea in his singularity, and 
 shelter itself in the sure belief that few will follow 
 his example. In this, as in other cases, he acted 
 upon a principle ; forgetful of self, his plans were 
 ever formed for the happiness of others. No part 
 of his conduct could be ascribed to a rash impulse, 
 or said to be the result of passion. He might take 
 counsel and consider much beforehand ; but, when 
 decided, neither the frowns nor favours of the world 
 Avere regarded. With him, to determine what Avas 
 his duty, was, if possible, to do it. Howard was 
 sometimes mistaken, but always sincere. He Avas 
 both, perhaps, in the present case. It might be 
 gratitude in excess — generosity carried to an ex- 
 treme; if so, let an offence so unfrequent be for- 
 given, even though the transgressor never repented. 
 It appears Howard lived happily Avith an intelligent, 
 amiable", and pious Avife about three years, Avhen the 
 sincere love he cherished towards her whilst living 
 was followed by submissive lamentation at her 
 death ; and the recollection of her excellent qua- 
 lities often led him to speak of her with affection 
 and respect.
 
 n; 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 ft] SOLVES TO TRAVEL. — DISTRIBUTION OF HIS WIFE'S PROPERTY. 
 
 — EMBARKS FOB LISBON. CAPTURED BY FRENCH PRIVATEER. 
 
 — (I.I II rREATMENT. — IS LIBERATED. — ALLOWED TO RE- 
 
 rURN. — GK)ES TO CARDINGTON. HIS PURSUITS. — ELECTED 
 
 I .R.S. — SECOND MARRIAGE. — MRS. HOWARD. — HER ILLNESS. 
 
 — REMOVES TO WATCOMBE. — RETURNS TO CARD1NGTON. 
 
 HOUS1 AM' GROUNDS. — THE HERMITAGE. — DR. AIKIN's 
 CHARACTER OF HOWARD. — MR. WHITBREAD. — HOWARD'S 
 • HARITY. — CONDUCT AS A LANDLORD. — CROWDED COTTAGES 
 A CAUSJ OF CRIME. SCHOOLS. REMARKS ON EDUCATION. 
 
 — CARDINGTON IMPROVED. BIRTH OF HIS SON. — DEATH OF 
 
 HIS WIFE. — REFLECTION,-. 
 
 I low. \i;i), bereaved of a partner whose sentiments 
 Mini pursuits were in many respects congenial to 
 In- own. saw and felt a vacancy in his home, of 
 which, notwithstanding his consolations, he was 
 ever painfully conscious. The things about him 
 told the absence of one beloved. But grief must 
 ii"i be so indulged as to beget listlessness. A sense 
 of duty bids the mourner rouse himself, and in 
 exertion he finds a remedy. If the scenes around 
 too forcibly suggest sorrow, he must leave them, 
 and in fresh ones find relief. Howard resolves 
 again tot ravel. 
 
 But, first, some duties must he performed. The 
 memory of his Lamented wife must not perish with 
 his departure. Before he goes, Howard will not 
 only Becure the good wishes and prayers of many
 
 DISTRIBUTES HIS WIFE'S PROPERTY. 17 
 
 poor and afflicted, by his wide-spread charity, but 
 the remembrance of her whose bounty could no 
 longer be dispensed by her own liberal hand, must 
 be still more endeared. He had already settled his 
 wife's little fortune upon her sister ; and now that 
 his household furniture was no longer requisite, the 
 poor and needy in the neighbourhood must have 
 some token of his disinterested love — a memorial to 
 excite, not their grief, but their gratitude towards 
 her whose property it was, and as whose gift the)' 
 might still regard it. And, lest the old gardener, 
 whose daily loaf was the pledge of this lasting 
 benignity, and who revered all the other Howards, 
 should feel less esteem towards this one last de- 
 parted, he especially must have his share. In him, 
 as we hope in others, the purpose was accomplished ; 
 often, we are told, he spoke with thankful delight 
 of what fell to his lot on this occasion — his dividend, 
 as he was wont to call it, and which consisted of a 
 bedstead and bedding complete, a table, half a dozen 
 chairs, and a new scythe, besides a guinea for the 
 day spent in their removal. 
 
 Apart from the benevolence of Howard's dis- 
 position, there was a seriousness of mind, and 
 especially at the present time, which rendered the 
 scenes of desolation and sadness even more attrac- 
 tive than those of enjoyment and delight. If he 
 must travel, he will not direct his course to cheerful 
 plains, where pictures of peace may revive the 
 drooping spirit, or hasten towards some city re- 
 joicing in grandeur, whose gaiety might cause 
 
 c
 
 18 l-Il'K OF HOWARD. 
 
 forgetfulness of woe; but there was a country wrapt 
 in gloom, its capital in ruins, amidst which thou- 
 sands of its people perished. Lisbon had just been 
 overthrown, it had become a vast sepulchre, and 
 was even now smouldering in its state of frightful 
 devastation ; and thither Howard bent his way. 
 But one wiser than himself forbade. He was God's 
 minister of mercy; and his philanthropy must not 
 be expended in lamentation from which none could 
 profit. If he would be an eye-witness of calamity, 
 it must be that which he may afterwards relieve. 
 The sequel will prove these observations pertinent. 
 Howard embarked for Portugal in 1756, in a 
 packet called the " Hanover," which had not made 
 much progress before it was captured by a French 
 privateer, and he became a prisoner of war. His 
 captors treated him with great cruelty; for, after 
 having been kept forty hours without food or water, 
 he was carried into Brest, and confined with the 
 other prisoners in the castle of that place. Here 
 his hardships were not at all diminished; for after 
 being cast, with the crew and the rest of the pas- 
 Bengers, into a loathsome dungeon, and there shut up 
 a considerable time longer without nourishment, a 
 joint of mutton was at length thrown into the midst 
 of them, which, for want of even a single knife, they 
 were obliged to tear in pieces, and gnaw like dogs.* 
 I toward, unwilling to increase the indignation which 
 this treatment must have excited, omits this cir- 
 
 * Brown, p. 19.
 
 CAPTURED BY A FRENCH PRIVATEER. 19 
 
 cumstance in the description he has himself given of 
 this event and its consequences. 
 
 " In the castle at Brest," he says in a note found in his 
 First Book on Prisons*, "I lay six nights upon straw; 
 and observing how cruelly my countrymen were used there, 
 and at Morlaix, whither I was carried next, during the 
 two months I was at Carpaix upon parole, I corresponded 
 with the English prisoners at Brest, Morlaix and Dinnan : 
 at the last of those towns were several of our ship's crew, 
 and my servant. I had sufficient evidence of their being 
 treated with such barbarity that many hundreds had pe- 
 rished ; and that thirty-six were buried in a hole at Dinnan 
 in one day. When I came to England, still on parole, I 
 made known to the commissioners of sick and wounded 
 seamen the sundry particulars, which gained their atten- 
 tion and thanks. Remonstrance was made to the French 
 court : our sailors had redress ; and those that were in the 
 three prisons mentioned above, were brought home in the 
 first cartel ships. A lady from Ireland who married in 
 France, had bequeathed in trust with the magistrates of 
 St. Maloes, sundry charities, one of which was a penny a 
 day to every English prisoner of war at Dinnan. This 
 was duly paid, and saved the lives of many brave and use- 
 ful men. Perhaps what I suffered on this occasion in- 
 creased my sympathy with the unhappy people (prisoners), 
 whose case is the subject of this book." 
 
 Howard, we may feel sure, rejoiced that his 
 original purpose had been thwarted, and that he 
 had been the means, though by suffering and much 
 sacrifice, of securing so great an amount of good. 
 We shall hereafter see that the benefits extended 
 far beyond all that is here implied. One or two 
 circumstances in the foregoing statement call for 
 
 * State of Prisons, 2nd ed. p. 14. 
 c 2
 
 20 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 further notice. We are told that at Carpaixhe was 
 released on parole. Howard's modesty would not 
 allow him to tell us why. It was the privilege of 
 officers ; but he was not one. It was a special 
 favour ; but wherefore granted ? The treatment 
 of his companions proves that clemency was not 
 common. The cause was in himself. Even the 
 cruel could discern traits in his character which 
 declared him trustworthy ; — his independence, up- 
 rightness, and self-denial for the sake of others, 
 compelled respect. 
 
 " He in his bonds retain'd his birthright, liberty, 
 And sham'd oppression, till it set him free." 
 
 But Howard, when liberated, was penniless : he 
 had been deprived of all his money, and even 
 stripped of his clothes, at Brest; how then could 
 he obtain a home, and supply his wants ? The same 
 frankness which constrained the ruthless gaoler 
 to be humane, more easily secured the confidence of 
 another: lie was welcomed to a home, and all his 
 desires gratified, upon the simple assertion that 
 payment should be made when remittances from 
 England could be obtained. Nor was the probity 
 of his character unobserved by those higher in 
 authority. By them he was allowed to visit Eng- 
 land on giving a promise to return, unless a naval 
 officer should be released in exchange. Heartily 
 did his friends rejoice on his arrival; but, until the 
 consent of Government to the conditions of his stay 
 had been complied with, he desired them to suspend
 
 LIBERATED FROM HIS CAPTIVITY. 21 
 
 their congratulations ; for his continuing in his 
 native land, or returning into exile, entirely de- 
 pended upon that contingency. Happily the ar- 
 rangement was effected, and Howard at once 
 commenced those successful exertions to which he 
 has referred. 
 
 The paternal estate at Cardington, further en- 
 deared to Howard as the home of childhood, now 
 attracted his attention, and he determined upon its 
 improvement and extension. He purchased an ad- 
 joining farm, and generally resided upon his pro- 
 perty. His friends and acquaintances in Bedford- 
 shire were, for a considerable time, very limited in 
 number. This circumstance was probably occa- 
 sioned by his aversion from those country sports 
 to which most of his equals were devoted. He 
 appears to have spent his days in superintending 
 the necessary alterations upon his estate, advanc- 
 ing the welfare of his tenants, and especially in 
 administering to the wants of the poor and de- 
 pendent. Now, too, he had further leisure for 
 those literary pursuits in which he had before 
 found relaxation and pleasure ; and for engaging 
 in which an additional stimulus had been created 
 by his election to a fellowship of the Royal Society, 
 which took place May 13th, 1756. Howard's biogra- 
 phers observe on this occasion, that it was not to be 
 ascribed to any extraordinary proficiency in science 
 to which he had attained, but that in accordance 
 with the practice of the society, as a gentleman 
 of leisure and fortune, he was incorporated into 
 
 c 3
 
 22 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 their body.* Such a custom of the Society may 
 have been judicious, and philosophic inquiry may 
 have been promoted by the plan, although probably 
 mosl of its members so elected were content with 
 the dignity conferred, without considering any 
 obligation implied. Not so, Howard. To his 
 mind, distinction, of whatever kind, prescribed 
 duty; and, if his mental capacity and education 
 did not qualify him for research and discovery in 
 abstruse matters of science, he would, nevertheless, 
 contribute his quota of information — the result of 
 observation and experiment. Accordingly, we find 
 three papers of his were published in the Philoso- 
 phical Transactions. They are the following, which, 
 though subsequently written, may best be noticed 
 here. 
 
 In Vol. LIV. On the degree of cold observed at 
 Cardington in the winter of 1763, when Bird's 
 thermometer was as low as 10|.f 
 
 In Vol. LVII. On the heat of the waters at 
 Bath, containing a table of the heat of the waters 
 of the different baths. 
 
 In Vol. LXI. On the heat of the ground on 
 Mount Vesuvius. 
 
 Brown, p. -2-2. Aikin, p. 21. 
 
 trad the following from a letter in the Gentleman's Magazine, 
 
 April, 1790. " A an instance that, in whatever Mr. Howard engaged, 
 
 ummu viribus, it may not be unworthy of notice to mention, 
 
 tting in. he used, during the continuance, to leave 
 
 •1 nt two every morning, for the purpose of observing the state 
 
 lermometer, which was placed in his garden at some distance 
 
 ■
 
 HIS SECOND MARRIAGE. 23 
 
 Dr. Aikin also tells us * that " meteorological 
 observations were much to his taste ; and he em- 
 ployed himself with assiduity in some experi- 
 ments on the effects of the union of the primary 
 colours in different proportions." 
 
 Full of interest to himself and of advantage to 
 others, as were Howard's occupations at this time, 
 he felt that a companion in his tranquil enjoyment, 
 and a helpmate in his charitable efforts, was needful 
 to his welfare. One suitable in all respects was ere 
 long found, in the person of Henrietta, daughter of 
 Edward Leeds, Esq., of Croxton in Cambridgeshire, 
 a serjeant-at-law, to whom Howard was married 
 on the 25th April, 1758. This lady is described as 
 possessing, in no ordinary degree, all the softer 
 virtues of her sex ; not deficient in personal attrac- 
 tions, amiable in her disposition, and ardent in her 
 affection ; ever conforming herself to her husband's 
 wishes, and cheerfully seconding the execution of 
 all his plans. Whilst so well calculated in these 
 respects to promote the happiness of her partner, 
 there was a principle in both which cemented their 
 affections, and ensured the constancy and conti- 
 nuance of mutual endeavours to advance the welfare 
 of each other. " Religion," we are told, " had a 
 like influence upon both their minds; and Mr. 
 Howard had the supreme delight of seeing the wife 
 of his fondest affections as deeply impressed with 
 the importance of this ' one thing needful,' as from 
 
 * P. 23. 
 
 c 4
 
 2 1 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 the earliesl period hi3 own mind appears to have 
 been." * 
 
 The house at Cardington had been enlarged and 
 famished with more taste than splendour. It was 
 decorated with the purchases of Howard's first 
 [talian tour, and the linen, we are told, was the 
 homespun produce of the aged and infirm in the 
 village, who had been thus judiciously employed by 
 him since he came amongst them. To this abode 
 of comfort Howard brought his bride ; and there 
 for a while they lived, happy in the society of each 
 other, and both rejoicing in labours of love towards 
 those around them. Never did the morning sun gild a 
 pr< »pect with more promise of continued brightness, 
 than the hope was cheering which enlivened the 
 dawn of Howard's nuptial days. But the brilliant 
 sunlight of an early morn is seldom lasting. A 
 cloud arises, the lustre is eclipsed, and the glory of 
 the scene is gone. Howard, perhaps, had not to 
 Learn the lesson which such vicissitudes may teach ; 
 yet even one of more experience than he possessed 
 in a like condition, with only human foresight, 
 mighl have calculated upon lengthened blessedness. 
 Happily for him, Howard read not only the book of 
 Nature, but another — one which tells that earthly 
 happiness may soon be interrupted; which says, 
 enjoy God's temporal blessings, but hold them as 
 transitory, and live prepared to part with them 
 when called upon. The following pages will show 
 
 Brown, p. 25.
 
 REMOVES TO WATCOMBE. 25 
 
 that I do not much anticipate the occasion for such 
 resignation. 
 
 Henrietta Howard, though endowed with so 
 many gifts of heart and mind, retained them in a 
 weak and fragile form. Her health soon failed. 
 The air of Cardington was thought unfavourable, 
 and a more genial climate must be chosen. A re- 
 sidence in a southern county might restore and 
 strengthen. The possibility was worth the trial, at 
 any cost. An estate was found for sale, at Wat- 
 combe, near Lymington, and forthwith the purchase 
 was effected, for 7000£. 
 
 The following account, given us by Dr. Aikin, is 
 the only record of Howard's life in Hampshire : — 
 
 " Concerning his way of life in this pleasant retreat, I 
 find nothing characteristic to relate, except the state of 
 perfect security and harmony in which he managed to live 
 in the midst of a people, against whom his predecessor 
 thought it necessary to employ all the contrivances of 
 engines and guns in order to preserve himself from their 
 hostilities. He had, indeed, none of those propensities 
 which so frequently embroil country gentlemen with their 
 neighbours, both small and great. He was no sportsman, 
 no executor of the game laws, and in no respect an en- 
 croacher on the rights and advantages of others. In pos- 
 sessing him, the poor could not fail soon to find that they 
 had acquired a protector and benefactor ; and I am un- 
 willing to believe that in any part of the world these 
 relations are not returned with gratitude and attachment. 
 After continuing atWatcombe three or four years, he sold 
 the place and went back to Cardington, which thenceforth 
 became his fixed residence." * 
 
 * Aikin, p. 24. et seq.
 
 26 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 Two reasons have been assigned for the return 
 to Cardington. One, that the vapour arising from 
 the neighbouring forest prevented accuracy in 
 I Coward's astronomical observations.* This was an 
 unlikely cause for leaving an abode chosen for the 
 sake of one whom he looked upon with a love in- 
 finitely more constraining than was his concern for 
 science, or for any created object the universe con- 
 tained. But there was cause to fear that a mistake 
 had been made, that the health of his wife was in- 
 jured by the change ; and this was a reason at once 
 sufficient for the return. 
 
 Again settled at Cardington, Howard began to 
 carry into effect plans before projected, and to com- 
 plete improvements which had been left unfinished ; 
 and the house was further enlarged. His own taste 
 was good, but that of his wife was more highly cul- 
 tivated ; and their combined efforts gave the resi- 
 dence a simplicity and elegance which it never 
 before had. The front was adorned with lattice- 
 work, and windows in a suitable style replaced the 
 gloomy casements. The aspect was preserved — it 
 was the village churchyard, and suggested to these 
 pious minds many a profitable, and few unpleasant 
 thoughts. Behind the house new rooms were built, 
 and a handsome entrance there erected. The 
 g n >un< Is were tastefully arranged ; a kitchen garden 
 formed the centre, but so concealed with evergreens 
 and other shrubs, that the stranger when strolling 
 sometimes found himself within it, before he knew 
 ■ ( Gentleman's Mag. April, 1790.
 
 RETURNS TO CARDINGTON. 27 
 
 it was there; the occasional surprise was some 
 pleasantry to these gentle spirits, whose deception 
 was always harmless. A lawn sloped from the 
 dwelling ; and a broad gravel walk, over which 
 some lofty trees threw a grateful shade, surrounded 
 all. In one part of this grew some majestic firs. 
 His biographer, whose description I now insert, 
 tells us — 
 
 " The still silence of this shady grove was his most 
 favourite resort ; and in its mossy path he spent many a 
 solitary hour in devising, and many a social one in com- 
 municating to his friends, when devised, those glorious 
 schemes of benevolence, which will never cease to impart 
 to every spot his footsteps are known to have traversed 
 on so merciful an errand, a charm more powerful than, 
 without the magic influence of some such genius of the 
 place, can dwell in nature's loveliest or sublimest scenes. 
 The trees are still standing where they were first planted 
 by his hand, and the gardener who watered the nursling 
 shoots is yet living, in his eighty-sixth year, to prune, 
 though with a sparing hand, — unwilling to lop off any- 
 thing his master loved to cherish, — the exuberance of 
 their spreading boughs. One tree, in particular, seems to 
 be an object of his especial care. It was planted, as he 
 delights to tell you, by Mrs. Howard, on the original forma- 
 tion of the walk, and therefore always possessed a peculiar 
 charm in her husband's eyes. Nor has the moss with which 
 Mr. Howard delighted to see the paths of his pleasure 
 grounds and gardens completely overspread, entirely dis- 
 appeared. The old man, upon a visit I lately paid to them, 
 complained however, most bitterly, that the children of the 
 present occupier of the house had sadly spoiled its beauty, 
 and were in a fair way to root it up altogether ; whilst his 
 indulgent master, on the other hand, good-naturedly told 
 me, that his old gardener, thinking it little less than sacri-
 
 28 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 lege to disturb it, would not suffer him — for, from the 
 length and fidelity of his services to the successive re- 
 sidents at Cardington, he is left to do pretty much as he 
 pleases in what he considers his own territories — to re- 
 move any of the dingy edges of the gravel walks which, at 
 least in their present condition, he himself considers rather 
 an eyesore than an agreeable addition. It is now more 
 than half a century since a master whom he loved, and a 
 iel low-servant with whom he spent some of the happiest 
 hours of his life, laboured with this attached domestic, 
 then in the full vigour of his days, during all the incle- 
 mency of a severe frost, in laying out those walks, and in 
 planting (chiefly by that master's own hand) the trees 
 around it." * 
 
 But the grove was not the only place for retire- 
 ment and quiet reflection to which Howard often 
 resorted in those grounds. In the part least ex- 
 posed to interruption, a rustic building was erected. 
 The fabric, we learn, was curiously constructed of 
 roots and trunks of trees ; the roof thatched. Its 
 door and .windows were gothic, admitting light 
 enough for studious reading, but the glare which 
 might distract was carefully excluded ; all within 
 was rude, and corresponding with the outward 
 form. A monitory hour-glass had its appropriate 
 place ; a model, some memorial of his former travels, 
 and a female figure bent as in the attitude of pious 
 contemplation — these were the significant orna- 
 ment s in Howard's hermitage. A small bookcase 
 enclosed some favourite volumes — amongst them 
 the works of Flavel, llervey, Young, and Milton, 
 
 * Brown, p. 29
 
 THE HERMITAGE. 29 
 
 with some popular treatises on philosophical sub- 
 jects. But amidst these, and most prominent be- 
 cause most perused, was seen that Sacred Book, from 
 which Howard derived his principles, and by which 
 he ruled his life. Here many an hour was spent in 
 holy intercourse with God. Here self-examination 
 suggested prayer, and reflection excited praise, both 
 tending to sustain under trials, and to strengthen 
 amidst conflicts, and alike preparing the soul for 
 the condition when these shall cease. Thus 
 Howard's oratory reminds us of Cowper's hermit- 
 age — it was made a place " preliminary to the last 
 retreat." And then lest any should violate the 
 sanctity of this little temple, or lest he himself at 
 any time should enter it with thoughts and feelings 
 which might thwart its purpose, there was placed 
 immediately opposite to its doors an inscription, of 
 which only the following part has been preserved — 
 
 " O solitude, bless'd state of man below, 
 Friend to our thoughts and balm of all our woe ; 
 Far from throng'd cities my abode remove, 
 To realms of innocence, and peace, and love ; 
 
 That when the sable shades of death appear, 
 And life's clear light no more these eyes shall cheer, 
 Its work may be fulfill'd ; its prospects won, 
 By virtue measured, not a setting sun.* 
 
 Throughout Howard's life the proverb, that 
 " cleanliness is next to godliness," was remem- 
 
 * The former of these stanzas has been recognized as a quotation 
 found in Brown's Essays on the Universe, the latter has been ascribed 
 to Henrietta Howard.
 
 30 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 bered : " he was a very Mussulman in his ablutions," 
 says Dr. Aikin ; and so adjoining the root-house a 
 bath was constructed, into which it was his custom 
 to plunge every morning, both winter and summer. 
 It must not be supposed, that because Howard's 
 mind was thus contemplative and pious, he lived as 
 a recluse ; or that because he gave a portion of his 
 time to the culture of his grounds and garden, his 
 attention was thus diverted from other and higher 
 duties. This was his recreation, whereby a weakly 
 constitution derived strength, whilst his private 
 meditation, study, and prayer, disposed and fitted 
 him for more active service in the station of life in 
 which God bad placed him. Dr. Aikin, concerning 
 whom I must here observe that, although as a man 
 of the world, — learned, judicious, and entertaining 
 much respect for religion, — he was well able to 
 appreciate the moral <icellencies of his friend, yet 
 the decided piety which pervaded Howard's con- 
 duct, and often prevented conformity to the world's 
 practice, appears to have been beyond his compre- 
 hension. It was a deep, abiding, and unwavering 
 spiritual-mindedness, with which he could not sym- 
 pathize ; hence, in the following and other extracts 
 we find Howard characterized as singular, peculiar, 
 and scrupulous. The former terms may, we fear, 
 describe the earnest Christian now, as they then 
 did ; but the propriety of the latter depends upon 
 the person who applies it. 
 
 " 1 li> s<»l ni< ty of manners and peculiarities of living did 
 not tit him for much promiscuous society; yet no man
 
 HIS CHARITY. 31 
 
 received his select friends with more true hospitality ; and 
 he always maintained an intercourse with several of the 
 first persons in his county who knew and respected his 
 worth. Indeed, however uncomplying he might be with 
 the freedoms and irregularities of polite life, he was by 
 no means negligent of its received forms ; and, though he 
 might be denominated a man of scruples and singularities, 
 no one would dispute his claim to the title of a gentleman? '* 
 
 Amongst others in the county with whom Howard 
 lived on terms of friendship, was Mr. Whitbread, 
 to whom, indeed, he was related, and who seems at 
 this time to have admired and imitated the private 
 munificence of his kinsman, perhaps with as much 
 real advantage to society as that which afterwards 
 resulted from association with him in a political 
 contest. 
 
 Subsequently to this period, Mr. Whitbread, 
 deeply imbued with the same spirit of philan- 
 thropy, adopted some of Howard's plans, co- 
 operated with him in others, and probably, out of 
 his immense resources, afforded him some pecu- 
 niary assistance in furtherance of his charitable 
 exertions. 
 
 Of Howard's private charity amongst the afflicted 
 and helpless poor, we have already spoken. Its con- 
 tinuance and increase was the necessary consequence 
 of that spiritual intercourse, which has been de- 
 scribed. Economical in his own expenditure, he 
 could afford to be munificent towards those in need. 
 His alms were ever proportioned to his means, and 
 additional mercies were so many incentives to active 
 
 * Aikin, p, 26.
 
 32 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 benevolence. Gratitude enforced generosity. He 
 remembered that he had freely received, and 
 therefore freely did he give. It must not, however, 
 be supposed that his gifts were indiscriminately 
 bestowed. They were liberally poured forth, like 
 a stream that could not stagnate — silent, deep, 
 and rapid, yet steadily directed in the proper 
 channel. Mere poverty, irrespective of the cause, 
 did not entitle its victim to his bounty. The sick, 
 the disabled, and the aged were its special objects. 
 Idleness was hateful to him, but industry found in 
 him a ready patron. Those capable of supporting 
 themselves must make the effort if they would find 
 in Howard a friend and helper. He would give 
 employment, and so grant the opportunity ; but he 
 was ever anxious to make the indigent more 
 provident and less dependent. The plan he 
 adopted in furnishing and often replenishing his 
 house with the linen from the village looms to an 
 extent far beyond necessary demands, illustrates 
 the principle upon which he continually acted. 
 
 In his character as a landlord, Howard's conduct 
 was exemplary. The village of Cardington is re- 
 ported to have been sunk in profligacy and vice at 
 the time he went to his estate. He could not wit- 
 ness this with complacency, or without a vigorous 
 effort for its correction and improvement. Some 
 causes of the existing depravity were easily dis- 
 cerned. Amongst the most conspicuous was the 
 wretched want of accommodation in the cottages of 
 the poor. Here, as everywhere, misery and crime
 
 CROWDED COTTAGES A CAUSE OF CRIME. 33 
 
 were the consequences of that promiscuous crowd- 
 ing, without respect to sex, age, or circumstances, 
 whereby modesty is first destroyed, lewdness ere long 
 usurps its place, all self-respect is lost, the moral 
 sense perverted, and thus the very foundations 
 of virtue are undermined. Nothing has tended 
 more to demoralize our rural population, and to 
 pollute our land with gross sensuality, which en- 
 sures the perpetration of crime to pay its cost, than 
 the negligence of so many of our landed proprietors 
 in not constructing dwellings adequate to the num- 
 ber of their labouring dependents, and of dimensions 
 suited to the families who must occupy them. 
 Honourable exceptions there have been, and many 
 such there are now ; but truly there has been an 
 infatuation, of which the folly is only surpassed by 
 its inhumanity, under which men have cared more 
 for the cattle in their stables and in their stalls, 
 than for fellow-creatures whom they have treated 
 as an encumbrance rather than as lawful tenants 
 on their native land, and as men needful for its 
 culture. It is strange that a regard for personal 
 security, and for the defence and preservation of 
 property, has not prevailed on persons, destitute of 
 more generous motives, to provide against evils so 
 perilous to themselves as those with which the over- 
 peopled tenement is ever pregnant ! But we marvel 
 more that professed Christians, whether as indi- 
 viduals or as a community, should have so long 
 witnessed the evil, and suffered from its direful 
 effects, without bestirring themselves to supply a 
 
 D
 
 34 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 remedy! Such indifference has rendered us more 
 chargeable with guilt than those whose degradation 
 
 has been almost compulsory. Some retribution we 
 do experience. If the lodgings of our poor are not 
 enlarged, our gaols are. Costly prosecutions and 
 punishments, which seldom permanently correct 
 whilst such causes for relapse and incentives to the 
 repetition of crime remain, — these are penalties, 
 not indeed commensurate to the enormity of our 
 neglect ; but inflicted it may be to forewarn in 
 mercy, that more deserved vengeance may be 
 averted. Long experience amongst prisoners, and 
 the endeavour to trace crime to its cause, has con- 
 vinced the writer that not one of our social evils 
 tends more to the degeneracy and guilt under which 
 our land groans, than the deficiency which he 
 deprecates. The squalor and filth, so loathsome to 
 the visitor of the over-crowded cottage, is the true, 
 but imperfect type of the impurity and sordid 
 vices in which the minds of its tenants are debased. 
 Our space must not be occupied in tracing the 
 ramifications of this gangrene in our social system, 
 or painful examples might be adduced to prove, that 
 whilst misery and demoralization so prevail within 
 the narrow walls, the wanderer, compelled at length 
 Ui forsake them, is a victim prepared for seduction 
 in almost any of its thousand forms. The beer- 
 house, or, if possible, some worse haunt, becomes 
 the temporary habitation, crime is the condition of 
 remaining, and the tenement on these terms is the 
 mere passage to the prison. Another calamitous
 
 CROWDED COTTAGES A CAUSE OF CRIME. 35 
 
 result of the evil we deplore is, the severance of 
 that compact which should subsist between those 
 dependent and their superiors. A loss of all salu- 
 tary influence is consequent upon such neglect. 
 Let a man feel that he is uncared for, or treated as 
 an outcast, and he will neither cherish respect 
 towards those above him, nor regard their rights. 
 To men of some education and of upright cha- 
 racter, the benefits arising from the presence and 
 power of a large and independent proprietor are 
 evidently seen, very sensibly felt, and thankfully 
 acknowledged : but if the poor and illiterate become, 
 or through negligence remain, morally corrupted 
 also, they will not only be incapable of appreciating 
 some advantages of which they may still partake, 
 but will be ready, whenever the opportunity may 
 occur, to dispute the right and the reality of power 
 from which they have derived so little profit. Their 
 estimate of the value of that power is formed ac- 
 cording to the privations or comforts they ex- 
 perience, not from any process of reasoning. They 
 have discernment enough to distinguish between 
 the landlord whose personal expenditure is not 
 allowed to interfere with relative duties, and one 
 whose private extravagance and self-indulgence 
 necessarily prevent a due regard for his dependents. 
 By the conduct of the latter a spirit of anarchy is 
 generated, there is soon a temptation to transgress, 
 the restraint is gone, the law is violated, perhaps 
 justly vindicated: but in the day of reckoning 
 which must hereafter come, when judgment shall 
 
 D 2
 
 36 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 be regulated by that which human tribunals cannot 
 recognize, — "when the causes of offences, not less 
 than the conduct of offenders, shall be the subject 
 of inquiry, -vvho does not see that if the criminal 
 perish, the careless will not escape! 
 
 AYe return to our memoir, in the hope that the 
 importance of the subject may be an apology for 
 the digression, and glad if the reader should be 
 disposed to imitate Howard in the particulars we 
 are about to describe. Never perhaps did any man 
 more constantly remember that property implies 
 responsibility ; that there are duties correspondent 
 in importance to the extent of our possessions ; and 
 that we hold as stewards that which we either 
 inherit or acquire. In what measure Howard's 
 practice was consistent with his belief, and he 
 faithful to his trust, may be inferred from the fol- 
 1< >wing statement of his biographer : 
 
 " It seems to have been the capital object of his am- 
 bition, that the poor in his village should be the most 
 orderly in their manners, the neatest in their persons and 
 habitations, and possessed of the greatest share of the 
 comforts of life, that could be met with in any part of 
 I mil Kind. And as it was his disposition to carry everything 
 he undertook to the greatest pitch of perfection, so he 
 spared no pains or expense to effect his purpose. He 
 n by building a number of neat cottages on his estate, 
 annexing to each a little land for a garden and other con- 
 v< niences. In this project, which might be considered as 
 an object of taste, as well as of benevolence, he had the full 
 concurrence of his excellent partner. I remember his re- 
 lating that once, having settled his accounts at the close of 
 a year, and found a balance in his favour,he proposed to
 
 schools. 37 
 
 his wife to make use of it in a journey to London, or any 
 other gratification she chose. ' What a pretty cottage it 
 would build,' was her answer, and the money was so em- 
 ployed. These comfortable habitations he peopled with 
 the most industrious and sober tenants he could find ; and 
 over them he exercised the superintendence of master and 
 father combined. He was careful to furnish them with 
 employment, to assist them in sickness and distress, and 
 to educate their children. In order to preserve their morals, 
 he made it a condition that they should regularly attend 
 their several places of worship, and abstain from public- 
 houses and from such amusements as he thought per- 
 nicious ; and he secured their compliance with his rules by 
 making them tenants at will." * 
 
 In the above extract we are told that Howard 
 was careful to educate the children of his dependents. 
 It may be matter of surprise that one so enlightened, 
 so liberal, and whose opinions and practices were so 
 far in advance of the generation which he laboured 
 to improve, should have confined the education he 
 provided to the children of his charge. We are sure 
 this arose from no lack of energy, or of interest in 
 the improvement of those adult subjects whom he 
 appears to have governed with a truly patriarchal 
 discipline, to which they submitted in a manner as 
 pleasing as it was surely profitable. Why there was 
 exclusion from so great a benefit can be only con- 
 jectured : but the silence of Howard himself on the 
 subject would seem to imply that the prevalent 
 idea of adults being too old to learn, prevented the 
 attempt to teach, and that the effort was omitted as a 
 matter of course, requiring no explanation. Perhaps 
 
 * Aikin, pp. 27. 29. 
 D 3
 
 38 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 there were special circumstances ; or it may be that, 
 although schools were not established, secular in- 
 structic-D was to some extent imparted. But as re- 
 spects the young it was Howard's earnest desire to 
 communicate all the learning that was needful, and 
 at the same time he showed a wise discretion in not 
 giving more than might be advantageous. " He 
 established schools," says Dr. Aikin, "for both 
 sexes, conducted upon the most judicious plan. 
 The girls were taught reading and needlework in a 
 plain way; the boys reading, and some of them 
 writing, and the rudiments of arithmetic." * 
 
 When estimating the conduct of Howard in these 
 educational arrangements we must consider the 
 period in which lie lived. A certain degree of 
 mental instruction is necessary to the welfare of 
 the poorer classes. So much as shall enable them 
 to read and write may be almost essential to their 
 comfort, prosperity, and good conduct. Abstract- 
 edly considered, it is desirable that instruction to a 
 much greater extent should be communicated; but 
 circumstances taken into account, that amount 
 might be sufficient, and more might injure. There 
 can be no doubt but that learning has a tendency to 
 raise the scholar in the scale of society J and there- 
 fore in a state in which power depends rather upon 
 property than education, subordination will best be 
 pyed by regulating instruction according to 
 the various grades. In our own day the literary 
 acquirements of the higher and middle classes are 
 
 ' A.ikin, p. 35.
 
 REMARKS ON EDUCATION. 39 
 
 so extensive and so general, that a far greater 
 amount of knowledge may be imparted to their 
 inferiors, without the risk of so raising them as 
 to endanger their subordinancy. But it was far 
 different in Howard's day. Our rural population 
 was then in a state of ignorance so gross that, 
 whilst the labourer could seldom repeat the alpha- 
 bet, the education of his employer had rarely been 
 carried beyond the rudiments of the science abso- 
 lutely needful. To have elevated the children of 
 those labourers by an amount of secular instruction 
 equal to that which the families of their masters 
 were likely to receive, would have been injudicious, 
 if not unjust. Howard would not be guilty of 
 either offence. There was prudence in all his 
 philanthropic plans. And this is further seen when 
 we are acquainted with and consider the fact, that 
 he not only desired to educate the offspring of his 
 own tenants and dependents, but that the children 
 around should share the same privilege. There was 
 a gradual enlargement of that benevolence which 
 was ere long to embrace the world in its efforts. 
 Howard sympathised with his sovereign, who piously 
 wished that every child in his dominions might be 
 able to read its Bible : and in proportion to his 
 power he sought the accomplishment of that desire. 
 But if, instead of endeavouring to bestow only 
 the instruction needful to this end he had given a 
 more general scholarship, how soon and how surely 
 would opposition have been excited, and have pre- 
 
 D i
 
 40 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 vented the diffusion of that really useful knowledge 
 which by his caution and discretion was effected. 
 
 Another feature in these arrangements, proving 
 the wisdom of Howard, is remarkable. There 
 was a moral discipline evident throughout. His 
 object was really to educate them as Christians. To 
 this end he would not only teach, but tram them. 
 Regarding himself as a patron and sponsor of the 
 children he adopted, it was his endeavour to dis- 
 charge the duties of such offices. He provided not 
 only that they should learn the " things which a 
 Christian ought to know and believe to his soul's 
 health," but that "they should be virtuously brought 
 up to lead a godly and Christian life." He called 
 upon them to frequent God's sanctuary, to hear ser- 
 mons, and to the utmost of his power, both by pre- 
 cept and example, he taught them not merely to be 
 hearers, but " doers of the word." Nor were these 
 last essentials of godly discipline enforced only on 
 the children under his control : they were also 
 conditions of tenantry. Adults must thus far con- 
 form. Self-denial, sobriety, and obedience must 
 distinguish their behaviour. The public-house must 
 be relinquished, gambling must be given up, the 
 cock-pit and the prize-fight abjured, and thence- 
 forth a recompense was found in the favour, pro- 
 tection, and friendship of their benefactor. This 
 was an ample compensation to them in the life 
 present; but many, we doubt not, were by such 
 means brought to the knowledge, faith, and fear of 
 God, and following the example of Howard, as he
 
 CA1JDINGT0N IMPROVED. 41 
 
 followed bis Divine Master, are with him partakers 
 of Christ's heavenly kingdom. 
 
 As testimony to the misery and vice which was 
 prevailing at Cardington when Howard entered 
 upon his estate, was quoted when we began to 
 describe his corrective arrangements, so it is cheer- 
 ing at this stage of his life to adduce the following 
 statement of the success of his plans. It is tran- 
 scribed from a contemporary periodical. 
 
 " Cardington, which seemed at one time to contain the 
 abodes of poverty and wretchedness, soon became one of 
 the neatest villages in the kingdom ; exhibiting all the 
 pleasing appearances of competency and content, the na- 
 tural rewards of industry and virtue." * 
 
 We must now revert to a period of most painful 
 interest in the life of Howard. The mention which 
 has been made of the weakly constitution of his 
 beloved w r ife, of her continued sickness, and of an 
 unsuccessful change of climate, has prepared the 
 reader for the melancholy event we must now re- 
 cord. Not quite seven years had elapsed since that 
 bright April morning when he rejoiced with a 
 bridegroom's gladness. We have said the changes 
 of that variable month were the too certain emblem 
 of his prospects. There was much enjoyment, with 
 some anxious forebodings, during his short matri- 
 monial day ; and as the evening sun often glows 
 with increased radiance before it sets, so at the 
 close of this happy part of Howard's life his pros- 
 pect brightened, and the succeeding gloom was 
 
 * Universal Majj. vol. lxxxvi.
 
 42 LIFE OF IIOWArvD. 
 
 deepened by the beams of hope which had just 
 before cheered his heart. Blessed with an affec- 
 tionate partner, with a competent fortune, living in 
 peace, and revered by his dependents, what human 
 lot could be more enviable than his ! But Howard 
 lacked one blessing — he was childless : and often we 
 may believe in his prosperity was prayer offered 
 that it might not cease with himself, but that a son 
 might be granted to share and inherit it. At 
 length the prayer was answered ; and this appeared 
 to complete all that was wanting to his happiness. 
 But unalloyed felicity was not fit for Howard, nor 
 perhaps for any man in this state of probation, and 
 therefore the last blessing which filled his soul with 
 delight entailed affliction in its most painful form. 
 His beloved wife gave birth to a son, Feb. 5th, 
 17G5. Notwithstanding previous weakness, she 
 appeared to be strong and doing well. The pain 
 and peril seemed, and was said to be past. Four 
 days after, the fond husband, full of joy and 
 gratitude, goes to the house of God, and there gives 
 thanks : with joy augmented, as it ever is, by praise 
 given to God its author, he hastens from the church 
 to that chamber, the scene of mercy, and where I 
 with one who shared his happiness he would join; 
 in the repetition of his praise. But the pious pur- 
 pose is prevented. J I is wife becomes worse. She | 
 suddenly expires in those arms just before uplifted i 
 ingratitude for her deliverance! Words would be 
 wasted in any attempt to describe the anguish of
 
 REFLECTIONS. 43 
 
 Howard's heart. He has left us no record of his 
 grief — 
 
 " Silence in truth would speak his sorrow best, 
 For deepest wounds can least their feelings tell." 
 
 Language most forcible would still be feeble, if 
 applied to represent his feelings before the lifeless 
 object of his love was committed to the tomb. The 
 following inscription in Cardington Church shows 
 its locality — let it restrain the tear which sym- 
 pathy may excite, — for 
 
 In hope of a resurrection to eternal life, 
 
 Through the mercy of God by means of Jesus Christ, 
 
 Rests the mortal part of 
 
 HENRIETTA HOWARD, 
 
 Daughter of Edward Leeds, Esq. 
 
 of Croxton, in Cambridgeshire, 
 
 Who died the 31st of March, 1765, aged 39. 
 
 She opened her mouth with 
 
 Wisdom, 
 
 And in her tongue was the law of kindness. 
 
 Prov. xxxi. 26. 
 
 It is when the first flood of grief which bursts 
 from the heart of one thus bereaved has subsided, 
 and the last sad office of affection has been per- 
 formed, that the mourner becomes more conscious 
 of his loss ; the reality is forced upon him by the 
 desolation he then feels. So with Howard. Bowed 
 down in sadness, — not to murmur, but to submit ; 
 in the bitterness of his sorrow he was silent — 
 dumb, for it was God's doing ! Resigned amidst
 
 -14 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 grief faith soon suggested thoughts of comfort, and 
 they found expression on the tablet just tran- 
 scribed. 
 
 Many indeed were the circumstances which tended 
 
 to aggravate the sorrow of the widower ; yet 
 
 there were some that might alleviate his grief, 
 
 and connected with the memory of the departed 
 
 there was much that might console. They had 
 
 been united in the same holy faith ; they lived, 
 
 and enlivened each other, by the same hope; 
 
 and both abounded in the feelings and fruits 
 
 of charity. There was a constant harmony of 
 
 thought and desire, ever issuing in combined acts 
 
 of benevolence. It was soothing to reflect upon 
 
 the simplicity of her faith and upon her self-denial 
 
 for the sake of himself and others, shown in labours 
 
 of love which proved the sincerity of that faith. 
 
 And now that she had ceased from them, it was 
 
 cheering to recollect that those works followed her, 
 
 and would never be forgotten. When too he called to 
 
 mind that soon after their marriage she had parted 
 
 with her jewels, that she might extend her charities, 
 
 how would the remembrance of that exchange tend 
 
 to cheer and excite the certain hope that, instead of 
 
 such glittering decorations, she was gone to receive 
 
 that " crown of glory which fadeth not away! " 
 
 lint whilst this similarity of sentiment, this sym- 
 pathyand mutual assistance in well-doing, rendered 
 tli<' separation more painful, was such a dispensation 
 «)l Divine Providence on these accounts more mys- 
 terious? Truly (.> those present — to the conteni-
 
 REFLECTIONS. 45 
 
 poraries and companions of Howard, — the visita- 
 tion must have appeared inexplicable. Perplexed 
 as they must have been by its obscurity, it was 
 happy for them, if sharing the faith of the bereaved 
 survivor, they could confide in the wisdom and 
 goodness of Him who " though His ways are past 
 finding out," yet " doeth all things well." But 
 though human foresight cannot penetrate God's 
 purposes, nor our observation of passing events 
 enable us to comprehend His plans, yet how often 
 in the retrospect we can clearly trace His wisdom, 
 power, and love. Is it permitted for the confirma- 
 tion of our faith, and for our consolation if afflicted, 
 to discern the truth that " whom the Lord loveth 
 he chasteneth," — that such chastisement is for 
 their profit, that they may be partakers of His 
 holiness, and that " though their affliction be not 
 joyous but grievous, it shall produce in them the 
 peaceable fruits of righteousness ?" The writer 
 believes it is : and surely biography is comparatively 
 worthless, unless reflection shall collect its lessons. 
 The further we proceed with these pages, the more 
 plainly we shall perceive that the subject of them 
 cannot be regarded as a merely private person ; 
 a truth applicable in some measure to all men, but 
 especially to Howard. He was God's chosen instru- 
 ment to accomplish a great work of mercy, and 
 this calamity was no more an occurrence of chance, 
 or less foreseen and sent of God than when, as de- 
 creed for a sign to His people, it was one day pre- 
 dicted to the prophet, "Behold, I take away the
 
 46 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 desire of thine eyes with a stroke," — " And at 
 even his wife died." * We have before compared 
 the future Philanthropist to the Patriarch called to 
 leave his country and his kindred, to receive and 
 impart blessings by his obedience; the parallel is yet 
 traceable, for the time was approaching when 
 Howard must go forth on his mission of mercy, and 
 this painful bereavement prepared his way. The 
 beloved obstacle was removed by Him, who, through 
 the abundance of consolation, could recompense 
 the loss. The strongest bond which attached him 
 to his native land and his narrow sphere was 
 broken ; his domestic ties were loosened, that his 
 duties might be enlarged; and the love which, 
 though not concentrated in one, was almost cir- 
 cumscribed in its agency by limits in which her 
 efforts could be united with his own, was now to be 
 diffused, and to pour forth its benign and powerful 
 influence upon a suffering world. 
 
 * Ezek. xxiv. 1G. 18.
 
 47 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HOWARD AS A PARENT. HIS OriNIONS ON EDUCATION. — HIS 
 
 MISTAKES. TREATMENT OF HIS CHILD. COWPER A PARAL- 
 LEL. A WARNING TO PARENTS ANECDOTES. HOWARD 
 
 VINDICATED. GOES TO BATH. — TOUR THROUGH HOLLAND. 
 
 — HIS SON SENT TO SCHOOL. 
 
 The subject of our memoir is not only a widower, 
 but a parent. If conscious of his bereaved condi- 
 tion, he was cast down and desolate, there was an 
 occasional interruption to the sad stillness of his 
 home, the feeble voice of one surviving which for- 
 bade the listlessness of indulged grief, and whilst it 
 consoled with the assurance that he was not alone, 
 called forth exertion, and reminded of duty. The 
 mourner was thus aroused, and the energy of How- 
 ard's character combined with paternal affection, 
 prompted him, even in the infancy of his child, not 
 only to discharge the father's duty, but to enter 
 upon the task for which maternal tenderness is so 
 much wanted. This was a mistake ; and the re- 
 sults, as the sequel will show, were the most 
 disastrous. The peculiar excellences in Howard's 
 character which so eminently qualified him for the 
 former, as much unfitted him for the latter office. 
 It was his conviction that the management of chil- 
 dren should commence in the first months of life. 
 Dr. Aikin tells us that " according to his ideas,
 
 48 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 education had place from the very first dawn of the 
 mental faculties." The opinion was right, but the 
 want of experience caused him to err in its applica- 
 tion. It is not only difficult to decide when the 
 first ray quickens the intellect, but whether the 
 perception of different things is at one and the 
 same time imparted. A child's comprehension may 
 be not only gradually excited, but the subjects of 
 it may be successively discerned. And one conse- 
 quence of the corruption of our nature is, that the 
 passions are gratified before the power to control 
 them is granted. These must not be encouraged, 
 yet very gently subdued ; and for this the soothing 
 fondness of the mother or the nurse is especially 
 needful. Howard, through the early loss of his 
 own mother and his imperfect education, had nei- 
 ther Avitnessed the force of maternal endearment, 
 nor otherwise learned this lesson. His theory of 
 education was based upon a principle, and he was 
 therefore uncompromising. Hence that education 
 was not the leading of love, it was the attempt to 
 coerce. Restraint, compulsion, and chastisement 
 were applied too soon. The consequence of this 
 premature discipline was that his son became sub- 
 missive and obedient throughout his boyhood, but 
 renounced subjection in youth, became profligate, 
 and ere long imbecile. Whilst under parental au- 
 thority fear influenced his conduct, and it was fair 
 and promising ; but no sooner was the outward re- 
 straint gone and temptation presented, than vicious 
 inclinations were indulged and defied subjection;
 
 HIS MISTAKES. — TREATMENT OF HIS CHILD. 49 
 
 there was no principle disposing to their resistance 
 and promoting self-control : they hurried their 
 victim into gross sensualities ; the enfeebled mind 
 gave way, and madness followed — a melancholy, 
 but withal a most instructive lesson to even the 
 best of parents, that paternal restraint must be 
 founded upon filial love rather than fear, if they 
 would so influence the child's conduct as rightly 
 to form the character. Other means, of course, 
 must accompany a Christian education, but the 
 proper method of securing dutiful affection is here 
 spoken of — since in this particular the mistake 
 was made. Howard himself perceived it too late ; 
 and his biographer, notwithstanding his kind at- 
 tempt to show that the son's imbecility was not 
 assignable to his friend's errors, concludes his ac- 
 count by saying — 
 
 " I think it highly probable, that a father, whose pre- 
 sence was associated with the perception of restraint and 
 refusal, should always have inspired more awe than affec- 
 tion ; and should never have created that filial confidence, 
 which is both the most pleasing and most salutary of the 
 sentiments attending that relation. And this has been the 
 great evil of that rigorous mode of education, once so 
 general, and still frequent, among persons of a particular 
 persuasion. I have authority to say, that Mr. Howard 
 was at length sensible that he had in some measure mis- 
 taken the mode of forming his son to that character he 
 | wished him to acquire ; though, with respect to his mental 
 derangement, I know that he imputed no blame to himself 
 on that head. With what parental sorrow he was affected 
 by that event will appear in the progress of the narration,"* 
 
 * Aikin, pp. 46, 47. 
 E 

 
 50 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 Aii extract from a letter, written by Howard 
 from Venice several years later, when informed of 
 his son's misconduct, may be here inserted as 
 proving the truth of the above remarks : — 
 
 " It is with great concern I hear the account of my son's 
 behaviour. I fear he gives you as well as others a great 
 deal of trouble. The loss of a mother is a great loss to 
 children ! The mother checks them, and forms the mind, 
 curbing the corrupt passions of pride and self-will, which 
 are seen very early in children. I must leave it to Him 
 witli whom are all hearts, and sigh in secret; trusting 
 that the blessing of such an excellent mother is yet laid up 
 for him."* 
 
 The mistakes made by his fond surviving parent 
 in the case of the poet Cowper, and that morbid 
 sensibility — perhaps even the worse mental de- 
 rangement — which was to a considerable extent 
 assignable to them, render his case very similar to 
 that we have described. Ilayley, with force and 
 feeling, observes — 
 
 " The mother of Cowper was dead; and fathers, though 
 good men, are in general utterly unfit to manage their 
 young and tender orphans." + 
 
 Far be it from the writer to say a word in de- 
 fence of that abuse with which Howard has been 
 assailed, t Frailty and imperfection arc common 
 to all men. Omniscience alone is too wise to err. 
 [f there were reasons to suppose the subject of our 
 
 ' Brown, p. 401. f Life of Cowper, vol. i. p. 8. 
 
 | I have a sentence before me in which it is said that, " The pro- 
 of the young man were blasted by paternal severity," that he 
 "yielded a small portion of the milk of human kindness to an only 
 and even bi lov< d jon." — Genttemaris Magazine, March, 1790.
 
 HOWARD VINDICATED. 51 
 
 Memoir defective as a parent, it was in his want of 
 judgment, not in any deficiency of love ; the result 
 of circumstances, and the source of sorrow. Even 
 if there were some absence of affection towards the 
 son, when all the world beside was loved, surely 
 charity might suggest silence, and suppose that 
 some unknown cause had occasioned a circumstance 
 so inexplicable. Howard would even then demand 
 our veneration, although he had once failed in the 
 grace by which he was most distinguished. One 
 single example of unfailing love and of a perfect life 
 has been presented to us, but in all beside there 
 has been something wanting ; they were at some 
 time deficient in the very virtues which most 
 adorned them. The faith of Abraham, the meek- 
 ness of Moses, and the firmness of Peter, even upon 
 occasions when their constancy might have been most 
 expected, proved imperfect ; and the faithful record 
 of their failings has been preserved, alike to fore- 
 warn against presumption, and to forbid discourage- 
 ment. We should not, therefore, have wondered if 
 Howard's philanthropy had also failed where it 
 might have been most looked for. But of this we 
 have no proof. On the contrary, it was the very 
 ardour of his affection acting upon an unswerving 
 principle Avhich produced the evil. Steadfast in 
 purpose, unwavering in his sense of duty, and some- 
 what stern in the manner of its performance, he 
 became the instructor of his child with a strictness 
 proportioned to the strength of his love, but with a 
 zeal unchastened either by observation or experi- 
 
 E 2
 
 52 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 ence. The motives and the energy which charac- 
 terised all other philanthropic exertions were now 
 almost concentrated in this chief object of his re- 
 gard, and there was nothing to counteract the over- 
 powering effect. Love induced him to exact obe- 
 dience by a command, and " the mouth in which 
 was the law of kindness" had been closed in death. 
 A dispensation in this respect too mysterious for 
 comment ! I describe what I conceive to have been 
 Howard's character as a parent at greater length, 
 not merely with a view to his vindication from un- 
 merited reproaches, but because there is no portion 
 of his life in which, notwithstanding his errors, the 
 real excellences of his character are more clearly 
 discernible. His biographers I believe to have been 
 much mistaken. Enemies have been unwarranted 
 in their cruel aspersions ; and friends, in admira- 
 tion of his humanity, have forgotten that he was 
 but human. In Howard I think we recognise this 
 truth, that even if the virtues of any man were 
 perfect, wisdom would still be wanting, so to regu- 
 late their exercise that a disproportionate influence 
 should not be productive of evil instead of good. 
 
 We have been furnished with some anecdotes 
 tending to illustrate Howard's parental discipline. 
 It is unnecessary to cite many trifling incidents 
 which have been adduced to show that there 
 never was intentional unkindness or severity in 
 his conduct. We need not prove that he pur- 
 chased toys, was companion in the sports, and 
 ever looked with pleasure upon the playfulness of 
 his darling infant. No doubt this was the case;
 
 HOWARD VINDICATED. 53 
 
 but, without supposing him capricious, this was 
 quite consistent with an arbitrary rule and a 
 rigorous authority demanding instant submission 
 in every circumstance of his boy's behaviour. It 
 might be more difficult on that account to exact 
 the obedience, but it does not disprove the at- 
 tempt. In his management we learn that he wisely 
 prohibited his servants from indulging his child 
 with such things as sweetmeats, and other niceties, 
 which gratify the palate to the rejection of more 
 wholesome viands. Another judicious prohibition 
 was against the foolish practice of consenting to a 
 child's desires to stop its crying. This propensity 
 in children he was especially careful to correct. 
 
 " I give an instance of it," says Dr. Aikin, " which I 
 had from himself. His child one day wanting something 
 which he was not to have, fell into a fit of crying, which 
 the nurse could not pacify ; Mr. Howard took him from 
 her, and laid him quietly in his lap, till, fatigued with 
 crying, he became still : this process a few times repeated, 
 had such an effect, that the child if crying ever so vio- 
 lently was rendered quiet the instant his father took him." * 
 
 There was much to admire, and that which we 
 may well imitate in this simple, patient method. 
 In what follows we see more to lament and avoid. 
 " By firmness he is said to have brought his son to 
 that habit of implicit obedience which induced him 
 to express the opinion that he would have put his 
 finger into the fire, if he had ordered him to do 
 so."f This we are sure was spoken in no boastful 
 
 * Aikin, p. 44. f Brown, p. 58. 
 
 e 3
 
 54 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 spirit, and we have some evidence that the conviction 
 was warranted : for a venerable friend of Mr. Howard 
 tells us — " When I was with some friends on a visit 
 to him, he took us into his garden, and, as we were 
 walking, he bid the child put off his shoe, which he 
 did, and walked as well as he could upon the ground 
 for a short time, till his father desired him to put 
 it on again." * 
 
 One circumstance occurred during the earliest 
 years of his son's life, which Howard's adversaries 
 misrepresented, and made the occasion of malicious 
 calumny. It was asserted that for some trifling 
 offence committed by the child, he once locked him 
 up for several hours in a solitary place, having soon 
 after gone to Bedford with the key in his pocket, 
 and not returning till night. The following ex- 
 tract, however, from a letter written by a friend f, 
 in the year of Howard's death, will be read with 
 interest as a complete vindication. 
 
 " I was persuaded this dismal story was an absolute 
 falsehood, but had it not in my power to contradict it, till 
 I had an opportunity of mentioning it to him, which I did 
 at his next visit, and then received from him an account 
 of the following incident, which he supposed must have 
 given rise to the scandalous report. It was Mr. Howard's 
 constant practice to walk out with his child in the garden 
 while the servants were at dinner. In one of these little 
 excursions, with Master Howard in his hand (who was 
 then about three years old j, the father being much enter- 
 tained with the innocent prattle of his son, they went on 
 till they came to the root-house, or hermitage, in a retired 
 part of tli-' garden, with which the young gentleman was 
 
 Brown, \> 62 f Rev. S. Townsend.
 
 HOWARD VINDICATED. 55 
 
 familiarly acquainted, and were there for some time di- 
 verting one another. During this, the servant came in 
 great haste to inform his master that a gentleman on 
 horseback was at the door, and desired to speak with Mr. 
 Howard immediately, upon business of some importance ; 
 and as he wished, to be with him as soon as possible, he 
 said to his son, ' Jack, be a good boy, and keep quiet, and 
 I shall come very soon to you again ; ' and. so locking the 
 door to prevent the child from going out and prowling 
 about the garden by himself, to the hazard of' getting 
 some mischief, he put the key in his pocket, and ran to 
 the person in waiting, as fast as he could. The conver- 
 sation between them lasted much longer than he expected, 
 and put the thought of the child, out of his mind. Upon 
 the gentleman's departure he asked, the servant where 
 Jack was, and received for an answer, that he supposed 
 him to be in the root-house where he had been left; and 
 then instantly recollecting the incident, he flew to set him 
 at liberty, and found him quietly asleep on the matting of 
 the floor ; and, when he was waked, could, not perceive 
 that the confinement had made any disagreeable impres- 
 sions upon his mind. 
 
 " This was Mr. Howard's account of the trifling incident 
 which was worked up, either by ignorance or malevolence, 
 into so hideous a tale of cruelty : and I believe all who 
 knew him will agree with me, that so sacred did he hold 
 truth, that he would have lost his life rather than have 
 told a known falsehood. And who can soberly think that 
 a man of such exalted benevolence could possibly treat his 
 only child, then as it were but an infant, with the delibe- 
 rate severity that has been imputed to him ? " 
 
 It was truly said of Howard by one most inti- 
 mate with him *, " that he had a high idea, some of 
 his friends might think too high, of the authority of 
 a hoid of a family," and the following little inci- 
 
 * Rev. S. Palmer. 
 e 4
 
 56 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 dents tend forcibly to illustrate this truth. Howard 
 was, as we have observed, a devout Christian : 
 as such the Bible taught him his creed ; Holy Scrip- 
 ture was the authority he recognised, and al- 
 though by birth and education a Dissenter, he yet 
 heartily united in the Liturgy of the Church. 
 Now the language of these, as respects conjugal 
 duties and the wife's subjection, would be thought 
 decisive enough by most men : but lest the right 
 of private judgment should be asserted to the de- 
 triment of his authority, he would take the pre- 
 caution before marriage to have the true interpre- 
 tation acknowledged ; accordingly, his friend tells 
 us, that "before his union with Mrs. Howard an 
 agreement was made, that to prevent all altercations 
 about those little matters which he had observed to be 
 the chief grounds of uneasiness in families, he should 
 always decide. To this the amiable lady readily 
 consented, and ever adhered. Nor did she ever 
 regret the agreement, which she found to be at- 
 tended with the happiest effects. Such was the 
 opinion she entertained both of his wisdom and 
 goodness, that she perfectly acquiesced in all that 
 he did, and no lady ever appeared happier in the 
 conjugal bonds." * The amiable submission of that 
 partner — whom he had so much loved, and now so 
 much lamented, that the day of her departure was 
 observed by fasting, prayer, and preparation for 
 their re-union — had confirmed that impression of 
 bis rightful authority, mid given a reality to that 
 Bupremacy. 
 
 * Brown, p. 55.
 
 HOWARD VINDICATED. 57 
 
 Of the continuance of these impressions another 
 proof is recorded : " I recollect," writes a corre- 
 spondent to the editor of a periodical of that day * — 
 " I recollect his telling me just before he set out on 
 one of his foreign excursions, as he was walking 
 
 O 7 O 
 
 with his son round some plantations he had been 
 making at Cardington, and pointing out to him 
 further improvements which he had in contem- 
 plation, 'These, however, Jack, (I think he called 
 him), in case I should not come back, you will 
 pursue or not, as you may think proper ; but re- 
 member, this walk was planted by your mother: 
 and if you ever touch a twig of it, may my blessing 
 never rest upon you.' " 
 
 Surely then in Howard's character, as exhibited 
 in the anecdotes which have been transcribed, Ave 
 cannot fail to discern some measure of austerity 
 claiming prompt and implicit submission, yet ac- 
 companied with very much affection in the exercise 
 of his authority. As in the government of his 
 estate and tenantry, the ancient patriarch was his 
 exemplar with so much advantage, so in the ar- 
 rangements of his house, and the regulation of his 
 family, he conformed to the same pattern. But in 
 this case it was following an example, and working 
 out a principle, without having learned the fit 
 adaptation to the change of time, or knowing how 
 to suit his conduct to the condition of his subject. 
 Hence the same tone of mind, and the same un- 
 bending tenets, which were discovered in harmless 
 
 * Gentleman's Mag., April, 1790.
 
 58 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 operation preliminary to the marriage tie, were 
 too fatally developed in the education of his child. 
 
 Howard's condition was more lonesome at this 
 time, and his house more dismal, because it would 
 appear he had no female relative whose presence 
 might soothe and console, and whose superinten- 
 dence of his domestic affairs might prevent the con- 
 stant remembrance of his loss. He himself and his 
 wife had each a sister, but they had duties to per- 
 form, which forbade such acts of kindness towards 
 a brother deserving of every effort of self-denial 
 and love, which might conduce to or increase his 
 comfort. This circumstance was still more to be 
 deplored as respects his motherless infant : hu- 
 manly speaking, had the case been different, some 
 evils might have been averted. In the absence of 
 those more suitable, Howard carefully selected one 
 who is described as a " pious and excellent woman, 
 and in every respect worthy the confidence reposed 
 in her." * When about eighteen months had elapsed, 
 and he had proved the fidelity and trustworthy 
 character of his housekeeper and child's nurse, his 
 health failing, a change from the scene of his sor- 
 row and solicitude becoming necessary, he made a 
 visil to Bath. There he endeavoured to divert his 
 mind, in some measure, by his favourite study of 
 meteorology, and thence he now sent his "Observa- 
 tions on the heat of the waters at Bath," which were 
 published by the Royal Society in 1767. f He then 
 
 * Brown, p. 47. f See page 22.
 
 HIS SON SENT TO SCHOOL. 59 
 
 went to London, and spent a short time in the com- 
 pany of some literary friends ; and, in the following 
 spring, accompanied by his brother-in-law, he made 
 a tour through Holland. We have no particulars 
 of this excursion. The time spent in it was pro- 
 bably short ; and Howard hastened to embrace his 
 beloved child, and to resume the duties of his home, 
 the direction of his schools, and the oversight of his 
 estate at Cardington. It soon became evident to 
 the anxious, ever-watchful parent, that, since he 
 could not entirely educate his child himself, because 
 the state of his own health required that he should 
 occasionally leave him, it would be far better to 
 confide him to the charge of some person in a 
 station above that of a servant, and under whose 
 care he might associate with other children of his 
 own rank. But, as yet, he was too young, and 
 certainly too much beloved, to be exposed to the 
 conflicts of a boy's school ; he was therefore placed 
 with a person who kept a boarding-school for young 
 ladies at Cheshunt. Here he was treated with every 
 attention and kindness: and, as our Memoir will 
 show, although absent in body, he was the ever 
 present object of paternal solicitude and prayer.
 
 60 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Howard's health tails. — preparation for another tour. 
 
 his servant. his journal. reflections at milan. 
 
 at turin. christian character. source of charity. 
 
 letters. meditations on a sunday evening. remarks 
 
 upon them. pious reflections at lyons. affection 
 
 for his child. description of his route. arrives at 
 
 rome. descriptive letter. solemn act of self-dedi- 
 cation. diary at rome, naples, heidelberg, and rot- 
 TERDAM. 
 
 The reader may have anticipated that the gloom 
 of Cardington, no longer relieved by the innocent 
 playfulness of his beloved boy, soon produced a 
 depression on Howard's spirits, and so endangered 
 his health as to compel his departure from an abode 
 from which the chief objects of his love were gone. 
 He determines to revisit Italy. But why is this 
 country preferred ? Was it because he had travelled 
 there in the vigour of youth, before conjugal affec- 
 tions had brought their cares and entailed their 
 bereavements ; and lie hoped, when reviewing those 
 bright scenes, his thoughts would so entirely revert 
 to former days as to obliterate all memory of the 
 interval? No: for his last and favourite wife had 
 bequeathed to him a legacy of mutual love ; and, if 
 lir must be left behind, the father will choose for 
 his own companion a living memorial of an object 
 si; endeared.
 
 HIS SERVANT. 61 
 
 About two years before this time the surround- 
 ing neighbourhood had been searched by Howard 
 for a lad to look after and amuse his little son. 
 One was chosen from about five miles distance ; he 
 had proved himself worthy of the trust, and the 
 child had become attached to him, and this readily 
 commended him to his master's favour. This youth 
 must be Howard's constant attendant on his travels. 
 Friends were invited to accompany him, and their 
 declining was no hindrance ; but Thomason's * at- 
 tendance seemed to be indispensable. Both his 
 presence and his conversation would bring the 
 absent boy before him. How much the yearnings 
 of the father's heart, thus continually excited, might 
 have prevented the recovery of health, need not be 
 told. One wiser than Howard, who appoints better 
 for us than we propose for ourselves, prevented 
 such an arrangement. 
 
 The parents of the lad object to his leaving, and 
 no entreaties on his own part, or persuasion on 
 Howard's, can induce them to consent. He begs 
 of his master to take him without their permission ; 
 but Howard was never likely to sanction filial dis- 
 obedience for the sake of his own comfort ; and he 
 most reluctantly leaves him. In the words of that 
 servant himself, whose rough journal shows that he 
 had learned something of his master's regularity — 
 r So we parted, and a very sorrowful parting it 
 was." 
 
 * This servant travelled with Howard on subsequent tours and was 
 with him when he died.
 
 62 LIFE OF IIOWAKD. 
 
 The residence at Cardington must now be closed. 
 But a place associated in Howard's mind with so 
 many events, pleasant as well as painful, must not 
 become the habitation of strangers. If the beloved 
 son's touching a twig of trees planted by the hand 
 of a revered wife should entail the forfeiture of a 
 father's blessing*, much less could he endure to risk 
 that an alien-hand should rudely grasp a precious 
 relic. If he can no longer preserve memorials from 
 the hands of the spoiler himself, he will prevent 
 self-reproach by providing some trusty protector. 
 His household furnished one most suitable. The 
 coachman, who entered Howard's service upon his 
 master's marriage, and whose wife had been the 
 maid of his mistress — both of whom cherished a 
 veneration for her — was raised to the office of 
 steward, and this pair became the occupants of an 
 adjoining cottage, and the careful guards of the 
 Cardington grounds, f Nor when the establish- 
 ment was broken up were other servants uncared 
 for ; but we are told provision was made for every 
 one of his old and faithful domestics. J 
 
 These arrangements completed, Howard em- 
 barked alone, and, landing at Calais, went through 
 France to Geneva, where he remained a few weeks, 
 and thence proceeded to Milan. And here he 
 began to make those reflections upon the scenes he 
 visited, the feelings they excited, and the effects 
 
 * See p. 57. 
 
 | They lived upwards of thirty years in the service of Howard. 
 
 \ Brown, p< 74.
 
 HIS JOURNAL. G3 
 
 produced, which happily have been preserved. These 
 are written with so much simplicity, earnestness, and 
 sincerity, that we are no longer left to infer the in- 
 ward principles and motives of action from the acts 
 themselves, or from the manner of their perform- 
 ance. Described in secrecy, and never intended 
 for the sight of man, they show us Howard as only 
 known to himself, and to that Omniscient Being 
 under whose influence they were recorded, we trust, 
 for our instruction. Although interesting to all, 
 they will not be read by every one with equal ad- 
 vantage ; for to appreciate their worth, and to profit 
 by their wisdom, they must be perused under the 
 teaching and operation of the same Spirit which 
 directed and so powerfully wrought upon him who 
 wrote them. 
 
 The very first of these pourtrays the most striking 
 features in Howard's character. We may observe 
 in it a deep sense of Divine goodness, a devout 
 acknowledgment of it with lively gratitude, an 
 ardent desire for God's glory, and that it may be 
 evinced in the temporal as well as spiritual welfare 
 of his fellow-men. 
 
 " 1769, Nov. 26. — Having bought an Italian Alma- 
 nack, I counted the Holy days in Italy — thirty-one be- 
 sides the fifty-two Sabbaths. Oh ! how is pure religion 
 debased in these countries — preventing on so many days 
 the providing for a family by work, and allowing every 
 :| species of wickedness at little cabarets on the sabbath- 
 days ! How different to the primitive sacred sabbath ! 
 When men leave the holy word and set up their own 
 inventions, God often leaves them — then how do they
 
 64 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 fall ! Blessed be God who has called us Protestants out 
 of darkness into his marvellous light — make me more 
 sensible, more thankful, O my God ! How much reason 
 have I to bless God for the Reformation ! How is religion 
 debased into show and ceremony here in Italy ! Twenty 
 Saints' days near together at Christmas ! — poor creatures, 
 prevented from getting their daily bread, thousands idling 
 and miserable in the streets." 
 
 He further describes some of the pompous and 
 superstitious ceremonies he witnessed at Turin : 
 very much that was calculated to excite the con- 
 tempt and ridicule of the scoffer, and to call forth 
 gratitude, combined with pity, from the Christian. 
 These feelings, accompanied with prayer, prevailed 
 in Howard's heart. 
 
 The following extract from his journal gives us 
 the reasons Avhich induced him to return to England 
 without extending his tour, and much earlier than 
 he proposed. 
 
 " Turin, 17G9, Nov. ,'30. — My return without seeing the 
 southern parts of Italy was after much deliberation. I 
 feared a misimprovement of a talent spent for mere cu- 
 riosity, at the loss of many Sabbaths ; and as many dona- 
 tions must be suspended for my pleasure, which would 
 have been, as I hope, contrary to the general conduct of 
 my life; and which, on a retrospective view on a death- 
 lied, \\ould cause pain as unbecoming a Disciple of Christ, 
 whose mind should be formed in my soul; — these 
 thoughts, with distance from my dear boy, determine me 
 to check my curiosity. Oh ! why should vanity and folly, 
 pictures and baubles, or even the stupendous mountains, 
 beautiful hills, or rich valleys, which ere long will all be 
 consumed, engross the thoughts of a candidate for an ever-
 
 HIS CHRISTIAN LOVE. 65 
 
 lasting kingdom ! A worm ever to crawl on earth, whom 
 God has raised to the hope of glory, which ere long will 
 he revealed to them who are washed and sanctified by 
 faith in the blood of the divine Redeemer! Look for- 
 ward, oh my soul ! how low, how mean, how little is 
 everything but what has a view to that glorious world of 
 light, life, and love ! The preparation of the heart is of 
 God. Prepare the heart, O God ! of thy unworthy 
 creature, and unto thee be all the glory through the 
 boundless ages of eternity ! 
 
 Signed 'J. H.' 
 
 " This night my trembling soul almost longs to take its 
 flight, to see and know the wonders of redeeming love — 
 join the triumphant choir — sin and sorrow fled away — 
 God my Redeemer all in all — oh ! happy spirits that are 
 safe in those mansions!" 
 
 No longer is the motive of philanthropy doubtful, 
 or the power which impelled to so much self-denial 
 and vigorous benevolence obscurely declared. The 
 mid-day sun is not more evidently the cause of light, 
 and warmth, and fruitfulness, than that Christian 
 love animated, induced, and constrained Howard to 
 consecrate himself entirely to God's service, and to 
 sacrifice life rather than that fellow-men should 
 suffer, whom he might assist and relieve. We shall, 
 as we proceed, admire and wonder at his patient 
 endurance, his indefatigable energy and resolute 
 perseverance in doing good, whatever temptations, 
 difficulties, or personal dangers beset his course ; 
 and it is well, at the commencement of his career, 
 to discover the cause, as, in his progress, to observe 
 its continued operation. This constant and ever- 
 increasing charity was not derived from an abstract 
 
 F
 
 66 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 creed, or a mere sentiment, or any general notion 
 of religious duty.* Its excellence is traceable to 
 its origin. It sprang from the knowledge of God, 
 communicated by Himself; it flowed from a sense 
 of His goodness, and through the influence of His 
 grace. Socrates and Seneca were virtuous, and 
 therefore benevolent. Man's philosophy might 
 prompt their maxims, human prudence preserve 
 their morals, the dread of their deities or the desire 
 of fame might restrain from vice or stimulate their 
 virtues. Howard was holy, and therefore charitable. 
 God was the Author and Giver of his principles, the 
 Guide of his practice, the Object of his ardent affec- 
 tion, and the Being whose favour alone was cared 
 for. We see in the foregoing extracts, why. every 
 talent must be improved, and pleasure suspended, 
 lest some donation to the poor should be prevented ; 
 it was because he was then, and would be thence- 
 forth a "Disciple of Christ, — having the mind of 
 Christ formed in his own soul." 
 
 With what propriety may the lines addressed to 
 another philanthropist, whose life and whose death 
 were contemporary with Howard's, be applied to 
 him.f 
 
 * Dr. Aikin truly says that Howard's conduct was not in- 
 fluenced by any peculiarity which distinguished him from other 
 Christians : but whilst we assent to this, we must protest against its 
 being assignable to other than Christian principles. There is a loose- 
 ness in the following passage which is little warranted by the language 
 we have just quoted : — " The principle of religious duty, which is nearly 
 the same in all systems, and differs rather in strength than in kind in 
 different persons, is surely sufficient to account for all that he did and 
 underwent in promoting the good of mankind." — Aikin, p. 23G. 
 
 t Cowper'a Address to Thornton in his Poem on Charity. Howard 
 and Thornton both died in 1790.
 
 HIS LETTERS. f,7 
 
 " Such was thy charity ; no sudden start, 
 After long sleep of passion in the heart, 
 But steadfast principle, and in its kind 
 Of close alliance with the Eternal mind ; 
 Traced easily to its true source above, 
 To Him whose works bespeak his nature love. 
 Thy bounties all were CHRISTIAN, and I make 
 This record of thee for the Gospel's sake ; 
 That the incredulous themselves may see 
 Its use and power exemplified in thee." 
 
 By the following letter, addressed to a friend at 
 Bedford, we are enabled to trace Howard's route 
 homewards : — 
 
 "Abbeville, Jan. 4. 1770. — Dear Sir — Having an op- 
 portunity, by an Italian gentleman with whom I have tra- 
 velled, I thought a few lines would not be unacceptable. 
 After I landed in France my first object was Geneva, 
 where I spent some time before I went to Italy. The 
 luxury and wickedness of the inhabitants would ever give 
 a thinking mind pain ; amidst the richest country, abound- 
 ing, as it does, with the noblest productions of human 
 power and skill. I was seven days recrossing the Alps. 
 The weather was very cold, the thermometer eleven degrees 
 below the freezing point. The quick descent by sledges 
 on the snow, and other particulars, may perhaps afford a 
 little entertainment some winter's evening. I returned to 
 Geneva. There are some exemplary persons ; yet the 
 principles of one of the vilest men (Voltaire), with the 
 corruptions of the French, who are within one mile of the 
 city, has greatly debased its ancient purity and splendour. 
 jl spent about ten days at the dirty city of Paris. The 
 streets are so narrow, and no footpaths, that there is no 
 stirring out but in a coach ; and as to their hackney 
 coaches, they are abominable. There were but few En- 
 glish at Paris. I dined with about twenty at our anabas- 
 is 2 

 
 68 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 sudors (Lord Harcourt). I am now on my route to 
 Holland, a favourite country of mine ; the only one, 
 except our own, where propriety and elegance are mixed. 
 Above all, I esteem it for religious liberty. 
 
 "Thus, dear Sir, 1 am travelling from one country to 
 another : and I trust, through abundant grace, to a yet 
 better. My knowledge of human nature should be en- 
 larged by seeing more of the tempers, tastes, and disposi- 
 tions of different peojile ; but as to dignity and excellence, 
 how is the gold become dross ! 
 
 " I bless God I am well. I have a calm and easy flow of 
 spirits. I am preserved and supported through not a 
 little fatigue. My thoughts are often with you on the 
 sabbath-day. I always loved my Cardington and Bedford 
 friends, but I think distance makes me love them more. 
 But I must conclude with my affectionate remembrance of 
 them, and my ardent wish, desire, and prayer for your 
 success in promoting the honour of God, and the love of 
 our divine lledeemer. 
 
 I am truly yours, 
 
 John Howard." 
 
 The following extract from his journal describes 
 his pious meditations at this period, in the evening 
 of a sabbath-day : — 
 
 " Hague, 1770, Sunday Evening, 11th Feb. — I would 
 record the goodness of God to the unworthicst of his 
 creatures. For some days past an habitual serious frame 
 — repenting my sin and folly — applying to the blood of 
 Jesus Christ, — solemnly surrendering myself and babe to 
 Him, — begging the conduct of His holy spirit. I hope for 
 a more tender conscience, and a greater fear of offending 
 God — a temper more abstracted from this world, more j 
 resigned to death or life, — thirsting for union and com- 
 munion with God, as my Lord and my God. Oh the' 
 wonders of redeeming love! Some faint hope have Bl
 
 MEDITATIONS ON A SUNDAY EVENING. GO 
 
 even I! through redeeming mercy, in the perfect righteous- 
 ness — the full atoning sacrifice — that I shall ere long be 
 made the monument of the rich, free grace and mercy of 
 God, through the divine Redeemer. Oh ! shout my soul, 
 grace, grace, free, sovereign, rich, and unbounded grace ! 
 towards me, an ill-deserving, hell-deserving creature ! 
 but where sin has abounded I trust grace superabounds. 
 Some hope I have, and what joy in that hope, that nothing 
 shall separate my soul from the love of God in Christ 
 Jesus. And my soul, as such a frame is thy delight, pray 
 frequently and fervently to the Father of spirits to bless His 
 word, in thy retired moments, to thy serious conduct in 
 life. 
 
 " Let not, my soul, the interests of a moment engross thy 
 thoughts, or be preferred to thy eternal interests. Look 
 forward to that glory which will be revealed to those who 
 are faithful to death. My soul walk thou with God ! be 
 faithful, hold on, hold out — and then — what ivords can 
 utter! J. H." 
 
 If the first glance at language, prompted by the 
 strong emotions of a most energetic mind in a 
 season of fervent devotion, should excite any other 
 than a kindred feeling, it may not be unprofitable 
 to any of us should self-examination reveal the 
 cause. We have already seen enough of the cha- 
 racter of Howard — of his knowledge, discretion, 
 and chastened piety — to prevent the charge of 
 fanaticism, and certainly a careful perusal of the 
 above must forbid the imputation. There are 
 signs in it of simplicity and sobriety, combined 
 with enthusiasm not less holy than it was ardent. 
 The train of ideas and the succession of thoughts 
 expressed are precisely what we should expect in 
 the retirement of such a Christian. The outward 
 
 F 3
 
 70 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 conduct had been upright, and, whilst all others 
 approved, there was perhaps, in this respect, little 
 cause for self-reproach ; but the heart had been 
 now searched, and its sinfulness discovered : hence 
 there was shame, self-abasement, and sorrow, — the 
 greater because the goodness of God was contrasted 
 with the ingratitude of His creature. The con- 
 sciousness of guilt threatens to conceal the light of 
 God's countenance, and the sense of His love is for 
 a moment almost lost: then does the spirit pant 
 after renewed intercourse with heaven ; penitence, 
 prayer, and the application by faith of Christ's 
 precious blood, enliven his hope and enlarge his 
 heart, and he becomes loud in praise. He mag- 
 nifies the grace of which he feels the power, and 
 the joy of present experience is accompanied by a 
 desire that it may never be interrupted. He longs 
 for more freedom from the world's distractions, 
 though not from its duties ; for he devotes himself 
 afresh to God ; and through the riches of His grace, 
 and the redemption of Christ, he looks forward with 
 " joy unspeakable," to the " glory hereafter to be 
 revealed." 
 
 The conclusion of the above extract is remark- 
 ably characteristic. Prudence forms part of piety. 
 Howard was always circumspect, never presump- 
 tuous. This is seen in his religion and in his whole 
 life. When the fervour of his soul had been poured 
 forth in prayer and praise, and a bright prospect 
 filled his heart with gladness, no rhapsody upon 
 that future glory escapes his lips — "And then,
 
 REMARKS UPON IIIS JOURNAL. 71 
 
 what words can utter ! " — that broken sentence 
 marks the man. It reminds us too of one whom 
 he resembled in other respects besides his holy 
 caution. One whose journeyings were frequent, 
 whose labours abundant, who encountered perils, 
 and amidst all difficulties persevered in duty ; and 
 by whom, when the foresight of paradise was 
 granted him, a description of its glory was not 
 attempted. The learning and zeal of St. Paul*, 
 and the ardour of affection towards God and man 
 in Howard, have called forth expressions from 
 both, which some have pronounced contrary to 
 reason, because above their comprehension. Neither 
 will be thought to have been " beside himself" by 
 any, who, as they follow the examples of holiness, 
 may in proportion share the same peace and joy, 
 and attain to a like hope of glory. 
 
 Howard was mistaken in supposing that he had 
 sufficiently recruited his strength to allow him to 
 return. His constitution was enfeebled, and it 
 appears that the excitement produced by the very 
 anticipation of delight at again seeing his beloved 
 child, and of melancholy reminiscences, when he 
 should reach Cardington, so affected him that he 
 was compelled to abandon his purpose, and felt 
 obliged to act upon his original intention, and 
 revisit Italy. Some extracts from his journal 
 will give an account of his route on leaving 
 Holland. 
 
 " When I left Holland the beginning of March, I went 
 
 * 2 Cor. cb. xi. ami xii. 
 r 4
 
 72 LIFE OF 1IOWAKD. 
 
 to Paris, and travelled through Champagne and Burgundy, 
 to Lyons on the 1st of April, the best view of which city is 
 from a monastery, on a hill to the south-west of the town." 
 " 1770, Lyons, April 4th. — Through repeated instances 
 of the unwearied mercy and goodness of God, I am pre- 
 served hitherto in health and safety ! Blessed be the 
 name of the Lord ! endeavour, oh my soul ! to cultivate 
 and maintain a thankful, serious, humble, and resigned 
 frame and temper of mind. May it be thy chief desire 
 that the honour of God, the spread of the Redeemer's 
 name and gospel may be promoted ! Oh ! consider the 
 everlasting worth of spiritual and divine enjoyments — 
 then thou will see the vanity and nothingness of worldly 
 pleasures ! Remember, oh my soul ! St. Paul, who was de- 
 termined to know nothing in comparison of Jesus Christ and 
 him crucified. A tenderness of conscience I would ever 
 cultivate — no step w r ould I take without acknowledging 
 God. I hope my present journey, again into Italy, is no 
 way wrong ; I should rejoice if in any respect I could 
 bring the least improvement to my own country. But oh 
 my soul ! stand in awe and sin not ! Daily, fervently pray 
 for restraining grace ; remember if thou desircst the death 
 of the righteous, and thy latter end like his, thy life must 
 be righteous also. In a little while thy course will be run, 
 thy sands finished : — a parting farewell with my ever dear 
 /in'/, and then, my soul shall be weighed in the balance — 
 wanting, wanting! but oh! the glorious hope of an interest 
 in the blood and righteousness of my Redeemer and my 
 God! In the most solemn manner 1 commit my spirit 
 into Thy hand, O Lord God of my salvation ! My hope in 
 time, my trust through eternity. 
 
 John Howard." 
 
 Here, and throughout these extracts, we observe 
 a holy vigilance over his thoughts, words, and 
 wishes: the heart is kept with all diligence; there 
 is a constant subjection of the inclinations and
 
 AFFECTION FOR HIS CHILD. 73 
 
 affections to the governance and guidance of Him 
 whose will was earnestly inquired for, and, if ascer- 
 tained, most strictly followed. And this steadfast 
 dependence upon God, was the secret of his power. 
 It preserved him from many an enterprise which 
 the energy of his own mind might have prompted, 
 and the issue of which might have been disastrous ; 
 and inspired him with a dauntless resolution and 
 superhuman courage, when obstacles were to be 
 overcome and an evident duty to be performed. ___^\ 
 
 Nor can we overlook the strong and beautiful 
 expression of paternal tenderness which occurs 
 even in the midst of his pious ejaculations, of his 
 solemn dedication of himself to God ; and, when, 
 through, " the blood and righteousness" of his 
 Redeemer, the hope of a glorious inheritance most 
 filled his soul with rapture — even then, as though 
 he felt the "welfare" of his " ever dear child" was 
 essential to his peace on earth, his comfort in death, 
 and the perfection of his future joy — that chief 
 object of earthly affection is present to his thoughts, 
 and, if possible, adds fervour to his prayers. Cha- 
 rity would hope that the enemies of Howard, who 
 charged him with the want of humanity towards 
 that son, had never heard of the records we have 
 cited. 
 
 AVe have the following short note of Howard's 
 route on quitting Lyons: — 
 
 " I then descended the Rhone to Avignon, the great 
 beauty of which place is its walks : from thence I went to 
 Aix — thence to Marseilles, whose course is elegant, and
 
 74 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 its harbour commodious : the road to Toulon is romantic 
 and pleasant. I saw many of our flowering shrubs in the 
 hedges, and in most gardens oranges and lemons. From 
 Toulon I travelled to Antibes — from thence I sailed in a 
 felucca to Nice and Monanco. I then travelled over the 
 mountains to Genoa : I went to Pisa, remarkable for its 
 elegant church, the gates of which were brought from 
 Jerusalem : from thence I went to Leghorn and Florence; 
 from Florence by a pleasant, though depopulated road to 
 Home, where there are many monuments to humble the 
 pride of man, and show how luxury and wickedness will 
 sink a nation." 
 
 A letter addressed to a friend*, about the 
 same time, gives further interesting details of his 
 journey: — 
 
 "Rome, May 22. 1770. — Dear Sir, — With great pleasure 
 I received your obliging letter as I passed through 
 Flanders. The esteem you and some of my friends have 
 for me, humbles me, and causes me to think what I ought 
 to be How mean and defective I am ! Yet, amidst all, a 
 sincere love I hope I have to all who bear the impress of 
 our Divine Master. 
 
 " Since I left Holland, and through all the southern part 
 of France, and over the Apennine mountains into Italy, I 
 travelled not a mile with any of our countrymen. Those 
 mountains are three or four days in passing : for many, 
 many miles there is hardly a three foot road, with preci- 
 pices into the sea, I should guess, three times the height 
 of St. Paul's ; but the mules are so surefooted there is 
 nothing to fear, though the road is also very bad. Through 
 the mercy and goodness of God I travel pleasantly on. 
 I have an easy, calm flow of spirits. A little tea equipage 
 I carry with me, with which I regale, and little regard if I 
 have nothing else. 
 
 ♦ The Rev. Joshua Synionds.
 
 DESCRIPTION OF HIS ROUTE. 75 
 
 "Florence being the seat of the arts, I visited the famous 
 gallery many days, from whence I travelled to this renowned 
 city. The amazing ruins of temples, palaces, aqueducts, 
 &c. gives one some faint idea of grandeur ; but all is now 
 comparatively a desert : the description of them, as also 
 of St. Peter's church and the Vatican, I must defer till I 
 have the pleasure of seeing you. The pope passed very 
 close by me yesterday ; he waived his hand to bless me. 
 I bowed ; but not kneeling, some of the cardinals were 
 displeased. But I never can or will bow down to any 
 human creature or invention, as I should tremble at the 
 thought of the adoration I have seen to him, and to the 
 wafer. My temper is too open for this country, yet an 
 important piece of news of this court (expuls — n of the 
 J-s-ites), that I now know, I durst not commit to writing. 
 That cruellest of all inventions, the Inquisition, stops all 
 mouths. 
 
 " I set out to-morrow for Naples. As I return to see 
 the great procession of the 15th of June, I intend staying 
 about a fortnight. Afterwards I am bound to Loretto, 
 Ancona, Bologna, and Venice ; at which last place it will 
 be a great pleasure to receive a line from you. My 
 thoughts are often with my Bedford friends. I beg to be 
 remembered to them ; and as they and I know it is the 
 divine presence and favour that makes every place happy 
 and comfortable, I return my most grateful acknowledg- 
 ments for any interest I have had in their sacred moments. 
 
 " Thus, my dear friend, am I travelling over desolate 
 places of ancient grandeur, and feel it overpower that 
 selfish and vain principle that is rooted in my constitution, 
 and humble the pride of one's heart ! And when at other 
 times I view in statues, paintings, architecture, &c the 
 utmost stretch of human skill, how should one's thoughts 
 be raised to that glorious world, that heavenly city, the 
 city of the living God, where sin, sorrow, and every im- 
 perfection will be done away ! Oh, the free, sovereign 
 and unbounded grace of our Lord Jesus Christ ! how
 
 76 LIFE OF HOWAED. 
 
 thankful should we Protestants be for this glorious gospel 
 which we have in our hands ! The happiness we are 
 exulting in, millions in this country are denied. But I 
 must conclude. I remain, with much esteem, dear Sir, 
 yours, &c. 
 
 J. Howard." 
 
 A document possessing much interest was drawn 
 up by How r ard, when he reached Naples. For 
 reasons which have appeared, he felt and lamented 
 that he could not enjoy the privileges of public 
 worship, or profit by the ordinances of a Christian 
 church. When in England we have observed 
 that, although a dissenter, he was constant in his 
 attendance once, at least, on a Sunday, at his 
 parish church; but now he was in a country where 
 the religion professed was exhibited in a form most 
 repugnant to his feelings. Deprived then of out- 
 ward means of grace, he is most diligent in private 
 devotion ; and to promote the steadfastness of his 
 faith, and ensure its effects, he adopts a plan which 
 has been common amongst the most exemplary 
 Christians. By a solemn covenant he dedicated 
 himself — his powers of mind and body, and all his 
 possessions — to the service of God.* 
 
 * Howard's biographer (Brown, p. 93.) describes him as following 
 the example of the earlier Nonconformists in this particular; but it is 
 a practice which has been equally commended and pursued by Christians 
 in our own and oilier churches. Bishop Jer. Taylor provides a suit- 
 wide form for those who may require it. "O my God, my goods are 
 nothing unto thee: I will be thy servant all the days of my life, and 
 remember thy mercies and my present purposes, and live more to 
 God'e glory, and with a stricter duty. Anil do thou please to accept 
 this vow :i- an instance of my importunity, and the greatness of my 
 . and be thou vneiou.dv moved to pity and deliver me! Amen.
 
 SOLEMN ACT OF SELF-DEDICATION. 77 
 
 " Naples, May 27. 1770. — When I left Italy last year, 
 it then appeared most prudent and proper. My return, I 
 hope, is under the best direction, — not presumptuous, 
 through being left to the folly of a foolish heart. Not 
 having the strongest spirits or constitution, my continuing 
 long in Holland or any place depresses me ; so I thought 
 returning would be no uneasiness on the review, as sinful 
 and vain diversions are not my object, but the honour and 
 glory of God my highest ambition. Did I now see it 
 wrong as being the cause of pride, I would go back. I 
 am deeply sensible it is the presence of God that makes 
 the happiness of every place. Oh my soul ! keep close 
 to Him in the light of redeeming love, and amidst the 
 snares thou art particularly exposed to in a country of 
 such wickedness and folly. May I stand in awe and sin 
 not — commune with mine own heart — see what progress 
 is made in my religious journey ! Oh my soul ! art thou 
 nearer the heavenly Canaan ? the vital flame burning 
 clearer and clearer ; or are the concerns of a moment 
 engrossing thee ? Stop ! remember thou art a candidate for 
 eternity — daily, fervently pray for wisdom — lift up thine 
 eyes to the Rock of Ages, and then look down on the 
 glory of this world. A little while and thy journey will be 
 ended; be thou faithful unto death. Duty is thine, though 
 the power is God's. Pray to Him to give thee a heart to 
 hate sin more, uniting thy heart in his fear. Oh ! mag- 
 nify the Lord my soul ! and my spirit rejoice in God my 
 Saviour! His free grace; unbounded mercy ; love unparal- 
 leled ; goodness unlimited ! and oh ! this mercy, this love, 
 this goodness exerted for me. Lord God, why for me ! 
 When I consider and look into my heart, I doubt, I 
 tremble ! such a vile creature — sin, folly, and imperfection 
 in every action ! Oh dreadful thought, a body of sin and 
 
 " Miserable man that I am ! who shall deliver me from this body of 
 Bin? 
 
 " Thou shalt answer for me, O Lord my God. Thou that prayest 
 for me, shalt be my judge." — Holy Living, cbaji. iv.
 
 78 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 death I carry about me, ever ready to depart from God, 
 and, with all the dreadful catalogue of sins committed, my 
 heart faints within me, and almost despairs ; but yet, oh 
 my soul ! why art thou cast down ? why art thou dis- 
 quieted ? Hope in God ! his free grace in Jesus Christ ! 
 Lord, I believe, help my unbelief! shall I limit the grace 
 of God ? can I fathom his goodness ? Here on his sacred 
 day, I once more in the dust before the Eternal God, 
 acknowledge my sins, heinous and aggravated in his sight. 
 I would have the deepest sorrow and contrition of heart, 
 and cast my guilty and polluted soul on thy sovereign 
 mercy in the Redeemer ! O compassionate and divine 
 Redeemer, save me from the dreadful guilt and power of 
 sin, and accept of my solemn and free, and I trust unre- 
 served, full surrender of my soul, my spirit, my dear child, 
 all I am and have, into thy hands, — unworthy of thy ac- 
 ceptance, yet, O Lord God of mercy ! spurn me not from 
 thy presence — accept of me, vile as I am — I hope a 
 repenting, returning prodigal : I glory in my choice, ac- 
 knowledge my obligations as a servant of the most high 
 God. And now may the eternal God be my refuge, and 
 thou, oh my soul ! faithful to that God that will never 
 leave nor forsake thee. 
 
 " Thus, O my Lord and my God, is even a worm humbly 
 bold to covenant with Thee ! do Thou ratify and confirm 
 it, and make me the everlasting monument of Thy un- 
 bounded mercy. Amen, Amen, Amen. Glory to God 
 the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost for 
 ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 '* Hoping my heart deceives me not, and trusting in his 
 mercy for restraining and preventing grace, though re- 
 joicing in returning what I have received of him into his 
 hands, yet with fear and trembling I sign my unworthy 
 name. John Howard. Naples, May 27. 1770. 
 
 " \. 1!. This solemn covenant renewed at Moscow, 
 Sept. 27. 1789."
 
 DIARY AT ROME. 79 
 
 During his stay at Naples, he indulged his taste 
 for philosophical investigation to some extent, and 
 made the observations on the heat of the ground 
 on Mount Vesuvius, to which reference has been 
 made. He returned to Home, where he desired to 
 witness the pageantry of a festival — not to gratify 
 an idle curiosity, but to derive spiritual advan- 
 tage — to foster his gratitude, both on account of 
 preservation from error, and for his perception of 
 truth. 
 
 " Rome, June 17. 1770. — Almighty God my preserver, 
 
 may I be carried safely to my native country and friends, 
 
 and see the face of my dear boy in peace ! Remember 
 
 then, oh my soul, to cultivate a more serious, humble, 
 
 thankful, and resigned temper of mind ! As thou hast seen 
 
 I more of the world by travelling than others, more of the 
 
 | happiness of being born in a Protestant country, and the 
 
 I dreadful abuse of holy sabbaths, so may thy walk, thy 
 
 sabbaths, thy conversation be more becoming of the holy 
 
 ; gospel ! Let not pride and vanity fill up so much of thy 
 
 thoughts ; learn the vanity and folly of all earthly gran- 
 
 j deur ; endeavour to be a wiser and better man, when thou 
 
 returnest ! Remember many eyes will be upon thee, and 
 
 i above all, the eye of that God before whom thou wilt 
 
 shortly appear ! O Lord God, put thy fear into my 
 
 heart, and may I never depart from Thee ! " 
 
 The next entry in his journal is dated — 
 
 "Heidelberg, Sunday Evening, July 29. 1770.— Through 
 the goodness of my unwearied Father and God, I am still 
 ja monument of his unbounded mercy. Oh my soul, record 
 his goodness ! but what are the returns for all this mercy 
 and goodness ? How should it have led thee to a life of 
 exemplary piety and holiness ! but alas ! how low art
 
 80 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 thou ! My God, I take shame to myself ; lie low before 
 thee ; and cry earnestly for pardon, mercy, and forgiveness 
 for Christ's sake. Would to God I had wisdom given me 
 to redeem the time lost, to live a life suitable to the 
 mercies I am receiving ; and if spared to return, may I 
 acknowledge the goodness of God, both public and private? 
 May I look into mine own heart, and beg of God to show 
 me the evil of it ; and if I bring home a better temper 
 and am a wiser man, then shall I have cause to rejoice 
 that the great end of travelling has been answered. 
 "Renewed — Moscow, Sept. 27. 1789." 
 
 And in the following we have Howard's pious 
 reflections on the last Sunday previous to reaching 
 his native land : — 
 
 " Rotterdam, Sunday Evening, Sept. 2. 1770. — This 
 morning, on the review of the temper of my mind, how 
 humbled I ought to be before God — an evil and wicked 
 heart, ever ready to depart from him, starting aside like a 
 deceitful bow ; mourning yet trusting in my Lord and my 
 God ! "When in calm retirement I hope I am one step 
 forward in my Christian journey; yet alas! in company, 
 how many steps backward! God give me wisdom — may 
 mercy and goodness compass my paths; yet how insen- 
 sible ! Oh ! hard and obdurate heart ! with such a heart, 
 how watchful, how careful, how earnest at the throne of 
 Grace ought I to be, that as Jesus Christ died for such as 
 I am, I may have an interest in the glorious salvation he 
 has wrought out. On the review of the temper of my 
 mind, on probably the last Sabbath before I return to my 
 native country, 1 desire with profound veneration to bless 
 and praise God for his merciful preservation of me in my 
 long journey ; no danger, no accident has befallen me, but 
 1 am among the living: I trust ever to praise Him: and 
 as to my soul, with all its weakness and folly, I have some
 
 DIARY AT ROTTERDAM. 81 
 
 hope it has not lost ground this year of travelling. Now 
 I am very desirous of returning with a right spirit, not 
 only wiser, but better ; a cheerful humility ; a more 
 general love and benevolence to my fellow creatures ; 
 watchful of my thoughts, my words, my actions; resigned 
 to the will of God, that I may walk with God, and lead a 
 more useful and honourable life in this world." 
 
 G
 
 82 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 M PRESSED STATE OF MIND. — VISIT TO SOUTHAMPTON, TO BRIS- 
 TOL. — CONTINUED ILLNESS. — RETURN TO CARDLNGTON. OC- 
 
 CUPATIONS AND CHARITIES. — PRESERVATION FROM AN ASSAS- 
 
 _l.\. — ,,| ERNSET AND JERSEY VISITED. APPOINTED SHERIFF 
 
 OF BEDFORDSHIRE, — BEDFORD GAOL INSPECTED. — STATE OF 
 
 PRISONS IN THE LAST CENTURY VICE AND CRUELTY IN THE 
 
 FLEET. — REASONS FOR VISITING PRISONS. NOTICES OF THE 
 
 GAOLS OF HUNTINGDON, CAMBRIDGE, NORTHAMPTON, NOTTING- 
 HAM, DERBY, STAFFORD, LICHFIELD, WARWICK, WORCESTER, 
 
 AND GLOUCESTER. — MR. RAIKES. SIR G. O. PAUL QUOTED. 
 
 GAOL FEVER. OXFORD AND AYLESBURY GAOLS. HOWARD 
 
 RETURNS TO CARDINGTON. — ANOTHER EXCURSION. — NOTES OF 
 GAOLS AT HERTFORD, READING, SALISBURY, WINCHESTER, 
 HORSHAM, AND GUILDFORD. — SPENDS VACATION WITH HIS SON. 
 — VISITS GAOLS OF OAKHAM, YORK, LINCOLN, ELY, NORWICH, 
 DPSWICH, COLCHESTER, EXETER, LAUNCESTON, ILCHESTER, 
 
 ELEREFORD, AND MONMOUTH. BILL FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF 
 
 GAOLERS' FEES. — nOWARD EXAMINED BEFORE COMMITTEE OF 
 
 THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. RECEIVES THE THANKS OF THE 
 
 nOUSE. 
 
 Very soon after his arrival in England, Howard 
 proceeded to Cardington; his heart glowing with 
 gratitude for preservation and past mercies; re- 
 solved, as the close of our last chapter shows, to 
 Bubmit himself entirely to God's will, and prepared 
 zealously to pursue those plans of benevolence 
 which were before in operation. But though he 
 acquiesced in the wisdom of painful dispensations, 
 and felt it was good to have been afflicted, still it 
 was in the resignation of renewed grief. Notwith- 
 standing the fervour of Howard's religious feelings,
 
 VISITS SOUTHAMPTON AND BRISTOL. 83 
 
 there was a calmness of spirit very little ruffled b}' 
 the scenes and occurrences which commonly excite 
 the passions, and have a tendency to efface the 
 deepest furrows left by the departure of those 
 beloved : no current of fresh circumstances, nor 
 even the change of countries, had so diverted his 
 thoughts into another channel that the return to 
 Cardington did not recall past sorrows and prevent 
 the cheerfulness his health required. The depres- 
 sion soon produced sickness, and, though reluc- 
 tantly, his home must again be left. 
 
 The subject of our memoir at this time visited 
 Southampton. There he became acquainted with 
 the Rev. W. Kingsbury, who was thenceforth one 
 of his most intimate friends. That friendship was 
 first occasioned by a request for the prayers of the 
 congregation under his charge — Howard, himself, 
 being too ill to join them in public worship. He 
 was too wise to undervalue Christian intercession, 
 and too pious to disregard the admonitions of Holy 
 Scripture on this subject. 
 
 From Southampton, he went to Ireland ; then 
 through a part of Wales, and thence crossed to 
 Bristol Hot- wells, where, on the day after his ar- 
 rival, he was attacked with gout so severely, that 
 he was confined to his chamber for six months. 
 At this time, according to the statement of his 
 servant Thomasson — who, since his return from 
 the continent, had become his constant attendant — 
 he determined to abstain altogether from wine or 
 other alcoholic beverages, believing them to be in- 
 
 G 2
 
 g | LIFE OF IIOWAKD. 
 
 jurious to his health ; and this resolution he is said 
 never to have broken. 
 
 Having in some measure recovered his strength, 
 1 [oward returned to Cardington, where he continued 
 in ill health for several months, mournful but not 
 murmuring; his soul sustained by confidence in 
 the goodness of Him who had caused him to grieve, 
 and his mind composed whilst occupied in devising 
 plans for future good. At length, when conva- 
 lescent, though still weak, his own spirit was re- 
 \ ived by personal efforts to promote the comfort of 
 others. At this time he would go and hold friendly 
 converse with his tenants; sit for a while in the 
 peaceful cottages he had provided — always carry- 
 ing pence in his pockets for the children, and some- 
 thing more for their parents. The sick and dis- 
 tressed were the especial objects of his care ; he 
 could now further sympathise with them, and had 
 learned by his own sufferings how to console. His 
 very manner of bestowing his gifts had much to 
 enhance their value. The guinea to the old gar- 
 dener, for taking away his own " dividend " of 
 former bounty, was the pleasing earnest of plans 
 now pursued. None served Howard for nought, 
 even when their own advantage was the only object 
 of that service. Thus the milk from his dairy, 
 which, excepting the little consumed in his own 
 house, was the property of the poor, must be sent 
 round to them ; lest, in fetching it, a waste of time 
 should h ssen its worth ; or they must not come for 
 it themselves without a recompense. His charity
 
 HIS OCCUPATIONS AND CHARITIES. 85 
 
 had been taught by Him who said that it was 
 "more blessed to give than to receive;" and for 
 the very experience of that truth he was willing 
 to prove himself grateful. The tranquillity of his 
 life, and his quiet endeavours to do good, promoted 
 his bodily health, while the burden of his sorrow 
 was also relieved by the activity of his benevolence. 
 What wonder when it could be said of him — " he 
 hardly ever took one of his daily rides in the neigh- 
 bourhood without enjoying the delightful satisfac- 
 tion on his return, that he had contributed to the 
 relief, the welfare, or the consolation of a fellow- 
 creature. Whilst living in retirement, it was his 
 meat and drink to make his neighbours happy." * 
 
 As respects the more public charities of Howard 
 at this period, I quote the testimony of Dr. Aikin : — 
 
 " In every way in which a man, thoroughly disposed to 
 do good with the means Providence has bestowed upon 
 him, can exercise his liberality, Mr. Howard stood among 
 the foremost. He was not only a subscriber to various 
 public schemes of benevolence, but his private charities 
 were largely diffused, and remarkably well directed. It 
 was, indeed, only to his particular confidants and coad- 
 jutors that many of these were ever known ; but they 
 render him the most ample testimony in this respect." f 
 
 A visitor at Cardington, about this time, has left 
 us an imperfect but pleasing account of Howard, as 
 seen in his own house : — 
 
 " He was not disposed to talk much ; he sat but a 
 short time at table, and was in motion during the whole 
 
 * Rev. S. Palmer. t Dr - Aikin, P- 36 - 
 
 G 3
 
 86 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 day. On the Sabbath he ate little or no dinner, and 
 spent the interval between divine services in a private 
 room, alone. He had prayers in his family every morning 
 and evening. He was very abstemious, lived chiefly upon 
 vegetables, and drank no wine or spirits. He hated praise ; 
 and when his works of benevolence were once mentioned, 
 he spoke of them slightingly, as a < whim of his,' and im- 
 mediately changed the subject." * 
 
 That Howard should have been admired, revered, 
 and loved, was so reasonable, and that to which 
 he had so much right, that we regard such feelings 
 towards him as the necessary consequence of his 
 claims. To some it may appear almost impossible 
 that a contrary disposition could disgrace the heart 
 of the most malignant. But virtue itself may pro- 
 voke malevolence. The Christian has learned, both 
 from the teaching of his Lord and the treatment 
 He met with, that to go about doing good, and so 
 to follow His example, may call forth enmity, and 
 be the occasion of violence. Even Howard further 
 verifies the lesson. It was at this time his con- 
 stant practice, on the Sunday, to walk alone to and 
 from Bedford, where he attended divine service; 
 and his biographer tells us that " an idle and disso- 
 lute wretch, whom he had often, but in vain, re- 
 proved for his vices, determined to avail himself 
 of the opportunity thus afforded for executing his 
 diabolical purpose of way-laying and murdering 
 him." t But, as in the case of the saint and active 
 
 rvant, whom we have already said Howard re- 
 
 * Rev. J. Townsend. f Brown, p. 118.
 
 GUERNSEY AND JERSEY VISITED. 87 
 
 sembled, the lying in wait was frustrated, because 
 God's purposes of mercy, through him, were not 
 completed ; so the life of our philanthropist must 
 be preserved, and the vile attempt defeated, because 
 the great work of compassion for which he was now 
 prepared had not been performed. Wisely, there- 
 fore, did the preacher afterward, say — " Providence 
 remarkably interposed to preserve so valuable a life, 
 by inclining him that morning to go on horseback 
 a different road." * 
 
 In 1772, Howard visited Guernsey and Jersey, 
 and the smaller islands of the Channel. He returned 
 to London, and there spent part of the winter of 
 that year, but the greater portion of it he passed 
 in retirement at Cardington. 
 
 But his love of seclusion must no longer be 
 indulged. He had now been long enough under 
 a discipline which taught him how to feel for the 
 afflicted, and how most effectually to relieve dis- 
 tress ; and his benevolence must be no longer 
 limited to the exertions of private life. Never was 
 a Christian less ostentatious in his charity ; but 
 notwithstanding the obscurity of his retreat, it 
 shone with a brightness which forbade conceal- 
 ment ; and whilst its cheering rays were directed 
 towards the humble and distressed, they were dis- 
 cerned and admired by persons whose rank was 
 most exalted. In 1773 Howard was nominated to 
 the shrievalty of Bedfordshire. Various conjectures 
 have been formed as to the immediate cause of his 
 
 * Funeral Sermon by Rev. S. Palmer. 
 g 4
 
 88 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 appointment ; but they are so little founded upon 
 probable feelings or ascertained facts, that I do not 
 describe them. It is our privilege to observe the 
 wisdom and goodness of Divine Providence in thus 
 opening a way for the public exercise of that be- 
 nevolence which was so ready to expand in pro- 
 portion to the enlargement of its sphere. As a 
 conscientious Dissenter from the discipline of the 
 Church of England, though uniting in her public 
 services, and consenting to all her most important 
 doctrines, that entire conformity and Christian 
 membership which is implied in receiving the Holy 
 Communion according; to her ministration — an act 
 of fellowship commonly required in Howard's day 
 of those chosen to legislate or to administer the law 
 — was in his case dispensed with. This is no place 
 for discussing either the wisdom of the enactment, 
 or the propriety of its relaxation. Of the advan- 
 tages which resulted from the latter, in this parti- 
 cular case, there can be no doubt, and never had 
 any one stronger claims to the indulgence. By ac- 
 cepting the office, he rendered himself liable to a 
 severe penalty; but none would prosecute, and it 
 never was imposed. On this subject I transcribe 
 the observations of his friend Dr. Aikin : — 
 
 " It was perfectly suitable to Mr. Howard's character 
 to make option of the office with the hazard; for as, on 
 the one hand, no consideration on earth could have in- 
 duced him to violate Ins religious principles: so, on the 
 other, his active disposition, and zeal for the public good, 
 strongly impelled him to assume a station in which those
 
 APPOINTED SHERIFF OF BEDFORDSHIRE. 89 
 
 qualities might have free scope for exertion ; and as to 
 personal hazard, that was never an obstacle in his way. 
 There may be casuists who will condemn this choice, and 
 regard it as a serious offence against the laws of his 
 country, to have taken upon him an office without com- 
 plying with its preliminary conditions. But, 1 conceive, 
 the sincere philanthropist will rather make a different 
 reflection, and feel a shock in thinking, that, had Mr. 
 Howard been influenced by those apprehensions which 
 would have operated upon most men, he would have been 
 excluded from that situation, which gave occasion to all 
 those services which he rendered to humanity in his own 
 country, and throughout Europe." * 
 
 In Howard's day the office of High Sheriff was 
 regarded as one conferring dignity rather than 
 obliging to the performance of duty. It gave a 
 precedency in the public assemblies, and various 
 entertainments in the county, and if gentlemanly 
 conduct was accompanied by a liberal expenditure, 
 the requirements of the office, so far as the Sheriff 
 himself was concerned, were thought to have been 
 fulfilled. Whatever might call for investigation, or 
 occasion trouble, it was presumed the under Sheriff 
 would satisfactorily arrange. But with Howard the 
 possession of power, and the opportunity for its 
 exercise, were ever attended by a sense of his re- 
 sponsibility, and increased diligence in duty. Hence, 
 although he wisely maintained the dignity of his 
 position, neither dispensing with the insignia of 
 authority, nor exciting ridicule by any extravagant 
 parade — yet no sooner was he invested with that 
 
 * Dr. Aikin, pp. 50, 51.
 
 0() LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 authority, than, with his accustomed energy, he 
 sought how he might best use it with advantage. 
 An opportunity was immediately presented. The 
 county gaol was under his jurisdiction. There 
 philanthropy might find ample scope for pious 
 effort, and thither it was at once directed. We 
 cannot suppose this to have been the first time 
 Howard had passed through that forbidding gate- 
 way, or seen the greater gloom within those dismal 
 walls. Every scene of sorrow attracted him ; and 
 there were especial causes to visit this. He had 
 found it good occasionally thus to call forth grati- 
 tude for preservation when himself imprisoned, and 
 for deliverance so speedily vouchsafed. There sym- 
 pathy had found its appropriate sphere, and many 
 a wretched creature proved its power. There too, 
 in this very gaol of Bedford, though long before, 
 Bunyan composed his allegory, and whilst himself 
 confined and fettered, taught many a captive soul 
 how to obtain its freedom from a still more cruel 
 bondage, and traced the "Pilgrim's Progress " from 
 sin and wretchedness and threatened vengeance, to 
 holiness and cheering hope, and Heaven at last. Any 
 one of these circumstances had power enough to 
 draw Howard's footsteps to this prison ; but when 
 feelings of reverence, sympathy, and compassion 
 were all associated with such a place, frequent, we 
 may be sure, had been his visits. But hitherto he 
 '■'.mM only gain access to this gaol by favour, and 
 show <•( impassion when permitted. Now, by virtue 
 of his office, he could demand admission and do
 
 STATE OF PRISONS IN LAST CENTURY. 91 
 
 good as he desired. He therefore claimed his pre- 
 rogative, and with the ardour of one who valued 
 the privilege, he began to rectify grievous abuses, 
 and to enforce good regulations. Although the 
 writer has in another publication described the 
 condition of the gaols in this country during the 
 last century, it may be interesting to the reader, 
 and serve to show the necessity which ' had long 
 existed for Howard's investigation and philanthropic 
 efforts, if a short statement concerning those prisons, 
 with one or two illustrations, be here inserted. The 
 earliest authentic records which are known on this 
 subject have been recently discovered amongst the 
 minutes of the venerable Society for Promoting 
 Christian Knowledge. From those documents* we 
 learn, that in 1701-2, a committee of some mem- 
 bers of that society was formed for visiting Newgate 
 and other prisons. A report was subsequently 
 drawn up by Dr. Bray, who stated that they " had 
 visited the prisons and would go thither again ; and 
 that being affected with the sight of so many 
 miserable objects of pity, they had thought fit to 
 distribute some monies amongst them." He also 
 wrote an essay, enforcing the better regulation of 
 Newgate and other prisons, in which he described 
 the mismanagement, cruelty, and crime which pre- 
 vailed in them ; and concluded with the following- 
 earnest appeal : — 
 
 " It is very much hoped that the right hon. the lord 
 mayor and the sheriffs of the city of London will take this 
 
 * See Appendix, B.
 
 92 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 whole matter into their special consideration ; considering 
 that the reformation of prisons may much contribute to 
 the reformation of the public. For prisons are one great 
 part of our correction for criminals, and, if well managed, 
 may prove effectual to their amendment : whereas, for 
 want of discipline, it now generally happens that prisoners 
 are made much worse by them ; and if an innocent person 
 be committed by misfortune or mistake, he is commonly 
 corrupted and turns profligate." 
 
 Humanity must have overlooked our prisons 
 during the next quarter of a century, or the 
 dominant cruelty defied correction, for we find in 
 1729, when the parliamentary committee, whose 
 labours the poet Thomson has so justly celebrated, 
 gave the result of its inquiries, the most atrocious 
 practices were common even in our metropolitan 
 prisons. I have in my hand the " report relating 
 to the Fleet Prison," from which I extract the fol- 
 lowing, and it may be read as descriptive of our 
 gaols, and their keepers in general, at that time. 
 We may in some measure estimate the extortion 
 which was permitted, from one of the first circum- 
 stances reported : — 
 
 ' That John Huggins, growing in years, and willing to 
 retire from business, and his son not caring to take upon 
 him so troublesome an office, he hath for several years 
 been engaged in continual negotiations about the disposal 
 of the said office, and in August last concluded a final 
 treaty with Thomas Bambridge and Dougal Cuthbert, 
 Esqs. ; and for 5000/. to be paid unto him, obliged himself 
 to surrender the said patent for his and his son's life, and 
 procure a new patent for the said Bambridge and Cuth- 
 bert, which the said Huggins did accordingly obtain."
 
 VICE AND CRUELTY IN THE FLEET. 93 
 
 How basely absurd were many of the exactions 
 whereby compensation for this immense sum — paid 
 for only a life-interest, — was obtained, may be in- 
 ferred from one which is mentioned in a Table of 
 Fees : — 
 
 "To the tipstaff for being taken into custody, 1/. 10s." 
 As to the state of the prison, the report says — 
 
 " That the lion's den and women's ward, which contain 
 about eighteen persons, are very noisome, and in very ill 
 repair. 
 
 " That in some rooms persons who are sick of different 
 distempers are obliged to lie together, or on the floor ; 
 one in particular had the small-pox, and two women were 
 ordered to lie with her; and they pay %s. lOd. each per 
 week for such lodging." 
 
 With reference to the treatment of the prisoners 
 it is reported — 
 
 " That every prisoner pays at his entrance into the 
 house of the tipstaff 6s. towards a bowl of punch." 
 
 And so lawless were those ruthless extortioners, 
 that even the attempt to relieve their poor victims 
 was perilous, for we further read — 
 
 " That Thomas Hogg, passing by the door of that 
 prison, stopped to give charity to the prisoners at the 
 grate, and being seen by James Barnes (one of the said 
 Bambridge's agents and accomplices) the said Barnes 
 seized and forced him into Corbett's sponging-house, where 
 he hath been detained ever since, (now upwards of nine 
 months) without any cause or legal authority whatsoever." 
 
 The Report proceeds with a description of the
 
 94 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 atrocities which were perpetrated; and lest the 
 statement should be incredible unless given in the 
 words of the document itself, I transcribe it 
 literally — 
 
 " And notwithstanding the payment of such large fees, 
 in order to extort further sums from the unfortunate pri- 
 soners, the said Bambridge unjustly pretends lie has a 
 right as warden to exercise an unlimited power of chang- 
 ing prisoners from room to room ; of turning them into 
 the common side, though they have paid the master's side 
 fee ; and inflicting arbitrary punishment by locking them 
 down in unwholesome dungeons, and loading them with 
 torturing irons, some instances of which follow, viz. 
 
 " Jacob Mendez Solas, a Portuguese, was, as far as it 
 appeared to the committee, one of the first prisoners for 
 debt that ever was loaded with irons in the Fleet. The 
 said Bambridge one day called him into the gate-house of 
 the prison, called the lodge, where he caused him to be 
 seized, fettered, and carried to Corbett's, the sponging- 
 house, and there kept for upwards of a week, and when 
 brought back into the prison, Bambridge caused him to 
 be turned into the dungeon, called the strong room of the 
 master's side. 
 
 " This place is a vault like those in which the dead 
 are interred, and wherein the bodies of persons dying in 
 the said prison are usually deposited, till the coroner's 
 incprest hath passed upon them ; it has no chimney nor 
 fire-place, nor any light but what comes over the door, or 
 through a hole of about eight inches square. It is neither 
 paved nor boarded ; and the rough bricks appear both on 
 the sides and top, being neither wainscoted nor plastered : 
 what adds to the dampness and stench of the place is, its 
 being built over the common sewer, and adjoining to the 
 sink, and where all the nastiness of the prison is cast. In 
 this miserable place the poor wretch was kept by the said 
 Bambridge, manacled, and shackled for near two months.
 
 VICE AND CRUELTY IN THE FLEET. 95 
 
 At length, on receiving five guineas from a friend of 
 Solas's, Bambridge released the prisoner from his cruel 
 confinement. But though his chains were taken off, his 
 terror still remained, and the unhappy man was prevailed 
 upon by that terror, not only to labour gratis for the said 
 Bambridge, but to swear also at random all that he hath 
 required of him. And the committee themselves saw an 
 instance of the deep impression his sufferings had made 
 upon him ; for on his surmising, from something said, that 
 Bambridge was to return again, as warden of the Fleet, 
 he fainted, and the blood started out of his mouth and 
 nose. 
 
 " Captain John Mackpheadris, who was bred a merchant, 
 is another melancholy instance of the cruel use the said 
 Bambridge hath made of his assumed authority. Mack- 
 pheadris was a considerable trader, and in a very flourish- 
 ing condition until the year 1720, when being bound for 
 large sums to the crown, for a person afterwards ruined 
 by the misfortunes of that year, he was undone. In June 
 1727 he was prisoner in the Fleet, and although he had 
 before paid his commitment-fee, the like fee was extorted 
 from him a second time ; and he having furnished a room, 
 Bambridge demanded an extravagant price for it, which 
 he refused to pay ; and urged, that it was unlawful for the 
 warden to demand extravagant rents, and offered to pay 
 what was legally due : notwithstanding which, the said 
 Bambridge, assisted by the said James Barnes and other 
 accomplices, broke open his room, and took away several 
 things of great value, amongst others, the king's extent in 
 aid of the prisoner (which was to have been returned in a 
 few days, in order to procure the debt to the crown, and 
 the prisoner's enlargement) which Bambridge still detains. 
 Not content with this, Bambridge locked the prisoner out 
 of his room, and forced him to lie in the open yard, called 
 the Bare. He sat quietly under his wrongs, and getting 
 some poor materials, built a little hut to protect himself, 
 as well as he could, from the injuries of the weather. The
 
 96 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 said Bam bridge seeing his unconcernedness, said, ' D 
 
 him ! he is easy. I will put him into the strong room 
 before to-morrow ; ' and ordered Barnes to pull down his 
 little hut, which was done accordingly. The poor prisoner, 
 being in an ill state of health, and the night rainy, was 
 put to great distress. Some time after this he was (about 
 eleven o'clock at night) assaulted by Bambridge, with 
 several other persons his accomjDlices, in a violent manner; 
 and Bambridge, though the prisoner was unarmed, at- 
 tacked him with his sword, but by good fortune was pre- 
 vented from killing him ; and several other prisoners 
 coming out upon the noise, they carried Mackpbeadris for 
 safety into another gentleman's room ; soon after which 
 Bambridge, coming with one Savage and several others, 
 broke open tbe door, and Bambridge strove with his sword 
 to kill the prisoner ; but he again got away, and hid him- 
 self in another room. Next morning the said Bambridge 
 entered the prison with a detachment of soldiers, and 
 ordered tbe prisoner to be dragged to the lodge, and 
 ironed with great irons ; on which he desiring to know 
 for what cause, and by what authority he was to be so 
 cruelly used ; Bambridge replied, it was by his own au- 
 thority, and him, be would do it, and have his life. 
 
 The prisoner desired he might be carried before a magis- 
 trate, that he might know his crime before he was 
 punished ; but Bambridge refused, and put irons on his 
 legs which were too little, so that in forcing them on, his 
 legs were like to have been broken ; and the torture was 
 impossible to be endured ; upon which the prisoner com- 
 plaining of the grievous pain and straitness of the irons, 
 Bambridge answered, that he did it on purpose to torture 
 him ; on which the prisoner replying, that by the law of 
 England no man ought to be tortured; Bambridge de- 
 clared, that be would do it first, and answer for it after- 
 wards ; and caused him to be dragged away to the dun- 
 geon, where he lay without a bed, loaded with irons so 
 closely riveted, that they kept him in continual torture,
 
 VICE AND CRUELTY IN THE FLEET. 97 
 
 and mortified his legs. After long application, his irons 
 were changed, and a surgeon directed to dress his legs ; 
 but his lameness is not nor ever can be cured : he was 
 kept in this miserable condition for three weeks, by which 
 his sight is greatly prejudiced, and in danger of being lost. 
 
 " The prisoner, upon this usage, petitioned the Judges ; 
 and after several meetings, and a full hearing, the Judges 
 reprimanded Mr. Huggins and Bambridge, and declared 
 that a gaoler could not answer the ironing of a man before 
 he was found guilty of a crime ; but it being out of term, 
 they could not give the prisoner any relief or satisfaction. 
 
 " Notwithstanding this opinion of the Judges, the said 
 Bambridge continued to keep the prisoner in irons till he 
 had paid him six guineas ; and to prevent the prisoner's 
 recovering damages for the cruel treatment of him, Bam- 
 bridge indicted him and his principal witnesses at the Old 
 Bailey, before they knew anything of the matter ; and to 
 support that indictment, he had recourse to subornation, 
 and turned two of his servants out of places which they 
 had bought, because they would not swear falsely that the 
 prisoner had struck the said Bambridge, which words he 
 had inserted in affidavits ready prepared for signing, and 
 which they knew to be false. As soon as they were ap- 
 prised of it, they applied to the Lord Mayor, who ordered 
 the grand jury down to the Fleet, where they found that 
 Bambridge was the aggressor. But the bill against the 
 prisoners being already found, the second inquiry was too 
 late. The prisoners being no longer able to bear the 
 charges of prosecution, which had already cost 100/., and 
 being softened by promises and terrified by threats, sub- 
 mitted to plead guilty, on a solemn assurance and agree- 
 ment made with Bambridge before witnesses, of having 
 but one shilling fine laid upon them ; but so soon as they 
 had pleaded guilty, Bambridge took advantage of it, and 
 has continued harassing them and their securities ever 
 since. The desire of gain urged the said Bambridge to 
 the preceding instances of cruelty ; but a more diabolical 
 
 II
 
 98 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 passion, that of malice, animated him to oppress Captain 
 David Sinclair in the following manner : — 
 
 " At the latter end of June or beginning of July last, the 
 said Bambridge declared to the said James Barnes, one of the 
 agents of his cruelties, that he would have Sinclair's blood; 
 and he took the opportunity of the first festival day, 
 which was on the first of August following, when he 
 thought Captain Sinclair might, by celebrating the memory 
 of the late king, be warmed with liquor so far as to give 
 him some excuse for the cruelties which he intended to 
 inflict upon him. But in some measure he was disap- 
 pointed, for Captain Sinclair was perfectly sober, when 
 the said Bambridge rushed into his room with a dark lan- 
 thorn in his hand, assisted by his accomplices, James 
 Barnes and William Pindar, and supported by his usual 
 guard, armed with muskets and bayonets, and without any 
 provocation given, run his lanthorn into Captain Sinclair's 
 face, seized him by the collar, and told him he must come 
 along with him. Captain Sinclair, though surprised, asked 
 for what and by what authority he so treated him ? Upon 
 which Barnes and the rest seized Captain Sinclair, who 
 still desiring to know by what authority they so abused 
 him, Bambridge grossly insulted him, and struck him 
 with his cane on the head and shoulders, whilst he was 
 held fast by Pindar and Barnes. Such base and scandalous 
 usage of this gentleman, who had in the late wars always 
 signalised himself with the greatest courage, gallantry, and 
 honour in the service of his country upon many of the 
 most brave and desperate occasions, must be most shocking 
 and intolerable ; yet Captain Sinclair bore it with patience, 
 refusing only to go out of his room unless he was forced ; 
 whereupon the said Bambridge threatened to run his cane 
 down his throat, and ordered his guard to stab him with 
 their bayonets, or drag him down to the said dungeon 
 called the strong room, the latter of which they did, and 
 Bambridge kept him confined in that damp and loathsome 
 place, till he had lost the use of his limbs and memory,
 
 VICE AND CRUELTY IN THE FLEET. 99 
 
 neither of which has he perfectly recovered to this da}*. 
 Many aggravating cruelties were used to make his con- 
 finement more terrible ; and when Bambridge found he 
 was in danger of immediate death, he removed him, for 
 fear of his dying in duress, and caused him to be carried 
 in a dying condition from that dungeon to a room where 
 there was no bed or furniture, and so unmercifully prevented 
 his friends having any access to him, that he was four 
 days without the least sustenance. 
 
 " It appeared to the Committee by the evidence of a sur- 
 geon and others, who were prisoners in the house, that 
 when Captain Sinclair was forced into that loathsome 
 dungeon he was in perfect health. Captain Sinclair 
 applied for remedy at law against the said cruelties of 
 Bambridge, and had procured a habeas corpus for his 
 witnesses to be brought before the sessions of oyer and 
 terminer, when the said Bambridge, by colour of his as- 
 sumed authority as warden, took the said writs of habeas 
 corpus from the officer whose duty it was to make a return 
 of them, and commanded him to keep out of the way 
 whilst he himself went to the Old Bailey, and immediately 
 indicted Captain Sinclair and such of his witnesses as he 
 knew he could not deter by threats or prevail with by 
 promises to go from the truth. 
 
 " Captain Sinclair had temper enough to bear patiently 
 almost insupportable injuries, and to reserve himself for a 
 proper occasion, when justice should be done him by the 
 laws of the realm. 
 
 " But the said Bambridge has forced others by wrongs 
 and injuries beyond human bearing, to endeavour the 
 avenging injuries and oppressions which they could no 
 longer endure. 
 
 " And it appeared to the Committee, that the said Bam- 
 bridge, in order to avoid the punishment due to these 
 crimes, hath committed greater, and hath not only denied 
 admittance to the solicitors, who might procure justice to 
 the injured prisoners, and in open defiance to the law,
 
 100 LIFE OF HOWARD 
 
 disobeyed the king's writs, but hath also seduced some by 
 indulging them in riot, and terrified others with fear of 
 duress, to swear to and subscribe such false affidavits as he 
 thought fit to prepare for them, on several occasions ; in 
 all which wrongs and oppressions John Everett also acted 
 as one of the said Bambridge's wicked accomplices. That 
 the said Bambridge being asked, by the committee, by 
 what authority he pretended to put prisoners into dun- 
 geons and irons ? answered, that he did it by his own au- 
 thority, as warden, to preserve the quiet and safety of the 
 custody of the prison. 
 
 "And that the said dungeons were built in defiance of, 
 and contrary to, the declaration of the Lord King, when 
 lord chief justice of the Common Pleas ; who, upon an 
 application made to him on behalf of the prisoners of the 
 Fleet, when Mr. Huggins and Gybbon urged that there 
 was danger of prisoners escaping, declared that they might 
 raise their walls higher, but that there should be no prison 
 within a prison." 
 
 Whatever diminution of cruelty, or amendment 
 of discipline resulted from the exposure of these 
 enormities by the Parliamentary Committee, or 
 from the punishment inflicted upon the wretches 
 who perpetrated them, seems to have been tem- 
 porary, and to have almost passed away before the 
 subject of our Memoir — with an energy of benevo- 
 lence as though all the spirit which animated that 
 philanthropic band, having suddenly revived had 
 become embodied in himself — resumed the task 
 and, 
 
 " touched with human woe, redressive search 'd 
 
 Into the horrors of the gloomy jail ; 
 
 I npitied and unheard where mis'ry moans;
 
 REASONS FOR VISITING PRISONS. 101 
 
 Where sickness pines ; where thirst and hunger burn, 
 And poor misfortune feels the lash of vice." * 
 
 Scarcely had Howard entered upon his high 
 office before it was his duty to attend the Judges of 
 Assize, and to be present in the court whilst 
 prisoners were tried. There he witnessed much 
 which excited compassion, and gave an impulse to 
 his philanthropy, which he neither could nor would 
 restrain, and which at once caused the extension 
 of its endeavours. The introduction to his First 
 Book on Prisons, to which and the subsequent 
 volume we shall in the sequel have frequent occasion 
 to refer, thus begins : — 
 
 " The distress of prisoners, of which there are few who 
 have not some imperfect idea, came more immediately 
 under my notice when I was sheriff of the county of Bed- 
 ford ; and the circumstance which excited me to activity 
 in their behalf was the seeing some, who by the verdict of 
 juries were declared not guilty; some, on whom the grand 
 jury did not find such an appearance of guilt as subjected 
 them to trial ; and some whose prosecutors did not appear 
 against them ; after having been confined for months, 
 dragged back to gaol and locked up again till they should 
 pay sundry fees to the gaoler, the clerk of assize, &c. 
 
 In order to redress this hardship, I applied to the jus- 
 tices of the county for a salary to the gaoler in lieu of his 
 fees.-j- The bench were properly affected with the griev- 
 ance, and willing to grant the relief desired; but they 
 wanted a precedent for charging the county with the ex- 
 
 * Thomson's Winter, 360—365. 
 
 | The following printed paper was suspended in Bedford gaol: — 
 "Ail persons that come to this place, either by warrant, commitment, 
 or verbally, must pay, before discharged, fifteen shillings and four 
 pence to the gaoler, and two shillings to the turnkey."
 
 102 LIFE OF IIOWAKD. 
 
 pense. I therefore rode into several neighbouring counties 
 in search of one ; but I soon learned that the same injus- 
 tice was practised in them ; and looking into the prisons, 
 beheld scenes of calamity, which I grew daily more and 
 more anxious to alleviate. In order therefore to gain a 
 more perfect knowledge of the particulars and extent of it, 
 by various and accurate observation, I visited most of the 
 county gaols in England." 
 
 It will not be supposed that although one special 
 grievance induced Howard to visit other gaols, his 
 observation was therefore confined to that single 
 vicious custom when so much besides required 
 correction. On the contrary he saw many defects 
 both in the construction of Bedford Gaol, and in 
 the punishment of its unhappy inmates, and he 
 perceived the like generally in other prisons ; at the 
 same time he was ever quick in discerning improve- 
 ments, and as anxious to adopt them. This brief 
 description of the gaol under his own jurisdiction 
 will be read with interest : — 
 
 " In this prison there is a day-room for debtors, which is 
 used as a chapel ; and three or four lodging-rooms, — one for 
 men, the other for women, — without fire-places ; two dun- 
 geons, down eleven steps, and often very damp. Five 
 pounds a year is allowed to the gaoler for straw, which is 
 not on the floors, but on frames or bedsteads. The justices 
 in winter, upon application, grant coals both to debtors 
 and felons. The court is common to both, and small. No 
 apartment for the gaoler, nor any salary. Clauses of the 
 act against spirituous liquors are not hung up. I Was, 
 when sheriff, culpably ignorant of that act. No infirmary. 
 About twenty years ago the gaol fever was in this prison ; 
 some died there, and many in the town ; among whom was
 
 HUNTINGDON AND CAMBRIDGE GAOLS. 103 
 
 the surgeon, who attended the prisoners. His successor 
 judiciously changed the medicines from sudorifics (generally- 
 used before) to bark and cordials : and a sail ventilator 
 being soon after put up, the gaol has been free from the 
 fever almost ever since. 
 
 " This prison is kept very clean, but the act for preserving 
 the health of prisoners is not hung up.* Besides the fees 
 extorted, if possible, by the gaoler, the debtor must pay 
 garnish five shillings. The allowance of food was two 
 quartern loaves a week each : and for felons two half peck 
 loaves." 
 
 November 4. 1773. — Howard's inspection com- 
 menced with the neighbouring prisons of Hunting- 
 don and Cambridge ; but seeing like evils to those 
 at Bedford, and having derived no advantage from 
 this excursion, he again started on the 15th of that 
 month, and visited several more distant gaols. 
 Northampton came first in this tour, where the 
 keeper of the Bridewell received SQL as his salary, 
 but paid AOL for his office of gaoler. The prison 
 was close and confined ; there was a dungeon, in 
 which were several prisoners. The allowance of 
 food was about the same as at Bedford ; but no 
 bedding, nor even straw, was granted to lie upon. 
 The chapel was at the top of the gaoler's house ; 
 and upon this the humane visitor remarks, "it 
 must be painful for prisoners loaded with irons to 
 go up and down the stairs." f Leicester was next 
 visited. The prison here was bad in almost every 
 respect. Its dungeons were damp, dark, and offen- 
 sive. The prisoners slept on mats, but had no 
 
 * State of Prisons, 1st Bk. p. 241. t Ibid. p. 295. 
 
 h 4
 
 104 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 coverlets. There was no chapel, and but a small 
 court. AVe are told that a debtor in the Fleet, who 
 published a " Cry of the Oppressed," in 1691, com- 
 plained of the " low moist dungeon " in Avhich a 
 fellow-sufferer was then immured in this gaol. The 
 keeper had no salary, and garnish was forbidden ; 
 but some exorbitant fees were exacted. An annual 
 collection was made by the clergy for the clothing, 
 food, and firing of some debtors, whereby, Howard 
 tells us, great relief was afforded.* Nottingham 
 was his next stage, where he says, " Down 
 twenty-eight steps are three rooms for criminals 
 who can pay. Down twelve steps more are deep 
 dungeons cut in the sandy rock, very damp." f The 
 sight of these most wretched dens presented a con- 
 trast to apparent benevolence towards their in- 
 mates, since a commodious bath was provided, 
 which could be warm when required, and abundant 
 nourishment was ordered for the sick. Upon this 
 Howard — always glad to promote good by com- 
 mendation rather than censure, — observes, " Gen- 
 tlemen so remarkably considerate and humane, will, 
 I hope, abolish the unwholesome dungeons." J 
 
 At Derby the prison had not been erected twenty 
 years, and was in some respects preferable to those 
 described. There was a small chapel, a bath, and 
 an infirmary. The keeper had a salary, and the 
 prisoners more food, with some firing and straw, 
 yet even here a dungeon was the only dormitory 
 
 ' State of Prisons, 1st Bk. p. 271. t Ibid. p. 279. 
 
 j Ibid. p. 280.
 
 STAFFORD, LICHFIELD, WARWICK, WORCESTER. 105 
 
 for men, and the women were crowded into close 
 unhealthy rooms, whilst the intercourse of different 
 classes was not enough restrained.* 
 
 Thence Howard went to Stafford, where he tells 
 us the gaol was much too small, and the felons' 
 dungeon had no window or opening besides the 
 door. The gaoler, however, was more humane 
 than most, and had " cancelled the garnish for 
 felons." Straw was also provided at the county 
 expense, not " farmed by the keeper." f 
 
 The city prison at Lichfield consisted of two 
 cells — size 6<j feet by 5|-; an enclosed court, in 
 which was an offensive sewer, and no other water 
 was provided : no straw. 
 
 At Warwick gaol he found some more miserable 
 dungeons, — " close, damp, and offensive." A 
 keeper had died of the gaol distemper. Some cruel 
 practices had been abandoned, — amongst them 
 that of loading females with irons, and Howard 
 again pleads for the extension of compassion on 
 this account.^ 
 
 Thence he proceeded to Worcester. Here were 
 many gross practices. The keeper was the widow 
 of one who had before held the office, § The felons' 
 dungeon was 26 feet under ground. The surgeon 
 of this prison had caught the gaol fever, and was 
 fearful of going again into this pit of corruption. 
 
 * State of Prisons, 1st Bk. p. 275. f I bid - P- 31L 
 
 % Ibid. p. 265. 
 
 § I have elsewhere described other prisons of which women were 
 the appointed keepers. It was the case with nine county prisons in 
 Howard's day. — Pris. Discij)., vol. i. p. 10.
 
 10G LIFE OF HOWAKD. 
 
 When any prisoners were sick he directed them to 
 be brought up to him. But fresh air was the best 
 preventive, and therefore over the dungeon was an 
 open grate, and a ventilator occasionally worked by 
 the prisoners. Howard recommended the adoption 
 of this plan in several prisons. It was a wise pre- 
 caution until he could convince men of the inhu- 
 manity and guilt of incarcerating their fellow crea- 
 tures in such dismal, loathsome dens. Many a 
 lesson indeed had been already given, besides the 
 constant mortality within the prison walls, and the 
 loss of men who, like this surgeon at Worcester, 
 and the gaoler at Warwick, were officially engaged 
 and suffered in consequence. To this subject we 
 must recur when Howard himself comments upon it. 
 The county gaol at Gloucester was next visited, 
 and the following is the description given of it : — 
 
 " Only one court for all the prisoners, and one small 
 day-room, 12 feet by 11, for men and women — felons. 
 The free ward for debtors is 19 feet by 11, which having 
 no window, part of the plaster wall is broken down for 
 light and air. The night-room (the Main) for men felons, 
 though up many stone steps, is close and dark; and the 
 floor is so ruinous, that it cannot be washed. Adjoining to 
 the Main, there are other night-rooms for fines, &c. These 
 have also their separate day-room. The whole prison is 
 
 much out of repair There is a chapel, but all 
 
 the endeavours of the chaplain to promote reformation 
 among the prisoners must necessarily be defeated, by the 
 inattention of the magistrates, and their neglect of framing 
 and enforcing good regulations. ... Of the felons, &c, 
 thirteen were transports: about twenty were fines; and 
 not having the county allowance, nor any employment
 
 MR. RAIKES Sill G. 0. PAUL. 107 
 
 were very pitiable objects indeed ; half naked, and almost 
 famished. Mr. Raikes and other gentlemen took pity on 
 them, and generously contributed towards the feeding and 
 clothing them."* 
 
 I have given Howard's description of this prison 
 in his own phraseology, and with more full parti- 
 culars, because, as will be hereafter seen, the im- 
 provements effected there were amongst the first 
 fruits of his labours. 
 
 Mr. Raikes, whose piety and philanthropy were 
 conspicuous not only in the relief of criminals, but 
 also in the establishment of Sunday schools, by 
 which so much crime has been prevented, was not 
 long without additional support, nor were other 
 authorities allowed to remain "inattentive and 
 negligent." Something of Howard's spirit was im- 
 parted to a distinguished and most intelligent ma- 
 gistrate of this county — Sir G. 0. Paul, who, in a 
 manner worthy of his OAvn character and of the 
 occasion, a few years after protested against the 
 continuance of such enormities, and, as the sequel 
 will show, prevailed in his endeavours to correct 
 them. I give an extract from his book on Prisons 
 confirmatory of the above account. In addressing 
 the grand jury he writes — 
 
 " I trust no public meeting of this county will ever 
 again indolently separate, without a complete investigation 
 of the subject now brought into question ; if it does, such 
 conduct shall no longer be excused by the plea of igno- 
 rance of the unjust and indiscriminate miseries which be- 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 314.
 
 108 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 come the lot of that portion of our fellow-creatures, who 
 are confined in the prisons of this country ; nor from the 
 neglect of considering the incompetency of the existing 
 means to the end proposed by confinement. It shall not 
 be for want of this broad suggestion, that, whilst the con- 
 duct of prisons is by the laws intrusted to our direction, 
 every suffering, not warranted by the spirit as well as 
 letter of the law is extra-judicial punishment, for which we 
 
 are answerable to injured humanity It frequently 
 
 happens, that the verdict of an honourable acquittal is 
 announced to a wretch expiring in a pestilential disease, 
 or so reduced by hunger and despair, that the freedom we 
 award him is become a thankless boon. That this picture 
 is not overcharged, it is only necessary to state, that, at 
 the last assizes, eleven bills were found against prisoners 
 in so bad a state of health that they could not take their 
 trials ; — and it is a fact, that two prisoners were expiring 
 whilst the grand jury were examining their indictments, 
 and were actually dead before the bills were returned into 
 court. During the last ten months, fourteen prisoners 
 have died of the small pox and gaol distemper, of whom 
 seven were persons unconvicted of any crime, — three were 
 fines — three debtors — and one convict."* 
 
 From Gloucester Howard proceeded to Oxford 
 and Aylesbury ; and in the prisons of both places 
 he found malpractices and miseries similar to those 
 described. With the last this tour was completed. 
 On his return to Cardinsrton, the frightful retro- 
 spect would not suffer him to remain in his peaceful 
 home. The original purpose of his journey had not 
 yet been accomplished, but he had seen so much of 
 crime, cruelty, and distress in the management and 
 condition of the prisons he had visited, that he de- 
 
 * Sir fi. (J. Paul on Prisons, vol. i. pp. 11. 17. See Appendix D.
 
 ANOTHER EXCURSION. 109 
 
 termined at once to resume his inspection. He was 
 no stranger to oppression and wretchedness when 
 he began his investigation, but he had discovered 
 more than former experience led him to think 
 existed in his native land. With Howard the 
 knowledge of woe was enough, not merely to ex- 
 cite a wish for its removal, but to forbid rest until 
 the effort had been made. He naturally supposed 
 other men must feel and act as he did, if ma'de 
 acquainted with the misery he witnessed ; but lest 
 the partial survey should not convince that the evils 
 were extensive, he resolves by enlarged observation 
 to ascertain the truth. After an interval of only 
 ten days, he entered afresh upon his work of mercy. 
 On this excursion, Hertford gaol was first visited. 
 Here were two small rooms, and two dungeons, in 
 which the felons were continually kept, without 
 fresh air or exercise of any kind. Reading was 
 next visited. Here a woman was keeper, and it 
 was no wonder that the felons had a short time 
 before broken prison. Neither straw nor water 
 was provided; but a person had charitably given 
 thirty- six coverlets, six years before, which were 
 then rags.* 
 
 Over the debtors' grate were these lines — 
 
 " O ye, whose hours exempt from sorrow flow ! 
 Behold the seat of pain, and want, and woe ; 
 Think, while your hands th' entreated alms extend, 
 That what to us ye give, to God ye lend."f 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 299. 
 
 t These lines are now inscribed over a charity box, connected with 
 the debtors' gaol, at Dover Castle. See Prison Discip., vol. i. p. 1 1 .
 
 110 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 At Salisbury, whither Howard next went, lie 
 found prisoners were allowed coal, but had no 
 chimneys in their wards. It was burnt in the 
 middle of them upon a raised brick. He further 
 tells us that — 
 
 " Just without the prison gate is a round staple fixed in 
 the wall : through it is put a chain, at each end of which 
 a debtor, padlocked by the leg-, stands, offering to those 
 who pass by nets, laces, purses, &c, made in the prison. 
 At Christmas, felons chained together, are permitted to go 
 about ; one of them carrying a sack or basket for food, 
 another a box for money."* 
 
 Both here, and at Dorchester, which was next 
 visited, if at the assizes a bill against any supposed 
 felon were ignored, or, if upon his trial, he were 
 found " not guilty," he was not discharged until 23s. 
 had been paid ; so that the verdict of acquittal 
 might entail a longer imprisonment than would 
 have been imposed upon a conviction. 
 
 At Winchester gaol he found some recent im- 
 provements had been effected. It was more cleanly 
 than most. The dungeon had been enlarged. It 
 had been, we are informed, " destructive and dark." 
 Well indeed might the former epithet be applied, 
 for in it twenty had died of gaol fever not long 
 before, and the keeper also fell a victim to that 
 dreadful scourge.f 
 
 At Horsham was a prison with small rooms, and 
 no court for air and exercise. No straw allowed. 
 In a note Howard tells us that when he entered 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 337. f Ibid. p. 330.
 
 GTJTLFORD BRIDEWELL. Ill 
 
 with the keeper, they saw a heap of rubbish. The 
 prisoners had been two or three days undermining, 
 and a general escape was intended that night. 
 " Our lives," he adds, " were at their mercy : but 
 (thank God) they did not attempt to murder us 
 and rush out."* 
 
 The bridewell at Guilford was no better con- 
 structed. There was indeed a small court, but no 
 prisoner had access to it excepting on payment of a 
 shilling. Having thus far explored these haunts 
 of tyranny, corruption, and vice, some recreation 
 became necessary. Howard, therefore, returned 
 to London ; and the Christmas holidays having 
 arrived, he proceeded to Pinner, where his beloved 
 child had been for about a year at school, and 
 thence he accompanied him to Cardington. 
 
 It appears that on the very day of his son's re- 
 turn to school, January 17. 1774, Howard again 
 left home on a tour of further inspection. Oakham 
 gaol was first visited. This must have resembled 
 a large barn ; the whole of it was thatched, and 
 it seems to have been in every respect unfit for 
 its appointed purpose. Thence he proceeded to 
 York, where, after describing some other vicious 
 practices, he adds — 
 
 " At the inner door of this prison, which is of iron grates, 
 I have seen liquors handed to those who seemed to have 
 had enough before. Formerly there was no water in this 
 prison, but when they had too much ; that is, in a very 
 high flood ; then it flows into the rooms : now water is laid 
 
 * State of Prisons, pp. 27. 229.
 
 11.2 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 in. It were in vain to offer any hints of improvement. 
 This gaol cannot be made a good one." * 
 
 The county gaol for debtors at York was, How- 
 ard remarked, " a noble prison which does honour 
 to the county ;" but that for criminals is thus de- 
 scribed — 
 
 " The felons' court is down five steps : it is too small, 
 and has no water : in it are three cells ; in another place 
 nine cells : and three in another. The cells are in general 
 about 7| feet by 6|, and 8^ feet high; close and dark, — 
 having only either a small hole over the door, or some per- 
 forations in it of about an inch in diameter : not any of 
 them into the open air, but into passages or entries. In 
 most of these cells three prisoners are locked up at night ; 
 in winter for fourteen or sixteen hours : straw on the 
 stone floors ; no bedsteads. There are four condemned 
 rooms, about seven feet square. A sewer in one of the 
 passages often makes these parts of the gaol very offensive ; 
 and I cannot say they are clean. Indeed, a clean prison 
 is scarcely ever seen where the water has to be brought in 
 by the gaoler's servants." f 
 
 Lincoln castle was next inspected. From a room 
 for debtors you descend, says Howard — 
 
 "By a trap-door ten steps down to two vaulted dungeons 
 for criminals ; one called the " Pit," another within it, 
 the condemned cell. — A little short straw on the floor — 
 both offensive ; no water, no sewer." 
 
 The gaoler had no salary, but farmed the vic- 
 tualling. The gaol for the city was little better. 
 Dungeons so damp that a bedstead, so seldom seen 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 3G8. f Ibid. p. 298.
 
 GAOLS OF ELY, NORWICH, AND IPSWICH. 113 
 
 in prisons, was indispensable, but neither bedding 
 nor straw was provided. No court. No water.* 
 
 At Ely the gaoler had been guilty of most 
 atrocious practices. The prison was unsafe ; and 
 in order to secure its inmates, he had chained them 
 down on their backs upon the floor, across which 
 were several iron bars, with an iron collar with 
 spikes about their necks, and a heavy iron bar over 
 their legs. An excellent magistrate, J. Collyer, 
 Esq., presented an account of the case with a 
 drawing to the king, with which His Majesty was 
 much affected, and gave immediate orders for pro- 
 per inquiry and redress. The prison had in con- 
 sequence been rebuilt. f 
 
 At Norwich, both in the county and city prisons 
 there were also dungeons and vicious arrangements 
 similar to those generally prevailing. At the latter, 
 the keeper, instead of receiving a salary, paid thirty 
 guineas a year for his office. At Ipswich, some 
 better regulations prevailed, and the prisoners were 
 treated with more humanity, A. bedstead, with 
 even one blanket, was furnished for each. 
 
 From Ipswich Howard went to London, whence 
 he made an excursion to Colchester, and having 
 there inspected the prison he returned for the pur- 
 pose of examining the county gaol at Southwark. 
 He describes it as " having eighteen large rooms, 
 yet not sufficient for the number of prisoners. No 
 bedding: no straw : no infirmary : no chapel." J 
 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 298. f See Appendix. 
 
 % State of Prisons, p. 205. 
 
 I
 
 114 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 From London lie proceeded to Exeter. The 
 gaol there was private property, and the keeper 
 paid 22/. per annum for his privileges, which con- 
 sisted of " the tap" and the extortion of fees. Every 
 criminal must pay 14s. Ad., before he could be re- 
 leased. On this visit two sailors fined only Is. for 
 their offence, were detained for fees which they had 
 no opportunity or prospect of being able to pay. 
 The prison was too confined. There were three 
 dungeons and an infirmary lately built ; in them 
 all the prisoners were confined at night.* 
 
 The prison for the city of Exeter is briefly de- 
 scribed : — 
 
 " Very close, very offensive : no chimney : no water : 
 no court : no sewer." 
 
 The gaol for Cornwall at Launceston was in a 
 wretched condition. I transcribe Howard's notes — 
 
 " This gaol, though built in the large green belonging 
 to the old ruinous castle, is very small. The prison is a 
 room or passage, 23| feet by 7} I} with only one window 
 2 feet by \\ : and three dungeons or cages on the side 
 opposite the window : these are about G~ feet deep ; one 
 9 feet long; one about 8 feet; one not 5 feet : this last 
 for women. They are all very offensive. No chimney : 
 no water: no sewers: damp earth floors: no infirmary. 
 The court not secure ; and prisoners seldom permitted to 
 go out to it. Indeed, the whole prison is out of repair, 
 and yet the gaoler lives distant. 1 once found the prison- 
 ers chained two or three together. Their provision was 
 put down to them through a hole (9 inches by 8) in the 
 floor of the room above (used as a chapel) ; and those who 
 
 * State ofJ'risons, p. 344.
 
 GAOLS OF LAUNCESTON AND ILCIIESTER. 115 
 
 served them there often caught the fatal fever. At my 
 first visit I found the keeper, his assistant, and all the 
 prisoners but one sick of it, and heard that a few years 
 before, many prisoners had died of it, and the keeper and 
 his wife in one night." * 
 
 To dismal receptacles like these and others we 
 must describe the application of Milton's lines can 
 scarcely be an exaggeration — 
 
 " A dungeon horrible on all sides round : 
 No light ; but rather darkness visible 
 Serv'd only to discover sights of woe, 
 Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace 
 And rest can never dwell." 
 
 At Ilcliester the prison arrangements were better 
 than at most places. Thence Howard proceeded to 
 Bristol, where he found more close unhealthy dun- 
 geons, without any allowance of bedding or straw 
 for the prisoners. Here the poorest debtors were 
 compelled, if any shelter was afforded them, to pay 
 tenpence a week. 
 
 At Hereford gaol, which was next visited, there 
 was no better provision for the wretched inmates ; 
 but on proceeding to Monmouth he found much 
 worse misery. The felons were all confined at 
 night at the top of the gaoler's house, in darkness 
 and filth ; for as Howard observes, " it was difficult 
 to carry water up and down a narrow staircase 
 with iron fetters on." The consequence of this 
 was that the gaol fever was raging with viru- 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 351, 352. 
 i 2
 
 ] 1 6 LIFE OF IIOWAPvD. 
 
 lence. The keeper, several of the prisoners, and 
 some of their friends died of it. From Monmouth 
 Howard proceeded to London. He there visited 
 the Wood Street compter, and found it crowded, 
 dark and dirty, vermin swarming in it. No bed- 
 ding or straw was alloAved for felons : those who 
 could pay Is. a night obtained a bed. There was 
 a chapel, and under it the tap-room. No wonder 
 that in this close and offensive scene of wretch- 
 edness the prisons were sickly, and eleven had re- 
 cently died. Howard had by this time not only 
 seen enough to satisfy his own mind that the evils 
 he witnessed in Bedford gaol were equalled in 
 almost every other, and very far surpassed in 
 many, but he had now collected an amount of evi- 
 dence on the condition of our English prisons which 
 was calculated to arouse the most indifferent, and 
 to excite in every humane mind an earnest desire 
 for their improvement. An opportunity for mak- 
 ing known the result of his observations was ere 
 long presented. 
 
 The iniquity of extorting fees, especially from 
 innocent persons, had impressed the mind of a be- 
 nevolent member of the House of Commons — Mr. 
 Popham, and during the last year he had intro- 
 duced a bill providingjbr their payment out of the 
 county rates. That bill, after having been read a 
 second time, was dropped in committee, because 
 adequate compensation to some parties deriving 
 emoluments from the existing system was not se- 
 cured. But it appears that Mr. Popham, having in
 
 BILL FOR SUPPRESSION OF GAOLERS' FEES. 117 
 
 the meantime held communication with our philan- 
 thropic inspector, renewed his motion in the next 
 session, March, 1774, with an additional measure 
 for the more effectually securing the health of 
 prisoners confined in gaols. A friend of Howard's, 
 Mr. St. John, and his relative Mr. Whitbread, ap- 
 pear to have taken an active part in the preparation 
 and support of these bills. A committee was formed 
 and the philanthropist was examined. Some kin- 
 dred spirits could appreciate his motives, whilst all 
 must have admired his devotedness and self-denial. 
 But, as Dr. Aikin, observes, — 
 
 " Such pure and active benevolence was not universally 
 comprehended, for a member thought fit to ask him, — 
 ' At whose expense he travelled ? ' A question which Mr. 
 Howard could scarcely answer without some indignant 
 emotions." * 
 
 The evidence adduced seems to have astounded 
 the committee, and to have secured the passing of 
 these important measures. This was the first step 
 towards the correction of vicious regulations ; it 
 cheered Howard with the conviction that his labour 
 had not been in vain ; it encouraged his perse- 
 verance as an earnest of future success. But lest 
 these, like so many acts of parliament, should be 
 too obscure, and misunderstood, we are told he had 
 them printed at his own expence, in an intelligible 
 form, and sent to every keeper of a county gaol in 
 England. " By those acts," writes the rejoicing 
 philanthropist, " the tear was wiped from many an 
 
 * Aikin, p. 57. 
 i 3
 
 118 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 eye ; and the legislature had for them the blessing 
 of many that were ready to perish." * 
 
 Connected with these circumstances an event oc- 
 curred which must have been gratifying to Howard, 
 [is it was honourable to others concerned. The 
 deeds of chivalry always obtained favour equal to 
 their worth ; the heroism of the victor seldom lost 
 a due reward; but patriotism proved by philan- 
 thropy was rare ; valour was not wont to show 
 itself by encountering disease, from a simple desire 
 to afford relief; Howard's was a warfare with the 
 woes of life, fought not for the vain-glory of his 
 country, but for the victims of oppression, and 
 those who proved its shame. Where was the pre- 
 cedent for public honour in any such like service ? 
 It was not sought for. Howard was singular in 
 his virtues, but they were too conspicuous and 
 praiseworthy to be overlooked; and therefore the 
 thanks of the House of Commons were tendered to 
 him. Upon its meeting, the chairman of the com- 
 mittee, Sir Thomas Clavering, reported that " he 
 was directed to move the House, that John Howard, 
 Esq., be called in to the bar, and that Mr. Speaker 
 do acquaint him, that the House are very sensible 
 of the humanity and zeal which have led him to 
 visit the several gaols of this kingdom, and to com- 
 municate to the House the interesting observations 
 he has made upon the subject." 
 
 The motion was carried unanimously, and the 
 voices of men of every party were united in one 
 general applause. 
 
 * Introil. to State of Prisons, p. 2.
 
 RESUMES INSPECTION OF GAOLS. 119 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 howard encouraged, resumes inspection of gaols. — the 
 
 marshalsea. dungeons at durham and biorpeth 
 
 notes on gaols of newcastle, carlisle, lancaster, 
 preston, and liverpool. — horrible dungeons of ches- 
 ter castle. description of gaols at wrexham and 
 
 shrewsbury. other prisons visited on return to 
 
 cardlngton. another tour. visits gaols at maid- 
 stone, canterbury, clerkenwell, tothill-fields. an 
 
 exemplary gaoler. the fleet. the king's bench. 
 
 gaols in whitechapel, tower hamlets, the borough 
 
 compter. — relaxation necessary. retdrns home. 
 
 tour of prison inspection through wales. — visits 
 
 the bridewells in england. [their wretched state. 
 
 — Howard's public character. — a candidate for bed- 
 ford WITH MR. WHITBREAD. — VISITS AGAIN PRISONS IN 
 
 SEVERAL COUNTIES. LONG IMPRISONMENT BEFORE TRIAL. 
 
 GOES INTO SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. REGULATIONS FOR 
 
 IRISH GAOLS. — COMMITTEE ON BEDFORD ELECTION. 
 
 The energy of Howard's benevolence was such, that 
 although we cannot suppose him to have been in- 
 sensible to the high honour conferred upon him, 
 yet no additional impulse was required. His phi- 
 lanthropy had not been called forth by any desire 
 of human favour, nor was it capable of increase or di- 
 minution by the commendation or censure of fellow- 
 men. It was deep-rooted, because of divine origin, 
 and, constantly deriving its vigour from the same 
 source, was ever fruitful. As the blast of opposition 
 had no tendency to make it barren, so neither had the 
 
 i 4
 
 120 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 sunshine of prosperity any withering influence. 
 Yet the honour was valued. It was a proof of 
 sympathy, and a promise of success. It was there- 
 fore a call and an encouragement to renewed 
 activity, and Howard, at once hopeful and obedient, 
 resumed his labour. 
 
 Going first to London, he visited the Marshalsea, 
 a gaol in which pirates, and persons arrested for 
 the lowest sums within twelve miles around 
 London, were confined. The " Common Side 
 Debtors " had only six rooms, which were in- 
 tolerably crowded ; yet five other rooms were let 
 to a man, who made use of one of them as a 
 chandler's shop, and, with his family, resided in 
 the others. Many prisoners had no beds, nor any 
 place to sleep in but the chapel and the tap-room. 
 There was no infirmary. Howard adds — 
 
 " The Tap was let to a prisoner in the rules of the 
 kind's Bench prison; this prison being just within those 
 rules. I was credibly informed that one Sunday 600 pots 
 of beer were brought in from a public house, the prisoners 
 not then liking the tapster's beer."* 
 
 A few days after the above visit we find Howard 
 at Durham, where the County Gaol was in a 
 horrible condition. The following is his descrip- 
 tion : — 
 
 " Felons have no court, but they have a day-room, and 
 two small rooms for an infirmary. The men are put at 
 nighl into dungeons: one seven feet square for three 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 212.
 
 GAOL OF NEWCASTLE. 12 L 
 
 prisoners ; another, the Great Hole, seventeen feet by 
 twelve, has only a little window. In this I saw six pri- 
 soners, most of them transports, chained to the floor. In 
 that situation they had been many weeks ; and were very 
 sickly. Their straw on the stone floor almost worn to dust. 
 Long confinement, and not having the king's allowance of 
 2s. 6d. a week, had urged them to attempt an escape ; after 
 which the gaoler chained them as above."* 
 
 At Newcastle Howard had the enjoyment of 
 seeing some prisoners treated with justice and com- 
 passion. The gaoler had a salary. The prison was 
 remarkably clean, strewed with sand. The prison- 
 ers had sufficient coals and candles — 
 
 " Every one had a chaff bed, two blankets and a coverlet. 
 Debtors and felons were not thus accommodated in any 
 other prison in England. No prisoners have fetters unless 
 they be riotous. For some years past, prisoners acquitted 
 have been discharged in court ; the Corporation paid the 
 gaoler's fees if the prisoners were poor. A physician of 
 the town visited the prisoners very assiduously, without 
 fee or reward. This is the only instance of the kind I have 
 met with." j- 
 
 How much must the humane spirit of Howard 
 have rejoiced in the charity and cleanliness which 
 was here so singularly shown. It might raise his 
 expectation that as he proceeded he should yet 
 find clemency and kindness prevailing to a greater 
 extent than the retrospect could give the hope, and 
 we may be sure he left Newcastle Gaol longing to see 
 others like it — a bright illusion which dismal reali- 
 ties must soon dispel ! He had gone but a few miles 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 379. t !*>■ p. 383.
 
 122 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 further, when in the foul dark dungeon of Morpeth 
 Gaol, he found three wretched creatures chained 
 down and deprived of everything but just food 
 enough to preserve their miserable life. The assizes, 
 we are told, were held at Newcastle, whither pri- 
 soners were then conveyed ; and at that time as 
 though the proper management and humanity we 
 have admired there could not possibly be extended, 
 " the men and women were confined together four 
 or five nights in a dirty, damp dungeon of the old 
 Castle, which having no roof, in a wet season the 
 water is some inches deep." * 
 
 At Carlisle, if there was less cruelty there was as 
 little discipline. Prisoners of both sexes were con- 
 fined together in darkness and dirt, f 
 
 The county gaol of Westmoreland was occasion- 
 ally inundated by floods. There was neither chap- 
 lain nor surgeon. The debtors had no allowance 
 whatever, whilst felons had the liberal grant of 
 fourpence a day. J 
 
 Lancaster Castle was next visited. Here the 
 debtors were under judicious and humane treat- 
 ment ; but criminal prisoners, says Howard — 
 
 " Had for their night rooms two vaulted cells. One of 
 them, the low dungeon, is ten steps under ground, ex- 
 tremely close, dark, and unwholesome, very hot even in 
 winter. The other cell, the high dungeon, is close and 
 offensive, though not under ground." § 
 
 Preston Bridewell is described to have been " a 
 
 ■ State of Prisons, p. 386. f lb. p. 390. J lb. p. 392. 
 
 § lb. p. 394.
 
 DUNGEONS OF CHESTER CASTLE. 123 
 
 Friary. On the ground-floor is a large room, in 
 which are eleven closets, called boxes, to sleep in, 
 and another room the dungeon. 
 
 Howard proceeded to Liverpool and thence to 
 Chester : the Castle, which was the county gaol, he 
 thus describes — 
 
 " This Castle is the property of the king. The first 
 
 room is a hall, or chapel : Down eighteen 
 
 steps is a small court, which was common to debtors and 
 felons. It is lately divided ; but the high close pales which 
 separate the two courts, now so very small, deprive both 
 debtors and felons of the benefit of fresh air. The former, 
 in their free ward, the Pope's Kitchen ; the latter in their 
 day-room, the King's Kitchen. Both these are six steps 
 below the court: near the former is the condemned room. 
 Under the Pope's Kitchen is a dark room or passage : the 
 descent to it is by twenty-one steps from the court. No 
 window : not a breath of fresh air : only two apertures with 
 grates in the ceiling into the Pope's Kitchen above. On 
 one side of it are six cells {stalls) each about eight feet by 
 three, with a barrack bedstead, and an aperture over the 
 door about eight inches by four. In each of these are 
 locked up at night sometimes three or four felons. They 
 pitch these dungeons two or three times a year : when I 
 was in one of them, I ordered the door to be shut, and my 
 situation brought to mind what I had heard of the black hole 
 at Calcutta." * 
 
 And, whilst thus loathsome, it was likewise in- 
 secure, and the prisoners had recently escaped 
 through the decayed walls. We may well believe 
 that the Philanthropist heard of such occurrences 
 with little sorrow, since they might induce men, 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 40O.
 
 124 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 destitute of better motives, and little disposed to 
 commiserate their prisoners, to reconstruct their 
 gaols from the principle of self-preservation, and 
 for the safety of that which they possessed. 
 
 The prison for the city of Chester was little better. 
 
 " Down ten steps were two new dungeons. No water : 
 
 no allowance Here were several leaden weights 
 
 marked 30, 40, 60 pounds, with a ring and chains to each : 
 these are fastened to the legs of refractory prisoners, so that 
 they cannot walk without carrying the weight. The keeper 
 said that it was extremely difficult to make prisoners he- 
 have orderly while they were together.* 
 
 The county gaol at Wrexham was only 
 
 " Part of a house, most of which formed the parish 
 poor-house. The prisoners had only two dark offensive 
 rooms without any window ; a wall within six feet of the 
 door ; they justly complained of being almost suffocated, 
 and begged to be let out for air into the keeper's garden. 
 All was dirty and out of repair." f 
 
 Howard again found some interval of rest need- 
 ful, and directed his course homewards. On his 
 Avay he revisited the prisons at Stafford, Derby, 
 Nottingham, Northampton, and Leicester. In the 
 borough gaol of the last town he found that women, 
 as well as men, were confined in dungeons. 
 
 A single week's repose at Cardington was suffi- 
 cient to recruit one so ardent in his work as Howard; 
 and, on the 13th of April, he travelled into Kent. 
 We there find him inspecting the prison at Maid- 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 407. f lb. p. 414.
 
 PRISONS OF MAIDSTONE AND CANTERBURY. 125 
 
 stone ; where, for the first time, he discovered an 
 instance in which a salary had been assigned to the 
 gaoler, in lieu of the " Tap." Other humane ar- 
 rangements were creditable to the magistrates of 
 this county, when so few showed any feeling of 
 compassion towards offenders. The fees of libe- 
 rated criminals and of culprits, when acquitted, 
 were paid out of the county funds. Felons had a 
 comparatively liberal allowance, though not judi- 
 ciously apportioned. Each had a quart of beer, 
 and eighteen ounces of bread, a day : yet the poor 
 debtors were not permitted to share in this pro- 
 vision. Howard says — 
 
 " The baker who serves the felons, sells thirteen loaves 
 to the dozen ; and debtors have amongst them every 
 thirteenth loaf. There was no chapel in this large prison, 
 but divine service was occasionally performed upon the 
 stairs." 
 
 The gaoler was likewise more humane than most 
 of his fraternity of that day ; and it is observed 
 that only two prisoners were in irons* 
 
 Thence Howard proceeded to Canterbury, and 
 visited the bridewells in that city. That for the 
 county he found clean, though defective in some 
 respects ; but the city prison over the west gate 
 was not only dirty, but confined and ill-regulated. 
 This was a certain consequence of the gaoler's keep- 
 ing a public house adjoining. Rochester prison 
 seems to have been equally bad. — There were 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 224.
 
 126 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 " three rooms, all close and offensive. No court : 
 no water." * 
 
 Returning to London, Howard's attention was 
 directed to the large gaols which he had then an 
 opportunity of inspecting. The bridewell at Clerk- 
 enwell was first visited. Here he found mere sheds 
 for the day-rooms, and the sleeping places were so 
 crowded that some were obliged to sleep in ham- 
 mocks suspended from the ceiling. 
 
 Yet even these arrangements were preferable to 
 those for the women, none of whom were allowed 
 beds, or even straw to lie upon, unless they could 
 pay. They had twelve very small, dark, unwhole- 
 some cells, in which they were crammed together 
 during the night, there being as many women of 
 the poorest class, as men, in this prison. Some 
 were seen picking oakum, which their considerate 
 visitor speaks of as salutary, because the scent of 
 the tar counteracted the contagious and unhealthy 
 effluvia, f 
 
 Tothillfields Bridewell was next visited. Here 
 VQvy little provision was made by the higher autho- 
 rities, either for the spiritual or bodily welfare of 
 the inmates : there being no appointed chaplain ; 
 very inadequate accommodation; no infirmary; in- 
 sufficient food ; and no straw allowed. But the 
 exemplary conduct of the keeper formed a pleasing 
 contrast to the culpable negligence of his superiors. 
 He appears to have been a man who feared God, 
 and therefore felt anxious for the comfort and im- 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 228. f lb. p. 196.
 
 THE FLEET. 127 
 
 provement of his prisoners. Hence the observation, 
 " I found this prison clean, washed every day, and 
 quite wholesome." 
 
 There was a chapel in which, in the absence of 
 the chaplain, we are told, the gaoler " read a chap- 
 ter and prayers every morning." Sunday, as we 
 have seen in Howard's notes, was in most prisons 
 a day of dissipation ; it was not so polluted in this 
 gaol, for over the gate is a paper with this inscrip- 
 tion: — " No person admitted into this prison on 
 a Sunday, after nine o'clock in the morning, until 
 five o'clock in the evening." Howard, who never 
 overlooked any sign of humanity in a prison, which 
 might encourage a plea for more, perhaps discerned 
 
 some indication of its existence amongst the mavis- 
 es o 
 
 tracy although he has not recorded it, and so with 
 a kind modest simplicity which is characteristic, 
 he adds — 
 
 " As I have seen several sick objects on the floor, the 
 gentlemen, who are so ready to relieve the sufferings of 
 their fellow- creatures, will forgive the intimation that an 
 infirmary might be made over the women's ward." * 
 
 The indefatigable philanthropist next visited the 
 Fleet. We have before observed, if some discovery 
 of mercy infused its balm into that heart which was 
 so pierced in sympathy with the woes and wrongs of 
 fellow-men, and staunched for a time its bleeding 
 wounds, the relief was short ; generally within a 
 few hours some sight of suffering or oppression 
 rent Howard's heart afresh. Yet renewed grief 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 203.
 
 128 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 was not allowed to discourage, but rather to stimu- 
 late exertion, and to strengthen the holy resolution 
 that life should be spent in the endeavour — and 
 sacrificed, if required — to alleviate the wretched- 
 ness he saw. What were his feelings when visiting 
 the Fleet we may infer from the description he has 
 given of the prison, its occupants, and their pur- 
 suits. Howard begins by referring to the gaol 
 committee of 1729, when he tells us that " many 
 abuses were the subject of inquiry." It would ap- 
 pear, however, that if the punishment of the warden 
 prevented future cruelty, yet gross irregularities 
 were not permanently corrected. There are, he 
 says, four floors — they call them galleries — besides 
 the cellar floor, called Bartholomew Fair. 
 
 " On the first floor, the hall gallery, to which you as- 
 cend by eight steps, are a chapel, a tap-room, a coffee-room 
 (lately made out of two rooms for debtors), a room for the 
 turnkey, another for the watchman, and eighteen rooms for 
 prisoners. Besides the coffee-room and tap-room, two of 
 those eighteen rooms, and all the cellar floor — except a 
 lock-up-room to confine the disorderly, and another room 
 for the turnkey — were held by the tapster, who bought 
 the remainder of the lease at public auction. 
 
 On the first gallery are twenty-five rooms for prisoners. 
 On the second twenty-seven : one of them, fronting the 
 staircase, is their committee room. At the other end, in 
 a large room over the chapel, is a dirty billiard table kept 
 by the prisoner who sleeps in that room. All the rooms 
 I have mentioned arc for Master's side debtors. The weekly 
 rent of those not held by the tapster is Is. 3d. unfurnished. 
 'liny fall tu the prisoners in succession: thus, when a room 
 becomes vacant, the first prisoner upon the list of such as
 
 THE FLEET. 129 
 
 have paid their entrance fees takes possession of it. When 
 the prison was built the warden gave each prisoner his 
 choice of a room according to his seniority as prisoner. If 
 all of them be occupied a new comer must hire of some 
 tenant a part of his room, or shift as he can. Prisoners 
 are excluded from all right of succession to the rooms held 
 by the tapster and let at the high rents aforesaid. The 
 apartments for common-side debtors are only part of the 
 right wing of the prison. Besides the cellar (which was 
 intended for their kitchen, but occupied with lumber and 
 shut up) there are four floors. On each floor is a room 
 about 24 or 25 feet square, with a fire-place, and on the 
 sides seven closets or cabins to sleep in. Such of these 
 prisoners as swear in court that they are not worth 51., and 
 cannot subsist without charity (of them there were at one 
 of my visits sixteen, at other times not so many), have the 
 donations which are sent to the prison, the begging-box 
 and the grate. 
 
 " I mentioned the billiard table. They also play in the 
 court at skittles, mississippi, fives, tennis, &c. : and not only 
 the prisoners, I saw among them several butchers and 
 others from the market, who are admitted here as at any 
 other public-house. The same maybe seen in many other 
 prisons where the gaolef keeps or lets the tap. 
 
 " Besides the inconvenience of this to prisoners, the fre- 
 quenting a prison lessens the dread of being confined in 
 one. On Monday night there was a wine club : on Thurs- 
 day night a beer club : each lasting usually till one or two 
 in the morning. 1 need not say how much riot these oc- 
 casion, and how the sober prisoners, and those that are sick, 
 are annoyed by them. 
 
 " Seeing the prison crowded with women and children I 
 procured an accurate list of them, and found that when 
 there were 243 prisoners, their wives (including women of 
 an appellation not so honourable) and children were 475." 
 
 To the»mind of Howard how revolting must have 
 been that venality which either the connivance or 
 
 K 

 
 130 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 the carelessness of the authorities encouraged. A 
 public edifice became the scene of extortion the 
 most shameless and cruel. A portion of the 
 prison — the cellars — had been sold to some pub- 
 lican, who exacted for the very worst accommoda- 
 tion a sum varying from twice to six times the 
 amount of that which was paid by the more fortu- 
 nate for the best. Yet this was the least evil con- 
 sequent upon the mercenary spirit which permitted 
 the exorbitancy. Drunkenness, lewdness, dissipa- 
 tion, and vices of almost every kind were thus 
 generated and encouraged. Amongst them how 
 iniquitous that gambling — the very cause, pro- 
 bably, of the bankruptcy and the wretchedness of 
 many who were there incarcerated — should not 
 only have been tolerated, but countenanced in all 
 its ruinous varieties. The dupe there learned to 
 deceive, and the gamester became more expert in 
 knavery ; and each, when released, went forth from 
 that school of trickery and crime fatally proficient 
 in the lessons there taught, and prepared to inveigle 
 many to their ruin. 
 
 The mention of a " committee room" has pro- 
 bably surprised the reader; or, perhaps, he inferred 
 that lawfully constituted authorities met there to 
 frame and enforce regulations for the government 
 of the Fleet. If so, Howard will correct the error 
 by informing us that — 
 
 ; ' There is a printed code of laws, which establishes a 
 president, secretary, and a committee, which is to be chosen 
 every month, and to consist of three members from each
 
 king's bench prison. 131 
 
 gallery. They are to raise contributions by assessments ; 
 to hear complaints ; to determine disputes ; levy fines ; and 
 seize goods for payment. Their sense to be deemed the 
 sense of the whole house. The president or secretary to 
 hold the cash; the committee to dispose of it."* 
 
 For the semblance of propriety these prison legis- 
 lators nominally discourage profaneness and de- 
 bauchery, but strictly enforce the violation of the 
 sabbath, and other means which may ensure those 
 vices: for they enact that — 
 
 " For blasphemy, swearing, riot, drunkenness, &c. the 
 committee to fine at discretion ; for damaging a lamp, fine 
 a shilling. They are to take from a new comer on the first 
 Sunday, besides the two shillings garnish to be spent in 
 wine, one shilling and sixpence to be appropriated to the 
 use of the house." f 
 
 Grieved and disgusted as Howard must have 
 been by this visit to the Fleet, we find that the 
 same day — perhaps with the vain hope of re- 
 moving those painful impressions — he visited the 
 King's Bench Prison. But there also profligacy 
 and wickedness prevailed to an extent scarcely less 
 flagrant. There was a wine club and beer club, 
 and gambling, and a code, concerning which he 
 says — 
 
 " There are besides in this prison, as in the Fleet, cer- 
 tain printed rules made by the prisoners themselves, ' to 
 be obeyed and observed by every member of this college' 
 (as they are pleased to term it). Many of them are arbi- 
 trary and improper." J 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 182. f Ib - P- 182 « + lb. P- 211. 
 
 k 2
 
 132 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 The next place inspected was the Poultry 
 Compter; which, like the two last described, was 
 crowded with prisoners for debt, and the scene of 
 similar depravity and vice. But Howard's re- 
 searches were not confined to the large and popu- 
 lous prisons like the Fleet, the Bench, and the 
 Compter, which were conspicuous in the metro- 
 polis, and were generally known to some extent : 
 he further ascertained there were small and obscure 
 dens and dungeons in which the iron rod of oppres- 
 sion was wielded unobserved, and without restraint. 
 One of these secluded habitations of cruelty was 
 discovered in Whitechapel. It was a prison of some 
 manor court, for those whose debts did not exceed 
 five pounds ; and the miserable inmates, notwith- 
 standing such proof of poverty, were the victims of 
 extortion or cruelty. Although unable to pay their 
 just debts, they must pay their gaoler: 2s. Gd. a 
 week was the price of a half bed in this wretched 
 abode, besides various contributions in the way of 
 garnish, &c. A, begging-box was hung out in 
 the street, but poverty — the very plea for solicit- 
 ing alms — was really a preventive to its victim 
 from any share in the collection. The prisoner must, 
 by some means, pay his gaoler and his garnish 
 before he could assert his claim to such a privilege. 
 
 Another small prison, visited at this time, was 
 tin' Tower Hamlets Gaol. Here the " tap" and the 
 prison were identical. It had been used for pri- 
 soners of war; but, at the time of Howard's visit, 
 it contained only one debtor. The gaoler, therefore,
 
 BOROUGH COMPTER. 133 
 
 bad turned landlord, and had converted his prison 
 into a public house.* 
 
 It is generally necessary — perhaps reasonable — 
 that men be convinced of privation and suffering 
 endured, before charity can be excited or assistance 
 rendered. Few will turn out of their track in search 
 of poverty and distress. The probability of finding 
 some wretched victim of destitution and disease will 
 seldom induce even the Christian to inquire. Daily 
 observation and the ordinary course of life supply 
 objects enough for sympathy and alms. Surely 
 Howard might have said the same. But he was a 
 Christian possessed of no common charity : or, if its 
 nature be the same in all, its measure varies. With 
 our philanthropist the tale of woe need scarce be 
 told to attract his footsteps to the scene : the p>ossi- 
 bility of finding sufferers, and of affording help, 
 had power sufficient. In proof of this, we read 
 in Howard's notes, that there was a small prison 
 for debtors, called St. Catherine's, which he found 
 empty. Yet this did not prevent another call : on 
 four several occasions he visited it with the same 
 result.f 
 
 The last inspected on this tour was the Borough 
 Compter. And here he discovered that the gaoler 
 had no salary, and lived by extortion : that neither 
 chaplain nor surgeon visited the prison. It was 
 out of repair ; had no infirmary ; no bedding ; no 
 straw ; but the miserable occupants were promis- 
 cuously crowded together in a long room termed 
 
 * State of Prison?, p. 200—214. f lb. 
 
 k 3
 
 134 LIFE OF HOWAED. 
 
 the " Rookery." In this and some other London 
 prisons were memorials of the charity of Nell 
 Gwynn. To this she had bequeathed sixty-five 
 penny loaves once in eight weeks.* 
 
 Amidst his travels on behalf of strangers, and 
 those in prison, Howard was not unmindful of the 
 duties which his home at Cardington imposed. Six 
 weeks were now spent amongst his dependents and 
 tenantry, superintending various improvements, 
 and taking care that his schools and other means 
 for the instruction and welfare of all were properly 
 conducted. Not only were bodily health and vi- 
 gour, so needful for fresh exertion, promoted by 
 this temporary relaxation ; but his spirit, so much 
 in contact with crime, though not contaminated 
 thereby, required this retirement — that, by secret 
 communion with God, and by prayer and praise, 
 its holiness might be sustained, and its energy 
 increased. None but those conversant with crimi- 
 nals, and who are continually familiarised with 
 crime, can estimate the injury to which the soul is 
 exposed, even in the performance of duty, and 
 amidst earnest endeavours to do good. The very 
 depression which the acquaintance with so much 
 wickedness and consequent misery produces, may 
 become morbid and enfeebling; or, the familiarity 
 with evil may have a tendency to create indifference 
 towards it. More than one acute observer of hu- 
 man nature has put on record his testimony to this 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 200—214.
 
 INSPECTION OF PRISONS IN WALES. 135 
 
 deadening effect on the heart. Both Milton* and 
 Popef have reminded of such danger, in well-known 
 lines. Habitual watchfulness amidst this danger, 
 occasional separation from it, and constant prayer 
 for the protection and grace of Him who alone can 
 preserve and invigorate the spirit thus occupied, 
 are especially needful. Howard is not less exem- 
 plary in this respect, than when most active in his 
 labours of benevolence. 
 
 The gaols of North and South Wales had not yet 
 been explored, and, having now inspected most of 
 the important prisons in this part of the kingdom, 
 Howard directed his attention to the Principality. 
 His notes upon the gaol at Flint, which appears to 
 have been first inspected, are dated June 25, 1774. 
 There he found that — 
 
 " For felons and petty offenders there were two dark 
 closets, the black holes ; they are each 5 feet by 4, and were 
 the only receptacles for criminals till a few years ago, when 
 a dungeon in the yard was added, which is 16 feet by 11. 
 This is down eight steps." % 
 
 Women, we are further told, were occasionally 
 confined in those dismal holes, which were too 
 
 * " back they recoiFd afraid 
 
 At first, and enHM me Sin, and for a sign 
 Portentous held -me ; but, familiar grown, 
 I pleas'd, and with attractive graces won 
 The most averse." Parad. Lost, Book ii. 
 
 •j - " Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, 
 As, to be hated, needs but to be seen ; 
 Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, 
 We first endure, then pity, then embrace." 
 
 Essay on Man, Ep. ii. 
 % State of Prisons, p. 410. 
 
 k 4
 
 13C) LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 small for even one prisoner to recline and rest in. 
 At Ruthin, which was next visited, some cells were 
 found only three feet wide. The gaols at Caernarvon 
 and Polgelly were both insecure, dirty, and very 
 offensive, the necessary consequence of their having 
 neither water nor sewerage provided. Those at 
 Montgomery and Presteign were in little better 
 condition. Some event probably stopped further 
 progress at this time, and Howard returned, re- 
 visiting on his way the prisons of Ludlow, Wor- 
 cester, and Oxford. 
 
 AVe have no account of the Philanthropist during 
 the three Aveeks preceding; but on the 28th of July 
 we find him again engaged in his benevolent re- 
 search. His immediate object of inquiry at this 
 time we learn from the Introduction to the First 
 Book on the State of Prisons. 
 
 " Seeing in two or three of the county gaols some poor 
 creatures whose aspect was singularly deplorable, and ask- 
 ing the cause of it, the answer was, ' they were lately 
 brought from the Bridewells.' This started a fresh sub- 
 ject of inquiry. I resolved to inspect the bridewells; and 
 for that purpose travelled again into the counties where I 
 had been, and indeed into all the rest; examining houses 
 of correction and city and town gaols. I beheld in many of 
 them, as well as in the county gaols, a complication of dis- 
 tress ; but my attention was principally fixed by the gaol 
 fever and the small-pox, which I saw prevailing, to the de- 
 struction of multitudes, not only of felons in their dungeons, 
 but of debtors also."* 
 
 Having again visited Reading and Ilehester, 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 2.
 
 THE BRIDEWELLS IN ENGLAND. 137 
 
 he passed on to Taunton and Shepton Mallet. In 
 the former the gaol fever had not lono; before de- 
 stroyed nearly one half of the prisoners, and yet 
 the prison was not now kept clean, and no infirmary 
 had been provided. Here and in some other gaols 
 it is observed that a chaplain had been recently 
 appointed. The bridewell at Devizes, though badly 
 constructed, was clean. The keeper was also land- 
 lord of a public house. At Marlborough the prison 
 is thus described — 
 
 " All the rooms are on the ground floor ; and by a sewer 
 within doors, they are made very offensive, especially the 
 men's night-room ; in which, when I was there first, I saw 
 one dying on the floor, of the gaol fever. The keeper told 
 me that just before one had died there, and another soon 
 after his discharge. Upstairs are three rooms for those 
 who pay. No court : no water accessible to prisoners : 
 no straw. Allowance to petty offenders, none ; felons two 
 pennyworth of bread a day." * 
 
 Howard significantly but without comment 
 adds — 
 
 " I heard the justices had viewed the outside of this 
 prison." Upon which his biographer, less sparing, says, 
 " it is to be hoped for the credit of their humanity, though 
 not for that of the faithful discharge of their duty, that 
 they had never been within its walls." -f- 
 
 Bath gaol was next visited — neither chaplain 
 nor surgeon was appointed for the prisoners of this 
 wealthy city. Debtors had no allowance. Crimi- 
 nals twopence a day. No bedding or straw. Thence 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 339. f Brown, p. 162.
 
 138 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 Howard proceeded to Hereford : the bridewell of 
 this county is thus described — 
 
 " It is quite out of repair. Indeed it is not only ruin- 
 ous, but dangerous. In the day room there was a large 
 quantity of water from the roof. No fire place: offensive 
 sewers: no court : no water: no stated allowance : no em- 
 ployment: keeper's salary 10/. Six prisoners, whom I saw 
 there at my first visit, complained of being almost famished. 
 They were sent hither from the assize a few days before 
 to hard labour (as the sentence usually runs) for six 
 months. The justices had ordered the keeper to supply 
 each of them daily with a two-penny loaf: but he had 
 neglected them. They broke out soon after." * 
 
 After revisiting Monmouth gaol he passed again 
 into South Wales. At Brecon was an insecure 
 prison. The gaoler was allowed 30 guineas a-year 
 to supply felons with necessary food. And Howard 
 tells us that he " found the prisoners almost 
 starved." f 
 
 The new prison at Cardigan affords a more pain- 
 ful proof of cruel negligence than even the old 
 dilapidated gaols, since the renewal of a vicious 
 plan is worse than its continuance. 
 
 " This gaol, which is also the bridewell, was just finished 
 when I was first there. Too slight a building. The rooms 
 are low, and close glazed : no casements: a dungeon down 
 eleven steps: all very dirty, and abounds with vermin, as 
 is often the case where there is no water." J 
 
 At Haverfordwest were two low damp dungeons, 
 in one of which a prisoner lost the use of his limbs, 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 319. f II.. 425. J lb. 419.
 
 TOE BRIDEWELLS IN ENGLAND. 139 
 
 and afterwards died. At Carmarthen was a filthy 
 and offensive gaol, in which Howard found a num- 
 ber of idle and profane men admitted to play at 
 tennis. The borough prison was in a worse con- 
 dition ; neither had any water, and this is described 
 as " full of vermin." * 
 
 At the bridewell of Cowbridge many had died of 
 the gaol fever: the keeper and his daughter had 
 lately suffered from it.f 
 
 Returning by way of Usk, Howard there visited 
 the bridewell, where, he says, the keeper's wife 
 told me that " herself, her father, who was then 
 keeper, and many others of the family had had the 
 gaol fever some time before : three of them and 
 several prisoners died of it." % 
 
 Thence proceeding to Berkeley he found a prison 
 much out of repair, and insecure. No allowance 
 for prisoners. Xo straw. The smaller prisons at 
 Bristol are reported as being equally defective. 
 In this city Howard appears to have remained 
 about a fortnight, probably again deriving advan- 
 tage from the hot-wells, which had before relieved 
 him. During this time he revisited the prisons. 
 Thence on the 10th of August he passed on to 
 Taunton and Bridgewater. The prison of the latter 
 place was one miserable room, in which twenty- 
 seven prisoners had been confined. The bridewell 
 of Exeter and that of Bodmin were both dilapi- 
 dated. In the latter place the gaol fever had been 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 422. t lb- 428. \ lb. 322.
 
 140 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 very fatal, and not only in the prison, but also 
 in the town.* 
 
 The keeper of the sheriff's prison, who had 
 held that office twenty years, assured his visitor 
 that during that period only four debtors had ob- 
 tained their groats. f 
 
 A remarkable instance of an opposite kind was 
 afforded at the next prison Howard visited — Lost- 
 withiel — where a creditor, after making the allow- 
 ance for two years, although poor, had provided in 
 his will for the continuance of it, until the prisoner 
 should be released. 
 
 At Plymouth the town gaol is thus described — 
 
 " Two rooms for felons ; and a large room above for 
 debtors. One of the former, the clink, 17 feet by 8, about 
 5jj feet high, with a wicket in the door 7 inches by 5, to 
 admit light and air. To this, as I was informed, three 
 men who were confined near two months under sentence of 
 transportation, came by turns for breath. The door had 
 not been opened for five weeks when I with difficulty en- 
 tered to see a pale inhabitant. He had been there ten 
 weeks under sentence of transportation, and he said he had 
 much rather have been hanged than confined in that noi- 
 some cell. No water : no sewer : no court. The gaolers 
 live distant; they are the three sergeants at mace. Fees 
 15.5. 10c/., no table. Allowance to debtors, none but on 
 application : felons, two-pennyworth of bread a day. No 
 straw." % 
 
 One week after this shocking discovery at Ply- 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 352. 
 
 t lb. 353. — Act 32 Geo. 2. provided that every debtor should be 
 allowed two shillings and four-pence per week. 
 X lb. j). 350.
 
 THE BRIDEWELLS IN ENGLAND. 141 
 
 mouth we find Howard again in Dorsetshire, where 
 he visited the bridewell at Sherborne, and rejoiced 
 that the humanity of the magistrates had induced 
 them to order that prisoners should ride to the 
 place of their trial instead of walking with heavy 
 irons."* 
 
 He then revisited the gaols of Dorchester, Salis- 
 bury, and Winchester. The bridewell of the last 
 city he describes as close, and much too small. He 
 adds — 
 
 " This prison has been fatal to vast numbers. The 
 misery of the prisoners excited the compassion of the 
 duke of Chandos ; who, for some years past, has sent 
 them every week about thirty pounds of beef and two 
 gallon loaves." f 
 
 At Gosport he found the prison dirty. No straw 
 allowed. He mentions a wise provision of an oven 
 to purify the clothes, but, with a strange incon- 
 sistency, the county would not allow fuel for the 
 purpose. The prisons at Southampton were in a 
 worse condition — offensive; without a court; no 
 water; no bedding ; no employment. J The town 
 gaol at Portsmouth equally defective ; nor was that 
 at Newport better. 
 
 From Hampshire Howard went to Pet worth, 
 where he found the prison too small. No chimney ; 
 no court; no water; no employment." § 
 
 At Horsham the prisoners were confined in one 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 343. t Ib - P- 332 - 
 
 + Ib. p. 334. § lb. p. 231.
 
 ]42 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 small room, and the keeper had died of the gaol 
 fever. * 
 
 Two months had now been spent in these pain- 
 ful investigations ; and fifteen counties having 
 been traversed, and about fifty prisons carefully 
 inspected, relaxation was again necessary ; these 
 scenes of vice, wretchedness, desolation, and death 
 must, for a time, be exchanged for the virtuous 
 home, and the peaceful, charitable, and pious occu- 
 pations at Cardington. 
 
 Whilst the benevolence of Howard, his wise reori- 
 lations, and persevering efforts to do good in his own 
 neighbourhood, caused him to be loved by those 
 immediately around him, we should expect that as 
 the circle extended, and attention was less confined 
 to the particular spot in which his virtues ever shone 
 with especial brightness, men would observe that 
 his philanthropy was truly patriotic : entirely free 
 from that spurious zeal for the public welfare 
 which actuated some demagogues just at this 
 period ; that it was distinguished by loyalty, dis- 
 interestedness, and a sense of duty actuated by 
 love, and which therefore sought to render service, 
 not by appealing to men's passions, and provoking 
 opposition to constituted authorities, but by a 
 reasonable, earnest, and well-regulated endeavour 
 to reform abuses and to preserve all that was 
 valuable in our constitution and laws. Such cha- 
 racters the times required, and much to the credit 
 of many inhabitants of Bedford, they had the 
 
 * Brown, p. 1C9.
 
 IS A CANDIDATE FOR BEDFORD. 143 
 
 wisdom to see tliat Howard was eminently qualified 
 to represent them in Parliament. He had not re- 
 turned many days from his last tour, when a large 
 proportion of those who could best appreciate his 
 worth, waited upon him with the proposal.* I 
 transcribe the short but judicious remarks of Dr. 
 Aikin on this part of his life — 
 
 " In this year (1775) he was induced, by the urgent 
 persuasions of his neighbours and friends of the town of 
 Bedford, to stand candidate, in conjunction with Mr. 
 Whitbread, to represent that borough in parliament. No 
 two persons could be better entitled to the esteem of a 
 town ; and they were warmly supported in a contest 
 which however terminated in the return of two other 
 gentlemen. Mr. Whitbread and Mr. Howard petitioned 
 the House against the return ; and the event was, that the 
 former, and one of the sitting members, were declared 
 duly elected. To those who are acquainted with the 
 constitution of that borough, it will not appear extraordi- 
 nary, that a person possessing the attachment of a majority 
 of the inhabitant voters should lose his election. This, 
 however, was a most fortunate circumstance for the public ; 
 since, if Mr. Howard had obtained a seat in the House 
 of Commons, his plans for the reformation of prisons 
 must have been brought within a narrow compass ; and 
 the collateral inquiries which, so greatly to the advantage 
 of humanity, he afterwards adopted, could never have 
 existed." f 
 
 * It has been asserted, that Howard was only supported by certain 
 sectaries of Bedford : this is contradicted by his biographers. His 
 opponents were Sir W. Wake and Mr. Sparrow ; and it is reported 
 that a clergyman of the borough (with more wit than wisdom) chose 
 for a text at" this time Matt. x. 31. 
 
 f Aikin's Life, p. 58.
 
 144 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 Few in the present day would question the truth 
 of Dr. Aikin's concluding remark, yet some corrupt 
 practices and much apparent unfairness induced 
 Howard with Mr.Whitbread to petition against the 
 return of their opponents. As the hope of rendering 
 service to his country, rather than personal feel- 
 ings, had led him to engage in this political con- 
 test, so he would not relinquish that hope nor 
 abandon patriotic plans because an evil influence 
 had seemingly for a time prevented his success. He 
 resolved therefore to pursue those means of re- 
 dress which became a manly character and a Chris- 
 tian candidate. Yet, in prosecuting this scrutiny, 
 he would not consume time which might be more 
 profitably spent in the great work to which he 
 had devoted himself; and therefore no sooner was 
 the election declared, than, before the excitement 
 had subsided, he again started on another expe- 
 dition of mercy. He now resumed his travels 
 through the counties of York, Lancaster, and War- 
 wick, visiting the bridewells of Folkingham and 
 Huntingdon on his way, — and inspecting the gaol 
 at Aylesbury on his return. At this time it was a 
 frequent, but most cruel, practice to confine lunatics 
 in the common gaols, and at Folkingham Howard 
 found a poor insane creature, who had been im- 
 mured for some years in a damp place under the 
 keeper's house ! Nor was this the only indication 
 of cruelty which this wretched abode presented. 
 
 ' By a trap-door," we are told, " in one of the rooms, 
 you go down eight steps into a dungeon. No chimney;
 
 AGAIN VISITS VARIOUS PRISONS. 145 
 
 small court ; no pump ; no sewer. A woman with a 
 child at her breast was sent hither for a year and a day ; 
 the child died ! " * 
 
 At Peterborough the' prisons were insecure, and 
 the provision for their inmates equally defective. 
 Thence Howard went to Hull, where he found 
 arrangements equally bad — filthy and offensive 
 prisons without any court or sewer, and no allow- 
 ance of either food, water, or straw, to their wretched 
 occupants, one of whom was " a raving lunatic, and 
 another insane." Justice and mercy were alike 
 violated in these horrid receptacles : for " at Hull 
 they used to have the assize but once in seven 
 years: they now have it once in three years." Thus 
 for any term short of that, the innocent might be 
 consigned to languish in squalor, thirst, and hunger, 
 without even straw to lie on, their rest forbidden 
 by the screams of madmen ; and should the wretched 
 victim survive that time, the cruel injury might 
 well be deemed too great for compensation, and none 
 was granted. On the other hand, the most guilty 
 might escape. Again, death might seal the lips of 
 many a witness during that long interval, and thus 
 even the murderer might escape with impunity. 
 Such a case had then occurred. — " Peacock, a 
 murderer, was in prison there nearly three years ; 
 before his trial the principal witness died, and the 
 criminal was acquitted." f 
 
 Other prisons in Yorkshire were then visited 
 
 * State of Prisons, pp. 20. 289. f Ibid. p. 373. 
 
 L
 
 1 p; LIFE GE IK'WARD. 
 
 in succession; viz. those of Beverley, York, and 
 Wakefield, in some of which Howard observed a 
 regard to cleanliness — disease and danger might 
 enforce it: yet even this was rare; "dirty and 
 offensive" are the terms more frequently em- 
 ployed, whilst clemency and kindness were no- 
 where found. At Manchester a new bridewell 
 had been erected, and some improvements intro- 
 duced. The gaol for the borough of Liverpool 
 nexl inspected. The authorities of this town 
 conferred the honour of its freedom on Howard 
 upon this occasion. The condition of this gaol 
 assures us that it would have been more gra- 
 tifying to him, had they imitated the humanity 
 they admired. Passing into Cheshire, at the bride- 
 well of Middlewich he found some dark rooms, 
 where, to prevent suffocation, there were "perfora- 
 tion- in the door of about two inches in diameter."* 
 Thence he returned to Warwick. The countv 
 bridewell, he writes, was "small, close, and offen- 
 sive; no water; the handle of the pump is on the 
 outside of the wall." J Howard might well be 
 amazed at such an arrangement without any as- 
 signable reason. The town gaol at Birmingham, 
 properly called " the Dungeon," was very offensive; 
 in the small court, besides the litter from the 
 gaoler's stable there was a stagnant puddle for 
 • luck-. There were above 150 prisoners confined 
 here in the winter of lTT.V'J Aylesbury gaol was 
 the last he visited on this tour, where he found, 
 
 I ; "'- t lb. p. '267. \ II). p. 269. 

 
 ABOMINATIONS AT TIIETFOIID. 147 
 
 that since his former visit — less than twelve months 
 before — six or seven prisoners had died of the gaol 
 distemper.* 
 
 We here again lose sight of Howard for another 
 month, but when that period had elapsed (Dec. Gth) 
 his labours are resumed, and during the following 
 ten days he explores many of the prisons in Essex, 
 Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Hertford- 
 shire. At Chelmsford bridewell the prisoners were 
 never allowed to go into the open air ; pestilence, 
 brought from the county gaol, had lessened the 
 number of its pallid occupants. At Ipswich and 
 Bury St. Edmund's neither of the bridewells was 
 satisfactory ; but the abominations of both w T ere far 
 exceeded by that next inspected. This was Thet- 
 ford. Here was " a small dungeon down a ladder 
 of ten steps, with a small window ; and in this pit, 
 at the Summer Assizes held in this town, from 
 sixteen to twenty persons were usually confined for 
 several days and nights without regard to age, sex, 
 or any circumstances." f The other prisons in Nor- 
 folk, with the exception of Swaffham, appear to 
 have been cleaner and better conducted than most. 
 With the survey of the prisons of Cambridge, Ely, 
 and Hertford, the labours of the indefatigable Phi- 
 lanthropist were ended for the year 1774. 
 
 Another short interval, the holiday-time of his 
 
 * A few years after this, the same distemper prevailed in this 
 prison ; and on the return of a criminal to his parish at Stoke, the dis- 
 ease spread and almost depopulated it. I have elsewhere described 
 the particulars of this scourge. See Prison Discipline, vol. ii. p. 22. 
 
 | State of Prisons, p. 25G. 
 
 l 2
 
 148 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 beloved child, who probably accompanied [Howard 
 to Cardington, expired on the first day of the suc- 
 ceeding year. He then set out upon a tour of 
 prison inspection in Scotland and Ireland. On his 
 way he did not overlook the gaols which had been 
 before visited, nor pass by the bridewells which had 
 not been previously examined. Amongst the latter 
 that of Southwell was visited, and here was a damp 
 dungeon in which some time before seven criminals 
 had died of the gaol fever.* 
 
 There can be little doubt that Howard made 
 notes of what he saw during this excursion, but 
 they have not been preserved, and we have in his 
 works only a brief record of his visit. He there 
 shows that his perseverance in well-doing was some- 
 what appreciated at Glasgow, where he was wel- 
 comed and entertained with much hospitality, and 
 the freedom of the city presented to him. The 
 magistracy, indeed, appear to have been in some re- 
 spects more enlightened on the subject of his labours 
 than in most places; for, in Glasgow, we find the 
 following regulation — the first of its kind, although 
 its propriety and necessity be most evident : — 
 
 " The gaoler every morning and evening at the opening 
 of, and before the shutting up of, the prison, shall per- 
 sonally visit every room and place therein." f 
 
 We have only a few incidental notices of Howard's 
 journeyings in Ireland at this time. Some good 
 regulations arc described, and several clauses of 
 Acts quoted, the provisions of which certainly 
 
 • State of Prisons, p. 282. f lb. p. 33.
 
 COMMITTEE ON BEDFORD ELECTION. 149 
 
 might well have been adopted in England. Of 
 these, one prohibited the sale of spirits or beer 
 by any gaoler; another forbade the keeping of 
 cattle in prison yards ; and a third empowered the 
 clergyman of the parish, in which there was any 
 gaol, to order sufficient bread for the felons therein 
 confined.* There was a further enactment for the 
 separation of men and women in prison, but he 
 found this shamefully violated in the chief gaol at 
 Dublin. On his return he again visited the gaols 
 in Chester ; and, on seeing two new dungeons, is 
 said to have shown his indignation by expressing 
 a hope that their contrivers might be the first to 
 lodge in them.f 
 
 The petitions against the return at the late elec- 
 tion now claimed some attention, and called Howard 
 to Cardington. They were ordered for considera- 
 tion on the 10th of March, but postponed till the 
 14th, when, after several clays' investigation, in 
 which points of great importance to the town of 
 Bedford at that time, but not generally interesting 
 at present, were determined, the decision was ad- 
 verse to Howard's claims. 
 
 Sir William Wake retained his seat, but Mr. 
 Whitbread was declared the other representative 
 in the place of Mr. Sparrow. This amendment of 
 the return fully justified the opposition, and there 
 
 * State of Prisons, pp. 39, 40. 
 
 f Brown, p. 179. — In my copy of bis Book of Prisons (second 
 edition) this expression is omitted. Howard probably saw some im- 
 provement, or bad some promise that there should be, which induced 
 him to suppress the desire. 
 
 l 3
 
 150 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 further appeared to have been some ground for 
 complaint that the judgment of the committee had 
 been much influenced by political feelings. Howard, 
 with more candour than worldly caution, had, in 
 strong terms, expressed his disapproval of minis- 
 terial plans, and so rendered himself obnoxious to 
 the Government of the day. To his friend he 
 writes on this occasion — 
 
 " I would acknowledge that Hand which ruleth the hearts 
 of men, and turneth them which way soever He pleaseth. 
 .... I was a victim of the ministry. Most surely I 
 should have not fallen in with all their severe measures 
 relative to the Americans ; and my constant declaration 
 that not one emolument of os., were I in parliament, 
 should I ever accept of, marked, me out as an object of 
 
 their aversion I sensibly feel for an 
 
 injured people ; their affection and esteem I shall ever 
 reflect on with gratitude and. pleasure. As to myself, I 
 calmly retire ; it may be promotion of my best interest." * 
 
 We are enabled to discern the wisdom of Him 
 who was constantly promoting His designs of mercy 
 towards the prisoner and the captive, by the various 
 disappointments which Howard experienced. He 
 himself, as we learn from Thomasson's notes, upon 
 reflection, saw that the event had been wisely over- 
 ruled, and cheerfully acquiesced in the result. " He 
 seemed to rejoice that it left him at liberty to pursue 
 without interruption his investigation of accumu- 
 lated sufferings in foreign climes, as well as in his 
 native country." f 
 
 * Letter to the Rev. J. Symonds. | Brown, p. 183.
 
 151 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Howard's motives for a continental tour. — arrival at 
 
 paris. attempt to enter the bastile. allowed to 
 
 visit other prisons. the b1cetre. — proceeds to brus- 
 sels visits vilvorde, ghent, bruges, rotterdam pri- 
 sons, etc. inspects the pest-house. — prison at delft, 
 
 at the hague. few debtors at amsterdam. re- 
 marks on imprisonment for debt. — executions at am- 
 sterdam. — number in england, and remarks upon them. 
 
 right of pardon. opinion of beccaria and palet. s 
 
 too great publicity of executions. the effect. a 
 
 plan suggested the rasphouse. prisons at bremen 
 
 and hamburgh. instrument of torture. infamy pre- 
 vented. convicts at lunenburgh and hanau. mai- 
 son de force at manheim. curious and cruel custom. 
 
 prisox at mextz. letter to a friend. 
 
 By his energy, self-denial, and diligence, excited 
 and sustained by Christian principle and charity, 
 Howard had by this time ascertained the condition 
 of almost every prison in England, Wales, and Ire- 
 land. He had not only made himself acquainted 
 with the enormities which were perpetrated in many 
 of them, but had observed in all the absence of any 
 proper discipline. The repugnance of his own mind 
 to the cruelties he had discovered naturally disposed 
 him to believe that if made known to authorities 
 they must be restrained ; and if this were accom- 
 plished, then improvements upon what was defec- 
 tive would ere long follow. His philanthropy had 
 been exerted in a new sphere ; and whilst pursuing 
 
 L 4
 
 152 LIFE 0F HOWARD. 
 
 his investigations lie had frequent proof of the 
 general ignorance which prevailed upon the subject 
 of them. He determined therefore to publish the 
 result of his experience, and to suggest such changes 
 in the treatment of criminals as he hoped might 
 relieve their miseries, correct their morals, and at 
 the same time be conducive to the welfare of the 
 community. But, as we have before observed, 
 Howard would not risk success by precipitancy, 
 and therefore, as he tells us in the Introduction 
 to his account of Foreign Prisons — 
 
 " I designed to publish the account of our prisons in 
 the spring of 1775, after I returned from Scotland and 
 Ireland. But conjecturing' that something useful to my 
 purpose might he collected abroad, I laid aside rny papers, 
 and travelled into France, Flanders, Holland, and Ger- 
 many." * 
 
 Having at this important step sought the direction 
 of Him whom in all his ways he acknowledged, 
 animated with a holy resolution to sacrifice personal 
 comfort, and patiently to sustain all the suffering 
 that might be required in his mission of humanity, 
 he embarked about the middle of April 1775, and 
 proceeded first to Paris. Arrived in that city he 
 gave immediate proof of the ardour with which he 
 prepared to encounter difficulties and risk 
 danger. The celebrity of the Bastile, and the re- 
 cords of cruelty there inflicted, led many a traveller 
 to survey its walls, to weep for its inmates, and to 
 
 Stale of Prisons, p. 51.
 
 ATTEMPT TO ENTER THE BASTILE. 153 
 
 wish lie could relieve them; but when had sym- 
 pathy or other motives constrained even one to 
 venture within those gloomy portals, and to pene- 
 trate that frightful and almost certain passage to 
 the grave, hoping that he might thereby assist 
 some alien sufferer, or receive a lesson from which 
 the criminal or the discontented in his native land 
 might profit ? Yet these were reasons strong 
 enough for Howard. He tells us that the de- 
 scription he had given of this prison was — 
 
 " Chiefly with the design of inculcating a reverence for 
 the principles of a free constitution like our own, which 
 will not permit in any degree the exercise of that despotism 
 which has rendered the name of bastile so formidable. I 
 was desirous of examining it myself; and for that purpose 
 knocked hard at the outer gate, and immediately went 
 forward through the guard to the drawbridge, before the 
 entrance of the castle. But whilst I was contemplating 
 this gloomy mansion, an officer came out much surprised ; 
 and I was forced to retreat through the mute guard, and 
 thus regained that freedom which, for one locked up 
 within those walls, it is next to impossible to obtain." * 
 
 Whether there was presumption in this exploit, 
 or whether the prospect of benefit to be derived 
 justified the danger incurred, may be doubtful: it 
 proved however that Howard did not value personal 
 safety in comparison with public advantage, or the 
 possibility of giving relief; and it is also pleasing 
 to discern further proof of a patriotism, showing 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 148. I have given Howard's description of 
 tbe Bastile in my work on Prison Discipline, vol. ii. p. 356, et seq.
 
 154 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 itself in its attachment to the law and constitution 
 of his own country, no less than in love of the 
 liberty they afforded. If the rashness of the hero 
 when seeking the glory of his country be forgiven, 
 who shall condemn one alike daring for its good ? 
 
 The secrecy with which punishment was then 
 inflicted in France threatened to prove an insur- 
 mountable obstacle to Howard's inspection of other 
 prisons ; but with an acuteness stimulated by bene- 
 volence he discovered that one article in the code 
 for the regulation of prisons provided for the ad- 
 mission of persons who should distribute alms 
 amongst the inmates. Concerning which he says : — 
 
 " Many of my readers, acquainted with the strict police 
 of France, would have supposed that the other prisons 
 would have been as inaccessible to a visitant as the Bastile. 
 And indeed my first application for admittance at the 
 Grand ChdteJet was unsuccessful. But fortunately re- 
 marking the tenth article * of the Arret, 1717, I pleaded 
 it before the Commissaire de la Prison, to whom I was 
 referred, and by its means gained admission as well into 
 that prison as those of Le Petit Ckdtelet and Fort 
 VEveque, and had an opportunity of seeing almost every 
 individual confined in them." f 
 
 Although many of the prisons in Paris appear to 
 have been better constructed, and their occupants 
 were under better discipline, than those in England, 
 yet, in some, atrocious deeds were perpetrated 
 scarcely surpassed by any which Howard had 
 before witnessed. A part of the Bicetre is thus 
 di scribed: — 
 
 Bee Appendix, E. f Foreign Prisons, p. 149.
 
 PROCEEDS TO BRUSSELS. 155 
 
 " 111 the middle of La Cour Royale are eight dreadful 
 dungeons down sixteen steps, each about thirteen feet by 
 nine, with two strong doors, three chains fastened to the 
 wall, and a stone funnel at one corner of each cell, for air. 
 From the situation of these dreary caverns, and the diffi- 
 culty I found in procuring admittance, I conclude hardly 
 any other stranger ever saw them." * 
 
 From France Howard proceeded to Brussels, 
 where he addressed the following letter to a friend f 
 at Bedford : — 
 
 " Bruxelles, May 17. 1775. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — The very kind part you take in my 
 affairs makes me flatter myself that a line will not be dis- 
 agreeable. Since I left England I have visited several 
 gaols in French Flanders, as almost every one in Paris ; 
 and, indeed, with no little trouble or resolution did I get 
 admittance into those seats of woe, as at this time both at 
 Paris, Versailles, and in many provinces there have been 
 the greatest riots and confusion. 
 
 " The military patrol the streets of Paris night and day. 
 There are daily executions, one of which with pain I 
 attended last Thursday. I came late last night to this 
 city. To-day 1 have been employed in visiting the gaols 
 and collecting all the criminal laws, as I did those of France. 
 However rigorous they may be, yet their great care and 
 attention to their prisons is worthy of commendation : all 
 fresh and clean, no gaol distemper, no prisoner ironed : 
 the bread allowance far exceeds that of any of our gaols ; 
 e. g. every prisoner here has two pounds of bread a day, 
 once (a day) soup, and on a Sunday one pound of meat. 
 
 " But I write to my friend as a relaxation from what so 
 much engrosses my thoughts ; and, indeed, I force my- 
 self to the public dinners and suppers for that purpose, 
 though I show little respect to a set of men who are so 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 145. t The Rev. T. Smith.
 
 1,30 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 highly esteemed (the French cooks), as I have not tasted 
 fish, flesh, or fowl, since I have been on this side of the 
 water. 
 
 " Through a kind Providence I am very well, in calm, 
 easy spirits ; the public voitures have not been crowded, 
 and I have met in general with agreeable company. 
 
 " I hope to be in Holland the beginning of next week ; 
 the country, especially Flanders, affords the pleasing pro- 
 spect of the greatest plenty ; this dry weather affects them 
 less than in other countries. 
 
 " Permit me to remain, with affection and esteem, your 
 obliged friend, 
 
 " J. Howard." 
 
 We have but few particulars of Howard's stay at 
 Brussels : his time appears to have been spent in 
 visiting the several prisons and hospitals of that 
 city, and thence he made an excursion to Vilvorde, 
 where a large prison was at that time building. 
 Thence he proceeded to Ghent, where the Maison 
 de Force, of still larger dimensions, was in part com- 
 pleted, and occupied by about 200 prisoners. In its 
 management and discipline this prison far surpassed 
 any the Philanthropist had before seen. He was 
 indeed now in a country in which the proper con- 
 struction of penal establishments, and the appro- 
 priate treatment of criminals, had for some time 
 claimed the attention of enlightened and influential 
 men. Somewhat preceding Howard, but now his 
 contemporary in benevolent projects, the Count 
 \ 'lam. prompted alike by policy and compassion, 
 had written a work* on these important subjects, 
 
 M ' ' "■ 1 Moyens de conigcr les Malfaiteurs et Fameans 
 :| leur propre avantage, a de les rendrc utiles a l'Etat.
 
 VISITS GHENT. 157 
 
 and the vast improvements now in progress were in 
 a great measure the result of his energy and wise 
 endeavours. In this prison at Ghent every inmate 
 had his separate night-cell, furnished with all that 
 was necessary for cleanliness and healthful repose. 
 At five o'clock during the summer months, and 
 somewhat later in winter, they left these cells, and, 
 their names having been first called over, proceeded 
 to the chapel. After divine service they had break- 
 fast, and at noon two hours for dinner, recreation, 
 &c. ; at night, supper ; the intervals being spent 
 in work, generally spinning and working at their 
 looms : so that on this occasion and on subsequent 
 visits it was, says Howard, " a well-regulated manu- 
 factory, and the prisoners were allowed one-fifth of 
 their earnings. Cards, dice, and all gaming, were 
 strictly forbidden, and there were excellent rules 
 for mending their morals, preserving their health, 
 and making them for the future useful in society."* 
 Prisoners are confined here from one to twenty 
 years. Similar regulations prevailed in other prisons 
 at Ghent ; but there was one sad exception — a con- 
 trast to so much humanity ; it is thus described : 
 
 " There is a prison belonging to the rich monastery of 
 die Benedictines, in the abbey of St. Peter. There were 
 thirty-five of the fraternity, who have many lordships, and 
 part of the city in their jurisdiction. The prison joins to 
 the abbot's court-house. Three dreary dungeons down 
 nineteen steps ; a little window in each ; no prisoners. I 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, pp. 134, 135. — Having recently visited the 
 prisons of Belgium, I have described their past and present condition 
 more particularly in my work on Prison Discipline, vol. ii.
 
 158 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 went down ; but my noting the dimensions of the windows, 
 &c, so enraged the keeper, that he would not indulge my 
 curiosity any further." * 
 
 During this visit Howard tells us that he derived 
 "no little pleasure when visiting the nunnery at 
 Ghent, not inhabited solely by nuns, but destined 
 to the reception of men who are insane, and sick 
 aged women. The insane had, when requisite, 
 assistance from their own sex ; and both these, and 
 the poor women, were treated with tenderness." f 
 
 Bruges was next visited, and in the prison of that 
 place he admired the great care taken of the sick, 
 and spent some time in examining the prescriptions 
 of physicians, which were strictly preserved. He 
 also commends the particular record of all bene- 
 factions which he observed, some of which were 
 dated as early as a.d. 1315. 
 
 During Howard's first visit to Antwerp he did 
 not describe many particulars ; a more full account 
 is given a few years later. From Antwerp he passed 
 into Holland. At Rotterdam he found in the Rasp- 
 house thirty-eight men — some were spinning, others 
 rasping logwood, &c. The women, of whom there 
 were about 100, "were all employed in spinning, 
 carding, or winding a great wheel. The prisoners 
 were clean, healthy, and well. The prison was 
 white-washed twice a year." J 
 
 Incidental notices frequently occur which tell us 
 thai although Howard's benevolence proved as 
 
 ■ p. 131. t lb. p. 132. J lb. p. 55.
 
 PRISON AT DELFT. 159 
 
 extensive as his travels, yet his patriotic feelings 
 were not thereby lessened. Whilst at Rotterdam 
 he tells us that he visited the Pest-house across the 
 Maes ; and after giving the dimensions, he adds, in 
 a characteristic manner, — 
 
 " I mention this edifice, not only as it occurred to me 
 that it would be a good plan for a house of correction, 
 being airy, and built round a court in which is a basin of 
 water communicating with the Maes ; but on account of 
 the sentiments of veneration it inspired, when I trod on 
 the ground under which such piles of my brave country- 
 men lie buried ; it having been used as a military hospital 
 after the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom." * 
 
 The prison at Delft was the next object of 
 attention, and the following important notes were 
 made : — 
 
 " At Delft there were nearly ninety in the house of cor- 
 rection; men and women quite separate; all neat and 
 clean, and looked healthy. They told me their allowance 
 was five stivers a day. All employed on a woollen manu- 
 facture ; women spinning, carding, &c. ; men weaving 
 from coarse to very fine cloth : their task, to earn thirty- 
 five stivers a week. Some earn a small surplus; but they 
 have only half of it. A burgomaster, to whom I mentioned 
 that circumstance, said it was the truth. They do not 
 put more than eight or ten men to work in one room ; for 
 when large numbers are together, one idle person corrupts 
 more ; and there is not generally so much work done. 
 Here also, if a prisoner has behaved well for a few years, 
 and given proofs of amendment, the magistrates begin to 
 abridge the time for which he was sentenced. One whom 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 59.
 
 1G0 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 1 saw very cheerful, told me the cause of his joy was that 
 a \ car had lately been taken from his term." * 
 
 It must be remembered that here, as at Ghent, 
 criminals were sentenced to many years' imprison- 
 ment, and the mitigation of punishment in such 
 cases might be advantageous ; but the same prin- 
 ciple cannot without serious injury be applied to the 
 case of prisoners confined for a year or two, or for 
 shorter terms. Observation and facts prove that 
 certainty in the duration of punishment is almost 
 essential to permanent reformation. There must be 
 no inducement to hypocrisy, or it will counteract 
 all corrective agencies ; no virtuous habit can be 
 formed upon a foundation of deceit. On the con- 
 trary, should the prisoner thus assume a character 
 and sustain it by his outward conduct, for the mere 
 purpose of shortening his term of suffering, the 
 very process by which he succeeds is a constant 
 deterioration of the moral sense, and has a tendency 
 to ensure the repetition of crime. 
 
 Howard's reputation now procured his favourable 
 reception with every friend to humanity, and on 
 proceeding to the Hague he found the British 
 ambassador. Sir Joseph Yorke, ready to forward 
 lii- desires and to facilitate his researches. Intro- 
 duced by him to the authorities of the place, he 
 accompanied by a magistrate to the prison, 
 where In- says u all was quiet and in order." He 
 old aincd a copy of the prison regulations. The 
 
 • Foreign Prisons, p. GO.
 
 FEW DEBTORS AT AMSTERDAM. 1G1 
 
 inmates were treated with much clemency, and 
 their allowance was liberal. The rules which re- 
 lated to the prison officers were especially stringent. 
 Amongst others the following : — 
 
 " If any prisoner escapes, whether by the immediate 
 fault of the keeper, or the fault of the servants, he is to 
 suffer the punishment that was due to the prisoner. He 
 may not keep a tavern or alehouse ; nor play at cards, &c. 
 with his prisoners ; nor accept of any treat or gift from 
 them, directly or indirectly, during their confinement or 
 afterwards. He must keep the prison neat and clean ; 
 furnish fresh straw once a week, and in winter coverlets. 
 The attorney-general, or his deputy, is to see that all this 
 he duly performed. The keeper is to supply prisoners 
 with good bread, soup, and beer.* 
 
 " Neglect of duty, drunkenness, ill-language, and quar- 
 rels, were visited with severe penalties ; and not giving 
 information of defaulters punished with discharge." -j- 
 
 At Amsterdam, amongst many wise regulations, 
 which Howard saw with pleasure were judiciously 
 enforced, there were some objectionable practices. 
 The prison is in the Stadt-house. The keeper was 
 allowed to sell spirits, and to supply provisions — 
 always a fruitful source of disorder when permitted. 
 The small number of prisoners for debt surprised 
 him. "In this city," he writes, "they compute 
 250,000 souls, about one third of those in London, 
 yet I find but eighteen debtors." The causes are 
 assigned : — 
 
 " When one is imprisoned, the creditor must pay the 
 gaoler for his maintenance. Another reason is, that the 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p, G9. f lb. p. 70, 
 
 M
 
 1G2 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 situation is very disgraceful. But, perhaps, the principal 
 cause that debtors, as well as capital offenders, are few, is 
 the great care that is taken to train up the children of the 
 poor, and indeed of all others, to industry. The magis- 
 trates do not approve of confining in idleness any that may 
 be usefully employed." * 
 
 The prudence which is implied in the last sen- 
 tence must commend itself: but the above com- 
 parison suggests a still more important question ; 
 and that is, as to the policy and propriety of any 
 kind of imprisonment for debt-. Great advantage 
 has resulted from recent legislation on this subject 
 in the diminution of the numbers committed to 
 gaol ; but as respects the imprisonment itself and 
 its consequences, although the enormities of past 
 days are no longer perpetrated, yet a vicious and 
 depraving system remains. The insolvent has 
 become so either through misfortune, carelessness, 
 or crime. If the first, then pity, not punishment, 
 is demanded ; if the second, lessons of caution 
 are requisite ; if fraud or an offence has been 
 committed, then correction is called for, but 
 neither of these accompanies the plan now pur- 
 sued : it gradually corrupts all but the very worst. 
 Associated, and generally unemployed, the unfor- 
 tunate become idle, the idle profligate, the profli- 
 gate fraudulent ; then fraud and violence are too 
 closely allied in principle to be long distinguished 
 ii: practice ; and thus our debtors' wards are schools 
 of artifice, and nurseries of crime. f 
 
 : eign Prisons, p. 53. 
 I I Ifl DPI forg< i th ■ recent Act for the recovery of small debts in
 
 EXECUTIONS AT AMSTERDAM. 1G3 
 
 Howard had too much benevolence, patriotism, 
 and piety, to overlook the cruelty, impolicy, and 
 national guilt, of thus corrupting the innocent, and 
 permitting the criminal to escape. He has left his 
 protest ; and all who witness the evils which have 
 survived him, must pray for the accomplishment of 
 the wish he expressed : — 
 
 " I heartily wish that such an alteration were made in 
 our laws with respect to confinement for debt, that none 
 should undergo it but dishonest and fraudulent debtors. 
 Such are criminals, and ought to be treated accordingly." 
 
 The rooms for criminals in the prison at Am- 
 sterdam are described as — 
 
 " Down fifteen steps, ten feet by nine, each for one 
 prisoner only. There were but six delinquents. The al- 
 lowance was liberal. One of the magistrates with whom I 
 was conversing, said, ' Nourish your prisoners well, and 
 keep them in dry rooms and they will be healthy.' 
 
 " The condemned rooms have an iron door. From a 
 book containing the names and crimes of all who have 
 been executed at Amsterdam, from January 1693, to the 
 end of 1766, the number amounts to 336 : but only 25 
 were executed in the last 20 years of that term.* 
 
 " Of late, in all the seven provinces, seldom more exe- 
 cutions in a year than from four to six. One reason of 
 this, I believe, is the awful solemnity of executions, which 
 are performed in the presence of the magistrates, with 
 great order and seriousness, and great effect on the spec- 
 tators. I did not see the process in Holland ; but it was 
 particularly described to me, and was similar to what I 
 
 making these remarks ; but, as I Lave elsewhere shown, whatever good 
 provisions are contained in that measure, are frustrated by the associa- 
 tion in prison of the offenders convicted under it. — See Appendix. 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 63. 
 
 M 2
 
 1(54 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 had witnessed in another place abroad. The common 
 method of execution for unpremeditated murder is decol- 
 lation by a broad sword. Robberies are generally punished 
 by the halter. For the more atrocious crimes, such as 
 premeditated murder, &c, the malefactor is broken on the 
 wheel, or rather on a cross laid flat on the scaffold. But 
 a description of the manner of this execution, which is 
 finished by a coup cle grace on the breast, would not be 
 agreeable to any of my readers." * 
 
 We should expect that the few executions in 
 Holland, when compared with the shocking excess 
 presented by the criminal statistics of his own 
 country during that time, would call forth strong 
 comments from Howard on the atrocity of our 
 penal code. Had he been a member of the legis- 
 lature, there can be little doubt that he would 
 have strenuously sought the mitigation of its se- 
 verity, and the removal of mauy enactments which 
 sacrificed human life for comparatively trifling 
 offences. But when his volumes were written he 
 felt that his duty was appointed in another sphere, 
 and that his efforts must be directed to the preserva- 
 tion of his fellow-men, by seeking the improvement 
 of those habitations of cruelty where desolation 
 and death reigned, and their victims were more 
 numerous than those sacrificed to the vengeful 
 spirit of savage laws. Besides, he was, to a great 
 extent, consecrating his life to the rescue of the 
 innocent, who had the first claim upon his philan- 
 thropy. Whilst therefore no inhumanity must 
 pass without a protest, he will not risk the success 
 of the great work assigned him by hastily attempt- 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 52.
 
 NUMBER OF EXECUTIONS IN ENGLAND. 165 
 
 in^: too much. We ao;ain see the caution, so cha- 
 racteristic, in the following extracts : — 
 
 " From my own observations, T was fully convinced that 
 many more were destroyed by the gaol-fever, than were 
 put to death by all the public executions in the kingdom. 
 I have a table printed from a large copper- plate, in 1772, 
 by Sir Stephen Theodore Janssen, showing the number of 
 malefactors executed in London for the twenty-three pre- 
 ceding years, and the crimes for which they suffered. In 
 it will be seen that the total number of executions in 
 London, for those twenty-three years, was G78 : the 
 annual average is between 29 and 30. I leave to others 
 the discussion of the questions, whether those executions 
 were too numerous — whether all the crimes for which 
 they were inflicted, were deserving of death. And it may 
 be left to any one to judge, whether, including debtors 
 and petty offenders, the number of those that died in the 
 several London prisons of the gaol-fever does not exceed 
 the number of those that were executed annually during 
 that time. I have not the number of executions in all the 
 counties, but am well assured it falls much short of the 
 numbers that perished in prisons." * 
 
 The following is the table f to which Howard 
 refers ; and his remarks upon this and others ap- 
 pended to his " State of Prisons" afford traits of 
 his modesty and humanity : — 
 
 " May I not indulge the hope that, many years after I 
 shall be dead and forgotten, these Tables, being of a public 
 nature, will be occasionally reviewed, and may have in- 
 ferences drawn from them which will, in their consequences, 
 contribute to alleviate the miseries of mankind, and add 
 something to the general stock of happiness among the 
 human race ? " 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 11. t Ib - P- 437 « 
 
 M 3
 
 L66 
 
 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 
 Sentenced to 
 death. 
 
 Pardoned, 
 
 transported, 
 
 or died in gaol. 
 
 Executed. 
 
 Shoplifting, riot, and twelve"! 
 other crimes - - -J 
 1 defrauding creditors 
 Returning from transportation 
 Cuiiiing - 
 Forgery - 
 I Ibrse stealing - 
 Highway robbery 
 Housebreaking - 
 Murder - 
 
 240 
 
 3 
 31 
 11 
 95 
 90 
 362 
 208 
 81 
 
 131 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 24 
 
 68 
 
 111 
 
 90 
 
 9 
 
 109 
 
 3 
 22 
 10 
 71 
 22 
 251 
 118 
 72 
 
 Total - 
 
 1121 
 
 443 
 
 678 
 
 Again he recurs to this subject when comparing 
 the crimes of Italy with those of England, and ob- 
 serves that " arguments might thence be derived for 
 the rcvisal and repeal of some of our sanguinary 
 laws." Well indeed might they be so termed ; 
 and abominable, surely, in the sight of Howard 
 must have been the law which decreed death as the 
 penalty for almost every act of malice, and often for 
 mere mischief, such as the destruction of a tree, or 
 the cutting of a hop band ; which violated equity by 
 avenging to the same extent the theft of a rabbit, 
 and the murder of a man. The theory of Paley, 
 which happily lias been proved false by experience, 
 v:i ^ then in too much favour. The exposure of 
 property, and the frequency of offences, had been 
 thought causes sufficient for the sacrifice of life, 
 iin api ctive of the amount of guilt. The effect of 
 this was just what the same moralist at another
 
 RIGHT OF rAIiDON. 1G7 
 
 time remarked : " the design was counteracted, be- 
 cause it had a tendency which sinks men's abhor- 
 rence of the crime in their commiseration of the 
 criminal."* Thus the malefactor was esteemed a 
 martyr; and this sympathy with the sufferer, 
 accompanied by aversion from the law, multiplied 
 offenders. Then was seen, what further evidence 
 has established as an axiom, that " crime thrives 
 upon severe penalties;" — and so, every execution 
 prepared more for the slaughter. 
 
 But upon whom was this unjust, impolitic, and 
 cruel severity chargeable in Howard's day ? Surely, 
 upon those who framed, and, from time to time, 
 confirmed those laws ; not upon any who were en- 
 trusted with power to enforce them, and who would 
 have betrayed that trust, if private benevolence had 
 prevented their execution. The constitution of our 
 country allows the power of pardon as a preroga- 
 tive of the crown to be exerted when special cir- 
 cumstances shall justify its exercise ; but not to be 
 abused, to the virtual abolition of the law. Strange, 
 therefore, that any biographer of Howard should 
 have taken occasion, from the above comparison, to 
 reproach the pious sovereign of that period, because 
 he would not violate a principle, nor abuse a privi- 
 lege, for the sake of the personal gratification which 
 a grant of pardon to the guilty might afford. 
 There is no single expression in Howard's works 
 which can give a warrant to any one for the im- 
 putation of cruelty to that sovereign ; nor did a 
 
 * Moral Philosophy, book vi. chap. ix. 
 
 M 4
 
 168 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 disloyal sentiment ever escape his lips. On the 
 contrary, Howard, though most humane, strenu- 
 ously contended for the infliction of the punishment 
 awarded. On one occasion, finding the right of 
 pardon abused, he exclaimed — "Is it not injustice 
 to individuals, and cruelty to the public, frequently 
 to pardon notorious offenders ? " And on this sub- 
 ject he adopted, quoted, and often commended the 
 Essay of Beccaria on Crimes and Punishments ; and 
 few parts of that treatise would be more entirely 
 approved of by Howard than the following re- 
 marks : — 
 
 " Clemency is a virtue which belongs to the legislator, 
 and not to the executor of the laws ; a virtue which ought 
 to shine in the code, and not in private judgment. To 
 show mankind, that crimes are sometimes pardoned, and 
 that punishment is not the necessary consequence, is to 
 nourish the flattering hope of impunity, and is the cause 
 of their considering every punishment inflicted as an act of 
 injustice and oppression. The prince, in pardoning, gives 
 up the public security in favour of an individual, and, by 
 his ill-judged benevolence, proclaims a public act of im- 
 punity. Let, then, the executors of the law be inexorable, 
 but let the legislator be tender, indulgent, and humane."*" 
 
 I rejoice to think that Howard admired and 
 honoured his sovereign — ennobled as that king 
 was by the love of equity, justice, and mercy, to 
 an extent which would not permit him to sacrifice 
 either of those virtues through personal feeling, or 
 i-» obtain public favour. His conduct in the case of 
 
 * Chap. xlvi.
 
 RIGHT OF PARDON. 1G9 
 
 the notorious Dr. Dodd was most exemplary. The 
 following culogiura upon it was well deserved : — 
 
 "As it is far more difficult to be just than to be gene- 
 rous, so also those will often find it a much harder task to 
 punish than to pardon, who have both in their power. 
 There is no one quality of the mind that requires more 
 resolution, and receives a less reward, than that prospective 
 but ultimately merciful severity, which strikes the indi- 
 vidual, for the good of the community. The popular 
 voice, — the tears of relatives, — the influence of rank, — 
 the eloquence of talent, may all conspire to recommend an 
 act of clemency, in itself most grateful to the sympathies 
 of him whose high situation has privileged him to exert 
 it. What shall we put into the opposite scale? The public 
 good ; but it may happen that the public themselves have 
 signified their willingness to waive the high consideration 
 of the public good. Here, then, the supreme head of the 
 state is forced upon a trial almost too great for humanity ; 
 he is called upon to sink the feelings of the man in the 
 firmness of the magistrate, — to sacrifice the finest sensi- 
 bilities of the heart to the sternest dictates of the head, — 
 and to exhibit an integrity more pure than the ice of 
 Zembla, but as repulsive and as cold. Those who can 
 envy a sovereign so painful a prerogative, know little of 
 others, and less of themselves. Had Dr. Dodd been par- 
 doned, who shall say how many men of similar talents that 
 cruel pardon might have fatally ensnared. Eloquent as he 
 was, and exemplary as perhaps he ivould have been, an 
 enlarged view of this case authorises this irrefragable in- 
 ference — that the most undeviating rectitude, and the 
 longest life of such a man, could not have conferred so 
 great and so permanent a benefit on society, as that single 
 sacrifice, his death. On the memorable occasion of Dr. 
 Dodd's execution, Europe saw the greatest monarch she 
 contained acknowledge a sovereign, within his own domi- 
 nions, greater than himself ; a sovereign that triumphed
 
 170 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 not only over his power, but over his pity — the supremacy 
 of the lairs."* 
 
 Amongst the sovereigns of the present day there 
 is one who has given expression to sentiments very 
 similar to those which have been transcribed, and 
 proved the accuracy of this opinion. The King of 
 Sweden writes thus on the royal prerogative of 
 pardon : — 
 
 " The law interprets the inflexible demands of justice, 
 and the cold calculations of the understanding ; pardon, on 
 the contrary, is a voice raised from the inmost feelings of 
 society; it is the inspiration of the heart. But this pre- 
 rogative, the most pleasing of all those attached to the 
 crown, must be used sparingly. Should pardon often be 
 granted, disrespect for the law, and a less degree of fear 
 for its precepts, are encouraged. We have seen, that 
 Sweden is, next to Spain, the country in which capital 
 punishment has been most common, and, nevertheless, 
 during the last seven years, of the criminals condemned 
 to death an average of forty-three annually have been 
 pardoned." -j" 
 
 Happily, the Christian principle which induced 
 Howard to protest against sanguinary laws, lias 
 impelled others to labour with success for their 
 repeal. The exertions of Wilberforce, Buxtou, and 
 others, have not been vain: and the number of 
 crimes declared capital is now, perhaps, reduced to 
 its proper limit. Life is forfeited upon the convic- 
 tion of a few heinous offences; but the penalty of 
 
 * Lacon, vol. i. pp. 241, 242. 
 
 t Punishments ami Prisons, by the King of Sweden, p. 11.
 
 CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. 171 
 
 death is seldom inflicted, except for murder. God 
 forbid that our laws, in this respect, should ever 
 cease to accord with His decrees ; and that any- 
 thing short of the death of the murderer should be 
 regarded as the condign punishment for such guilt. 
 In expressing these sentiments it is satisfactory to 
 observe, that they accord with the wisdom and 
 humanity which prompted the following expres- 
 sions of the subject of our biography : — 
 
 " I would wish that no persons might suffer capitally, 
 but for murder ; for setting houses on fire ; for house- 
 breaking, attended with cruelty. The highwayman, the 
 footpad, the habitual thief, and people of this clan, should 
 end their days in a penitentiary house, rather than on a 
 gallows." 
 
 While we admire Howard's philanthropy, com- 
 bined with the love of justice, we cannot always 
 admit his inferences. He has told us of the pre- 
 ventive and corrective agencies which caused the 
 proportion of criminals in Holland to be compara- 
 tively small: — suitable education, general indus- 
 try, and the separate confinement of offenders, 
 sufficiently account for this. The same cause 
 which repressed minor offences, would reduce the 
 more heinous to a corresponding extent. When, 
 therefore, he ascribes the infrequency of executions 
 to the solemnity of the scene, or to the revolting 
 sight of the mangled corpse, we feel compelled to 
 reject the conclusion. Paley and Beccaria, on this 
 point, both agree in a contrary opinion ; and in
 
 17 2 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 another part of the same volume*, the subject of 
 our memoir himself quotes the latter, that " the 
 punishment of death is pernicious to society, from 
 the example of barbarity it affords." f And in his 
 appendix subsequently written, Howard deprecates 
 the parade with which criminals were conducted to 
 Tyburn, in the following terms: — 
 
 " An execution day is too much, with us, a day of riot 
 and idleness, and it is found, by experience, that the minds 
 of the populace are rather hardened by the spectacle, than 
 affected in any salutary manner." 
 
 The argument, therefore, against the publicity of 
 executions to the extent now practised is strong. 
 It appeals to our own senses, and its truth is proved 
 by our own experience. If observation and positive 
 evidence declare the truth of Paley's assertion, that 
 " such barbarous spectacles of human agony have a 
 tendency to harden and deprave the public feel- 
 ings," J then surely the sooner such scenes become 
 less public, though not strictly private, the better 
 in every respect. Howard's works afford a further 
 proof of this. When travelling in Italy, he described 
 the executions as equally solemn with those in 
 i [olland, whilst the horrible exhibition of the corpse 
 Was of longer continuance : — 
 
 " After the prisoner is condemned, one or two of the 
 
 Foreign Prisons, p. 100. 
 
 B ccaria, chap, xxviii. p. 112. — The quotation might properly 
 ,,:iv '' '' '" continued — " the more horrible, as the punishment is 
 usually attended with formal pageantry." 
 J Moral Phil book vi. ch. ix.
 
 GREAT PUBLICITY OF EXECUTIONS. 173 
 
 Confraternita della Misericordia come to him the midnight 
 before his execution, and inform him of the sentence, and 
 continue with him till his death. All the fraternity attend 
 the execution, dressed in white. When the prisoner is 
 dead they leave him hanging till the evening." * 
 
 Do we inquire the result of this pageantry, and 
 of this ghastly spectacle? Howard, but a few pages 
 forward, tells us: — 
 
 " The frequency of assaults and assassinations in Italy is 
 generally known. Many of the common people seem to be 
 insensible of the atrociousness of the crime. I have heard 
 criminals in prison express, by seeming satisfaction of 
 mind, that though they stabbed, they did not rob" -j- . . . 
 " If we examine Janssen's Lists, and the Judge's returns, 
 we may reckon that there are more murders committed in a 
 year in the City of Naples or Rome, than in Great Britain 
 and Ireland." % 
 
 Now a very remarkable and most instructive 
 contrast, both as to the plan and the effect pro- 
 duced, is presented by Howard in other parts of his 
 works. Describing Aix-la-Chapelle, he says — 
 
 " Executions are not frequent in this city. Citizens are 
 always executed by decollation." § 
 
 And in his second book, as though unconsciously 
 impelled to assign the cause, he says, speaking again 
 of Aix-la-Chapelle — 
 
 " It may not be improper to add that it (the decollation) 
 is concealed from the view of the public by a scaffolding round 
 the spot where it is performed." | 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 93. f lb. 100. t Ib - 124 - § Ib 
 
 || Second Book of Prisons, p. 72.
 
 1 7 l LIFE OF nOWARD. 
 
 The writer cannot forbear expressing an earnest 
 hope that the day is not far distant, when, in his 
 own country, a somewhat similar plan shall be 
 adopted, when the officers of justice alone shall 
 witness the execution of the criminal; and, for the 
 satisfaction of the community, a certain number of 
 persons — perhaps two or three hundred — shall be 
 allowed to see, and sufficiently examine, the corpse 
 of the offender, to identify his person, and remove 
 all doubt as to his death. 
 
 Howard next visited the Rasp House at Amster- 
 dam ; a prison, in which about fifty men were con- 
 fined. They were employed in rasping log-wood 
 generally; but their labour was apportioned to their 
 strength, and some of them were spinning. It was 
 well regulated under the direction of four regents ; 
 and the keeper had the more pleasing title of father. 
 No evil report was forgotten by Howard, nor re- 
 peated before the truth had been ascertained : here, 
 he tells us, " on careful inquiry I learned, that 
 what has been said concerning; a cellar in which 
 such transgressors are put to pump or drown, is a 
 fiction."* 
 
 " Prayers are read morning and evening, and before and 
 after meals, by one of the best-behaved convicts; and 
 divine service, with a sermon, is performed by a clergyman 
 
 on Sunday mornings." -j- 
 
 The Spinning House was next visited, of which 
 the following account is given: — 
 
 1 Prisons, p. C,5. -j- lb. p. G7.
 
 THE SPINNING-HOUSE, AMSTERDAM. 175 
 
 " This prison is for women. You see a number of 
 criminals (about -JO) some of whom had been the most 
 abandoned, sitting in the presence of the mother, quiet and 
 orderly, at their different sorts of work ; spinning, plain 
 work, &c. Hours of work from six to twelve, and from 
 one to eight. I saw them go from work to dinner : the 
 keeper, or father, as they call him, presided. First they 
 sang a psalm : then they went in order down to a neat 
 dining-room, where they seated themselves at two tables ; 
 and several dishes of boiled barley, agreeably sweetened, 
 were set before them. The father struck with a hammer : 
 then, in profound silence, all stood up ; and one of them 
 read, with propriety, a prayer about four or five minutes. 
 They then sat down cheerful ; and each filled her bowl 
 from a large dish which contained enough for four of them. 
 Then one brought on a waiter slices of bread and butter, 
 and served each prisoner. The mother was seated at a 
 desk (where she had a full view of her family at work) 
 with a Bible before her." * 
 
 Howard also visited what he describes as " a well- 
 regulated House of Industry ;" which was a prison 
 for those guilty of lesser offences, and in all those 
 establishments the discipline was very far superior 
 to any thing that he had witnessed in his own 
 country. 
 
 Thence he proceeded to inspect the prisons at 
 Utrecht, Groningen, and Leewarden, which, like 
 those in Amsterdam, were large factories. In the 
 first, he tells us that " the father, by permission of 
 the magistrates, might take in as boarders persons 
 of bad behaviour, at the desire of their parents, 
 guardians, or relations." f 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, pp. 65. 67. f lb. p. 72.
 
 17<i LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 Passing from Holland, the first prison in Ger- 
 many which Howard visited was at Bremen. It 
 was for debtors, and over the doorway he observed 
 the inscription — " Hie fraudum terminus esto," an 
 admonition very appropriate but little required, for 
 no delinquent had been committed during thirty 
 years. Nor were any found in other German towns ; 
 the reason assigned being, that it was both 
 expensive to the creditor to pay the cost, and 
 esteemed disgraceful to the debtor who suffered the 
 penult) 7 . 
 
 "At Hamburgh," he writes, " the felons in the Butteley 
 
 were all in irons. The common method of execution 
 is decollation. The executioner, who is gaoler, showed 
 me the sword, which he said he had made use of eight 
 times. 
 
 " Among the various engines of torture, or the question, 
 which I have seen in France, Italy, Germany, and other 
 places, one of the most excruciating is kept and used in a 
 dcej) cellar of this prison. It ought to be buried ten thou- 
 sand fathoms deeper. It is said the inventor was the first 
 who suffered by it: the last was a woman, a few years 
 ago. 
 
 " There, as at some other towns, is a prison for slight 
 offences. The punishment, to be confined from a week to 
 a month, and to live on bread and water only." * 
 
 A circumstance connected with these houses of 
 correction well deserves notice ; they are considered 
 rather us workhouses than as prisons, "and not 
 n rh-nm-il infamous," whereas those for more heinous 
 offenders " are accounted infamous." 
 
 Foreign Prisons, p. 7G.
 
 VISITS HANAU. 177 
 
 As the most unhappy consequences often result 
 from the loss of character, it is much to be desired 
 that a similar distinction should be observed in this 
 country, and that the lasting stigma of incarcera- 
 tion in a felon's gaol should not brand the mis- 
 chievous child, the mere delinquent, or the man 
 chargeable with some trifling offence, perhaps com- 
 mitted under strong temptation. 
 
 From Hamburgh, Howard went to Lunenburgh, 
 in the electoral dominions of his own sovereign ; 
 where he found the prisoners working in chains, 
 but in other respects treated with more humanity 
 than criminals in England. Thence he proceeded 
 to Zell. Here he was shown some instruments of 
 torture, but was assured they had not been used 
 for several years. 
 
 After visiting Hesse Cassel he passed on to Ha- 
 nau, where he saw the convicts, somewhat absurdly 
 termed galley slaves, employed in cleansing the town 
 and neighbourhood. " They were distinguished as 
 the honnetes and deshonnetes ; " the latter being 
 the more heinous offenders, and as such, condemned 
 to the most loathsome, though necessary, occupa- 
 tions. The Philanthropist, always glad to discover 
 and commend kindness, has immortalised their 
 prince, by mentioning his benevolence towards 
 these his wretched subjects, of which, he tells us, 
 they seemed duly sensible. " I asked," says Howard, 
 " one and another of the honnetes who are em- 
 ployed on the road, whether they liked to be thus 
 employed, or would rather choose to be confined in 
 
 N
 
 L78 I^ E OF HOWARD. 
 
 idleness ? They readily answered, ' much rather to 
 be thus abroad at work.' " * 
 
 At Manheim every facility for investigation was 
 afforded. The Maison de Force, like others which 
 have been described, was a factory — "Not one 
 idle ; yet though they work entirely for the house 
 their labour does not maintain it. The rules and 
 orders are good." We cannot, however, suppose 
 that the following practice was included in that 
 sentence of commendation : — 
 
 " Prisoners committed to this house are commonly re- 
 ceived in form with what is called the Men venu (welcome). 
 A machine is brought out, in which are fastened their neck, 
 hands, and feet. Then are they stripped ; and have, ac- 
 cording as the magistrate orders, the grand venu of twenty 
 to thirty stripes — the demi venu of eighteen to twent}' — 
 or the petit venu of twelve to fifteen : after this they kiss 
 the threshold and go in. Some are treated with the same 
 compliment at discharge. The like ceremony is observed 
 at many other towns in Germany." f 
 
 The prison for felons at Mentz, La Porte de Fer, 
 was clean and well conducted; only one prisoner 
 • on fined in each room. We arc further told — 
 
 '• Most of the flour in the city is ground at a mill in this 
 prison. The delinquents work at it two hours in the 
 morning, and two in the afternoon. Over the door is 
 carved a waggon drawn by two stags, two lions, and two 
 wild boars; with an inscription explaining the device, 
 which is, that if wild beasts can be tamed to the yoke, we 
 should not despair of reclaiming irregular men. I saw the 
 relief at one or two other houses of correction." | 
 
 ' I P m p. 119. f lb. 121. J lb. 123.
 
 LETTER FROM BONN. 171) 
 
 This is the last notice we find of Howard's tour 
 
 at this time, in his account of foreign prisons, but 
 
 a letter has been preserved which he addressed to 
 
 a friend*, from Bonn, the humility, simplicity, and 
 
 piety of which, the Christian will admire scarcely 
 
 less than that self-denial, energy, and perseverance 
 
 in well-doing, shown in the events to which it 
 
 refers. 
 
 " Bonn, June 20. 1775. 
 
 "Dear Sir, — I natter myself a line will not be unac- 
 ceptable. As one's spirits are tired with the same subject, 
 it is a relaxation and pleasure to write to a friend ; which 
 indeed is my case at present, being just come from the 
 prisons in this place. I had visited many in France, Flan- 
 ders, and Holland ; but I thought I might gain some 
 knowledge by looking into the German police. 
 
 " I have carefully visited some Prussian, Austrian, Hes- 
 sian, and many other gaols. With the utmost difficulty 
 did I get access to many dismal abodes ; and, through the 
 good hand of God, I have been preserved in health and 
 safety. I hope I have gained some knowledge that may 
 be improved to some valuable purpose. Though conscious 
 of the utmost weakness, imperfection, and folly, I would 
 hope my heart deceives me not, when I say to my friend, 
 I trust that I intend well. The great example! — the 
 glorious and divine Saviour ! — the first thought humbles, 
 abases, — yet, blessed be God, the mind exults and rejoices 
 in that infinite and boundless source of love and mercy. 
 
 " The state of the weather makes travelling not a little 
 fatiguing. I have the pleasure of now coming homeward. 
 There are many travellers at the first, or great houses; 
 but these three or four weeks I have not met one English- 
 man. We are here surrounded with vineyards, so I must 
 not say it is too hot ; yet, I cannot help wishing for my 
 
 * Rev. T. Symonds.
 
 180 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 refreshing bath. " I have spent some Sundays with the 
 French Protestants. I love and esteem them. Though 
 separated, yet truly united. I trust and. hope we shall 
 make one great and glorious body. In which wish, I truly 
 
 remain, &c. 
 
 " John Howard. 
 
 " P.S. I pray God. bless you ; and. may many be your 
 crown of rejoicing in that great and glorious day ! J. Ii."
 
 181 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HOWAKD RETURNS FROM THE CONTINENT. GAOL AT DOVER. 
 
 AT CHELMSFORD. RETURNS TO CARDINGTON. MORE PRI- 
 SONS VISITED. SHOCKING CASE AT PENZANCE. HOWARD'S 
 
 CAREFUL SCRUTINY. — SUPERVISION OF GAOLS REQUIRED. 
 
 LONDON PRISONS REINSPECTED. — NEWGATE, BRIDEWELL, THE 
 
 SAVOY, THE FLEET. REVISITS THE CONTINENTAL PRISONS. 
 
 THEIR BETTER REGULATIONS. PARIS. LYONS, ITS PRI- 
 SON AND L'HOTEL DIEU. GENEVA. — FEW CRIMINALS IN 
 
 SWITZERLAND. GALLEY SLAVES AT LAUSANNE AND HANAU. 
 
 PRISONS OF SOLOTHURN AND BASLE. — INGENIOUS ATTEMPT 
 
 TO ESCAPE. PLAN AT LUNENBURGH TO PREVENT INFAMY. 
 
 PROCEEDS TO HOLLAND. THE RASP-HOUSES REVISITED. 
 
 GOES TO GHENT. INFERIORITY OF ENGLISH PRISONS. 
 
 RETURNS TO ENGLAND. RESUMES INSPECTION OF ENGLISH 
 
 GAOLS. PARDON FRUSTRATED BY EXTORTION. — REVISITS 
 
 YORKSHLRE PRISONS. — HORRIBLE GAOL OF KNARESBOROUGH. 
 PREPARES TO PUBLISH A WORK ON PRISONS. 
 
 If, as implied in the foregoing letter, Howard 
 thought he had acquired some knowledge that 
 might prove valuable, but felt relaxation was need- 
 ful before an attempt to derive practical advantage 
 could be made, he had no sooner reached the shores 
 of his native land, than his estimate of the light he 
 had obtained upon the subject of his research was 
 enhanced by the dark contrast at once presented. 
 He landed at Dover, July 25. 1775, and seems to 
 have visited the miserable prison of that town on 
 the same day. There, dirt and drunkenness, ex- 
 
 N 3
 
 182 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 tortion of fees, yet insufficiency of food ; the place 
 insecure — but that the offensive closeness enfeebled 
 its inmates, whose misery was sometimes mocked 
 by the very show of mercy ; for, whilst, amidst the 
 storms of winter on that inclement eastern coast, an 
 allowance of coals was made, a place wherein to 
 burn them was forbidden.* Such a combination 
 of wrong inflicted, and wretchedness endured, so 
 immediately succeeding the wise regulations and 
 judicious care which he had elsewhere witnessed, 
 must not only have excited the compassion of the 
 philanthropist, and the shame of the patriot, but it 
 forbade any lengthened relaxation, and told that 
 little time could be spared before he applied the 
 lessons of wisdom, justice, and mercy, learned in 
 other lands, to the rescuing of his own country 
 from disgrace, and to the relief of its criminals 
 from their merciless condition. 
 
 Howard appears to have gone direct from Dover 
 to Cardington, and we have no memorial of the em- 
 ployment of his time until we find him at Chelms- 
 ford in October. Thither he was attracted by a 
 report that the distemper was making ravages in 
 the gaol ; and, on his arrival, he discovered that the 
 chief turnkey had died of it. The construction of 
 the prison, and its offensive condition, caused it 
 frequently to be infected with that dreadful disease. 
 tts ga< >ler was a woman. Notwithstanding the food 
 allowed was scarcely sufficient to support life, cruel 
 fees were extorted ; and in its tap-room the absence 
 
 • St ute of Prisons, p. 229.
 
 COUNTY PRISONS VISITED. 183 
 
 of all good regulations was accounted for by the 
 abominable inscription, " Prisoners to pay garnish, 
 or run the gauntlet." Seeing this, he was little 
 surprised when, as he tells us, " it gave me pain to 
 be informed that there had been no divine service 
 in the prison for above a year past, except for con- 
 demned criminals." 
 
 Thus reminded of the sufferings and privations 
 of fellow-men, rest became more irksome than the 
 most arduous labour ; and, after an interval of 
 about a fortnight spent at Cardington, the friend of 
 the prisoner and the captive — of all who had few 
 friends beside — not regarding the approach of 
 winter, nor the perils of a worse kind which always 
 attended the inspection of a prison, resolved again 
 to traverse the length and breadth of his native 
 land, that he might explore and expose those scenes 
 of oppression, wickedness, and woe, and afford suc- 
 cour to their distressed victims as opportunities 
 might be offered. Leaving home on the 8th of 
 November, he revisited the gaols of Huntingdon, 
 Oakham, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, and Staf- 
 ford. At the last place he looked over the county 
 bridewell, which he had not before seen, and con- 
 demned it as dirty and insecure. A consequence 
 of that insecurity was, the prisoners were never 
 allowed egress even to its little courtyard. Leaving 
 Stafford, he re-inspected the gaols and houses of 
 correction in the counties of Lancaster, Chester, 
 Salop, Montgomery, Radnor, Worcester, Hereford, 
 
 N 4
 
 184 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 and Monmouth. He then saw, for the first time, 
 St. Briavell's Gaol for debtors, of which he gives 
 the following description : — 
 
 " It is the property of Lord Berkeley. One room for 
 men, greatly out of repair : no court : no water : no allow- 
 ance : no firing. One of the two sickly ohjects I found 
 there told me he had been confined a twelvemonth, and never 
 once out of the dismal and offensive room ; the other almost 
 as long. Keeper no salary. Fees 2s. 6c/." 
 
 After again examining on his way the prisons in 
 Gloucestershire, Somersetshire, and Devonshire, he 
 visited the town gaols of Falmouth, Truro, Penryn, 
 and Penzance. The former were generally defec- 
 tive, but the last was worst ; and its walls confined 
 a wretched victim whose woful condition is thus 
 described : — 
 
 " The prison is the property of Lord Arundel. The 
 room for men has no chimney. Earth floor ; very damp. 
 The door had not been opened for four weeks when I went 
 in ; and then the keeper began to clear away the dirt. 
 There was only one debtor, who seemed to have been ro- 
 bust, but was grown pale by ten weeks' close confinement, 
 with little food, which he had from a brother, who was poor 
 and had a family : he said the dampness of the prison, with 
 but little straw, had obliged him (he spoke with sorrow) 
 to send for the bed on which some of his children lay. He 
 had a wife and ten children, two of whom died since he 
 came thither, and the rest were almost starving. He has 
 written me a letter since, by which I learn that his distress 
 was not mitigated, and that he had a companion, miserable 
 as himself. No allowance. Keeper no salary : fees, 8s. 4d. 
 ' eery action: no table."* 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 354.
 
 VISITS DORCHESTER AND SALISBURY. 185 
 
 A feeling of compassion towards men, however 
 guilty, when subjected to so much cruelty, almost 
 forbids regret when we read that they freed them- 
 selves from it by further transgression. This 
 was the case at Penzance, Howard proceeds to tell 
 us: — 
 
 " A year or two ago, five prisoners, I was informed, 
 grew desperate by what they suffered in this wretched 
 prison, and broke out." 
 
 Having again visited Lancaster gaol, which re- 
 mained in the disgraceful condition which has been 
 described, he proceeded to Dorchester, in which 
 prison he found the small-pox raging, and no in- 
 firmary had been provided. The prison at Salisbury 
 was in a miserable state ; it had neither water 
 wherewith to cleanse it, nor any courtyard to afford 
 its inmates a temporary escape from its pollution. At 
 Winchester, on the contrary, he rejoiced to observe 
 great improvement, especially in the strict attention 
 now paid to the cleanliness of the prison and its 
 occupants. Howard's advice, enforced by the de- 
 structive visitation of the gaol fever, had been 
 carefully regarded. 
 
 The first day of the year 1776 was spent at 
 Reading, where he now visited the county bride- 
 well; and the following notes were made on the 
 occasion : — 
 
 " This is also the town bridewell. It was formerly a 
 church, and is a spacious room, with four small dark huts 
 on one side for night-rooms. The county pays rent to the 
 corporation. It is dirty and out of repair. Women and
 
 186 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 men are together in the day-time. No court : no water : 
 allowance to felons, three-pence a day ; and to petty of- 
 fenders, two five-farthing loaves each every Sunday, and 
 one every week-day. Keeper's salary, 18/. from the county, 
 21. from the town : fees 4s. Ad. : no table : license for 
 beer : half the profit of the prisoners' work : 21. a year to 
 find them straw." * 
 
 After again inspecting the gaol for the county ot 
 Berks, he proceeded to the prison at Abingdon ; of 
 which he has left us the followino- account: — 
 
 o 
 
 " Two day-rooms ; and two dark offensive night-rooms : 
 that for men 8 feet square : the women's, 9 by 8 : no 
 chimney : no court : no water. The petty offenders were 
 in irons. One lately died of the small-pox. Allowance, 
 three-pence a day. Keeper's salary IS/. : fees, As. Ad. : no 
 table : half the profit of the prisoners' work ; but at both 
 my visits they had no employment." + 
 
 At Thame, the next place in Howard's notes, was 
 a county bridewell — 
 
 " The greatest part of it is a parish workhouse. For the 
 prison there is a common day-room, and a small insecure 
 lodging-room ; and down eleven steps a dungeon, in which 
 are three night-rooms, the cubs, each 9 feet by 7. If the 
 whole building were used as a bridewell, there would be 
 no need of locking up men and women all day long toge- 
 ther in the same room ; nor of confining either sex at night 
 in the cubs. No allowance : no employment: no water: 
 no sewers." \ 
 
 On the same day we find that Howard visited 
 the county gaol at Aylesbury, and thence proceeded 
 
 • Stat.- of Prisons, p. 300. f Ibid. 300. J Ibid. 304.
 
 HIS CAREFUL SCRUTINY. 187 
 
 to Northampton ; or, as the respective dates leave 
 an interval of one day, it is likely that the proxi- 
 mity of his own residence induced him to go 
 thither ; if so, his stay was not protracted beyond 
 that period ; and, with persevering energy, the pain- 
 ful investigation was pursued. Accordingly, on 
 the 6th of January, he visited the town gaol at 
 Northampton ; and here a circumstance is men- 
 tioned, which, though unimportant in itself, de- 
 serves notice, because it indicates how thoroughly 
 he searched those gloomy scenes, so loathsome, and 
 in every sense, to others, so rejDulsive. " The pri- 
 son was without either courtyard or water. So," 
 he observes, " the prisoners told me at the large 
 grate, where I could see the room ; into which, for 
 that reason, / happened not to go :" a circumstance 
 mentioned perhaps in self-reproach, and accompa- 
 nied with the apology — " it occurred noichere else."* 
 This faithful record of apparent neglect — this 
 very censure of himself — speaks more, perhaps, in 
 commendation of Howard, than all the panegyrics 
 which poets and moralists have pronounced upon 
 him. The omission of that which was never thought 
 the duty of others, seemed to be a delinquency in 
 him. They were satisfied with the distant survey, 
 and the doubtful statement ; but he was ever ready 
 to encounter danger, and personally to ascertain 
 the truth. How entirely the authorities entrusted 
 with the government of gaols forgot their respon- 
 sibility, and disregarded the obligation, might be 
 
 * Brown, p. 214.
 
 188 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 inferred from the very condition of them at that 
 period. Some more positive evidence has been 
 alleged in the foregoing pages ; and when the Phi- 
 lanthropist elsewhere strives to convince magis- 
 trates of the importance of such supervision, he 
 first proves how much it is neglected : — 
 
 " I have often enquired of gaolers, whether the sheriffs, 
 justices, or town magistrates inspected their gaols? Many 
 of the oldest have answered, • None of those gentlemen 
 ever looked into the dungeons or even the wards of niv 
 gaol.' Others have said ' Those gentlemen think that if 
 they came into my gaol, they should soon he in their 
 graves.' Others, ' The justices think the inside of my 
 house too close for them; they satisfy themselves with 
 viewing the outside.' Now if magistrates continue thus 
 negligent of their duty, a general, thorough reformation of 
 our prisons must he despaired of." * 
 
 A consequence of this negligence in their su- 
 periors was a general neglect in the gaolers. Re- 
 ferring to this period of his inspection, Howard 
 observes — 
 
 " In my first journeys many county gaolers excused 
 themselves from going with me into the felons' ward. In 
 \ ork castle the felons told mc once and again that the 
 gaoler had not been in their ward for months. 1 would 
 not have quoted a report from felons, if the turnkey, who 
 was present, had not confirmed their testimony." -\ 
 
 Leaving Northampton, he visited successively 
 the prisons at Daventry, Coventry, Chesterfield; 
 and, passing into Yorkshire, those of Sheffield and 
 
 State of I'ri- ens, p. 44. f ibid. .'579.
 
 II1S SUGGESTIONS PARTIALLY ADOPTED. L89 
 
 Tliirsk. As respects most of these we have 
 Howard's concise but shockingly significant de- 
 scription — " No court-yard : no straw : no water : 
 no allowance : no employment." 
 
 The condition of the goal at Durham, with its 
 sickly occupants, has been described. The com- 
 passionate visitor, when before lie witnessed so 
 much suffering in that close and crowded prison 
 which had no court-yard, recommended, as an act 
 of mercy, that a piece of waste land adjoining 
 should be enclosed. Sympathy might well excite 
 indignation when on this occasion he learned that 
 the very person who should hayc enforced the pro- 
 posal — " the surgeon of the prison, who was uncle 
 to the gaoler, had obtained a lease of this land for 
 twenty years at the rent of one shilling^QT annum ; 
 and had built a little stable upon it."* 
 
 At Berwick upon Tweed the prison had neither 
 court-yard nor water provided, and the gaoler 
 kept a public house at a, distance. Thence 
 Howard went to Carlisle, Appleby, Kendal, Wake- 
 field, Gainsborough, Spalding, Wisbeach, Ipswich, 
 Woodbridge, and I>eecles, visiting the prison in 
 each town. With two exceptions, he found those 
 before inspected in nearly the same wretched 
 condition. At Appleby, and Norwich, his sug- 
 gestions had been acted upon, and great improve- 
 ments had been effected. If his advice was treated 
 with indifference in many places, and, as at 
 
 ' State of Prisons, p. 33.
 
 190 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 Durham, with contempt in a few ; yet he saw 
 some earnest of success, enough to forbid discou- 
 ragement, if it did not satisfy his desires. Revi- 
 siting, on his way, the gaols in Cambridgeshire, 
 Howard returned to Cardington. But his home 
 was now but a temporary resting-place, — scarcely 
 that on this occasion. It was visited because it 
 came in the road he travelled, and no domestic 
 concerns were allowed to interrupt his plans. We 
 therefore find that on the two following days the 
 gaols of his own county were reinspected ; and 
 this being done, the next day (Feb. 14.) he again 
 started, and pursued his course through the coun- 
 ties of Hertford, Kent, Sussex, Hants, and Dorset. 
 At Maidstone, and at Horsham, new gaols were 
 now building ; the latter, as we shall hereafter see, 
 on a plan greatly approved of by Howard. 
 
 Thus cheered and encouraged, he determined to 
 revisit the London prisons, and Ave find that the 
 greater part of the next two months was spent in 
 the metropolis. On his way he inspected the 
 prisons at Windsor. That belonging to the Castle 
 was out of repair ; but a complaint having been 
 made that exorbitant fees were exacted, the King 
 had ordered they should be reduced, and they were 
 now lower than the tables of other prisons showed 
 were common. The town gaol was in all respects 
 one of the worst. The gaols at St. Alban's, which 
 he examined on the same day, were little better. 
 
 On Howard's arrival in London, Newgate imme- 
 diately attracted his attention: considerable altera-
 
 RE-INSPECTION OF NEWGATE. 191 
 
 tions had been made, and a large portion entirely 
 reconstructed, and he was anxious to learn what 
 improvements had been effected. The following 
 amongst other particulars of this important prison, 
 with which so many events of painful interest are 
 associated *, are thus given : — 
 
 " The builders of Old Newgate seem to have regarded, 
 in their plan, nothing but the single article of keeping 
 prisoners in safe custody. The rooms and cells were so 
 close, as to be almost the constant seats of disease, and 
 sources of infection ; to the destruction of multitudes, not 
 only in the prison, but abroad. The City had therefore 
 very good reason for their resolution to build a new gaol. 
 The plate will give a better idea of it than any description. 
 I give the plan, rather to satisfy the curiosity of my read- 
 ers, than as a model to be followed. Many inconveniences 
 of the old gaol are avoided in this new one : but it has 
 some manifest errors. It is now too late to point out par- 
 ticulars. All I say is, that, without more than ordinary 
 care, the prisoners in it will be in great danger of the gaol 
 fever. 
 
 "The cells built in Old Newgate a few years since for 
 condemned malefactors, are intended for the same use at 
 present. I shall therefore give some account of them. 
 There are upon each of the three floors five ; all vaulted, 
 near nine feet high to the crown. In the upper part of 
 each cell is a window double grated, near three feet by one 
 
 * One of the most interesting notices of the Newgate of former 
 days is found in the 2nd vol. of Latimer's Remains, lately published 
 by the Parker Society. It describes Latimer's conference " with Mr. 
 Bainham, who after his condemnation was lodged up in the deep dun- 
 geon in Newgate ready to be sent to the fire. . . . When Mr. Latimer 
 and others the next day before he was burnt were come down into the 
 dungeon, where all things seemed utterly dark, there they found 
 Bainham sitting upon a couch of straw, with a book and a wax candle 
 in his hand, praying and reading thereupon."
 
 192 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 and a half. The doors are four inches thick. The strong 
 stone wall is lined all round each cell with planks, studded 
 with broad-headed nails. In each cell is a barrack bed- 
 stead. I was told by those who attended me, that crimi- 
 nals who bad affected an air of boldness during their trial, 
 and appeared quite unconcerned at the pronouncing of 
 sentence upon them, were struck with horror, and shed 
 tears, when brought to these darksome solitary abodes. 
 I went twice to prayers there : the few pri- 
 soners who were present, seemed attentive ; but we were 
 disturbed by the noise in the court. Surely they who will 
 not go to chapel, who are by far the greatest number, 
 should be locked up in their rooms during the time of 
 divine service, and not suffered to hinder the edification of 
 such as are better disposed. 
 
 " There are several legacies for debtors, and the donation 
 of Robert Dow, who left 11. 6s. 8d. yearly for ever to the 
 sexton or bellman of St. Sepulchre's, to pronounce so- 
 lemnly two exhortations to the persons condemned, the 
 night before their execution ; in these words — 
 
 ' You prisoners who are within, 
 Who for wickedness and sin, 
 
 after many mercies shown you, are now appointed to die 
 to-morrow in the forenoon, give ear and understand, that 
 to-morrow morning, the greatest bell of St. Sepulchre's 
 shall toll for you in form and manner of a passing bell, as 
 used to be tolled for those that are at the point of death, 
 to the end that all godly people may pray,' &c. &c." * 
 
 Howard's next visit was to the Bridewell, of 
 which, quoting Johnson, he tells us that — 
 
 " This building was formerly a palace, near St. Bridget's 
 (St. Bride's) well; from whence it had the name; which, 
 
 * State of Prisons, pp. 173 — 175.
 
 LONDON PKISONS. 193 
 
 after it became a prison, was applied to other prisons of 
 the same sort. It was given to the City by King Edward 
 VT. in 1552."* 
 
 There were many excellent regulations in this 
 establishment. The prisoners had a liberal allow- 
 ance, suitable employment, and some proper in- 
 struction ; but their wise visitor lamented that 
 they were not more separated. He further adds 
 in commendation, and with the hope that a feel- 
 ing of shame might enforce compassion, when per- 
 suasion had failed, — "In winter they have some 
 firing. The night-rooms are supplied with straw. 
 No other prison in London has any straw or bedding." 
 Such a mild censure was well deserved ; but on 
 the following day, when visiting the Surry gaol in 
 Horsemonger Lane, he had further proof that such 
 cruel parsimony was not confined to London, or 
 other large cities, where commerce is said to en- 
 gross the mind without enlarging the heart : for in 
 that prison he saw that not only for the healthful 
 and strong was no straw allowed, but the sick and 
 enfeebled had nothing better. Seemingly unpitied, 
 and unprovided with a particle of bedding, they 
 languished upon the bare floor in that merciless 
 abode ! f Passing from a place where his heart 
 was pierced with the sight of suffering so neglected, 
 he obtained some relief when at the New Ludgate 
 he discovered that since his former visit an adcli' 
 tional allowance had been made to the debtors of 
 that prison. \ But on the following day his wounds 
 
 * State of Prisons, pp. 173. 191. + lb. p. 204. \ lb. 183. 
 
 O
 
 194 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 bled afresh at the wrongs of fellow-men when he 
 found that the authorities at Clerkenwell prison 
 had raised the fees demanded of their impoverished 
 victims from 5s. 6d. to Is. * As though humanity 
 had been stretched too far when the innocent were 
 released without being compelled to pay for the 
 injury they had received, injustice would now 
 extort compensation from those who, if they had 
 violated the law, had endured the penalty, and 
 whose offence no longer subjected them to its 
 claims. Again visiting the Surry bridewell f he 
 found that its filthy condition endangered the 
 health of all its inmates, whilst those by whom its 
 destructive influence was already felt were then as 
 much disregarded as in the gaol of this county. 
 At the Savoy, a military prison which Howard now 
 visited for the first time, he informs us — 
 
 " There were, besides the black hole, the condemned hold, 
 the cockpit, and several other parts of this irregular build- 
 ing, which I pass over. 
 
 'March 15, 1776, there were 119 prisoners; of whom 
 forty-nine were transports. I saw many sick and dying. 
 The gaol was so infected by them that the distemper has 
 been caught there by many since; and if it be not tho- 
 roughly purified, it will destroy many more. The whole 
 is indeed much out of repair ; hardly any part of it se- 
 cure." % 
 
 The Fleet was at this time revisited, and the 
 iniquities before described still prevailed. A short 
 tour of inspection into the counties of Kent and 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 194. f Ibid. 236. % lb. 201.
 
 EEVISITS THE CONTINENT. 195 
 
 Surry was next made, and fresh scenes of atrocity 
 discovered ; other wretched victims relieved. The 
 bridewells at Dartford and Kingston are espe- 
 cially noticed. The horrible condition of the 
 former had engendered that terrible scourge the 
 gaol fever, of which some had died. It was in 
 every respect deficient and faulty: — 
 
 " No chimneys ; no sewers : the rooms dirty : no water : 
 no straw : mats, but all worn out : allowance 2d. a day. 
 The keeper said they had had a bad fever, which himself 
 and family and every fresh prisoner caught." * 
 
 At Kingston the prison had been recently built, 
 and was far better than most, but some of the re- 
 gulations were very objectionable, e. g. a shilling 
 was demanded from a prisoner when committed, 
 before he was allowed access to the court-yard. 
 Here was a prisoner just returned from the sessions 
 at Ryegate, who stated that " he and fifteen others 
 were confined there two or three days in a very 
 small room ; and almost suffocated. The keeper, 
 who was present, confirmed the fact."f 
 
 Although our indefatigable philanthropist was 
 most careful in his investigation, and very cautious 
 in recording what he witnessed, yet his earnest de- 
 sire to be strictly accurate in every statement in- 
 duced him not only to reinspect from time to time, 
 and often when least expected, the prisons in his 
 own country, but to revisit those on the Continent, 
 that the least mistake might be corrected, and every 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 227. t Ib - 236i 
 
 o 2
 
 196 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 additional improvement noticed. He therefore 
 again left England May 25. 1776, and on the 1st 
 of June we observe he was in Paris. In this city 
 the general appearance of its penal establishments 
 was very superior to all he had left, whilst the dis- 
 cipline pursued within them presented a contrast 
 still more striking. We need not again follow 
 Howard in his survey : it may be sufficient to men- 
 tion the most remarkable points in the treatment 
 of criminals which were preferable to plans adopted 
 in England : — The gaoler always resided at the 
 prison. The sexes in the prison were separated. 
 Criminals were not kept in irons : suitable employ- 
 ment was provided : the diet was sufficient and 
 good : health was much preserved by exercise. In- 
 firmaries were properly arranged for the sick. No 
 spirituous liquors were allowed : and all jxrofane 
 language was forbidden. And by the constant 
 superintendence of authorities these regulations 
 were carefully enforced. By giving publicity to 
 these facts in his native land, Howard might reason- 
 ably hope, that, if no higher motive prevailed, a 
 spirit of emulation would lead to the correction of 
 those vicious customs, and cruel practices, which 
 tended to the degradation and disgrace of a country 
 otherwise preeminent. 
 
 But Howard's admiration of these prison regu- 
 lations in Paris could not be extended to the pro- 
 vinces of France. On his way to Switzerland he 
 tells us that he " found many prisoners in dungeons. 
 In the tour horrid ones at the prison of St. Joseph
 
 ENTERS SWITZERLAND. 197 
 
 at Lyons were twenty-nine criminals : the heat so 
 excessive that few of them had any other garment 
 on than their shirts. Some of them were sick ; 
 none looked healthy."* But if the dungeons in 
 this city called for severe censure, the large hospital 
 he there inspected — 1' Hotel Dieu — well deserved 
 commendation. Its construction was excellent, the 
 various parts being well adapted for the treatment 
 of different diseases. " The whole was clean and 
 quiet. There were eight chaplains; nine physi- 
 cians and surgeons ; and twelve sisters." He parti- 
 cularly mentions the " chambres de convalescence," 
 as an admirable arrangement which should be 
 adopted in every similar establishment, f 
 
 In the little republic of Geneva Howard informs 
 us that "in the prison, which was formerly the 
 bishop's palace, there were only five criminals; 
 none of them in irons ; and two debtors. For some 
 years there has been no capital punishment." J 
 
 Our benevolent tourist had now reached a coun- 
 try in which many sound opinions he had formed 
 as the result of very considerable observation were 
 to be confirmed by proofs which experience af- 
 forded : — 
 
 " In entering Switzerland from Geneva," he writes, " a 
 traveller will be surprised to meet frequently with a gibbet 
 on the road, if he be not informed that almost every seig- 
 neurie has a prison, and possesses the power of trying 
 criminals, and capitally convicting them. . . . 
 
 " In those of the cantons to which I went, felons have 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 150. f lh &- P- 151 - t Ib ' P- 10 ^ 
 
 o 3
 
 198 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 each a room to themselves, ' that they may not,'' said the 
 keepers, ' tutor one another.'' None were in irons : they are 
 kept in rooms more or less strong and lightsome, according 
 to the crimes they are charged with. But the prisons are 
 in general very strong. The rooms are numbered, and the 
 keys marked with the same numbers. In most of them a 
 German stove. The common allowance sixpence a day. 
 In some cantons there were no prisoners of this sort. The 
 principal reason of it is, the greatest care is taken to give 
 children, even the poorest, a moral and religious * educa- 
 tion. Another thing which contributed to the same inten- 
 tion, is the laudable policy of speedy justice." j- 
 
 At Lausanne Howard informs us that he con- 
 versed with an intelligent physician — Dr. Tissot 
 — respecting the gaol fever, and felt how the re- 
 proach upon his country was merited when told 
 that " he had not heard of its being anywhere but 
 in England. I should not find it in Switzerland." 
 An assertion which proved correct. " I neither 
 found it," says Howard, " in Switzerland, nor any- 
 Avhere else on the Continent." J At Bern, he had 
 " some discourse with the celebrated Haller on the 
 same subject, and he ascribed the sickness in English 
 gaols to their being overcrowded." 
 
 Here, as at Hanau, the "galley slaves" were 
 employed as public scavengers. The following in- 
 teresting description is given of them : — 
 
 " Four or five are chained to a small waggon, and draw; 
 
 others, more at liberty, sweep, load, &c." Women as well 
 
 men were thus employed, upon which Howard remarks, 
 
 ' See Appendix. f Foreign Prisons, p. 108. 
 
 X Foreign Prisons, p. 111.
 
 SOLOTHURN AND BASLE. 199 
 
 " I detest the custom of daily exposing that sex to such 
 ignominy and severity, unless when they are totally aban- 
 doned, and have lost all the softer feelings of their sex." 
 " All are known by an iron collar, with a hook projecting 
 above their heads : weight above five pounds : I saw one 
 riveted on a criminal in about two minutes. They work 
 in summer from seven to eleven, and from one to six ; and 
 in winter from- eight to eleven, and from one to four. I 
 asked the men, ' Whether they would choose to work so, 
 or be confined within doors?' * Much rather ,' they said, 
 ' tvork thus.' The less criminal are in separate wards. They 
 work within doors, spinning, &c, in a large room ; and 
 
 have not the iron collars I found a few 
 
 miserable for want of employment. They are not suffered 
 to practice gaming of any sort. Indeed this is forbidden 
 to all the common people ; as playing for any considerable 
 sum is to those of higher rank. The keeper and turnkey 
 are to see that the prisoners perform their devotions every 
 morning and evening. The chaplains pray with them and 
 instruct them on Sunday and Thursday. Once a month 
 other clergymen superintend the service. No visitant ad- 
 mitted on Sunday. Thus a principal object here is to 
 make them better men. This, indeed, should always be 
 the leading view in every house of correction; and the 
 earnings of the prisoners should only be a secondary ob- 
 ject. As rational and immortal beings, we owe this to 
 them ; nor can any criminality of theirs, justify our neglect 
 in this particular." * 
 
 The prison at Solothurn, whither the philanthro- 
 pist next directed his course, contained fifteen cells 
 built with a species of marble which attracted his 
 attention. That of Basle was constructed of a like 
 material. We have the following account of it, and 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, pp. 109, 110. 
 o 4
 
 200 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 of an attempt to escape not less ingenious than it 
 was daring : — 
 
 " At Basle, the gaol for felons is in one of the towers. 
 No prisoners ; but many rooms ready with clean straw and 
 blankets. Each prisoner (they said) has a room to him- 
 self, in which he is constantly shut up, except when con- 
 ducted to the council chamber for examination. One of 
 the strongest cells is in a room by the great clock, and is 
 about six feet high : the trap door is in the flat roof: the 
 prisoner goes down by a ladder, which is then taken up : 
 his victuals are put in at a wicket on one side. When I 
 was in the room, and took notice of the uncommon strength 
 of it, the gaoler told me a prisoner had lately made his 
 escape from it. I could not devise what method he took, 
 but heard it was this. He had a spoon for soup, which he 
 sharpened to cut out a piece from the timber of his room : 
 then by practice he acquired the knack of striking his door, 
 just when the great clock struck (to drown the noise) : and 
 in fifteen days he forced all the bolts, &c. But attempting 
 to let himself down from the vast height by a rope which 
 he found, the rope failed him ; and by falling he broke so 
 many of his bones, that the surgeons pronounced his reco- 
 very impossible. But his bones were set ; and with proper 
 care he did recover, and was pardoned." * 
 
 Passing into Germany Howard revisited the prisons 
 which have been already noticed. He records two 
 or three fresh circumstances in the following extract. 
 
 " I saw no underground dungeons in any of the new 
 prisons in Germany, except at Liege : nor indeed in any 
 other new prison abroad. At Lunenburgh the dungeons 
 a re disused : and instead of them are built additional rooms 
 up Btairs; one for each prisoner. And in most of the 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 112.
 
 PROCEEDS TO HOLLAND. 201 
 
 gaols each criminal is alone in his room ; which is more or 
 less strong, lightsome, and airy, as the crime he is charged 
 with is more or less atrocious. One often sees the doors 
 of sundry rooms marked Ethiopia, India, Italy, France, 
 England, &c. In those rooms, parents, by the authority 
 of the magistrates, confine, for a certain time, dissolute 
 children : and if they are inquired after, the answer is, 
 they are gone to Italy, England, &c."* 
 
 Without commending this pious fraud, we might 
 well take a lesson of practical wisdom from the 
 arrangement. We have seen that in Holland petty 
 offenders were preserved from the infamy of com- 
 mittal to the common gaol ; and a sound policy, no 
 less than compassion, must suggest that it would 
 be well, as long as possible, to foster self-respect, 
 and not to degrade the dissolute to the level of the 
 felon. It is dangerous to tamper with feelings 
 which have a moral tendency, and to take away 
 either all self-esteem, or concern for reputation. 
 Much acquaintance with human nature, and many 
 examples, prompted the historian when he said 
 " fama contempta, contemnuntur virtutes." 
 
 Howard had seen much of which he approved in 
 the penal discipline of Holland, and he now re- 
 inspected the prisons of that country. Some alter- 
 ations had been made, and the plan at this time 
 pursued is described thus : — 
 
 " The States do not transport convicts : but men are 
 put to labour in the rasp-houses, and women to proper 
 work in the spin-houses : upon this professed maxim, Make 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 74.
 
 202 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 them diligent, and they will be honest. The rasping log- 
 wood, which was formerly the principal work done by the 
 male convicts, is now in many places performed at the 
 mills much cheaper : and the Dutch finding woollen manu- 
 factures more profitable, have lately set up several of them 
 in those houses of correction. In some, the work of the 
 healthy prisoners does not only support them, but they 
 have a little extra time to earn somewhat for their better 
 living in prison, or for their benefit afterwards. Great 
 care is taken to give them moral and religious instruction, 
 and to reform their manners, for their own and the public 
 good. The chaplain (such there is in every house of cor- 
 rection) does not only perform public worship, but pri- 
 vately instructs the prisoners, catechises them every week, 
 &c, and I am well informed that many come out sober and 
 honest." * 
 
 After revisiting the prisons at Ghent, Howard, in 
 the month of August, directed his course home- 
 wards ; and, at this point of his history, he repeats 
 some of the motives which induced his personal 
 inspection of these foreign prisons : — 
 
 " When I formerly made the tour of Europe for the 
 benefit of my health, which I did some years ago, I seldom 
 had occasion to envy foreigners anything, either as it re- 
 spected their situation, religion, manners, or government. 
 In my late journeys to view their, prisons, I was sometimes 
 put to the blush for my native country. The reader will 
 scarcely feel, from my narration, the same emotions of 
 shame and regret as the comparisons excited in me on be- 
 holding the difference with my own eyes; but, from the 
 account I have given him of foreign prisons, he may judge 
 whether a desire of reforming our own be visionary; whe- 
 ther idleness, debauchery, disease, and famine be the 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 53.
 
 RETURNS TO ENGLAND. 203 
 
 necessary, unavoidable attendants of a prison, or only con- 
 nected with it in our ideas, for want of a more perfect 
 knowledge and more enlarged views. I hope, too, he will 
 do me the justice to think that neither an indiscriminate 
 admiration of every thing foreign, nor a fondness of cen- 
 suring every thing at home, has influenced me to adopt the 
 language of a panegyrist in this part of my work, or that 
 of a complainant in the rest. Where I have commended, 
 I have mentioned my reasons for so doing ; and I have 
 dwelt, perhaps, more minutely upon the management of 
 foreign prisons because it was more agreeable to me to 
 praise than to condemn. Another motive that induced me 
 to be very particular in my account of foreign houses of 
 correction, was to counteract a prevailing opinion among 
 us, that compelling prisoners to work, especially in public, 
 is inconsistent with the principles of English liberty; 
 while, with a strange absurdity, taking away the lives of 
 numbers of our countrymen, either by the hands of the 
 executioner, or by diseases which are almost inevitably 
 the result of long confinement in our close and damp pri- 
 sons, seems to be little regarded. Of such force is custom 
 and prejudice in silencing the voice of good sense and 
 humanity ! I have only to add that, fully sensible of the 
 imperfections which must attend the cursory survey of a 
 traveller, it was my study to remedy that, defect by a con- 
 stant attention to the one object of my pursuit alone, 
 during the whole of my two last journeys abroad." 
 
 The reader may suppose that Howard's constant 
 attention to one exciting and painful subject for 
 many months, during which, without allowing him- 
 self any term of relaxation, he had traversed several 
 countries, must now be followed by some temporary 
 recreation : that his own concerns at Cardington 
 and the intercourse of friends would, for a season, 
 prevent further exertion. Well, then, may we
 
 204 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 wonder at, and admire, that philanthropy which for- 
 bade weariness, and would not suffer a single day 
 to elapse before he had resumed the inspection of 
 gaols in England. Feeling that to loiter in his 
 course would be to lose the great object of his life, 
 he pursued it with an ardour and constancy which 
 nothing could diminish or interrupt. In this tour 
 he was enabled to trace many improvements the re- 
 sult of suggestions he had previously made ; whilst 
 in some prisons flagrant violations of the law still 
 prevailed ; and in others legal punishments were 
 either wantonly or cruelly aggravated by the care- 
 lessness, or more frequently by the covetousness, of 
 their ruthless keepers. He found with much satis- 
 faction that many infirmaries had been erected — 
 that cleanliness was more regarded — and that gaolers, 
 instead of being allowed to " farm the prisoners," 
 were compelled to furnish an appointed quantity of 
 food. Still there were cases of inhumanity in this 
 particular. Amongst them, Howard found in the 
 gaol at Carmarthen* at this time two poor creatures 
 almost starved, because, having committed a petty 
 offence, a fine had been imposed on them Avhich 
 they could not pay, and, having no possible means 
 of earning money, their imprisonment was perpetu- 
 ated. Monstrous indeed it was that the trifling 
 offender should thus languish in hunger without 
 the prospect of release, whilst the felon had his food 
 allowed, and a limit assigned to his detention, be- 
 vni„l which it could not be prolonged! In the 
 
 * State o£ Prisons, p. 422.
 
 MORE CAPTIVES RANSOMED. 205 
 
 prison of Wolverhampton the compassionate visitor 
 remonstrated with the authorities against keeping 
 prisoners in irons, which he found they did : " even 
 those committed for the slightest offences."* At 
 the county gaol at Nottingham many improvements 
 had been effected, but there another case of iniqui- 
 tous extortion presented itself, in which even the 
 clemency of the crown was contravened by the 
 cruelty and cupidity of the gaoler and others. A 
 criminal was there who had received his Majesty's 
 pardon." f But in those days such pardon sometimes 
 increased the penalty. His term of punishment 
 and the fees to be paid were both limited before the 
 grace of pardon was extended. He would have 
 been liberated, when the term had elapsed, upon 
 payment of 145. Sd., but now he must remain in 
 prison until additional fees, augmenting the sum to 
 Si. 9.s. 10rf., should be paid. However, where the 
 benign power of the Sovereign failed, the bene- 
 volence and pity of Howard was effectual. He 
 discharged the debt and delivered the captive. At 
 Cambridge J, another victim of like injustice was 
 found in the " hole," in the person of a poor wretch 
 who had no allowance to preserve him from starva- 
 tion, and whose life depended upon the occasional 
 relief which charity might furnish. 
 
 Another of his numerous circuits of mercy now 
 traversed, the Philanthropist returned to Carding- 
 ton towards the end of September, and appears to 
 have been occupied about three weeks in the arrange- 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 312. f Ibid. 280. % lb. 246.
 
 206 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 raent of his papers, &c. At this time he received 
 information concerning some small prisons for pecu- 
 liar jurisdictions in Yorkshire, which induced him 
 at once to revisit that county. No dungeon which 
 has been described was worse — none more foul or 
 frightful — than those loathsome dismal depths 
 into which Howard now descended. At Richmond 
 and at Kipon they were dark and wretched. These 
 were for criminals : men deserving punishment, 
 although a common humanity should have preserved 
 them from its infliction in dens like those. But 
 there was one for debtors : one into which not 
 only the honest might be cast, but the honourable 
 — the officer who had fought for his country, and 
 deserved its favour, — in whom no fault was found, 
 and against whom no crime was chargeable ; but 
 whose misfortune it might be, that he had faith- 
 fully served, and expended his strength upon, a 
 country which afterwards refused a recompense 
 that might sustain him ; whose poverty should have 
 been a claim to a higher pension, rather than have 
 subjected him to the horrors of a prison — especially 
 to such as that at Knaresborough. 
 
 " It is under the hall : of difficult access : the door about 
 four feet from the ground. Only one room, about twelve 
 feet square. Earth floor : no fire-place : very offensive ; a 
 common sewer from the town running through it uncovered. 
 I was informed that an officer, confined here, took in with 
 him a dog to defend him from vermin ; but the dog was 
 soon destroyed, and the prisoner's face much disfigured by 
 them."* 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 372
 
 HORRIBLE GAOL AT KNARESBOROUGH. 207 
 
 We may have been accustomed to think the ac- 
 count of the poet's victims of the dungeon only 
 an exaggeration of horrors when he says — 
 
 " The rats brush o'er their faces with their tails, 
 And croaking paddocks crawl upon their limbs." 
 
 But surely the prison of Knaresborough proves 
 truth to be more terrible than fiction. 
 
 Howard returned from Yorkshire through the 
 counties of Derby, Leicester, Warwick, Oxford, 
 Berks, and Herts, reinspecting many gaols on his 
 way ; and proceeded to London, where he engaged 
 most assiduously in preparing his notes for publi- 
 cation — a work in Avhich he was materially assisted 
 by his friend and former tutor, the Rev. Mr. Dens- 
 ham, whose house was his home during this pro- 
 cess.* This work appears to have been interrupted 
 three or four times; for, on a careful scrutiny, he 
 found that some places had been passed by when he 
 made his second examination of the prisons he was 
 about to describe ; and such was his precaution and 
 determination to be, as we have before observed, 
 rigidly exact in every statement, that he would not 
 send any one of them to the press, until he had, by re- 
 peated investigation and personal inspection, proved 
 all to be correct — " Nil actum credens, dum quid 
 superesset agendum." On one of these excursions 
 he again travelled through Norfolk, Suffolk, and 
 Essex. In the wretched prison of Wymondham he 
 saw a criminal who was compelled to sleep in a 
 mere pent-up closet (only 6 feet by 4) with two 
 
 * Brown, p. 239.
 
 208 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 others who had cutaneous diseases, and alwaj^s in 
 irons.* At Hertford he found the gaol fever had 
 carried off a number of prisoners and two turn- 
 keys, and was still raging in the prison. After 
 another interval spent in preparing for the press, 
 he again went into Essex, and, subsequently, to 
 Newport and Sudbury, where both prisons were 
 in a miserable state. Another journey was made 
 into the counties of Gloucester, Somerset, and Wilts. 
 Amongst other injured sufferers he found a poor 
 wretched woman who had been acquitted, but was 
 still incarcerated, because she could not pay the 
 gaoler's fees of 3s. Qd. It need scarcely be stated 
 that Howard paid them for her — but let not the 
 reader suppose he tells us so : only to show that 
 nothing detained her but this cruel exaction he 
 says, — " Those fees were paid, and the prisoner 
 released." f 
 
 Howard, toward the close of 1776, spent again 
 considerable time in revisiting the gaols of the me- 
 tropolis ; but as we observe no dates in his account 
 of those prisons between Dec. 26. and Jan. 8., it is 
 probable that this fortnight of the holidays was 
 spent with his son. On the last-named day we 
 find him at Tothillfields bridewell, and two days 
 after at Clerkenwell prison, where he compassionates 
 a number of sick and miserable women, who were 
 lying on the bare floor without bedding. " They 
 complained of sore feet, which, the turnkey said, 
 were quite black." J 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 252. f lb p. 360. J lb. p. 197.
 
 209 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HOWAED GOES TO WARRINGTON. — SUPERINTENDS THE PRINT- 
 ING OF HIS " STATE OF PRISONS." HIS HABITS OF ABSTI- 
 
 STINENCE AND PIETY. HIS DETERMINED ACCURACY. PUB- 
 LICATION, DEDICATION, AND DISTRIBUTION OF HIS WORK. 
 
 SUMMARY OF THE SAME. MODE OF TRAVELLING; CONDUCT 
 
 AT HOTELS ; HIS POSTILIONS CORRECTED. FURTHER IMPROVE- 
 MENTS AT CARDINGTON. HIS SON AT HOME. DEATH OF 
 
 HIS SISTER. MEMORANDA OF RELIGIOUS FEELINGS. THE 
 
 HULKS VISITED. THEIR SHOCKING CONDITION. MORTALITY 
 
 OF CONVICTS. THE TRANSPORTATION QUESTION. EVILS OF 
 
 FORMER SYSTEMS. COLONIES DEGRADED. CONVICTS RE- 
 JECTED : A JUST RETRIBUTION. PRESENT TREATMENT OF 
 
 CONVICTS. CELLULAR IMPRISONMENT. — LABOUR ON PUBLIC 
 
 "WORKS. ESTABLISHMENT AT PORTLAND. — THE CONVICT 
 
 TRANSPORTED. TICKET OF LEAVE. HIS CONDITIONAL PAR- 
 DON. — EMIGRATION OF HIS FAMILY. — PROMISING RESULTS. 
 
 By patient perseverance and oft-repeated investi- 
 gations, which had occupied three years of his life, 
 and cost him the exertion of travelling upwards of 
 ten thousand miles, Howard, having now satisfied 
 himself that his notes upon the vast number of 
 prisons he had visited would bear the most severe 
 scrutiny, resolved to print them. For this purpose 
 he went to Warrington, where his friend Mr. Aikin 
 was, at that time, in practice as a surgeon. The 
 following extract from the sketch of Howard's life 
 written by that celebrated man will be read with 
 
 p
 
 210 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 interest, as describing circumstances attending the 
 publication of a work which, perhaps, was more 
 effective in the prevention of cruelty, the relief of 
 the wretched, and the restraining of vice, than any- 
 other uninspired volume ever given to the world : — 
 
 " He chose the press of Mr. Eyres, at Warrington, 
 induced by various elegant specimens which had issued 
 from it, and by the opportunity a country press afforded 
 of having the work done under his own inspection, at his 
 own time, and with all the minute accuracy of correction 
 he determined to bestow on it. I may also say, that an 
 opinion of the advantage he might there enjoy of some 
 literary assistance in the revision and improvement of his 
 papers, was a farther motive. To this choice I was in- 
 debted for that intimate personal acquaintance with him 
 which I shall ever esteem one of the most honourable 
 circumstances of my life, and the lively recollection of 
 which will, I trust, never quit me while memory remains. 
 He resided in Warrington during the whole time of print- 
 ing, and his attention to business was most indefatigable. 
 During a very severe winter he made it his practice to 
 rise at three or four in the morning, for the purpose of 
 collating every word and figure of his daily proof-sheet 
 with the original. 
 
 " As I thought it right to mention Mr. Howard's lite- 
 rary deficiencies, it is become necessary to inform the 
 public of the manner in which his works were composed. 
 On his return from his tours he took all his memorandum 
 books to an old retired friend of his, who assisted him in 
 methodising them, and copied out the whole matter in 
 correct language. They were then put into the hands of 
 Dr. Price, from whom they underwent a revision, and re- 
 ceived occasionally considerable alterations. What Mr. 
 Howard himself thought of the advantages they derived 
 from his assistance, will appear from the following passages
 
 RESIDES AT WARRINGTON. 211 
 
 in letters to Dr. Price. * I am ashamed to think how 
 much I have accumulated your labours, yet I glory in that 
 assistance to which I owe so much credit in the world, 
 and, under Providence, success in my endeavours.' . . . ' It 
 is from your kind aid and assistance, my dear friend, that I 
 derive so much of my character and influence. I exult in 
 declaring it, and shall carry a grateful sense of it to the 
 last hour of my existence.' With his papers thus cor- 
 rected, he came to the press at Warrington ; and first he 
 read them all over carefully with me, which perusal was 
 repeated, sheet by sheet, as they were printed. As new 
 facts and observations were continually suggesting them- 
 selves to his mind, he put the matter of them upon paper 
 as they occurred, and then requested me to clothe them 
 in such expressions as I thought proper. On these occa- 
 sions, such was his diffidence, that I found it difficult to 
 make him acquiesce in his own language when, as fre- 
 quently happened, it was unexceptionable." * 
 
 Thomasson, who has been already spoken of as the 
 early attendant of his beloved child, and who was 
 in consequence Howard's favourite servant, in the 
 rough journal which he kept, recorded some in- 
 teresting particulars of his master at this period. 
 He informs us that lodgings were 'taken very near 
 to the printer's shop ; that although the winter was 
 so severe, yet the self-denying author, who did not 
 retire to rest till past ten, rose earlier than Dr. Aikin 
 has described : Thomasson, who surely remembered 
 the task, was enjoined to call him every morning at 
 two o'clock, because in the stillness of that time he 
 could best revise his proof-sheets. At seven he 
 dressed : breakfast was finished by eight ; and at 
 
 * Aikin, pp. 62 — 66. 
 p 2
 
 212 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 that hour the author was more punctual in his at- 
 tendance at the printing-office than the compositor. 
 There he remained several hours in the day ; but, 
 leaving with the workmen at one o'clock, he com- 
 monly took a stroll in the outskirts of the town, 
 having first stored his pocket with bread and dried 
 fruit, which, with a glass of cold water, was his din- 
 ner-fare. The evening was spent with Mr. Aikin, 
 or with some one of the few friends which the 
 little town afforded. On returning to his lodgings, 
 and after taking a little tea or coffee, he retired for 
 his short night's rest. Yet, before this, there was 
 a duty never omitted. What though his establish- 
 ment had been broken up, and he had no solemn 
 account to render of the way in which his house- 
 hold was ordered in the fear of God, or his domes- 
 tics instructed in those truths of religion which, 
 whilst they enforce a holy faithfulness to a 
 Heavenly Master, most surely promote fidelity and 
 affectionate service to those on earth; — yet there 
 was one with him for whom he felt himself re- 
 sponsible, and over Avhose welfare he must watch. 
 Howard never so much dishonoured God, or dis- 
 regarded the chief good of man, as to neglect family 
 prayer whilst he had a home wherein to offer it ; or 
 he had not been so honoured himself. And noAV 
 that one servant waited on him, he must also 
 worship with him. Wherever they went it was the 
 same. Howard said, " If I have a tent, God shall 
 have an altar ;" and, accordingly, Thomasson was 
 always told to come at a given time, when the door
 
 HIS "state of prisons. 213 
 
 was fastened, and no interruption suffered before 
 their devotions were ended. What wonder that 
 the servant revered and loved his master, and that 
 the remembrance of such united prayer prompted 
 the expression — " Yery few knew the goodness of 
 this man's heart ! " 
 
 Whilst Howard was thus sedulous in the super- 
 intendence of his publication, and very anxious for 
 its completion, he learned that there had been a 
 manorial gaol at Houlton Castle, which, though it 
 had not been cccupied for many years, was still a 
 prison. Resolved, therefore, that his work should 
 be as perfect as possible, he suspended the printing 
 until he had inspected this secluded spot. An in- 
 scription told its purpose ; and two dungeons, long 
 disused, had formed the prison. The bridewell, 
 part of the workhouse, in the town of Warrington 
 was also visited ; but that too was empty. 
 
 In a fortnight after those visits the book was 
 finished. It was dated from Cardington on the 
 5th of April, 1777, and dedicated " to the House of 
 Commons, in gratitude for the encouragement 
 which they had given to the design, and for the 
 honour they had conferred on the author." We 
 further learn from Dr. Aikin that — 
 
 " So zealous was Mr. Howard to diffuse information, and 
 so determined to obviate any idea that he meant to repay 
 his expenses by the profitable trade of book-making, that, 
 besides the profuse munificence in presenting copies to all 
 the principal persons in the kingdom, and all his particular 
 friends, he insisted on fixing the price of the volume so
 
 214 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 low, that, had every copy been sold, he would still have 
 presented the public with all the plates, and great part 
 of the printing. And this practice he followed in all his 
 subsequent publications ; so that, with literal propriety, 
 he may be said to have given them to the world. By the 
 large expenses of his journeys, charities, and publications, 
 he has made himself even a greater pecuniary benefactor 
 to mankind than can readily be paralleled in any age or 
 country, his proportionate circumstances considered. Yet 
 how small a part was this of the sacrifices he made ! " * 
 
 Of this volume much has been already given, and 
 reference to it must again be made : its contents 
 are various, and of universal interest. The alle- 
 viation of woe and the correction of vice were its 
 great objects. The first section gives a general view 
 of " distress in prisons;" and its prevalency being 
 fully proved, the Philanthropist proceeds to point 
 out the remedies, and to plead for their adminis- 
 tration. At the conclusion of the first section is a 
 remonstrance, which might have been offensive 
 from others, although spoken in the spirit of meek- 
 ness ; but the ardour, self-denial, and indefatigable 
 exertions of Howard gave him authority to re- 
 prove, and the right was recognised. He could 
 speak with sympathy, for he himself had suffered ; 
 from experience, for he had explored the dungeons 
 of wretchedness and fathomed the depths of woe ! 
 
 " Non ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco." 
 
 Such might well be his motto ; and men in general, 
 knowing the truth, admired his motives, and, if 
 
 * Aikin, p. 61.
 
 HIS "state of prisons." 215 
 
 they would not imitate his conduct, submitted to 
 his reproofs. Some, following his advice, partook 
 of his spirit, and proved the quality of that mercy 
 which prompted it ; — being blessed themselves, 
 they became a blessing to many. 
 
 " Those gentlemen who, when they are told of the 
 misery which our prisoners suffer, content themselves with 
 saying, Let them take care to keep out, prefaced perhaps 
 with an angry prayer, seem not duly sensible of the favour 
 of Providence which distinguishes them from the sufferers : 
 they do not remember that we are required to imitate our 
 gracious Heavenly Parent, who is ' kind to the unthankful 
 and the evil.' They also forget the vicissitudes of human 
 affairs ; the unexpected changes to which all men are 
 liable ; and that those whose circumstances are affluent, 
 may in time be reduced to indigence, and become debtors 
 and prisoners." 
 
 After thus deprecating the cruel indifference 
 which had prevailed, Howard proceeds with sug- 
 gestions for the improvement of gaols, and strongly 
 enforces not only the necessary expenditure, but 
 constant supervision : — 
 
 " Among justices there may always be found one man 
 generous enough to undertake this important service. He 
 should make his visit once a week, or at most in a fortnight, 
 changing his days. He should speak with every prisoner ; 
 hear all complaints ; and immediately correct what he finds 
 manifestly wrong: what he doubts of, he may refer to his 
 brethren in office, at their next meeting. A good gaoler 
 will be pleased with this scrutiny : it will do him honour, 
 and confirm him in his station. In case of a less worthy 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 15. 
 p 4
 
 216 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 gaoler, the examination is more needful, in order to his 
 being reprimanded ; and, if he be incorrigible, to his being 
 discharged. This honourable delegate should have no 
 salary : he should engage from the noble motive of doing 
 justice to prisoners, and service to his country."* 
 
 Howard's recommendations are concluded by 
 declaring it as his belief that a Parliamentary in- 
 quiry was necessary to the effectual reformation 
 of prisons, and he closes the volume by saying — 
 
 " Should this be undertaken, I would cheerfully (relying 
 still on the protection of that kind Hand which has 
 hitherto preserved me, and to which I desire to offer my 
 most thankful acknowledgments!) devote my time to one 
 more extensive foreign journey, in which the Prussian and 
 Austrian territories, and the most considerable free cities 
 of Germany, would probably afford some new and useful 
 lights on this important national concern." 
 
 The abstemiousness and persevering industry 
 which distinguished Howard, and have probably 
 surprised the reader, were almost equally remarkable 
 on all occasions. His biographer observes — 
 
 " The following account of his mode of travelling, com- 
 municated to me by a gentleman in Dublin, who had much 
 free conversation with him, and the substance of which I 
 well recollect to have heard from himself, will, I doubt not, 
 prove interesting. When he travelled in England or Ire- 
 land, it was generally on horseback, and he rode about 
 forty English miles a day. He was never at a loss for an 
 inn. When in Ireland, or the Highlands of Scotland, he 
 used to stop at one of the poor cabins that stick up a rag 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 43.
 
 FIRMNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 217 
 
 by way of a sign, and get a little milk. When he came to 
 the town he was to sleep at, he bespoke a supper, with 
 wine and beer, like another traveller, but made his man 
 attend him and take it away whilst he was preparing his 
 bread and milk. He always paid the waiters, postilions, 
 &c. liberally, because he would have no discontent or dis- 
 pute, nor suffer his spirits to be agitated for such a matter ; 
 saying that in a journey that might cost three or four hun- 
 dred pounds, fifteen or twenty pounds addition was not 
 worth thinking about." * 
 
 Another interesting particular of his plans pur- 
 sued whilst travelling illustrates the combined 
 firmness and benevolence of his character : — 
 
 " Mr. Howard observed, that he had found few things 
 more difficult to manage than postchaise drivers, who 
 would seldom comply with his wishes of going slow or fast, 
 till he adopted the following method. At the end of a 
 stage, when the driver had been perverse, he desired the 
 landlord to send for some poor industrious widow, or other 
 proper object of charity, and to introduce such person and 
 the driver together. He then paid the latter his fare, and 
 told him, that as he had not thought proper to attend tolas 
 repeated requests as to the manner of being driven, he 
 should not make him any present ; but, to show him that 
 he did not withhold it out of a principle of parsimony, he 
 would give the poor person present double the sum usually 
 given to a postilion. This he did, and dismissed the par- 
 ties. He had not long practised this mode, he said, before 
 he experienced the good effects of it on all the roads where 
 he was known." f 
 
 When Howard had printed and distributed his 
 
 * Aikin, p. 224. t Ibid. p. 218.
 
 218 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 " State of Prisons," &c, he retired for a time to 
 Cardington, where he again enjoyed the intercourse 
 of his friends, erected more cottages on his estate, 
 and carefully superintended the schools, which were 
 in a prosperous condition. His son, as proved by 
 Howard's letters, had been ever present to his 
 mind, but he was now able to receive him to his 
 paternal home for a short period ; and many were 
 the sisms which those around him could discern 
 of the constancy and sincerity of his affection 
 towards him. But the spirits of that child, we are 
 told, were buoyant, and his disposition volatile.* 
 The father, on the contrary, when cheerful, was 
 sedate ; when most lively, somewhat stern. His 
 inflexible purpose — still enforced by the apparent 
 frowns of authority, rather than by the smiles of 
 parental affection — was always accomplished, but 
 often at the expense of love. He demanded obe- 
 dience and secured submission, yet it was at the 
 costly sacrifice of filial attachment. The bonds of 
 restraint were still formed by fear, and therefore, 
 although effective for a time, were continually 
 weakened by straining, and were the more sure to 
 burst asunder at some time, as the attempt to 
 strengthen them increased. But let us not an- 
 ticipate a tale of sorrow. Young Howard was at 
 this time sent to an academy at Daventry, under 
 the superintendence of the Rev. Mr. Robins, f 
 On the 12th day of August, Howard's only sister 
 
 * Brown, p. 2.18. f Gent. Mag., April, 1790.
 
 DEATH OF HIS SISTER. 219 
 
 died. Of her history few particulars have sur- 
 vived her. She bequeathed to her brother the 
 whole of her property — amounting to about 
 20,000/., an accession to his income which he 
 esteemed providential, because it enabled him to 
 pursue and extend his plans of charity, without 
 encumbering the patrimonial estate, or in any way 
 impoverishing his son. Here, however, the rest- 
 less voice of slander has been raised ; and an in- 
 vidious writer, with a malignity as apparent as the 
 reproach was false, has endeavoured to detract from 
 the excellence even of Howard, by insinuating that 
 both the aunt and the parent were regardless of the 
 prospects of the child. The father was, however, 
 fully justified, and felt, as indeed he occasionally 
 affirmed, thankful that he could increase his 
 benevolent efforts with the satisfaction of knowing 
 that, beside the estate which the son would inherit, 
 ample provision was made for him from other 
 sources. 
 
 Of Howard's Christian attainments and his spi- 
 ritual condition at this time we have pleasing testi- 
 mony in a memorandum book, which, amongst 
 other papers, was preserved by his servant. It con- 
 tains many indications of humility, religious fer- 
 vour, steadfastness of faith and habitual holiness 
 of life. There was a reality and an energy in his 
 piety, constantly enlivened and invigorated by the 
 Divine Spirit which dwelt within him — that Spirit 
 often prompting holy ejaculations ; and thus amidst 
 the common intercourse with men he communed
 
 220 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 with his God, and grew in grace. There is sim- 
 plicity in his expressions and prayers ; and they 
 are exactly suited to his circumstances, whilst de- 
 voting himself to his arduous labours. " Let me 
 not forget," he writes at the beginning of this book, 
 " that time is always on the wing : that my account 
 is every moment hastening on." Somewhat further 
 on there is proof that this was not a mere senti- 
 ment of no practical effect, but a perception of truth 
 exciting prayer and pious resolutions : — 
 
 " O my soul ! seek the Lord while He may be found, 
 call upon Him ! consider well thy sacred engagements, be 
 not conformed to this world ; die unto sin ; live unto 
 righteousness ! Think upon those things which belong 
 unto thy everlasting peace, for thou art dead, and thy life 
 is hid with Christ in God ! Let every darling sin be re- 
 moved ; for sin is enmity to God ; and put on bowels of 
 mercy ! Shew thyself the servant of Christ ! O my God ! 
 set these sacred things home on my heart ; and after the 
 great things Thou hast done in and by me, let not the 
 poor, weak, helpless instrument be lost and cast into the 
 fire ; but, O God ! for Christ's sake, make me an ever- 
 lasting monument of Thy grace, and to Thee be all the 
 praise ! " 
 
 He could not doubt, as the above extract im- 
 plies, that God was rendering him the instru- 
 ment of effecting " great things ; " and whilst he 
 acknowledged this with gratitude, and gave Him 
 the glory, he prayed that his efforts might always 
 proceed from right principles, and be regulated by 
 the Divine governance : hence the petition —
 
 VISIT TO THE HULKS. 221 
 
 " May I see the wisdom and feel the power of God in 
 the Gospel, making me to do good, and to promote the 
 temporal and eternal interest of men ! " 
 
 Well might a Christian thus watchful over his 
 motives, and so constant in the use of means, re- 
 solve to persevere in hope, whilst depending upon 
 Almighty power for help ! The following entry- 
 declares his resolution and his reliance : — 
 
 " Ere long my work shall he at an end. Let me not 
 grow weary in well-doing, for I shall reap if I faint not. 
 Hold THOU up my goings ! " 
 
 In distributing his publication on the "State of 
 Prisons," Howard took especial care that members 
 of the Legislature — who were likely to investigate 
 the subject, and had power to correct the evils it 
 described — should be supplied with copies. The 
 work attracted, if not all the attention it deserved, 
 yet enough to be productive of very great advan- 
 tage. A short time previously to its coming out, 
 a change in the arrangements for convicts under 
 sentence of transportation had been made, which 
 induced Howard to suppress his statements con- 
 cerning the treatment to which they were sub- 
 jected — proving " that many cruelties and impo- 
 sitions were commonly practised, and that their 
 condition was equally contrary to humanity and 
 sound policy." It had been resolved to retain 
 those convicts under penal labour in England, in- 
 stead of longer polluting and thereby provoking her 
 colonies by such importations of crime. As an ex-
 
 222 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 periment, some hulks were appropriated to the con- 
 finement of such criminals. They had not been long 
 on board before, in the autumn of 1776, they were 
 visited by the Philanthropist. On that occasion he 
 saw much that was objectionable ; but he says — 
 " As the scheme is new and temporary, I am un- 
 willing to complain." But in 1778 a Select Com- 
 mittee was appointed to investigate this question ; 
 and Howard, being examined, described what he 
 had observed on board the Justitia, on the occasion 
 referred to. He saw all the convicts — they had 
 very little clothing, and worse food : the biscuit 
 was green and mouldy. The captain had endea- 
 voured to deceive his visitor on this subject, and 
 his indignation prompted a sharp rebuke. Many 
 of the convicts recognised him ; he saw they were 
 ill, but they had neither advice nor medicine. The 
 ship was loathsome, and the sick had nothing but the 
 boards whereon to lie. Their misery may in some 
 measure be estimated by the mortality: 176 — 
 nearly a third part — died in two years ! The inspec- 
 tion was made on a Sunday, that the convicts might 
 all be seen, but there was neither Divine Service 
 nor religious instruction provided. The dying 
 were disregarded — Those dead, where were they ! 
 — Wisely indeed does our Church teach us, whilst 
 we seek the forgiveness of our own offences, to pray 
 that God may not take vengeance upon us for sins 
 like these. 
 
 Howard's inspection of the Justitia, his resolute 
 determination evinced on that occasion, and the
 
 THE HULK SYSTEM. 223 
 
 faithful reproofs he then gave, were not without 
 effect ; and on a second visit, in 1778, he found that 
 the more gross violations of trust had been dis- 
 continued, and that the convicts were in a far 
 better condition : still there were many grievances 
 calling for redress, and much evil in the system 
 itself which could not be rectified. Howard readily 
 detected the abuses and saw the difficulty. He 
 was asked in the course of his examination whether 
 — if this temporary provision were given up — the 
 convicts could be confined in the county gaols ; and 
 he replied that they were not secure enough, accom- 
 panying the remark with a merited censure upon 
 the Justices who were guilty of disregarding the 
 law in this matter. A bill therefore was passed for 
 continuing this hulk system. 
 
 The Legislature, convinced by Howard's evidence 
 that floating prisons were less suitable for the con- 
 finement of criminals than buildings constructed 
 on land, but anxious to extend the system of em- 
 ploying prisoners in this country, proposed the 
 erection of places of confinement similar to those in 
 Holland, which had been so much commended by 
 the careful inspector. To this end the draft of a 
 bill was prepared by Sir W. Blackstone and Mr. 
 Eden ; and Howard — that he might obtain further 
 information on the plans there pursued — again 
 embarked for the Continent. 
 
 Although it be not the design of the writer to 
 enter at any length upon the question of trans-
 
 224: LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 portation, by a particular account of the different 
 plans of past clays, the sad results of which he has 
 elsewhere described* — yet, as the subject is now 
 under consideration, and still most important, it is 
 of sufficient interest to justify some interruption of 
 the narrative. 
 
 We have perhaps reason to be thankful that, as 
 the sequel will show, the plan for retaining convicts 
 in England failed. The prison discipline on the 
 Continent, not only in Howard's day, but within 
 the last ten years, was far superior to our own ; yet 
 the consequences of not transporting heinous 
 offenders have been most disastrous. The writer 
 was called upon to give evidence before a Select 
 Committee of the House of Lords on this subject in 
 1847, and he read few parts of the Report which 
 was subsequently drawn up with more satisfaction 
 than that which recommended that " the punish- 
 ment of transportation should be retained for 
 serious offences " — supporting the opinion by a 
 reference to the state of France and Norway. 
 
 The more recent disturbances, and the present 
 uncertain condition, of the former country, justify 
 the warning which their lordships' foresight sug- 
 gested. Whilst as respects the latter, the conse- 
 quences of retaining their criminals were so perilous, 
 that at the city of Christiania no police force could 
 prove sufficient. " The liberated convicts bore 
 such proportion to the population, that the inha- 
 
 * Prison Discipline, vol. ii.
 
 THE TRANSPORTATION QUESTION. 225 
 
 bitants were called upon to provide the means of 
 their own security from such persons."* 
 
 But if the safety and welfare of England have 
 required the expatriation of offenders, — and our 
 own preservation from the anarchy which has else- 
 where prevailed is to be ascribed in a measure to 
 the system of transportation, which was only for a 
 short time interrupted, — shall a feeling of grati- 
 tude for such a result prevent our shame and sorrow 
 when we consider the manner by which the calamity 
 has been averted ? Should it be so, then repentance 
 may yet be forced upon us. There is, perhaps, no 
 national sin by which a Christian country has more 
 dishonoured itself and debased others. By the 
 system pursued, the bodies and the souls of men 
 were destroyed, our colonies corrupted, and perhaps 
 a scourge prepared which may even yet be inflicted 
 upon the parent land. Indeed, at this day, and in 
 recent occurrences, we discern some retribution. 
 The wise policy of transporting criminals has pre- 
 served England's constitution at home, but the 
 guilty manner of doing so has endangered her 
 dominion abroad. Both under the assignment 
 system — which sold men as slaves, and which 
 therefore made the punishment depend rather upon 
 the disposition of the master than upon the crime 
 of the convict ; and under the 'probation system — 
 which ensured more equitable punishment, and set 
 before the criminal the stimulus of hope, — men 
 were banished from their country, without any 
 
 * Report of the Committee on the Execution of the Criminal Law. 
 
 Q
 
 220 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 attempt at previous correction; and, on their ar- 
 rival in a penal colony, instead of adequate means 
 for their reformation, there was every thing calcu- 
 lated to deteriorate, and to sink the victim of such 
 misrule into the lowest depths of impurity and 
 vice. This continued for a time, until our penal 
 settlements had become the scenes of wickedness 
 too loathsome for language to describe, and much 
 too horrible to be more than hinted at in these 
 pages. They became at last too abominable to be 
 longer tolerated, and a remedy was attempted! 
 Transportation was again suspended for a season : 
 it was a time of transition to a better system. 
 But the introduction of a plan, certainly the best 
 which has ever been devised, could not eradicate 
 that corruption which had now become deep-rooted 
 in our colonies ; nor atone for the wrongs which had 
 been perpetrated ; nor yet convince those who had 
 seen, and suffered from, the enormities of former 
 plans, that the one now substituted would have a 
 tendency to correct the evils which the former had 
 produced. Hence, in a great measure, that re- 
 pugnance to the importation of convicts which has 
 appeared at the Cape and elsewhere, and called 
 forth an opposition so decided that it was not 
 deemed wise to persevere in resisting it. But it is 
 evident that unless this feeling can be overcome 
 the most serious injury to our country must be the 
 inevitable result; since its criminals must then be 
 retained, and after a time allowed to return to 
 former seenes of crime and vicious associates —
 
 THE TRANSPORTATION QUESTION. 227 
 
 there to meet with temptations greater than we 
 can estimate, and which it would be almost pre- 
 sumption to say we should withstand. Such oppo- 
 sition is as reasonable as the retribution is just. 
 It may be, and is, offered in ignorance of the cor- 
 rective efficacy of the discipline now adopted with 
 prisoners before their deportation; yet the oppo- 
 nents have been eye-witnesses of, or have been 
 too correctly informed concerning, the injuries 
 heretofore inflicted. A promising theory is dis- 
 trusted, because those previously tried have failed. 
 The distinction is not perceived, and experience 
 is more convincing than argument. But such mis- 
 conceptions render the explanation of present plans 
 more needful. I proceed, therefore, to give it as 
 concisely as may be consistent with clearness in the 
 account. 
 
 When a culprit becomes a convict, and sentence 
 of transportation is passed upon him, he is detained 
 as short a time as may be in the gaol of his county. 
 He has become a government criminal, and an order 
 is issued from the Home Office for his removal to 
 the prison of Pentonville, Millbank, Wakefield, Read- 
 me-, or some other, as vacancies occur. Here he is 
 in cellular or separate confinement. The discipline 
 pursued in all of these prisons is similar. As 
 most conversant with that of Reading, I describe 
 the course there adopted. On entering the cell, all 
 intercourse with fellow-criminals is at an end for 
 twelve, or sometimes eighteen, months. (In few 
 cases should the latter period be contracted.) Thus
 
 228 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 alone for several hours in the day, his solitude only 
 interrupted by calls to the chapel, the school, the 
 yard for exercise, and by visits of superiors who 
 suggest profitable thoughts, his sins and his sorrows 
 are ever present to him : he reflects, and remorse 
 fills his mind. No labour is allowed during the 
 first month ; although the prisoner, however idle 
 before, begs for manual occupation, and cares little 
 of what kind. Such punishment would be too 
 severe even for a time ; but that the criminal is 
 directed to his Bible, is furnished with other books, 
 and receives such advice as may alleviate his sense 
 of woe. This treatment is temporary in its pur- 
 pose, and is not therefore protracted. The prisoner 
 has learned some preliminary lessons. The rudi- 
 ments of corrective discipline have been acquired. 
 Reflection has enabled him to trace his wretchedness 
 to its cause ; he now sets a value upon employment, 
 and he loves instruction. Some handicraft, which 
 may be of value in the colony, is then taught ; and 
 the day is divided between such useful occupation 
 and the more important mental and spiritual edu- 
 cation, commonly before neglected, often despised. 
 An improvement of mind and morals is thus effected. 
 The seclusion of the cell is still an adequate punish- 
 ment, relieved whilst the prisoner is encouraged 
 (never commanded or compelled — for neither is 
 needful when a privilege is esteemed) to pursue his 
 trade with industry, and to store his mind with 
 sacred truths; which, it is hoped, will, by God's 
 blessing, fortify him and prepare him to resist future
 
 TREATMENT OF CONVICTS. 229 
 
 temptation. By these means it commonly happens 
 that men who had never handled the last or used 
 the needle in their lives, before entering the prison, 
 have, at the end of nine or twelve months, learned 
 their trades, and become better shoemakers and 
 tailors than many a seven years' apprenticeship has 
 taught: and as respects the more important attain- 
 ments, criminals who before scorned their Bibles, 
 or were entirely unacquainted with their contents, 
 have not merely read, but committed to memory, 
 and keep in mind, the New Testament, from its 
 first chapter to its close ; besides other portions of 
 Holy Scripture, the intention and application of 
 which they have at the same time learned.* Such 
 instruction is given with the conviction that it is 
 the remedy of Divine appointment for reclaiming 
 the guilty, and for rendering them, not, as here- 
 tofore, a curse to our colonies, but rather a means 
 to their amendment; since men thus corrected 
 will, it may reasonably be hoped, raise the moral 
 tone of those with whom they will hereafter be 
 associated. 
 
 But the inquiry naturally arises, Have we more 
 than hope or expectation that the treatment is thus 
 corrective ? — that it is so calculated to meliorate 
 the condition of the penal colony ? This leads us to 
 some account of the second stage of the penal and re- 
 formatory process. The convict, having passed the 
 appointed term in separate confinement, is removed 
 
 * See Appendix. 
 Q 3
 
 230 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 to the establishment in Portland Island (or, it may 
 be, when suitable arrangements are made, to one of 
 our dockyards), to labour in the formation of the 
 Harbour of Refuge, or on some public work. 
 There, although he is still under religious in- 
 struction and very judicious superintendence, his 
 principles and the reality of his reformation are 
 subjected to a severe test. He is associated with 
 other convicts, and, as it cannot be supposed that 
 all have been reclaimed, he meets with many 
 temptations. The opinions expressed on this plan 
 before the Select Committee of the House of Lords, 
 previously to its operation, by many of the learned 
 Judges of the land, and by most persons acquainted 
 with penal discipline, were very decidedly adverse 
 to its adoption. The writer himself, when ques- 
 tioned upon the subject, deprecated the proposal in 
 strong terms. He is glad of an opportunity to re- 
 tract them. Neither had others, nor himself, then 
 learned the efficacy of separate imprisonment to the 
 extent it has now been proved. The fear that most 
 of our convicts would relapse for a time, although 
 many good effects of former discipline would be 
 permanent, was, he is thankful to say, unfounded. 
 The author has received from time to time the 
 most satisfactory testimony to this effect, from the 
 highly intelligent and Christian men who super- 
 intend the Portland establishment. Many letters 
 received from convicts have been of the most 
 pleasing character; and by a recent visit, and per- 
 Bonal converse with a large number of them, he
 
 EMIGRATION OF CONVICTS' FAMILIES. 231 
 
 became thoroughly convinced, and very thankful, 
 that his former apprehensions were not realised.* 
 
 When the convict has passed through his former 
 term of corrective discipline, and the latter of pro- 
 bation for one, two, or more years, in proportion to 
 his sentence, in a manner which entitles him to 
 favourable recommendation, he is then transported 
 to the colony, and receives a " ticket of leave," 
 which permits him to make the best arrangements 
 he can with an employer, while, at the same time, 
 he is under some restraint and supervision, from 
 which he is not exempt until he has paid the ex- 
 pense of his passage, and, by this and other good 
 behaviour, has proved himself deserving of " con- 
 ditional pardon" — the pardon implying his free- 
 dom, but the condition that he does not return to 
 his native country before the term of his sentence 
 is expired. 
 
 Another arrangement, calculated to prevent a 
 vast amount of crime at home and in the colony, is 
 that which provides for the emigration of the fami- 
 lies of well-conducted convicts. To this end the 
 Government offers to pay a moiety of the expense, 
 if the parish or the transported person furnish the 
 remainder. The wisdom of such a plan, — as well as 
 the economy of so preventing the cost of crime and 
 pauperism which a like punishment has hitherto 
 entailed, — is most evident. Heretofore, the wife of 
 the convict, in desperation, has abandoned herself 
 to a reckless life ; and her children, degraded, 
 
 * Sec Appendix. 
 Q 4
 
 232 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 wretched, and neglected, became the companions 
 of thieves, and, after repeated prosecutions, followed 
 their guilty father. In March, 1847, there were 
 1586 children of convicts in our workhouses; pro- 
 bably a much larger number in our prisons; and a 
 still greater, living by their depredations. To all 
 such children the State, induced alike by compas- 
 sion and policy, should stand " in loco parentis." 
 Howard very highly commended that consciousness 
 of responsibility which gave rise to the judicious 
 plan pursued in Holland with those in a similar 
 condition : — 
 
 " The children of the malefactors who are executed are 
 sent to the Orphan-house, and there brought up in industry ; 
 and not left destitute vagabonds, to become unhappy vic- 
 tims to the wickedness and folly of their parents." * 
 
 We may hope that, ere long, the Legislature will 
 cither take upon itself the whole expense of sending 
 the families of convicts out to our colonies, or 
 enforce upon the parish the duty of contributing 
 its quota, whenever they are willing to leave the 
 country. 
 
 Many transported under this excellent system 
 are now undergoing the completion of their punish- 
 ment; and the reports hitherto obtained of them 
 are both satisfactory and cheering. The writer 
 lately received a pleasing testimony concerning 
 several who had formed part of his spiritual charge. 
 'Their conduct," writes the religious instructor 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 63.
 
 IMPROVEMENT IN CONVICTS. 233 
 
 who accompanied them in their passage, " was very 
 good, and I was enabled to report that, in every 
 way, they merited the indulgence they had received. 
 During my stay in Van Diemen's Land, I saw some 
 of them in situations, who appeared to be desirous 
 of obtaining an honest living, and to become good 
 members of society." Still more important evidence 
 has been given concerning those transported from 
 Pentonville prison : more than 700 of whom were 
 in the same colony, in 1846 ; and from the report, 
 at the end of 1847, it appeared that only seven — 
 one per cent. — had been convicted of any crime.* 
 Thus promising is the plan of which we have 
 already such an earnest of success : and if the 
 reader is led to contrast it with the demoralizing 
 and destructive treatment of convicts in Howard's 
 day, the author trusts that the digression will be 
 forgiven, and a spirit of gratitude for the change 
 excited. 
 
 * Prisons and Prisoners, p. 72.
 
 234 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ANOTHER CONTINENTAL TOUR. ACCIDENT AT AMSTERDAM. 
 
 SERIOUS ILLNESS, AND DIARY DURING CONVALESCENCE. 
 
 RASPHOUSE AT ROTTERDAM. ATTENDS DIVINE SERVICE IN 
 
 PRISON. PROCEEDS TO GOUDA. — RETURNS TO AMSTERDAM. 
 
 VISITS DR. BROWN AT UTRECHT. PRISONS AT DEVENTER 
 
 AND BREDA. REVISITS HOLLAND. HORRIBLE PRISON AT 
 
 OSNABURGH. SLAVES AT BRUNSWICK. GOES TO MAGDE- 
 
 BURGH AND BERLIN. LETTER. — CONVERSATION WITH PRINCE 
 
 HENRY OF PRUSSIA. STATE PRISONERS AT SPANDAU. 
 
 TREADMILL AT LUKAU. PRISONS AT DRESDEN. — GOES TO 
 
 PRAGUE. — VISIT TO THE CAPUCHIN FRIARS. — VIENNA, ITS 
 
 HOSPITALS AND PRISONS. DYING PRISONER IN A DUNGEON. 
 
 PRECAUTIONS AGAINST INFECTION. DUCKING-STOOL FOR 
 
 BAKERS CONVERSATION AT THE AMBASSADOR'S TABLE. — 
 
 GOES TO VENICE, PADUA, FERRARA, BOLOGNA, FLORENCE, 
 LEGHORN, LORETTO, AND ROME. — VISITS PRISONS AND HOS- 
 PITALS. CEMETERY FOR MALEFACTORS. PROCEEDS TO 
 
 NAPLES AND CI VITA VECCH1A. THE POPE'S GALLEY-SLAVES. 
 
 PERILOUS VOYAGE TO LEGHORN. RANSOMS A PRISONER 
 
 AT MILAN. GOES TO TURIN AND CHAMBERY. RETURNS 
 
 THROUGH SWITZERLAND, GERMANY, FLANDERS, AND FRANCE, 
 
 REVISITING CHARITABLE AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS. TORTURE 
 
 AT LIEGE. RELIEVES PRISONERS OF WAR. — HOWARD'S 
 
 PATRIOTISM. RETURNS TO ENGLAND. 
 
 The regularity of Howard's life, the unchanging 
 nature of his philanthropy, his watchfulness for 
 God's direction, and his habitual readiness to go 
 whither Divine Providence might seem to guide 
 In in. may account for his embarking for the Conti- 
 nent only two days after his giving evidence in the 
 House of Commons, as described in our last chapter.
 
 ACCIDENT AT AMSTERDAM. 235 
 
 Let the pathway to practical benevolence be opened, 
 and he was prepared at once to pursue it. He went 
 on this occasion to Harwich ; but here, as else- 
 where, wretchedness — exercising, as it ever did, a 
 magnetic influence on his mind — was too attractive 
 for Howard's charity to pass it by : he could not 
 embark until he had visited the miserable prison 
 of that place. This done, he crossed to Helvoet- 
 sluys on the 18th of April, 1778. But God, whose 
 unerring wisdom had first produced the ever-ready 
 obedience of his servant by the sufferings sent upon 
 him, now saw fit, by the same means, to restrain his 
 perseverance in efforts for the good of others, and 
 to give a lesson of patience which should be a proof 
 of love, and most surely should tend to the profit 
 of the Philanthropist himself. Only a day or two 
 after his arrival at Amsterdam, whilst he was walk- 
 ing in the street, a horse — running away with a 
 dray — struck against him, threw him on a heap of 
 stones, and so severely bruised him as to prevent 
 his travelling for several days. As soon as possible 
 he was removed to the Hague, where his affliction 
 was increased by inflammation and fever, which 
 endangered life, and by which he was disabled for 
 six weeks. His state of mind, under this calamity, 
 may be learned best from the Christian simplicity 
 of his daily record, when sufficiently restored to 
 write : — 
 
 " May 11. — Do me good, O God, by this painful af- 
 fliction ! May I see the great uncertainty of health, ease, 
 and comfort, and feel that all my springs are in Thee !
 
 236 LIFE OF HOWAED. 
 
 Oh the painful and wearisome nights I possess ! May I be 
 more thankful if restored to health, and more compassion- 
 ate to others, and more absolutely devoted to God ! 
 
 " May 12. — In patience may I possess my soul, and 
 say, It is the Lord ; let Him do what seemeth Him good ! 
 
 " May 13. — In pain and anguish all night — my very 
 life a burthen to me ! Help, Lord ! for vain is the help of 
 man ! In Thee do I put my trust ; let me never be con- 
 founded ! All refuges but Christ are refuges of lies. My 
 soul ! stay thou upon that rock. 
 
 " May 14. — This night my fever abated and my pains 
 were less. I thank God I had two hours' sleep ; prior to 
 which, for sixteen days and nights, I had not four hours' 
 sleep. O Lord ! righteous art Thou in all Thy ways, and 
 holy in all Thy works ! Sanctify this affliction ! Shew me 
 wherefore thou contendest with me ! Bring me out of 
 the furnace as silver purified seven times ! 
 
 " May 15. — Shew me, O God, wherefore Thou con- 
 tendest with me ! Oh, let me recover my strength before 
 I go hence and am no more seen ! May this great afflic- 
 tion be to try me, to prove me, and to do me good in my 
 latter end ; to wean my affections from this world, and fix 
 them on the rest that remaineth for the people of God ! 
 
 "May 16. — A more quiet night and less fever, yet 
 much pain until morning. If God should please to restore 
 me to days of prosperity, may I remember the days of 
 sorrow ; may I be habitually serious and humble ! May 
 I learn from this affliction more than I have learnt before, 
 and have reason to bless God for it ! 
 
 " May 17. — Lord's Day. This night, I bless God, 
 less pain, though more fever, so that I have not strength 
 to attend the public worship of God, yet I have hope I 
 shall be raised up a monument of His goodness ! Oh, may 
 I not be a cumberer of the ground, but live to the glory 
 01 God, and be made, through grace, an honour to my 
 Christian profession! May I have a prudent zeal, and 
 an humble hope in the mercy of God through Christ !
 
 DIARY DURING CONVALESCENCE. 2o7 
 
 "May 19. — A better night, less pain! Thou art 
 putting a song of praise into my mouth : O thou God 
 that hearest prayer! perfect the mercy begun, O God, 
 and may I never forget Thy compassion ! " 
 
 Howard, on his recovery from this painful afflic- 
 tion in a foreign land, records his gratitude to Sir 
 Joseph Yorke, of whom he writes, " he favoured 
 me with instances of friendship and kindness that 
 I can never forget." f On or about the 29th 
 of May he went again to Amsterdam. There, al- 
 though still weak, he publicly offered thanks to 
 God in the congregation, as on a former occasion. 
 We have the following notes in his Diary under 
 their respective dates : — 
 
 " May 30. — Less pain in the night ; more revived this 
 morning. O my Saviour and my God, put under me Thine 
 everlasting arms ! Succour and support me, for Thy 
 mercy's sake ! 
 
 " May 31. — A poor night; faint, yet, blessed be God, 
 enabled to attend His public worship ! O Lord, receive 
 me, and put a new song of praise into my mouth ! " 
 
 Howard, now convalescent, and longing to resume 
 his labours and pursue his mission of benevolence, 
 no sooner felt able to walk than he returned to 
 the Hague, and thence to Rotterdam, where he 
 revisited the Rasphouse — of which we have the 
 following notice : — 
 
 " Being at Rotterdam on the Sunday, I was desirous of 
 seeing whether there was such dissipation in their prisons 
 
 * Brown, p. 270, 271. t Foreign Prisons, p. 73.
 
 238 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 as in ours on that day. The public service at the Rasp- 
 house began at half after one o'clock. The chaplain, after 
 a short prayer, preached extempore ; then, the men con- 
 victs joined in singing, most of them having books. When 
 the chaplain had prayed again, he catechised for about 
 three quarters of an hour. It being the women's turn that 
 Sunday, six of them stood up, one after another, and 
 made the responses, which the chaplain explained to them. 
 After this he prayed, and the service concluded by singing 
 the fifty-first psalm. The decent behaviour and attention 
 of the audience evidently proved that the service, though 
 of two hours and a half, was not tedious or disagreeable." * 
 " I cannot forbear closing this account, with men- 
 tioning the ardent wishes it inspired in me, that our 
 prisons also, instead of echoing with profaneness and blas- 
 phemy, might hereafter resound with the offices of reli- 
 gious worship, and prove, like these, the happy means 
 of awakening many to a sense of their duty to God and 
 man. On conversing with a sensible magistrate, his words 
 were, ' I have known persons who have come out of our 
 houses of correction thoroughly reformed, and have thanked 
 God for their confinement.' " f 
 
 At Gouda, whither Howard proceeded, he found 
 the debtors' prison had been empty seventeen years. 
 The spin-house of that town, as well as that at 
 Haarlem, which he next visited, was commended 
 as clean and well regulated. He then returned 
 to Amsterdam, and thoroughly investigated all the 
 prison arrangements of that city. These have been 
 already described. We are further told that for 
 defraying the expenses of the spin-house a tax 
 was levied upon the sellers of beer, liquors, and 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 58. f lb. 59.
 
 VISITS DR. BROWN AT UTRECHT. 239 
 
 tobacco ; a plan which might be equitably adopted 
 towards a portion of the same class in our own 
 country — since about three fourths of the crime con- 
 cocted and committed is traceable to the beer-houses 
 which at present pollute our land. After visiting 
 the workhouses at Amsterdam, in which petty 
 offenders were also confined, Howard proceeded 
 again to Utrecht, where he now spent some time with 
 Dr. Brown, who had recently been appointed to the 
 English church there ; and that excellent person 
 was so much pleased with his guest that he pre- 
 served some memoranda of the visit. In one of his 
 notes he describes Howard's statement of the occa- 
 sion which induced his labours of benevolence. He 
 told him how the death of his beloved wife had 
 rendered his abode at Cardington irksome and very 
 painful; and, whilst he gave this reason for his 
 travels, his tears burst forth, and bespoke the pang 
 which the remembrance of that bitter affliction 
 caused. 
 
 But if that painful bereavement made him for- 
 sake his home, and sent him forth on his errand of 
 mercy — and though subsequent afflictions, as we 
 have lately seen, had attended his progress — yet 
 his consolation was great. One was ever with 
 him, whose presence cheered and whose strength 
 sustained. Hence the very next note of Howard's 
 is one of praise : he writes — 
 
 " Deventer, June 14. — Blessed be my Father and my 
 God, who supports and carries me on."
 
 240 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 From Deventer he travelled to Middleburgh, 
 in the prison of which place he found three dun- 
 geons in which condemned criminals were con- 
 fined. They were dismal, being designed to force 
 confession, since no criminal was executed until an 
 acknowledgment of guilt had thus been extorted. 
 At Breda the prison was an old tower ; and the 
 humane inspector tells us, with much satisfaction, 
 " the torture-stool in the chamber of examination 
 has not been used for three years past."* After 
 describing some particulars of the house of cor- 
 rection, — which was a manufactory of carpeting, 
 — we have the following note of general appro- 
 bation : — 
 
 " I leave this country with regret, as it affords a large 
 field for information on the important subjects I have in 
 view. 1 know not which to admire most, — the neatness and 
 cleanliness appearing in the prisons, the industry and 
 regular conduct of the prisoners, or the humanity and at- 
 tention of the magistrates and regents." f 
 
 From Holland, the traveller himself tells us, 
 
 " 1 went into Germany in June 1778, by Osnaburgh 
 and Hanover. The prison at Osnaburgh I should entirely 
 omit, did I not entertain a hope that the account of it 
 may possibly engage the notice of an amiable prince, who 
 is the present bishop, and so be the means of alleviating 
 the sufferings of the miserable prisoners. The prison and 
 the house of correction is one large building, situated in 
 an airy part of the suburbs, near a brook. A Latin in- 
 scription over the gate implies that it was erected at ' the 
 
 • Foreign Prisons, p. 73. f lb. p. 73.
 
 SLAVES AT BRUNSWICK. 241 
 
 public expense, in 1756, for the purposes of public justice 
 and utility, by confining and punishing the wicked.' There 
 are seventeen chambers for criminals, which have no light 
 but a small aperture over each door. I was happy to find 
 here no more than one prisoner : he had been confined 
 three years, and had survived the cruelty of the torture. 
 
 " In another 'part of the house I found many miserable 
 and sickly objects, men, women, and children, almost all 
 without shoes and stockings. They were spinning in dif- 
 ferent rooms, which were dirty beyond description. These 
 rooms open into an offensive passage, which a gentleman 
 in office in the city, to whom I was recommended, durst 
 not enter. I inquired of the keeper concerning several 
 paticulars of the diet, &c, but the misery expressed in the 
 countenances of the prisoners made me totally disregard 
 the information given me by words." * 
 
 Thence Howard proceeded to Brunswick, where 
 
 he says — 
 
 " I visited the habitation of the slaves, who lay on bar- 
 rack bedsteads without beds. They had heavy irons, and 
 their countenances were unhealthy." f 
 
 Arriving at Magdeburg, he inspected the prisons. 
 In one of them he found the women employed in 
 looking after a large number of silkworms. 
 
 At Berlin he speaks of the prisons as well con- 
 structed and clean. He gives a long description of 
 the Maison de Travail, in which four hundred and 
 fifty persons were actively employed. They were 
 cleanly, and were very carefully attended to. He 
 also commended the police regulations by which the 
 streets of that city were kept clear of mendicants. 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 75. | lb. 
 
 R
 
 242 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 But what was especially gratifying to Howard's 
 humane spirit, he found " no torture rooms," for, he 
 adds, "the present king has set the example in 
 Germany of abolishing the cruel practice." * 
 
 The following letter was written at this time to 
 his friend f residing at Cardington, during his 
 absence : — 
 
 " Berlin, June 28. 1778. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — It is with pleasure I heard by John 
 Prole's letter, which I received on my arrival here, that 
 you are at Cardington ; it gives me pleasure to think 
 that a place on which I have employed so many of my 
 thoughts should afford my friend any entertainment. My 
 pain and fever, brought on by the accident I met with in 
 Holland, made me almost despair of accomplishing my 
 journey, or even returning to England, but, through 
 sparing mercy, I am recovered, and have now the pleas- 
 ing hope before me. I was presented on Friday to Prince 
 Henry, who very graciously conversed with me ten minutes : 
 he said ' he could hardly conceive of a more disagreeable 
 journey, hut the object was great and humane.' 
 
 " We are here just on the eve of an important event — 
 the King of Prussia in Silesia, and the Emperor encamped 
 within a few miles of him ; 40,000 men ready to destroy 
 one another, as the prejudices or passions of an arbitrary 
 monarch may direct : this would be a matter of great con- 
 cern to a thinking mind, had it not the firm belief of a 
 wise and overruling Providence. I hope in about a fort- 
 night to be clear of the armies and to be at or near Vienna, 
 till which time a thought of England is too distant. 
 
 " I have both parts of this day joined with the French 
 Protestants, — a pleasure I shall be debarred of many 
 weeks. I am here nobly lodged; drank tea this afternoon 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 79. f The Rev. Mr. Smith.
 
 LETTER FROM BERLIN. 243 
 
 with Prince Dolgoruky, the Russian ambassador : yet I 
 thirst for the land of liberty, ray Cardington friends, and 
 retreat. 
 
 " Please, Sir, to tell John Prole I observe the contents 
 of his letter ; I shall write in five or six weeks ; and that I 
 must build no more cottages (as he is still fetching ma- 
 terials to finish the last) till I have quite done with my 
 gaol schemes. 
 
 " Through the Hanoverian dominions and that part of 
 Germany I have seen, there is prospect of great plenty of 
 corn, which must prevent its being very dear in England. 
 I take my leave with affectionate compliments to Mrs. 
 Smith, and a kiss for the babe, and accept the tenderest 
 assurances of regard from, dear Sir, your friend and ser- 
 vant, J. Howard. 
 
 " Thermometer 79° in the shade. 
 
 " I beg to be remembered to any inquiring friends at 
 Bedford, that I am well, and in spirits to undertake any 
 enterprise but one, which I hope never more will be 
 pressed on me, as totally destructive of that tranquillity 
 and ease in which I hope to pass the few remaining years 
 of my life. 
 
 " Adieu, my friend. Let me share your serious mo- 
 ments. 
 
 " To the Rev. Mr. Smith, 
 Cardington, near Bedford, Angleterre." * 
 
 The foregoing letter has been transcribed just 
 as it was written by Howard. Its sentiments 
 evince a warmheartedness which may safely be left 
 to repel any approaches of chilling criticism. In 
 this interesting document we see the tendencies of 
 Howard's mind, the tone of his feelings, and that 
 constancy of purpose which so remarkably dis- 
 
 * Brown, p. 277. 
 k 2
 
 244 LIFE OF HOWAKD. 
 
 tin "rushed him. Objects the most attractive, — 
 the pageantry of courts, the invitations of princes, 
 and the pompous array of war, — were unable to 
 divert him from his great object ; nor could the 
 apprehension of personal labour and suffering 
 deter him from its prosecution. His affection to- 
 wards friends, love towards his native land, and 
 his longing for the sacred retirement of his home, 
 were not lessened although the circuit of philan- 
 thropy had been so much extended. There is, too, 
 the same steadfastness of intention, and ardour in 
 the execution of his schemes, traceable throughout 
 his whole career. He speaks indeed of rest, but 
 the only ease to which Howard could look forward 
 was quietude after work completed. This was 
 never likely to be realised by one with whom suc- 
 cess was but the stimulant to a more enlarged 
 exertion ; and therefore labours of benevolence 
 ceased only with his life. 
 
 In the postscript he alludes to an anxious desire 
 which had been expressed by his friends at Bed- 
 ford, that he should again become a candidate for 
 the representation of that borough when a vacancy 
 might occur. But, feeling that another path of 
 duty had been assigned to him, he would prevent 
 conflicting engagements, and not alloAV the tranquil 
 enterprise of mercy to be interrupted by party 
 struggles and political strife. Howard's ambition 
 was to do good by relieving distress, and neither 
 tin: honours nor the enjoyments of the world gave 
 him pleasure to be compared with that.
 
 STATE PRISONERS AT SPANDAU. 245 
 
 Some further account of his conversation with 
 the Prince Henry has been preserved, and we are 
 told that he inquired respecting Howard's amuse- 
 ments, what places of evening entertainments were 
 frequented by him after the labours of the day : the 
 Philanthropist simply replied — None at any time ; 
 and that he derived more pleasure from doing his 
 duty, than from any amusements whatever. 
 
 In the energy of such feelings he pursued his 
 course to Spandau, and inspected the prisons there. 
 One he found well regulated and its inmates in- 
 dustrious. He observes, " Neither this nor any 
 foreign prisons which I have seen are without a 
 chapel." The other — the Fortress — was badly 
 managed, and of the prisoners he thus writes : — 
 
 " They had a light chain to each foot, and such as were 
 taken after an escape had a collar of iron. The apartments 
 of the state prisoners here are not all so dreadful as some 
 imagine. They are not all confined to a small quantity of 
 bread and water, in cells of four feet square and six feet 
 high, and loaded with seventy-eight pounds of iron, as the 
 ingenious and intrepid Trenck was six years at Magde- 
 burg." * 
 
 At Lukau he found some criminals treading a 
 wheel for grinding corn : this may have suggested 
 our own mischievous treadmills, although a similar 
 plan, for raising water, had been common to the 
 Egyptians f from the earliest times, and to the 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 80. 
 
 f There appears to be a reference to this practice, Deut. xi. 10, in 
 which passage the land of Canaan is said to be not like that of Egypt, 
 " where thou sowest thy seed and waterest it with thy foot." " To 
 
 r 3
 
 246 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 Chinese for many centuries. The prisons at Dresden 
 more resembled those in their visitor's own country 
 than others on the Continent. In the prison for 
 slaves the apartments were unhealthy. The sick 
 had their irons on. In another were 26 prisoners, 
 most of whom had a chain fastened to a staple in 
 the wall. The prison was dirty, and the gaoler's 
 pan of charcoal and frankincense (which his neg- 
 ligence rendered necessary) could not prevent its 
 being very offensive. 
 
 " On paying my acknowledgments to the grand bailiff 
 for permitting me to see the gaol, I took the liberty to 
 observe that I had seen prisons cleaner. I mentioned 
 also the severity of chaining women, which is very un- 
 common in other countries. To this he answered, that 
 ' the gaoler chained them for security, being often obliged 
 to be absent in fetching prisoners from the country.' In 
 return I gave my opinion that the attention to a prison 
 ought to be the sole work of a gaoler, without which, little 
 regard will be paid to cleanliness or humanity."* 
 
 Bohemia was at this time the scene of war ; and 
 the humane traveller, as though unwilling to linger 
 amidst distress which he could not alleviate, has- 
 tened forward, only making a cursory visit to the 
 Maison cle Force at Prague, and to a monastery of 
 
 supply the want of water in Egypt, ditches are dug, and the water is 
 distributed throughout the several villages and cantons by means of 
 machines; one of which Pliilo describes as awheel which a man turns 
 by the motion of his feet, by ascending successively the several steps 
 thai are within it. But as whilst he is thus continually turning he 
 eannol keep himself up, he holds a stay in his hands, which is not 
 moveable, and this supports him; so that in this work the hands do the 
 office of the feet, and the feet that of the hands."— Calmet. 
 1 reign Prisons, p. 81.
 
 CAPUCHIN FRIARS AT PRAGUE. 247 
 
 the Capuchin Friars, where a scene presented itself 
 very different from those which he commonly 
 witnessed, and highly discreditable to the reputed 
 sanctity and self-denial of that Order ; their 
 reputation for which had, indeed, probably at- 
 tracted their abstemious visitor. On his arrival 
 it was dinner-time — a meagre day, yet the table 
 was spread with all the meats and delicious 
 viands which the most self-indulgent could de- 
 sire. He was invited to partake, but was not 
 likely to accept the hospitality of hypocrites. In- 
 stead of that, the Fathers received sharp rebuke : 
 Howard told them he " heard they lived secluded 
 for abstinence and prayer; but he found their 
 house was rather for revelry and drunkenness." 
 He added that, as he was going to Rome, it would 
 be his duty to make known to the Pope their real 
 manner of living. Alarmed at this threat, four or 
 five of the friars afterwards came to his abode, 
 begged pardon, and entreated they might be spared 
 the threatened exposure and disgrace. The indig- 
 nant reprover would make no promise but that of 
 inquiry into their future conduct, intimating that, 
 if the promised reformation of morals were ful- 
 filled, he probably should not report the offence. 
 
 From Prague the Philanthropist proceeded direct 
 to Vienna, where he tells us that he visited all 
 the prisons and most of the hospitals. Of the latter 
 he says — 
 
 " They do honour to the citizens in general, and 
 especially to the empress queen. It was agreeable to see 
 
 r 4
 
 2-18 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 the neatness, order, and cleanliness of the inmates. There, 
 poverty and old age appeared with a smiling aspect." 
 
 The Maison de Force in this city, like other 
 continental prisons, was a manufactory, in which 
 the criminals were associated, and their correction 
 was therefore hopeless. Howard observes — 
 
 " One or two of the women were crying, and charging 
 others with rising in the night and stealing some of their 
 cotton. The mistress believed the complaint, but said she 
 was not able to prevent such frauds, because there was 
 not the convenience of separate apartments." * 
 
 In the great prison, La Maison de Bourreau, we 
 are told — 
 
 " There are many dungeons. Here, as usual, I inquired 
 whether they had any putrid fever, and was answered in 
 the negative. But, in one of the dark dungeons down 
 twenty-four steps, I thought I had found a person with the 
 gaol fever. He was loaded with heavy irons, and chained 
 to the wall : anguish and misery appeared with clotted tears 
 on his face. He was not capable of speaking to me ; but 
 on examining his breast and feet for petechice, or spots, 
 and finding he had a strong intermitting pulse, I was con- 
 vinced that he was not ill of that disorder. A prisoner in 
 an opposite cell told me that the poor creature had desired 
 him to call out for assistance, and he had done it, but was 
 not heard. This is one of the bad effects of dungeons" j- 
 
 This scene has been well portrayed by Hayley 
 in his " Ode to Howard : " — 
 
 '■' Where, in the dungeon's loathsome shade, 
 The speechless captive clanks his chain, 
 With heartless hope to raise that aid, — 
 His feeble cries have call'd in vain : 
 
 I oreign i'risons, p. 82. f Ibid.
 
 PRECAUTIONS AGAINST INFECTION. 249 
 
 Thine eye his dumb complaint explores ; 
 
 Thy voice his parting breath restores ; 
 
 Thy cares his ghastly visage clear 
 
 From death's chill dew, with many a clotted tear, 
 
 And to his thankful soul returning life endear." 
 
 Do we inquire how the Philanthropist could sur- 
 vive these perilous visits ? His own remarks will 
 best explain : — 
 
 " I have been frequently asked what precautions I use, 
 to preserve myself from infection in the prisons and hos- 
 pitals which I visit. I here answer, that, next to the free 
 goodness and mercy of the Author of my being, temperance 
 and cleanliness are my preservatives. Trusting in Divine 
 Providence, and believing myself in the way of my duty, 
 I visit the most noxious cells ; and, while thus employed, 
 ' I fear no evil." ... I never enter a prison or hospital 
 before breakfast, and, if in an offensive room, I seldom 
 draw my breath deeply."* 
 
 Howard's care and concern for the poor caused 
 him to observe particularly all regulations which 
 prevented imposition : accordingly, after describing 
 the prisons, he adds — 
 
 " Before I leave this city, I would just mention that 
 every month, an account of the price, weight, and measure 
 of bread and Jlour is pui; up on the gates. The bakers at 
 Vienna are punished for frauds by the severity and disgrace 
 of the ducking-stool. This machine of terror, fixed on the 
 side of the Danube, is a kind of long pole or board extend- 
 ing over the water, at one end of which the delinquent, 
 being fastened in his basket, is immersed. The bakers 
 would gladly purchase a removal of this machine, but the 
 punishment is continued, and inflicted on delinquents, by 
 order of the magistrates." f 
 
 During his stay at Vienna, Howard, whose ex- 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 431. f Foreign Prisons, p. 84.
 
 250 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 cellence was now better appreciated, had the honour 
 of dining at the royal table, with the ambassadors 
 and nobles of the Queen's court. On this occasion 
 his favourite attendant must not be forgotten. The 
 sight would probably give him as much pleasure as 
 the feast itself would afford his master, and there- 
 fore some of the household were requested to allow 
 him to pass through the room : this was granted ; 
 and Thomasson, in his journal, says — " It was a 
 grand sight ! " 
 
 An instance of Howard's dauntless courage and 
 determined truthfulness occurred another day at 
 Vienna, when at dinner with Sir R. Murray Keith, 
 the English ambassador. It is thus recorded by his 
 friend, Dr. Brown : — 
 
 " The conversation turned upon the torture, when a 
 German gentleman of the party observed, that the glory 
 of abolishing it in his own dominions belonged to his 
 Imperial Majesty. ' Pardon me,' said Mr. Howard, 
 ' his Imperial Majesty has only abolished one species of 
 torture, to establish in its place another more cruel ; for 
 the torture which he abolished lasted, at the most, a few 
 hours ; but that which he has appointed lasts many weeks, 
 nay, sometimes years. The poor wretches are plunged 
 into a noisome dungeon, as bad as the black-hole at Cal- 
 cutta, from which they are taken out only if they confess 
 what is laid to their charge.' ' Hush ! ' said the ambas- 
 sador, < your words will be reported to his Majesty.' 
 ' What!' replied he, 'shall my tongue be tied from 
 speaking truth by any king or emperor in the world ? I 
 i' peat what I asserted, and maintain its veracity.' Deep 
 silence ensued, and every one present admired the in- 
 trepid boldness of the man of humanity."* 
 
 * Brown, p. 285.
 
 THE GALLEYS AT VENICE. 251 
 
 From Vienna, Howard proceeded to Gratz, Lau- 
 bach, and Trieste, and visited the prisons of each 
 place, but saw little in them to commend. He em- 
 barked from Trieste, in a small vessel, for Venice, 
 and was driven about the gulf two days and nights 
 by contrary winds : — 
 
 " I entered Italy," says the benevolent tourist, " with 
 raised expectations of considerable information, from a 
 careful attention to the prisons and hospitals, in a country 
 abounding with charitable institutions and public edifices. 
 At Venice, the greatest prison is near the Doge's palace, 
 and it is one of the strongest I ever saw. There were 
 between three and four hundred prisoners, many of them 
 confined in loathsome and dark cells for life ; executions 
 here being very rare. There was no fever or prevailing 
 disorder in this close prison. None of the prisoners had 
 irons. On weighing the bread allowance, I found it four- 
 teen ounces. I asked some who had been confined many 
 years in dark cells, whether they should prefer the galleys ? 
 They all answered in the affirmative : so great a blessing 
 is light and air! The chapel is only for the condemned, 
 who continue there a night and a day before execution." * 
 
 " The galleys were dirty and crowded : the slaves were 
 in chains of about twenty-seven pounds' weight. I saw 
 one dead on the shore, who, I suppose, destroyed himself 
 in despair." -j- 
 
 From Venice, Howard went to Florence, passing 
 through Padua, Ferrara, and Bologna ; visiting the 
 prisons at each place. At Florence he acknowledges 
 his obligations to Sir Horace Mann, through whom 
 he obtained permission from the Grand Duke to in- 
 spect the various public institutions of the city, of 
 which we have the following notices : — 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 86. t Ibid.
 
 252 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 " In Florence are two prisons. In the great prison, 
 Palazzo degV Otto, were only twenty prisoners. Six of 
 them were in the secrete chambers, which are twenty-one 
 strong rooms. None of the prisoners were in irons. They 
 had mattresses to lie on. Their bread was good. In the 
 torture-chamber there was a machine for decollation, 
 which prevents that repetition of the stroke which too 
 often happens when the axe is used. 
 
 " In the other prison, Delle Stinche, there are five doors 
 to pass before you come to the court. The opening of the 
 first is three feet wide, and four feet nine inches high, with 
 an inscription over it, Oportet misererV '* 
 
 " The hospital, S. Maria Nova, was crowded and too 
 close : though the mens fever-ward was 454 feet long. 
 The women are attended by Nuns, who have a passage 
 under ground from the opposite convent. . . The hospital 
 I most frequently visited was S. Giovan di Dio. In it 
 there are five rooms, with single beds for priests. The 
 bedsteads of all were iron, and the boards of the hospital 
 were varnished. The great attention of this order of 
 Friars to the sick in every country does them honour. 
 In the S. Paolo della Convalescenza, recovering patients 
 remain four days. In the almshouse, S. Bonifazio, the 
 wards are all clean, and show the care of the Nuns who 
 attend on this charity." f 
 
 Proceeding through Leghorn, and thence to Lo- 
 retto, in which places he found little that was calcu- 
 lated to further his purpose, Howard next arrived 
 in Rome, where the first object he visited was the 
 prison, over the door of which is this inscription: — 
 
 " Justitise et Clementiae, securiori ac meliori reorum 
 custodian, novum carcerem Innocentius X. Pont. Max. 
 posuit, Anno Domini MDCLV."J 
 
 Foreign Prisons, p. 87. f lb. p- 89. J lb. p. 91.
 
 PRISON OF THE INQUISITION. 253 
 
 " There are eighteen strong rooms for the men, which 
 are close and offensive ; each of them having but one win- 
 dow for admitting light and air. These rooms are never 
 opened without an order from the governor of the city. 
 There were thirty-six prisoners. They are not permitted 
 to go out of their rooms at any time but for examination. 
 Some, having been confined there many years, appeared 
 with pale, sickly countenances ; but none were in irons. 
 There is a chamber for distracted prisoners, in which were 
 seven miserable objects. I wish I could say I had seen 
 no torture-chamber."* 
 
 But, besides the torture-chamber, " at one corner of this 
 building were placed a pulley and rope, by which male- 
 factors, with their hands behind them, were pulled up ; 
 and, after being suspended for some time, were inhumanly 
 let down part of the way, when, by a sudden jerk, their 
 arms were dislocated." -f- 
 
 " The state prisoners are confined in the Castle of San 
 Angelo. The rooms appropriated to that purpose were 
 all empty, except one, in which was a bishop, who had 
 been confined upwards of twenty years, and was dis- 
 tracted." % 
 
 Concerning the prison of the Inquisition, more 
 abominable, as it must have been, to Howard, than 
 even the Bastile, yet one which, if possible, he would 
 have penetrated, he says — 
 
 " The chambers of this silent and melancholy abode 
 were quite inaccessible to me ; and yet I spent near two 
 hours about the court and the priests' apartments, till my 
 continuance there began to raise suspicion." § 
 
 Howard again mentions the Confraternita della 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 92. * Brown, p. 289. 
 
 % Foreign Prisons, p. 9. § Ibid.
 
 254 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 Misericordia, to which reference has been made in 
 a former page. In addition to the ceremony at- 
 tending an Italian execution, he gives some parti- 
 culars of the cemetery for the malefactors : — 
 
 " I was at Rome on the 29th of August, the only day 
 in the year when the burial-place is open to the public. 
 Adjoining an elegant church is a chapel.. In the portico, 
 and on one side, are marble squares, in which are circular 
 apertures for the interment of those who are executed. 
 Round these stones is inscribed — c Domine, cum veneris 
 judicare, noli nos condemnareC " * 
 
 From surveying a locality of such questionable 
 advantage, Howard proceeded to inspect an insti- 
 tution, the usefulness of which was very apparent, 
 and of which we have the following notice : — 
 
 " The hospital of S. Michele is a large and noble edifice. 
 It consists of several courts, with buildings round them. 
 In the apartments of one of these, boys, who are orphans 
 or destitute, are educated ; all learning different trades. 
 When I was there, the number was about two hundred. 
 At twenty years of age they are completely clothed ; and 
 a sum of money is given to set them up in the business 
 they have learned. In another court are apartments for 
 the aged, in which were nearly five hundred. Here they 
 find a comfortable retreat, having clean rooms and a refec- 
 tory. They appeared happy and thankful. Another part 
 is a prison for boys or young men. Over the door is this 
 inscription: — Clemens XL Pont. Max. Perditis Adoles- 
 centibus corrigendis sustinendisque : ut qui Inertes obe- 
 rant, Instructi, Reipublica? serviant. MDCCIV. 
 
 In the room is inscribed the following admirable sen- 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 94.
 
 PROCEEDS TO NAPLES. 255 
 
 tence, in which the grand purpose of all civil policy relative 
 to criminals is expressed : — Parum est improbos coercere 
 poena, nisi probos efficias disciplina."* 
 
 The regulations of this prison were in accordance 
 with this wise maxim ; and the philosopher of old was 
 not more pleased with his solution of the problem 
 that had cost him such long investigation, than our 
 philanthropist was delighted with his discovery of 
 a prison in which such an axiom was practically 
 recognised. Dr. Aikin, who had often conversed 
 with Howard respecting this interesting inscription, 
 says — " He would, I believe, almost have thought 
 it worth while to have travelled to Rome for that 
 alone." f 
 
 From Rome, Howard proceeded to Naples, 
 where, at once pursuing the object of his tour, 
 he describes — 
 
 " The principal prison, La Vicaria. It contained when 
 I was there, according to the gaoler's account, nine hun- 
 dred and eighty prisoners. In about eight large rooms, 
 communicating with one another, there were five hundred 
 and forty sickly objects, who had access to a court sur- 
 rounded by buildings so high as to prevent the circulation 
 of the air. In this court was a recess, under arcades like 
 those under the chapel at Newgate. Some of the prisoners 
 were employed in knitting, and others in making shoes ; 
 but most of them were entirely without employment. . . . 
 Adjoining was a chapel and spacious infirmary. I ob- 
 served in the prisons of Italy great attention paid to the 
 sick, but too little care taken to prevent sickness. There 
 were three other prisons — one contained eighty prisoners, 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 94. t Aikin, p. 97.
 
 256 LIFE OF HOWAED. 
 
 another near sixty, the other but eleven. The galleys 
 were moored about ten feet from the shore. In the first 
 were two hundred and sixty sl?ves ; in the second, two 
 hundred and ninety-eight ; in the third, two hundred and 
 seventy ; and in the fourth, four hundred ; most of them 
 stout and healthy. All were chained two and two together. 
 As no regular plan had been settled for the employment of 
 these slaves, the King lately made a present of three hun- 
 dred of such of them as had been condemned for life, to 
 the Maltese. In the Seraglio, or great almshouse, there 
 were about five hundred and fifty prisoners (condannati) in 
 eight or nine rooms. Many of them work as labourers on 
 this great building, with chains varying according to the 
 terms of their confinement."* 
 
 From Naples, our tourist returned to Rome, and 
 thence proceeded to the Pope's galleys at Civita 
 Vecchia : — 
 
 " The slaves condemned to them are confined for dif- 
 ferent terms, according to the nature of their crimes : but 
 the shortest time is three years for vagabonds, who are 
 generally employed on board the pontons in clearing the 
 harbour. For theft, the term is never under seven years. 
 Persons convicted of forgery are always confined for life ; 
 and if found guilty of forging bank-notes, or any instru- 
 ments by which large sums have been lost, they are 
 punished with an iron glove. Prisoners for life are chained 
 two and two together : those for limited terms have all a 
 single chain, and, at their first arrival, of the same weight; 
 but when they have no more than one or two years to 
 serve, they have only a ring round their leg, which is 
 lessened as the end of their time approaches. For escapes, 
 they are obliged to finish their first condemnation, and 
 then receive a fresh one for the same time as the former; 
 bu1 it the first was for life, the same is renewed, and they 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, pp. 98, 99.
 
 ASSASSINATIONS IN ITALY. 257 
 
 receive from a hundred to two hundred lashes a day, for 
 three days after their arrival. None are sent to the galleys 
 under the age of twenty : criminals of a younger age are 
 kept at the hospital of S. Michele, in Rome, till they are of 
 age." * 
 
 Howard's statement as to the frequency of assas- 
 sinations in Italy has been already transcribed, but 
 the account given by a more recent philanthropist 
 of his visit to the prison of Civita Vecchia is so full 
 of painful interest, that the writer is induced to 
 insert it: — 
 
 " The gaol there, which was the object of our journey, 
 is an old and strong fortress close hy the sea, and contains 
 1364 desperate-looking criminals, all for the most aggra- 
 vated offences. I am sure you never saw such a gang of 
 malefactors, or such a horrid dungeon. We went, first, 
 into a vaulted room, with a low ceiling, as I measured it, 
 thirty-one yards long, twenty-one broad. There was light, 
 but obscure. A good deal of the room was taken up by 
 the buttresses which supported the arches. The noise on 
 our entrance was such as may be imagined at the entrance 
 of hell itself. All were chained most heavily, and fastened 
 down. The murderers and desperate bandits are fixed to 
 that spot for the rest of their lives ; they are chained to a 
 ring fastened to the end of the platform, on which they lie 
 side by side, but they can move the length of their chain 
 on a narrow gangway. Of this class, there were upwards 
 of 700 in the prison; some of them famed for a multi- 
 tude of murders ; many, we are told, had committed six or 
 seven; and, indeed, they were a ghastly crew, — haggard, 
 ferocious, reckless assassins. I do not think that the at- 
 tendant gaoler very much liked our being there. A ser- 
 geant, in uniform, was ordered to keep close by me ; and 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 96. 
 S
 
 258 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 I observed that he kept his hand upon his sword, as he 
 walked up the alley between the adjacent platforms. 
 
 " There was a fourth room at some distance, and our 
 guide employed many expedients to divert us from going 
 there. . . . This was worse than any of the others : the room 
 lower, clamper, darker ; and the prisoners with, if possible, 
 a more murderous look. . . . The mayor afterwards told 
 us, that he, in his official capacity, knew that there was a 
 murder every month among the prisoners. I spoke to a 
 good many of them, and, with one exception, each said 
 that he was condemned for murder or stabbing. I will 
 tell you one short conversation: — ' What are you here 
 for?' said I to a heavy -looking fellow, lying on his back 
 at the end of the room. He made no answer ; but a pri- 
 soner near him, with the sharp features and dark com- 
 plexion of an Italian, promptly said, ' He is here for 
 stabbing' (giving a thrust with his hand to show how it 
 was done). ' And why is he in this part of the prison ?' 
 1 Because he is incorrigible.' ' And what were you con- 
 demned for?' 'For murder.' 'And why placed here?' 
 ' Sono incorrigibile.' In short, this prison combines to- 
 gether, in excess, all the evils of which prisons are capable. 
 It is, as the mayor said, a sink of all the iniquity of the 
 state. The Capuchins certainly preach them a sermon on 
 the Sunday, and afford them an opportunity of confession; 
 of which if the prisoners avail themselves, the priests must 
 have enough to do. The sight of it has kindled in my 
 mind a very strong desire, that the old Prison Discipline 
 Society should make a great effort, and visit all the prisons 
 of the world. I had hoped that sound principles of prison 
 discipline had spread themselves more widely; but I now 
 fear that there are places, and many of them, in the world, 
 in which it is horrible that human beings should live, and 
 still more horrible that they should die."* 
 
 Memoirs of Sir T. F. Buxton, pp. 496, 497.
 
 PERILOUS VOYAGE TO LEGHORN. 259 
 
 Howard was anxious to proceed to Leghorn by- 
 sea, and his stay at Civita Vecchia was shortened 
 by the departure of a vessel bound for that port. 
 When night came on, the captain put into a creek, 
 and his crew pitched a tent for the night on shore, 
 amidst some beautiful Italian scenery. The weather 
 was then fair, and they embarked in the morning ; 
 but they had no sooner got out to sea, than a vio- 
 lent storm arose and drove them near one of the 
 small islands in the Mediterranean ; where, at night, 
 they anchored under the walls of a town, whose in- 
 habitants would not suffer them to land, it having 
 been reported that the plague had broken out in 
 the port from which the vessel was come. After a 
 comfortless night, they got under sail again, but 
 the tempest came on with increased fury, and they 
 were driven upon the Algerine coast. The same 
 rumour had reached Algiers, and they were forbid- 
 den to land without performing quarantine. Pro- 
 videntially the wind changed, and, on the following 
 day, they were enabled to pursue their voyage. 
 On the third evening they reached the island of 
 Gorgona, when the governor sent out his boat for 
 Howard, and welcomed him ; and he was hospitably 
 entertained upon the island for five or six days. 
 As soon as the wind was favourable, the Philan- 
 thropist set sail for Leghorn, where he remained a 
 week, and thence proceeded to Lucca, and next to 
 Lerice. There he met with the Hon. Philip Yorke 
 (afterwards Earl of Hardwicke), who travelled with 
 
 s 2
 
 260 LITE OF HOWARD. 
 
 him to Genoa. Here he carefully inspected the 
 prisons and hospitals. In the former he found 
 many wise regulations enforced by the following 
 enactments: — 
 
 " The keeper shall have under him six assistants : and 
 the said keeper is to be responsible, and liable to punish- 
 ment, if any of the assistants shall be guilty of the least 
 fraud or neglect in their employment. The advocate fiscal 
 is, once a week, at any time he shall think proper — but 
 when he is least expected — to visit the cells of the prison, 
 and to inquire diligently how the prisoners are treated by 
 the keeper and assistants, in order to give information to 
 the most serene senate."* 
 
 In the great hospital he found about 900 patients; 
 the sick of all nations being admissible. There was 
 " a room for foundlings, but crowded and close." 
 The same observation applied to that for the insane, 
 in which " the calm and quiet were inhumanly con- 
 fined with the noisy and turbulent." The hospital 
 is an asylum for boys and girls, similar to that of 
 S. Michele in Rome. There were about 600 in- 
 mates. " Over the door of the great room, where 
 numbers were spinning and weaving, was this in- 
 scription: — Silentium et Obediential^ 
 
 The Philanthropist next directed his course to 
 Milan, and, amongst other notices of its public 
 hospitals and prisons, we have the following : — 
 
 " In visiting the Great Hospital, my expectations were 
 disappointed. The rooms were not lofty ; they were dirty 
 and offensive. In the hospital for orphans — La Stella — 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 101. f lb. p. 102.
 
 THE PKISONS AT MILAN. 261 
 
 there were 300 girls, employed in making lace on round 
 pillars. 
 
 " In the Great Prison are twenty secret chambers. The 
 entrance guarded by two doors, between which is a narrow 
 space. Into this you are locked, before the turnkey opens 
 the inner door, for fear these desperate criminals should 
 murder the keeper for the keys, and attempt to rush out. 
 In this great trading city there were only four persons 
 confined for debt. The prisons called UArgastro and 
 La Casa di Correzione do honour to the country. Both 
 are for criminals condemned either for a term of years or 
 for life. The most atrocious work in chains in the streets ; 
 the others, only in the house. In L ' Arg 'astro there were 
 three hundred and fifty-nine prisoners, healthy and strong. 
 A considerable number of them were at work in public: 
 but in the house there were at work shoemakers, tailors, 
 smiths, and wheelwrights, &c. Many here learn trades ; 
 so that there is a probability that, when their term is 
 finished, they will become useful members of society ; 
 which should be the grand object in all such houses. 
 They receive for themselves one-third of what they earn, 
 and two-thirds go to the house."* 
 
 Howard generally visited the prisons unattended 
 by his servant ; but he was so much pleased with 
 some of the arrangements in the Casa di Correzione, 
 that he obtained permission for Thomasson to ac- 
 company him. Had this been a more frequent 
 occurrence, the journal of that attendant would 
 have told constantly of Howard's charity. On 
 this occasion we have the following incident re- 
 corded : — 
 
 " Amongst the number of prisoners was a young man 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 103. 
 s 3
 
 262 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 of superior talents, who was working upon a very fine gold 
 brocade. On entering into conversation with him, Mr. 
 Howard found that he was highly accomplished, and could 
 speak four or five different languages. The crime for 
 which he was confined here was that of having more wives 
 than one living at the same time, — an offence which, in 
 Italy, does not seem to have been viewed in so serious a 
 light as it is with us ; since, on finding that the correction 
 he had undergone in this prison seemed to have produced 
 a salutary effect upon his mind, our benevolent country- 
 man was permitted to purchase his ransom, and to furnish 
 him with money to carry him to some other country, pro- 
 bably to that of which he was a native. For this unex- 
 pected generosity, the young man, who appeared not to be 
 above four or five-and-twenty years of age, was very grate- 
 ful, and showed his benefactor all possible respect and 
 attention during his continuance in Milan."* 
 
 Howard expresses gratitude to the Count de 
 Firmian for the facilities he had afforded him at 
 Milan. He proceeded thence to Turin, and we have 
 the following amongst the other particulars of 
 what he there recorded : — 
 
 " In the citadel there were 170 men in irons. Their un- 
 healthy countenances plainly showed the little attention 
 paid to them. In the hospital of La Carita there were 
 about 2000 inhabitants, mostly children. Here also is an 
 hospital for lunatics, where, with pain, I saw wards crowded 
 with beds, and in some of them miserable creatures chained 
 and raving." -J- 
 
 Thence proceeding to Chamberry, he says — 
 
 ' The prisoners here, besides the allowance of good bread, 
 arc often supplied with bread, soup, and clothes by a 
 
 Brown, p. 300 f Foreign Prisons, p. 106.
 
 KETURNS THROUGH SWITZERLAND. 263 
 
 charitable society of ladies. In one of the rooms I saw 
 chains, but was told they had not been used since the 
 walls had been built higher. A dismal torture-chamber, 
 into which daylight never enters, makes a part of this 
 prison." * 
 
 Our humane traveller then revisited the prisons in 
 Switzerland, and found them generally untenanted, 
 from the causes which have been already assigned. 
 At Berne he met with a further instance of the 
 clemency and discretion of the magistrates : — 
 
 " An old keeper having left the door of one of the men's 
 wards unlocked, twelve prisoners forced the outer door and 
 walked off; the people who happened to see them suffer- 
 ing them to pass, because they supposed they were going 
 to work in the streets. When four or five of them some 
 time after were retaken and carried to their old lodgings, 
 the magistrates ordered that they should not he punished, 
 considering that every one must be desirous of regaining 
 liberty. As they had not been guilty of assault or violence 
 in making their escape, the punishment fell on the keeper 
 for his negligence." -f 
 
 " At Zurich there is a prison, situated in the middle of 
 a river, for capital crimes : here was only one prisoner. 
 The first room was for examination : in it were five differ- 
 ent weights for torture; and, if we may depend on tradition, 
 the heaviest, which is one hundred and twenty pounds, 
 was used in torturing a burgomaster of this city." % 
 
 Howard had not visited all the larger prisons 
 or charitable institutions in Germany during his 
 former tours. He gives us therefore some additional 
 notes : — 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 106. f lb. p. 109. \ lb. p. 112. 
 
 s 4
 
 264 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 " At Augsburg the prison consists of many cachots on 
 three different floors. There is one for examination, and 
 two for the instruments of torture. There are also two 
 dark dungeons for such as have been convicted of witch- 
 craft." 
 
 " At Munich there are two prisons. In a dark, damp 
 dungeon down seventeen steps, were the instruments of 
 torture. Another, called La Prison de la Cour, consisted 
 of about fifteen cells and a black torture-room. In this 
 room there is a table covered with black cloth and fringe. 
 Six chairs for the magistrates and secretaries, covered also 
 with black cloth, are elevated two steps above the floor, 
 and painted black. Various engines of torture, some of 
 which are stained with blood, hang round the room. When 
 the criminals suffer, the candles are lighted; for the win- 
 dows are shut close, to prevent their cries being heard 
 abroad. Two crucifixes are presented to the view of the 
 unhappy objects. But it is too shocking to relate their 
 different modes of cruelty. Even women are not spared. 
 This room seems much like the torture-room in Spain, de- 
 scribed in Limborch's History of the Inquisition, translated 
 by Chandler : ' It was a large under-ground room, arched, 
 and the walls covered with black hangings. The candle- 
 (1K. sticks were fastened to the wall, and the whole room en- 
 lightened with candles placed in them. The inquisitor 
 and notary sat at a table, so that the place seemed as the 
 very mansion of death, everything appearing so very terrible 
 and awful.' " * 
 
 " In the house of correction the keeper ordered his 
 servant to attend me with charcoal and frankincense; a 
 certain sign of negligence and inattention, which the coun- 
 tenances of the prisoners confirmed." 
 
 I was agreeably relieved from the pain excited by these 
 scenes, with the view of the two hospitals of Les Freres 
 and Lea Sceurs de Charite. In the former were about 
 
 Foreign Prisons, p. 114.
 
 PRISONS IN GERMANY. 265 
 
 forty beds ; in the latter twenty : the wards were about 
 twenty-six feet wide. All was neat and clean, still and 
 quiet ; and the great attention paid to the patients was 
 everywhere apparent. I saw the operation of bleeding- 
 performed by the nuns with great dexterity and tenderness. 
 Over the foot of each bed a text of Scripture was inscribed, 
 as in some Italian hospitals." * 
 
 " The prison at Ratisbon is in the town-house. Many 
 of the chambers are airy, and most of them have stoves. 
 There are no dungeons, but three dark cellars for torture, 
 at which two senators, their secretary, and the hangman 
 with his valets, assist. At Munich, and most other places, 
 a surgeon also attends ; but I heard of no such custom 
 here." -j- 
 
 " At Nuremburg the prison is under the town-house : 
 it is one of the worst prisons I ever saw. The dark un- 
 healthy dungeons, and the dismal torture-chamber, do no 
 honour to the magistracy of this city. In this chamber on 
 the wall is inscribed a gingling verse, which I here insert, 
 as perhaps no traveller but myself has ever seen it : — 
 
 1 Ad mala patrata sunt atra the atr a par at a 1753.' 
 
 The gaoler makes use of a low trick to prevent the escape 
 of his prisoners, by terrifying them with the apprehensions 
 of falling under the power of witches. In several of the 
 German gaols there are dungeons for those that are accused 
 of witchcraft, but they seem to have been long disused : 
 and, I hope, increasing light and good sense will soon en- 
 tirely banish the fears of witches, and consequently the 
 witches themselves.^ \ 
 
 "At Schwabach is a large house of correction. Some 
 regulations are liberal, and worth transcribing. It is ob- 
 served, that ' there is great error in expecting that a house 
 of this kind should be able to maintain itself; since, with 
 the strictest economy, a considerable annual sum will be 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 115. | Ibid. % Ibid.
 
 266 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 found necessary for its proper support.' The greatest 
 attention to cleanliness is inculcated ; bathing rooms are 
 provided for the prisoners ; and the expense of washing 
 for them is reckoned an object not to be regarded. It is 
 remarked to be ' a very false notion, that a man who lives 
 upon bread and water can work hard and be kept in health ; ' 
 accordingly, a daily allowance of hot provisions is ordered 
 for the criminals. It is mentioned as an essential point, in 
 order to preserve order, and prevent abuses, ' that one of 
 the city magistrates should every week in rotation visit the 
 house, and closely inspect everything relative to its manage- 
 ment." * 
 
 " At Bayreuth the prisoners were all working on 
 marble. Their pale countenances were a sign that the 
 work was laborious, and that the keeper had the whole 
 profit." 
 
 " At Wurtzburgh house of correction ninety prisoners 
 were employed in a well-regulated woollen manufactory." 
 
 Ploward proceeded thence to Frankfort, in the 
 five prisons of which place he found only six in- 
 mates. At Cologne there were but few criminals. 
 Here, and at Frankfort, they were employed in 
 beating stone to powder for a cement. Thence he 
 proceeded to Aix-la-Chapelle, where he found the 
 great prison unoccupied ; but of another he says — 
 
 "In the guard prison near the Maison de Ville there 
 were two prisoners ; one of whom was a very old man with 
 irons on one hand, who was confined on suspicion, and had 
 twice suffered the torture to force a discovery of his con- 
 federates." f 
 
 W hilst on this journey Howard does not appear 
 to have made notes on general subjects, or to have 
 
 Foreign Prisons, pp. 116, 117. f lb. 123.
 
 TORTURE AT LIEGE. 267 
 
 recorded thoughts unconnected with the specific 
 purpose of his travels. Yet, as though to prevent 
 the supposition that he could pursue his course 
 unmindful of God's presence, unthankful for His 
 protection, or destitute of Christian fervour, we find 
 at this time the following short but most devout 
 acknowledgment in his memorandum-book : — 
 
 " Sun. Ev., Nov. 8. 1778. Hallelujah! blessing, honour, 
 glory and power be unto God and the Lamb for ever and 
 ever ! " 
 
 Liege was next visited ; and here, truly, the hu- 
 mane heart of Howard might have sunk in lifeless 
 despondency at the contemplation of the atrocities he 
 describes, had he not been sustained and animated 
 by that faith which excited the above ascription 
 of praise : — 
 
 " The two prisons at Liege," he writes, "the old and the 
 new, are on the ramparts. In two rooms of the old prison 
 I saw six cages, made very strong with iron hoops, four of 
 which were empty. These were dismal places of confine- 
 ment, but I soon found worse ; in descending deep below 
 ground from the gaoler's apartments, I heard the moans of 
 the miserable wretches in the dark dungeons. The sides 
 and roof were all stone. In wet weather, water from the 
 fosses gets into them, and has greatly damaged the floors. 
 Each of them had two small apertures, one for admitting 
 air, and the other, with a shutter over it strongly bolted, 
 for putting in food to the prisoners. One dungeon larger 
 than the rest was appropriated to the sick. In looking 
 into this with a candle I discovered a stove, and felt some 
 surprise at this little escape of humanity from the men who 
 constructed these cells. 
 
 " The dungeons in the new prison are abodes of misery
 
 268 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 still more shocking; and confinement in them so over- 
 powers human nature, as sometimes irrevocably to take 
 away the senses. I heard the cries of the distracted as I 
 went down to them. One woman, however, I saw, who (as 
 I was told) had sustained this horrid confinement forty- 
 seven years without becoming distracted. The cries of the 
 sufferers in the torture-chamber may be heard by passen- 
 gers without, and guards are placed to prevent them from 
 stopping and listening. A physician and surgeon always 
 attend when the torture is applied ; and on a signal given 
 by a bell, the gaoler brings in wine, vinegar, and water, to 
 prevent the sufferers from expiring. ' The tender mercies 
 of the wicked are cruel' Thus in the Spanish inquisition, 
 the physician and surgeon attend to determine the utmost 
 extremity of suffering without expiring under the torture. 
 I will add, that in this prison there are rooms appropriated 
 to prisoners en pension ; that is, to such as are confined by 
 the magistrates, at the desire of their parents, guardians, 
 or relations. A shocking practice ! which prevails also in 
 some of the neighbouring countries." * 
 
 " In the Maison de Force at Liege, Howard found in 
 the treatment an entire contrast to the ruthless barbarities 
 of the other prisons. It was a woollen manufactory for 
 soldiers' clothes. The lodgings were good, the dietary ex- 
 cessive, — two quarts of beer were allowed each prisoner 
 every day." -f- 
 
 Thence the Philanthropist went to Brussels, 
 where he again inspected the prisons, and then 
 revisited the Maison de Force at Ghent. There 
 the same plans were still pursued, but the prisoners 
 were now allowed a fifth part of all they earned. 
 On his way from Ghent to the Hague, whither 
 Howard went on a visit to Sir Joseph Yorke, he 
 
 I "" >-" Prisons, pp. 124, 125. j lb p. 125.
 
 VISITS ANTWERP. 269 
 
 examined the prisons of Antwerp, of which we 
 have the following account : — 
 
 " In the prison of Antwerp there are two rooms for citi- 
 zens ; and upstairs there is a cage, about six feet and a 
 half square, into which criminals are put before the torture. 
 A criminal, while he suffers the torture, is clothed in a long- 
 shirt, has his eyes bound, and a physician and surgeon 
 attend him : and when a confession is forced from him, 
 and wine has been given him, he is required to sign his 
 confession ; and about forty- eight hours afterwards he is 
 executed. 
 
 "In a small dungeon is a stone seat, like some I have 
 seen in old prison towers, in which it is said that formerly 
 prisoners were suffocated by brimstone when their families 
 wished to avoid the disgrace of a public execution. No 
 person here remembers an instance of this kind, but about 
 thirty years ago there was a private execution in the prison. 
 In this prison there were only two prisoners." * 
 
 " In the house of correction the men were employed in 
 spinning ; the women in making lace. On one side of the 
 court are the young women, who are put in there by their 
 parents or relations." f 
 
 On his return, our humane tourist visited the 
 prison of Lille — 
 
 "There being reason to apprehend that some English 
 prisoners (of war) would be removed thither. The pri- 
 soners in the citadel were unhealthy from lying in the damp 
 rooms under the fortifications." X 
 
 Howard's sympathy with his suffering fellow- 
 countrymen in France impelled him to visit them. 
 During a short stay in Paris he reinspected its 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 126. t Ibid - + Ib - P- 136 -
 
 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 prisons and hospitals. The former have been al- 
 ready described. Of the latter he says — 
 
 " L'Hopital St. Louis for the sick, and L' Hotel Dieu, 
 
 are indeed the two worst hospitals I ever visited. They 
 
 were so crowded, that I have frequently seen five or six 
 
 in one bed, some of them dying. In one of my visits at 
 
 .7 Dieu, I observed the number of patients, written 
 
 up, to be three thousand six hundred and fifty-five. But 
 
 gh these two hospitals are abominable, and a disgrace 
 
 to Paris, it has many other charitable foundations which 
 
 do honour to it, and from which this country may derive 
 
 information. This is a subject foreign to my chief 
 
 purpose, and I have perhaps already enlarged too much 
 
 upon it. 
 
 Pursuing therefore his present purpose, he went 
 to 1 'unkirk ; and he tells us — 
 
 •• Here I found many of my countrymen prisoners of 
 war. In five rooms there were a hundred and thirty-three 
 — captains, mates, passengers, and common sailors all 
 crowded together — who lay on straw, with one coverlet for 
 every three persons." + '"The provisions were good: at 
 Bergi; - were not so good. The prison at Calais, 
 
 being smaller than that at Dunkirk, was much crowded, 
 for it contained one hundred and twenty-seven English 
 prisoners. Seventeen sailors lay in one room on straw, 
 without coverlets ; a few had not even straw : on my com- 
 plaining of this to the commissary, he said he would send 
 St. O] .'-for coverlet-. 
 
 ay of the prisoners in this and other prisons had no 
 change of linen, and some were almost entirely destitute of 
 cloth. _ ■ . wi - ss Is shipwrecked in the great 
 
 n of December 31st, 1778." s ; 
 
 '- : -. [.. 149. f lb. p. 152. 
 
 -^___ : § lb. p. 1.54.
 
 RELIEVES PRIS H] 271 
 
 We might infer that the benevole: r would 
 
 not be a witness of such dist] - ithout attempt- 
 ing to relieve the sufferers: and, accordinglv. Dr. 
 Aikin informs us that these poor naked and 
 niless seamen were clothed at Howard's expens 
 
 On these visits his patriotism was again proved. 
 Many dishonourable attempts were made to inveigle 
 these prisoners into the French service ; he was 
 aware of this, and therefore dissuaded them with 
 so much effect as to occasion offence to the srovern- 
 ment officials. Moreover, his munificence ex 
 suspicion. Disinterested benevolence is rare in every 
 land : private individuals were nor wont to be so 
 liberal as Howard ; and therefore they pronounced 
 him a spy : and his charity in their eyes was a 
 largess of the State. 
 
 The desire to improve th ;hed prisons 
 
 his country, to provide a corrective discipline for 
 their inmates, thereby to avert their miseries and 
 amend their morals, had induced this third tour of 
 mercy — during which Howard had travelled n 
 5000 miles. His mind still further stored with 
 information, he now returned to prove its value. 
 
 Thomasson had been despatched from Ghent with 
 directions to bring his young master to meet his 
 father in London, and thither the fond parent 
 hastened. On his arrival, his first object was to 
 wait upon the Commissioners for the sick and 
 wounded seamen, to report to them the complaints 
 which some French commissaries, and others in 
 
 - Aikin, p. 101.
 
 272 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 France, had made of the manner in which the 
 prisoners of war were treated in England. At the 
 same time he represented what our own country- 
 men were experiencing in their captivity. He pro- 
 2^osed to visit the French prisoners, and was there- 
 fore furnished with letters of introduction to the 
 agents in the prisons throughout the kingdom.* 
 Having now arranged his business in London, he 
 proceeded to Cardington, accompanied by his son, 
 where during this Christmas vacation the beloved 
 child was ever seen by his father's side ; and if the 
 affection was chiefly on the part of the parent, 
 still he might naturally hope it was mutual, and 
 therefore the intercourse tended to cheer and to 
 invigorate Howard for renewed labours of love. 
 
 * Brown, p. 314.
 
 273 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 another inspection of english gaols. prisoners of war 
 
 at plymouth, bristol, avinchester, and forton. im- 
 proved prison at bodmin. gaol fever. black assize 
 
 at oxford, visits prisons at petworth, newport, 
 
 norwich, and other places. proceeds to south wales. 
 
 another journey to scotland. revisits durham. 
 
 education in scotland. few criminals. goes to 
 
 ireland. causes of many prisoners. irish gaols. 
 
 returns to london. reinspects metropolitan prisons. 
 
 revisits north wales. prepares appendix to state 
 
 of prisons. — goes tq warrington. cruel custom at 
 
 liverpool. pamphlet on the bastile. — appointed 
 
 commissioner for building penitentiary. difficulties 
 
 and resignation of the office. — revisits holland. 
 
 vagrancy of children prevented. mistaken treat- 
 ment of young offenders. the provision required. 
 
 howard proceeds to denmark. punishments of in- 
 famy. arrives at copenhagen, visits prisons, etc 
 
 goes to stockholm. king of sweden quoted. how- 
 ard at st. petersburg. punishment of the knout. 
 
 wretched prisons of russia. — journey to moscow. 
 
 Howard's liberality. — travels to warsaw, breslau, 
 and berlin. anecdote of firmness. 
 
 A few weeks passed at Cardington with his child, 
 and the holy days were spent. Howard's vacation 
 ended with them ; and on the day the son returned 
 to school the father resumed his labours. He 
 proposed to publish an Appendix to his Book on 
 Prisons, describing; the alterations which had been 
 
 7 O 
 
 effected, and suggesting further improvements. To 
 this end, he again travelled through several coun-
 
 274 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 ties, directing his steps first to the west of England. 
 At Exeter, he found the gaol in its former wretched 
 condition ; and, since his previous visit, the surgeon 
 and some prisoners had died of gaol fever. He 
 adds — 
 
 " I found the men together, encouraging and confirming 
 one another in wickedness ; and the women are obliged to 
 associate with them in the daytime." * 
 
 But, as we have seen, Howard had pledged him- 
 self to inspect the abodes in which prisoners of war 
 were detained ; and he began to fulfil this engage- 
 ment, by visiting one at Plymouth, of which Ave 
 have the following note : — 
 
 " Feb. 3. 1779. In the Mill- prison there are 392 French 
 prisoners. Wards and courts confined. Not well accom- 
 modated with provisions. The hospital, which had fifty 
 patients in it, was dirty and offensive, and I found there 
 only three pairs of sheets in use." f 
 
 In the ship Cambridge there were 396 prisoners, 
 and 250 more were corning in the next day. At 
 Bristol there were J 51. The arrangements were 
 better, yet might reasonably be complained of. 
 
 But few, amongst the wretched prisons of 
 England, were in a more disgraceful condition, 
 or the scenes of more shocking cruelty and mis- 
 rule, than those in Cornwall, when Howard before 
 visited that county. On this visit, the heart of the 
 Philanthropist was cheered when he found — 
 
 * Book on Prisons, p. 345. f lb. p. 156.
 
 OXFORD GAOL. 275 
 
 " A very convenient and spacious county gaol and house 
 of correction, with separate courts, and rooms for the con- 
 finement of each prisoner. It is built on a fine eminence, 
 where there is a constant current of water. There is a 
 good house for the gaoler, a chapel, infirmary, baths, &c. 
 By this spirited exertion, the gentlemen of this county 
 have erected a monument of their humanity and attention 
 to the health and morals of prisoners." * 
 
 Several other prisons were visited on this ex- 
 cursion in the counties of Cornwall, Somerset, and 
 Dorset ; and Howard returned to Cardington on 
 or about the 12th of February. On the 25th he 
 commenced another journey. Aylesbury was first 
 visited. Then Oxford gaol; on which he re- 
 marks — - 
 
 " It is very probable that the rooms in this castle are 
 the same as the prisoners occupied at the time of the Black 
 Assize, when all who were present died within forty hours ; 
 the lord chief baron, the sheriff, and about three hundred 
 more. Lord Chancellor Bacon ascribes this to a disease 
 brought into court by the prisoners, and Dr. Mead is of 
 the same opinion. The first of these two authors, Lord 
 Bacon, observes, that ' the most pernicious infection next 
 the plague is the smell of the jail, when the prisoners have 
 been long, and close, and nastily kept ; whereof we have 
 had, in our time, experience twice or thrice, when both the 
 judges that sat upon the jail, and numbers of those who 
 attended the business, or were present, sickened upon it 
 and died.' . . . The wards in the gaol at Oxford are close 
 and offensive ; so that, if crowded, I should not greatly 
 wonder to hear of another fatal assize at Oxford." f 
 
 The prisons at Marlborough and Devizes were 
 
 * Book on Prisons, p. 353, f lb. pp. 11. 303. 
 
 t 2
 
 LIFE OF HOWAFvD. 
 
 next visited: they remained in their former sad 
 condition. Thence Howard proceeded to Winches- 
 ter, where 1062 French prisoners of war were con- 
 fined. They were better attended to than at Ply- 
 mouth, but their benevolent visitor observed — 
 
 • S - -veral were confined in the dark hole. F i 
 confinement on half allowance, in order to pay ten shillings 
 to those that apprehend them after escav ss, s ms to he too 
 severe a punishment. On such occasions,, the observation 
 of the worthy ma. at Berne always occurs to my 
 mind, ' that every one must desirous of regaining 
 liberty.' " * 
 
 Pursuing his course to Forton. he inspi. 
 another of these establishments, in which were 177 
 uers, ill treated in most respects. The prison 
 ; * dirty and offensive." Their meat bad. their bread 
 short of weight, and they justly complained that the 
 inspection of their letters prevented their obtaining 
 3S of these grievances.! 
 
 ->ther proof that his compassionate labours 
 had not been vain was discovered by Howard, on 
 returning home, at Pet worth, where the half-starved 
 - Qers were now allowed a two-pound 1< . 
 ; — little enough, but double the quantity pre- 
 viously given. He ascribes this to the kindnt — I 
 Lchmond.J 
 - spent at Cardington. and then 
 
 her journey was undertaken. The south and 
 . been recently visit urse 
 
 • Book on i t I ; p. 231.
 
 THE PRISONS IN NORWICH. J 7 7 
 
 was now directed eastward. From the bridewell 
 at Newport Pagnell the prisoners had lately made 
 their escape ; and he saw with little regret that its 
 " two unwholesome cells in a public house" were, 
 on that account, empty. Thence proceeding to 
 the gaols of Northampton, Coventry. Oakham, and 
 Leicester, he found that some improvements had 
 been made in each. At Wymondham he found 
 " four dirty sickly women at work, with padlocks 
 on their legs. The straw allowed was worn to dust. 
 In the dungeon were stocks.*' 
 
 The bridewells at Aylsham and Acle were most 
 miserable abodes ; the latter is thus described : — 
 
 " Two rooms. Down nine steps are two dark dungeons, 
 8 feet by 5 feet 10 inches. Out of repair. No court ; no 
 water; no allowance ; no straw."* 
 
 The prisons in Norwich were still abominable. 
 The treatment which their wretched inmates expe- 
 rienced may be inferred from their being allowed 
 only twelve ounces of bread daily — still a starving 
 pittance, but until lately it had been less. Their 
 dungeons were unlit for any living occupant ; and 
 Howard expressed a hope that they might be for 
 ever barred, unless for the vcn/ refractory. 
 
 Passino; into Suffolk, he found some of its prisons 
 improved; but at Lavenham the escape of a cri- 
 minal from its dilapidated prison had induced the 
 keeper, who had been fined, to chain the rest. < >p- 
 pression in a two-fold form was not likely to go 
 
 * Book on Prisons, p. "253. 
 
 T 3
 
 2? 8 LIFE OF HOWARD - 
 
 unreproved by Howard, who says — " The keeper 
 was fined, though the neglect lay in the magis- 
 trates"* not one of whom had been there for fifteen 
 years. Thence he proceeded to Chelmsford, and 
 through Barking to London. 
 
 Having spent a few days in the metropolis, the 
 persevering Philanthropist renewed his journey : 
 going first to Dartford prison, where some of his 
 recommendations had been attended to. Thence 
 he went to Maidstone ; where he found the bride- 
 well, though recently erected, dirty and offensive ; 
 and some of its wretched inmates, ill with the small- 
 pox, were lying in the loose straw, with only a mat 
 to cover them. From Maidstone he travelled to 
 Dover and Deal. At the latter place he found some 
 French prisoners confined, and was glad to hear 
 them express satisfaction at their treatment. He 
 then revisited the bridewells of Lewes, Reading, 
 Y\ \ combe, and St. Albans, in all of which vicious 
 customs still prevailed. 
 
 Howard again spent ten days at Cardington; and 
 then started, May 5th, on another excursion. Re- 
 visiting several prisons on his way, he reached 
 ^ ork on the 7th, where he had the gratification of 
 seeing that his advice had been in many respects 
 followed. He then proceeded to Knaresborough : 
 thai horrible prison had also been repaired; the 
 sewer had been covered, and the rats excluded. 
 At ( arlisle were some French prisoners, shamefully 
 treated, allowed only straw upon which to lie. 
 
 Book <m Prisons, p. 2G0.
 
 PEOCEEDS TO SOUTH WALES. 279 
 
 Thence, after again inspecting the gaols of Lan- 
 caster and Manchester, he returned to Bradford, 
 attracted by a new prison for debtors, "which, 
 although just constructed, was not secure. He 
 then revisited the gaols of Hereford, Worcester, 
 and Winchcomb ; and, having travelled nearly a 
 thousand miles during fifteen days, temporary rest 
 was again required. 
 
 No memorandum informs us of Howard's pro- 
 ceedings during the next fortnight ; but. as he was 
 in the neighbourhood of Bristol Hot- Wells, it was 
 probably spent at that favourite resort, especially 
 as he resumed his benevolent exertions at Glou- 
 cester. In the gaol of that city he found the most 
 licentious intercourse yet prevailing. Proceeding 
 to South Wales, he found at Brecon a new gaol 
 building. At Cardigan and Carmarthen no im- 
 provement had taken place. Of his next inspection 
 we have the following note : — 
 
 " On the 5th and Gtli of June, 1779, I visited the prisons 
 at Pembroke. There were fifty-six French prisoners in an 
 old house adjoining to that in which the Americans were 
 confined. Most of them had no shoes or stockings, and 
 some were also without shirts. They had no victualling- 
 table, nor did they know what was their allowance. There 
 were two or three who had their allowance in money, which 
 should have been three shillings and sixpence a week, each, 
 for their aliment ; but sixpence was deducted. They lay 
 in o-eneral on the boards, without straw; for there were 
 but four hammocks in two rooms, each of which contained 
 eighteen prisoners. Here was a court, hut no water or 
 sewer. . . Such observations as these have convinced me, 
 that humanity and good policy require that an inspector 
 
 T 4
 
 280 LIFE OF IIOWAHD. 
 
 of the prisons of war should be appointed, who should be 
 obliged to report quarterly their state as to health, pro- 
 visions, &c." * 
 
 This sixth tour of benevolent investigation in 
 this year was closed by Howard's revisiting the 
 prison at Cirencester. 
 
 A fortnight was accounted long enough for 
 recreation, and when that short time had been spent 
 in Bedfordshire, the Philanthropist set off upon 
 another expedition of mercy, proposing on this 
 occasion to explore many prisons in Scotland and 
 Ireland. On his way he again looked over the 
 gaols at Durham. Little improvement could be 
 discerned in the largest, and he mentions with pain 
 that he saw five young boys confined with some of 
 the most profligate and abandoned criminals. In 
 the bridewell some change for the better had been 
 effected. A suitable keeper had been substituted 
 for the old woman who had the charge on his 
 former visit. At Newcastle, too, some amendment 
 in the prison was observable. 
 
 The following extracts from his notes on his 
 Scotch tour represent the defective nature of prison 
 discipline in that country, and show the wise pre- 
 cautions by which crime was prevented, so that its 
 miserable gaols happily had but few occupants : — 
 
 ' The prisons which I saw in Edinburgh, Glasgow, 
 Perth, Stirling, Jedburgh, Ayr, &c. were old buildings, 
 dirty and offensive, without courts, and also generally 
 without water. They arc not visited by the magistrates: 
 
 * State of Prisons, pp. 158, 159.
 
 GOES TO IRELAND. 281 
 
 and the gaolers are allowed the sale of the most pernicious 
 liquors. . . . 
 
 " There are in Scotland but few prisoners ; which is 
 partly owing to the shame and disgrace annexed to impri- 
 sonment, — partly to the solemn manner in which oaths are 
 administered, and trials and executions conducted, — and 
 partly to the general sobriety of manners produced by the 
 care which parents and ministers take to instruct the rising 
 generation. In the southern parts of Scotland, it is very 
 rare that you meet with any person that cannot both read 
 and write. It is scandalous for any person not to be pos- 
 sessed of a Bible, which is always read in the parochial 
 schools." * 
 
 The prisons in Ireland were in a state equally 
 bad with those of Scotland, and, as there were not 
 the same preventives of crime, the larger number 
 of inmates presented a grievous contrast. We have 
 several interesting observations on this excursion : 
 
 " The criminals in the gaols of Ireland are very nume- 
 rous, one reason of which may be, that in this country 
 there are no houses of correction ; and another, that ac- 
 quitted persons are continued in confinement till they have 
 discharged their fees to the clerk of the crown or peace, 
 the sheriff, gaoler, and turnkey. Even boys, almost naked, 
 and under the age of twelve, are sometimes confined two 
 years for these fees, though amounting to no more than 
 about forty shillings. How surprising is it that any king- 
 dom can endure such injustice ! It is a particular aggra- 
 vation of it, that the prisoners thus confined generally lose, 
 at the same time, their allowance of bread. I have heard 
 that Mr. Justice Aston always ordered the acquitted pri- 
 soners to be discharged. Some boys were lately released 
 from the county gaol at Kilmainham, paying half fees; 
 
 * State of Prisons, pp. 162, 1G3.
 
 282 LIFE OF IIOVVAED. 
 
 and others from Newgate : the sheriffs of Dublin gene- 
 rously relinquished their fees. But as those boys had been 
 associated with the most profligate and abandoned felons 
 for many months, I did not in the least wonder to find 
 that some of them returned to their former habitation in a 
 few days." * 
 
 In recording the above enormities of injustice, 
 Howard was not likely to inform us by whose 
 benevolence those poor boys were liberated ; but 
 these incidental notices, occurring only when some 
 generosity in others called for commendation, are 
 but the occasional indications of his constant 
 charity. If we wonder that he did not in stronger 
 language deplore and deprecate the contamination 
 he has described, none can imagine that he felt 
 little distress. The supposition is forbidden by 
 these lines which immediately follow, in which the 
 very "apprehension" that evil communications 
 might corrupt is spoken of as " melancholy and 
 dreadful : " — 
 
 " On passing this pi'ison (Dublin Newgate) frequently, 
 I could not avoid observing officers from the recruiting 
 regiments waiting at the doors and windows, to receive 
 either the offenders who were permitted to enlist, or any of 
 their associates. When the excessive profligacy and daring 
 wickedness of this set of people is considered, the most 
 melancholy apprehensions must be entertained of the dread- 
 ful consequences likely to result from their mixture with 
 those who may have had a sober education, and have en- 
 tered voluntarily into the service of their country; and 
 Likewise of the danger to society in general, from turning 
 loose such a set of wretches at the close of a war." f 
 
 ■ State of Prisons, p. 1G7. f Ibid.
 
 ABUSES IN DUBLIN PKISONS. 283 
 
 Howard, deeply imbued with that spirit which 
 induced him to esteem others better than himself, 
 whilst concealing, as we have just now seen, his own 
 benevolence, was ever ready to extol the charity 
 of others. Yet there was faithful expostulation, 
 whenever called for, accompanying his praise. 
 After describing the state of the debtors in the 
 Marshalsea at Dublin, he adds — 
 
 " The most needy of them are relieved by the care of a 
 humane society in Dublin, similar to that called the 
 Thatched House Society in London. Such societies de- 
 serve the highest praise. I wish, however, to recommend 
 to compassion other prisoners, whose miseries have been 
 long- hid from the eyes of the public, who, though they 
 seem to deserve assistance less, yet need it more, to save 
 them from the ruin to which the bad state of the Irish 
 prisons exposes them."* 
 
 Amongst other numerous evils described, arc the 
 following : — 
 
 " I am sorry to mention the common and pernicious use 
 
 of spirituous liquors in the Irish prisons I found 
 
 eleven young creatures who for small offences were con- 
 fined with outrageous lunatics of both sexes." f 
 
 Grieved at what he had discovered, but more de- 
 termined to persevere in his endeavours to correct 
 the vicious customs and to alleviate the miseries he 
 had witnessed, Howard now returned to Cardington, 
 and we observe that only four days elapsed ere he 
 ao-ain left that home, and on the 4th of August pro- 
 ceeded to London to reinspect the metropolitan 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 1G8. t Iljid -
 
 284 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 prisons. A fortnight was devoted by the unwearied 
 philanthropist to this work ; and although he was 
 not likely to rest from labour whilst wrongs how- 
 ever trifling were inflicted, or the least misery 
 claimed relief, yet he accounted a little improve- 
 ment reward enough to encourage, and compensa- 
 tion more than deserved. When, therefore, he dis- 
 cerned in almost every London gaol some alteration 
 for the better, both in their construction and 
 management, he regarded this as the earnest of 
 much good, and greatly rejoiced in the success 
 which had been granted. 
 
 Again, after an interval of a few days, Howard 
 made another excursion into North Wales, re- 
 visiting many prisons ; and though his efforts 
 to meliorate their condition had not been very 
 effective as yet in these more remote parts, still he 
 saw improvement enough to forbid despondency. 
 His next tour, in the month of September, was 
 through the Eastern Counties, and during a week 
 in October he again traversed the counties of 
 Lincoln, Northampton, and Buckingham, deriving 
 from all he witnessed motives for continued ex- 
 ertion in his philanthropic work. 
 
 A few days were now spent in Bedfordshire, when 
 the diligent inspector again examined the prisons of 
 his own county ; and afterwards went to London, 
 and remained there through the month of November, 
 chiefly occupied, with the assistance of his friends 
 Mr. Densham and Dr. Price, in arranging for pub- 
 lication the additional information on the state of
 
 PREPARES HIS "APPENDIX." 285 
 
 prisons, which his further travels of eleven thousand 
 miles had furnished. During his stay in the me- 
 tropolis Howard again inspected the hulks on the 
 Thames, and learned with much satisfaction that his 
 former representations had produced most happy 
 results. The convicts were clean, well clad, and 
 comparatively healthy, and the discipline was 
 greatly amended. When his various notes were 
 properly arranged, he repaired to Warrington, 
 where, havino; asrain secured the assistance of Dr. 
 Aikin, he superintended the printing of an Appendix 
 to his Book on Prisons. 
 
 The author, though very careful and constant, as 
 before, in correcting the press, was more active than 
 the compositor; and, during the progress of the 
 work, he made an excursion to Liverpool, where, 
 having again inspected the prisons of that important 
 town, he described some merciless and foolish 
 customs in the bridewell, as affording a painful 
 proof that even the humane provisions of an Act 
 may be perverted in a manner alike degrading and 
 cruel : — 
 
 " This prison was built in 177G The women 
 
 have a large work-room, near which, in the men's court, is 
 a pump, to which the women are tied every week and re- 
 ceive discipline. In this court is also a bath with a new 
 and singular contrivance. At one end of it is a standard 
 for a long pole, at the extremity of which is fastened a 
 chair. In this all the females (not the males) at their en- 
 trance, after a few questions, are placed, with a flannel 
 shift on, and undergo a thorough ducking, thrice repeated 
 — a use of a bath which I dare say the Legislature never
 
 286 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 thought of when in their late Act they ordered Laths, with 
 a view to cleanliness and preserving the health of prison- 
 ers ; not for the exercise of a wanton and dangerous kind 
 of severity."* 
 
 At the beginning of the year 1780 Howard pub- 
 lished his Appendix to the State of Prisons, a 4to 
 volume of 220 pages, with numerous costly illus- 
 trations. It was then distributed with the same 
 liberality as his former book. When this was com- 
 pleted he remained several weeks longer at War- 
 rington, preparing an 8vo edition of the former 
 work, with which the new matter of his Appendix 
 was incorporated. f He also printed at the same 
 time a most interesting pamphlet descriptive of 
 the Bastile. This was a translation of a very 
 scarce tract, written by one who had been a pri- 
 soner in that dreadful abode, and exposed some 
 of the atrocities he had himself experienced, and 
 others which were therein perpetrated. The sale 
 of the original publication w r as prohibited by the 
 French Government under the most severe penal- 
 ties. Howard, after many vain endeavours, at 
 length secured a copy, and he tells us that he 
 appreciated and published it — 
 
 Not merely as an object of curiosity, but as affording 
 a very interesting and instructive comparison between the 
 horrors of despotic power, and the mild and just adminis- 
 tration of equal laws in a free state." 
 
 * State of Prisons, p. 398. 
 
 this edition is more generally known, I have made my re- 
 ference to its pages.
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE "APPENDIX." 287 
 
 With this patriotic view, the low price of six- 
 pence was affixed ; and, lest he should be charged 
 with exaggerating the cruelty described, he re- 
 printed, with his characteristic prudence, the 
 original document. 
 
 The value of Howard's Appendix was enhanced, 
 as Dr. Aikin observes, — -and his professional talent 
 enabled him to estimate the matter correctly, — by 
 the observations on various hospitals he visited : 
 
 " He made them an avowed object of his examination ; 
 a circumstance, it may be supposed, not a little pleasing to 
 his medical friends. For although the knowledge collected 
 by a professional man with similar opportunities would 
 doubtless have been more applicable to the purposes of 
 science, yet matter of fact, accurately stated by a sensible 
 observer, must ever have its value. Besides, when can we 
 expect to see the spirit and qualities of a Howard, united, 
 in one of our profession, with his fortune and leisure ?" * 
 
 The conclusion of his Appendix not only declares 
 the feelings and intentions of the Philanthropist, 
 but is connected with subsequent events in his life : 
 it is therefore transcribed : — 
 
 " Having thus, according to my ability, completed the 
 design I had engaged in, it was my intention immediately 
 to have retired to a tranquil enjoyment of that easy com- 
 petence which a kind Providence has bestowed upon me : 
 — happy in the reflection that I had been, in some degree, 
 an instrument in alleviating the sufferings of a numerous 
 and unhappy set of people ; and of exciting the attention 
 of my countrymen to an important object of civil policy. 
 Nor can I forbear expressing the additional satisfaction I 
 
 * Aikin, p. 92.
 
 288 LIFE OF IIOWAKD. 
 
 have felt in reflecting, that I have avoided giving any pos- 
 sible occasion to impute what I have done to self-interested 
 views ; for, as nothing but a firm persuasion that it was 
 my duty could have enabled me to go through all the 
 disagreeable scenes which lay before me, so I had the 
 happiness of being placed out of the reach of any other 
 incitements. 
 
 " My resolutions, however, were broken in upon by the 
 urgent persuasion of some, who were pleased to think me 
 a proper person to assist in superintending one of those 
 great and useful plans I had recommended to the notice of 
 the public : and I was induced more readily to comply 
 with their solicitations, by a confidence that those who 
 were to be associated with me had the same general ideas 
 with myself, respecting the execution of the proposed plan, 
 and would cooperate in it with zeal and ability. 
 
 " It remains now to be tried, how far the wise and 
 humane intentions of the Legislature can be accomplished 
 in this country ; and what use can be made of those lights 
 which it was the particular purpose of my foreign journeys 
 to collect." 
 
 As implied in the foregoing passage, Howard was 
 appointed a Commissioner for carrying into execu- 
 tion an Act (19 George III. c. 74.) for the erec- 
 tion of two Penitentiary houses. His favourable 
 report of the prisons in Holland induced the Legis- 
 lature to determine upon the adoption of a similar 
 treatment of criminals in this country ; and it was 
 proposed that suitable buildings should be con- 
 structed under the superintendence of three compe- 
 tent persons. Howard was, of course, selected as 
 best qualified for such an office, and, by his own 
 desire, his friend Dr. Fothergill, whose experience 
 as a physician he very highly valued, and Mr.
 
 APPOINTED COMMISSIONER. 289 
 
 Whatley, a gentleman of distinguished benevo- 
 lence, who had been for many years treasurer of 
 the Foundling Hospital*, were associated with 
 him. The qualifications of the Philanthropist were 
 more clearly discerned by others than himself; and 
 although connected with persons so well able to 
 assist in the undertaking, it was with reluctance 
 that he accepted the office, and not until very 
 strongly urged to do so by his friends, especially 
 by Sir William Blackstone, who was a chief pro- 
 moter of the design. A proof of his disinterested- 
 ness was afforded on this occasion by his refusing 
 any compensation for the labour which such an 
 appointment entailed. This is not the place to 
 inquire whether the plan proposed was in all re- 
 spects promising of good : certainly it was a vast 
 improvement on all that were at that time pur- 
 sued ; and its failure, from circumstances we must 
 now mention, is matter of regret. It appeared 
 that Dr. Fothergill and Howard agreed on a spot 
 at Islington as most desirable for the erection of 
 the first Penitentiary, whereas Mr. Whatley selected 
 some land at Limehouse as more eligible. Each 
 party was too confident in the wisdom of the choice 
 made, to concede the point to the other. Dr. Fo- 
 thergill died, and there was then little hope that 
 the survivors would agree upon the required site. 
 
 * This benevolent man was not only a liberal contributor to the 
 hospital, but bequeathed a considerable sum " for the relief of poor 
 objects who, having been there brought up, should apply for aid ; 
 with the hope that others, seeing its utility, would augment that 
 fund." 
 
 U
 
 290 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 Howard's biographers have too much censured his 
 colleague, without observing that the similarity of 
 character in these two excellent men was the real 
 cause of dissension. We have seen already, and 
 further proof will appear, that the subject of our 
 Memoir, always acting upon principle, once having 
 settled his purposes, was thenceforth inflexible. He 
 was now associated with one who, if he resembled 
 him in the benevolence of his life, was alike un- 
 compromising. Both were convinced, and neither 
 would give way. It must, however, be added, that 
 before the death of Dr. Fothergill, Howard had 
 been confirmed in his opinion by a circumstance 
 which he has himself described : — 
 
 " The object I am sensible is great, but it is useful. If 
 I should not be able to accomplish this good work, I would 
 still endeavour to bring materials, and lay the foundation ; 
 that others of more skill ma)' undertake the benevolent 
 task, and carry to perfection a plan worthy of the great 
 Sir William Blackstone, with whom I had the honour of 
 much conversation on this subject. This great and good 
 man Dr. Fothergill saw just before he died, to whom he 
 then turned and asked ' what progress we had made in the 
 penitentiary houses.' The doctor answered that we had 
 paid all possible attention to the sentiments of others re- 
 specting a situation ; that we must soon be obliged to re- 
 cpaest the opinion of our judges concerning it; and till this 
 was obtained, we could not proceed much further. 'Be 
 firm in your own — ' was all that he was able to say, as 
 he soon after departed to a better life." * 
 
 The following sentence, in the next page of his 
 
 * Observations on Penitentiary Houses, p. 222.
 
 RESIGNATION OF COMMISSIONEESHIP. 291 
 
 work, is not only characteristic of Howard, but jus- 
 tifies the view which has been taken of this affair : 
 
 " Mr. Justice Blackstone's dying words, ' Be firm in 
 your own opinion,' seem to me the most important direc- 
 tion for our conduct." 
 
 Two years passed, and the preliminary arrange- 
 ments were not settled, nor was there much hope 
 that the design would be accomplished. Resigna- 
 tion of his appointment was therefore tendered 
 by Howard, in a letter to Earl Bathurst, dated 
 January, 1781. 
 
 Far as Howard's travels had extended, and vast 
 as the sphere of his investigation had been, there 
 were still countries inviting his philanthropic exer- 
 tions, whose scenes of woe were as yet unexplored, 
 where relief might possibly be given, or some lesson 
 of compassion learned. The distant prisons of Den- 
 mark and Russia had not been visited; and if his 
 humane and holy exertions failed for a time in his 
 native land, his charity was not therefore restrained, 
 but would diffuse its precious influence over re- 
 gions more remote. Darwin is sometimes charge- 
 able with extravagance, yet his lines, when de- 
 scribing Howard, are scarcely the language of 
 exaggeration ; certainly no transgression of poetic 
 licence : — 
 
 " And now, Benevolence ! thy rays divine 
 
 Dart round the globe from Zembla to the Line ; 
 O'er each dark prison plays the cheering light, 
 Like northern lustres o'er the vault of night. — 
 u 2
 
 292 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 From realm to realm, with cross or crescent crown'd, 
 Where'er mankind and misery are found, 
 O'er burning sands, deep waves, or wilds of snow, 
 Thy Howard journeying seeks the house of woe." 
 
 On the 27th of May, 1781, Howard crossed to 
 Ostend, and thence proceeded to Rotterdam, where 
 he reinspected the prisons. He describes a recent 
 occurrence at the rasp-house : — 
 
 " At the whipping-post, which was in the middle of the 
 court, in full view of the male criminals, some of our dex- 
 terous countrymen, but a few months before, had under- 
 gone a severe flagellation for melting their pewter spoons, 
 and forming them into keys, for the purpose of opening 
 the doors of their prison. The metal was hardened with a 
 mixture procured from an apothecary as a remedy for the 
 tooth-ache. The scheme was defeated, however, by the 
 treachery of an English Jew, who, for this service, obtained 
 his liberty, though he had been committed for thirty 
 years." * 
 
 Again at Bremen he obtained permission to re- 
 visit its prisons. There he had evidence of the 
 strictness with which discipline was enforced upon 
 the keepers, as well as upon those in custody. 
 One of the former had suffered a prisoner to con- 
 verse with a person in the town, and for the offence 
 was in confinement for fourteen days upon bread 
 and water. The doors of the cells in this prison 
 were five inches thick and plated with iron, yet 
 a prisoner had recently escaped. In another prison 
 be found six dungeons without windows, and mea- 
 suring only seven feet by five. In one of these 
 
 * Brown, p. 347.
 
 REVISITS HOLLAND. 293 
 
 dreary receptacles, a wretched criminal had lately 
 beaten himself to death against the wall, upon which 
 his blood remained. Leaving this abode of horrors, 
 the humane traveller was consoled by a visit to the 
 poor-house, where the aged and infirm appeared 
 happy. Nor was this the only pleasing institution 
 at Bremen. One had lately been established, at 
 which the young children of the poor were educated 
 during part of the day, and usefully employed for 
 a few hours in spinning. And thus the number of 
 bessrins: children for which this town was notorious 
 had been greatly diminished. The writer himself 
 saw an establishment similar to this at Ghent — 
 L'Atelier de Charite : the avowed object of which 
 was " pour l'extirpation de la mendicite," * and it 
 excited an earnest desire that some arrangements 
 of a like kind might prevent the vagrancy, idleness, 
 and vice to which the destitute children of England 
 are trained. Having mentioned this subject, he 
 cannot immediately pass from it. Howard indeed 
 says but little about young offenders. They were 
 not so numerous in his day ; but the gaol at Dublin, 
 we have seen, tended to multiply them, and, from 
 that time to the present, negligence and mismanage- 
 ment have frightfully increased the progeny. We 
 are perhaps now sufficiently alive to the necessity 
 of education. Enough of secular instruction will 
 ere long be provided, which, if sanctified by re- 
 ligious teaching and discipline, will tend to the 
 prevention of crime. But the plans hitherto 
 
 * See Prison Discipline, vol. ii. p. 385, 
 U 3
 
 294 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 adopted for the correction of juvenile delinquents 
 have for the most part been mischievous and ab- 
 surd. It was long the practice to commit chil- 
 dren, chargeable with some trifling fault, to the 
 gaol fellowship of the adult felon, to be schooled 
 for a future life of debauchery and lawlessness. 
 Such enormous folly is now rare. Acts of such 
 atrocious wickedness, far surpassing any guilt the 
 young offender could have contracted, are seldom 
 perpetrated. Measures are taken to prevent con- 
 tamination, and means employed to correct the cul- 
 prit. The former may be effectual, but the latter 
 are defective and inadequate. It has been a fatal 
 mistake to suppose, that the vicious propensities of 
 children might be checked by a little punishment, 
 which idea has often occasioned a short imprison- 
 ment, perhaps attended with corporal chastisement. 
 The effect has been, that such treatment, instead 
 of deterring from future offences, has often entailed 
 a whole life of crime. If the penalty alone were 
 looked to, and the correction of the offender alto- 
 gether disregarded, there would be reason in pur- 
 suing such a course ; but if, besides chastisement, 
 reformation be desired, wisdom must suggest a 
 very different proceeding. Imprisonment itself 
 must occasion reproach, and, when to this the 
 infamy of flogging is added, the child is often de- 
 graded to an irrecoverable depth: and this is com- 
 monly the case if, having been thus debased, he 
 is soon after liberated ; the most abandoned then 
 claim him as a companion, and he ere long becomes
 
 JUVENILE VAGRANCY. 295 
 
 one of their class. Punishment itself, therefore, 
 tends to demoralize, unless a counteracting agency 
 be provided, and time allowed for the means of 
 improvement to be applied. 
 
 The writer has in other volumes endeavoured to 
 plead the cause of this poor, helpless, destitute, and 
 most dangerous class; but many of Howard's notes 
 on foreign prisons remind the reader of what is 
 especially needful in our own land. In the fore- 
 going pages, houses of refuge and schools of industry 
 for children, and suitable provision for the orphans 
 of criminals, have been mentioned. We require 
 similar establishments, not merely for the outcast, 
 the bereaved, and destitute, but, still more, for the 
 offspring of depraved and vicious parents, who, both 
 by precept and example, perpetuate crime. If 
 children, after imprisonment, return to such evil 
 influence, and mix with former companions, they 
 are encouraged — sometimes compelled — to trans- 
 gress again, and their ruin is almost ensured. 
 Little has yet been done in this kingdom to prevent 
 consequences so disastrous and so easily foreseen. 
 One institution — the Philanthropic — whose name 
 so well denotes the character of its supporters, has, 
 by the success of its operations, been a constant 
 admonition of what was required. Its plans have 
 been recently improved by the establishment of a 
 Farm School at Reigate; and should such penal 
 arrangements be multiplied, the permanent reform- 
 ation of our young offenders may then be ex- 
 pected. 
 
 v 4
 
 296 LIFE OF HOWAED. 
 
 The extension of plans so advantageous to all 
 ought to be effected by legislative enactments, and 
 not left dependent upon the limited resources of 
 private benevolence. Facts enough may be adduced 
 to convince the political economist, that to spare 
 any requisite expense, in such a case, is short- 
 sighted policy. But the cost to the state might be 
 in a measure lessened by a salutary means calcu- 
 lated to prevent many offences. The failure of 
 prison discipline, as respects young offenders, may, 
 to a great extent, be ascribed to our considering 
 them alone as concerned in the crime for which 
 they suffer, overlooking the responsibility of those 
 entrusted with their moral culture. Should the 
 careless parent wilfully expose a child to the injury 
 of its body, he becomes liable to a penalty : let the 
 more culpable negligence, or the cruel encourage- 
 ment to offences, — which may almost invariably be 
 traced when children are convicted, — entail some 
 payment for the punishment, instead of proving, as 
 at present, a pecuniary gain. The base parent now 
 derives a profit from his pilfering child. He shares 
 the booty which has been obtained ; and when the 
 culprit is detected, the very imprisonment is to 
 him — and to him alone — some advantage, — inas- 
 much as that parent is exempt from all cost and 
 care. Often has the writer discovered that the first 
 offence of which the law has taken cognizance, has 
 been induced by some alluring promise, or enforced 
 by the fierce threat of an unnatural father.* The 
 
 * See Appendix.
 
 PROCEEDS TO DENMARK. 297 
 
 fact that nearly half our juvenile delinquents are the 
 offspring of criminals suggests the strongest argu- 
 ment for exacting the payment which has been pro- 
 posed. With what equity can parochial authorities 
 demand compensation for the support of an innocent 
 and well-instructejl child, whilst the authorities of 
 the prison can ask no payment for the maintenance, 
 education, and clothing of the young offender 
 whose guilt has been the result of parental negli- 
 gence, vicious precepts, or pernicious example ? 
 
 Howard proceeded from Bremen to Harburgh, 
 where he saw a number of slaves at work in chains, 
 and guarded by soldiers, yet some had a short time 
 before escaped to Hamburg — the Elbe being frozen 
 over. At Hamburg he revisited the Butteley and 
 similar institutions, amongst them the hospital, 
 which was formerly the Pest-house, which name he 
 thought from its offensiveness might properly have 
 been retained. 
 
 Rendsburg was the first town in Denmark which 
 the Philanthropist visited. There he found a large 
 body of slaves employed upon the fortifications. 
 The allowance of food was liberal, and he observed 
 that their appearance was more healthful than that 
 of the common people, which he ascribed to the 
 deprivation of all spirituous liquors. At the en- 
 trance to this and other towns a whipping-post was 
 conspicuous, with a figure on the top, of a man with 
 a sword at his side and a whip in his hand. Howard 
 had not yet learned the effect of familiarizing the 
 public mind with infamous punishments, or seen
 
 298 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 their tendency to debase the sufferer, and therefore 
 expressed the hope that the exhibition might have 
 a deterring effect. The humane desire that crime 
 might be prevented, excited the hope ; but reason 
 could give no warrant to expect it would be realised, 
 and experience has proved the contrary. Similar 
 plans have been pursued in Sweden, and with what 
 result we have already seen. Happily the Sovereign 
 of that country has discerned their vicious influence, 
 and has prevailed upon the King of Denmark to 
 unite with him in suppressing punishments so pro- 
 lific in producing evils they were designed to pre- 
 vent. The following extract from the interesting 
 volume of King Oscar expresses his opinion, based 
 upon experience : — 
 
 " Flogging, which is attended with indelible dishonour, 
 is perhaps less reasonable than even capital punishment. 
 The latter destroys the physical being of the criminal, the 
 former almost takes away the possibility of his improve- 
 ment. The right of punishment in the State, whose ob- 
 ject by it is to restore violated justice, and to warn and 
 improve, has wandered so widely from its original idea, that 
 it degrades, renders the return from a course of crime 
 almost impossible, and leaves the choice of misery or the 
 scaffold. How many examples of this, as grievous to 
 humanity as they are dangerous to the public safety, does 
 our country afford ! Is there not thus formed a class of 
 Parias, or moral outlaws, who are compelled to feel them- 
 selves in a continued warfare with society ? " * 
 
 The further description which Howard has given 
 us of the punishments inflicted in Denmark, more 
 
 * Punishments and Prisons, pp. 15, 16.
 
 ARRIVES AT COPENHAGEN. 299 
 
 fully accounts for the increase of crime. The 
 penalty for some offences was that of being com- 
 pelled to walk through the streets, attended by 
 officers of justice, in what was termed the Spanish 
 Mantle — a sort of barrel, narrow at the top, through 
 which the head passed ; it was then suspended from 
 the shoulders, and reached down to the knees. The 
 helpless object was thus exposed to the derision of 
 the populace. Another attempt to scare offenders 
 was by leaving in public view the gibbets, and 
 wheels, upon which were the bodies of criminals 
 who had been hanged or broken.* These depraving 
 spectacles here, as elsewhere, produced the effect 
 which has been described in foregoing pages. 
 
 In July Howard reached Copenhagen. He there 
 visited the state prison of the citadel, and found the 
 inmates were never allowed to leave their rooms. 
 At another prison he saw a number of women well 
 employed, and healthful ; but the men presented a 
 contrast, and their apartments were in a filthy state, 
 which is accounted for by the circumstance that 
 the gaoler here, as was common in England, kept a 
 public-house. Here were 143 slaves, who were in 
 iron collars and chains, their clothes in rags, being 
 only allowed one suit in two years, and obliged to 
 wear them night and day. One convict was fastened 
 to a wheel-barrow, having attempted to escape. 
 " The pale sickly countenances of the slaves in the 
 dungeons," says their merciful visitor, " were shock- 
 
 * Appendix to State of Prisons, p. 29.
 
 300 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 ing to humanity." On a subsequent visit to this 
 prison he was pleased to find that some of his re- 
 monstrances had been regarded. Still in its best 
 state it was offensive, and the severe headache 
 which its impure atmosphere occasioned reminded 
 Howard of his sensations when visiting the worse 
 gaols in his native land. In the spin-house of this 
 city about 400 prisoners Avere preparing wool for the 
 immense military clothing manufactory, to which 
 all the wool spun in houses of correction was sent. 
 The poor-houses also were inspected, where nearly 
 1000 were lodged, but provided food for them- 
 selves by spinning. The hospitals were clean ; 
 but the orphan-house, in which were 225 boys, was 
 badly regulated and dirty. Leaving Copenhagen, 
 he crossed the Sound and arrived at Stockholm. 
 
 On his journey the comparative cleanliness of the 
 houses attracted his attention, and he hoped that 
 the public institutions might resemble them ; in 
 which expectation he was disappointed. Three 
 prisons were visited in Stockholm, all of which 
 were filthy and offensive. The mode of execution 
 was commonly by the axe, but women were subse- 
 quently burned with the scaffold. The king, Gustavus 
 III., had abolished the torture; in proof of which, 
 Howard was told that a dark cellar in which it was 
 inflicted had been bricked up. He had been too 
 often deceived to confide in mere statements, and 
 therefore insisted upon seeing the wall : he found 
 the order had not been obeyed, and the scene of 
 horror was still open. In the dark and foul prison
 
 GOES TO STOCKHOLM. 301 
 
 for the south division of the city, five prisoners 
 were discovered almost suffocated. Then, as on a 
 recent occasion, the neglect and wretchedness so 
 evident was assignable to the gaoler's sale of liquors, 
 which was commonly allowed in Sweden. In this 
 case he was found drinking with his prisoners and 
 other dissolute persons. Self-indulgence had pro- 
 duced acerbity ; and when his compassionate visitor 
 expostulated with him concerning some starving 
 victims of his oppression, that expostulation was 
 only met with repulsive coarseness and further 
 proofs of savage cruelty. Howard's charity was 
 the more excited by the hardheartedness of this 
 relentless wretch, and relief was more liberally be- 
 stowed. The rasp-house at Stockholm contained 
 nearly 200 prisoners, associated without respect to 
 age or sex. As an inducement to industry, the 
 duration of punishment was regulated by the work 
 performed. Amidst so much to corrupt, and so 
 many preventives to correction, we cannot wonder 
 that since the days of Howard crime has so fright- 
 fully increased in Sweden. Happily for that country, 
 its present Sovereign, as we have seen, has deter- 
 mined to apply a remedy ; and, with wisdom and 
 zeal worthy of such a cause, has personally laboured 
 to accomplish his desire. If the task, through long 
 neglect, be arduous, it is not hopeless ; and accord- 
 ingly he Avrites — 
 
 " Sweden seems in all respects ripe for the appropria- 
 tion of an improved criminal legislation The evil 
 
 has spread so widely, and threatens so fearfully to extend
 
 302 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 its contagious ravages, that patchwork is not sufficient for 
 its cure A dear-bought experience of the insuffi- 
 ciency of the old punishments, and of their debasing nature, 
 has enlightened the public mind, and prepared for a tran- 
 sition to a better legal doctrine."* 
 
 The writer learned, with much satisfaction, at 
 the late meeting of the Congres Penitentiare, that 
 the reformation of penal discipline was rapidly ad- 
 vancing; that prisons containing 1500 cells were 
 proposed, and in process of construction, in which 
 the prisoners would be subjected to adequate 
 punishment, and at the same time provided with 
 means of improvement. The enlightened and 
 Christian views of the Sovereign are thus further 
 expressed : — 
 
 " The prisoner must feel deeply that he is undergoing 
 a deserved punishment, he must feel the whole weight of 
 the power of the law which he has despised and trans- 
 gressed The religious instruction of the prisoner is 
 
 the most certain foundation, on which all improvement 
 must be supported, the root from which all regeneration 
 must proceed, in order to possess freshness and to bear 
 good fruit. Without this, all outward change in the pri- 
 soner's conduct is only hypocrisy ; his mind remains as 
 hardened as before, having made progress only in cunning 
 and artifice." -j- 
 
 Whilst travelling in these inclement regions, 
 Howard found the inconvenience of having accus- 
 tomed himself to a vegetable diet, and to the entire 
 abstinence from wine and spirits. The sour un- 
 wholesome bread of the country, with tea, formed 
 
 * Punishments and Prisons, p. 26. | lb. p. 126.
 
 VISITS ST. PETERSBURG!!. 303 
 
 his only nourishment ; and, probably, the impos- 
 sibility of obtaining that food which had now be- 
 come necessary for his health obliged him to hasten 
 his departure. He was anxious to inspect the 
 prisons and hospitals of Russia without being 
 known, that he might better ascertain their real 
 condition : accordingly, when he came near St. 
 Petersburgh, he left his carriage and walked into 
 the city alone. The Empress, however, received in- 
 formation of his arrival, and sent him permission to 
 appear at court ; of which he never availed himself, 
 but told the messenger that he " had devoted him- 
 self to visit the prisons of the captive, and not the 
 courts or the palaces of kings." * 
 
 The state of Russia at this time, just emerging 
 from gross ignorance, yet still semi-barbarous, — 
 its peasants slaves, and their lords cruelly despotic 
 — promised the Philanthropist but little pleasure ; 
 perhaps less available instruction. Yet there was 
 very much that might well attract his attention. It 
 was his determination to investigate everything 
 which might tend to the relief or welfare of his 
 fellow-men. The clemency which was reported of 
 the Empress was little in accordance with the 
 cruelty he believed to be practised in her dominions ; 
 and he resolved to ascertain the truth. It was the 
 boast of Russia at this time, that no capital punish- 
 ment was inflicted. Howard had reason to believe 
 that, although professedly abolished, except for 
 treason, it was in effect retained, and that the change 
 
 * Brown, p. 357.
 
 304 LIFE OF HOWAKD. 
 
 really consisted in substituting a more barbarous 
 method of execution. His suspicions induced him 
 to adopt the following bold expedient, the par- 
 ticulars of which he described to his friend Dr. 
 Brown : — 
 
 " He did not look for exact information to the courtiers 
 of the Empress, or to the chief ministers of justice, because 
 he judged that they would be disposed to exalt by their 
 representations the glory of their Sovereign ; but, taking a 
 hackney coach, he drove directly to the abode of the exe- 
 cutioner. The man was astonished and alarmed at seeing 
 any person, having the appearance of a gentleman, enter 
 his door, — which was precisely the state of mind his visitor 
 wished to find him in ; and he endeavoured to increase his 
 confusion by the tone, aspect, and manner which he as- 
 sumed. Acting, therefore, as though he had authority to 
 examine him, he told him that if his answers to the ques- 
 tions he should propose were conformable to truth, he had 
 nothing to fear. He accordingly promised that they 
 should be so ; when Howard asked, ' Can you inflict the 
 knout so as to occasion death in a short time?' 'Yes, I 
 can,' was the answer. ' In how short a time ?' ' In a day 
 or two.' 'Have you ever so inflicted it?' 'I have.' 
 ' Have you lately ?' ' Yes, the last man who was punished 
 with my hands by the knout died of the punishment.' 
 'In what manner do you thus render it mortal?' 'By 
 one or more strokes on the sides, which carry off large 
 pieces of flesh.' ' Do you receive orders thus to inflict the 
 punishment ? ' 'I do.' At the close of this curious dia- 
 logue Mr. Howard left the executioner, fully satisfied that 
 the honour of abolishing capital punishment had been 
 ascribed to the infliction of a cruel, lingering, and private 
 death, in lieu of one sudden and public. It was most pro- 
 bably to this very instance of the fatal infliction of this 
 barbarous punishment that he himself was an eye-witness,
 
 PUNISHMENT OF THE KNOUT. 305 
 
 and which he thus describes : ' Aug. 10. 1781, I saw two 
 criminals, a man and a woman, suffer the punishment of 
 the knout. They were conducted from prison by about 
 fifteen hussars and ten soldiers. When they arrived at the 
 place of punishment, the hussars formed themselves into a 
 ring round the whipping- post, the drum beat a minute or 
 two, and then some prayers were read, the populace taking 
 off their hats. The woman was taken first ; and after being 
 roughly stripped to the waist, her hands and feet were 
 bound with cords to a post made for the purpose, a man 
 standing before the post, and holding the cords to keep 
 them tight. A servant attended the executioner, and both 
 were stout men. The servant first marked his ground and 
 struck the woman five times on the back. Every stroke 
 seemed to penetrate deep into the flesh. But his master, 
 thinking him too gentle, pushed him aside, took his place, 
 and gave all the remaining strokes himself, which were 
 evidently more severe. The woman received twenty-five, 
 and the man sixty: I pressed through the hussars, and 
 counted the number as they were chalked on a board ; 
 both seemed but just alive, especially the man, who yet 
 had strength enough to receive a small donation with some 
 signs of gratitude. They were conducted back to prison 
 in a little waggon. I saw the woman in a very weak con- 
 dition some days after, but could not find the man any 
 more.' The kind of weapon from which he no doubt re- 
 ceived his death wound is thus described amongst the in- 
 struments of punishment which the governor of the Peters- 
 burg police himself showed to our illustrious countryman, 
 and explained to him their use. 'The knout whip is 
 fixed to a wooden handle a foot long, and consists of 
 several thongs about two feet in length twisted together, 
 to the end of which is fastened a single tough thong of a 
 foot and a half, tapering towards a point, and capable of 
 being changed by the executioner when too much softened 
 by the blood of the criminal.' But, besides this savage 
 scourge, he was shown the axe and block ; the machine 
 
 X
 
 306 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 then out of use for breaking the arms and legs, and the 
 instrument for splitting the nostrils of offenders ; that for 
 branding them, by puncturation, and then rubbing a black 
 powder on the wounds ; and another called a cat, which 
 consisted of a number of thongs varying from two to 
 ten." * 
 
 From objects so revolting to humanity, so heart- 
 rending to Howard, lie turned away with little 
 hope that the prisons of a country in which such 
 atrocious acts were perpetrated could afford any 
 relief to his wounded feelings. Nor did the inspec- 
 tion prove that his apprehensions were unfounded. 
 The fortress was the first visited, where he found a 
 number of deserters and criminals crowded into a 
 small room, in which they were almost stifled. The 
 slaves, who had logs fastened to both legs, were in 
 a still more horrible condition. In two low cellars 
 were a number more, whose precarious subsistence 
 was entirely dependent upon the contributions given 
 in boxes hung before their grates. A new prison 
 was equally offensive, and revealed scenes of similar 
 wretchedness. In another like abode, children and 
 adults, with irons on both legs, were mingled as in 
 one mass of misery and guilt. 
 
 If the perusal of these horrors has excited a pang 
 in the breast of the reader, similar to that which our 
 philanthropist felt, it is the privilege of the writer 
 to afford consolation which Howard could not find. 
 The punishment of the knout is abolished, and the 
 prisons of Russia are greatly improved. England 
 in Howard's day taught few lessons of clemency. 
 
 * Brown, p. 358, et scq.
 
 RUSSIAN HOSPITALS. 807 
 
 Her prisons showed no pattern for improvement ; 
 but our criminal code has been corrected, our penal 
 discipline amended; and Christian gratitude was 
 combined with patriotic pride, when recently in a 
 foreign city, amidst the representatives of Europe, 
 it was the happiness of the author, as an English- 
 man, to hear that the discontinuance of the knout 
 and other cruelties, with the adoption of a reform- 
 atory penal treatment, was assignable to the evident 
 justice and wisdom of plans now pursued in our 
 native land. At the Congres Penitentiare at Brus- 
 sels, the deputy from Russia announced, amidst the 
 shouts of the assembly — 
 
 " After his return from England, the Emperor instituted 
 a special committee for the reform of prisons, and ordered 
 the erection of a model prison similar to that at Penton- 
 
 ville The Russian penal code has undergone a 
 
 complete transformation. They have begun with the 
 knout — this word still produces horror. Well, the hiout 
 has not existed for two years." 
 
 In visiting the hospitals of St. Petersburgh, 
 Howard gladly discerned a better spirit than he 
 had elsewhere discovered. They were clean, com- 
 fortable, and well regulated. He also admired an- 
 other institution, under the control of the Empress, 
 for the education of the female children of her 
 nobility and of a few commoners. 
 
 A circumstance occurred during his stay in this 
 city, which reflects honour upon a Russian officer ; 
 whilst it proves that Howard's character was most 
 highly appreciated. A public society testified to
 
 308 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 General Bulgarkow its estimate of his charity in 
 enlarging some benevolent institutions, and espe- 
 cially in liberally supporting a seminary for young 
 ladies without fortunes, by presenting him with a 
 gold medal. The generous soldier proved how well 
 the honour was deserved. He spoke in humble 
 terms of his own exertions to do good, as limited to 
 the country of his birth ; but said there was one 
 there amongst them whose philanthropy was known 
 to the world, and whose humanity extended to all 
 nations. He was more worthy of the distinction. 
 Accordingly, he sent the medal to Howard.* 
 
 AVhen our benevolent traveller had thoroughly 
 examined the prisons and hospitals of St. Peters- 
 burgh, he made an excursion for a like purpose to 
 Cronstadt. He was always careful in his investiga- 
 tions, and very cautious not to describe any fact 
 which was not fully ascertained ; and therefore the 
 forewarning that anything he might write concern- 
 ing Russia would certainly be translated into the 
 language of that country, was but a further incen- 
 tive to strict and persevering research. 
 
 Before leaving St-. Petersburgh, Howard was 
 attacked with ague ; yet he would not suffer the 
 pain and prostration attending that disease to 
 hinder his progress. The journey to Moscow was 
 long, and the road rough and unfrequented ; but 
 these circumstances could not detain him. An es- 
 cort was offered ; but that savoured of ostentation, 
 and was therefore declined. Having purchased a 
 
 * Brown, p. 363.
 
 JOURNEY TO MOSCOW. 309 
 
 light carriage, he travelled the 500 miles in five 
 days and nights ; not pulling off his clothes until 
 the journey was accomplished, when, to use his own 
 expression, he " had travelled his ague off." On 
 one stage of his progress, the kind-hearted tourist 
 — who never allowed the proper conduct of even a 
 temporary hireling to pass unrewarded — having 
 been driven much to his satisfaction, gave the 
 postilions half-a-crown, about ten times the usual 
 gratuity. The poor fellows were suspicious, and 
 afraid to receive so lar^e a sum. He told them he 
 had entrusted his life to them, and they must there- 
 fore take it. The amount expected would regulate 
 the gifts of most men. HoAvard followed another 
 rule : he measured his bounty by what was proper 
 for him to bestow, not by what was lawful for 
 others to demand. 
 
 Notwithstanding the rapidity of his progress, 
 and the sacrifice of personal comfort, yet as wretch- 
 edness had always power to arrest his steps, so he 
 would stay to inspect the prisons on his road. 
 Those of Wischner, Wolotschok, and Tver, were 
 therefore visited. They were shockingly offensive, 
 and a physician who accompanied him to the first 
 would not look into more than one room. Howard, 
 fearless in duty, and, whilst performing it, always 
 confiding in Divine protection, ventured into all. 
 There he found some miserable objects chained to- 
 gether by the neck, and subsisting entirely by 
 casual charity. Arrived at Moscow, he at once 
 proceeded to the Great Prison of that city. There,
 
 310 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 in one part, lie found a Russian of some rank in 
 solitary seclusion for cruelty towards his slaves ; in 
 another place were several cages, in two of which 
 were men in fetters chained by their necks to the 
 wall. In another prison, besides those chains, a log 
 was fastened to the criminal ; and a soldier with a 
 drawn sword kept guard in every room. All the 
 inmates were dirty and sickly. Of the debtors and 
 soldiers, in their respective gaols, he gives a like 
 account. The pious visitor was greatly offended 
 when on a Sunday he visited two prisons, and 
 found the inmates employed as on other days. 
 The hospitals of Moscow, like those of the modern 
 capital of Russia, were commended by their visitor ; 
 who, in his walk through their wards, endeavoured 
 to give a salutary lesson by here and there opening 
 a window. 
 
 Proceeding to Warsaw, he there visited the 
 wretched abodes of crime ; but soon discovered that 
 no useful lessons could be derived from their regula- 
 tions. Their condition may be inferred from the 
 description of one, of which he sa} 7 s, " In one room, 
 only twenty feet by ten, were twenty-six miserable 
 objects, some of them sick upon the dirt floor." 
 The hospitals of this city are represented as little 
 better than its prisons, excepting the Great Hos- 
 pital, in which 800 patients were attended by the 
 Sisters of Mercy, with their usual care and kindness. 
 
 At Breslau, which was next visited, our humane 
 traveller observed but little to detain him ; and he 
 passed on to Berlin. In the prisons of this city he
 
 ANECDOTE OF FIRMNESS. 311 
 
 found many judicious regulations, properly enforced 
 by the constant superintendence of the civic judges. 
 Amongst the rules, one required the gaoler to keep 
 a record of those in custody, that, if any should 
 again offend, the sentence might be apportioned to 
 the character of the criminal. The orphan-house 
 of Berlin was equally well governed, and its house 
 of correction was clean and healthful ; but here the 
 infamous punishment of the Spanish Mantle was 
 resorted to, two prisoners being exposed to public 
 scorn at the gateway. Smugglers, especially, were 
 subjected to this infliction. On his way to Hanover 
 we have another proof of Howard's determined re- 
 sistance to oppression, and of his indomitable spirit 
 whenever convinced that he was doing right. It is 
 thus recorded by Dr. Aikin : — 
 
 " Travelling in the King of Prussia's dominions lie came 
 to a very narrow piece of road, admitting only one car- 
 riage, where it was enjoined on all postilions entering at 
 each end to blow their horns by way of notice. His did 
 so, but, after travelling a good way, they met a courier 
 travelling on the king's business, who had neglected this 
 precaution. The courier ordered Mr. Howard's postilion 
 to turn back ; but Mr. Howard remonstrated that he had 
 complied with the rule, while the other had violated it, 
 and therefore that he should insist on going forwards. The 
 courier, relying on an authority to which, in that country, 
 everything must give way, made use of high words, but in 
 vain. As neither was disposed to yield, they sat still a 
 long time in their respective carriages ; at length the cou- 
 rier gave up the point to the sturdy Englishman, who 
 would on no account renounce his rights."'* 
 
 * Aikin, p. 219. 
 x 4
 
 312 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HOWARD PROCEEDS TO BRUNSWICK AND HANOVER. TOR- 
 TURE AT OSNABURGH. REVISITS PRISONS OF HOLLAND. 
 
 AGAIN INSPECTS FLEMISH PRISONS. HOSPITAL AT BRUGES. 
 
 RETURNS TO ENGLAND. RE-EXAMINES PRISONS OF ENG- 
 LAND. — ■ GOES TO SCOTLAND. REVISITS IRELAND. PRI- 
 SONERS OF WAR AT SHREAVSBURY. ANECDOTES OF COURAGE 
 
 AND BENEVOLENCE. TRAVELS AGAIN INTO SCOTLAND, IRE- 
 LAND, AND WALES. A BOLD REBUKE. ANOTHER ENGLISH 
 
 TOUR. EMBARKS FOR SPAIN. — PUBLIC ESTABLISHMENTS AT 
 
 LISBON. PROCEEDS TO BADAJOZ AND TOLEDO. THENCE 
 
 TO MADRID: VISITS PRISONS AND HOSPITALS. PRISONS OF 
 
 THE INQUISITION AT MADRID AND VALLADOLID. — PENAL 
 
 REGULATIONS AT BURGOS AND PAMPLONA. LETTER TO A 
 
 FRIEND. DUNGEONS AT BORDEAUX. REVISITS PARIS. 
 
 IMPROVEMENTS IN ITS PRISONS. PROCEEDS TO LISLE. 
 
 DANGEROUS SICKNESS. GOES TO AMSTERDAM. ORPHAN 
 
 HOUSE AT ROTTERDAM. AGAIN INSPECTS FLEMISH PRISONS. 
 
 RETURNS TO ENGLAND. — ANOTHER IRISH TOUR. — ANEC- 
 DOTES OF BENIGNITY. 
 
 If patriotism rather than pride induced Howard's 
 conduct as described in the close of the last chap- 
 ter, and the honour of his country would not per- 
 mit the subject of a British sovereign to succumb to 
 the courier of a foreign king, that loyalty and love 
 of his native land rendered his sorrow and shame 
 more intense when, having entered the Electorate 
 connected with England, as forming part of the 
 dominions of the same prince, he discerned in the 
 prisons and penal inflictions of the two countries a 
 painful resemblance. If our own gaols were filthy 

 
 TORTURE AT OSNABURGH. 313 
 
 and offensive, those at Brunswick and Hanover were 
 like them, and frankincense was thought needful to 
 prevent infection. If justice was violated in Eng- 
 land by the lengthened detention of culprits before 
 conviction, there too he found some who had been 
 twelve months awaiting their trials. The Sabbath- 
 day was commonly desecrated in English gaols ; so 
 in Hanover it was disregarded, and the convicts 
 were seen at work. But this similarity of mis- 
 management and vice was not all that Howard wit- 
 nessed with grief. At Osnaburgh the torture had 
 lately been inflicted with a refinement of cruelty 
 surpassing that of other places. We have the fol- 
 lowing description of the manner in which a pri- 
 soner had twice suffered it : — 
 
 " The executioner had already torn off the hairs from 
 his victim's head, breast, &c. when a confession was 
 wrung from him by the excruciating pain he endured, and 
 an end was then put to his sufferings by his execution. 
 The time for performing these deeds of darkness here, as 
 in other countries in which they were still permitted to 
 disgrace humanity, was two o'clock in the morning, — the 
 scene, the gloomy cellar of the prison in which the horrid 
 engines of this fiend-like cruelty were kept. On such oc- 
 casions, a councillor of justice and a secretary attended, 
 with a doctor and surgeon, an Osnaburgh executioner, 
 and sometimes the gaoler. If the criminal fainted, strong 
 salts were here applied to him, instead of the vinegar used 
 in other places."* 
 
 But though cruelty and crime thus prevailed in 
 the prisons of the state, yet private benevolence had 
 
 * Brown, p. 374.
 
 314 LIFE OF IIOWAUD. 
 
 been called forth, and an establishment had been 
 formed whose wise regulations seemed a protest 
 against the vicious practices of those surrounding it. 
 A house of correction had been founded by Burgo- 
 master Aleman, who was still its director, and " to 
 whose memory," says Howard, " it is the best 
 monument that can ever be erected." This insti- 
 tution for children and petty offenders was ad- 
 mirably conducted, both with respect to the penal 
 discipline and moral training.* 
 
 On his return homewards our benevolent country- 
 man desired to obtain still further acquaintance 
 with the prisons of Holland, and he therefore 
 visited Utrecht. In the Stadt-house he saw nine 
 women who had been publicly whipped, and they 
 were then separated from the other prisoners ; he 
 observed a similar arrangement at Spandau ; and at 
 Zwolle, which was next visited, the same number 
 had been branded. The punishments were in- 
 human ; but, having been guilty of so degrading 
 fellow-creatures, it was prudent in the authorities 
 thus to hinder the spread of that depravity for which 
 they themselves were chiefly responsible. He pro- 
 ceeded next to Dort, Breda, and Groningen, in the 
 prisons of which places but few were confined. On 
 an eminence near the last town the horrible spec- 
 tacle of a gibbet was presented ; the criminal had 
 been hanged a year before, and a pit was dug 
 beneath for the reception of the bones as they fell. 
 
 * Appendix to Shite of Prisons, p. 23.
 
 AGAIN INSPECTS FLEMISH PRISONS. 315 
 
 Leeu warden was then visited, and thenee Howard 
 went to Amsterdam, induced by a desire to inspect 
 the abodes in which prisoners of war were confined. 
 At Rotterdam he found some English sailors in the 
 Admiralty prison, which was close and offensive, 
 so that many had died. At Leyden the crew of the 
 " Barker " East Indiaman, which had lately been 
 wrecked, were confined in the pest-house. 
 
 The large prisons of Flanders again attracted 
 our humane traveller. He first reinspected those of 
 Antwerp, and then the orphan-house and hospital 
 in that city. Thence proceeding to Brussels, he 
 found the former inmates of the old house of cor- 
 rection had been removed to Vilvorde, where they 
 were confined in the New Prison, in an unsatis- 
 factory state ; it was badly ventilated, very dirty, 
 and too far from the capital to be under the constant 
 supervision of authorities. Before leaving that city 
 he visited the Hospital de St. Jean, which is noted 
 down as " offensive beyond description." At Alost 
 some prisoners were confined in darkness, others in 
 a cage and loaded with fetters. " Their countenances 
 bespoke inhumanity and misery." Thence pro- 
 ceeding to Ghent, he reinspected the Maison de 
 Force : 312 prisoners were now within its walls, 
 employed at various trades, and the whole was well 
 regulated. At Bruges he again visited the prison, 
 but gave especial attention to the hospital, which 
 was under the care of twenty nuns, who rose every 
 morning at four o'clock, and were most sedulous in 
 their attention to the sufferers. Surprised and
 
 31G LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 pleased at the interest taken by Howard in their 
 establishment, and his evident sympathy with the 
 afflicted inmates, they inquired if he was a Catholic, 
 to which he at once replied " I love good people of 
 all religions." The answer was not so satisfactory 
 as the affection he had excited caused them to de- 
 sire, and they added — " We hope you will die a 
 Catholic." Howard's lan^ua^e of love on this occa- 
 sion, and his whole life, combined with a Protestant 
 creed, sufficiently establish his claim to the title, 
 though not quite in the sense intended by these 
 charitable Sisters. 
 
 He now returned to England via Ostend, having 
 travelled 4465 miles, without allowing himself to 
 be diverted from his philanthropic purposes. It 
 was the Christmas vacation, and on landing he at 
 once hastened to his beloved child, who spent some 
 weeks witli him in London and at Cardimrton. 
 Whilst in the metropolis Howard visited the prisons 
 that had been recently erected on the site of those 
 burnt during the riots of 1780. Neither the King's 
 Bench nor the Fleet was reconstructed at all to 
 his satisfaction. The Borough Compter had not 
 yet been rebuilt, and the keeper had hired an ad- 
 joining house, in one room of which twenty-three 
 prisoners were crammed, although it was not six- 
 teen feet square. 
 
 The mind of the anxious parent was now especially 
 tUrcctcd to the proper completion of his son's educa- 
 tion, lie felt continually how defective his own 
 had been, and lie resolved that no pains or expense
 
 RE-EXAMINES ENGLISH PRISONS. 317 
 
 should be spared to render that of his heir adequate 
 to all the requirements of his station. The assertion 
 that he intended him for a Dissenting Minister had 
 no foundation in truth, as must be evident from the 
 fact that at this time every preparation was made 
 for his going to Eton. All was arranged with the 
 master with whom he was to reside ; but on personal 
 inquiry as to the religious instruction and careful 
 superintendence of his pupils, there was much 
 reason for any Christian parent to be dissatisfied, 
 and young Howard, instead of becoming an Eton 
 boy, was placed under the tuition of the Rev, 
 Mr. Walker of Nottingham, a scholar, says Dr. 
 Aikin, " whose great abilities were only equalled by 
 the amiableness of his manners." * 
 
 Having placed his son with his new tutor, 
 Howard began his third general inspection of 
 English prisons, Jan. 21. 1782. He proceeded to 
 Chesterfield and Sheffield. Thence to Hull, where 
 he visited some Dutch prisoners of war ; others he 
 found at Lincoln : these expressed their gratitude 
 for the kind treatment they experienced, especially 
 on account of a collection recently made for them 
 by the chancellor of the cathedral there. He next 
 revisited the prisons at Swaffham and Ely, where 
 his charity was extended to some debtors, detained 
 on account of fees exacted to an amount which far 
 exceeded the demands of their creditors. Having 
 accomplished this short tour of inspection north- 
 ward, on the 7th of Feb. he directed his steps 
 
 # Gent. Mag., April 1790.
 
 318 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 westward. At Winchester he found improvements 
 had been made, but on inquiring for the surgeon, 
 whose attention he had before commended, he 
 learned that he had fallen a victim to the gaol fever, 
 as had been the case with the former keeper. At 
 Bristol, Devizes, and Marlborough, gross abuses 
 were again discovered. 
 
 On the 25th of March Howard set out for Scot- 
 land, revisiting the bridewell at Newcastle on his 
 way. At Edinburgh he tells us the prisoners of 
 war were well treated ; but it was otherwise with 
 the poor prisoners in the Tolbooth, who were closely 
 confined in a horrid ca^e, the condemned bein£ 
 chained to an iron bar. Their merciful visitor adds : 
 
 " I say the poor, because such as have money have too 
 much liberty. For in the same prison I lately saw some, 
 who were confined for a riot, drinking whiskey in the tap- 
 room,, in company with many profligate townsmen, who 
 were readily admitted, as they promoted the sale of the 
 gaoler's licpjors."* 
 
 With the Royal Infirmary and the Orphan-house 
 Howard expressed himself highly pleased. Whilst 
 at Edinburgh, the citizens did honour to themselves 
 and to hira by presenting him with the freedom of 
 the city. Few particulars are given of this tour. 
 The prisons at Dumfries and Aberdeen, having 
 been burnt, had been rebuilt. 
 
 Soon after his return in April, Howard spent 
 a short time in London, and reinspected several 
 prisons, but the account of them contains little of 
 
 * Appendix to State of Prison?, p. 237.
 
 REVISITS IRELAND. 319 
 
 importance. On the 24th of the same month he 
 commenced revisiting the prisons of the north- 
 western and midland counties. Worcester Gaol 
 was first inspected: then Warwick, which he thought 
 more showy than suited to its purpose; the arrange- 
 ments, especially those for debtors, being objection- 
 able. He discovered too, that, although there was a 
 regularly appointed chaplain, no divine service had 
 been performed. At Coventry he found a poor 
 creature who, though he had received the Kings 
 free pardon, had since been detained eight months 
 languishing on an allowance of one pound of bread 
 a-day, because unable to pay the fees demanded by 
 relentless officials whenever the royal clemency was 
 thus extended. At Leicester his suggestions had 
 been followed, and, the prison having been made 
 more secure, the chain and log were no longer 
 needful. The prisons of Huntingdon, Newport, 
 and St. Albans, were then visited, and a short in- 
 terval of rest was again spent at Cardington. 
 
 Howard, wearied rather by rest from well-doing, 
 than by the energy with which he pursued his holy 
 vocation, at the end of a fortnight started for 
 Ireland, examining again on his way the prisons of 
 Chester and Beaumaris. On his arrival in Dublin, 
 a parliamentary committee, which had been formed 
 to inquire into the state of gaols, at once availed 
 itself of his benevolent investigations. He gave 
 evidence respecting the New Newgate, particularly 
 that it was in every respect the reverse of a well- 
 regulated gaol — he saw two or three of its inmates
 
 o20 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 dying on its stone floors — there had been no service 
 in the chapel for two years — the prisoners' morals 
 were totally neglected — the men and women were 
 together — it was crowded; dirty beyond descrip- 
 tion ; and he was persuaded that, unless soon im- 
 proved, the fever would break out in this scene of 
 wretchedness. Two of the committee afterwards 
 accompanied him to this prison, and their inspec- 
 tion confirmed his report. At Tuarn, whither he 
 next went, the Irish keeper, more regarding his 
 pigs than his prisoners, had turned the building 
 designed for a bath into a sty. During this tour, 
 though chiefly undertaken for the inspection of 
 prisons, he visited the Protestant Charter Schools, 
 concerning which he discovered that many inaccu- 
 rate reports had been issued, and that so many 
 gross practices were prevalent in them that they 
 were " calculated to disgrace Protestantism and 
 encourage Popery in Ireland." lie thought their 
 condition so bad that a parliamentary inquiry was 
 demanded: but a more particular account of them 
 was made public after another inspection, to which 
 we must hereafter advert. 
 
 The University of Dublin highly appreciated 
 1 1'. ward's benevolence, and conferred on him an 
 honorary degree of D.C.L. ; a distinction which 
 was duly estimated by him, and on which lie said 
 lie " should always reflect with pleasure." * 
 
 Howard returned through North Wales, and 
 visited the new gaol of Ruthin, which was gene- 
 
 * Appendix to State of Prisons, \>. 157.
 
 PRISONERS OF WAR AT SHREWSBURY. 1)2 1 
 
 rally well contrived and regulated. Thence pro- 
 ceeding to Shrewsbury, he found a prisoner who 
 had been for five years under sentence of trans- 
 portation, and no order for removal had been re- 
 ceived. A large building, erected on the banks of 
 the Severn, in 1765, for the reception of children 
 from the Foundling Hospital in London, contained 
 at this time 33S Dutch prisoners of war. Most of 
 them were barefooted, having received no clothing 
 from the States, as the French and Spanish prisoners 
 had from their respective governments. British 
 benevolence had therefore been excited on their 
 behalf, and contributions had been raised to supply 
 them with requisite apparel. Clothes were pur- 
 chased, but the commissary had forbidden their 
 distribution, with the base design of forcing them 
 to enter our navy, having an officer in attendance 
 to receive all who would consent. This was an oc- 
 casion for the magnanimity of our Christian Phi- 
 lanthropist. Howard first made a donation of 
 ten guineas to the fund, desiring that application 
 should be made to him, should a further subscrip- 
 tion be necessary. He learned that access to the 
 prisoners was refused. Having an order from the 
 Transport Board for free admission into the prison, 
 he desired that the articles which had been pur- 
 chased might be brought there, and, the commissary 
 not daring to resist him, he had the prisoners as- 
 sembled and distributed the clothing amongst them. 
 He then told them that, if any of them should so 
 far forget their duty to their country as to serve 
 
 Y
 
 322 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 against her, though in the pay of England, he would 
 take care that their names should be transmitted to 
 Holland, where, if ever they were taken, they would 
 most certainly be hanged. Then charging the sub- 
 ordinate officers to take care that the articles were 
 properly applied, he took leave, after giving them a 
 small gratuity.* This greatness of soul which dis- 
 tinguished Howard, and prompted the resistance to 
 oppression in every form, was remarkably combined 
 with a minute attention to the means of relief or 
 gratification of those around him. If heroes might 
 admire that bold independence of spirit which our 
 last anecdote displays, angels were not less pleased 
 when they witnessed the simple act of more private 
 benevolence related in the following paragraph. 
 
 Amongst the captives in this temporary prison 
 there was a common sailor, conspicuous for his at- 
 tention to his fellow-prisoners who were sick. He 
 sat up with them, he administered their medicines, 
 he prepared their food, and, which accounts for his 
 sympathy and self-denial, he " prayed by them." 
 Howard heard of him, and, attracted by the kindred 
 spirit of a Christian, he inquired what he could do 
 that might best conduce to his comfort. He found 
 the man contented in his captivity, and, whilst 
 cheerfully devoting himself to the relief of many 
 sufferers, he sought no earthly recompense ; he 
 would ask nothing; for himself. At last his visitor 
 discovered that, when weary and watching, a cup 
 of tea was especially grateful to him. About a 
 
 * Brown, p. 389.
 
 REVISITS SEVERAL GAOLS. 323 
 
 week after, this Dutch sailor received a loaf of 
 sugar, a pound of tea, a kettle, with all other ap- 
 paratus required for the favourite repast. 
 
 From Shrewsbury, Howard proceeded to Bir- 
 mingham ; and, after examining the debtors' prison 
 of that town, the regulations of which he con- 
 demned as amongst the very worst, he pursued his 
 journey to London, visiting the bridewell at Wy- 
 combe on his way. This was still part of a public- 
 house. After a week spent in London, the active 
 traveller passed on to Norfolk. At Thetford, he 
 was glad to hear that the gaoler had just before 
 been fined 20/. by Lord Loughborough for putting- 
 irons on a woman. The prisons of Norwich, Yar- 
 mouth, and Lavenham were next visited. From 
 the ruinous bridewell of the last place two more 
 criminals had escaped; and the magistrates, instead 
 of repairing the prison, had sent the keeper some 
 thumbscrews to secure the rest I * At Halstead, 
 the county bridewell had been destroyed by fire in 
 March, 1781, when four of its inmates perished in 
 the flames. As he approached his home at Car- 
 dington, the gaol of his own county was revisited, 
 and, at this completion of his tour, he rejoiced to 
 find that the life and health of the prisoners so 
 near him were now greatly preserved by an allow- 
 ance of fuel to both debtors and felons. 
 
 A few days were passed in the privacy of his 
 home ; and again we find that on the 27th of July 
 Howard reinspected the prisons of Exeter, in one 
 
 * Appendix to State of Prisons, p. 207. 
 y 2
 
 324 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 of which he found a woman who had been there 
 more than forty years. At Plymouth the town 
 gaol was in a wretched condition, but a new and 
 commodious one for prisoners of war had been 
 erected. The new prison at Bodmin was again 
 inspected with increased pleasure ; but those of 
 Somerset and Dorset, which were next visited, were 
 still in a miserable state. 
 
 About a fortnight was now spent at Bristol Hot- 
 Wells, when our benevolent countryman proceeded 
 to Scotland and re-examined the gaols of that 
 country, but without recording many interesting 
 circumstances. On his return the oaols in Carlisle 
 and several in Lancashire were again visited. On 
 this occasion he found with much satisfaction that 
 both at Preston and Manchester an increase of 
 salary had been granted to the keepers, and that 
 the sale of beer and spirits was prohibited. From 
 Liverpool he sailed for Ireland, and reinspected 
 many prisons. He learned with pleasure that two 
 bills for the better regulation of gaols had recently 
 passed the Irish Parliament. One of these enact- 
 ments forbade the detention of prisoners for fees, 
 and the committee before mentioned was still pur- 
 suing its inquiries into the condition of prisons. 
 Howard returned through North Wales, continuing 
 his researches amidst the abodes of misery; but, as 
 the dates of his notes leave an interval of a month, 
 it has been supposed that illness interrupted those 
 labi niis. Pursuing his course through South Wales, 
 on the 18th of October he records the pleasure
 
 A BOLD REBUKE. 325 
 
 with which he went through the new gaol at 
 Brecon, though he regretted that, notwithstanding 
 the forewarning^ he had given, it was not out of 
 the reach of floods. Indeed, at this period the 
 architects of prisons seem to have been infatuated, 
 and many new buildings were almost as defective 
 as those which they replaced. Thus the cells in 
 the next gaol Howard visited, at Haverfordwest, 
 were four feet under ground, and very damp; a 
 third, at Pembroke, was close and offensive ; whilst 
 another, lately constructed at Cardiff, had not the 
 necessary provision of water. In his way home 
 the prisons in the counties of Monmouth, Gloucester, 
 and Oxford were revisited. 
 
 Three days were now spent at Cardington ; and 
 Howard resumed his labours, directing his steps 
 first into Hampshire. At Forton he again visited 
 the prisoners of war. He found the bread very 
 much under the proper weight. As he always carried 
 his own steel-yards, such fraudulent cruelty was 
 often detected. When at Portsmouth, hearing that 
 one of the hospital-ships was grossly neglected by 
 the surgeon, he forthwith went on board. Finding 
 the report true, he sent for the defaulter, who, 
 being convicted, pleaded in extenuation the danger 
 of the contagious diseases then prevailing. Howard 
 — ever fearless and faithful — was indignant at such 
 dastardly conduct, the guilt of which was aggra- 
 vated by the shameless defence, and he thus ad- 
 dressed him, — " Then, Sir, you should not take 
 wages for that which you are afraid to do ; and let 
 
 y 3
 
 32 G life OF HOWARD. 
 
 me assure you that, when I get to London, I will 
 report your conduct to the Admiralty, and have you 
 dismissed from a station whose duties you do not 
 perform."* Howard seldom spoke unadvisedly, and 
 his threats were not vain words. On his return to 
 London, the surgeon was dismissed the service. 
 
 The gaol at Horsham was greatly admired by its 
 visitor. Its provision for the separate confinement 
 of offenders was, as we shall presently see more 
 fully, quite according to his desire. All fees had 
 been abolished by the authorities of this county, 
 which was foremost in the effectual reformation of 
 prisons. Passing from this to the bridewell at 
 Kingston, he tells us that he was painfully struck 
 with the contrast of mismanagement and promis- 
 cuous intercourse. 
 
 Another interval of four days in Bedfordshire, 
 and .1 Longer journey was undertaken. Recollecting 
 the misery which he had witnessed in Yorkshire 
 prisons, he determined to revisit them. Further 
 improvement had been effected a1 Knaresborough. 
 In the gaol at Bradford, which was now four rooms 
 of tip' keeper's public-house, a poor debtor was 
 • •Mi i lined for 45., to the distress of a wife and five 
 children. It need not bo told that he was released. 
 At Nantwich ;i new gaol had been constructed, 
 with two dungeons; and in (lie old one at Wolver- 
 hampton the prisoners were almost suffocated. 
 
 Towards tin.' end of November Howard entered 
 upon another tour in Kent and Sussex, and thence 
 
 * Dr. Brown's MS , quoted liy Brown, p. 397.
 
 AGAIN LEAVES ENGLAND. 327 
 
 to London, when he again inspected the metropo- 
 litan prisons. During the following month we find 
 him pursuing his labours of compassion in Glouces- 
 tershire, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire, and again in 
 London, closing his exertions for the year by re- 
 inspecting the Fleet. A careful calculation shows 
 that the indefatigable Philanthropist travelled, in 
 this one year, more than 8000 miles. 
 
 Charity had now conducted her chosen servant 
 through all the countries of Europe excepting 
 Spain and Portugal. To the latter he had long since 
 steered his course, but it was not to labour or to 
 dispense relief in the sphere which had been deter- 
 mined ; his progress therefore was arrested, and by 
 the discipline of experience he learned to sympathise 
 with the special objects he had been selected to re- 
 lieve.* Now his purpose is in accordance with that 
 appointed, and shall therefore be accomplished. 
 He goes as the almoner of charity to the prisoner ami 
 the captive, the messenger of mercy to the outcast. 
 His commission is recognised, and he is prosperous. 
 
 Howard sailed from Falmouth Jan. 31. 1783, 
 and, after a favourable voyage, landed at Lisbon, 
 where, in commencing his inspection of the Portu- 
 guese prisons, he was glad to find that imprison- 
 ment for debt had been recently prohibited. A 
 charitable society existed for promoting the release 
 of prisoners who might be otherwise detained for 
 fees. Thus early was an opportunity presented for 
 the exercise of his own charity, such as he never 
 
 * See p. IS. 
 y 4
 
 328 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 neglected. In the Limoiero were 774 criminals, 
 who were humanely treated. Here too was a manu- 
 factory, in which about a thousand vagrant and 
 deserted children were employed. In this prison 
 and at the Castle were many secret chambers, in 
 which prisoners were most closely confined. The 
 ecclesiastical prison contained six priests and three 
 women, committed "pro salute animarum." Howard 
 was not allowed to enter the prison of the Inqui- 
 sition, which is described as containing nineteen 
 vaulted rooms, separated by walls six feet thick, 
 and some of them called secrete, totally dark. In 
 the Arsenal were a number of the slaves, some of 
 whom had for years been chained to one spot. Few 
 particulars are recorded of other prisons in Portu- 
 gal, the inmates of which obtained support by 
 begging at grated doors. The hospitals are reported 
 to have been spacious, but close and offensive. 
 
 On the 9th of March our humane traveller arrived 
 at Badajoz. He found that prisoners in Spain 
 were commonly supported by alms, which proved 
 sufficient. The prisons were clean, many of them 
 having fountains in the court-yards. The torture 
 was often inflicted upon accused persons, but, with 
 a .strange inconsistency, any confession so extorted 
 was read over to the criminal 1 went}-- four hours 
 after, that lie might either confirm or retract it. 
 At Toledo he visited two large prisons, in which 
 were some hundreds of criminals, loaded with irons, 
 unhealthy, and several miserable objects dying in 
 their beds. The hospitals are described as airy and
 
 ARRIVES AT MADRID. 32 D 
 
 convenient. Proceeding thence to Madrid, he found 
 in the largest prison, the Carcel de Corte, rooms 
 with stone bedsteads, and iron hooks for chaining 
 the prisoners, some of whom Avere cruelly fettered ; 
 but the keeper was entrusted with much discre- 
 tionary power, and, happily for his charge, he was 
 compassionate in its exercise. In the prison of the 
 city the dungeons were offensive and dirty. The 
 walls of one of its torture-chambers were stained 
 with blood, whereupon the Philanthropist remarks, 
 " I was sorry to see such traces of this practice 
 amongst a people otherwise generous and humane." 
 On visiting another prison he found two of the 
 privy council inquiring into the cases of criminals, 
 and in many instances reversing or altering the 
 sentences imposed by inferior judges : a practice 
 much to be deprecated, as rendering punishment 
 uncertain, which has always a tendency to induce 
 crime, and, when it has been committed, to prevent 
 correction. The prisons for petty offenders here and 
 at San Fernando were under judicious regulations. 
 Many young offenders were under instruction in 
 school, and the adults suitably employed. The 
 hospitals of Madrid were on a magnificent scale. 
 The Real contained 900 patients, but the object of 
 the institution was in a measure frustrated by the 
 noise of numerous visitors, and their inspector ob- 
 served that the rooms for the convalescent were so 
 close as to retard their recovery. Two churches in 
 this city were desecrated as asylums for debtors and 
 criminals, and although their sanctuary was limited
 
 330 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 to a pavement of the edifice about three feet wide, 
 yet some refugees had been there for years. Howard 
 was indebted to the Count Compomanes for facility 
 of access to the public institutions of Spain, but 
 his influence could not secure admission for him 
 into that habitation of cruelty which, beyond all 
 others, he desired to penetrate and explore. The 
 Inquisition was then barred against secular autho- 
 rity. Always courageous, he resolved if possible 
 to obtain an entrance, and therefore procured an 
 introduction to the Grand Inquisitor, who received 
 him at seven in the morning when at prayers. He 
 afterwards led him to his dreadful judgment-seat, 
 which was hung with scarlet, and over which was 
 a crucifix : a table, at which were two chairs for the 
 secretaries, and a stool, upon which many a victim 
 had sat and trembled, constituted the furniture of 
 this dismal place. But further than this ante-room 
 of horrors Howard must not advance ; he was 
 already beyond the limits of philanthropy, and 
 charity was excluded from the gloomy portals to 
 which this chamber led. 
 
 A;illadolid was next visited, where he endeavoured 
 to gain further access to the prison of the Inquisition 
 there established, and the recommendations he had 
 obtained secured him a somewhat more favourable 
 reception. He was conducted into several rooms 
 by two inquisitors, their secretaries, and two ma- 
 gistrates. In one there was a picture of an auto 
 da fe in 1GG7, when ninety-seven persons were 
 burned in presence of the Spanish court. The event
 
 PRISONS AT VALLADOLID. 6o. 
 
 might well be described by one of the inquisitors 
 as " horrendum ac tremendum spectaculum." In 
 other respects the scene of this dreadful tribunal 
 resembled that at Madrid. Three doors led into 
 the secretary's room, and an inscription denounced 
 the greater excommunication upon any who should 
 venture to intrude. The insignia of office were in 
 two other rooms ; and in one adjoining, the pro- 
 hibited books, amongst them those of many English 
 authors. Others contained the vestments in which 
 the victims of this tribunal were occasionally clad. 
 The sight of these things increased his desire to 
 penetrate the more secret recesses. As an extra- 
 ordinary privilege, he was allowed to ascend a pri- 
 vate staircase ; but on begging permission to look 
 into the cells beyond, it was positively refused. 
 None but prisoners, he was told, passed that 
 threshold. " I would willingly become one for a 
 month," said the earnest Philanthropist, " if the 
 permission might be granted on that condition." 
 Three years, he was informed, was the shortest 
 space for which any were consigned to the worse 
 than sepulchral gloom of those woeful chambers. 
 Moreover, he was assured that their wretched oc- 
 cupants were beyond the reach of compassion. 
 Piteous moans were uttered within those walls, 
 but, no appeal disturbed the death-like stillness 
 around their doors. 
 
 But if the victims of intolerance had most claim 
 on Howard's sympathy, they were not the sole ob- 
 jects of his concern in this city. The prison for
 
 332 life or iioward. 
 
 criminals and persons accused Avas visited; and 
 there, too, were horrid dungeons, in one of which a 
 Avretched creature was lying on his back, chained 
 down to a large stone : another had recently been 
 put to the torture to force confession. At Burgos, 
 which was next visited, a more humane treatment 
 was adopted. At Pamplona the prison was dirty, 
 and many had lately died. It was badly managed, 
 although a magistrate told Howard that he visited 
 it every week to hear complaints ; upon which the 
 shrewd inspector remarked, that such complaints 
 were not to be expected if the gaoler went with 
 him. A strange abuse of power is mentioned. The 
 viceroy, twice a year, released what prisoners he 
 chose, and fourteen had been just liberated; on a 
 former occasion he had discharged all the prisoners, 
 without assigning a reason. After inspecting the 
 Citadel and the Misericordia, in which children and 
 petty offenders were confined in a manner which 
 called forth his censure, he closed his investi nation 
 in Spain. The following letter was written from 
 Pamplona, April 17. 1783: — 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I am still in Spain. The manner of travel- 
 ling by mules is very slow; I was fourteen clays in coming 
 from Lisbon to Madrid, a distance of only four hundred 
 miles. In this country you must carry all your provisions. 
 The luxury of milk for my tea I can very seldom get ; but 
 I one morning robbed a kid of two cups of its mother's 
 milk, I bless God I am well and enjoy calm spirits. . . I 
 have been in this city three days, and must stop a few days 
 longer before I cross the mountains. The Spaniards are 
 very sober and honest; and if a traveller can live sparingly.
 
 DUNGEONS AT BORDEAUX. 333 
 
 and lie on the floor, he may pass tolerably well through 
 this country. I have come into many an inn and paid only 
 five pence for the noise (as I may term it) I made in the 
 house. No bread, eggs, milk, or wine do they sell. Peace 
 lias not been declared ; many will hardly believe it. The 
 Spaniards speak of General Elliott with a spirit of enthu- 
 siasm. Never were two nations so often at war who had 
 such esteem and complacency one towards another. I 
 travelled for some time with an English gentleman, but, 
 finding my stoppages to visit the prisons inconvenient to 
 him, he went forward with his Spanish servant. I go 
 through Bayonne, where I shall only stop one day. I shall 
 proceed to Bordeaux, where I shall find many horrid dun- 
 geons. I hope to be in Ireland in July. In England I 
 have little more to do before I go again to press, after 
 which I hope to be in comfort at my own fireside. With 
 much esteem, I remain your friend and servant." * 
 
 On his arrival at Bordeaux, about ten days after 
 the above date, his fears were realised. In the 
 prison under the town-house were three dungeons, 
 27 feet under ground, in which fifteen prisoners 
 were confined in irons. Four steps lower still 
 were ten men and a woman as closely confined. 
 In the prison for the province, and the house of 
 correction, the arrangements were better. In the 
 latter were twenty-four women at needle-work, 
 who, on the entrance of their visitor, put on veils. 
 Thence Howard proceeded to Paris, where he 
 rejoiced to find that some of the worst prisons 
 were no longer used, and several humane regu- 
 lations had been appointed for the rest, by which 
 they were rendered more airy ; some classification 
 
 * To the Rev. Mr. Smith.
 
 334 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 was effected, and confinement in dungeons before 
 trial was forbidden. Their compassionate inspector 
 wished the prohibition had extended to all classes, 
 but in the Conciergerie he found sixteen miserable 
 objects in its dark and offensive holes. The tap- 
 room, however, had been abolished. In the Grand 
 Chatelet sixteen other prisoners were in a like con- 
 dition. A sight yet more revolting to humanity- 
 was disclosed when he explored the military prison 
 of L'Abbaye, in which fifty prisoners were occa- 
 sionally immured in six very small dungeons. A 
 new prison, L'Hotel de la Force, had been con- 
 structed, which presented a happy contrast to these 
 miserable dens. In this, order, cleanliness, and 
 proper discipline were carefully enforced. Several 
 smaller prisons were visited during this more pro- 
 tracted stay in Paris. The Bicetre was reinspected, 
 and some improvements therein observed. In the 
 great hospital, the Salpetriere, there were more 
 than 500 inmates, composed of destitute persons, 
 some insane, and several orphans, besides about 
 800 young female offenders, who were committed 
 to this abode at the desire of their relatives, 
 and were under the superintendence of a religious 
 sisterhood. 
 
 Having visited all the penal and charitable insti- 
 tutions to which he could obtain access during a 
 stay of ten days in Paris, Howard next proceeded 
 to Lisle. Here he learned that numbers of soldiers 
 in the citadel, sick and in prison, were in a most de- 
 plorable condition. Out of 340 he found 80 suf-
 
 DANGEROUS SICKNESS. d35 
 
 fering from scurvy, some of whom, though dying, 
 were in irons. Idleness and dirt were prevalent 
 in this prison, and to those evils the benevolent 
 visitor ascribed the sickness and mortality. The 
 arrangements in the general hospital and work- 
 house were commended ; the girls were employed 
 in making lace, and the boys received instruction in 
 various trades and occupations. Amongst the lesser 
 abodes of misery which Howard visited was the 
 Tour de St. Pierre, where he discovered four poor 
 objects confined in an offensive room, with only 
 one bed, and grievously neglected. Such suffering 
 induced him again and again to retrace his steps 
 thither, that he might, if possible, administer relief. 
 The disease was infectious ; he caught it, and his 
 life was endangered ; but he was mercifully restored, 
 when he recorded his pious gratitude in the follow- 
 ing terms : — 
 
 " I have abundant reason for thankfulness to Divine Pro- 
 vidence for recovering me from a fever I gratefully 
 
 record and remember the mercy and goodness of God. For 
 many days I have been in pain and sorrow ; the sentence 
 of death was, as it were, upon me ; but I cried unto the 
 Lord, and He delivered me, blessed for ever be His name ! 
 O God ! do my soul good by this affliction ; make me more 
 sensible of my entire dependence upon Thee ; more serious, 
 more humble, more watchful, more abstracted from the 
 world, better prepared to leave it ! May I live a life of 
 faith in the great Redeemer, whom, having not seen, yet I 
 hope I love, and desire to serve to the end of my days." * 
 
 Howard's recovery was rapid ; and as though the 
 
 * Brown, p. 417.
 
 33 G LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 time of interruption in his philanthropic work, how- 
 ever profitably spent, must if possible be redeemed, 
 we find him at the end of a fortnight diligently occu- 
 pied in revisiting the prisons of Amsterdam. Few 
 remarks are made upon them ; but the orphan-house, 
 in which were 1300 children, was in a wretched 
 condition : both the house and its occupants were 
 in a filthy state. And when he inspected the similar 
 institution at Rotterdam, he found that no better. 
 Many of the children were diseased in consequence. 
 He expostulated with the directors, when they, with 
 little concern, replied, — ''It is the house-disorder ; 
 all our children must have a seasoning." This 
 aroused his indignation, and called forth a faithful 
 and merited reproof. 
 
 The prisons at Utrecht were next revisited, and 
 thence Howard passed on to Antwerp, in which city 
 he found only one prisoner. Proceeding to Brussels 
 he was grieved to learn, that in the Port de Halle 
 the torture had been inflicted on a culprit for forty- 
 eight hours. Ghent was next visited, wdiere he 
 learned that a sad change had taken place in the 
 prison which he had before commended. On his 
 application for permission to inspect the Maison de 
 Force, the burgomaster told him that the Emperor 
 had prohibited access to visitors. " But you, Sir," 
 he added, " are an exception to all rules:" he was 
 therefore allowed to reinspect it. The manufactory 
 had been given up because some of his subjects had 
 complained to the Emperor of the injury to trade 
 caused thereby. With this deprivation of manual
 
 PRISON AT GHENT. 661 
 
 labour, a reduction in the diet had been ordered, 
 and the idea that the prisoners were too comfort- 
 ably lodged had called forth a direction, at once 
 foolish and cruel, that less care should be taken 
 about the cleanliness of the prison ; the result of 
 which was, that an entire quarter of the building- 
 had ere long to be fitted up as an infirmary. To 
 complete these mischievous regulations, it was fur- 
 ther decreed that annually a number of prisoners who 
 behaved well should, on that account, be liberated : 
 a certain provision for the release of some of the 
 worst characters, who, as respects the conformity 
 to prison-rules, are generally found to be the most 
 cautious. The appointment of a test so fallacious 
 has always tended to frustrate endeavours to im- 
 prove the criminals, as well as to defeat the ends of 
 justice. A mere submission to command for a 
 selfish object begets no virtuous principle ; the mo- 
 tive of action remains unchanged, whilst hypocrisy 
 is generated, — and when the conduct is under the 
 influence of that hateful vice no permanent reforma- 
 tion can take place. Howard did not again visit 
 this prison, although it was one in which he felt 
 an especial interest. It would be gratifying to be 
 enabled to state that the faults in its administration, 
 which were observed with so much pain, had been 
 corrected ; but a plan has been since pursued which 
 forbids any satisfactory statement. The Inspector- 
 general of the Belgian prisons observed, at the late 
 Congres Penitentiare, — 
 
 ' " During the last sixteen years the towns of Ghent and 
 Vilvorde have done all that was possible for the improve- 
 
 Z
 
 338 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 ment of prisons, with regard to security, cleanliness, order, 
 diet, clothing, and labour, founding all upon the Auburn 
 system. They have done all that they ought or could have 
 done. So far the criminal establishments of Belgium may 
 be justly compared with those of other countries. Never- 
 theless it must be admitted that this experiment, which has 
 been pursued with zeal and perseverance for sixteen years, 
 has completely failed, if we are to judge of its results by 
 the improvement of criminals, the decrease of crime, or by 
 recommitments. In the year 1843, the directors of the 
 maisons centrales, together with the minister of justice, 
 were asked for the result of their experience on this sub- 
 ject. All agreed in saying, that much as they had in- 
 creased the severity, the inspection, and the discipline of 
 these prisons, they had not, however, observed any im- 
 provement amongst the prisoners with regard to morals, 
 and that the number of recommitments, far from diminish- 
 ing, continued to increase ; that this proceeded chiefly 
 from the fact of the intercourse and association of the pri- 
 soners, — an intercourse which could produce none but 
 bad results, and essentially impede the moral reformation 
 of the prisoners." 
 
 Another cause must be assigned for the entire 
 failure. It was reasonable that Howard should 
 commend the plan formerly pursued, and recently 
 again adopted, of encouraging industry by allowing 
 a portion of the wages. The prisons in which the 
 system was pursued were in almost every respect 
 superior to others. It was pleasing and promising 
 to see hands, accustomed to steal, there active at 
 the loom, the anvil, or the last. The sight was 
 contrasted with the idleness, wretchedness, and vice 
 which English prisons presented. " Make them 
 diligent and they will be honest," was the maxim. 
 It was plausible, and sanguine hope suggested com-
 
 RETURNS TO ENGLAND. 339 
 
 mendation. Disappointment on the other hand 
 compels us to condemn. A pleasing expectation 
 was his warrant ; painful experience ours. More- 
 over, his approval was founded rather upon favour- 
 able appearance than upon the inferences of reason 
 or the result of investigation. Due consideration 
 would have shown that the endeavour to produce 
 industry by the mitigation of punishment, or some 
 mere indulgence, as the motive, was but promoting 
 the same principle of selfishness which had pro- 
 bably led to the offence committed. Time was 
 thus wasted in the employment of the hand, and 
 in mechanical operations, which should have been 
 devoted to the improvement of the mind and cor- 
 rection of the heart. And the consequence has 
 been, that at Ghent, at Perth, and in every prison 
 where the like plan has been pursued, it has more 
 decidedly failed than any other system which has 
 been tried. 
 
 Howard reinspected other prisons at Ghent ; in 
 one of them, De Mamelocker, a poor creature had 
 lately been twenty-four hours upon a stool of torture. 
 After visiting the prisons of Alost and Ostend, he 
 embarked from the latter port, and reached England 
 on or about the 23d of June. 
 
 Howard so arranged his travelling as to reach 
 home at the commencement of his son's vacation, 
 and a month was now spent with him and amongst 
 his friends at Cardington. When that short season 
 of recreation had passed, young Howard, who, 
 having attained his eighteenth year, was now re- 
 
 z 2
 
 340 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 moved from school, accompanied his father on a 
 tour through Ireland, a promise having been given 
 to reinspect the gaols of that country before the 
 parliament should again meet. This humane pro- 
 ject he began to fulfil immediately on his arrival in 
 Dublin, by revisiting the Newgate, in which he 
 found former evils increased, and many fresh ones 
 introduced. Frightful contamination still prevailed ; 
 fees were extorted ; intoxication was encouraged ; 
 disease was generated by its dirty condition ; and 
 a physician had recently fallen a victim to the gaol 
 fever. The floors were of stone, yet not even straw 
 was allowed to lie upon ; the food was deficient, 
 and no provision for mental instruction or spiritual 
 improvement was made : divine service was never 
 performed within those walls. The prisoners them- 
 selves were turnkeys ; but a military guard pre- 
 vented their escape. Yet, with all these gross defects, 
 sufficient officers were appointed. Howard, in a 
 strain of remonstrance not less spirited than it was 
 just and proper, observes — 
 
 " Such appointments can be of little consequence while 
 the sheriffs and magistrates neglect their duties, and seldom 
 or never visit the gaols or punish defaulters. Are not such 
 magistrates inexcusably guilty ? Should they not be con- 
 sidered as accessory to the crimes and abuses and miseries 
 occasioned by their neglect ?" 
 
 Howard seldom uttered complaints without set- 
 ting an example worthy of imitation. His expos- 
 tulations in this case, and subsequently on this tour, 
 were attended by acts of great benevolence. He
 
 ANOTHER IRISH TOUR. 341 
 
 procured from the keeper a list of sixteen prisoners 
 detained for fees, and of fifteen more confined in the 
 dungeons of Kilmainhain on the same account, and, 
 having made careful inquiries respecting them and 
 their families, he entered into a contract with their 
 gaolers for the payment of half their claims, on 
 condition that they should release the most de- 
 serving and distressed. 
 
 But if, through the culpable negligence of 
 authorities, such enormities were perpetrated and 
 permitted in the Irish prisons, a proper superin- 
 tendence and constant inspection were equally pro- 
 ductive of good in another institution. The House 
 of Industry contained 1440 persons: it was visited 
 daily by one or more of its governors: it was 
 orderly, clean, and in all respects well conducted. 
 
 Howard was pleased to find on this visit that 
 Earl Temple, who had been lately appointed Lord- 
 Lieutenant, had given attention to the state of 
 prisons, and had called for a report of all gaols 
 from the sheriffs, at the same time ordering the 
 distribution of the Acts passed for their better 
 regulation. 
 
 About the middle of August the Philanthropist 
 and his son crossed to Holyhead by one of the 
 regular packets ; and the following letter, addressed 
 by a fellow-passenger to the editor of the Gentle- 
 man's Magazine*, describes some characteristic 
 incidents which occurred on that voyage : — 
 
 * Dec. 1790. 
 z 3
 
 342 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 " It is a trite observation that trifles betray character, 
 and that the actions of a man when among strangers whom 
 he is not likely ever again to meet, and among whom his 
 name is unknown, are the best proofs of his natural dispo- 
 sition. Such are the circumstances I am about to relate, 
 and such the situation in which they happened. 
 
 " In the summer of 1783 Mr. Howard was returning 
 from a tour through the Irish prisons, and I sailed with 
 him from Dublin to Holyhead. His son was with him, 
 and, while we were on the deck of the packet, spoke with 
 great roughness to a child that was playing with his coat, 
 and drove it from him : this appearance of inhumanity 
 his father instantly took notice of, and reprimanded him 
 for not behaving with greater tenderness. But at night 
 Mr. Howard had an opportunity of showing his disposition 
 more plainly. On coming to take possession of his berth, 
 lie found that a maid-servant belonging to some of the 
 passengers was not provided with a bed, and, immediately 
 giving up to her his own, he spent the night upon the 
 cabin-floor, choosing rather to inconvenience himself than 
 to disturb that son on whose aecount he is now calum- 
 niated. In these little incidents we see a man alive to 
 every feeling of humanity ; uneasy at a word spoken with 
 harshness to a child; submitting to an inconvenience to 
 relieve from a trifling distress a stranger whose rank gave 
 no claim to attention ; and leaving his son in possession of 
 an accommodation which his own age rendered almost 
 necessary. These were not the effects of a mind heated by 
 enthusiasm, but the effusions of a truly benevolent heart, 
 to which that noble sentiment, humani nihil a me alienum 
 pulo, might deservedly be applied. I knew not Mr. How- 
 ard's name during these transactions, and learned it only 
 by accident a short time before we landed. 
 
 (Signed) '•' Observer."
 
 343 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 REVISITS SOME ENGLISH GAOLS AND HULKS. — REPUBLISHES 
 
 " STATE OP PRISONS." BURKE'S EULOGIUM. ANECDOTES 
 
 OF CAUTION AND COURAGE. MRS. FRY AT NEWGATE. — 
 
 PRIVATE BENEVOLENCE. SOME CURIOUS ADVENTURES. 
 
 PROFLIGAGY OF YOUNG HOWARD. EDUCATION IN EDIN- 
 BURGH. ENTERS AT CAMBRIDGE. HOWARD RESOLVES TO 
 
 VISIT LAZARETTOS. EMBARKS FOR HOLLAND. FORBIDDEN 
 
 TO ENTER FRANCE. PROCEEDS TO PARIS. — A NARROW 
 
 ESCAPE. TRAVELS AS A PHYSICIAN FROM LYONS TO AVIG- 
 NON. ARRIVES AT MARSEILLES. CHRISTIAN PRISONER AT 
 
 TOULON. EMBARKS FOR NICE. GENOESE LAZARETTOS, 
 
 HOSPITALS, AND PRISONS. VISITS PISA, FLORENCE, AND 
 
 ROME. INTERVIEW WITH THE POPE. SAILS TO MALTA : 
 
 ITS HOSPITALS AND PRISONS. LETTERS. — EMBARKS FOR 
 
 ZANTE. THENCE TO SMYRNA. — SUCCESSFUL MEDICAL PRAC- 
 TICE. FAITHFUL REMONSTRANCE. — CONSTANTINOPLE. — THE 
 
 PLAGUE. SPEEDY VENGEANCE EST TURKEY. SEEKS TO 
 
 UNDERGO QUARANTINE. VISITS SALONICA AND SCIO ON 
 
 RETURN TO SMYRNA. — EMBARKS FOR VENICE IN INFECTED 
 
 VESSEL. ATTACKED BY PRIVATEER. REACHES VENICE, 
 
 AND CONFINED IN LAZARETTO. PROPOSED MONUMENT TO 
 
 HOWARD. DR. LETTSOM. YOUNG HOWARD'S INSANITY. — 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 TnE same benevolence which, as the close of our 
 last chapter shows, provided for the comfort of a 
 servant at such a personal sacrifice, forbade any 
 desire for relaxation whilst fellow-men Avere suf- 
 fering and sought relief. The weakly constitution 
 of the Philanthropist sometimes called for a tem- 
 porary recreation, and the claim was reluctantly 
 allowed ; but at this time the journey of inspection, 
 
 z 4
 
 344 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 though painful, had been short : he had still strength 
 to persevere, and therefore did not allow himself to 
 rest. The prisons of London were now revisited, but 
 nothing very important is described as the result. 
 An excursion was then made to Worcester and 
 Gloucester : in the latter city a new gaol was nearly 
 finished on a defective plan, but one was proposed 
 for the county of a very superior construction. 
 On his return to London, other prisons were re- 
 examined, and the hulks were also again inspected. 
 Amongst some amendments in the condition and 
 discipline there was much still to be condemned. 
 The mortality had diminished, and the sum of 
 Howard's report is expressed in this sentence — 
 " Their situation is better with respect to health ; 
 but the association of so many criminals is utterly 
 destructive of morals." 
 
 The indefatigable friend of the prisoner and the 
 captive had now four times inspected almost every 
 important prison in England, and he again went to 
 Warrington to prepare another edition of his work, 
 in which he embodied the results of his investi- 
 gation both on the Continent and in the United 
 Kingdom. A calculation is also found in his 
 memorandum-book of this date, which describes 
 the number of miles he had travelled in his mis- 
 sions of mercy as 42,038. But lest the record 
 should at any time suggest vainglory, he carefully 
 guards it with the following addition : — 
 
 " To God alone be all the praise ! I do not regret the
 
 HIS HUMILITY. 345 
 
 loss of many conveniences of life, but bless God who in- 
 clined my mind to such a scheme." * 
 
 And on another page the same pious sentiments 
 are more fully expressed : — 
 
 " I am not at all angry with the reflections that some 
 persons make, as they think, to my disparagement, because 
 all they say of this kind gives God the greater honour, in 
 whose Almighty hand no instrument is weak, in whose 
 presence no flesh must glory, but the whole conduct of this 
 matter must be ascribed to Providence alone, and God, by 
 me, intimates to the world, however weak and unworthy / 
 am, that he espouses the cause ; and to Him, to Him alone, 
 be all the praise ! " -j- 
 
 This expression of humility and self-abasement, 
 combined with the ascription of praise to the Giver 
 of that charitable spirit which excited such exer- 
 tion, might lead us to expect that, besides the future 
 recompense, there would be some present fulfil- 
 ment of the promise, " Them that honour me I will 
 honour : " words pronounced by Him who, having 
 power to control the disposition of men, and to 
 prompt their language, does by such means, in a 
 measure, show His faithfulness. Accordingly, if the 
 ignoble and envious vainly speak in disparagement 
 of Howard, men most distinguished proclaim his 
 praises. Surely, in proof of this, we may cite 
 the eulogium uttered about this time by a states- 
 man whose glowing eloquence has but seldom been 
 surpassed : — 
 
 " I cannot name this gentleman," says Burke, witli re- 
 * Brown, p. 426. \ lb. p. 579.
 
 346 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 ference to Howard, " without remarking, that his labours 
 and writings have done much to open the eyes and hearts of 
 mankind. He has visited all Europe, — not to survey the 
 sumptuousness of palaces, or the stateliness of temples ; not 
 to make accurate measurements of the remains of ancient 
 grandeur, nor to form a scale of the curiosities of modern 
 art ; not to collect medals or to collate manuscripts : but to 
 dive into the depths of dungeons ; to plunge into the in- 
 fection of hospitals ; to survey the mansions of sorrow and 
 pain ; and to take the gauge and dimensions of misery, de- 
 pression, and contempt; to remember the forgotten, to 
 attend to the neglected, to visit the forsaken, and compare 
 and collate the distresses of all men in all countries. His 
 plan is original, and it is as full of genius as it is of humanity. 
 It was a voyage of discovery ; a circumnavigation of charity. 
 Already the benefit of his labour is felt more or less in every 
 country : I hope he will anticipate his final reward, by seeing 
 all its effects fully realised in his own. He will receive, not 
 by retail, but in gross, the reward of those who visit the 
 prisoner ; and he has so forestalled and monopolised this 
 branch of charity, that there will be, I trust, little room to 
 merit by such acts of benevolence hereafter."* 
 
 The same humanity which induced the laborious 
 investigation now inclined Howard to suppress the 
 description of many horrors he had discovered. 
 The wisdom and benevolence evinced by him in 
 this respect convey a salutary lesson to other 
 writers : — 
 
 " Mr. Howard told me," says his friend Dr. Brown, 
 " that, if he had chosen, he might have filled a book with 
 an infinite variety of tortures practised in Europe. But 
 although the horrid narrative would have secured the rapid 
 and extensive sale of the collection, he preferred to bury 
 
 * Speech at the Bristol Election, 1780.
 
 INTERVIEW WITH THE DUKE OF YORK. 347 
 
 in silence such shocking scenes, for fear of instructing some 
 in certain modes of tormenting with which they were un- 
 acquainted, and leading ferocious natures to introduce 
 them where they were unknown." 
 
 An interesting aneedote affords an illustration 
 of the principle which influenced his conduct in 
 this respect. Howard distributed the copies of his 
 new edition with the same liberality as the former 
 were dispersed. He presented one to the Duke of 
 York, to whom he was introduced as Prince Bishop 
 of Osnaburgh on his visit to that town, when he 
 informed him of the excruciating torture which 
 was inflicted in his principality. The young prince 
 desired to know the particulars of the cruelty: 
 Howard excused himself from the description, as- 
 suming; that the feelings would be too much 
 shocked by the recital; but begged him to give 
 orders to his ministers for the needful inquiry. 
 The pleasing result was a promise that the atrocious 
 practice should be abolished. The Philanthropist 
 now sent a copy of his work to His Koyal Highness, 
 carefully fixing the riband at the page on which 
 he expressed his conviction that the torture would 
 be discontinued. 
 
 Some very remarkable occurrences about this 
 period proved the influence possessed by Howard 
 over the minds of men the most depraved and 
 ferocious. His friend Dr. Brown preserved the 
 following anecdotes : — 
 
 "When Ryland, the celebrated engraver, was under 
 sentence of death for forgery, a gentleman came one morn-
 
 348 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 ing to Mr. Howard and informed him that some years ago 
 a maid-servant in a house opposite to Ryland's had sud- 
 denly left her situation and could not be heard of. In her 
 room, however, some scraps of his writing were discovered, 
 and application was immediately made to him to learn what 
 had become of her. The only answer that he would give 
 was, that she was provided for ; and with this, during the 
 days of his prosperity, her friends were obliged to be satis- 
 fied. AVhen, however, his fortune was ruined by his con- 
 demnation, they desired to be more particularly informed of 
 her condition. They accordingly applied to him in New- 
 gate, but could get no specific answer to their inquiries. 
 Hearing that, Mr. Howard promised that he would bring 
 back an account of the unfortunate girl's situation in 
 twenty-four hours, and he fulfilled his promise. She had 
 been kept by Ryland in a village at some distance from 
 London, where she was found by her relations, and restored 
 to their protection." 
 
 Another instance of the like power, and of his 
 courage in its exercise, is thus recorded : — 
 
 " During an alarming riot at the Savoy, the prisoners 
 had killed two of their keepers, and no person dared to 
 approach them, until the intrepid Howard insisted on en- 
 tering their prison. In vain his friends, in vain the gaolers, 
 endeavoured to dissuade him : in he went among 1 two hun- 
 dred ruffians, when such was the effect of his mild and 
 benign manner, that they soon listened to his remon- 
 strances, represented their grievances, and at last allowed 
 themselves to be quietly reconducted to their cells." 
 
 Although intrepidity so happily exerted is per- 
 haps unparalleled, yet many illustrations of the 
 power of kindness combined with bold determina- 
 tion might be adduced. The commencement of 
 Mrs. Fry's pious activity amongst the prisoners of
 
 MRS. FRY'S FIRST VISIT TO NEWGATE. 349 
 
 Newgate claims a notice in the biography of our 
 Philanthropist. Her first visit is thus described by 
 her equally benevolent brother, J. J. Gurney : — 
 
 "At an early period of her life in London, she was in- 
 formed of the terrible condition of the female prisoners in 
 Newgate. The part of the prison allotted to them was a 
 scene of the wildest disorder. Swearing, drinking, gam- 
 bling, and fighting were their only employments ; filth and 
 corruption prevailed on every side. Notwithstanding the 
 warnings of the turnkeys, that her purse and watch, and 
 even her life, would be endangered, she resolved to go in 
 without any protection, and to face this disorganised mul- 
 titude. After being locked up with them she addressed 
 them with her usual dignity, power, and gentleness ; soon 
 calmed their fury and fixed their attention ; and then pro- 
 posed to them a variety of rules for the regulation of their 
 conduct, to which, after her kind and lucid explanations, 
 they all gave a hearty consent." 
 
 Nor were the holy endeavours of Sarah Martin 
 in a more humble sphere less instructive and en- 
 couraging. 
 
 Howard at this time appears to have determined 
 that the remainder of his life should be spent in 
 the retirement of Cardington amongst his select 
 friends, the chief of whom was the Rev. Mr. Smith, 
 and in watchful exercise of that more private bene- 
 volence the records of which have perhaps been 
 too much omitted in our account of his public 
 munificence. That there had been no cessation of 
 such charity we have the following testimony : — 
 
 " His very intimate and confidential friend, the Rev. 
 Mr. Smith of Bedford, gives me the following account of
 
 350 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 this part of his conduct, at a time when he was deeply en- 
 gaged in those public exertions which might be supposed 
 to interfere with his private and local benefactions: — 'He 
 still continued to devise liberal things for his poor neigh- 
 bours and tenants ; and, considering how much his heart 
 and time were engaged in his great and comprehensive 
 plans, it was surprising with what minuteness he would 
 send home his directions about his private donations. His 
 schools were continued to the last.' It is impossible any 
 stronger proof can be given, that the habit of doing good 
 was wrought into his very nature, than that, while his 
 public actions placed him without a rival for deeds of 
 philanthropy, he should still be unable to satisfy his bene- 
 volent desires without his accustomed benefits to his 
 neighbours and dependents." * 
 
 The celebrity which the Philanthropist had now 
 acquired drew many visitors to his residence ; and, 
 although so much averse from ostentation, he 
 strictly charged his servants to allow access, and 
 as strictly forbade them to receive any gratuity. 
 
 Howard's occupations in this retirement seem to 
 have been similar to those before described. His 
 former abstemiousness and regularity were con- 
 tinued, but neither at Cardington nor in his town 
 residence in Great Orinond Street were his friends 
 treated otherwise than in a manner which became 
 his station. Notwithstanding the nature of his cha- 
 ritable labours brought him so much into contact 
 with the rough and rude of his own sex, yet he 
 found especial pleasure in the society of intelligent 
 and well-bred women. It appears, indeed, that at 
 this time he would gladly have married again if he 
 
 * Aikin, p. 36.
 
 FONDNESS FOR FEMALE SOCIETY. 351 
 
 could have met with a suitable partner. On this 
 subject we again quote his friend Dr. Aikin : — 
 
 " He was fond of nothing so much as the conversation 
 of women of education and cultivated manners. In his 
 judgment of female character, it was manifest that the idea 
 of his lost Harriet was the standard of excellence, and, if 
 ever he had married again, a resemblance to her would 
 have been the principal motive of his choice. I recollect 
 to this purpose a singular anecdote, which he related to us 
 on his return from one of his tours. In going from one 
 town in Holland to another in the common passage-boat, 
 he was placed near an elderly gentleman, who had in com- 
 pany a young lady of a most engaging manner and appear- 
 ance, which very strongly reminded him of his Harriet. 
 He was so much struck with her, that, on arriving at the 
 place of destination, he caused his servant to follow them 
 and get intelligence who they were. It was not without 
 some disappointment that he learned that the old gentle- 
 man was an eminent merchant, and the young lady — Ms 
 wife.'"* 
 
 Another curious adventure, the issue of which 
 was not more successful, is left on record. Howard 
 is said to have derived so much pleasure from the 
 perusal of some writings of a lady, that he made 
 an excursion into the neighbourhood of her resi- 
 dence, resolved to make her the offer of his hand 
 if further inquiry should confirm his estimate of 
 her worth. On his arrival at an hotel he sought 
 information of a gentleman with whom he fell in 
 company, and found that another admirer had 
 secured the prize. His chagrin, however, was some- 
 what lessened by sympathy when he discovered 
 
 * Aikin, p. 233.
 
 352 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 that his companion, having travelled upon the same 
 errand, was as much disappointed as himself. 
 
 The reader has learned something of young 
 Howard's life, and may probably have anticipated 
 the sad tale of the present page. He has been told 
 of the ardent love which was the constraining 
 motive of all the father's conduct, and of the 
 austere manner which concealed the fervour of that 
 affection from the wayward child ; how the in- 
 tense anxiety of paternal fondness prompted the 
 mistaken course of stern control ; how the son, 
 doubly endeared, was the subject of — 
 
 " Care full of Love, and yet severe as Hate ! 
 O'er the soul's joy so oft did Fondness frown!" 
 
 Now the consequences of sucli culture were too 
 evident. A long interval had elapsed since Howard 
 relinquished the early education of his child, and 
 his frequent journeys had prevented constant inter- 
 course. But the impressions of infancy were never 
 effaced; the early prejudice against the parent who 
 exacted submission by the force of authority, instead 
 of inducing filial obedience by the influence of love, 
 had never been corrected. The father's power had 
 now passed away, but the son's prejudice remained. 
 No permanent motive to obedience, then, preserved 
 the youth. For that loving father he felt little re- 
 spect and less affection. These safeguards against 
 temptation were gone ; and, thus exposed, he was 
 ensnared by one whose seducements he would have 
 repelled with horror if he had been led to love and
 
 PROFLIGACY OF HIS SON. 353 
 
 honour the parent whom he could no longer be 
 compelled to obey. Thomasson, the early attendant 
 of young Howard, has been described as on that 
 account the favourite servant of the father. He 
 was regarded by him as entirely trustworthy whilst 
 he was guilty of the most cruel treachery. Taking 
 advantage of his confidential service, he instilled 
 the most abominable sentiments into the mind of 
 the simple lad ; and, during a stay in London about 
 this time, he took the opportunities afforded by the 
 early hour at which his master retired to rest, to 
 introduce him to places of the worst resort and to 
 companions of the most profligate character. Many 
 months passed before this villany was discovered. 
 At length the faithful coachman to whom we have 
 referred suspected the evil, and before his master 
 left home in 1785 he endeavoured to persuade 
 him to take his son with him. But the journey 
 was perilous, and he would not without good reason 
 expose his servant, much less his son, to the danger 
 from which he himself in the discharge of duty did 
 not shrink. Thomasson therefore was left at home ; 
 and then, with a vanity the baseness of which was 
 aggravated by his shameless perfidy, he boasted to his 
 fellow-servants of the corrupting influence he had 
 exerted. The poor victim of his atrocious conduct 
 had been entered at the University of Edinburgh, 
 and was placed by his father under the care of Dr. 
 Blacklock before he embarked. But, ere long, his 
 vicious excesses brought on disease : ashamed to 
 consult a physician, he applied remedies himself 
 
 A A
 
 354 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 which produced permanent injury. A nervous 
 temperament was ere long followed by evident 
 symptoms of mental aberration. The malady in- 
 creased, and with it his profligacy and vice ; whilst 
 the uncertainty of his temper excited the disgust 
 and aversion of all whose acquaintance was of any 
 value, or had any tendency to restrain him. After 
 a time, therefore, the distressed father took him 
 again to Cardington, where, although his conduct 
 was destructive of Howard's comfort, yet, separated 
 from evil associates and soothed by kindness, he in 
 a measure recovered. Conscious that his own in- 
 fluence was lost, and yet hopeful that change of 
 scene, some further education, and intercourse with 
 superiors, might reclaim and restore the unhappy 
 youth, Howard accompanied him to Cambridge, at 
 which University he had several friends ; amongst 
 them the Rev. R. Robinson, to whose special care 
 he commended him. He was then entered a Fellow 
 Commoner of St. John's College. 
 
 It was not because the subject of our memoir 
 was bowed down with disappointment and distress 
 on account of the circumstances we have described, 
 and was therefore weary of life, that he resolved 
 to confront Death in its most frightful form, and 
 sought at so much personal risk to avert from others 
 that scourge by which the Destroyer triumphed. 
 Holier motives incited Howard when he entered 
 upon a task which none beside would undertake, 
 and endeavoured by personal investigation to ascer- 
 tain the means by which the raging pestilence might
 
 RESOLVES TO VISIT LAZARETTOS. 355 
 
 be restrained. In his introduction to the volume 
 from which chiefly we must trace his course during 
 the next four years, he informs us — 
 
 " I had been led, by the view of several lazarettos in my 
 travels, to consider how much all trading nations are ex- 
 posed to that dreadful scourge of mankind which those 
 structures are intended to prevent, and to reflect how very 
 rude and imperfect our own police was with respect to this 
 object. It likewise struck me that establishments, effec- 
 tual for the prevention of the most infectious of all diseases, 
 must afford many useful hints for guarding against the 
 propagation of contagious distempers in general. These 
 various considerations induced me in the last edition of 
 the State of Prisons, &c. to express a wish ' that some future 
 traveller would give us plans of the lazarettos at Leghorn, 
 Ancona, and other places.' At length I determined to 
 procure these plans, and acquire all the necessary informa- 
 tion respecting them, myself." 
 
 This was not a rash enterprise undertaken with- 
 out due preparation. We have observed that 
 Howard was not altogether destitute of medical 
 science himself, but, instead of presuming on such 
 partial knowledge as empirics are too prone to do, 
 he adopted the more prudent course of consulting 
 his friends, Dr. Aikin and Dr. Jebb, and, at their 
 suggestion, a list of queries was framed, which 
 he might put to the physicians who attended the 
 lazarettos he proposed to visit. Furnished with 
 this, he sailed for Holland in November, 1785. 
 He desired to commence his inquiries at Marseilles, 
 but, aware of the jealousy with which the French 
 watched their trade with the Levant, he foresaw 
 there would be some difficulty in gaining access to 
 
 A A 2
 
 35 G LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 the lazaretto of that port ; he therefore secured the 
 negotiation of Lord Caermarthen, who was then 
 foreign secretary. After waiting a few days at the 
 Hague for some communication, he proceeded to 
 Utrecht, where, at the house of his friend Dr. 
 Brown, he received a despatch informing him not 
 only that his request had been refused, but that he 
 was forbidden to enter France at all, and a threat 
 of incarceration in the Bastile enforced the prohi- 
 bition. His friend, therefore, endeavoured to dis- 
 suade him from proceeding. But Howard had 
 settled his purpose, and, considering that any re- 
 port of lazarettos would be imperfect unless it 
 described that of Marseilles, he determined, con- 
 tiding in the protection of Divine Providence, to 
 make a personal inspection, or sacrifice himself in 
 the attempt. Proceeding therefore by way of Dort, 
 Antwerp, and Brussels, he reached Paris in a few 
 days. To avoid detection he went to an obscure 
 inn, having taken his place by the Lyons diligence 
 which started the next morning. At an early hour 
 he went to bed, but about midnight was aroused by 
 a violent knocking at his room-door. Access was 
 demanded, and, on the door being opened, the ser- 
 vant, with a candle in each hand, followed by a man 
 in black clothes, with a sword at his side, entered, 
 and in a tone of authority asked if his name was not 
 Howard. " Yes ; and what of that ?" was the bold 
 reply. " Did you come to Paris in the Brussels 
 diligence, in company with a man in a black wig?" 
 was the further inquiry, to which question he
 
 ARRIVES AT MARSEILLES. 357 
 
 answered, with equal intrepidity, that he " paid no 
 attention to such trifles." The unwelcome visitor 
 then retired. Howard might well fear that his 
 design was frustrated, but he was not again dis- 
 turbed, and at the appointed hour he very gladly 
 took his seat and set off for Lyons. He now 
 travelled as an English physician, and was happy 
 enough to sustain the character he assumed by 
 prescribing with good effect for a lady who was 
 taken ill on the journey.* On his arrival at Lyons 
 after the midnight interruption he would not need- 
 lessly expose himself, but visited two or three Pro- 
 testant clergymen. Yet the remembrance of misery 
 in the dungeons of this city forbade his proceeding 
 before he had again seen its prisons and hospitals. 
 Thence he proceeded to Avignon ; and on visiting 
 the prison there he tells us — 
 
 " On taking notice of the rings, pullies, &c. for the tor- 
 ture, the gaoler told me he had seen drops of blood mingled 
 with the sweat on the breasts of some who had suffered." - 
 
 On reaching Marseilles, Howard went to his 
 friend the Rev. Mr. Durand, who, on seeing him, 
 at once said — " Mr. Howard, I have always been 
 glad to see you till now. Leave France as fast as 
 you can ; I know they are searching for you in all 
 directions." Here too he discovered that the man 
 in a black wig, who travelled with him to Paris, 
 was sent as a spy by the French ambassador at 
 the Hague, and that he would have been at once 
 
 * Brown, p. 452. t Foreign Prisons, p. 53. 
 
 A. A 3
 
 300 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 arrested but that many had recently been taken 
 into custody on frivolous pretences, and the pre- 
 fect, who had left Paris for the day, had given 
 orders that no further arrests should be made until 
 his return. This occurred on the following evening, 
 when the humane traveller was sought for, but in 
 vain. Such a providential circumstance must have 
 inspired him with fresh confidence, and the advice 
 of his friend was not followed. Access was pro- 
 cured to the lazaretto, and all the information he 
 desired obtained. A plan was made, and the par- 
 ticulars published. 
 
 Whilst at Marseilles, the Philanthropist heard of 
 an interesting prisoner in the galleys at Toulon, 
 and he resolved to visit him. He therefore set off, 
 dressed in the height of French fashion, and so 
 gained admission. He has given the following 
 account of this special object of his attention: — 
 
 " Protestants are not compelled to attend mass. The 
 last person who was confinedybr his religion was released 
 about eight years ago. There is but one slave here who 
 now professes himself a Protestant, and his name is Fran- 
 cois Conde. He has been confined in the galleys forty- 
 two years, for being concerned with some boys in a quarrel 
 with a gentleman (who lost his gold-headed cane) in a 
 private house in Paris. The boys were apprehended, and 
 this Conde, though only fourteen years of age, and lame of 
 one arm, was condemned to the galleys for life. After 
 four or five years he procured a Bible and learned by him- 
 self to read ; and becoming, through close application to 
 the Scriptures, convinced that his religion was antichrist/an, 
 he publicly renounced it, and declared and defended his 
 sentiments. Ever since he has continued a steady Protest-
 
 NARROW ESCAPE FROM FRANCE. 359 
 
 ant, humble and modest, with a character irreproachable 
 and exemplary, respected and esteemed by his officers and 
 fellow-prisoners. I brought away with me some musical 
 pipes of his turning and tuning. He was in the gallery 
 appropriated to the infirm and aged ; and these, besides the 
 usual allowance of bread, have an additional allowance 
 from the King of nine sous a day." * 
 
 Having now procured the desired information, 
 Howard considered how he could best escape. The 
 attempt to do so by land appeared too hazardous ; 
 he therefore by a large offer induced the captain of a 
 wind-bound vessel to convey him to Nice. They 
 had scarcely cleared the harbour before they were 
 driven into the island of Port Crosce, of which we 
 have the following notice : — 
 
 " I lay a few nights in the old castle of Portman, in the 
 isle of Port Crosce, and found there an ancient prison. 
 The descent is by a ladder, through a stone aperture of 
 four feet in diameter ; which, after the ladder is removed 
 and the hole covered, is a secure but dreadful place of 
 confinement." f 
 
 After a rough passage, Howard reached Nice; 
 and thence the following letter was addressed to 
 
 his friend Mr. Smith : — 
 
 "Nice, Jan. 30. 1T8G. 
 " Sir, — I persuade myself that a line to accpjaint you 
 that I am safe and well out of France will give you 
 pleasure. I had a nice part to act; I travelled as an 
 English doctor, and perhaps among the number of em- 
 pirics I did as little mischief as most of them. I never 
 dined or supped in public ; the secret was only entrusted 
 to the French Protestant ministers. I was five clays at 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 55. f Ibid. 56. 
 
 a a 4
 
 360 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 Marseilles and four at Toulon ; it was thought I could not 
 get out of France by land, so I forced out a Genoese ship, 
 and have been many days striving against wind and tide, 
 three days in an almost desolate island, overgrown with 
 myrtle, rosemary, and thyme. 
 
 " Last Sunday fortnight, at the meeting at Toulon, 
 though the door was locked and the curtains drawn, one 
 coming late put the assembly in fear, even to inquiry be- 
 fore the door was opened. I was twice over the arsenal, 
 though strictly prohibited to our countrymen : there is a 
 singular slave, who has publicly professed himself a Pro- 
 testant these thirty-six years, a sensible, good, man, with 
 an unexceptionable and even amiable character. The last 
 person who was confined merely for his religion was re- 
 leased about eight years ago. My friend may think I have 
 taken a final leave of a perfidious, jealous, and ungenerous 
 nation. 
 
 " I am bound this week for Genoa, and then to Leghorn, 
 where a lazaretto has been built within these few years. I 
 know, Sir, you will not treat any new attempt as wild and. 
 chimerical, yet I must say it requires a steadiness of reso- 
 lution not to be shaken to pursue it. 
 
 " My best compliments to Mrs. Smith and our Bedford 
 friends, and inform John Prole that I am well. 
 
 " I write this with my windows open, in full view of an 
 orange grove, though the mountains I see at a great dis- 
 tance covered with snow. With my best wishes, I remain 
 your affectionate friend." 
 
 There appears little doubt that the ill-feeling of 
 the French government towards our humane coun- 
 tryman arose either from his patriotic conduct at 
 Dunkirk*, or from the republication of the pamphlet 
 on the Bastile. lie seems now to have abandoned 
 
 * See p. '271.
 
 ENTEIES IN HIS DIARY. 3G1 
 
 the shores of France for ever. The following me- 
 morandum was made on the occasion : — 
 
 " However I may esteem some few of the French, yet 
 their government I dislike — their national character I 
 detest." 
 
 About the same time the following entries appear 
 in his Diary, no doubt suggested by recent events: 
 
 " Very important is a well-regulated police : does not the 
 certainty of punishment keep the Foot Guards, who are 
 very profligate, from the commission of crimes ? so that we 
 seldom hear of robberies by them. Why may not the 
 same strict police be kept towards other offenders? Is it 
 not injustice to individuals, and cruelty to the public, fre- 
 quently to pardon notorious offenders ? 
 
 " Let this maxim be a leading feature in my life — con- 
 stantly to favour and relieve those that are lowest. 
 
 " The ways of God are a uniform scheme of Providence. 
 "What God does now, we shall know hereafter." * 
 
 After inspecting the prisons and hospitals at 
 Nice, the benevolent tourist pursued his course to 
 Genoa, and thence to Leghorn, visiting similar 
 institutions. At both places every facility was 
 afforded for obtaining the most accurate descrip- 
 tion of the lazarettos, which were extolled as the 
 best in Europe. In the former city he also visited 
 the Great Hospital, of which he says — 
 
 " A very large convent, in which only ten friars reside, 
 covers a great part of this hospital ; and I apprehend, an- 
 nually, occasions the death of a number of patients double 
 that of friars in the convent. The benefactors to this hos- 
 
 * Brown, p. 460.
 
 362 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 pital are distinguished by the different postures and atti- 
 tudes in which their statues are placed, in the wards and 
 on the staircase, according to the different sums which they 
 have contributed. Many are placed standing ; but a hun- 
 dred thousand crowns entitles to a chair. I observed a 
 statue which had one of the feet under the chair ; and was 
 told that the reason was, that the benefactor honoured by 
 it had contributed only ninety thousand crowns. The 
 statues in the wards are now injurious by harbouring dust. 
 From a regard to the health of patients, I wish to see plain 
 white walls in hospitals, and no article of ornamental 
 furniture." 
 
 The Grand Duke was at Leghorn during Howard's 
 visit, and sent him an invitation to dinner ; but the 
 honour was declined as interfering with his humane 
 intentions: yet a pleasing record is left of the 
 Philanthropist's respect for that prince : — 
 
 " The repeated visits I have paid to his prisons, hospi- 
 tals, &c. have given me the fullest conviction that he is the 
 true father and friend of his country." * 
 
 Pisa, Florence, and Rome were next revisited. 
 
 " In the noble hospital of San Michele," he writes, " I 
 passed two mornings, and found it sadly neglected by the 
 cardinal and inspectors, who never visit it. The present 
 pope's favourite institution is a seminary or school for 
 young women ; where neatness, economy, and industry 
 must give pleasure to every visitant." j- 
 
 Howard was honoured with an interview with 
 the Papal Sovereign, when all ceremony usual on 
 such occasions was dispensed with. And never did 
 the outward show of subjection to his supremacy 
 
 * Lazarettos, p. 7. j Foreign Prisons, p. 58.
 
 INTERVIEW WITH THE TOPE. 3G3 
 
 so dignify that aged prelate as his condescension 
 and benignity on this occasion, when, on taking 
 leave of his visitor, the venerable pontiff clasped 
 his hand, and affectionately said — u I know you 
 Englishmen do not value these things; but the blessing 
 of an old man can do you no harm. 1 '' 
 
 From Rome the illustrious traveller proceeded to 
 Naples, and thence embarked for Malta, where he 
 arrived on the 29th of March. The weather on his 
 voyage became tempestuous, and the crew was in 
 extreme peril, but mercifully preserved. Sicily had 
 been almost depopulated by tremendous earth- 
 quakes, and the lazaretto of Messina was seen in 
 ruins, so that Howard felt the less regret at being 
 unable to land. Access to the prisons and hospitals 
 of Malta was ensured by a letter from the British 
 Ambassador at Naples. Their condition and govern- 
 ment may be learned from the following extracts : 
 
 " The prison at Malta consists of several dirty and offen- 
 sive rooms in the town-house, where in April 178G there 
 were nine prisoners. One of them, a Turk, had suffered 
 the torture ; in consequence of which a mortification had 
 taken place, and the surgeon was applying the hark inter- 
 nally and externally : the second time I saw him he was 
 worse, but I did not continue long enough in the island to 
 know the event. 
 
 " The slaves have many rooms, and each sect their 
 chapels or mosques, and sick rooms apart. A woollen 
 manufactory is carried on by some of them, but the majo- 
 rity are blacks, and unhappy objects ; for the religion (the 
 knights so called), being sworn to make perpetual war with 
 the Turks, carry off by piracy many of the peasants, fisher- 
 men, or sailors from the Barbary coasts. How dreadful !
 
 364 LIFE OF IIOWAKD. 
 
 that those who glory in bearing on their breasts the sign 
 of the Prince of Peace should harbour such malignant dis- 
 positions against their fellow creatures, and by their own 
 example encourage piracy in the states of Barbary. Do 
 not these knights by such conduct make themselves the 
 worst enemies to the cross of Christ, under the pretence of 
 friendship ? " 
 
 " The number of patients in the hospital during the time 
 I was at Malta (March 29th to April 19th, 1786) was from 
 five hundred and ten to five hundred and thirty-two. These 
 were served by the most dirty, ragged, unfeeling, and in- 
 human persons I ever saw. I once found eight or nine of 
 them highly entertained with a delirious dying patient. 
 The governor told me they had only twenty-two servants, 
 and that many of them were debtors or criminals, who had 
 fled thither for refuge. At the same time I observed that 
 near forty attendants were kept to take care of about 
 twenty-six horses and the same number of mules in the 
 Grand Master's stables ; and that there all was clean. I 
 cannot help adding, that in the centre of each of these 
 stables there was a fountain, out of which water was con- 
 stantly running into a stone basin ; but that in the hospi- 
 tal, though there was indeed a place for a fountain, there 
 was no water. The slow hospital fever, the inevitable 
 consequence of closeness and uncleanliness, prevails 
 here." * 
 
 At an interview with the Grand Master, Howard 
 faithfully expostulated with him, and expressed a 
 desire that he would sometimes walk through the 
 hospitals. " Whereupon," he says, " my animad- 
 versions were reckoned too free, yet they produced 
 an alteration for the better." 
 
 Two letters written by Howard from Malta 
 
 * Lazarettos and Foreign Prison?, pp. 58. 60.
 
 LETTERS FROM MALTA. 6b 
 
 have been preserved. The former, addressed to his 
 faithful bailiff, is significant of the affability with 
 which his dependants were treated : — 
 
 "March 31. 1786. — John Prole, I am well, with intrepid 
 spirits and resolution in the pursuit of my determined ob- 
 ject, but I have had a sad winter to combat with ; some 
 days on a desolate island on the south of France, and last 
 Sunday morning a sad storm from 12 to 4; we expected 
 our watery grave : though our sailors all cried to St. An- 
 thony to save them, it was God that had mercy on us. 
 
 " I have had my audience of the Grand Master, and he 
 granted my request, so that every place is flung open to- 
 me. We are here as warm as June, yet the first salutation 
 is, 'It is cold, Sir,' which they find, as they are wrapt up 
 in great coats. I see peas and beans in plenty in the 
 streets, but I take my tea in the morning, and a little weak' 
 chocolate in the evening. I sail for Turkey in ten days, if 
 everything succeeds as I have laid my plan. I have hopes 
 to be at Vienna, on my return home, the latter end of 
 July or beginning of August. My object is great, and liable 
 to a fatal miscarriage. My zeal, I hope, will not abate, 
 nor will I look back. My best compliments to my Car- 
 dington friends. I remain yours to serve you, J. H." 
 
 The next letter was written to a friend, in which, 
 after describing his route thither, lie adds — 
 
 " I have paid two visits to the Grand Master. Every 
 place is flung open to me. He has sent me what is thought 
 a great present, a pound of nice butter, as we are here all 
 burnt up, yet peas and beans in plenty ; melons ripe, roses 
 and flowers in abundance ; but at night tormented with 
 
 millions of fleas, gnats, &c One effect I find during 
 
 my visits to the lazarettos, viz. a heavy head-ache, a pain 
 across my forehead, but it has always quite left me in one 
 hour after I have come from these places. As I am quite
 
 36G LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 alone, I have need to summon all my courage and resolu- 
 tion. You will say it is a great design, and so liable to a 
 fatal miscarriage. I must adopt the motto of a Maltese 
 baron — Non nisi j)er ardua. I will not think my friend 
 is amongst the many who treat every new attempt as wild 
 and chimerical, and as was first said of my former attempt, 
 that it would produce no real or lasting advantage. But I 
 persevere c through good report and evil report.' I know 
 I run the greatest risk of my life. Permit me to declare 
 the sense of my mind in the expressive words of Dr. Dodd- 
 ridge — ' I have no hope in what I have been or done.' 
 Yet there is a hope set before me. In Him, the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, I trust. In Him I have strong consolation. 
 These days (Sundays) I go little out. I have the notes 
 of several sermons, and my Bible with me. It is a pain 
 to see in almost all the churches, in large gold letters, 
 ' indulgentia plenaria.' And before the crucifixes, on 
 canvas or stone, in the street, with — Qui elucidant me 
 vitam eternam habebunt — and poor creatures starved and 
 almost naked, putting into the box grains, five of which 
 make one halfpenny. 
 
 "I am, I bless God, pretty well; calm, steady spirits. 
 All see at the inns, &c. that I have the mode of travelling, 
 and try to oblige me, but I inflexibly keep to my mode of 
 living, with regimen or low diet. The physicians in Tur- 
 key, I hear, are very attentive at the time the plague is 
 there. 
 
 " In many instances God has disappointed my fears, and 
 exceeded my hopes. 
 
 " Remember me to any of our friends. A share in your 
 serious moments. Thanks for kindnesses shown to mind 
 and body." 
 
 Not satisfied with the information he had as yet 
 obtained, Howard resolved, as intimated in the fore- 
 going letter, to visit the cities in which he might see 
 more of the nature and treatment of that terrible
 
 VISITS ZANTE AND SMYRNA. 367 
 
 disease which was the subject of his investigation. 
 " I also pleased myself," he says, " with the idea, 
 not only of learning, but of being able to com- 
 municate somewhat to the inhabitants of those 
 distant regions." * With these benevolent designs 
 he accordingly sailed for Smyrna. On reaching 
 Zante he visited its lazaretto and other public 
 buildings. Arrived at Smyrna, taking a dragoman 
 into his service, he immediately sought admission 
 to the prisons and hospitals. At the gate of the 
 chief prison were three Turks idly smoking, who 
 gave a surly reply to his application ; but on hear- 
 ing that he was a physician they were respectful, 
 and complied with his request. Successful practice 
 in his assumed profession procured additional 
 favour, and paved his way towards attaining his 
 object. We have the following note of this in- 
 spection : — 
 
 " So speedy is the execution of justice here, that I found 
 in this prison no more than seven prisoners at any of the 
 three visits which I made to it in 1786. One of these 
 prisoners having been bastinadoed so severely that he was 
 swelled from head to foot, I advised him to bathe in the 
 sea, and to apply to the soles of his feet plasters made of 
 salt and vinegar. In the use of these means, with the 
 addition of two doses of Glauber's salts, he recovered; 
 and I acquired a credit which made the keepers, in my 
 subsequent visits, particularly attentive to me." 
 
 Another result of his professional celebrity was, 
 that he attended the Cadi on his visit to the shop- 
 keepers to examine their weights and measures, 
 
 * Lazarettos, p. 2.
 
 368 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 when if any were faulty, imprisonment followed, or 
 the bastinado was at once inflicted. Terror was 
 evident in the countenances of all, as well it might 
 be, for mere suspicion on the part of an incompetent 
 judge entailed that cruel severity of miscalled 
 speedy justice. Amongst the hospitals visited, 
 Howard found that one was under the government 
 of an aged prior, who, having himself suffered from 
 the plague, was now devoting himself to the relief 
 of others, in fulfilment of a vow. From him he 
 learned that about half the number of his patients 
 died. 
 
 Being in Smyrna on Sunday, he says — 
 
 " Here I had an opportunity, which in this tour 1 did 
 not enjoy at any of the hotels of the ambassadors, of at- 
 tending public worship on Sunday, performed by the 
 worthy chaplain to the factory. I take this occasion of 
 mentioning a secret source of contagious irreligion, that 
 most of our ambassadors have no chaplains, nor any religious 
 service in their houses. With pain I have observed on 
 Sundays many of our young nobility and gentry, who are 
 to fill eminent stations in life, instructed in their houses^ 
 by example at least, especially in Roman Catholic coun- 
 tries, to make the Lord's day a«season of diversion and 
 amusement. How have I been mortified by the compari- 
 son when, after calling at their hotels, I have seen, upon 
 my return from thence, the chapels of the Spanish and 
 French ambassadors crowded ! " * 
 
 From Smyrna the unwearied philanthropist went 
 by sea to Constantinople, where, without hesitation, 
 he visited hospitals in which the plague was raging 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. G3.
 
 HIS MEDICAL SKILL. 369 
 
 with such malignancy that physicians would not 
 approach. The following are extracts from his 
 notes : — 
 
 " At Galata I found the sick lying on the floors. All 
 were neglected ; for none of the faculty would attend 
 them. I requested a young physician who accompanied 
 me to this hospital to set the charitable example. In an- 
 other I saw many sick and dying objects lying on dirty 
 mats on the floors. In the midst, however, of this neglect 
 of human beings, I saw an asylum for cats, — an instance 
 of attention which astonished me." 
 
 The report of Howard's medical skill had reached 
 an officer high in authority at the Ottoman Porte, 
 whose daughter was so afflicted as to have baffled all 
 the efforts of the Turkish physicians. The stranger 
 prescribed, and restored her; and if the delighted 
 father then looked upon her benefactor as possessed 
 of superhuman power, his refusal to accept of any 
 compensation, when a purse of 2000 sequins (about 
 900/.) was pressed upon him, did not lessen his 
 admiration. The disinterested friend of every suf- 
 ferer told the grateful parent that he did not prac- 
 tise for gain, but that a dish of grapes from his 
 garden would be acceptable to him. He was of 
 course liberally supplied during the remainder of his 
 stay. 
 
 It need scarcely be told that all the prisons as 
 well as pest-houses in this city were inspected. The 
 following extract from a letter to Dr. Price shows 
 at how much risk : — 
 
 " I am sorry to say some die of the plague about us ; 
 
 B B
 
 370 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 one is just carried before my window ; yet I visit where 
 none of my conductors will accompany me. In some hos- 
 pitals, as in the lazarettos, and yesterday among the sick 
 slaves, I have a constant headache, but in about an hour 
 after it always leaves me." * 
 
 A shocking proof was afforded to Howard of the 
 summary and sanguinary vengeance inflicted upon 
 supposed defaulters. The Chamberlain, who had 
 supplied the city with bread, had been summoned 
 by the Grand Vizier. On his arrival in great state 
 at the palace, he was asked why the bread was so 
 bad. " The last harvest was not a good one," was 
 the reply. Apparently satisfied on this point, 
 " Why," said the Vizier, " is the weight short ? " 
 " That," said the Chamberlain, " may have hap- 
 pened with two or three loaves, out of so large a 
 number :" he then promised that greater care should 
 be taken. He was ordered from the presence : an 
 executioner was commanded to strike off his head 
 in the street forthwith, where his body was exposed 
 for three days, with three light loaves beside it to 
 denote the crime. Howard expressed some surprise 
 that it had not bred a contagion ; when he was in- 
 formed that the exposure had been only for one 
 entire day. The man had been decapitated in the 
 evening, and the body had lain during the next 
 day, but was removed early in the morning of the 
 third day. " Thus," says Dr. Brown, upon whose 
 authority this statement is given, " the manner of 
 computation in use at the time of our Saviour's 
 
 * Aikin, p. 133.
 
 jews' hospital at salonica. 371 
 
 crucifixion and burial still subsists among the 
 eastern nations." * 
 
 The Philanthropist now thought of returning, 
 but on reflection it appeared to him that the in- 
 formation he had obtained concerning lazarettos, 
 and the regulations of quarantine, were chiefly 
 from report, the accuracy of which might be sus- 
 pected ; so that his labour, for the sake of a similar 
 institution in England, might be lost. To prevent 
 such an objection, he formed a marvellous reso- 
 lution of philanthropy; he determined to encounter 
 misery in its most malignant form, that so he might 
 learn the best means for its removal ! he resolved 
 to subject himself to the perils and privations of a 
 strict quarantine, and to ascertain by personal en- 
 durance the discipline of a pest-house ! To this 
 end he proposed to return to Smyrna, where the 
 direful disease was still prevailing, and from which 
 port he might take his passage in some vessel with 
 a " foul bill of health." On his way he visited the 
 hospitals of Salonica and Scio. That of the Jews, 
 at the former place, he describes as — 
 
 " A sort of spacious shed, lightsome, airy ; and being 
 quite open, without surrounding walls, it would have 
 greatly pleased my esteemed friend Dr. Jebb, who says, in 
 his work on Prisons, 'lofty walls and iron doors and 
 grated windows enclose disease as well as misery of other 
 kinds.' " f 
 
 From Salonica, Howard wrote to a friend, and 
 describes some interesting events of his voyage : — 
 
 * Brown, p. 47G. t Foreign Prisons, p. 65. 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 " July 22. 1786. — With pleasure I will converse an hour 
 with my worthy friend, who, I clouht not, has been in- 
 formed of my intention to visit, and collect all the plans, 
 regulations, &c. of the principal lazarettos in Europe. I 
 have been at Marseilles, Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, Malta, 
 &c. &c. Several questions (with consulting fees) have been 
 put to the first physicians of those places, relative to their 
 treatment of persons in the plague ; but thinking I should 
 gain more knowledge in the Greek hospitals for that 
 disorder, I have been to Zante, Smyrna, and Constanti- 
 nople, and I came hither about a week ago. 1 visit holdly, 
 but am forced to keep it secret. I always have, in those 
 places, a painful headache, but it has ever left me in an 
 hour after my removal. 
 
 " I came hither on Saturday in a Greek boat, full of 
 passengers, one of whom being taken ill, he was brought to 
 me, as I always pass for a physician. I felt his pulse, 
 looked at the swelling, and ordered him to keep warm in a 
 little cabin, as he had caught cold; in two hours after I 
 sent for a French captain, desiring him to give no alarm, 
 but said that I was persuaded that man had the plague ; 
 and, on Tuesday after, 1 saw the grave in which he was 
 buried. 
 
 " I visit all the prisons to inform myself, but my inter- 
 preters are very cross with me. I am bound for Scio, as in 
 that island is the most famous hospital in the Levant. My 
 quarantine of forty days' imprisonment is to be, I hope, at 
 Venice. I could easily have made my route by land to 
 Vienna, without being stopped, as no quarantine is per- 
 formed on the confines of the emperor's dominions; but 
 should such an establishment for our shipping be ever in- 
 troduced into England, things which now may appear 
 trivial may be of future importance in case of such a new 
 foundation : I have therefore procured from the Venetian 
 ambassador the strongest recommendation to assist me in 
 the minutest observations I may make during my quaran- 
 tine. I bless God 1 am quite well, calm and in steady
 
 SAILS IN AN INFECTED VESSEL. 373 
 
 spirits ; indeed I have at times need of determined resolu- 
 tion, as since I left Helvoetsluys I have never met with 
 any English ship, or travelled one mile with any of my 
 countrymen. 
 
 "lam persuaded I am engaged in a good cause, and 
 confirmed of having a good God and Master. His approba- 
 tion will be an abundant recompence for all the little plea- 
 sures I may have given up. 
 
 " At Smyrna the Franks' or foreigners' houses are shut 
 up ; every thing they receive is fumigated, and their pro- 
 visions pass through water ; but in Constantinople, where 
 many of the natives drop down dead, houses of the Franks 
 are still kept open. I there conversed with an Italian 
 merchant on Thursday, and had observed to a gentleman 
 how sprightly he was ; he replied, he had a fine trade, and 
 was in the prime of life ; but, alas ! on Saturday he died, 
 and was buried, having every sign of the plague. 
 
 " A line through our ambassador at Vienna will be a 
 cordial to the drooping spirits of your affectionate friend, 
 
 "J. H." 
 
 On landing at Scio, Howard visited the hospital 
 for lepers. They were in separate apartments ; 
 had little gardens, in which grew almonds, herbs, 
 figs, and grapes : two streams of water from the 
 mountains flowed through them. Their visitor 
 begged that they might have baths provided.* 
 
 On reaching Smyrna, the hero of humanity find- 
 ins; a vessel bound for Venice with the " foul bill" — 
 a requisite none beside ever sought for — at once 
 went on board. They had not sailed far before his 
 valour was called forth in a new sphere. Having 
 touched at the Morea for water, they had no sooner 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 65. book ii. 
 n b 3
 
 374 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 got to sea again than a Tunisian privateer attacked 
 them. Bravery was shown on both sides, but the 
 Moors were the stronger party, and there was little 
 hope of escape from those merciless pirates. There 
 was a large cannon on board ; it was loaded with 
 spikes, nails, and other missiles, pointed by Howard, 
 and, just as the corsair was bearing down upon them, 
 discharged with such effect that several were slain, 
 and the survivors sheered off. Thankful for the 
 strength by which he had been sustained, he 
 ascribed the victory to Him who gave it. The 
 absence of vainglory proves the source of his 
 valour, and few will doubt the truth of his de- 
 claration, — " This interposition of Divine Provi- 
 dence saved us from a dreadful fate."* Nor was 
 this the first time a ship's crew had been preserved 
 in those seas because one who spake the words 
 of prayer, confidence, and praise, sailed amongst 
 them.f 
 
 Thus mercifully delivered, — not merely from the 
 risk of slavery, which must have been the result of 
 capture, even had life been spared, but, as Howard 
 tells us, from certain death, since, as he afterwards 
 learned, " the captain had determined to blow up 
 the ship rather than surrender," J — they now pur- 
 sued their voyage towards Venice, touching at, Corfu 
 and Castel-Novo as they passed. Adverse winds 
 
 ■ Lazarettos, p. 22. 
 
 f "God hath given thee all them that sail with thee." — Acts, 
 xxvii. 24. 
 
 X Lazarettos, p. 22.
 
 CONFINED IN LAZARETTO AT VENICE. 375 
 
 and rough weather had prevented their reaching 
 the desired port in less than two months. Howard, 
 on his arrival, anxious to become acquainted with 
 all the precautions connected with the quarantine, 
 accompanied the captain to the health-office. The 
 next day he was conducted to a lazaretto, and 
 thence, after a few clays, removed to another, both 
 of which were extremely dirty ; and, although the 
 regulations were good, they were disregarded, or 
 often counteracted, through the extortion of those 
 appointed to enforce them. During his close con- 
 finement in these pestilential abodes, he wrote 
 several letters to his friends and servants, and 
 from these we shall best learn his condition and 
 state of mind. From them also we ascertain his 
 feelings with reference to two events, opposed to 
 each other in their nature and general tendency, 
 but to the Christian character of Howard, if not 
 equally distressing, yet both productive of much 
 vexation and poignant sorrow. One was an at- 
 tempt to dignify him with the highest honour; the 
 other, calculated to disgrace his name and to destroy 
 his dearest hopes. A magnificent statue was pro- 
 posed to perpetuate his fame: the misconduct of 
 his son might have been a cause of lasting in- 
 famy, but for virtues which afford such ample 
 vindication. 
 
 The first suggestion for erecting a monument to 
 Howard was made by a correspondent of the Gen- 
 tleman's Magazine for May 1786, who had met him 
 in Rome, and, in the course of a short conversation, 
 
 B B 4
 
 376 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 conceived the highest admiration of his character. 
 He described him as " the most truly glorious of 
 mortal beings, whom he all but worshipped." With 
 an activity in accordance with this enthusiastic ex- 
 pression, he began to form a fund, and reasonably 
 expected that the friends of Howard, and of the 
 humanity which he saw personified, would readily 
 contribute towards a statue commemorative of such 
 merit. The proposal was welcomed by all, except- 
 ing the most intimate associates of Howard. Those 
 who knew little more of him than his humanity 
 were disposed to deify him, like the generous 
 person who suggested the plan ; but the few who, 
 by more close communion, had discovered the really 
 godlike nature of his benevolence, and continually 
 discerned the Christian motive of his charity, dis- 
 couraged the scheme. They foresaw that the rare 
 virtue of humility which reigned in the mind of the 
 Philanthropist would receive a painful wound by 
 such a nattering distinction ; and they would not 
 provide the weapon. Only three of them would 
 subscribe, and they were probably induced rather 
 by the desire to perpetuate his example than to 
 please Howard himself. One of these, Dr. Lettsom, 
 supported the project by a donation of 10/. and an 
 offer to receive further contributions. The follow- 
 ing is an extract from his letter, which appeared in 
 the following number of the periodical in which the 
 original proposal was made: — 
 
 "Virtue, whether shining in the puhlic walks of life, or 
 emitting the soft rays of human benevolence in the dun-
 
 DR. LETTSOM PROPOSES A MONUMENT. 377 
 
 geons of misery, will ever obtain its own internal reward 
 beyond all the powers of sculpture ; but to exhibit that 
 evidence to the public, to excite emulation in virtuous 
 pursuits, and to induce spectators to go and do so like- 
 wise, nothing seems more conducive than a monument to 
 Howard." 
 
 Men of the first rank and character throughout 
 the country hastened to enrol their names, and to 
 evince their esteem for one so deserving ; so that, 
 in the words of a contemporary poet, — 
 
 " A spirit like his own began to move, 
 A thousand virtues kindled at his name." 
 
 When conveying information of this design, which 
 they were persuaded would be so unwelcome, it 
 was the more painful task of his correspondents to 
 acquaint Howard with the flagrant misconduct of 
 his unhappy son. The affectionate father, on his 
 departure, had left him in possession of Carclington, 
 with power over his household, and permission to 
 invite to his home what companions he might choose. 
 Although much care had been taken to introduce 
 him to a class of young men in Cambridge whose in- 
 fluence might be most favourable to the correction of 
 his character, he soon, by misconduct, disgusted them, 
 and contracted friendship with a set more congenial 
 to his depraved principles and evil habits. During 
 the vacations, these were the visitors at Carding- 
 ton; and, within those walls where the voice of 
 harmony and love and holiness had long prevailed, 
 strange sounds of discord, revelry, and vice were 
 often heard. The pious domestics commiserated
 
 378 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 each other, prayed for the prodigal, and anticipated 
 in some measure their master's grief. Sometimes 
 the behaviour, both at home and amongst the 
 tenants of that peaceful village, was so bad as to 
 oblige them to complain and seek redress. On 
 these occasions they generally applied to the Rev. 
 Mr.- Smith, who, as the chief friend of his father, 
 still retained some influence over this most pitiable 
 youth. The feeling manifested, the unfounded pre- 
 judice and ungoverned passions, soon convinced 
 that friend that they were assignable to some 
 mental derangement. The time, however, had not 
 arrived when of necessity the parent must learn 
 the heart-rending truth ; and Mr. Smith, in com- 
 municating to Howard the knowledge of his son's 
 offences, carefully abstained from describing the 
 suspected cause. The following letter, addressed 
 to one of his servants, appears to have been written 
 very soon after the sad intelligence had been re- 
 ceived. It is dated from the lazaretto at Venice, 
 Oct. 12. 1786; and in it, after mentioning several 
 particulars of his travels which have been noticed, 
 Howard proceeds: — 
 
 " On the receipt of my letters my accumulated misfor- 
 tunes almost sink me. I am sorry, very sorry on your 
 account; I will hasten home, no time will I lose by night 
 or day ; but forty days 1 have still to be confined here, as 
 our ship had a foul bill of health, the plague being in the 
 place from whence we sailed: but we are healthy; whilst 
 others anchored to burn the clothes of those that died of the 
 plague on board two ships. I am fully persuaded, had you
 
 LETTERS FROM THE LAZARETTO. 379 
 
 been with me this Turkey tour, you would have died with 
 the fatigue, or of the plague that rages in that country. 
 
 " Then that very hasty and disagreeable measure that is 
 taken in London, wounds me sadly indeed. Alas ! what a 
 sad mixture of folly and sin is there in our best perform- 
 ances. Such praise is highly displeasing to a thinking mind. 
 Never have I returned to my country with such a heavy 
 heart as I now do. 
 
 " Our consul deceived me in not sending the currants 
 for my poor friends at Cardington, but the vice-consul will 
 cheerfully send them from Zante, and they are much finer 
 this year than last ; distribute them to my tenants and the 
 poor cottagers. 
 
 " I have such a head-ache, I can only add that I am your 
 friend to serve you, J. H." * 
 
 About the same time a letter was despatched in 
 reply to Mr. Smith, a part of which has been 
 transcribed by Dr. Aikin : — 
 
 " ' To hasten to the other very distressing affair : oh, why 
 could not my friends, who know how much I detest such 
 parade, have stopped such a hasty measure ! As a private 
 man with some peculiarities, I wished to retire into obscurity 
 and silence. Indeed, my friend, I cannot bear the thought 
 of being thus dragged out. I immediately wrote, and hope 
 something may be done to stop it. My best friends must 
 disapprove it. It deranges and confounds all my schemes. 
 My exaltation is my fall, my misfortune.' 
 
 " He mentions in the same letter, as a proof how oppo- 
 site his wishes were to monumental honours, that, before 
 he set out on his journey, he had given directions that in 
 case of his death his funeral expenses should not exceed 
 ten pounds ; that his tomb should be a plain slip of marble 
 
 * Brown, p. 486.
 
 380 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 placed under that of his clear Henrietta in Cardington 
 church, with this inscription, — 
 
 "John Howard, Died — , Aged — . 
 My Hope is in Christ." * 
 
 Similar expressions of humility and sorrow, with 
 resignation and faith, occur in other letters written 
 during his seclusion. In one addressed to his 
 relative Mr. Tatnall, after telling him that his 
 resolution did not fail when exposed to infection 
 from the plague, or when in conflict with the 
 privateer, he adds — 
 
 " But, alas ! I was nearly overset when I received my 
 letters. My son gives me no little concern, but 'shall I 
 receive good at the hand of God, find shall I not receive 
 evil ? ' All hearts are in His hands ; there I must leave it." 
 
 One bearing nearly the same elate was addressed 
 by Howard to his bailiff, the first paragraph 01 
 which has been inserted in a former page. The 
 letter is further interesting as showing to some 
 extent his private charity, which was never disre- 
 garded whilst devoting himself to public service : — 
 
 " .... As to another affair, it distresses my mind. 
 Whoever set it afoot I know not, but sure I am they were 
 totally unacquainted with my temper and disposition ; I 
 once before, on an application to sit for my picture to be 
 placed in public, hesitated not a moment in showing my 
 aversion to it ; and as I knew 1 was going on a dangerous 
 expedition, Thomas will remember almost the last words 
 I said to him — ' If I die abroad, do not let me be moved, 
 let there be only a plain slip of marble placed under that 
 of my wife Henrietta's, with this inscription — John How- 
 ard, died — , aged — : My hope is in Christ.' This 1 said 
 
 * Aikin, p. 14.5.
 
 LETTERS FROM THE LAZARETTO. 381 
 
 that Mr. Leeds and my son might know that my mind is 
 fixed and still unaltered. I have set many engines to work 
 to check the flames, for I bless God I know myself too 
 well to be pleased with such praise, when, alas ! we have 
 nothing of our own but folly and sin. 
 
 " Now as to our Cardington affairs, I hope everything 
 goes on smoothly ; Mr. * * *, &c. and cottagers must not 
 get behindhand in their rent : when Reuben leaves his 
 farm, if you choose it, it shall not be raised ; if otherwise, 
 should it not be nearly the same as Smith's ? x\fter Christ- 
 mas desire Mr. Lilburn to settle your accounts to the two 
 Christmases, as it will be easier for me, separating the 
 school bills, donations, taxes, &c. from other things. 
 
 " Samuel Preston I hope is well ; if otherwise, anything 
 I will do for the two widows. Mrs. Morgan I hope is 
 well ; tell her if Nottingham's girl continues good, two 
 guineas she may lay out for her in any manner she thinks 
 proper. You will pay to Mr. Symonds my subscription to 
 Michaelmas. At Christmas give Mrs. Thompson and 
 Beccles each 1/. Is. ; Rayner what I usually give him, 
 lOs.Gd; if not given last Christmas, then 1/. Is.; Dolly 
 Basset 1/. Is. ; the blind man's widow 10s. Five guineas 
 to ten poor widows, that is to each half a guinea, where 
 you think it will be most acceptable : one of which widows 
 Mrs. Tingey, in memory of Joseph Tingey, whom I pro- 
 mised to excuse one year's rent. Five guineas also to ten 
 families that you think proper objects: one of which Ri- 
 chard Ward's. I think you said Abraham Stevens left a 
 girl and a boy, one of which is dead ; privately inquire the 
 character, disposition, and circumstances of the other. You 
 will accept of coat, waistcoat, and breeches. I hope the 
 walks before my house, Joseph Crockford's, the new one 
 near the bridge, and by Broadfiekl's and Walker's, are neat. 
 Tell Joseph Walker to remind Mr. Whitbread relative to 
 his brother's pay, &c. 
 
 " Is my chaise-horse gone blind or spoiled ? Duke is 
 well, must have his range when past his labour; not doing
 
 382 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 such a cruel thing as with the old mare ; I have a thousand 
 times repented it. I mentioned in Thomas's letter that 
 you will write to me at Amsterdam ; but when my con- 
 finement is finished I have a long journey through bad 
 roads and snow, but through mercy my calm spirits and 
 steady resolution do not forsake me, which the sailors ob- 
 served during the action with the Barbary pirate : and I 
 well remember I had a good night, when, one evening, my 
 cabin baskets, &c. were floated with water, and, thinking I 
 should be some hours in drying it up, I went to bed to 
 forget it."
 
 383 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 howard at venice. its despotic government. — tragic 
 
 occurrences. sails for trieste, and thence to vienna. 
 
 interview with the emperor. faithful admonitions. 
 
 howard's protest against his monument. re- 
 turns to frankfort, aix-la-chapelle, utrecht, and 
 amsterdam. his son's lunacy. — returns to england. 
 
 prevents monument. — resumes inspection of en- 
 glish prisons. — bad state of london gaols. — penal 
 labour deprecated. — revisits irish prisons and schools. 
 english gaols again inspected. separate confine- 
 ment in gaols of manchester, horsham, gloucester. 
 
 its purpose. — Howard's approval of the plan. — his 
 constant prudence. — religious discipline. 
 
 "When the appointed time of confinement in the 
 lazaretto had expired, and Howard had by personal 
 suffering ascertained the treatment pursued, he was 
 set at liberty, but was so enfeebled that he felt 
 obliged to remain in Venice another week. During 
 which time he was not inactive : the galley slaves 
 and other prisoners were visited, and portions of 
 his time were spent in obtaining valuable informa- 
 tion. He learned especially to esteem more highly 
 the form of government established in his native 
 land, from the contrast which the tyranny of this 
 republic presented. The following tragic proofs 
 of cruel despotism were described to his friend 
 Brown : — 
 
 " A German merchant happening to be at Venice on 
 business, supped every night at a small inn, in company
 
 384 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 with a few other persons. An officer of the state inqui- 
 sition came to him one evening, and ordered him to follow 
 whither he led, and to deliver to him his trunk, after having 
 put his seal upon it. The merchant asked why he must do 
 this, hut received no answer to his inquiry, except hy the 
 officer's putting- his hand to his lips as a signal for silence. 
 He then muffled his head in a cloak, and guided him 
 through different streets to a low gate, which he was 
 ordered to enter ; and, stooping down, he was led through 
 various passages under ground to a small, dark apartment, 
 where lie continued all that night. The next day he was 
 conducted into a larger room hung with black, with a 
 single wax light and a crucifix on its mantel- piece. Having 
 remained here in perfect solitude for a couple of days, he 
 suddenly saw a curtain drawn, and heard a voice ques- 
 tioning him concerning his name, his business, the com- 
 pany he kept, and particularly whether he had not been, 
 on a certain day, in the society of persons who were men- 
 tioned, and heard an abbe, who was also named, make use 
 of expressions now accurately repeated. At last he was 
 asked if he should know the abbe if he saw him, and, on 
 his answering that he should, a long curtain was drawn 
 aside and he saw this very person hanging on a gibbet. 
 He was then dismissed." 
 
 Another scene was scarcely less revolting : — 
 
 " A senator of this republic was called up from his bed 
 one night by an officer of this same inquisition, and com- 
 manded to follow him : he obeyed the summons, and found 
 a gondola waiting near his door, in which he was rowed 
 out of the harbour to a spot where another gondola was 
 fastened to a post. Into this he was ordered to step, and 
 the cabin door being opened, he was conducted into it, 
 and, as a dead body with a rope about its neck was shown 
 him, he was asked if he knew it. He answered that he 
 did, and shook through every limb as he spoke; but he
 
 SAILS FOR TRIESTE. 385 
 
 was then conveyed back to his house, and nothing more 
 was ever said to him upon the subject. The body he had 
 seen was that of the tutor to his children, who had been 
 carried out of his house that very night and strangled. 
 The senator, delighted with this young man's conversation, 
 used to treat him with great familiarity, and in those un- 
 guarded moments communicated to him some political 
 matters of no great importance, but which he thoughtlessly 
 mentioned again to others ; an imprudence for which he 
 paid dearly with his life, whilst his generous patron was 
 thus admonished of his indiscretion by the sight of his 
 strangled body." 
 
 When the Philanthropist had sufficiently re- 
 cruited his strength he hastened from the scene of 
 his voluntary seclusion, and from a city in which 
 atrocities so abhorrent from his nature were perpe- 
 trated. Crossing the Adriatic for Trieste, although 
 still suffering from the low fever contracted in the 
 filthy lazaretto, he visited its prisons and hospitals, 
 and thence passed on rapidly to Vienna. Here, too, 
 continued weakness did not prevent his persevering 
 inquiry. The result of his investigation into the 
 various penal and charitable institutions of that city 
 we learn from his own record of a conference with 
 the Emperor, who was exemplary in his government 
 of those establishments. Always averse from osten- 
 tation, Howard having travelled from Trieste in the 
 Sub-Governor's carriage, alighted before he reached 
 the town, as he had previously done at St. Peters- 
 bur^ ; but his reputation forbade the obscurity he 
 sought, and through the British ambassador lie 
 received a request that he -would afford His Im- 
 
 c c
 
 38G LIFE or IIOWAED. 
 
 perial Majesty the information he had obtained. 
 Conscious of the honour, yet too much valuing time 
 to waste it in useless converse even with a sovereign, 
 he at once asked " Can I do any good by going ? " 
 at the same time saying that he had many objections 
 to the plans pursued, and that if interrogated he 
 must freely speak his mind. Being assured that 
 good might result, he consented ; and the following 
 is his account of the conversation : — 
 
 "Christinas Day, 178G, Vienna. — I this clay had the 
 honour of near two hours' conversation in private with the 
 Emperor : his very condescending and affable manner gave 
 me that freedom of speech which enabled me plainly and 
 freely to tell him my mind. His Majesty began on his 
 Military Hospital, then the Great Hospital, also the Lunatic 
 Hospital, the defects of which I told him. On prisons I 
 fully opened my mind. It pleased God to give me full 
 recollection and freedom of speech. His Majesty stopped 
 me, and said " You hang in your country.'' I said ' Yes,' 
 but death was more desirable than the misery such wretches 
 endure in total darkness, chained to the wall, no visitor, no 
 priest, even for two years together; it was a punishment 
 too great for human nature to bear, many had lost their 
 rational faculties by it. His Majesty asked me the con- 
 dition our prisons were in at London ; I said they were bad, 
 but in a way of improvement, but that all Europe had their 
 eyes on his Majesty, who had made such alterations in his 
 hospitals and prisons. I said the object was to make them 
 letter men and useful subjects. The Emperor shaked me 
 by the hand, and said I had given him much pleasure. 
 He freely and openly conversed with me. I admire 
 his condescension and affability, his thirst and desire to 
 do good, and to strike out great objects. He was not a 
 month on the throne before he saw every prison and
 
 INTERVIEW WITH EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA. 387 
 
 hospital ; now lie continually and unexpectedly looks into 
 all his establishments. 1 have seen him go out in his 
 chariot with only one footman, no guards, no attendance; 
 sometimes drives himself with only his coachman behind ; 
 looks into everything, knows everything, I think means 
 well. The Emperor told his minister he was greatly pleased 
 with my visit ; I had not pleaded for the prisoners with soft 
 and flattering speech that meant nothing : some things I 
 advised he should do, others he should not do." 
 
 A further account of this interesting conference 
 has been preserved by Howard's two friends, Dr. 
 Brown and Dr. Lettsom, to whom he described it 
 soon after the occurrence. It appears that to the 
 first intimation of the Emperor's desire, given 
 through Count Kaunitz, his minister, a reply was 
 made that his early departure the next morning 
 would prevent the pleasure of waiting on His 
 Majesty. He then received a second message 
 through the British ambassador, informing him 
 that the Emperor would receive him at the earliest 
 hour he chose before he left. Nine o'clock was 
 the time appointed, and punctually at that hour the 
 Philanthropist was ushered into an apartment of 
 the palace, furnished in the plainest style, and was 
 welcomed in a familiar manner by its royal occu- 
 pant. The first inquiry was respecting the Military 
 Hospital at Vienna. Howard replied that it was 
 " ill constructed : one defect particularly struck me ; 
 the care of the sick is committed to men, who are 
 very unfit for that office, especially when it is im- 
 posed upon them as a punishment, which I under- 
 stand to be the case here." Then followed the 
 
 c c 2
 
 388 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 conversation which has been described, after which 
 further inquiry was made concerning workhouses. 
 " In them, too," said he, "there are many defects. 
 The people are obliged to lie in their clothes ; 
 little or no attention is paid to cleanliness ; and the 
 allowance of bread is too small." " Where," asked 
 His Majesty, " did you see any better institutions 
 of this kind ? " " There was one better," was the 
 answer, " at Ghent ; but not so now ; not so now ! " 
 At this the Emperor started, and seemed a great 
 deal shocked ; but he had magnanimity enough to 
 take the bold reprover by the hand, as he had done 
 more than once during the preceding part of their 
 discourse, and, on taking his leave, thanked him 
 most cordially for his advice.* 
 
 The bold Philanthropist, after this interview, 
 waited two days in the Austrian capital to ascer- 
 tain whether any happy effect resulted from the 
 faithful expostulation, and he had the satisfaction 
 to find that orders were issued for the correction of 
 several evils he had pointed out. During this pro- 
 tracted stay, his celebrity and the news of his re- 
 ception at Court brought several visitors; amongst 
 them the Governor of Upper Austria and his 
 Countess, and we have the following notice of the 
 intervieAv : — 
 
 " In a tone of hauteur the lady inquired into the state 
 of the prisons in the government to which the Count had 
 recently been appointed. ' The worst in all Germany,' 
 said Howard, without a moment's hesitation, ' particularly 
 
 * Brown, p. 506.
 
 PROTESTS AGAINST HIS MONUMENT. 389 
 
 in the condition of the female prisoners ; and I recommend 
 you, countess, to visit them personally, as the best means 
 of rectifying the abuses in their management.' 'I!' said 
 she haughtily, ' I go into prisons ! ' and she so rapidly de- 
 scended the staircase with her husband, that he was afraid 
 some accident would befal them before they got into the 
 street. Yet, notwithstanding the precipitancy of their re- 
 treat, the indignant friend of the captive called after her, 
 in a loud tone of voice, " Madam, remember that you are 
 a woman yourself, and must soon, like the most miserable 
 female prisoner in a dungeon, inhabit but a small space of 
 that earth from which you equally originated." * 
 
 Whilst in this city, some notes on the treatment 
 of criminals were found in his Diary : amongst them 
 he writes, — 
 
 " Persons in high life may think sweeping the streets, 
 drawing barges, and other such works, is worse than death ; 
 but they should consider their rank, character, and habits 
 of thinking are very different from those persons who are 
 so punished. The desire of life, and hope of seeing better 
 clays, are the strongest passions in them, and therefore death 
 they dread and most fear. — A line should be drawn ; 
 justice is due to the injured, and we should be careful to 
 prevent the honest being plundered." 
 
 Howard at this time received further information 
 respecting the fund for his monument, which was 
 rapidly augmenting. He therefore deprecated the 
 measure, in a letter addressed to the committee 
 which had been constituted for the purpose : — 
 
 "Vienna, Dec. 15. 1786. 
 " Gentlemen, — I shall ever think it an honour to have my 
 weak endeavours approved by so many respectable persons, 
 
 * Brown, p. .507. 
 c c 3
 
 390 LIFE OF IIOWAKD. 
 
 who devote their time, and have so generously subscribed 
 towards a fund for relieving prisoners and reforming prisons ; 
 but to the erecting a monument, permit me in the most 
 fixed and unequivocal manner to declare my repugnancy to 
 such a design, and that the execution of it will be it punish- 
 ment to me : it is therefore, Gentlemen, my particular and 
 earnest request, that so distinguished a mark of me may, 
 for ever, be laid aside. With great regard, 
 " I am, Gentlemen, 
 
 " Your most obedient servant, 
 
 " John Howard." 
 
 In returning into Holland the indefatigable tra- 
 veller passed over 500 miles without stopping for 
 rest or refreshment. Visiting public institutions 
 on his way at Frankfort, Aix-la-Chapelle, and Bois 
 le Due, he reached Utrecht January 15. 1787, where 
 he found the house of his friend Dr. Brown had 
 been recently burned to the ground. Thence he 
 proceeded to Amsterdam. He commends, on this 
 occasion, some arrangements in the administration 
 of justice which he had not before noticed: — 
 
 " No such thing in Holland as king's evidence. No 
 punishment to prisoners who escape ; though others, who 
 break open a prison, are punishable with death. Owing to 
 the solemnity of the administration of oaths, perjury is not 
 so frequent here as in other countries. I could wish, from 
 the clearest principles of reason and sound policy, that the 
 use of oaths, in almost all cases were abolished, and that 
 the affirmation of the fact should be sufficient, and that he 
 who asserted or affirmed a falsity should be punished and 
 disgraced as a perjurer." * 
 
 At this period the eccentricities of young Howard 
 
 * Foreign Prisons, p. 74.
 
 his son's lunacy. 391 
 
 so increased, that mental derangement was no longer 
 doubtful. First at Cambridge and then at Card- 
 ington his conduct was intolerable. He suspected 
 that his servants endeavoured to administer poison 
 or by some means to destroy him. Soon he became 
 violent, and conceived feelings of hatred towards his 
 father and his attendants. On one occasion, when 
 the vile Thomasson — towards whom, from early 
 attachment, it might be thought he retained some 
 regard — went into his room ; he seized the poker, 
 and threw it with such force that a blow from it 
 might have been fatal. It became necessary to 
 place him in confinement, which was accordingly 
 done by his relatives. Assured of the intense grief 
 which the event would excite in the affectionate 
 father, his friends were still unwilling to inform 
 him of his son's real condition. His servant Prole 
 at length thought it his duty to communicate the 
 sad intelligence, and it was done. The following 
 letter was subsequently written to Mr. Smith : — 
 
 "Amsterdam, Jan. 18. 1787. 
 " Dear Sir, — I thank you for your kind letter, which I 
 have just received, as I came here last night. The first 500 
 miles I never stopped but to change horses, for, being 
 alone, my tea once a day, and some bread and apples in my 
 chaise, did not detain me ; in the remaining 300 miles I 
 stopped a night or two, as they were so very cold, and per- 
 haps I was more sensible of it as we had a hot summer in 
 Turkey. In ten days after my arrival at Vienna my fever 
 left me, and my usual calm, steady, and, permit me to say, 
 resolute spirits flowed in their usual channel. The Emperor 
 desired to see me, with whom I had the honour of a private 
 audience above an hour and a half. He took me by the 
 
 c c 4
 
 392 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 hand three times in conversation, and thanked me for the 
 visit, and afterwards told our ambassador that ' his 
 countryman spoke well for prisoners ; that he used no 
 flowers, which others ever do, and mean nothing.' — But 
 his greatest favour to me was his immediate attention to 
 the relief of prisoners ; that Sir Robert Keith said if I 
 would not permit my statue to be put up in England, the 
 prisoners would do it at Vienna : and indeed of the two 
 I should like it best, as the latter would be out of sight, as 
 nobody is permitted to come there but by an order. 
 
 " I propose being in London about the 7th Feb. I 
 have a melancholy letter from John Prole, relative to my 
 unhappy young man ; it is indeed a bitter affliction : a son, 
 an only son ! 
 
 "Mr. Leeds has kindly done what I think I should have 
 done for the first trial, to see what effect it would have on 
 him ; but in such a situation I cannot live in the house. I 
 shall request once more a line to meet me the 7th of next 
 month, and inform me how things really go at Cardington. 
 I am anxious to know the true state of things there. 
 
 " You remind me of the saying of an excellent man, 
 Inched coehim rapiunt. 
 
 " With all good wishes, I am sincerely yours, 
 
 " J. H." 
 
 Howard was no stranger to sorrow before ; but 
 vain would be any attempt to express the aggra- 
 vated grief under which he groaned, when, on his 
 return a fortnight after the above letter was de- 
 spatched, he discovered that his beloved son was 
 bound as a raving maniac in his abode at Card- 
 ington. He visited the scene of woe ; but to re- 
 main when he could afford no relief, — on the con- 
 trary, when his very presence seemed to increase 
 the calamity, — had it been possible, would have been
 
 PREVENTS THE PROPOSED MONUMENT. 393 
 
 imprudent. He therefore returned to London, 
 anxiously desiring to put an end to the more public 
 annoyance which the " Howardian Fund " occa- 
 sioned. Many of the subscribers were still most 
 desirous of accomplishing the purpose. Many hoped, 
 according to the language of one, that " reflection 
 would correct the wrong suggestions of sensibility, 
 and that Mr. Howard would at last respect that 
 decision which he was unable to control." They 
 calculated with a very imperfect knowledge of 
 Howard's character. In this, as in other affairs, 
 his decision was based upon principle, and was un- 
 alterable. His unmitigated aversion was declared 
 in the following communication, which was adver- 
 tised in various periodicals : — 
 
 "London, Feb. 16. 1787. 
 " My Lords and Gentlemen, — You are entitled to all the 
 gratitude I can express for the testimony of approbation 
 you have intended me, and I am truly sensible of the 
 honour done me; but at the same time you must permit 
 me to inform you, that I cannot, without violating all my 
 feelings, consent to it, and that the execution of your de- 
 sign would be a cruel punishment to me. It is therefore 
 my earnest request, that those friends who wish my hap- 
 piness and future comfort in life would withdraw their 
 names from the subscription, and that the execution of 
 your design may be laid aside for ever. 
 
 " I shall always think the reform now going on in several 
 of the jails of this kingdom, and which I hope will become 
 general, the greatest honour and the most ample reward I 
 can possibly receive. 
 
 " I must further inform you that I cannot permit the 
 fund, which in my absence, and without my consent, has 
 been called the ' Howardian Fund,' to go in future by that
 
 394 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 name ; and that I will have no concern in the disposal of 
 the money subscribed, my situation and various pursuits 
 rendering it impossible for me to pay any attention to 
 such a general plan, which can only be carried into due 
 effect in particular districts, by a constant attention and a 
 constant residence. 
 
 " I am, my Lords and Gentlemen, 
 " Your obedient and faithful, humble servant, 
 
 "J. Howard." 
 
 Copies of the above letter were also privately for- 
 warded to several friends ; to Dr. Lettsom amongst 
 others, and we are told that, on receiving it, he at 
 once went to Howard and spent three hours in a 
 vain attempt to remove his objections. Many others 
 used all their power of persuasion, but none could 
 prevail. His unaffected repugnance fully confirmed 
 the opinion of his more intimate friends ; and when 
 one of them mentioned the motive which induced 
 them to refrain from contributing, he replied, — 
 " My dear friend, I am sure you know me too well 
 to think it would be acceptable to me. I thank you 
 and all my best friends for not assisting to wound 
 my feelings." He further told them that had a 
 statue been erected he should have been banished 
 from his native country for ever. Prince Kaunitz 
 had assured him that although he might prevent 
 such a monument in England, yet one would cer- 
 tainly be placed in their prisons by the grateful 
 inhabitants of Vienna ; to which he answered, — "I 
 have no objection to its being erected where it shall 
 be invisible." 
 
 Finding that the aversion was invincible, the com-
 
 mittee of the Howardian Fund (as it was still 
 called), which amounted to 1533/., proposed to 
 return all that should be reclaimed, and to invest 
 the remainder, either to be applied at some future 
 time as originally proposed, or to promote some of 
 Howard's own benevolent plans. 500/. were re- 
 stored to the subscribers ; 200/. were applied for 
 the liberation of 55 poor prisoners in London ; a 
 further sum was expended on a medal for each 
 contributor ; and the surplus was reserved for that 
 memorial to his worth, after his decease, the erection 
 of which he constantly deprecated whilst living. 
 
 This was not the only instance in which the Phi- 
 lanthropist scrupulously objected to any public 
 recognition of his humane exertions. A person, 
 whose name was concealed, deposited 365 guineas 
 — the amount of a year's saving — to be applied as 
 Howard might direct ; but, tracing the contribution 
 to the fame he had acquired, he refused to interfere 
 with its disposal. 
 
 Amidst the affliction and annoyance endured at 
 this time, Howard was not unmindful of the woes 
 of others. The pious captive at Toulon, so patient 
 in his perpetual bondage, excited his compassion, 
 and a successful application was made for his re- 
 lease. Nor had the shocking scenes of cruelty, 
 distress, and desolation which he had witnessed in 
 distant lands lessened his concern for the victims 
 of misery and vice, so many of whom he had left 
 at home, and who were still lingering in the 
 wretched prisons of his own country. He was
 
 396 LIFE OF HOWAKD. 
 
 anxious, therefore, to ascertain what improvements 
 had been effected in the construction and regula- 
 tions of our English gaols ; and commenced another 
 inspection with those of the metropolis, about the 
 middle of March, 1787. Here, however, was little 
 cause for congratulation ; and the humane inspector 
 must have felt discouraged if he had not observed 
 a truth which every subsequent writer on prison 
 discipline has remarked, namely, that the authorities 
 of London, although foremost in many philanthropic 
 plans and improvements, are, as respects the manage- 
 ment of their prisons, the most strangely backward 
 in correcting abuses and providing means of re- 
 formation. Howard still found the extortion of 
 fees permitted, and the prisons filthy ; disease pre- 
 vailing, and moral contamination frightful. He pro- 
 tested against the practice of discharging criminals 
 at midnight, homeless, without friends, and desti- 
 tute. Even new gaols in London did but per- 
 petuate defects, and the miscalled discipline therein 
 adopted, was but a revival of misrule. Thus the 
 Borough Compter is described as — 
 
 " A new gaol on a bad plan. The wards of the men 
 • and women dehtors join, so that the prisoners associate 
 together. The whole prison very dirty. Garnish not 
 abolished." * 
 
 I transcribe Buxton's remarks on this same 
 prison, written when thirty years had elapsed : — 
 
 " A prison at which I have witnessed as much of what is 
 truly deplorable and dismal as it was ever my misfortune 
 
 * Howard, Second Book, p. 130.
 
 ENGLISH PRISONS AGAIN INSPECTED. 397 
 
 to behold ; in wliicli it is difficult to determine whether the 
 vice it encourages is, or is not, surpassed by the measure of 
 misery it inflicts." * 
 
 The hulks were revisited by Howard at this time, 
 and great improvement was observable in conse- 
 quence of attention to several of his suggestions. 
 
 The county bridewell of Surrey, and the prisons 
 of Guildford and Kingston, were again inspected. 
 On the first we have these observations : — 
 
 " No alteration, but some loads of gravel or dirt brought 
 by order of the magistrates into the men's and women's 
 courts, to be removed in baskets from one side to the other. 
 This reminds me of what I once heard a keeper say, ' I 
 endeavour to 'plague and teaze my prisoners by making 
 them saw wood with a blunt saw.' The prison not white- 
 washed. , No straw or blankets allowed by the county." -\ 
 
 The continuance of any punishment amongst us 
 resembling that from which the mind of Howard so 
 evidently revolted, so contrary to the dictates of 
 humanity, justice, and common sense, is a lasting 
 reproach. In offering some comments upon this 
 question of penal treatment, the purpose of legal 
 punishment as defined by Blackstone may be stated 
 with advantage : — 
 
 " The end or final cause of human punishments is not 
 by way of atonement or expiation for the crime com- 
 mitted, — for that must be left to the just determination of 
 the Supreme Being; but as a caution against future 
 offences of the same kind." % 
 
 Paley writes to the same effect : — 
 
 * Buxton's Inquiry, &c, p. 28. f Howard, Second Book, p. 147. 
 \ Comment., book iv.
 
 3 98 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 "The proper end of human punishment is not the satis- 
 faction of justice, but the prevention of crimes." * 
 
 Although we retain some penalties designedly 
 exemplary, yet as respects imprisonment and 
 secondary punishments in general, they are pro- 
 fessedly corrective ; and while their tendency should 
 be to prevent crime, assuredly nothing vindictive 
 ought to be discernible. And yet, in violation of 
 the principles avowed, as if holier teaching had been 
 altogether rejected, and the Tartarus of heathenism 
 had afforded a text-book of penal discipline, prac- 
 tices have been adopted which as evidently accord 
 with the latter as they are alien to the spirit of the 
 former. The code is founded upon Christian 
 Scripture : but in the execution of it, ingenuity 
 has been disgraced to invent means of bodily toil 
 and mental irritation, which might combine the 
 torments of Ixion, Sisyphus, and the Danaides. 
 Hence our tread- wheels, hand-mills, and unpro- 
 ductive labour of every kind ; — instruments and 
 modes of punishment whereby the faculties of in- 
 telligent beings are abused and they themselves 
 thereby degraded to a depth to which brutes are 
 never debased. The victims of treatment so ex- 
 asperating feel this for a time, and thirst for 
 revenge ; and it is only when such punishment has 
 so degraded the moral sense that the consciousness 
 of manhood is lost in the mere animal sensation, 
 that the irritated and revengeful feelings cease. 
 But can the advocate of vindictive or exemplary 
 
 * Moral Philosophy, ch. be.
 
 PENAL LABOUR DEPRECATED. 399 
 
 punishment rejoice in the accomplishment of his 
 purpose, and imagine that although at the sacrifice 
 of one fellow-mortal here, and probably for ever, 
 still others shall be deterred, and society at any 
 rate derive advantage ? Let him not over-estimate 
 the deterring effect of severity. The voice of ex- 
 perience declares its failure, and, whilst exemplary 
 chastisement is not effectual to prevent crime, the 
 deterioration and consequent return of any liberated 
 offender to his former course, together with his 
 pernicious influence upon other men, must tend 
 to perpetuate offences. Again : men who seek to 
 purge the land of guilt and to purify the com- 
 munity by the punishment of those who violate 
 its laws, without regard to their improvement, 
 grievously forget, that although the energies may 
 be crippled, and the prisoner may be deprived of 
 the power to injure, yet the prevention is but tem- 
 porary, whereas the depravation is lasting; and 
 when on his release the vigour of activity shall 
 revive, it will operate with a virulency exactly 
 proportioned to the degradation which has been 
 produced. 
 
 The reader will understand the foregoing remarks 
 as applying to the hard, irksome, unprofitable labour 
 by which it has been contended that criminals 
 should be punished. We shall hereafter have occa- 
 sion to speak of the means of correction recom- 
 mended by Howard ; but it can never be supposed 
 that the plans now deprecated were amongst them. 
 Nor can we be so ignorant of the innate and en- 
 during principles of human nature as to believe
 
 400 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 that any vicious tendencies can be eradicated by 
 force, or that any virtuous habit may be induced 
 by a succession of involuntary acts. On the con- 
 trary, aversion is invariably produced by compulsion. 
 Irrational creatures may be trained to a course of 
 action which they will adhere to when the con- 
 straint is taken away ; but what slave, however 
 low in the scale of intellectual beings, was ever com- 
 pelled to love the labour exacted by the lash ? If 
 idleness be a characteristic of criminals, care must 
 be taken not to increase the desire for its indul- 
 gence ; whilst if industry be corrective, let us not 
 inflict it as a punishment, lest the repugnance to it 
 be confirmed. But it is said by some that instruc- 
 tion may be imparted whilst hard servile labour is 
 imposed, and thus a motive to future honesty and 
 industry be supplied. The answer is evident, that 
 toil and mental irritation frustrate every attempt to 
 bring the prisoner under the influence of that moral 
 and religious discipline which alone can effectually 
 correct and reclaim. 
 
 But those who, like Howard, are anxious to cor- 
 rect the idleness of criminals, and therefore depre- 
 cate all penal treatment which may promote and 
 foster it, — who desire to make them diligent, and 
 therefore watch against every means which might 
 create or increase aversion from industry, — and on 
 no account would inflict as a punishment or as a 
 disgrace that which should be regarded as advan- 
 tageous and honourable, have been charged with 
 opposing the dispensations of the Almighty, and
 
 AGAIN EMBARKS FOR IRELAND. 401 
 
 with acting contrary to His decrees. Instead of 
 impugning the Divine wisdom and justice, the 
 arguments which have been urged are in strict 
 accordance with God's revealed will and plans. 
 Throughout His moral government we observe 
 that activity is made essential to happiness : that 
 as respects man in his present state, honest industry 
 has ever been needful to his enjoyment ; but if 
 honesty has been violated, vice indulged, and the 
 displeasure and chastisement of God incurred, He 
 does not distress the body and distract the mind 
 by compulsory and irksome labour, — but rather 
 enforces leisure in seclusion, and there affords time 
 for reflection. Weariness and suffering will be the 
 condition of the finally impenitent, when the dis- 
 pensation of mercy has passed ; but the present 
 is one of probation, in which the Almighty does, 
 really and in fact, that which human laws recog- 
 nise as right, but which in their operation is re- 
 nounced, — namely, seek the improvement of the 
 offender by corrective punishment.* 
 
 On the 28th of May, 1787, Howard again em- 
 barked for the reinspection of the penal and 
 charitable establishments in Ireland. In Dublin 
 he found the same misrule and consequent misery 
 in the prisons as before described. Drinking was 
 allowed in them to such an extent that constant 
 fighting and uproar was occasioned. " At the 
 
 * The author is unwilling to interrupt the biography by a longer 
 dissertation on this subject, which is, however, one of such importance 
 that he has inserted in the Appendix some further remarks upon it. 
 
 D D
 
 402 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 Newgate one lay dead from this cause in the in- 
 firmary, and another was killed in a drunken affray 
 a few days after." After visiting the workhouse 
 and hospitals, he made a more particular examina- 
 tion of the Irish Charter- Schools, the state of which 
 was most deplorable : the teachers were incompe- 
 tent, and therefore the education was very defective, 
 sometimes wholly disregarded : the abodes were 
 dirty ; disease and death prevailed frightfully. Nor 
 was the condition of the public nurseries better. 
 Both, indeed, were so bad that he strongly urged 
 a parliamentary investigation, and suggested many 
 improvements. The respect paid to his opinion by 
 the Irish Parliament had led to the appointment of 
 an inspector-general of prisons, and his particular 
 report of abuses which prevailed lessened the 
 necessity for a description of painful details by 
 their compassionate visitor. 
 
 The prisons of Scotland were next visited. The 
 state of many may be inferred from that of the 
 house of correction in Edinburgh, which, in terms 
 of remonstrance with the Lord Provost, is thus de- 
 scribed : — 
 
 " In the three close rooms were forty-seven women, some 
 of them lying sick. No magistrate ever looked in upon 
 them, and no clergyman ever attended them, or used any 
 endeavours to reclaim them. The Lord Provost said, they 
 were so hardened it could have no effect. I differed in my 
 opinion from his lordship, and told him that on seriously 
 conversing a few minutes with several of them I saw the 
 tears in their eyes." * 
 
 * Second Book on Prisons, p. 7(i.
 
 REINSrECTS ENGLISH GAOLS. 403 
 
 The remainder of this year was spent in con- 
 tinued labours of benevolence : the prisons of most 
 counties were visited, and many particulars no- 
 ticed ; amongst them he tells us that in the High 
 Gaol at Exeter — 
 
 " A shoemaker was at work in the women's ward ; on 
 inquiring the cause I was informed that he was the hushand 
 of one sentenced to be transported but, on account of 
 ]ameness, contracted by fever in the gaol, she could not be 
 removed. Her fifteenth child was born in the prison, and 
 her husband declared he would never leave her. By the 
 kindness of Lord Sydney the woman received pardon, and 
 I since learn that this couple are useful and worthy mem- 
 bers of the community." * 
 
 " White without, and foul within," was the ac- 
 count of the Bristol Newgate. Some convicts were 
 erecting a new gaol in Oxford, and several were 
 permitted to work without their irons. They were 
 orderly; and "the indulgence," says Howard, "proves 
 that among such delinquents many are reclaimable, 
 and not so abandoned as some are apt to suppose." 
 Howard mentioned this fact to several on his tour. 
 " Some of the keepers said, 'they now find they can 
 do more with their prisoners by lenient measures 
 than with a rough hand.' " 
 
 Of the Chester gaol we have the following 
 notice : — 
 
 " Prison not secure. The convicts, and prisoners for 
 trial, were severely ironed by the neck, hands, waist, feet, 
 and chained to the floor, and at night to their beds in the 
 horrid dungeon. Here was the first iron glove I have seen 
 
 * Second Book on Prisons, p. 185. 
 dd 2
 
 404 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 in England, which, though not yet used, shows the severity 
 of the gaoler's disposition. That prisoners are not supplied 
 with necessary food is a disgrace to such an opulent city." * 
 
 At Manchester a " new prison with single cells 
 and separate apartments was building;" and although 
 Howard is silent upon the subject, the inscription 
 on the foundation-stone has been given by his 
 biographer : — 
 
 " That there may remain to posterity a monument of the 
 affection and gratitude of this county, to that most 
 excellent person who hath so fully proved the wisdom 
 and humanity of the separate and solitary confinement 
 of offenders, this prison is inscribed with the name of 
 John Howard." f 
 
 At Preston he found another nearly built on the 
 same plan. 
 
 At the commencement of another year the un- 
 wearied Philanthropist was still pursuing his re- 
 searches, constantly affording relief, and cheered by 
 the evidence which these prisons now erecting 
 afforded that his exertions had been to a great ex- 
 tent effectual. And if the prisons of Preston and 
 Manchester, and the improvements elsewhere, served 
 to animate in the course of holy perseverance, one 
 now constructing at Gloucester under the direction 
 of Sir G. 0. Paul was yet more calculated to en- 
 courage. When that excellent magistrate proposed 
 the building of this penitentiary, he prefaced his 
 remarks by saying — 
 
 "It is impossible to enter on this subject without pay- 
 ing a tribute of respect to the indefatigable Mr. Howard, 
 
 • Second Book on Prisons, p. 208. f Brown, p. 536.
 
 NEW PRISON AT GLOUCESTER. 405 
 
 the presiding genius of reform of these melancholy man- 
 sions of oppression and distress : — to him whose disinterested 
 and diffusive philanthropy is scarcely unknown to any, 
 although not attended to as it ought to be by those for 
 whose information his researches and observations are in- 
 tended ; for to him all future reformers are indebted for 
 seeing what they see, and feeling what they feel ; they 
 only reflect the rays of his benevolence on mankind." * 
 
 And, in accordance with the desires of one so 
 justly eulogised, a prison was constructed with se- 
 parate cells, in which a system of discipline was 
 adopted entirely corresponding with Howard's 
 recommendations. The following is the worthy 
 baronet's summary of the purposes sought by the 
 plan proposed : — 
 
 " Due separation, both by day and night, must be con- 
 sidered as the principle of all improvement. To a certain 
 degree it is necessary to constitute a legal prison ; and 
 there is no possible degree of separation that will not bring 
 with it attendant benefits : it favours every species of re- 
 form ; it promotes the purposes of the Jaw in allotting to 
 each offence its distinct mode of confinement and degree of 
 punishment; it prevents criminal intercourse betwixt the 
 sexes, and that instruction which the younger offender 
 otherwise receives from the profligate ; it of itself ensures 
 protection from every species of contagion ; it favours re- 
 treat to those whom a conscious innocence inclines to 
 privacy under their misfortunes : if the principle be ex- 
 tended to a well-regulated solitude it is the most sovereign 
 corrector of a hardened heart ; and, lastly, it is the surest 
 legal means of bringing prisoners under authority. It is by 
 cabal and participation of design, and by confidence in 
 numbers, that desperate acts are attempted. By separation, 
 
 Sir G. O. Paul on Prison Discipline, vol. i. p. 12. 
 d d 3
 
 406 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 in their worst designs they are within the power of their 
 keepers." 
 
 Prisoners were in due time committed to this 
 penitentiary, and a reformatory process pursued ; 
 with what happy effects we have, several years after, 
 the testimony of Sir G. 0. Paul before a committee 
 of the House of Commons : — 
 
 " It has succeeded in its effects beyond the theory 
 imagined by the original projectors of the system — far, 
 indeed, beyond my most sanguine hopes. It is within my 
 own personal knowledge that many returned from this 
 prison to obtain a livelihood by honest industry." 
 
 It had been well for this county if penal discipline 
 so corrective had been pursued to the present day ; 
 but after the decease of its founder the entire 
 separation was abandoned, crime thenceforth in- 
 creased : the error of rejecting it is at length per- 
 ceived, and the excellent plan is about to be 
 resumed.* 
 
 In this year the humane inspector again examined 
 the new gaol at Horsham, constructed on the same 
 plan as that just described, and alike effectual in 
 its reformatory discipline. f Thence he proceeded 
 to Reading, the county bridewell at which place 
 he describes as — 
 
 " A new prison, containing six close (called refractory) 
 cells, nine feet and a half by seven and a half; eight soli- 
 tary cells, ten feet by seven feet nine inches, with courts 
 about the same size ; and six wards for prisoners, who are 
 permitted to be together. The names of the prisoners 
 
 * See Appendix. f Sec Prison Discipline, i. 113.
 
 SEPARATE CONFINEMENT. 407 
 
 and terms of confinement are written on the doors of their 
 cells. I observed some were for one year ; a severe con- 
 finement to be so long in solitude, unemployed, in nauseous 
 cells, and without fire in winter." 
 
 The circumstance here mentioned gave occasion 
 to Howard to express his opinion more fully on the 
 kind of imprisonment which he considered most 
 corrective : — 
 
 " I wish all prisoners to have separate rooms, for hours 
 of thoughtfulness and reflection are necessary. The gen- 
 tlemen of this county, by their building this house of cor- 
 rection, and in various other instances, have shown them- 
 selves so attentive and zealous in whatever may contribute 
 to the real interests of their fellow -creatures, that 1 am 
 glad to take this occasion of making some remarks on 
 solitary confinement. The intention of this, I mean by day 
 as well as by night, is either to reclaim the most atrocious 
 and daring criminals, to punish the refractory for crimes 
 committed in prison, or to make a strong impression in a 
 short time upon thoughtless and irregular young persons, 
 as faulty apprentices and the like. It should therefore be 
 considered by those who are ready to commit, for a long 
 term, petty offenders to absolute solitude, that such a state 
 is more than human nature can bear, without the hazard of 
 distraction or despair; that it is repugnant to the Act which 
 orders all persons in houses of correction to work,- and 
 that for want of some employment in the day (as in several 
 houses of correction) health is injured, and a habit of idle- 
 ness or inability to labour in future is in danger of being 
 acquired. The beneficial effects on the mind, of such a 
 punishment, are speedy, proceeding from the horror of a 
 vicious person left entirely to his own reflections. This 
 may wear off by long continuance, and a sullen insensibility 
 may succeed." * 
 
 * Second Book on Prisons, p. 169. 
 d d 4
 
 408 LIFE Or HOWARD. 
 
 And, in accordance with the above sentiments, 
 we observe that, in the code of regulations for his 
 proposed penitentiaries, the first provision, under 
 the head " Lodgings" is " Separate cell for each 
 criminal."* 
 
 The reader has perhaps felt some surprise that 
 the pious Philanthropist did not much more insist 
 upon the religious instruction of prisoners. Why, 
 it has been asked with a like feeling, did not one so 
 deeply imbued with Christian principles distribute 
 Bibles and religious books in the several countries 
 to which he travelled, and in which there was such 
 a famine of the word of God and of its doctrine ? 
 Elsewhere the writer has assigned probable rea- 
 sons f ; and we have before, in these pages, spoken 
 of his discretion. Of the fervour of his piety, 
 the ardour of his love, and the devotedness of his 
 whole life to the service of God, we can have no 
 doubt; therefore no personal apprehension — no 
 dread of danger, ridicule, or death — deterred him 
 from boldly speaking the truth, and as fearlessly 
 spreading the records of his faith. Christian 
 courage has rarely been exemplified more fully 
 than in Howard's character, but he was never rash 
 or inconsiderate : wisdom and prudence accompa- 
 nied his zeal ; enthusiasm was chastened by holy 
 caution. This rare excellence is traceable and con- 
 sistent throughout his course. In his public efforts 
 it was the secret of his success; the accomplishment 
 
 * Second Book on Prison?, p. 2-27. 
 f Prison Discipline, vol. i. p. 20.
 
 HIS DISCRETION. 409 
 
 of a promise.* Discretion preserved him, and he 
 prospered in consequence. He always had God's 
 glory and the good of men as the end in view ; but 
 the exalted purpose did not prevent circumspection 
 in the plan of attaining it. In most of the countries 
 which he traversed, the Bible was forbidden, and a 
 barrier to his humane designs would surelyhave been 
 raised had he either openly or by artifice attempted 
 its circulation. As the opportunity recurred for the 
 private admonition, the holy precept — pointing the 
 sinner to the source of pardon, and the saint to the 
 attainment of perfection — so often, we doubt not, 
 did the holiness of Howard prompt the discharge 
 of duty, although humility prevented the record. 
 And a recognition of the same motive must supply 
 the answer to the question as respects the prisons 
 he inspected. It was a time when the cause of hu- 
 manity and moral discipline might be advocated 
 with success; whereas the claims of vital, self- 
 denying, scriptural religion were too commonly 
 despised or disregarded. The cold philosophy of 
 that day would have repudiated the idea of re- 
 claiming criminals by scriptural instruction: the 
 author of such a scheme would have been repulsed 
 as a fanatic; perhaps thenceforth precluded from 
 intercourse with the objects of his charity. With a 
 prudence, therefore, peculiar to himself did Howard 
 avoid precipitancy, and most discreetly seek to 
 remove the obstacles to improvement which the 
 bad construction of prisons, their loathsome con- 
 
 * Prov. ii. 11.
 
 410 LIFE OP HOWAKD. 
 
 dition, and vicious irregularities presented, before 
 he attempted by any direct efforts to secure that 
 moral and religious discipline which he well knew 
 to be alone productive of permanent reformation. 
 Hence then he first appealed to the humanity of 
 men by representing the miseries endured, and 
 pointing out the danger to the community arising 
 from the spread of disease and from the contami- 
 nation of intercourse. These were matters of much 
 importance, yet the correction of such evil was but 
 subsidiary to the end he sought, and when ob- 
 tained was regarded as an earnest of greater good. 
 Howard himself writes, in the conclusion of his 
 Second Book, — 
 
 " I have observed with satisfaction the liberal and 
 humane spirit which engages the public to alleviate the 
 sufferings of prisoners in general : " but he then pleads for 
 the adoption of means to effect " that still more important 
 object, the reformation of morals in our prisons." 
 
 The writer would reproach himself with having 
 very imperfectly portrayed the Christian character 
 of our Philanthropist, if any candid reader should 
 infer that he could calculate upon the moral re- 
 formation of offenders by any other means than 
 religious instruction. Punishment may in a measure 
 deter; persuasion, founded upon worldly policy, 
 and pointing out the advantages of honesty, may 
 had to some improvement of conduct; but the 
 Christian must forget his own experience, despise 
 the power by which he has been himself trans- 
 formed, and level his faith to the wretched standard
 
 RELIGIOUS DISCIPLINE IN PRISONS. 411 
 
 of the infidel, before he can prefer the devices of men 
 to those means which the Almighty has appointed, 
 which form the subject of faithful promise, and the 
 efficacy of which he has himself felt. When, there- 
 fore, Howard said, " I wish all prisoners to have sepa- 
 rate rooms," distinguishing such confinement from 
 " absolute solitude" which is a cruel and not a cor- 
 rective punishment, and when, for the sake of health, 
 energy, and future industry, he deprecated with 
 equal judgment and compassion long imprisonment 
 without suitable occupation, he wisely gave his reason 
 for the wish expressed — " for hours of thoughtful- 
 ness and reflection are necessary." To attain this 
 end, he considered separate rooms or cells essential ; 
 a punishment too severe without the mitigation of 
 some employment, and unprofitable if the prisoner 
 were left to ruminate on the suggestions of his own 
 mind. Such poison must be prevented, and salutary 
 food imparted : and if the prevailing sentiments of 
 the time forbid the bold assertion that spiritual 
 truth is at once the antidote and the diet required, 
 he does not endanger the plan by a rash crusade 
 against prejudice, but in his prison regulations 
 cautiously stipulates that " Bibles be provided," 
 and that " the chaplain give private admonitions." 
 It has been elsewhere stated, but may here be 
 repeated for the satisfaction of the Christian reader, 
 that, as if in answer to Howard's prayers, on the 
 very spot where his wish was expressed, a prison 
 after his own heart has been erected, in which the 
 discipline he commended is carefully pursued.
 
 412 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Howard's pleasing retrospect. — inspection of prisons 
 continued. ale-houses deprecated. present beer- 
 houses more pernicious. crowded dungeons. — ireland 
 
 revisited. — abuses in schools, hospitals, and prisons. 
 — another tour in england. london prisons. pub- 
 lishes work on lazarettos and prisons. some pious 
 
 maxims a charitable suggestion. — anecdotes. pro- 
 VIDENTIAL care. — Howard's abstemiousness, punctu- 
 ality, SELF-DENIAL, AND HUMILITY. LORD THURLOW'S 
 
 EULOGIUM. LORD MONBODDO VISITS CARDINGTON. — HOWARD 
 
 AGAIN AT HOME. — SERIOUS REFLECTIONS. — COWPER QUOTED. 
 
 It was our pleasing task in the last chapter to de- 
 scribe some reward of patient perseverance in well- 
 doing which the subject of our memoir was per- 
 mitted to witness in the reconstruction of several 
 prisons ; and truly, if the spirits of departed saints 
 be subsequently conversant with earth, and their 
 delight capable of increase by the accomplishment 
 of their desires, the enjoyment of Howard has been 
 enhanced by the fulfilment of his wish, the answer 
 to his prayer, and the frequent proof afforded of the 
 efficacy of his plans. Or if it be thought that 
 spirits in Paradise have no more intercourse with 
 us, yet, as the angels rejoice over one sinner that 
 repenteth, how gladly must they communicate their 
 joy, and augment the happiness of others with their 
 own, when they testify of souls converted as the
 
 
 PRISON INSPECTION CONTINUED. 413 
 
 blessed effect of former effort, or the recompence 
 of fervent prayer ! We give utterance, then, to no 
 forbidden flight of fancy when we speak of fellow- 
 ship with Howard still, and feel cheered by some 
 companionship with him whilst visiting in prisons 
 for which he prayed, and occupied as he advised. 
 
 But we must revert to the labours of the Philan- 
 thropist, from which he has rested, yet still reaps 
 a frequent increase of enjoyment. We have soared 
 perhaps too soon to the contemplation of the ex- 
 alted happiness he has attained ; we are now recalled 
 to our own sphere, and our minds must again ac- 
 company Howard to dismal scenes. Still faith de- 
 lights, and is allowed, to connect his present felicity 
 with his past suffering, and, in retracing his path- 
 way of sympathy and sorrow, to remember he 
 finished his course with joy, and his works followed 
 him. Truly the poet sings — 
 
 " The tower where criminals complain, 
 And fetter'd captives weep in vain, 
 Are his memorials in the skies, 
 The portals of his paradise." 
 
 We need not trace Howard throughout his con- 
 tinued tours in England, but be content with 
 noticing the more remarkable circumstances he has 
 described. After revisiting the prisons of South 
 Wales we find him again at Hereford and Worcester. 
 At the gaol of the former city he expressed abhorrence 
 at finding many women in irons. In that of the 
 latter, as two successive keepers had fallen victims 
 to the gaol fever before his former visit, so now a
 
 414 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 young physician had died of that dreadful scourge. 
 Upon this he remarks — 
 
 " So many in their zeal to do good have been carried off 
 by this disorder, that it is one incentive to my endeavours 
 for its extirpation. And yet, alas ! the dreadful dungeon 
 here, the planks of which are perished by damp and the 
 breath of prisoners, was preparing for others." * 
 
 The following notes were made at Shrewsbury 
 gaol : — 
 
 " Women in irons at night. I have often wished that 
 gentlemen would make rules for the conduct of gaolers as 
 well as for prisoners, and many gaolers have wished for such 
 rules. New keepers would then be informed that steady 
 discipline and strict regularity will do more to keep prison- 
 ers in health, and prevent the commission of crimes in 
 gaols, than severity and oppression. I have often thought 
 that a sober, humane half-pay officer would make one of 
 the best gaolers." + 
 
 Of Stafford gaol we have the following account : 
 
 " In the dungeon for male felons, I saw fifty-two chained 
 down, hardly fourteen inches being allowed to each. The 
 moisture from their breath ran down the walls. I need 
 not intimate the heat and offensiveness of this dungeon, 
 and the paleness of the prisoners. The women were in 
 irons, and lay in another dungeon. Last year seven of the 
 felons died in their dungeon of the gaol fever ; and the free 
 ward, or county chamber, being directly over it, nine out of 
 thirteen of the poor debtors died." % 
 
 Opposite this prison there were three ale-houses, 
 and Howard's observations upon the fact deserve 
 special attention at the present time : — 
 
 * Second Book on Prisons, p. 172. f lb. p. 174. 
 
 t lb. p. 173.
 
 ALE-HOUSES DEPRECATED. 415 
 
 " One of them having harboured a gang of which some 
 were condemned and executed, Judge Buller took away 
 the licence ; but it being now renewed, the house is said to 
 be again the resort of bad company. — The great and in- 
 creasing number of ale-houses that I observe in my tours 
 through this kingdom I cannot but lament, as it is one 
 great and obvious reason why our prisons are so crowded 
 both with debtors and felons. Many magistrates are 
 sensible of this evil, yet so dreadfully supine and timid as 
 to grant fresh licences (often at the intercession of their 
 interested clerks), in which their conduct is highly culpable. 
 It should be remembered that it is the spirit of our laws, 
 and therefore the duty of magistrates, by every means to 
 prevent if possible the commission of crimes." * 
 
 If in Howard's day the number of public-houses 
 was to be deprecated, in our own the more nu- 
 merous beer-houses which pollute our land are still 
 more prolific of crime. In these haunts of the 
 profane, the profligate, and depraved, gambling, 
 debauchery, and lewdness prevail to a frightful 
 extent. The offences which are traceable to these 
 infamous places are not only, or so much, the result 
 of positive intoxication, as of the general self- 
 indulgence and reckless expenditure of those who 
 frequent them. It is notorious that the keepers of 
 beer-houses are of too low a grade, and of loose 
 morals. Numerous, far beyond the requirements 
 of a sober population, they live upon its licentious- 
 ness, they pander to the vicious passions, and thus 
 provide incentives to crime, since it is impossible 
 that the lawful efforts or the honest earnings of 
 
 * Second Book on Prisons, p. 173.
 
 416 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 their victims can pay the cost of that sensuality 
 and excess which they occasion and encourage : 
 
 . " 'Tis here they learn 
 The road that leads from competence and peace 
 To indigence and rapine." 
 
 Nor is the baneful influence of the beer-houses 
 confined to that first process of corrupting the 
 character, whereby they originate crime ; but when 
 the criminal, so made, has been corrected, and has 
 given proof of this by a temporary resistance of 
 evil and careful performance of duty, if he after- 
 wards relapse it is almost always traceable either 
 to the solicitations of the beer-seller or to the 
 allurements of his house. What infatuation and 
 frightful idolatry of Mammon is proclaimed by the 
 very apology sometimes offered for the encourage- 
 ment of these infamous resorts, — 
 
 " Th' excise is fatten'd with the rich result 
 Of all this riot ! " 
 
 That any revenue of a Christian country should 
 be derived from such scenes of profligacy and 
 crime, and form a plea for their continuance, goes 
 far to imply a national rejection of God's providence, 
 and a bold defiance of His power to punish. 
 
 Proceeding to Warwick gaol, Howard reports, — 
 
 " I saw thirty-two men lying chained in a dungeon of 
 twenty-two feet diameter, and down thirty-one steps. Two 
 were ill of a fever. Before the convicts went off who 
 lately were ordered to Plymouth, this dungeon was so 
 crowded that some of the poor wretches were forced to
 
 IRELAND REVISITED. 417 
 
 stand up, and take a sort of miserable night-watch, while 
 the others slept. From the aperture of this dungeon, 
 which is 3 feet 3 inches wide (as from the door and the two 
 funnels of the dungeon in the gaol at Stafford) the steam of 
 the prisoners' breath comes out in winter, like the smoke of 
 
 a chimney There were three others in a room, 
 
 very ill, and in irons. In two rooms (seven feet and a half 
 by six and a half), with apertures only in the doors, there 
 lay fourteen women almost suffocated. Acquitted prisoners 
 are kept in irons till the judge leaves the town." * 
 
 At this time Howard commenced his sixth tour 
 of benevolence in Ireland, having visited on his way 
 thither several more English and Welsh prisons. 
 On his arrival in Dublin, he addressed a letter to 
 his friend Dr. Price, in which he says — 
 
 " I have, since my visit to these schools in 1782, been 
 endeavouring to excite the attention of Parliament ; and 
 some circumstances being in my favour, a good Lord- 
 Lieutenant, a worthy Secretary (an old acquaintance), and 
 the First Secretary of State, the Provost, a steady friend, I 
 must still pursue it ; so I next week set out for Connaught 
 and other remote parts of this kingdom, which indeed are 
 more barbarous than Russia. By my frequent journies my 
 strength is somewhat abated ; but not my courage or zeal 
 in the cause I am engaged in." f 
 
 This journey was followed by a further exposure 
 of gross abuses in the schools, hospitals, and prisons 
 he inspected. Some new gaols had been erected, 
 and improvements effected in others. The county 
 infirmaries to which government allowance was 
 made were disgracefully managed : the dispensary 
 
 * Second Book on Prisons, p. 158. f Aikin, p. 149, 
 
 E E
 
 418 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 of one contained only a single pot of ointment, and 
 others but few bottles of medicine. The schools 
 were the subject of parliamentary inquiry, and 
 Howard's evidence was received, but very little 
 reformation was accomplished. 
 
 At particular epochs of his life, when entering 
 upon a fresh project, or having completed some 
 benevolent purpose, it was the practice of the holy 
 Philanthropist to renew an act of self-dedication. 
 On his leaving Ireland the following entry was 
 made in his note-book : — 
 
 "May 18. 1788. — I hope my renewed vows were 
 sincere. Help me, O God of my salvation ! " 
 
 Before returning to Bedfordshire the prisons in 
 several other counties were reinspected. They are 
 most of them described as dirty, neglected, and 
 offensive, and the scenes of shocking immoralities. 
 The continuance of the " tap " was a chief cause 
 of these evils, and therefore one which the humane 
 visitor most strongly condemned. A fresh occasion 
 for his doing so arose on finding the keeper of the 
 prison at Windsor had been murdered in his tap- 
 room by his prisoners. Crimes of every description 
 were in Howard's day, as at present, traceable to 
 like haunts of self-indulgence, and therefore he 
 discouraged them by all means : hence Ave find that 
 when he had resumed his labours after a few days' 
 rest at Cardington, and saw some debtors confined 
 for trifling sums, he observes — 
 
 (i I have often wished that in all bills for small debts
 
 HORRIBLE STATE OF NEWGATE. 419 
 
 there was a clause to prohibit arrests for debts contracted 
 in public-houses." 
 
 The prisons of London were now revisited, and 
 the truth of our former comment is shown by the 
 first sentence descriptive of Newgate : — 
 
 " No alteration. In three or four rooms there were near 
 150 women crowded together, many young creatures with 
 the old and hardened, some of whom had been confined 
 upwards of two years : on the men's side likewise there were 
 many boys of twelve or fourteen years of age ; some almost 
 naked. In the men's infirmary there were only seven iron 
 bedsteads ; and at my last visit, there being twenty sick, 
 some of them naked and with sores, in a miserable con- 
 dition, lay on the floor with only a rug. There were four sick 
 in the infirmary for women, which is only fifteen and a half 
 feet by twelve, has but one window, and no bedsteads : 
 sewers offensive : prison not white-washed. Keeper's 
 salary 450£. in lieu of the tap. 1 found some of the debtors 
 had in their apartments casks of beer for sale ; and on 
 the felons' side a person stood with cans of beer. At my 
 last visit I went over the wards of the criminals with Mr. 
 Curtis, the new sheriff, from whose activity and zeal I 
 would hope something may be done for the naked objects 
 left by the late sheriffs. — The allowance of bread should 
 be weighed in gross, and delivered to the prisoner every 
 day. Unless the debtors be removed to give room for the 
 separation of the other prisoners, and a reform be made in 
 the prisons, an audacious spirit of profaneness will continue 
 to prevail in the lower class of the people in London." 
 
 The frightful demoralization and grievous suf- 
 ferina- which Howard witnessed in this loathsome 
 
 o 
 
 and ill-regulated gaol led him to revert to the 
 statistics of Sir Stephen T. Janssen, which had been 
 burnt with all other records of the Old Bailey in the 
 
 E E 2
 
 420 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 riots of 1780. His transcript being the only me- 
 morial of that table, he was induced to insert it in 
 his Second Book. And we have the following 
 humane comment upon it : — 
 
 " A careful perusal of this table will, I doubt not, 
 suggest many useful remarks ; particularly, if the number 
 of executions in former years be compared with the con- 
 stantly increasing number of the present time, it may, more 
 than any thing else, excite a conviction of the necessity of 
 no longer delaying the erection of penitentiary houses, in 
 order to avoid the charges of inhumanity and impolicy in 
 hurrying out of the world so many young creatures, who 
 might have been reclaimed and restored to society by a 
 proper course of discipline." * 
 
 The hospitals of the City especially attracted 
 Howard's humane attention at this time. Pie found 
 many gross offences prevailing, and suggested means 
 of correction and plans for general improvement, 
 most of which have been since adopted. One 
 point is worthy of especial consideration, namely, 
 the better provision for convalescent patients. 
 
 Amidst these charitable pursuits he was diligently 
 preparing his papers for his work on lazarettos, 
 hospitals, and prisons.f To this he refers in a 
 letter to his bailiff, when, after some directions as to 
 private charities, he proceeds : — 
 
 * It will be a relief to the reader to learn that the authorities of our 
 Metropolis are at length erecting a prison on a very large scale, in 
 which, it is hoped, a system of corrective discipline will be pursued. 
 
 f This volume is intituled "An Account of the principal Lazarettos 
 in Europe;" but the greater portion of it is descriptive of prisons, so 
 that I have referred to it as Howard's Second Hook on Frisons, when 
 prisons are the subject of reference.
 
 SUPERINTENDS THE PRESS. ETC. 421 
 
 " Six hundred pounds I have already paid for paper, 
 engravings, &c., yet, should it please God I live some few 
 years longer, I will live in a cottage sooner than not accom- 
 plish my plan. I still exult in free and vigorous spirits, 
 and am not afraid to undertake any task. I go abroad 
 again ; I think it my duty and a call of Providence, and I 
 durst not go back. I will spend some weeks at Cardington 
 when my publication is finished ; my mind will be at ease 
 and rest, and perhaps the only rest on this side the 
 grave, for my time of zeal and activity is fast passing 
 away." 
 
 Having duly arranged his papers, he again pro- 
 ceeded to Warrington to superintend the printing 
 of his work, and, in doing so, to receive the able 
 assistance of his friend Dr. Aikin. His mode of 
 life there was very similar to that pursued when 
 engaged with his former publication. He rose at 
 three o'clock in the morning, took breakfast at six, 
 and was in the printing-office at eight. There the 
 day was spent, except a walk during the dinner- 
 hour. If his attendance increased trouble, ample 
 compensation was made. His presence was some- 
 times a salutary restraint: all was order where 
 he was. It is especially said that no swearer ever 
 received his gratuities. The pressman related that 
 on one occasion, when leaving the office, oaths and 
 curses were heard from a public-house opposite, 
 whereupon Howard, buttoning his pockets, said to 
 the workmen, " I always do this whenever I hear men 
 swear ; as I think that any one who can take God's 
 name in vain, can steal, or do anything that is 
 bad." * 
 
 * Brown, p. 556. 
 k e 3
 
 422 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 And Avhilst Howard was thus active, there was 
 the same fervour of love towards God, and the same 
 philanthropy in constant exercise. Some maxims 
 in his memorandum-book of this date clearly evince 
 this : — 
 
 "Warrington, 30th Jan. 1789. — Misery is always an 
 object of compassion, and the Word of God saith that to 
 the miserable compassion should be shown. 
 
 " Generosity and self-command are the striking aspects of 
 benevolence. 
 
 " Courage and humanity are inseparable friends. 
 
 " God will, I trust, accept my sincere intentions, though 
 1 effect nothing. 
 
 " A traveller should have temperance, prudence, and 
 fortitude, a firmness of mind to bear suffering and meet 
 clangers undaunted ; — these are necessary for the active 
 scenes of life, and maintenance of the rights of others; for 
 the truest pleasures arise from extensive benevolence — 
 dejection and despair are the consequences of pusillanimity. 
 
 " My deliberations are more swayed by what / myself 
 think right, than by what is likely to be thought right by 
 others. 
 
 " A fearless temper and an open heart are seldom strictly 
 allied to prudence. 
 
 " Christ has made poverty and meanness, joined with 
 holiness, to be a state of dignity. 
 
 " It has been said that ' the Torch of Philanthropy has 
 been conveyed by Howard ' — May he not hope in that 
 God whose arm is not shortened, that He will spread it to 
 the eastern nations ? He worketh by the weakest of all 
 instruments. To Him, to Him alone, be all the glory ! God 
 forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of Christ. 
 
 " The enthusiasm of even a mistaken principle warms the 
 mind, and sets it above the fear of death, which in our 
 cooler moments, if we really think of it, is at least very 
 awful : and shall a mistaken principle do more than calm
 
 MOTTO TO HIS WORK ON LAZARETTOS. 423 
 
 reason and reflection? Oh, surely no! — yet there is no 
 rational principle by which a man can die contented, but 
 a trust in the mercy of God through the merits of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 " It has been observed, one has a strange propensity to 
 fix upon some point of time from whence a better course 
 of life may begin : may I not hope, do I not earnestly beg 
 of God, that His grace may be sufficient for me, and his 
 strength perfected in my weakness — that I may from this 
 moment walk with God, adorn my Christian character, be 
 more and more serious, watchful, humble, and, by the 
 sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit, be made a par- 
 taker of the Divine nature, thus formed in me the hope of 
 glory. 
 
 "Employ the time of every Sunday in sacred study and 
 in books in which the spirit of Christianity, piety, and 
 morality prevail." * 
 
 The invaluable work of our Christian Philan- 
 thropist was published in February, 1789. Its 
 nature and object are sufficiently shown by the 
 extracts from it which have enriched these pages. 
 Its motto was one of those which have been adopted 
 on the title-page of this volume; and to it was added 
 the prayer so familiar to him, and so oft repeated, 
 and for which addition Howard himself assigns a 
 pleasing cause: — 
 
 " In attending the service at Lancaster Castle on a Sun- 
 day, I observed some of the debtors much affected at this 
 passage in one of the psalms which was read that day : O, 
 let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before Thee 
 (Psalm lxxix. 12.): which gave me the hint of taking it for 
 a motto to my present publication." f 
 
 * Brown, p. 557, 8. f Second Book on Prisons, p. 201. 
 
 E E 4
 
 424 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 The work now published was distributed with 
 the same liberality as the former. A large pro- 
 portion of copies was given away, and for the rest 
 the price was so low — scarcely the cost of printing 
 alone — that they were immediately bought up by 
 the booksellers. 
 
 A further proof of his genuine charity was 
 afforded in his desire not only to relieve prisoners 
 from cruelty and oppression, but to provide for the 
 widows and children of their keepers, whose distress 
 he had sometimes witnessed, and no doubt as often 
 mitigated. He writes — 
 
 " Should the plan take place during my life of esta- 
 blishing a permanent charity under some such title as that 
 at Philadelphia, viz., a society for alleviating the miseries 
 of public prisons, and annuities be engrafted thereupon for 
 the above-mentioned purpose, I would most readily stand 
 at the bottom of a page as a subscriber of 500/. ; or if such 
 a society should be constituted within three years after my 
 death, this sum shall be paid out of my estate." * 
 
 Some incidental notices of our generous and 
 self-denying countryman, when pursuing his more 
 recent inquiries, have been preserved ; and from 
 them it appears that he continued as abstemious as 
 on former tours. His daily fare consisted of two 
 penny rolls, some butter, cheese, some sweetmeats, 
 a roasted apple, a pint of milk and green tea, of 
 which he partook freely, believing it to be con- 
 ducive to his health and spirits. From his self- 
 prescribed regimen he very seldom deviated, and 
 
 * Brown, p. -562.
 
 ABSTEMIOUSNESS AND SELF-DENIAL. 425 
 
 very rarely accepted invitations either to dine or 
 partake of other repast. One departure from his 
 general rule has been described. During his 
 journey in Ireland, a nobleman desired that he 
 would dine with him : the invitation was declined, 
 but, on being pressed to accept it, Howard stipu- 
 lated that his dinner should consist of potatoes 
 only. This was agreed to. On approaching the 
 table he feared the condition had been violated, for 
 it was replenished with nineteen dishes, but, when 
 the covers were removed, all proved to be potatoes, 
 though each cooked in a different manner. The 
 abstemious guest reproached himself for having 
 caused more thought and trouble in the kitchen 
 than if no condition had been imposed. 
 
 Nothing could induce Howard, when on his 
 visits of inspection, to accept any present which 
 might have the semblance of a bribe, or which 
 might tend to increase his reluctance to expose 
 abuses. On one occasion we are told, having dis- 
 covered some gross offences in a prison under the 
 hereditary jurisdiction of a nobleman, his lordship, 
 really anxious to avoid disgrace, but affecting 
 great admiration of the Philanthropist, presented 
 him with a very valuable jewel. The proffered 
 gift was rejected, but the exposure was prevented 
 by a promise that the evil should be corrected.* 
 
 Another evidence of his charity was afforded 
 whilst in Dublin. He there made arrangements 
 with a principal bookseller of the city for the sale 
 
 * Brown, p. 364.
 
 426 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 of a large number of his first Book on Prisons, and 
 of his pamphlet on the Bastile, the proceeds of 
 which were to be paid over to the treasurer of 
 Mercer's Hospital. But this generous endeavour 
 to do good, both by promoting the welfare of pri- 
 soners and providing for the sick and needy, was 
 unsuccessful ; the vessel on which the package was 
 shipped being wrecked.* 
 
 The joy he felt in relieving the oppressed some- 
 times appears to have compelled him to speak of 
 acts which he generally concealed. His constant 
 attendant notes in his journal at this time that — 
 
 " I have often seen him come to his lodgings in such 
 spirits and joy, when he would say to me, ' I have made a 
 poor woman happy ; I have sent her husband home to her 
 and her children.' He would often tell me, too, of such 
 and such a man being kept in prison for his fees, which he 
 had paid, and sent the poor man to his family and home."f 
 
 Howard's manner amongst the depraved charac- 
 ters whom he continually visited had a remarkable 
 power in restraining their vicious propensities. 
 The influence of a holier spirit, in this respect, is 
 always powerful. We have seen it in the case 
 of one sometimes designated the female Howard. J 
 Our Philanthropist himself, when closing his de- 
 scription of prisons §, thus writes: — 
 
 " Before I quit this subject, I would mention that in all 
 my visits to the gaols and prisons, in this and other king- 
 doms, I never received any insults either from keepers or 
 
 (..nt. Mag., Aug. 1790. f Brown, p. 567. J See p. 349. 
 
 § Second JJuok on Prisons, p. 215.
 
 PROVIDENTIAL INTERFERENCE. 427 
 
 prisoners ; nor have I lost any thing in any of them, ex- 
 cept that in one of our prisons I once lost a large new 
 handkerchief out of my pocket, which I did not miss for 
 some time, but, on a subsequent visit, about ten months 
 after, it was immediately presented to me by a prisoner, 
 as, he said, he believed I had dropped it when I was there 
 last." 
 
 We must not, however, ascribe Howard's pre- 
 servation from personal injury, or from the loss of 
 property, to his own influence so much as to the 
 gracious protection of Him by whom he was called 
 and commissioned to be a messenger of mercy. 
 The same Divine Providence which prevented the 
 assassin from accomplishing his foul purpose, as 
 before described, curbed the vicious inclinations of 
 men throughout Howard's course: hence it was 
 that, although robberies and assassination were so 
 frequent, both in this country and on the Conti- 
 nent, yet we observe the pious traveller was every- 
 where preserved. The only loss which he at any 
 time sustained by theft was a box, on his return 
 from one of his tours, which contained an account 
 of his travels. But even in this circumstance a 
 watchful Providence was discernible. He had 
 transcribed his notes, and packed the duplicate in 
 another trunk, in which also he had placed his plan 
 of the lazaretto of Marseilles, of which he had no 
 copy, and which he considered of such value, that 
 he told Dr. Lettsom if he had lost it he would 
 have again encountered the danger of a visit to 
 France. 
 
 Punctuality and precision formed another feature
 
 428 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 in Howard's character. No time was wasted : if 
 an engagement had been formed, he would con- 
 verse, as the hour approached, with watch in hand ; 
 and would not, if he could avoid it, be a moment 
 too late. Again : he never forgot his mission, and 
 therefore would not suffer lawful indulgences to 
 divert him from it. Dr. Aikin tells us — 
 
 " He mentioned being once prevailed upon, in Italy, to 
 go and hear some extraordinarily fine music; but rinding 
 his thoughts too much occupied by it, he would never 
 repeat the indulgence." * 
 
 Howard's self-denial as respects such gratifica- 
 tions, combined with his decision of character, has 
 been commented upon by a powerful writer in 
 terms which demand a place in this memoir : — 
 
 " The mere men of taste ought to be silent respecting 
 such a man as Howard ; he is above their sphere of judg- 
 ment. The invisible spirits, who fulfil their commission of 
 philanthropy among mortals, do not care about pictures, 
 statues, and sumptuous buildings ; and no more did he, 
 when the time in which he must have inspected and admired 
 them would have been taken from the work to which he 
 had consecrated his life. The curiosity which he might 
 feel was reduced to wait till the hour should arrive when 
 its gratification should be presented by conscience, which 
 kept a scrupulous charge of all his time, as the most 
 sacred duty of that hour. If he was still at every hour, 
 when it came, fated to feel the attractions of the fine arts 
 but the second claim, they might be sure of their revenge ; 
 for no other man will ever visit Rome under such a despotic 
 consciousness of duty as to refuse himself time for sur- 
 veying the magnificence of its ruins. Such a sin cigainst 
 
 * Aikin, p. 212.
 
 ANECDOTE OF HIS HUMILITY. 429 
 
 taste is very far beyond the reach of common saintship to 
 commit. It implied an inconceivable severity of conviction 
 that he had one thing to do; and that he who would do 
 some great thing in this short life must apply himself to 
 the work with such a concentration of his forces as, to idle 
 spectators who live only to amuse themselves, looks like 
 insanity. His attention was so strongly and tenaciously 
 fixed on his object, that, even at the greatest distance, as 
 the Egyptian pyramids to travellers, it appeared to him 
 with a luminous distinctness, as if it had been nigh, and 
 beguiled the toilsome length of labour and enterprise by 
 which he was to reach it. It was so conspicuous before 
 him, that not a step deviated from the direction, and every 
 movement and every day was an approximation. As his 
 method referred every thing he did and thought to the end, 
 and as his exertion did not relax for a moment, he made 
 the trial, so seldom made, what is the utmost effect which 
 may be granted to the last possible efforts of a human 
 agent ; and therefore what he did not accomplish, he 
 might conclude to be placed beyond the sphere of mortal 
 activity, and calmly leave to the immediate disposal of 
 Omnipotence." * 
 
 And whilst thus devoted to his humane en- 
 deavours, he was most humble. Some remarks 
 were one day made in his presence on the general 
 depravity of prisoners, — as Howard thought, with 
 too much complacency. It was immediately met 
 with the meek confession — "I consider that, but 
 for Divine grace, I might have been as abandoned 
 as they are." Deep sympathy accompanied his 
 self-abasement. " You have witnessed many scenes 
 of misery," one said to him : and there was genuine 
 tenderness in the reply — " Yes, more than I could 
 
 * Foster's Essays.
 
 430 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 relieve ; I could, therefore, only drop a tear over 
 them." 
 
 The name of Howard had now become insepa- 
 rably connected with the improvement of prisons 
 and the reformation of their inmates. It was about 
 this time that Lord Thurlow, in a debate upon a 
 Bill for the relief of Insolvent Debtors, observed — 
 
 " He had lately had the honour of a conversation upon 
 the subject with a gentleman who was, of all others, the 
 best qualified to treat of it : he meant Mr. Howard, whose 
 humanity, great as it was, was at least equalled by his 
 wisdom, for a more judicious or a more sensible reasoner 
 upon the topic he never had conversed with. His own 
 ideas had been turned to solitary imprisonment and a 
 strict regimen, as a punishment for debt ; and that notion 
 had exactly corresponded with Mr. Howard's, who had 
 agreed with him, that the great object ought to be, when 
 it became necessary to seclude a man from society, and 
 imprison him for debt, to take care that he came out of 
 prison no worse a man, in point of health and morals, than 
 he went in." His lordship afterwards recited a story which 
 Howard had told him, in proof of the corruption and 
 licentiousness of our prisons. " A Quaker, he said, called 
 upon him to go with him and witness a scene which, if he 
 were to go singly, would, he feared, be too much for his 
 lit lings : it was to visit a friend in distress — a person who 
 had lately gone into the King's Bench prison. When they 
 arrived, they found the man half drunk, playing at fives. 
 Though greatly shocked at the circumstance, they asked 
 him to go with them to the coffee-room, and take a glass 
 of wine. He refused, saying he had drank so much punch 
 that he could not drink wine : however, he would call in 
 upon them before they went away. Howard and his friend 
 returned, with feelings very different from those with which 
 they entered the place, but not less painful."
 
 LORD MONBODDO. 431 
 
 An interesting anecdote of Howard's fame is thus 
 related by Dr. Aikin : — 
 
 " A very respectable-looking elderly gentleman, on 
 horseback, with a servant, stopped at the inn nearest Mr. 
 Howard's house at Cardington, and entered into conver- 
 sation with the landlord concerning him. He observed, 
 that characters often appeared very well at a distance, 
 which could not bear close inspection ; he had therefore 
 come to Mr. Howard's residence, in order to satisfy him- 
 self concerning him. The gentleman then, accompanied 
 by the innkeeper, went to the house and looked through 
 it, with the offices and gardens, which he found in perfect 
 order. He next inquired into Mr. Howard's character as 
 a landlord, which was justly represented ; and several neat 
 houses which he had built for his tenants were shown him. 
 The gentleman returned to his inn, declaring himself now 
 satisfied with the truth of all he had heard about Howard. 
 This respectable stranger was no other than Lord Mon- 
 boddo ; and Mr. Howard was much flattered with his visit, 
 and praised his lordship's good sense in taking such a 
 method of coming at the truth, since he thought it worth 
 his trouble."* 
 
 The continued derangement of Howard's unhappy 
 son, and his confinement at Cardington, had pre- 
 vented the father's residence in his favourite abode. 
 The malady was now so confirmed and malignant 
 that the poor sufferer's removal became necessary, 
 and he was placed in a lunatic asylum, under the 
 care of Dr. Arnold, at Leicester. Howard then 
 returned to his home and resumed the duties of the 
 landlord. The first of these he deemed to be the 
 payment of any arrears in charity; and next, to 
 
 * Aikin, p. 150.
 
 432 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 renew his acts of kindness amongst his tenants and 
 dependants. We have a pleasing illustration of the 
 considerate manner in which this was done: — 
 
 " Amongst the cottages of his tenants, he entered that 
 of the newly-married wheelwright, whom he thus ad- 
 dressed : — 'If I had been at home at your marriage, I 
 should have made you a wedding present ; and you shall 
 not lose it now, though it shall be a gift to your wife and 
 not to yourself. Come to my house to-morrow morning, 
 and you shall know what it will be.' On returning home, 
 he asked his bailiff which was the best cow in his farm- 
 yard; and, on its being pointed out to him, directed it to 
 be driven, on the next morning, to the wheelwright's 
 house. ' But no,' he immediately added, ' the poor fellow 
 has nothing to keep her on this winter : we will keep her 
 for him till she has calved.' This was accordingly done." * 
 
 We are at no loss to discover the secret source of 
 all this considerate kindness, but, as we listen with 
 gladness to the expressions of affection from those 
 whose acts prove their sincerity, so the Christian 
 reader will peruse with pleasure those pious ejacula- 
 tions proceeding from Howard at this time, and 
 further testifying that it was faith which was thus 
 " working by love." 
 
 " God considers what weak creatures we are, therefore 
 gives us every motive to do good. 
 
 " Jacob speaks of the angel who had been his guide in 
 all his journeys, and had delivered him out of all his dan- 
 gers ; — and Jacob's God, I trust, is my God, and my 
 guide, and my portion for ever. 
 
 " An approving conscience adds pleasure to every act of 
 piety, benevolence, and self-denial. It inspires serenity 
 
 * Monthly Mag., quoted by Brown, p. 577.
 
 SERIOUS REFLECTIONS. 433 
 
 and brightens every gloomy hour ; disarming adversity, 
 disease, and death. Is it my ambition to put on the Lord 
 Jesus ! — 'to have the same mind in me which was also in 
 Him' ? 
 
 " The peculiar doctrines of Christianity, — the degrada- 
 tion of human nature, our inability to restore ourselves, our 
 need of a Mediator and of Divine aid, — are doctrines which 
 strike at the root of vainglory- — we are justified by faith, 
 by the grace of God, through the redemption that is in 
 Jesus Christ. Where then is boasting ? It is excluded. 
 Rom. iii. 27. Aim at what is praiseworthy, and then at 
 the approbation of God, who alone is an impartial, in- 
 fallible Judge. Let it be my earnest inquiry how I shall 
 best serve God in the station which He has assigned me. 
 
 " Our superfluities should be given up for the conveni- 
 ence of others ; — 
 
 " Our conveniences should give place to the necessities 
 of others ; — 
 
 " And even our necessities give way to the extremities 
 of the poor. 
 
 " O God ! may the angel which conducted the Israelites 
 through the desert, accompany and bless me ! 
 
 " In all my dangers and difficulties may I have full con- 
 fidence in that unseen Power, to believe in hope, as the 
 Lord orders all things : therefore I leave every thing to 
 Him, trusting He will always give His angels charge con- 
 cerning me, and then I am equally safe in every place ; 
 therefore I will fear no evil, for Thou art my God." 
 
 In another memorandum-book the following are 
 inserted: — 
 
 " O God ! succour me in time of trial, and help me to 
 maintain my integrity. My eyes are up to Thee, O God ! 
 to help me to encounter the danger : leave me not to my 
 own strength, but may I rely on Him in whom is ever- 
 lasting strength. I come to the throne of God for mercy 
 
 F F
 
 4M LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 and help in time of need, and that I may finish my course 
 in peace. Diffident of myself, I look up to God. 
 
 " Where there is most holiness there is most humility. 
 Never does our understanding shine more than when it is 
 employed in religion. In certain circumstances retirement 
 is criminal : with a holy fire I would proceed. What is 
 our profession of religion if it does not affect our heart ? 
 Shall I desert His cause ? O God ! may I through divine 
 grace persevere to the end ! My end, too, is approaching. 
 My desire is to he washed, cleansed, and justified in the 
 hlood of Christ, and to dedicate myself to that Saviour 
 who has bought us with a price." 
 
 Howard's prayers always attended his exertions. 
 Short petitions abounded amidst his notes, of which 
 this was one : — 
 
 " Do Thou, O Lord ! visit the prisoners and captives. 
 Manifest Thy strength in my weakness ; help, Almighty 
 God ! for in Thee I put my trust, for Thou art my rock." 
 
 We cannot conclude a chapter which describes 
 the holiness of Howard — his purity of motive, 
 his humility, self-denial, and prompt obedience, 
 .ever proceeding from the vigour of his faith and 
 the ardour of his affection — in language more 
 suitable than the lines of Cowper : — 
 
 ..." I fear the shame 
 (Charity chosen as my theme and aim) 
 I must incur, forgetting Howard's name. 
 Blest with all wealth can give thee, to resign 
 Joys doubly sweet to feelings quick as thine; 
 To quit the bliss that rural scenes bestow, 
 To seek a nobler amidst scenes of woe ; 
 To traverse seas, range kingdoms, and bring home, 
 Not the proud monuments of Greece or Rome,
 
 COWPER QUOTED. 435 
 
 But knowledge, such as only dungeons teach, 
 And only sympathy like thine could reach ; 
 That Grief, sequester'd from the public stage, 
 Might smooth her features and enjoy her cage; — 
 Speaks a divine ambition, and a zeal 
 The boldest patriots might be proud to feel. 
 Oh, that the voice of clamour and debate, 
 That pleads for peace till it disturbs the state, 
 Were hush'd in favour of thy generous plea — 
 The poor thy clients, and Heaven's smile thy fee!" 
 
 r f 2
 
 436 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 HOWARD DETERMINES TO REVISIT RUSSIA AND TURKEY. — HIS 
 MOTIVES DECLARED. DISSUADED BY FRIENDS. PRESENTI- 
 MENT OF DEATH. — TAKES LEAVE OF FRIENDS. HIS WILL. 
 
 APPOINTS GUARDIAN OF HIS SON. DESTROYS VARIOUS 
 
 RECORDS OF HIMSELF. — EMBARKS FOR HOLLAND. — REVISITS 
 
 AMSTERDAM. REMARKS ON THE PLAGUE. VISIT TO DR. 
 
 BROWN. RE-INSPECTS PRISONS AT OSNABURGH AND HANOVER. 
 
 TORTURE DUNGEON AT BRUNSWICK. INFAMOUS PUNISH- 
 MENT AT BERLIN. PRISONS OF SPANDAU AND KONIGSBERG. — 
 
 ENTERS RUSSIA. KNOUT-MASTER IN PRISON. PIOUS RE- 
 FLECTIONS. — PROCEEDS TO ST. PETERSBURGH, AND THENCE 
 TO MOSCOW. LETTER TO DR. PRICE. 
 
 The lines which form the conclusion of our last 
 chapter, instead of describing some exploits of poetic 
 fiction, do but relate simple facts in Howard's life. 
 The realities of his charitable career eclipse the 
 visions of romance, and his humane adventures far 
 outshine the feigned achievements of any imagined 
 virtue. If the memorials already written afford 
 occasion for these remarks, those which follow will 
 confirm their truth. 
 
 Leaving to others the more easy and less perilous 
 investigation into the causes of human woe, Howard 
 determined again to trace its source where the less 
 ardent would not venture, and to penetrate those 
 inhospitable regions which men in general looked 
 upon as beyond the pale of philanthropy. Russia 
 and Turkey — countries in which the claims of 
 humanity were most violated — he would therefore
 
 DETERMINES TO REVISIT RUSSIA. 437 
 
 revisit. Thither, at the sacrifice of all comfort, and 
 undaunted by any fear of disease or death, he re- 
 solved to direct his course. But what would be the 
 opinion of his countrymen upon a project so eccen- 
 tric and extravagant ? Howard's independence of 
 spirit has not escaped our notice : he never courted 
 the favour of men, and cared as little for their 
 frowns ; yet, on this occasion, should his good be 
 evil spoken of, it might endanger success, and 
 therefore he will avert the imputations of the 
 malignant, and prevent the misconceptions of other 
 men, by avowing his motives, and so guarding 
 against all malice and mistake. This is carefully 
 done in the following terms : — 
 
 " To my country I commit the result of my past labours. 
 It is my intention again to quit it for the purpose of revi- 
 siting Russia, Turkey, and some other countries, and ex- 
 tending my tour in the East. I am not insensible of the 
 dangers that must attend such a journey. Trusting, how- 
 ever, in the protection of that kind Providence which has 
 hitherto preserved me, I calmly and cheerfully commit my- 
 self to the disposal of unerring wisdom. Should it please 
 God to cut off my life in the prosecution of this design, 
 let not my conduct be uncandidly imputed to rashness or 
 enthusiasm, but to a serious, deliberate conviction that I 
 am pursuing the path of duty ; and to a sincere desire of 
 being made an instrument of more extensive usefulness to 
 my fellow-creatures than could be expected in the narrower 
 circle of a retired life." * 
 
 This avowal on the part of Howard called forth 
 expostulation from some of his most attached friends, 
 
 * Second Book on Prisons, p. 235. 
 r f 3
 
 438 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 and we are told " they cautioned him against 
 suffering himself, through an earnest desire of doing 
 good, to be precipitated beyond the clear line of 
 duty." But the person to whom he was accus- 
 tomed to express his desires and feelings with least 
 reserve, and who was on that account best qualified 
 to advise, — Howard's pastor and friend, — instead 
 of dissuading him from his purpose as either pre- 
 sumptuous or in any respect improper, recom- 
 mended him to pursue it as both pious and ex- 
 pedient. He would neither restrain the fervour of 
 that charity which should ere long receive a reward 
 in proportion to its exercise ; nor would he detain 
 him amidst scenes which renewed distress, whilst 
 they reminded him of the deplorable condition of 
 his beloved son. A sound judgment was discern- 
 ible in both motives. As a Christian, he appre- 
 ciated the future recompence ; and as a wise phy- 
 sician, who, acquainted with the peculiarities of his 
 patient, prescribes accordingly, he approved of the 
 enterprise to which Howard's mind was disposed, 
 well knowing that one so benevolent would derive 
 the most sure relief of his own sorrow from the 
 alleviation of the woes of others. 
 
 The especial purpose of the tour which he now 
 commenced appears to have been a further effort 
 to prevent the contagion of the plague, or to pro- 
 vide a remedy for that dreadful disease, which, not- 
 withstanding its prevalence and destructive nature, 
 was very little understood. This, however, was 
 not the only object which Howard proposed. His
 
 OBJECTS OF INTENDED TOUR. 439 
 
 desire and determined endeavour to do good was of 
 a somewhat less definite kind than on previous 
 occasions. And Dr. Aikin observes — 
 
 " If it be asked, what was his more peculiar object in 
 this new journey ? no decisive answer, 1 believe, can be 
 given by those who enjoyed the most of his confidence. I 
 had various conversations with him on the subject ; and I 
 found rather a wish to have objects of inquiry pointed out 
 to him by others, than any specific views present to his 
 own mind. As, indeed, his purpose was to explore regions 
 entirely new to him, and of which the police respecting his 
 former objects was very imperfectly known to Europe (for 
 the Turkish dominions in Asia, Egypt, and the Barbary 
 coast, were in his plan of travels), he could not doubt that 
 important subjects for observation would offer themselves 
 unsought. With respect to that part of his tour in which 
 he was to go over ground he had already trodden, I con- 
 ceive that he expected to do good in that censorial charac- 
 ter which his repeated publications, known and attended 
 to all over Europe, gave him a right to assume, and which 
 he had before exercised to the great relief of the miserable 
 in various countries. If to these motives be added the 
 long-formed habitude of pursuing a certain track of inquiry, 
 and an inquietude of mind proceeding from domestic mis- 
 fortune, no cause will be left to wonder at so speedy a 
 renewal of his toils and dangers." * 
 
 The expressions which have been quoted from 
 Howard's own work were not the only indications 
 he gave of being quite conscious of the dangers he 
 was about to incur. His mind seems to have been 
 firmly impressed with the conviction that he was 
 taking leave of friends for the last time, and his 
 language to them was becoming a Christian thus 
 
 * Aikin, p. 184. 
 
 F F 4
 
 440 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 persuaded. To one of those friends he observed, in 
 allusion to a saying of Philip Henry, — 
 
 " I hope if we meet again on earth we shall be nearer 
 heaven ; but if we never see each other more below, I trust 
 we shall meet in heaven." To another he said — "You 
 will probably never see me again ; but, be that as it may, 
 it is a matter of no concern to me, whether I lay down my 
 life in Turkey, in Egypt, in Asia Minor, or elsewhere : my 
 whole endeavour is to fulfil, according to the ability of so 
 weak an instrument as I am, the will of that gracious Pro- 
 vidence who has condescended to raise in me a firm per- 
 suasion that I am employed in what is consonant to His 
 divine approbation."* 
 
 Again, in the "additions to the Obituary" of 
 the Gentleman's Magazine for Nov. 1790 we have 
 the following notice : — 
 
 " Some time before Mr. Howard's last departure from 
 England, in a conversation with his friend Mr. Blackburn, 
 he expressed a conviction that his death was at no great 
 distance, on the ground that his mode of diet, &c. exactly 
 corresponded with that of the Chinese, few of whom sur- 
 vive their G3rd year." On parting with another friend, 
 the Rev. Mr. Palmer, with the cheerfulness of the sure and 
 certain hope which is the privilege of the Christian, fore- 
 seeing by what death he might pass to eternal life, he said, 
 " We shall soon meet in heaven; and the way to heaven 
 from Grand Cairo is as near as from London." 
 
 The day too before his departure, when affec- 
 tionately taking leave of a lady, he remarked — 
 
 " I am going a very arduous journey ; probably, my 
 friend, we shall never meet any more in this world : but it 
 is the path of duty ; and, with respect to myself, J am 
 quite resigned to the will of God."f 
 
 * Brown, p. 588. f lb. 589.
 
 TAKES LEAVE OF HIS FRIENDS. 44 L 
 
 Thus did Howard realise what the venerable poet 
 of our own day has so forcibly expressed : — 
 " One adequate support 
 For the calamities of mortal life 
 Exists, — one only; an assured belief 
 That the procession of our fate, howe'er 
 Sad or disturb'd, is order' d by a Being 
 Of infinite benevolence and power ; 
 Whose everlasting purposes embrace 
 All accidents, converting them to good." * 
 
 Reflection on the wisdom and goodness of God 
 inspired the mind of Howard with sacred con- 
 fidence, and cheered him while expatiating on the 
 happy prospect which faith presented to him. 
 Earthly attachments seemed to lose their force as 
 the heavenly world exercised a more powerful, be- 
 cause a nearer, attraction. His expressions resemble 
 the language of Asaph when pious reflection, pre- 
 sent peace, and a blissful foresight prompted the 
 song of praise, — " Thou hast holclen me by my 
 right hand ; thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, 
 and afterwards receive me to glory. Whom have 
 I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth 
 that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart 
 faileth ; but God is the strength of my heart and 
 my portion for ever." f And now, with a spirit of 
 holy resignation, joyful hope, and unfailing charity, 
 before his departure Howard makes every arrange- 
 ment for the disposal of his property. The following 
 
 * Whilst this sheet has been in the hands of the compositor, 
 Wordsworth has ceased to experience " the calamities of mortal life," 
 and we trust now realises, in the highest sense, the truth he taught. 
 
 t Fs. lxxiii. 23.
 
 442 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 extract from his will is transcribed from the periodi- 
 cal * to which frequent reference has been made : — 
 
 " The will was proved July 12th. The executors were 
 Edward Leeds, Esq. of Croxton, in Cambridgeshire ; and 
 Joseph Leeds, Esq. of Croydon, in Surrey. In case of the 
 death of either of them, William Tatnall, Esq. of Iron- 
 monger Lane, is to succeed to the trust. To these three 
 gentlemen Mr. Howard has left 201. each. And as there 
 are a few singularities in the will of this extraordinary man, 
 an extract is here given, which contains certain legacies 
 to various persons, and for various uses : — 'I direct my 
 executors to pay to twenty poor widows of the parish of 
 Cardington, such as they shall think proper objects, two 
 guineas each ; and I also will and direct, that my said 
 executors do pay, apply, or distribute to, or for the benefit 
 of, such poor prisoners as they shall think proper objects, 
 the sum of one hundred pounds ; one moiety thereof to be 
 given to, or applied for the benefit of, prisoners confined 
 for debt ; the other moiety to or for persons confined in 
 houses of correction, for providing linen and other neces- 
 saries. I also give unto ten poor cottagers at Cardington 
 aforesaid, who shall be masters of families, and who shall 
 not have been in an alehouse during twelve months next 
 preceding my death, five pounds each ; and I also will and 
 direct, that my said executors do, in like manner, pay 
 unto, or for the benefit of, any ten poor families belonging 
 to the same parish, not receiving parish alms, and who 
 shall have been most constant at any place of public wor- 
 ship for one year next before my death, five pounds for 
 each family. I give and bequeath to the parish of Croxton, 
 in the county of Cambridge, where I married my last in- 
 valuable wife, fifty pounds, to be distributed to them, by 
 and at the discretion of my said executors. I give to my 
 servant John Prole fifty pounds ; to my servant Thomas 
 Thomasson twenty pounds; and I also give to the said 
 Thomasson one annuity of ten pounds. I give to my ser- 
 
 * Gent. Mag., Aug. 1790.
 
 HIS WILL. 443 
 
 vant Joshua Crockford twenty pounds ; and to my under 
 gardener ten pounds. I give to the three daughters of the 
 late Mrs. Homer one hundred pounds. I give to Thomas 
 Walker, son of Mrs. Walker, my son's nurse, ten pounds. 
 I give to my tenant, John Nottingham, of Cardington, 
 twenty pounds ; and to the widow Thompson, and widow 
 Beccles, of the same place, ten guineas each ; and I give to 
 each of my cottage tenants at Cardington five pounds. I 
 give to the Rev. Mr. Townsend of Stoke Newington, the 
 Rev. Mr. Smith of Bedford, and the Rev. Dr. Stennet of 
 Muswell Hill, twenty pounds each. I also will and direct, 
 that my executors do give or distribute unto ten poor 
 members of each of the several congregations of the afore- 
 said, and also of the Rev. Mr. Simmons of Bedford, and 
 likewise of the meeting at Cotton End in Cardington, two 
 guineas each. I give to Mrs. Anne Blackmore ten pounds ; 
 and to Miss Mary Tatnall twenty pounds, and anything she 
 may choose to accept as a memorial of my esteem. I give 
 to Samuel Whitbread, Esq., any three or four pictures or 
 prints he may choose to accept, as a memorial of our long 
 friendship. I give to the Rev. Dr. Price of Hackney, 
 Mr. Densham and Mr. Cole of Kingsland, and to Dr. 
 Aickin of Yarmouth, twenty guineas each. I direct that 
 my body be privately buried wherever I may happen to 
 die, so that the expense do not exceed ten or fifteen 
 guineas. And all the rest and residue of my personal es- 
 tate, which may remain after payment of my debts, lega- 
 cies, funeral expenses, and the charges of proving and ex- 
 ecuting this my will, I give and bequeath unto my said 
 son, John Howard, for his own use and benefit. 
 
 " ' My immortal spirit I cast on the sovereign mercy of 
 God, through Jesus Christ, who is the Lord, my strength 
 and my song, and I trust is become my salvation ; and I 
 desire that a plain slip of marble may be placed under that 
 of my late wife, containing an inscription of my name, and 
 the year that I died ; with this motto — 
 
 ' SPES MEA CHRISTUS.' "
 
 444 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 In the codicil to the will is as follows : — 
 " I give and bequeath unto Fanny Xesbitt, whom I have 
 apprenticed, fifty pounds ; to Mrs. Hayward, of Luton, in 
 the county of Bedford, twenty pounds. And whereas it is 
 intended to form a society for the purpose of alleviating 
 the miseries of the public prisons, and for raising a fund 
 for providing and securing annuities for that purpose, on 
 the plan suggested in the latter end of my last publication ; 
 now it is my will and desire, and I do hereby direct, that 
 if any such society shall have been formed at the time of 
 my death, or shall be formed within three years next after 
 my death, then that the sum of five hundred pounds shall be 
 paid by my executors to the treasurers or trustees, for 
 the time being, of the said intended society, or such other 
 person or persons as shall be authorised to receive sub- 
 scriptions for and on behalf of the society, to be applied 
 in augmentation of the fund to be established by the said 
 society for the purposes aforesaid." 
 
 The sad condition of his son rendered it needful 
 that Howard should appoint a guardian, and for 
 this office no person could be more fit than his 
 friend Mr. AVhitbread, to whom therefore it was 
 entrusted, — and, we need scarcely add, by whom it 
 was faithfully discharged, until the death of the un- 
 happy young man, in his thirty-fifth year, freed him 
 from a responsibility in so many respects painful. 
 The concern which Howard had ever felt for the 
 welfare of his dependants and their offspring was by 
 no means less now that he was about to leave them ; 
 his schools and other charitable institutions were 
 therefore commended to the same benevolent and 
 trustworthy friend, under whose care, and that of 
 his family, they continued to flourish in a manner 
 which showed the wisdom of their founder in his
 
 
 DESTROYS RECORDS OF HIMSELF. 445 
 
 choice, and reflected honour upon the patron to 
 whom they were confided. 
 
 We have observed throughout this Memoir how 
 entirely averse the subject of it was from all 
 praise and ostentation ; that aversion grew stronger 
 as his charity increased and his virtues ripened. 
 Humility is essential to holiness ; and as he ad- 
 vanced towards perfection that grace became more 
 conspicuous. Assured of immortal glory through 
 the merits of his Redeemer, he will ascribe to Him 
 all the honour, and forbid the encomiums of men 
 upon himself. Accordingly, in his last conversation 
 with his beloved friend and pastor, he exacted a 
 promise that, when his funeral sermon should be 
 preached, the particulars of his life should not be 
 spoken of. He desired that no account of himself 
 should be preserved except that which he had 
 described in his own volumes, where he never speaks 
 of himself but with an evident view to the welfare 
 of others. So anxious was he to prevent the praise 
 of men, that before his depart ure he burned all 
 the letters and records at Cardington which might 
 tend to excite it : fortunately, however, some docu- 
 ments of this kind were not in his possession at 
 the time, and, as Brown observes, " they have been 
 preserved for the illustration of a character which, 
 however much opposed to his wishes, the general 
 interest of society requires us to hold up to the ad- 
 miration and imitation of others." 
 
 Preparation was now made for what the devoted 
 Philanthropist believed to be his last farewell —
 
 446 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 which, with Howard, was really the parting prayer, 
 not the mere formal expression. His debts were 
 discharged; his property disposed of; his servants 
 duly provided for, especially the faithful bailiff, who, 
 because of his fidelity, had been settled in an ad- 
 joining farm, and whose wife, with other tokens of 
 his master's favour, was entrusted with the miniature 
 of her mistress. The gardener also received an 
 ample recompence for a service of many years, and 
 with it some commissions ; amongst them — as on 
 the last night they paced the favourite pathway, now 
 overspread with trees, which one so much revered had 
 planted — he was especially enjoined to preserve 
 those and other memorials. The grounds were to 
 be kept arranged as he was leaving them, for, said 
 he " all is now exactly in the order I desire ; and if 
 I return to my native land, here I intend to end 
 my days." 
 
 It was with some reluctance that Howard con- 
 sented to the urgent entreaties of Thomasson, that 
 he might be allowed to accompany him on another 
 and the last perilous adventure. That servant had 
 been sent forward to make preparations, and at the 
 end of June his master followed him to London, 
 where he bade a hasty farewell to his friends. His 
 last interview with Dr. Price is thus described : — 
 
 " Before he set out, he and his very intimate and highly 
 respected friend Dr. Price took a most affectionate and 
 pathetic leave of each other. From the age and infirmities 
 of the one, and the hazards the other was going to en- 
 counter, it was the foreboding of each of them that they
 
 EMBARKS FOR HOLLAND. 447 
 
 should never meet again in this world : and their farewell 
 corresponded with the solemnity of such an occasion. The 
 reader's mind will pause upon the parting embrace of two 
 such men ; and revere the mixture of cordial affection, 
 tender regret, philosophic firmness, and Christian resigna- 
 tion, which their minds must have displayed." * 
 
 Early in July, 1789, Howard embarked : a me- 
 morandum of his own tells us, — 
 
 " In confidence on God, who has been my help, I cheer- 
 fully set out on my journey, and came to Amsterdam the 7th 
 of July, where I first visited the hospitals for the sick." 
 
 The prisons and other institutions of Amsterdam 
 were revisited, and thence he proceeded to Utrecht, 
 where he again visited his friend Dr. Brown, who 
 described to Howard's biographer of the same name 
 the following relaxation of a general rule on the 
 part of his guest : — 
 
 " There resided at this time in Utrecht a very worthy 
 and humane gentleman of the name of Loten, who had 
 been for many years the Dutch governor of Ceylon. I had 
 the honour of his particular acquaintance ; and he expressed 
 to me the strong desire he felt to be introduced to Mr. 
 Howard, though, as he was confined to the house by 
 asthma, he could not go out to wait on him. I mentioned 
 this circumstance to Mr. Howard, and described to him 
 Mr. Loten's character in that amiable point of view in 
 which it so fully deserved to be placed. The Philanthropist 
 immediately requested me to introduce him to my friend; 
 and added, ' For such a man as you have described this 
 gentleman to me, I will depart from my rule ; and if he 
 does me the honour of asking me to dinner, I will cer- 
 tainly accept the invitation.' This reply I reported to Mr. 
 
 * Aikin, p. 186.
 
 448 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 Loten, and he sent an immediate invitation to Mr. Howard, 
 who dined with him accordingly, though without violating 
 his constant regimen in abstaining from animal food and 
 
 • J) tie. 
 
 wine. * 
 
 An entry in his Diary of this date tells us some- 
 what more of his opinions concerning that disease 
 which was the special object of his investigation : — 
 
 " It is very probable that the plague flies about from 
 one country to another, as accident or negligence gives it 
 opportunity, so that disease rises spontaneously, that is, 
 without our being able to trace its imported infection, 
 though it must have originally taken its rise in some par- 
 ticular place, as perhaps in Egypt or the coast of Barbary. 
 Important is the inquiry whether it is ever found thus to 
 arise spontaneously. But as to the nature or cause of this 
 malady I do not entertain much hope of seeing that in- 
 vestigated and ascertained with precision, any more than 
 the essence or cause of the small-pox, or measles, &c. I 
 would look to the moral source from whence all evil and 
 suffering have been derived, and would at least endeavour 
 to diminish their bitterness. And oh ! how should I bless 
 God if such a worm is made the instrument of alleviating- 
 the miseries of my fellow-creatures, and of connecting more 
 strongly the social bond by mutual exertions for mutual 
 relief ! If one person has received good — spiritual good 
 — by my labours, it is an honour for which I cannot be 
 too thankful. Let us bless the Lord for all things." 
 
 The following interesting note was made of the 
 last communication between these mutually en- 
 deared friends : — 
 
 " I was deeply impressed," says Dr. Brown, "by the sense 
 of the danger to which my friend would unavoidably be 
 exposed in this expedition, and the risk which the civilised 
 
 * Brown, p. 598.
 
 PKISON AT OSNABURGH. 449 
 
 world would run of losing so valuable a life. I could not, 
 therefore, avoid expressing to Mr. Howard my anxiety on 
 this subject. He replied, with his usual decision, that he 
 was resolved to undertake the journey, and convinced of 
 its probable utility to mankind, and he placed his con- 
 fidence in that Providence which had hitherto so wonder- 
 fully protected him. He added, that if his life was spared 
 he should be enabled to enlarge the sphere of his useful- 
 ness; and if he was appointed to terminate, in this journey, 
 his terrestrial career, he rejoiced to reflect that his life had 
 not been wholly passed in vain, and that others might 
 perhaps be prompted by his example to complete what he 
 had left unfinished. When I bade him farewell, taking me 
 by the hand, he said, ' Well, my dear friend ! if we do not 
 meet again in this world, I hope we shall meet in heaven.' 
 These were the last expressions which I heard from the 
 lips of the incomparable Howard." * 
 
 The Philanthropist entered Germany by way of 
 Osnaburgh, when he was grieved to discover that so 
 far from the torture, to which reference has been 
 made, having been abolished, some refinement of a 
 shocking cruelty had rendered it even more excru- 
 ciating. Here were many objects of sympathy ; the 
 case of two is particularized : — 
 
 " In one of the noxious cells below ground was a poor 
 object, ironed hands and feet, and chained to the walls of 
 his dungeon. His wife was in an offensive and dark cham- 
 ber on the upper floor, weeping and bitterly lamenting her 
 unhappy condition." 
 
 Their forlorn state of course excited Howard's 
 efforts, and these were to some extent availing. He 
 further represented that the prison was offensive 
 
 * Brown, p. 600. 
 G G
 
 450 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 and filthy, and secured an order that on the 
 Saturday of every week the time of the inmates 
 should be devoted to its being cleansed. 
 
 From Osnaburgh he proceeded to Hanover, where 
 he records an instance of injustice similar to many 
 in England against which he had protested. He 
 found in a prison seven pale emaciated beings, 
 awaiting their trial, one of whom by strokes of 
 chalk had marked the several weeks of his cruel 
 incarceration, and they amounted to forty-two. 
 Here also the torture was permitted, and the thought 
 of these fearful evils induced the humane visitor 
 to write — 
 
 " Have I not reason, with a sigh, to say, ' I labour in 
 vain, and spend my strength for nought'? But I have 
 resolved., by the help of God, to give myself wholly to this 
 work." 
 
 Having visited the charitable institutions of 
 Hanover, he proceeded to Brunswick. On his arrival, 
 availing himself of the right to inspect the prison, 
 to which all were entitled who contributed a florin 
 towards the relief of its inmates, he found it in a dirty 
 condition ; the apparatus for the torture was still 
 retained, although he was glad to learn that it had 
 not been used for eighteen years, and that the room 
 in which it was inflicted had not during that term 
 been opened. By order of one of the authorities it 
 was unbarred for Howard, and he entered into a 
 small, black, dismal cellar, which closely resembled 
 others he has described. The time for " putting
 
 TORTURE-DUNGEON AT BRUNSWICK. 451 
 
 the question " — as the cruel infliction was called 
 — was the midnight hour : the walls were three 
 feet in thickness ; four doors closed upon this 
 dreadful dungeon ; so that, with its dirt floor and its 
 depth under ground, the most piercing shrieks of 
 pitiable victims were drowned within its narrow 
 space. Some of the horrid instruments were here 
 preserved ; others the executioner kept in his own 
 possession. Heart-rending to Howard was the sight 
 of any, yet he would see them all, and hear the 
 worst concerning them, and therefore he went to 
 the house of the executioner. He has himself de- 
 scribed the interview : — 
 
 " He seemed with pleasure to show the mode of appli- 
 cation on the first, second, and last question, and very 
 readily answered any inquiries, having been several years 
 in that occupation at Hanover ; though here (he said) he 
 had only beheaded four or five. On asking if nothing was 
 put into the tortured person's mouth, as I had in some 
 places seen, he replied, 'No; the Osnaburgh executioner 
 thinks they suffer less:' and on his describing some of the 
 modes of torture (which the art of devils and men had 
 invented), he said, ' Sir, the Osnaburgh torture is still 
 ruder.' " 
 
 The humane traveller now proceeded to Berlin, 
 and forthwith visited the prisons of that city, which 
 he commends as clean and well conducted. He 
 describes a degrading punishment, which was most 
 deserving of censure. Whilst men were here, as 
 elsewhere, exposed to ridicule in the tub-like Spanish 
 vest, women were debased by a like infliction ; they 
 
 G G 2
 
 452 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 were compelled to wear in public an uns'.ghtly 
 machine called the fiddle, which was fastened round 
 the neck and enclosed the arms. The prison at 
 Spandau was next visited, where other objectionable 
 practices prevailed ; but the keeper, who was an 
 Englishman, gladly listened to Howard's recom- 
 mendations. At Konigsberg, the prison was in 
 such a filthy condition that he supposed some of its 
 wretched occupants were only " sent there to perish 
 from nastiness and neglect." The sick were without 
 covering and uncared for, and their compassionate 
 visitor begged that the irons might be taken off 
 some who were dying. The magistrates who ac- 
 companied him, he tells us, were covered with 
 vermin, and this afforded a favourable opportunity 
 for repeating his advice that every Saturday should 
 be devoted to cleaning the prison. As an apology 
 he wrote as follows : — 
 
 " I now take the liberty to mention what in several 
 places seemed to me an obvious remedy to some defect that 
 happened to strike me. I hope it will not be thought by 
 any gentleman, that 1 do it in the style of a dictator. Yet 
 should it he asked why I did not so generally do it in my 
 first publications, I reply, that my purpose then was to 
 collect what was good, with a view of a reform in my own 
 country ; as I did not think any observations of so private 
 an individual would either reach the eye of foreign magis- 
 trates, or be attended to by them : but it has pleased God 
 to order it otherwise ; it would therefore be, on my part, 
 refusing to do the good offered to my endeavours, were I 
 to abstain from such remarks as may correct abuses and 
 alleviate misery in all the places I visit." 
 
 Howard now proceeded — through Memel and
 
 RUSSIAN KNOUT-MASTER IN PRISON. 453 
 
 Mittau, at which places he visited the prisons — to 
 the Russian territories, which he entered by way of 
 Riga, The penal and charitable establishments of 
 course attracted immediate attention. There was 
 little remarkable in the former, but in the Military 
 Hospital he found " 300 sick, crammed into two 
 dirty and offensive wards," and the arrangements 
 were in general so faulty that he felt no surprise 
 when told that 500 recruits had lately died there. 
 About ten miles from Riga, Howard visited a 
 prison containing 387 convicts and debtors, all of 
 whom were employed on public works, and a por- 
 tion of the wages earned by the latter was assigned 
 to their creditors. Here were some who had suf- 
 fered the punishment of the knout, whose nostrils 
 were slit and their cheeks marked to denote their 
 condemnation for life. Many were murderers, since 
 capital punishment, as before observed, was at that 
 time professedly not inflicted in Russia for any of- 
 fence. Amongst these criminals was one who had 
 been the head knout-master at St. Petersburgh, and 
 had lately murdered his two colleagues. A dispute 
 arose between himself and one of them when drink- 
 ing, and the ferocious creature struck off the head 
 of his opponent : the other, who was present, showed 
 some resentment, and immediately shared the fate 
 of his companion. For these atrocious acts the 
 perpetrator had been sentenced to 270 strokes of 
 the knout and to slavery for life. 
 
 At this time the following entry was made in 
 
 G G 3
 
 454 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 that memorandum-book from which several ex- 
 tracts have been inserted : - — 
 
 " Riga, Aug. 23rd. — I am firmly persuaded, as to die 
 health of our bodies, herbs and fruits will sustain nature in 
 every respect far beyond the best flesh meat. Is there any 
 comparison to be made between an herb market and a flesh 
 market? The Lord planted a garden for mankind in the 
 beginning, and replenished it with all manner of fruits and 
 herbs, — this was the place ordained for man : if these had 
 still been the food of man, he would not have contracted 
 so many diseases in his body, nor cruel vices in his soul. 
 The taste of most sorts of flesh is disagreeable to those who 
 lor any time abstain from it, and none can be competent 
 judges of what I say but those who have made trial of it. 
 
 " I hope I have sources of enjoyment that depend not on 
 the particular spot I inhabit : a rightly cultivated mind, 
 under the power of religion, and the exertion of beneficent 
 dispositions, are a ground of satisfaction little affected by 
 heres and theres. 
 
 " I hope my soul thirsts for the ordinances of God's 
 House, which I am this day deprived of, but I will make 
 it a day of rest. Through mercy brought here in safety, I 
 have this morning read over some solemn transactions of 
 my soul, many years past, and in the most solemn and 
 devout manner renew those vows which, alas ! have been 
 too often broken, and acknowledge Thee, the Almighty 
 Jehovah, for my Lord and my God. O God ! hear my 
 prayer, and let my cry come before Thee." * 
 
 From Riga, Howard proceeded to St. Peters- 
 burgh, where the various institutions were re- 
 visited, and, according to their condition, his cen- 
 sure or commendation was expressed, each being 
 generally accompanied with some profitable sug- 
 
 * Brown, p. 611.
 
 ST. PETERSBURG!! AND MOSCOW. 455 
 
 gestion. Here he again conferred with the en- 
 lightened and liberal benefactor of his country, 
 General De Betskoi. On the 9th of September he 
 visited the marine hospital at Cronstadt ; the dark, 
 offensive, and dirty wards of which, together with 
 the irregularities and improper diet, were such as to 
 call forth the exclamation of compassion — "With 
 what concern must a feeling mind be struck when 
 many objects are looking up for help, and the pos- 
 sibility of a cure is thus cut off ! " In a temporary 
 hospital for sick sailors, under the care of an English 
 physician, he was rejoiced to find a pleasing con- 
 trast. It had been proposed to erect a new prison 
 here at the time of Howard's former visit, but the 
 death of Admiral Greig, who chiefly promoted the 
 design, had retarded it. To the praise of that 
 officer his favourite maxim was preserved by our 
 Philanthropist, whose own life was indeed in ac- 
 cordance with its language — " If I cannot do what 
 I would, I will do what I can," 
 
 On his journey the wretched prison at Tver was 
 reinspected ; and on reaching Moscow, Howard's 
 attention was immediately directed to similar esta- 
 blishments in that city. A large prison or " ostrog" 
 had been recently built, in which some good regu- 
 lations prevailed, but the sick were shockingly 
 neglected. The prisoners were still supported by 
 charitable contributions, and were thus supplied 
 with a sufficiency, upon which Howard remarked — 
 " Hence I conclude that the nation is humane; and, 
 in travelling through a great tract of the country, 
 
 G G 4
 
 456 LIFE OF HOWAKD. 
 
 the peasants appeared to me to be of a kind and 
 hospitable disposition." In another prison he found 
 all promiscuously associated, and its condition was 
 such as to lead him to declare with indignation — 
 " Such a prison is a reproach to any civilised coun- 
 try!" The Grand Duke's Hospital, which, having 
 been burned down, was now rebuilt, was, on the 
 other hand, as deserving his approval ; but that for 
 soldiers was very defective. 
 
 A letter, probably the last ever written by 
 Howard, was now addressed to his friend Dr. 
 Price : — 
 
 "Moscow, Sept22d, 1789. 
 
 " My dear Friend, — Your kind desire to hear from me 
 engages me to write. When I left England, I first stopped 
 at Amsterdam. I proceeded to Osnalrargh, Hanover, 
 Brunswick, and Berlin ; then to Konigsberg, Riga, and 
 Petersburgh, at all which places I visited the prisons and 
 hospitals, which were all flung open to me, and in some the 
 burgomasters accompanied me into the dungeons, as well 
 as into the other rooms of confinement. 
 
 "I arrived a few days ago in this city, and have begun 
 my rounds. The hospitals are in a sad state : upwards of 
 seventy thousand sailors and recruits died in them last year. 
 1 labour to convey the torch of Philanthropy into these 
 distant regions, as in God's hand no instrument is weak, in 
 whose presence no flesh must glory. I go through Poland 
 into Hungary. I hope to have a few nights of this moon 
 in my journey to Warsaw, which is about a thousand miles. 
 I am pure well — the weather clear — the mornings fresh; 
 thermometer 48°, but have not yet begun fires. I wish 
 for a mild winter, and shall then make some progress in my 
 European expedition. 
 
 " My medical acquaintance give me but little hopes of
 
 LETTER TO DR. PRICE. 457 
 
 escaping the plague in Turkey ; but my spirits do not at 
 all fail me : and, indeed, I do not look back, but would 
 readily endure any hardships, and encounter any dangers, 
 to be an honour to my Christian profession. 
 
 " I long to hear from my friend, yet I know not where 
 he can direct to me, unless at Sir Robert Ainslie's, Con- 
 stantinople. I will hope all things. 
 
 "I am, my much esteemed friend, 
 
 " Most affectionately and sincerely yours, 
 
 "John Howard."
 
 458 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 HOWARD VISITS MILITARY HOSPITALS OF RUSSIA. PROCEEDS 
 
 TO CHERSON. LOSS OF HIS LUGGAGE. ITS RESTORATION. 
 
 SHOCKING TREATMENT OF SICK SOLDIERS. REFLECTIONS 
 
 FESTIVITIES AT CHERSON. INTERRUPTED BY FEVER. OC- 
 CASION of Howard's last illness. — state of his mind. 
 
 HIS DEATH. FUNERAL. — PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 
 
 EULOG1UM OF HIS BAILIFF. THE TABLET AT CARDINGTON- 
 
 THE MONUMENT IN ST. PAUL'S. 
 
 Throughout these pages we have observed the 
 constancy with which Howard persevered in the 
 execution of plans upon which he had once de- 
 termined. Neither difficulties nor dangers could 
 interrupt his steadfast endeavours. As we before 
 remarked, one motive only could divert the humane 
 traveller from his course. Misery in another di- 
 rection, which might perhaps be mitigated, always 
 possessed an attractive power. Information of such 
 stayed his progress at this time, and induced him 
 to change the route he has just described. 
 
 The account he received while at Moscow of the 
 state of the military hospitals, and of the treatment 
 of the Russian soldiers who were sent to them, ex- 
 cited his deep commiseration, and an earnest desire 
 to alleviate their distress. With this object in view 
 a long and dreary journey was undertaken, first to 
 Crementschuok on the banks of the Dnieper, where
 
 LOSS AND RECOVERY OF HOWARD'S LUGGAGE. 459 
 
 four hundred recruits, afflicted with scurvy, were 
 crowded in a small building, and the only food they 
 were allowed was " a sort of water-gruel, sour 
 bread, and still sourer quas : " under this improper 
 treatment half of the patients died ; a putrid fever 
 swept them off by scores at a time. Thence he 
 proceeded to Cherson, where he visited a similar 
 institution in a still worse condition, and in which 
 the only attendants upon the sufferers were " men 
 sent from the different regiments, as being useless 
 from stupidity or drunkenness." The following are 
 Howard's remarks : — 
 
 " The primary objects in all hospitals seem here neg- 
 lected, viz. cleanliness, air, diet, separation, and attention. 
 These are such essentials, that humanity and good policy 
 equally demand that no expense should he spared to pro- 
 cure them. Care in this respect, I am persuaded, would 
 save more lives than the parade of medicines in the ad- 
 joining apothecary's shop." 
 
 A circumstance which might have occasioned 
 serious loss and inconvenience to our benevolent 
 traveller occurred on his way to this town. It is 
 thus narrated in a periodical of that day : — 
 
 " In his way to Cherson his baggage was found to be 
 missing from behind the carriage while he and his servant 
 refreshed themselves with a nap. On the discovery of this 
 loss Mr. Howard hastened back to the nearest town or 
 village, where he recollected to have seen a party of Rus- 
 sian recruits, whom he charged with taking his property. 
 While he waited in the carriage till a magistrate could be 
 applied to, his property was brought in ; first a hat-box, 
 and next a trunk, which last had been found half buried 
 in the road by the side of fields where some men were
 
 460 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 ploughing - ; one of whom, startled at seeing the nails of the 
 trunk shine just out of the ground, was afraid to touch it 
 without his companion. When it was opened by Mr. H. 
 every article both of linen and money was found in statu 
 quo: but suspicion fell so strong on the recruits at having 
 concealed it till an opportunity offered for them to carry 
 it off' and share the spoil, that the magistrate consigned 
 seven of them to Siberia."* 
 
 Here Howard read in the public journals an 
 account of the destruction of the Bastile ; an event, 
 we are told, which afforded him peculiar gratifi- 
 cation, as he thought his publication descriptive 
 of " its gloomy horrors, its iron cages, and im- 
 penetrable dungeons, might have accelerated its 
 demolition. His eye, therefore, sparkled with 
 peculiar delight as he expressed to his servant his 
 intention, should he live to return, of visiting its 
 ruins." 
 
 The following statement concerning the Philan- 
 thropist appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine, 
 January 1790 : — 
 
 " Mr. Howard, we are happy to hear from a friend 
 of his who has received a letter from him, was in good 
 health and spirits on the 17th of November, at Cherson, 
 in Little Tartary, to the north of the Black Sea, in his way 
 to Turkey, visiting the army and navy hospitals in that 
 part of the Russian dominions, after having visited those 
 of Riga, Cronstadt, &c, which he found throughout in 
 such sad order as would have given credibility, had it 
 wanted it, to the information he had received from good 
 authority, that no less than the shocking number of seventy 
 thousand recruits, sailors and soldiers, had died in that 
 
 * Gent. Mag., March, 1790.
 
 MISERABLE STATE OF RUSSIAN HOSPITALS. 461 
 
 country in the course of the preceding year; owing, un- 
 doubtedly, in a great measure, to inattention, ignorance, 
 and inhumanity, whose influence is always checked at least, 
 if it cannot be overcome, by his persevering benevolence, 
 his fortitude, and his skill, wherever human misery at- 
 tracts this friend to every clime, this patriot of the world : 
 his desire of doing good in a far distant clime may even 
 now be friendly to several of his fellow-creatures (if men 
 may be called so) in this country, when they read the fol- 
 lowing words of the above-mentioned letter from Cherson : 
 ' Many are here shivering with the ague (a morass of twenty 
 miles is before my window). I give the ounce of bark, and 
 drachm of snake-root and wormwood, which has not failed 
 me once." 
 
 Howard made an excursion from Cherson to 
 Witowka, continuing his inspection of these loath- 
 some receptacles, in which the calamities of their 
 inmates were aggravated instead of being relieved, 
 and numbers became victims of impurity and neg- 
 lect. Grieved at the sight, he here observes — 
 
 " When I saw so many brave fellows, who had fought so 
 well for their country before Otschakovv, suffered to perish 
 here with filth, neglect, and vermin, how did my heart melt 
 within me ! " 
 
 The few who survived such cruel negligence, and 
 who when convalescent were discharged from these 
 wretched abodes, were destined to further perils, 
 and exposed to death in a still more frightful form. 
 Howard saw a number of these, just recovering, 
 miserably clad, wet and shivering, under orders to 
 walk several miles to the next town, and felt no 
 surprise when he learned that some were seen lying
 
 462 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 dead, by the road-side. Nor could he wonder at 
 the crowded state of the hospitals when he became 
 acquainted with the miserable quarters in which 
 the Russian soldiers passed the winter. Instead of 
 being lodged in barracks, or even encamped, as the 
 troops of other countries, they were encaved, and 
 buried in damp and dismal holes covered with sticks 
 and earth, with only a hole at the top for the sup- 
 ply of air and the escape of smoke. 
 
 Howard's attention was next directed to an 
 hospital for recruits and prisoners of war, con- 
 sisting of four rooms near the new town of St. 
 Nicholas, which was then building. Three hundred 
 poor objects were crammed into these confined 
 apartments : their food was black and heavy, and 
 their quas sour. The inspection was made by ap- 
 pointment, and our humane countryman was ac- 
 companied by the Brigadier Falagef, and a physician 
 sent by Prince Potemkin. Preparation was there- 
 fore made for the reception of the visitors : a partial 
 cleansing had taken place, new coverlids had been 
 distributed, and the surgeons were in attendance. 
 To the government officials all seemed to be satis- 
 factory. But such an inspection was little in ac- 
 cordance with Howard's practice. Experience had 
 taught him that it was well to make some previous 
 inquiries, and then to pay an unexpected visit. 
 The latter had been prevented in this instance, but 
 the former preliminaries had neither been forgotten 
 nor neglected. He had ascertained that instead of 
 the reported three hundred there were five hundred
 
 SHOCKING TREATMENT OF SICK SOLDIERS. 463 
 
 patients in this hospital. Suspecting, therefore, 
 that some were concealed when those prepared for 
 inspection had been shown, he requested to see 
 the remainder. Surprised at the demand, but per- 
 ceiving that their sharp-sighted visitor was not 
 to be deceived, after a time permission was 
 granted, and several officers accompanied him in 
 his further investigation, the result of which is 
 thus described : — 
 
 " He found fifty objects of such extreme wretchedness 
 as, in the whole course of his extensive visits to the abodes 
 of misery and vice, he had never before seen together. 
 Most or all of them were recruits, in the prime of life, 
 many of whom were dying upon a bed of hard coarse reeds, 
 without linen or coverlids, with nothing, indeed, but a few 
 remnants of their old clothes to cover them ; their persons 
 dirty beyond description, and with their shirts in rags. 
 With every kindlier feeling of his nature shocked beyond 
 description at so barbarous a scene, our intrepid countryman 
 turned to the officers at his side, and, directing theirattention 
 to their fellow-creatures who were thus inhumanly treated, 
 told them, in a tone of the bitterest reproof, ' that in none 
 of the countries he had ever visited had he found so little 
 attention paid to the military as in Russia. He knew, 
 however,' he added, ' that what he said would have no 
 other effect on them but to make them despise him, but 
 he should assuredly relate what he had with so much con- 
 cern and indignation beheld.' As he had anticipated, his 
 military auditors immediately left him." ' 
 
 Seeing many recruits employed in carrying heavy 
 materials, to which their strength was inadequate, 
 
 * Brown, p. 621.
 
 464 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 he humanely suggested that either wheelbarrows or 
 else some beasts of burthen should be provided ; 
 but the barbarities he had witnessed forbade the 
 hope that such advice would be acted upon, although 
 policy not less than compassion might commend it. 
 Apparently spirit-broken at the sight of so much 
 suffering which he had so little power to relieve, he 
 concludes his remarks upon these poor victims of 
 oppression and neglect in the following pathetic 
 strain : — 
 
 " Let but a contemplative mind reflect a moment upon 
 the condition of these poor destitute wretches, forced from 
 their homes and all their dearest connections, and compare 
 them with those one has seen, cheerful, clean, and happy 
 at a wedding or village festival; let them be viewed 
 quitting their birth-place, with all their little wardrobe, 
 and their pockets stored with rubles, the gifts of their re- 
 lations, who never expect to see them more ; now joining 
 their corps in a long march of one or two thousand wersts ; 
 their money gone to the officer who conducts them and 
 defrauds them of the government allowance ; arriving 
 fatigued and half-naked in a distant dreary country, and 
 exposed immediately to military hardships, with harassed 
 bodies and dejected spirits ; — and who can wonder that so 
 many droop and die, in a short time, without any apparent 
 illness ? The devastations I have seen made by war among 
 so many innocent people, and this in a country where there 
 are such immense tracts of land unoccupied, are shocking 
 to human nature." 
 
 On his return to Cherson he revisited the hos- 
 pitals, and was glad to find that some better regu- 
 lations had been adopted, but the diet of the inmates 
 was still insufficient and of an improper descrip-
 
 \v 
 
 c 
 
 REFLECTIONS. 465 
 
 tion. Drunkenness was also common amongst the 
 attendants ; and seeing one of them with a bottle 
 holding two quarts of brandy, the sight occasioned 
 the following remarks: — 
 
 " How many patients do I see, with many disorders, 
 which, I am persuaded, proceed from the use of spirituous 
 liquors ! What strict care should be taken that the at- 
 tendants do not bring any to sell in the hospital ! Have I 
 not seen unmixed spirits served round to sick and dying 
 patients, by persons intoxicated themselves ; when, to my 
 great surprise, I was told, that the physician had ordered 
 it as a treat to the patients ! If my visits had any share in 
 promoting this, I fear I killed half a dozen of them; or, at 
 least, put them some days sooner out of their misery ! " 
 
 The presentiment of his death, which Howard 
 had expressed to so many of his friends before 
 he left England, had not been dispelled by change 
 of scene and active exertion. The mortality he 
 witnessed was perhaps calculated to deepen that 
 impression, and his memoranda prove that it was 
 permanent. Living in habitual preparation, he 
 constantly looked forward with holy complacency 
 to that event. The state of mind in which he con- 
 templated its approach is shown in the following 
 extract : — 
 
 "lam a stranger and pilgrim here, but, I trust, through 
 grace, going to a land peopled with my fathers and my 
 kindred, and the friends of my youth. And I trust my 
 spirit will mingle with those pious dead, and be for ever 
 with the Lord." 
 
 Soon, indeed, was the expecting spirit of the 
 hristian Philanthropist to realise that enjoyment 
 
 H H
 
 466 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 which by faith and hope he could now anticipate. 
 Men acquainted with his venturesome endeavours 
 for the relief of others had Ions; believed that he 
 must one day be the victim of such perilous benevo- 
 lence. By Divine Providence he had been preserved 
 hitherto to dispense blessings amongst fellow-men. 
 Now, however, the time had arrived when he must 
 receive the recompence of his service, and be blessed 
 himself. But though Howard sacrificed his own 
 life in the attempt to save that of another, and thus 
 far the issue was in accordance with human fore- 
 sight, yet the occasion of Iris death was contrary to 
 expectation. His life was not lost, as men antici- 
 pated it would be, in the prison, the hospital, or 
 the pest-house, where poverty, privation, and vice 
 engendered diseases the most loathsome, and pro- 
 duced misery in its most malignant form — abodes 
 of wretchedness to which his visits were so frequent, 
 and in which so large a portion of his time was 
 spent. Amidst these yawning sepulchres Howard 
 had lived for years, and was still preserved; but, 
 as if to show distinctly that neither the infectious 
 fever nor yet the contagious pestilence had influ- 
 ence or power under the most threatening circum- 
 stances whilst Providence restrained them, yet 
 that no sooner was that protection — in wisdom, 
 and not less in goodness — withdrawn, than, where 
 danger was comparatively unexpected, disease and 
 death prevailed. 
 
 Whilst Howard was at Cherson, the fortress of 
 Bender was taken from the Turks ; but, as the
 
 FESTIVITIES AT CIIEESON. 467 
 
 winter was far advanced, the Russian commander 
 would not further prosecute the war at that period. 
 Permission was therefore given to the officers to 
 visit Cherson. They came elated with victory, and 
 the citizens shared the joy of their triumph. It 
 was a time of general festivity. Assemblies, balls, 
 and masquerades, in rapid succession, rendered the 
 neighbourhood a scene of gaiety and dissipation. 
 This was soon interrupted. The victors so gladly 
 welcomed had brought with them an enemy far 
 more formidable than those foes which they had 
 vanquished. A fever, similar to that which had 
 raged with so much virulence amongst the troops, 
 showed itself at Cherson, and swept off numbers 
 of its inhabitants. The surrounding families 
 had shared in the mirth and amusements of the 
 crowded city, and they must now participate in 
 its grief and gloom. Amongst those who took part 
 in those diversions was a young lady who resided 
 about sixteen miles distant. She caught the infec- 
 tion, and it assumed a dangerous aspect. Howard's 
 wide-spread reputation as a physician induced her 
 friends earnestly to entreat his attendance and 
 advice. To this he at first objected that he ad- 
 ministered only to the poor, and not to those who 
 could afford to pay for proper medical treatment. 
 The symptoms became still more alarming, and the 
 friends more importunate. Howard's reluctance 
 arose from no lack of sympathy, but from an un- 
 willingness to intrude beyond his province; and he 
 was further restrained by a feeling that it would be 
 
 II H 2
 
 468 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 unjust to deprive those who practised in an honour- 
 able profession of their merited recompence. The 
 present case, however, was one of peculiar distress, 
 and the tender-hearted Philanthropist was prevailed 
 upon to visit the sufferer. He prescribed, and the 
 visit was repeated. He then directed that, if the 
 medicines produced a favourable effect — of which, 
 however, he had little hope, — information should 
 be sent to him at Cherson, and promised that 
 he would see his patient again. The means were 
 in some measure successful, and a letter was ac- 
 cordingly sent, earnestly requesting his immediate 
 attendance. This letter miscarried, and did not 
 reach Howard until eight days after its date. Fear- 
 ing that fatal consequences might result from the 
 delay, without a moment's hesitation he resolved to 
 go. The weather was most inclement, the cold in- 
 tense, the rain fell in torrents, and no vehicle could 
 be at once obtained. These obstacles could not 
 restrain the anxious Philanthropist. There was 
 distress, — perhaps aggravated by his apparent in- 
 difference ; and he might possibly afford relief. No 
 difficulty, fatigue, or danger, under such circum- 
 stances, could deter him from making the attempt. 
 Nothing better than an old dray-horse could be 
 found to convey him; and, therefore, mounted upon 
 that, he determined to prosecute the journey. On 
 his arrival he found the poor sufferer in a dying 
 state. Disregarding his own condition, although 
 wet, fatigued, and distressed, he devoted his whole 
 attention to the object of his solicitude. He first
 
 CAUSE OF HIS LAST ILLNESS. 469 
 
 administered a medicine to excite perspiration, and 
 then carefully watched the result. Such was his 
 concern for the patient, that, rather than endanger 
 the desired effect by disturbing her in the least 
 degree, he exposed himself to greater risk of in- 
 fection. His skill, sedulity, and self-denial were 
 unavailing ; and the poor victim of the gay and 
 festive assemblies at Cherson died the next day. 
 Howard felt that he had caught the fever, and 
 mentioned a particular time when, feeling the pulse 
 of his patient, the noxious effluvium sensibly af- 
 fected him. Dr. Aikin was of opinion that, not- 
 withstanding Howard's impression as to the fever 
 being the cause of his last illness, it was rather 
 the increase of a constitutional disorder ; and that 
 " Mr. Howard's name may be added to the nume- 
 rous list of those whose lives have been sacrificed 
 to the empirical use of a medicine of great activity, 
 and therefore capable of doing much harm as well 
 as good." * He immediately returned to Cherson, 
 and did not leave his lodgings for a day or two 
 after, when, seeming convalescent, he accepted an 
 invitation to dine with Admiral Mordvinof. Of 
 this visit, and subsequent events in his last illness, 
 the following notes were made by his servant, 
 Thomasson : — 
 
 " He stayed later than usual at Admiral Mordvinof's, 
 and, when he returned, found himself unwell, and thought 
 he had something of the gout flying about him. He im- 
 mediately took some sal volatile in a little tea, and thought 
 
 * Aikin, p. 198. 
 II h 3
 
 470 LIFE OF ITOWARDr 
 
 himself better till three or four o'clock on Saturday morn- 
 ing, when, feeling not so well, he repeated the sal volatile. 
 He got up in the morning and walked out ; but, finding 
 himself worse, soon returned and took an emetic. On the 
 following night he had a violent attack of fever, when he 
 had recourse to his favourite remedy, James's powder, 
 which he regularly took every two or four hours till Sun- 
 day the 17th; for though Prince Potemkim sent his own 
 physician to him immediately on being acquainted with 
 his illness, yet his own prescriptions were never interfered 
 with during this time. On the 12th he had a kind of fit, 
 in which he suddenly fell down ; his face became black, his 
 breathing difficult, and he remained insensible for half an 
 hour. On the 17th he had another similar fit. On the 
 18th he was seized with hiccuping, which continued on 
 the next day, when he took some musk draughts by the 
 direction of the physician." 
 
 Although it is in the life of holy self-denial and 
 constant activity in the service of God, and for the 
 sake of man, that the Christian discerns the power 
 of religious principle, the operation of divine grace, 
 and the proof of an evangelic faith ; yet the charac- 
 ter appears more attractive, and the example more 
 effectual, if the end of such a course is enlivened 
 by a blessed hope, and if, when the labours have 
 ceased, the language of happy anticipation is heard. 
 Such testimony to the faithfulness of God, and evi- 
 dence of promises fulfilled, provide a further motive 
 to imitation, and afford encouragement to steadfast 
 perseverance, holy diligence, and patient endurance; 
 in hope that we, following the good examples of 
 those who have died in faith, may with them be par- 
 takers of joy and felicity. The last days of Howard
 
 STATE OF HIS MIND BEFORE DEATH. 471 
 
 afford this additional value to his most exemplary 
 life ; and the few expressions which have been pre- 
 served, whilst they convince us that when he rested 
 from his labours he received his reward, seem by 
 this very assurance to gild those deeds with aug- 
 mented lustre, and to reflect upon them some mea- 
 sure of that glorious recompence which was their 
 sure result. 
 
 Three or four days before his death, the follow- 
 ing records of his devout gratitude and humble 
 confidence were inserted in his memorandum-book : 
 
 "May I not look on present difficulties, or think of 
 future ones, in this world, as I am but a pilgrim or wayfaring- 
 man, that tarries but a night? This is not my home, but 
 may I think what God has done for me, and rely on His 
 power and His grace ; for His promise, His mercy, en- 
 dureth for ever : but I am faint and low, yet I trust pur- 
 suing the right way, though too apt to forget my Almighty 
 Friend and my God. 
 
 " O my soul ! remember and record how often God has 
 sent an answer of peace, mercies in the most seasonable 
 times, how often better than thy fears, exceeding thy ex- 
 pectations. Oh why should I distrust a good and faithful 
 God? In His word He has said, 'In all thy ways 
 acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy path.' Lord ! 
 leave me not to my own wisdom, which is folly ; nor to my 
 own strength, which is weakness. Help me to glorify Thee 
 on earth, and to finish the work Thou givest me to do, and 
 to Thy name alone be all the praise ! " 
 
 The sentences which follow were probably the 
 last which Howard ever wrote. The Christian 
 reader will not deem them less interesting, in- 
 structive, and satisfactory because they represent 
 
 H H 4
 
 472 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 no rapturous emotion, but rather describe a 
 deep sense of personal unworthiness, accompanied 
 with a simple dependence upon the Redeemer's 
 merits: — 
 
 " Oh that the Son of God may not have died for me in 
 vain !" " I think I never look into myself bnt I find some 
 corruption and sin in my heart : O God ! do Thou sanctify 
 me, and cleanse the thoughts of my depraved heart ! " 
 
 During his stay at Cherson, Howard constantly 
 visited Admiral Priestman, who was also residing 
 there. Some days having passed without having 
 seen his friend, the Admiral called upon him, and 
 found him sitting before a stove in his bed-room, 
 and evidently very ill. An account of the inter- 
 view has been preserved : — 
 
 " On inquiring after his health, he replied that his end 
 was approaching very fast, that he had several things to say 
 to him, and thanked him for having called upon him. 
 The Admiral, concluding from his answers that he was in 
 a melancholy mood, endeavoured to turn the conversation, 
 imagining the whole or the principal part of his disorder 
 might be the mere effect of low spirits. Howard, how- 
 ever, assured him that it was not ; and added, in a very 
 impressive yet cheerful manner, ' Priestman, you style 
 this a dull conversation, and endeavour to divert my mind 
 from dwelling upon death ; but I entertain very different 
 sentiments. Death has no terrors for me: it is an event 
 I always look to with cheerfulness, if not with pleasui'e ; 
 and, be assured, the subject is more grateful to me than 
 any other. I am well aware that I have but a short time 
 to live ; and my mode of life has rendered it impossible 
 that I should get rid of this fever. If I had lived as you 
 do, eating heartily of animal food, and drinking wine, I
 
 
 GIVES DIRECTIONS FOll HIS FUNERAL. 473 
 
 might, perhaps, by altering my diet be able to subdue it. 
 But how can such a man as I am lower his diet who has 
 been accustomed for years to exist upon vegetables and 
 water, a little bread and a little tea ? I have no method of 
 lowering my nourishment, — and therefore I must die. It 
 is such jolly fellows as you, Priestman, who get over these 
 fevers." 
 
 This conversation was then followed by some 
 directions respecting his funeral and place of inter- 
 ment. 
 
 " ' There is a spot,' said he, ' near the village of Dauphigny; 
 this would suit me nicely : you know it well, for 1 have 
 often said that I should like to be buried there. And let 
 me beg of you, as you value your old friend, not to suffer 
 any pomp to be used at my funeral ; nor any monument 
 nor monumental inscription whatsoever, to mark where I 
 am laid ; but lay me quietly in the earth, place a sun-dial 
 over my grave, and let me be forgotten.'" 
 
 Feeling that his end was rapidly approaching, 
 Howard expressed a desire that no time might be 
 lost in obtaining the burial-place of which he had 
 spoken ; and his friend therefore, with some reluc- 
 tance, left him for that purpose. 
 
 At this time a letter from England was brought 
 to Howard, informing him that the writer had lately 
 seen his son, and expressing a hope that on his re- 
 turn he would find him decidedly better. Cheered 
 in his last hours by this pleasing intelligence, he 
 charged Thomasson, by whom the letter was read 
 to him, that if, by the blessing of God, his son's 
 reason should ever be restored, he would assure 
 him how much and how fervently he had prayed 
 for his happiness. Reverting then to the spot, in
 
 474 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 which he was anxious to be interred, and which we 
 are told was probably selected " from its being 
 situated in the grounds of a French gentleman who 
 had showed him many acts of kindness during his 
 residence at Cherson," * he remarked that he should 
 be "as near to heaven there as if brought back to 
 England ; " and added, that he had long felt no 
 other wish for life than as it afforded him the means 
 of relieving the distresses of his fellow-creatures. 
 As soon as Admiral Priestman had executed his 
 commission he returned to his dying friend, who re- 
 vived at the assurance that his desires should be 
 fulfilled ; and then, referring to the gratifying ac- 
 count just received of his son, he said, " Is not this 
 comfort for a dying father ? " f One further request 
 was then made, prompted by his repugnance to the 
 superstitious rites of the Greek Church, and his 
 appreciation of the solemn and very instructive 
 service of the Church of England. He desired his 
 friend to prevent all interference on the part of the 
 Russian priests, and begged that when his body was 
 committed to the tomb he would himself read over 
 it the burial-service of the Church of his own land. 
 After this he was silent, and only nodded assent 
 when it was proposed that a physician should be 
 sent for. This was done, but he did not arrive 
 until just before Howard expired. The event oc- 
 curred at eight o'clock in the morning of January 
 20th, 1790. 
 
 * Brown, p. 629. t Appendix.
 
 HIS DEATH. 475 
 
 " When faith and love, which parted from thee never, 
 Had ripen'd thy just soul to dwell with God, 
 Meekly thou didst resign this earthly load 
 Of death, call'd life, ■ — ■ which us from life doth sever : 
 Thy works, and alms, and all thy good endeavour, 
 Staid not behind, nor in the grave were trod, 
 But, as Faith pointed with her golden rod, 
 Follow'd thee up to joy and bliss for ever." 
 
 Thus did the spirit of Howard depart to enter 
 into the joy of that Master whose example he had 
 followed, in that he went about doing good. Wafted 
 to Paradise by angels who had watched his course 
 and ministered to his wants, and welcomed by other 
 blessed spirits who had preceded him, and whose 
 benevolence he had long shared, thenceforth to par- 
 ticipate their bliss, he now aAvaits the full fruition 
 of a glorious reward proportioned to his works of 
 faith and labours of love. By the records of his life, 
 " he being dead yet speaketh ;" and if the reader 
 and the writer listen to such instruction, and learn 
 its profitable lessons so as to imitate the practical 
 piety which adorned his holy profession, then shall 
 the happiness of both be insured, and the Christian 
 philanthropy of Howard — although never limited 
 to the furtherance of temporal welfare — shall be 
 found in its results to have surpassed even his 
 intentions, and, by promoting our own increase of 
 holiness, tend to augment our felicity in heaven. 
 
 The death of Howard was, even in Russia, deemed 
 a national calamity ; and, however desirous his 
 friends might have been to comply with his wishes 
 by preventing the parade of a public procession or
 
 47 G LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 display of any kind at his funeral, yet so deeply 
 was the loss deplored, and so anxious were all 
 classes to testify their grief, and many their grati- 
 tude, that, on the day appointed for the interment, 
 thousands assembled to escort the body to its grave. 
 A bier, drawn by six horses, was provided, on 
 which the coffin was placed ; this was followed by 
 the carriages of the Prince of Moldavia, by those of 
 Admirals Priestman and Mordvinof, of the general 
 and staff-officers of the garrison, and of the magis- 
 trates and merchants of Cherson : a large body of 
 cavalry, accompanied by other persons, attended 
 on horseback, and between two and three thousand 
 on foot. This mixed concourse — some attracted 
 by admiration and the desire to do honour to one 
 so worthy, others constrained by a sense of their 
 loss, and lamenting one whom in distress they had 
 learned to love — travelled slowly to the chosen 
 spot, and there deposited that body which, having 
 been so much the instrument of good on earth, we 
 may hereafter distinguish in heaven shining with 
 surpassing glory. 
 
 Instead of the sun-dial, a small pyramid was 
 erected over Howard's grave. This was preserved 
 whilst those who had known and revered him sur- 
 vived ; but, subsequently, when Dr. Clarke visited 
 the spot, it was in a dilapidated state; and a few 
 years later, when Bishop Heber saw it, this un- 
 worthy monument was in a still worse condition. 
 
 Of Howard's personal appearance we are not 
 much concerned to inquire. Two casts of his face 
 were taken before his interment, one of which was
 
 PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 477 
 
 brought by his servant to England. He is described 
 to have been of short stature, thin, and of a sallow 
 complexion. His general appearance not prepos- 
 sessing ; but, on more particular observation, his 
 quick, penetrating eye, the benevolence of his fre- 
 quent smile, and the constant liveliness of his 
 countenance, alwa}'s produced a most favourable 
 impression. There was an animation in his man- 
 ner and a quickness in his gait which corresponded 
 with the activity of his mental powers. In his 
 address he was dignified, kind, and condescending ; 
 always adapting himself to the persons with whom 
 he conversed : as free from a cringing servility 
 amongst his superiors in station, as he was from 
 arrogancy towards those of lower rank. We need 
 not recapitulate those excellencies of character 
 which have excited our admiration in every chap- 
 ter of his life; — nor, in our last pages, would we 
 needlessly revert to imperfections : whilst these 
 prove Howard to have been mortal, they proclaim 
 that his virtues are capable of imitation. If, as a 
 father, although most affectionate, he was faulty; 
 whilst we profit by the painful lesson, we are little 
 inclined to pass a censure. If in the regulation of his 
 household an authority somewhat stern was appa- 
 rent, yet we perceive in the love and reverence of his 
 domestics a sure evidence that harshness and seve- 
 rity were never shown. We have seen that Thomas- 
 son, notwithstanding the depravity of his character*, 
 
 * This unhappy man, after the death of Howard, was kindly taken 
 into Mr. Whitbread's service, but was guilty of such gross misconduct 
 and base ingratitude, that, although affection and reverence of his
 
 478 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 was constrained to bear testimony to " the good- 
 ness of his master's heart ;" whilst a better servant 
 — the old bailiff — left an assurance of his venera- 
 tion and devoted attachment, published under the 
 title of "A Father's Legacy to his Children," which, 
 as an encomium on Howard, though in its simpli- 
 city it forms a contrast to, is not less valuable than, 
 the fervid eloquence of Burke, or the finished pa- 
 negyric of Foster. That pious servant, referring 
 to the time in which he occupied a lower station, 
 writes — 
 
 " God directed me to that worthy, benevolent, and good 
 man Mr. Howard, with whom I enjoyed all the happiness 
 
 which a rational mind would wish I could 
 
 wish and pray you to make it your study to copy the 
 example of my much esteemed and worthy master, Mr. 
 Howard, especially in his diligence and activity in pro- 
 moting the honour and glory of God, and the real good of 
 his fellow-creatures. What an example has he left ! No 
 time was lost with him, but all improved for the most 
 valuable purposes. No parade of equipage, nor outward 
 appearance ; no superfluities, nor indulgence in eating and 
 drinking, but the strictest abstinence from everything that 
 could be in the least a let or hindrance to him in perform- 
 ing what he well knew was his incumbent duty as a rational 
 and immortal being, who would be called to a strict and 
 impartial account of the talents with which a good and 
 gracious Creator had endowed him. And I can assure you, 
 that nothing was lost or unimproved by him, but all was 
 faithfully improved to some valuable end or purpose." 
 
 kind patron towards his former master saved him from a prosecution, 
 he was compelled to leave the neighbourhood, and ultimately died a 
 pauper (it is hoped a penitent) in the Liverpool Infirmary.
 
 TRIBUTES TO HIS MEMORY. 479 
 
 When the intelligence of Howard's death was 
 received in England, and announced in the Gazette 
 of March 23d, 1790, — a distinction which had never 
 before been conferred upon any private person, — 
 all felt that they had lost a friend, and under a 
 sense of that loss there was very general lamenta- 
 tion. Innumerable were the tributes to his memory 
 for which a space was sought in the leading periodi- 
 cals of the day. Many were published, but only a 
 small proportion of the whole ; whilst from the 
 pulpit, the platform, and even the theatre, the piety, 
 philanthropy, and exemplary virtue of Howard were 
 proclaimed and applauded, 
 
 Amongst the numerous poetic compositions which 
 were written on this occasion, that of Dr. Aikin, in 
 addition to its intrinsic merits, is interesting on 
 account of his personal friendship with the subject 
 of his praise : — 
 
 " Howard, thy task is done ! thy Master calls, 
 And summons thee from Cherson's distant walls : 
 Come, well-approv'd ! my faithful servant ! come ; 
 No more a wand'rer, seek thy destin'd home. 
 Long have I mark'd thee with o'er-ruling eye, 
 And sent admiring angels from on high, 
 To walk the paths of danger by thy side, 
 From death to shield thee, and thro' snares to guide. 
 My minister of good, I've sped thy way, 
 And shot thro' dungeon-glooms a leading ray, 
 To cheer, by thee, with kind unhoped relief, 
 My creatures lost and whelm'd in guilt and grief. 
 I've led thee, ardent, on thro' wond'ring climes, 
 To combat human woes and human crimes. 
 But 'tis enough ! — thy great commission's o'er; 
 I prove thy faith, thy love, thy zeal, no more.
 
 480 LIFE OF HOWARD. 
 
 Nor droop, that, far from country, kindred, friends, 
 
 Thy life, to duty long - devoted, ends : 
 
 What boots it inhere the high reward is giv'n, 
 
 Or whence the soul triumphant springs to heav'n ? " 
 
 Howard's request as to the memorial-tablet, the 
 inscription of which he had dictated, and which he 
 desired should be placed under that of his beloved 
 wife in Cardington church, was now complied with. 
 It tells that — 
 
 JOHN HOWARD 
 
 DIED AT CHERSON, IN RUSSIAN TARTARY, 
 
 JANUARY 2 1ST, 1790, AGED 64. 
 
 CHRIST IS MY HOPE. 
 
 In that simple tablet the Christian reader cannot 
 fail to discern an evidence of humility, firm re- 
 liance on a Saviour's merits, and faith in Him ; 
 and, as an indication of those graces, that plain 
 marble slab is more expressive of Howard's praise, 
 and more honourable to his memory, than would be 
 the finest monument carved by the most distin- 
 guished sculptor, or the most laudatory epitaph 
 ever written. But whilst we point to the seques- 
 tered church at Cardington for this interesting 
 memorial of his personal and private excellence, it 
 is also our pleasing task to direct the reader to the 
 most conspicuous cathedral of our country, that he 
 may there learn the estimate of his public character 
 and philanthropic service formed by a grateful 
 nation. Large additions were made to the fund 
 collected during the lifetime of Howard, and a mag- 
 nificent statue by Bacon was erected in St. Paul's. 
 It was the first national tribute to departed worth 
 ever placed within that sacred edifice.
 
 THE MONUMENT IN ST. PAUL'S. 481 
 
 The inscription sets forth Howard's claim to such 
 pre-eminence : — 
 
 THIS EXTRAORDINARY MAN HAD THE FORTUNE TO BE HONORED 
 
 WHILST LIVING, 
 
 IN THE MANNER WHICH HIS VIRTUES DESERVED : 
 
 HE RECEIVED THE THANKS 
 
 OF BOTH HOUSES OF THE BRITISH AND IRISH PARLIAMENTS, 
 
 FOR HIS EMINENT SERVICES RENDERED TO HIS COUNTRY 
 
 AND TO MANKIND. 
 
 OUR NATIONAL PRISONS AND HOSPITALS, 
 
 IMPROVED UPON THE SUGGESTIONS OF HIS WISDOM, 
 
 BEAR TESTIMONY TO THE SOLIDITY OF HIS JUDGMENT, 
 
 AND TO THE ESTIMATION IN WHICH HE WAS HELD 
 
 IN EVERY PART OF THE CIVILIZED WORLD ; 
 
 WHICH HE TRAVERSED TO REDUCE THE SUM OF 
 
 HUMAN MISERY. 
 
 FROM THE THRONE TO THE DUNGEON HIS NAME WAS MENTIONED 
 
 WITH RESPECT, GRATITUDE, AND ADMIRATION. 
 
 HIS MODESTY ALONE 
 
 DEFEATED VARIOUS EFFORTS THAT WERE MADE DURING HIS LIFE 
 
 TO ERECT THIS STATUE, 
 
 WHICH THE PUBLIC HAS NOW CONSECRATED TO HIS MEMORY. 
 
 HE WAS BORN AT HACKNEY, IN THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, 
 
 SEPT. Hi), MDCCXXVI. 
 
 THE EARLY PART OF HIS LIFE HE SPENT IN RETIREMENT, 
 
 RESIDING PRINCIPALLY UrON HIS PATERNAL ESTATE, 
 
 AT CARDINGTON, IN BEDFORDSHIRE : 
 
 FOR WniCIl COUNTY HE SERVED THE OFFICE OF SHERIFF 
 
 IN THE YEAR MDCCLXX1II. 
 
 HE EXPIRED AT CIIERSON, IN RUSSIAN TARTARY, ON THE 
 
 XXth OF JAN. MDCCXC 
 
 A VICTIM TO THE PERILOUS AND BENEVOLENT ATTEMPT 
 
 TO ASCERTAIN THE CAUSE OF, AND FIND AN EFFICACIOUS 
 
 REMEDY FOR THE PLAGUE. 
 
 HE TROD AN OPEN BUT UNFREQUENTED PATH TO IMMORTALITY 
 
 IN THE ARDENT AND UNINTERMITTED EXERCISE OF 
 
 CHRISTIAN CHARITY. 
 
 MAY THIS TRIBUTE TO HIS FAME 
 
 EXCITE AN EMULATION OF HIS TRULY" GLORIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS. 
 
 I I
 
 A P P E N D I X. 
 
 A. Page 7. 
 
 Of this Mi*. Eames a biography is given in the Monthly 
 Magazine, vol. 16., in which it is said that he was one of the 
 best scholars of his time. He was educated at Merchant 
 Tailors' school, and afterwards pursued a course of academical 
 studies with a view to the Christian ministry ; yet he never 
 preached but one serrnon, when he was so exceedingly agitated 
 and confused that he was scarcely able to proceed, and never 
 
 renewed the attempt Dr. Watts once said to one of 
 
 his pupils, " Your tutor is the most learned man I ever knew." 
 His learning procured him the acquaintance and friendship of 
 Sir Isaac Newton. Amongst some other distinguished pupils, 
 Archbishop Seeker received part of his academical education 
 under him, and advice somewhat remarkable, as from a dis- 
 senter, is said to have been given by him — "discovering a 
 disposition for a freedom of thinking which would have had an 
 unfavourable aspect on his acceptableness as a minister among 
 the Dissenters of that day, Mr. Eames advised him to lay aside 
 his design of appearing in that character, and to direct his 
 attention to the study of physic." Brown, in his appendix to 
 Howard's Life, has mentioned this fact, p. 667. Mr. Eames 
 died suddenly, June 29th 1744. "What a change," says Dr. 
 Watts, who dedicated to him his treatise on Geography and 
 Astronomy, " did Mr. Eames experience ! but a few hours be- 
 tween his lecturing to his pupils, and his hearing the lectui'es of 
 angels ! " 
 
 B. Page 91. 
 
 Foe the notice of these documents I was indebted to the 
 careful observation of the Rev. T. B. Murray, the excellent 
 
 ii 2
 
 484 APPENDIX. 
 
 secretary of the society, who discovered them whilst the second 
 edition of my work on Prison Discipline was in the press, and 
 heing aware of that circumstance, most kindly gave me im- 
 mediate information. I feel called upon to repeat this fact, 
 to prevent any charge of plagiarism, since the author of a Life 
 of Howard, to which reference has been made, when describing 
 his preparation for his work, has affirmed, — "the result of this 
 labour is, that some new matter of curious interest has turned 
 up — amongst other things a manuscript, throwing light on the 
 early history of prison reforms in this country, found in the 
 archives of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge.'' 
 And again referring to the labours of this society therein de- 
 scribed, and to those of the Parliamentary Committee in 1729, 
 he adds, " hitherto the second of these attempts has alone been 
 known to the public." I must add that the writer of the above 
 sentences, having read the extracts from the said manuscript in 
 the first volume of my work, requested me, as a member of the 
 Christian Knowledge Society, to introduce him to the Rev. 
 Secretary, that he might be gratified with a sight of the original 
 document. With which request I cheerfully complied. 
 
 D. Page 108. 
 
 A work full of powerful arguments and interesting facts. 
 It is now very scarce, and its republication is much to be 
 desired. Should any reader of these pages be willing to under- 
 take the task, 1 shall be happy to lend the copy in my posses- 
 sion, which formed part of the library of the late W. Crawford, 
 Esq., the mention of whose name compels me to pay an humble 
 tribute to his memory : no man, since the days of Howard, has 
 done more for the improvement of prison discipline. It was 
 my privilege occasionally to converse with him on this question, 
 and not only to admire his talents, but, I hope, to profit by his 
 perfect acquaintance with the subject to which they were 
 chiefly directed ; and not less by the Christian feeling with 
 which that knowledge was communicated. I am indebted for 
 this and several other works on Prison Discipline to the kind- 
 ness of Mr. Crawford's relation, to whom he bequeathed his 
 library.
 
 APPENDIX. 485 
 
 Page 113. 
 It appears that this gaol was the property of the bishop. It 
 is to be regretted that some of Howard's biographers should 
 have indulged in unwarranted censures upon the prelate for 
 permitting such cruelty. There is not a word in Howard's 
 statements which can lead to the supposition of the bishop's 
 knowledge of the circumstance previously to the information 
 referred to ; nor have we a right to suppose that he was less 
 anxious than the sovereign, to prevent the recurrence of any 
 such like cruelties. That the bishop was bound to repair the 
 edifice, does by no means prove that he had the superintendence 
 and controul of the prison. 
 
 E. Page 154. 
 
 " Les geoliers conduiront les personnes qui viendront faire 
 des charites dans les lieux de la prison ou elles desireront les 
 distribuer, ce qu'elles pourront faire elles-memes sur le preau 
 ou dans le com* ; mais les aumones ne pourront etre distributes 
 dans les cachots noirs que par les mains du geolier, en presence 
 des personnes qui les porteront." 
 
 F. Page 162. 
 
 There is at this time, in the gaol at Reading, associated with 
 men of the very lowest grade — some of whom have been re- 
 peatedly in prison — a lad only eighteen years of age, the son 
 of very respectable parents, but who, having a large family, 
 have been unable to discharge his extravagant debts. This 
 youth is shocked and disgusted at the low, vicious language 
 he is compelled to hear ; would be most thankful, he told me, 
 to be alone like the criminals in the prison, and has begged that 
 he may have a table in his night-cell, comfortless as that is, in 
 preference to being in company with other occupants of the 
 wards. 
 
 Page 198. 
 
 The writer of Howard's Life, to which I have before referred, 
 — a strenuous advocate for compulsory labour in the punish- 
 ment of criminals — has thought proper to substitute the word 
 " industrial? where the term " religious " education is used by 
 Howard. 
 
 ii 3
 
 486 APPENDIX. 
 
 Page 229. 
 I do not wonder that the author referred to in the last note, 
 should, with a flippancy as profane as the imputation is false, 
 speak of what he is pleased to call "the no work much gospel 
 system," pursued at Reading in terms of strong reprobation. 
 Nor will I enter into controversy with a person who says " the 
 authorities of Berkshire would owe his (i.e. the criminal's) good 
 conduct to the grace of Heaven, and to that alone," and who 
 denounces this as " a mere dogma, and a dogma open to much 
 question." And then in a strain that betrays its spirit, affirms, 
 " a man who robs a butcher's shop of a leg of mutton, gets — 
 say six months and the four Evangelists;" and again, "the 
 transport who has to pass his term of eighteen months, will 
 have to fasten in his memory from St. Matthew to Revelation." 
 But that any man of piety and superior intelligence should 
 suppose that there could be any semblance of truth in such state- 
 ments, and should have unconsciously misrepresented — as the 
 excellent chaplain of Pentonville, I regret to say, has done — 
 the system of Reading gaol, by saying that " education is a part 
 of the penal discipline," is somewhat remarkable, and either 
 proves my Rev. Brother to be too credulous, or that we have 
 too little discernment. Referring to this subject, in a recent 
 publication which I dedicated to the Magistrates of Berkshire, 
 I wrote : " Your wise regulations sanction my saying, God forbid 
 that we should ever be justly chargeable with such guilt and 
 folly ! I need scarcely assure you, that whilst I have the 
 honour to be your chaplain, and to superintend the educational 
 treatment of your criminals, never shall a task of Holy Scripture, 
 or the teaching of a schoolmaster, constitute any part of a 
 prisoner's punishment." Having thus vindicated myself, I 
 strongly recommend to the perusal of my reader the small 
 volume " Prisons and Prisoners," recently published by Mr. 
 Kingsmill, as containing a most interesting account of the past 
 and present system of transportation. 
 
 Page 231. 
 
 I must again contradict the author, whose want of veracity has 
 been shown in former notes, and who, with a further violation 
 of truth, has written : " The convicts sent down to Portland were 
 from Wakefield, from Reading, and from Pentonville. Their
 
 APPENDIX. 487 
 
 conduct, has been almost uniformly bad ; marked by a disobedient, 
 idle, mutinous spirit." To this statement I oppose the last 
 paragraph of an official letter from Lt. Col. Jebb, the zealous 
 superintendent of convicts. He says, " I cannot conclude with- 
 out informing you of the very satisfactory conduct of the men, 
 sent from Reading to Portland generally, and that they afford 
 evidence of the care and attention that has been bestowed upon 
 their moral improvement." My own observation confirmed the 
 statement. At the very time the misrepresentation I have 
 quoted was pi-eparing for the press, I visited Portland, and 
 though I could not have anticipated the publication of such a 
 slander, yet, about a week before its appearance, I had published 
 the following account of what I had seen : — " Personal observa- 
 tion and converse with the justly esteemed officers of Portland 
 prison, have confirmed the testimony adduced. The convicts 
 are classed in a judicious manner, and, after three month's 
 probation, each man wears a mark on the arm of his coat, as 
 indicative of his character. All the men who had been sent 
 from Reading, with only two exceptions, were distinguished by 
 the badge worn by prisoners who are best behaved, and by the 
 letters V.Gc., denoting that their conduct had been Very Good" 
 But the author above cited further says, " The last batch of 
 forty sent from Pentonville, mutinied the very next day after 
 their arrival in the island ; as soon, in fact, as they found that 
 they would have to work hard in their new quarters. . . . 
 They were then brought back to their cells in Pentonville." 
 Now it is remarkable, that whilst this worthy opponent of 
 separate imprisonment, alleges this fact against it, the excellent 
 Governor of Portland Prison mentioned it as an illustration of 
 the necessity for such corrective discipline before sending 
 convicts to his establishment. " These men," said Captain 
 Whitty, " had been desperate characters " (I believe sometime 
 on board the hulks, and unmanageable) ; they were sent to 
 Pentonville prison ; but after confinement of only four months 
 — a fourth part of the time commonly assigned for reformatory 
 treatment — they were transferred to Portland. " The time," 
 said that intelligent officer, " was too short for correction." This 
 is the only case of insubordination that has occurred, and the 
 conduct of these forty men formed a contrast to that of all the 
 others. Not one of the other convicts would join them in their 
 mutinous behaviour. 
 
 ii 4
 
 488 APPENDIX. 
 
 Page 296. 
 I cannot refrain from mentioning one or two painful cases of 
 children now in gaol at Reading. One only nine years of age 
 was committed with his father. On inquiry, I found that hoth 
 the father and mother had been convicted. On the occasion of 
 this committal, the child had not been allowed to have any 
 breakfast ; but the unnatural parent had showed him some cakes 
 in a baker's shop, and promised to purchase one for him if he 
 went first and committed a felony. The little fellow was con- 
 victed under the Act for the summary punishment of juvenile 
 offenders, and suffered imprisonment and a flogging. 
 
 Another boy fifteen years of age, under sentence for felony, 
 Avhose father has been transported, and often in prison, gave me 
 the following statement, which I have found true upon inquiry : — 
 " When I was eleven years old, my father wanted me to steal 
 some hay which was lying by the road, and I would not, because 
 I was told that it was laid there as a trap. lie beat me so as to 
 cut a piece of flesh out of my thigh, and I was lame afterwards 
 for some time. I always had sores about me when he was not 
 in prison, because my mother used to stop our stealing when 
 he told us to — I mean my little brother and myself." The boy 
 showed me a frightful scar on his thigh, and others upon 
 various parts of his body. 
 
 Page 401. 
 
 The following remarks are extracted from the " substance 
 of a speech" in which the writer was called upon to "reply 
 to the objections against separate confinement, contained in 
 Lectures upon Prison Discipline, delivered by Charles Pearson, 
 Esq., M.P." 
 
 "I must think it somewhat presumptuous that the Hon. Gen- 
 tleman has appealed to the laws of God in support of his 
 proposition. lie was formidable, whilst contending with the 
 weapons of worldly policy, and not venturing iqion Christian 
 ground. But here he must forgive my saying that he is ap- 
 proaching the strongholds of his opponents, and that the attempt 
 to handle their weapons only insures wounds to himself. 
 
 "I believe it is a sad mistake to enforce Labour by any means 
 in penal discipline. I fVel sure it is opposed to the mind, and 

 
 APPENDIX. 489 
 
 to the dispensations of the Almighty. I believe that employ- 
 ment is essential to the happiness of intelligent beings. Angels 
 are occupied. Man was made to till the ground, and placed in 
 Paradise to dress and keep it. Whilst Adam retained his 
 uprightness duty was a delight, and labour was a privilege. 
 Milton well describes it as dignifying the nature of man. 
 
 ' God hath set 
 Labour and rest, as day and night to man 
 Successive. Other creatures all day long 
 Rove idle unemployed, and less need rest ; 
 Man hath his daily work of body or of mind 
 Appointed ; which declares his dignity.' 
 
 " Now believing these sentiments I sincerely deprecate the 
 
 practice of confounding a thing virtuous and good with those 
 
 vicious and disgraceful, which is certainly done when labour is 
 
 on any account enforced as a punishment. But the question 
 
 immediately before us is this, — are we acting contrary to the 
 
 laws of the Alarighty and to the dispensations of His wisdom 
 
 and justice, in not exacting labour from criminals ? This brings 
 
 us to consider the sentence pronounced when man had sinned — 
 
 ' In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.' Now if 
 
 industry was virtuous whilst man was innocent, I cannot think 
 
 that his loss of innocence changed the nature of virtue ; and if 
 
 not, then I have yet to learn that God ever imposed as a 
 
 penalty that which was in itself good. Many evil passions are 
 
 in themselves painful and punitive, but virtuous feelings and 
 
 actions can only be made painful by circumstances, and though 
 
 God may permit those circumstances yet he does not cause 
 
 them. I infer then, that as judgment and mercy are ever 
 
 mingled in God's dealings with man during his time of trial : 
 
 so this sentence, ' In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,' 
 
 was really a mitigation of the terrible curse which sin entailed. 
 
 It was an enactment rendered necessary to the future ivelfare 
 
 of man by the change which sin had produced in his mental 
 
 constitution and physical condition. He was not, when thus 
 
 fallen, to brood in constant sorrow upon his lost estate, nor to 
 
 pass the life of probation, then assigned him, in mere expectation 
 
 and hope. Mind and body Avere both formed for exercise, and 
 
 in their activity to find enjoyment. And in this respect the 
 
 purpose of the Creator was not thwarted by the transgression
 
 490 APPENDIX. 
 
 of the creature. Man's capacity for enjoyment by the same 
 means remained the same. But the motive to exertion, — that 
 simple knowledge of God's will, which was enough to insure 
 compliance, and the consequent advantage, whilst man was 
 upright, was now gone, and another stimulus was needful. The 
 mind averse from God, and the body corrupted by vice, might 
 both become slothful, and therefore suffer, unless some further 
 obligation were imposed ; hence the Almighty, in compassion, 
 and to prevent the increase of misery Avhich idleness would 
 occasion, decreed, as a general rule, that except a man work 
 neither shall he eat. 
 
 " I would further contend that it is healthful, not hard, labour 
 which is imposed. The passage implies this — the forehead is 
 the first part of the body to ' sweat,' and physicians teach us 
 that in general to preserve perfect health it must sweat once in 
 twenty-four hours. 
 
 " But whilst I conceive this decree to be a blessing as respects 
 the effect upon the body, and that labour when voluntarily and 
 rightly directed is virtuous and conducive to man's welfare, I 
 confine the remark to man in his ordinary condition, and not 
 as an offender under penal and corrective treatment. And had 
 this distinction been observed, I think such erroneous inferences 
 would not have been drawn from Holy Scripture and the sup- 
 posed moral government of God. You, Sir *, as I have seen 
 with pleasure, have often spoken of Prisons as Hospitals for the 
 cure of moral sickness, and of Prisoners as Patients. I thank- 
 fully take advantage of the just comparison. Labour tends to 
 invigorate and to preserve the moral health of the honest man ; 
 the dishonest — the diseased, need correction and a remedy. 
 But must the medicine for the sick be one and the same as the 
 food for the sound ? Certainly not. Then substitute mental 
 instruction for manual employment, and give time for reflection 
 instead of toilsome labour. As the sick man becomes conva- 
 lescent less medicine is required, and more nutriment may be 
 administered ; then gradually give him the occupation he will 
 desire, and the habit of industry, with other virtues, will be 
 formed as the moral health shall be restored. And if I have 
 read my Bible correctly, the commands and dispensations of 
 God accord with such plans. Why, let me ask, was the Sabbath 
 instituted first in Paradise, and then continued after the trans- 
 
 * M. Davenport Hill, Esq. Q. C, Chairman.
 
 APPENDIX, 491 
 
 gression ? We have seen that in Eden Adam was employed 
 during six days, but his state whilst there was rather one of 
 probation than of absolute perfection ; he might have attained 
 to a higher condition, and the Sabbath especially afforded the 
 time uninterrupted, and the means of preparation for it. But 
 to man, when fallen, the cessation from labour on the Sabbath 
 became a means of correction and restoration. Should any 
 assert that it was merely continued for the sake of rest and ad- 
 vantages to the body — what we have said concerning its ob- 
 servance in Pai'adise, when toil and sickness were unknown, 
 would refute any such opinion. No : man was to cease from 
 labour that he might have a season for correction and improve- 
 ment as well as for bodily recreation. Here then we have a 
 rule of the divine governance, universally applied, in our favour. 
 " Now let us consider some of the more particular dispensa- 
 tions of God, and the sanction to our plans will be still more 
 apparent. I refer then to the history of God's chosen people. 
 I see then that people, from whose condition we are to take 
 warning, and to learn wisdom, whilst in Egypt oppressed by 
 Pharaoh — who in his government is an admitted type of Satan — 
 groaning under taskmasters and compulsory labour. Was this, 
 I ask, corrective ? Let their murmurs, their ingratitude, and 
 oft-repeated disobedience testify. And I rejoice in the oppor- 
 tunity of an appeal to those sacred records which are alone in- 
 fallible in their teaching, and which are intended to instruct on 
 this, as on every other question of moral discipline. I dare not 
 think that distance of time, change in circumstances, or diversity 
 of nations, render nugatory the lessons of divine revelation, or 
 nullify the language of Him with whom is no variableness, and 
 who has told us concerning Israel, that ' things happened unto 
 them for Ensamples : and they are written for our admonition 
 upon whom the ends of the world are come.' * 
 
 " And how truly did their tyrant still further deprave them, 
 when with policy suited to his crafty and cruel purpose he en- 
 joined, 'Let there more work be laid upon the men that they may 
 labour therein.' And mark the motive for this command, 
 ' Let them not regard vain words.' I will not myself draw 
 a parallel between Pharaoh and our opponents ; but their 
 mistakes entitle me to request they will themselves trace a 
 comparison, if they are yet disposed to advocate penal labour, 
 
 * 1 Cor. x. 11.
 
 492 APPENDIX. 
 
 and to depreciate religious instruction, the efficacy of which is 
 thereby prevented. But what plan did their merciful Deliverer 
 pursue to reclaim that stiff-necked, hard-hearted, rebellious com- 
 pany ? Did he subdue and chasten them by subjecting them 
 again to compulsory labour ? "Was not His plan the most oppo- 
 site that could be devised ? Did He not oblige them to rest, 
 and supply them with daily bread, without appointing any ex- 
 ertion as a condition ? And on what account ? Certainly not 
 to encourage idleness, or to sanction any vicious indulgence or 
 desire ; but we are assured that it was to correct, to instruct, 
 and so to prepare for that life of holiness and of industry, accom- 
 panied by dependence on God's power and pi'ovidence, which 
 was afterwards to distinguish that favoured nation. It was 'to 
 humble them and to prove them, that they might learn that 
 man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that pro- 
 ceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live ; ' and 
 ' that He might do them good at their latter end.' (Deut. viii. 
 3, 16.) Their leisure afforded time for reflection : their Law- 
 giver taught them their duty, and their moral discipline pre- 
 pared them to perform it. Sir, if this is not more than a 
 warrant : if it does not plainly teach us, in our attempts to 
 correct criminals, to substitute for a time scriptural instruction 
 for either compulsory labour, or a certain task as a condition of 
 sustenance, then I confess I have read the Scriptures to little 
 purpose. 
 
 ' ; It would be trifling to object that the Jews were in special 
 circumstances which prevented labour for daily food. God 
 could as easily by a miracle have made the sterile wilderness 
 fruitful, and have commanded it should be cultivated, as by a 
 succession of miracles, shower down the manna upon it for their 
 unearned support. If it be said the Israelites were then ex- 
 ceptions to the rule of Divine governance, this is the very con- 
 cession I seek for. Prisoners are also exceptions. Crime is 
 an interruption to God's rule : it is not according to His 
 appointed order of things, and the criminal under punishment 
 is not in the ordinary state of probation. 
 
 " And is not God's plan in correcting individuals in accord- 
 ance with the means we commend, instead of contrary to them ? 
 Does he not lay aside the sinner from the world, and take away 
 the very powers and capacity for bodily exertion, that there
 
 APPENDIX. 493 
 
 may be improvement in the heart and mind ? I do not think 
 it well to detain you by pursuing this question ; sufficient has 
 been said to overthrow the assertion which I have felt bound 
 to oppose. That the Almighty would have men in general 
 to ' labour and work with their hands ' is undoubted, but the 
 precept is to men in their ordinary condition, and not to men 
 under corrective discipline. ' Let him that stole ' learn to 
 ' steal no more/ then ' let him labour.' There will be no ad- 
 vantage to himself or others in his industry, unless he has 
 learned honesty. 
 
 " The learned lecturer I was glad to find so decidedly averse 
 to imposing labour as a mere punishment. I am equally op- 
 posed to its being compulsory in any respect. "What a man 
 knows he must do, will probably be done at the time ; but there 
 will be no disposition to resume the duty when the constraint 
 is gone. Much is said about the force of habit, but habits are 
 only formed by a succession of voluntary acts. The moment 
 you resort to compulsion, the mind revolts, and then you may 
 force submission, but you cannot form the habit. Repugnance 
 will be the only effect produced. 
 
 " I contend, that the scheme of Mr. Pearson is unscriptural, it 
 is unphilosophical ; it is not, as he says, according to 'common 
 sense,' because our own feelings and experience oppose it. It 
 is dealing with men as with mac jines ; or, at the best, as brutes. 
 Exacting a task as the condition of sustenance, is nothing better 
 than compulsion in its most objectionable, because its most 
 powerful degree. It is an appeal to a mere sensation ; an 
 abandonment of manhood, as possessed of mind and motive, and 
 the Being so debased, is in danger of sinking to the low estimate 
 which his treatment indicates. He will become what Milton 
 well describes those — 
 
 ' Whose thoughts are low, 
 To vice industrious; but to better deeds — 
 Timorous and slothful.' 
 
 " Surely, Sir, facts confirm the statement of the Poet. I had 
 the pleasure of accompanying Mr. Pearson some time since to 
 the prison at Vilvorde, and subsequently having obtained an 
 order of admission from the Inspector of the Belgian Prisons, 
 I invited the Hon Gentleman to accompany me to that inter- 
 esting building the Maison de Force at Ghent. I hoped that
 
 494 APPENDIX. 
 
 the painful lesson he there received, as to the probability 
 judging from the past, that nearly all those poor hard working 
 prisoners would return to crime, and continue to suffer, might 
 induce him to advocate the system which corrects, and which, 
 I still hope, he will some day promote. He must not, how- 
 ever, corrupt that system by compulsory labour, or the gain 
 of a convert would be destructive to success. Surely the 
 system pursued at Perth, and other places, sadly confirms the 
 truth of this opinion. 
 
 " My present duty is rather to defend our own system, than 
 to raise objections against another ; yet I must observe, in 
 passing, that the scheme of Mr. Pearson presents this obstacle 
 to improvement — this tendency, I may say, to perpetuate 
 crime; — it continually appeals to selfishness, that same 
 vicious principle, which was probably the very cause of the 
 offence for which the punishment is inflicted, is thus to be 
 strengthened by the constant exercise. 
 
 " Again, I must insist upon the fact, that imprisonment and 
 restraint is not to be the lasting condition of the man. Sup- 
 posing a habit could be formed by some particular means, the 
 continued operation of which, was uncertain and dependent 
 upon circumstances, would the effect remain upon a voluntary 
 Agent when the cause was removed ? It may be easy to force 
 a man rather to labour than to starve, and if the future con- 
 dition of the Criminal presented no other alternative, the mere 
 bodily and habitual training might be serviceable to himself 
 and to society. But it is far otherwise if, as is commonly the 
 case, idleness is preferred to industry, if it be likely that em- 
 ployment become scarce, and temptation strong. In such 
 cases, some inward principle is required, some constraining 
 motive to patient endurance is wanted ; and if this has not been 
 implanted, violence and dishonesty will be preferred to want 
 and distress. Instinct may teach animals and men to work 
 rather than to starve ; but instruction, both of a better kind, 
 and to a greater extent than has been proposed, is needful to 
 teach men to starve rather than to steal. 
 
 " But, Sir, let it not be supposed that I desire the prisoner's 
 time should be unoccupied or idleness encouraged. I have 
 observed that it is well for a short time after the committal of 
 a prisoner to withhold manual occupation, and so to give time
 
 APPENDIX. 495 
 
 for reflection and to excite a desire for employment. But when 
 by suitable means the misconduct has been shewn, instruction 
 is sought, and tvork is wished for, then let the latter be 
 supplied in due proportion. I have elseAvhere spoken on 
 this subject, and only mention it now to repel the assertion 
 that idleness is induced or encouraged by the Berkshire 
 System.* On the contrary, means best adapted are made use 
 of to call forth a spirit of industry by motives of honesty, which 
 shall be more lasting than the transitory impulse of imme- 
 diate want."f 
 
 Page 406. 
 Often has the writer had cause to regret the interruption to 
 separate confinement in Gloucester Gaol. The following state- 
 ment may prove this in some measure : — There are now in 
 Reading Gaol twelve convicts from Gloucester under sentence 
 of transportation, two of whom were, about three years since, 
 confined in the Penitentiary built under the auspices of Sir G. 
 O. Paul, but in which the discipline had so deteriorated. The 
 account given by one, and confirmed by the other, of the effect 
 
 of their imprisonment, is — "I got acquainted with in the 
 
 prison, and we agreed to go together when set free ; so he came 
 to me when we were discharged. I had four shillings, and 
 when we had spent that, we went and broke into the house. 
 There were two younger lads, one fifteen, the other sixteen 
 years old, who were with me in the Penitentiary, and we all 
 
 went together with ■ . They are now in prison, one for 
 
 twelve, the other for fifteen months." 
 
 * Pris. Discip. i. 185. ii. 88. 
 
 f As the chief argument which Mr. Pearson urged in favour of compulsory 
 labour in prisons was the lessening of the expense of imprisonment, I gladly 
 insert a table shewing the diminution of crime and consequently of punish- 
 ment in Berkshire. For these valuable statistics I am indebted to an excel- 
 lent magistrate, whose constant attention to the working of the system 
 pursued in Reading gaol, has induced him to become the most strenuous 
 advocate for the extension of that reformatory discipline. 
 
 THE END.
 
 London : 
 
 Spottiswoodes and Shaw, 
 
 New-street- Square.
 
 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE STATE OF CRIME TN BERKS. 
 
 1.— A reduction in the number and cost of County Prosecutions at Assizes and Sessions. 
 
 2. — A diminution of the more serious offences. 
 
 3.— The net charge for Reading and Abingdon Prisons for the Last 10 years. 
 
 4. — The state of Criminal Jurisdiction, charge thereupon, nud Commitments; tending to prove that the 
 entire separation of Prisoners, with the adoption of Christian instruction, as the first principle of corrective 
 discipline, has been of public advantage, morally and financially, as compared with the Treadmill or 
 " Hard Labour" system. Variations in government allowances are kept in view throughout, so as to make 
 the comparison between the former and present system strictly just. 
 
 5.— The amount of County and Gaol Rate, and allowances in aid of Rates. 
 
 REDFCTION IN .NUMBER AND COST or PRosECF HONS. 
 
 " Reduction 
 Further saving in cost of Prison Mainteno, 
 
 reduced to this clear extent 
 
 Further saving in Conveyance of Prisoners 
 
 i Number" 
 iCost" .. 
 
 Reduction in Cost under ibis head during the last Four Ye 
 
 ... £9,527 
 
 ... 8,257 
 
 DIMINUTION IN THE MOKE SEKIOI'S OFFENCES. 
 
 Average Annual Dimmmi.m . 
 
 N.B. — This reduction has been maintained. In |H4!» the Assize Prosecutions were 41. An average of the 
 above eight consecutive years shows the cost of Assize Prosecutions to be £17 16s. 7d. each. At 
 Sessions, £10 10b. Id. each.
 
 NET CHARGE FOR READING AND ABINGDON PRISONS FOR THE LAST TEN YEARS. 
 
 
 1*4(1 
 
 1.841 
 
 1842* 
 
 1843* 
 
 1*44* 
 
 1840 
 
 1846 
 
 1847 
 
 1848 
 
 1849 
 
 
 £ 
 
 1993 
 1832 
 
 3825 
 
 £ 
 
 2066 
 1426 
 
 £ 
 1780 
 
 11136 
 
 £ 
 
 182S 
 248 1 
 
 £ 
 2300 
 2005 
 
 £ 
 3221 
 937 
 
 £ 
 3160 
 
 549 
 
 £ 
 
 36.31 
 
 .',211 
 
 1171 
 
 £ 
 2175 
 781 
 
 £ 
 
 2240 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 3492 
 
 34 II. 
 
 3769 
 
 4310 
 
 4158 1 3709 
 
 2956 
 640 
 
 3101 
 
 
 Add, ion compakisos, iht- new allowances in aid ... £ 
 
 635 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tolol ... 
 
 ... £ 
 
 3596 
 
 3736 
 
 CRIMINAL JURISDICTION. CHARGE THEREUPON, AND COMMITMENTS. 
 
 General Committals for 8 years, 1841 to 1848 inclusive 
 
 
 Number. 
 7219 
 
 Of these, there were Tried at Assizes 
 
 „ „ at Quarter Sessions 
 
 430 
 961 
 
 Charge... 7667 
 
 
 „ „ Total number by Jury 
 
 1391 
 
 Ditto ...£17,762 
 
 
 The remainder by Magistrates on summary convictions 
 
 5828 
 
 »0HE. 
 
 
 
 1840 
 
 1841 
 
 1812 
 
 £ 
 
 8610 
 1053 
 
 1843 
 
 1844 
 
 1845 
 
 £ 
 8637 
 850 
 
 9487 
 
 1846 
 
 1847 
 
 1848 
 
 £ 
 
 •7736 
 
 2076 
 640 
 
 IB49 |i!', , :;'.; , \ 
 
 Count Rate 
 
 B £ 
 
 No 
 Return 
 
 £ 
 9578 
 1093 
 
 £ 
 7948 
 1164 
 
 £ 
 8610 
 1121 
 
 £ 
 7984 
 
 788 
 
 £ 
 
 7509 
 1309 
 
 £ £ 
 •7033 7033 
 
 1263 
 635 
 
 Government Allowances ) 
 Ditto fur Maintenance of > 
 
 — " 
 
 10671 
 
 96113 
 
 9112 
 
 9731 
 
 5298 
 
 8772 
 
 8*18 
 
 2737 
 
 10452 
 
 8931 
 
 
 1324 
 
 3986 
 
 2661 
 
 3516 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 
 ... £ 10549 
 
 Highlands, near Reading 
 
 • 
 
 N.B.- 
 
 
 12s. m 18 
 
 18. sod £ 
 ble propoi 
 
 L'lSio |* 
 
 WM 
 
 9. for tlio 
 
 MER 
 Vts 
 
 liTo/l'S. 
 
 5Y, 
 
 -» 
 
 o;Ee, 
 
 ding Gaol.
 
 
 
 NOV 
 
 NOV 
 
 DEC 
 
 JAN 
 
 NOV 
 
 IV' 
 
 A.M. M 
 7 8*f$ 
 
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