HOWARD 
 
 THE PHILANTHROPIST 
 AND HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 JOHN STOUGHTON, D.D. 
 
 Author of "William Penn," "History of Religion in England," etc. 
 
 HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 
 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 MDCCCLXXXIV. 
 [All rights reserved.]
 
 TO 
 
 SAMUEL WHITBREAD, ESQ., 
 M.P. FOR BEDFORD, 
 
 A DISTINGUISHED DESCENDANT OF 
 HOWARD'S HONOURED FRIEND AND RELATIVE, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 IS DEDICATED, WITH PROFOUND RESPECT, 
 
 AND IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT 
 OF ASSISTANCE IN PREPARING IT 
 
 KINDLY RENDERED 
 BY THE WHITBREAD FAMILY. 
 
 1C66594
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 IN the home of my childhood there hung an en- 
 graving of John Howard, visiting a prison cell 
 and relieving the miserable inmates. Underneath 
 were Burke's memorable words, " This Gentleman 
 has visited all Europe, not to survey the sumptuous- 
 ness of palaces or the stateliness of temples, but to 
 dive into the depths of dungeons, to plunge into the 
 infection of hospitals, to take the gauge and dimen- 
 sions of misery, to remember the forgotten, to attend 
 to the neglected." The picture and the words made 
 an indelible impression on my mind, and the sight 
 of them recently, after the lapse of more than sixty 
 years, renewed it in all its vividness. Howard was 
 chief amongst the heroes of my boyhood. I never 
 cared for warriors or sages as I did for him ; and 
 stories of his prison visits were to me a great delight. 
 About thirty years since I was requested by my 
 friend, the late Rev. William Alliott, of Bedford, to 
 prepare a memorial of the philanthropist, to be de- 
 livered at an anniversary of Howard Chapel. Relics 
 were shown and traditions were related on the occa- 
 sion. They revived the image of my early favourite,
 
 ADVER TISEMENT. 
 
 and led to a new examination of his works and of his 
 ways. It struck me, that though eulogies in abund- 
 ance had been pronounced on his achievements, full 
 justice had not been done to his religious peculiari- 
 ties, his ecclesiastical relations, and certain aspects 
 of his personal character. A few years ago, when re- 
 leased from pastoral engagements, I resumed these 
 studies, arranging illustrations I had gathered and 
 recording conclusions I had reached. The MS. was 
 laid aside for reasons I need not relate ; but during 
 the past year my publishers urged me to resume the 
 task, as former Lives of Howard were most of them 
 out of print and failed to meet the increasing taste 
 for biographical literature. 
 
 What I have written is based upon an examina- 
 tion of original authorities, including Howard's own 
 works, which are really biographical ; a view of his 
 "Character and Public Services," published by Dr. 
 Aiken ; and Funeral Sermons preached by ministers 
 who were his personal friends. In periodical litera- 
 ture soon after his death, and in the industrious 
 collection of what could be gathered respecting him 
 at the time by Dr. James Baldwin Brown, in Me- 
 moirs originally published in 1818, may be found 
 all the leading facts of the philanthropist's history ; 
 but an important addition to the number of his let- 
 ters was made by the Rev. J. Field, in a small book 
 entitled " Correspondence of Howard, 1855," now out 
 of print and difficult to be obtained.
 
 AD VERTISEMENT. 
 
 Popular Lives of varied merit have been written 
 by Dixon, Field, and Taylor ; and views of Howard's 
 services are furnished by Mr. Bellows and Dr. Guy. 
 
 Howard's friends and followers deserve to have 
 their names associated with his, and therefore brief 
 notices respecting them are incorporated in this 
 volume. His friends, for the most part, are little 
 known ; but I have had the good fortune to gain in- 
 formation respecting those of them who were ministers 
 of religion, from a large collection of Funeral Sermons 
 in the library of New College. Of Mr. Whitbread, 
 Howard's great friend, I have learned much from 
 Lady Isabella Whitbread, who most kindly placed 
 before me at Southill, family documents, throwing 
 light on his beautiful character and also upon matters 
 relating to Howard himself and his unhappy son. 
 
 For much interesting information relative to 
 Howard's connection with Bedford, I am indebted to 
 the late Rev. W. Alliott, and also to the Rev. John 
 Brown, the present minister of Bunyan Meeting in 
 that town. 
 
 My descriptions of Howard's homes and haunts 
 are derived from visits to them at different periods ; 
 and my best thanks are due to General Mills and 
 Miss Whitbread for their courteous assistance when 
 I was last at Cardington. From descendants of Mr. 
 Prole, Howard's servant, I learned much when ram- 
 bling about the neighbourhood in 1852. 
 
 I make no apology for connecting personal remi-
 
 vi ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 niscences of foreign travel with the records of 
 Howard's journeys ; as, with the exception of 
 Northern Europe, almost all the places referred to 
 in his books and letters it has been my privilege 
 to visit several of them repeatedly.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. BOYHOOD . . . . . . " . i 
 
 II. SELF-EDUCATION ', . 9 
 
 III. His FIRST MARRIAGE 22 
 
 IV. SECOND MARRIAGE 32 
 
 V. ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS 75 
 
 VI. SHRIEVALTY 90 
 
 VII. BEDFORD ELECTION 109 
 
 VIII. PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME . . . .122 
 IX. PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD . . . .160 
 X. LATER RESEARCHES . . ... . .196 
 
 XI. LAZARETTOS , . 215 
 
 XII. AUTHORSHIP 265 
 
 XIII. LATER PRIVATE LIFE 280 
 
 XIV. His LAST JOURNEY . . . . .308 
 XV. HOWARD'S CHARACTER . . . . .333 
 
 XVI. HOWARD'S MANTLE . . . . . .349
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BOYHOOD. 
 1726-1/42. 
 
 MOST persons, when standing under the dome 
 of St. Paul's Cathedral, are attracted by a 
 conspicuous statue to the left, as they enter the choir. 
 Attired in Roman costume, with sandaled feet, a key 
 in one hand, a scroll in the other, broken chains ly- 
 ing on the top of a pedestal the figure would scarcely, 
 even with the latter device, suggest the man it is 
 intended to represent, were it not for the inscribed 
 nameJOHN HOWARD. His real appearance strangely 
 differed from such a classic ideal. His character did 
 not rest on the study of Roman or Greek literature, 
 he felt no admiration for its philosophers or poets, 
 and was utterly devoid of sympathy with its triumph- 
 ant warriors. His simplicity and naturalness pre- 
 sented a contrast to the guise and attitude assigned 
 by the sculptor. 
 
 An epitaph, composed by his friend, Samuel Whit- 
 bread, M.P., informs us that Howard was born at 
 Hackney, in the County of Middlesex in the year 
 1726. It may be presumed that he had authority for 
 this statement; yet successive biographers give different 
 accounts as to the place and date of the philanthro- 
 pist's birth. According to an unsupported tradition, 
 he first saw the light at Cardington. His earliest 
 
 B
 
 2 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Biographer, 1 who was on terms of intimate acquaint- 
 ance, informs us that his father had a house, first at 
 Enfield, and afterwards at Hackney ; adding " It 
 was, / believe, at the former of these places, that Mr. 
 Howard was born." With this statement agrees the 
 testimony of a second witness " well acquainted with 
 him." On the other hand, writers, soon after his 
 death, speak of him as born at Clapton; within the 
 parish of Hackney ; one of them cites Howard's 
 authority to that effect. This, I think, in connection 
 with the inscription in St. Paul's, sufficiently settles 
 the point. The years 1724 and 1727 have been 
 assigned as the period of his birth ; but the date 1726 
 on the monument is confirmed by the words of a 
 person, who stated that Howard told him in 1787, he 
 was then sixty-one years of age. 
 
 John Stowe, in his " Survey of London," remarks : 
 " On the north side of the priory of St. Bartholomew 
 is a lane truly called Long, which reacheth from 
 Smithfield to Aldersgate Street ; built on both sides 
 with tenements for brokers, tipplers, and such-like." 
 After Stowe's time, the brokers predominated ; and 
 an annotator upon Strype describes Long Lane as 
 " a place of note for the sale of apparel, linen, uphol- 
 sterers' goods, both second-hand and new, but chiefly 
 old." It is more than probable, many a thrifty trades- 
 man in that neighbourhood made a decent fortune ; 
 but no gains were ever turned to such a use as those 
 acquired by one citizen, who lived there in the first 
 quarter of the last century. For John Howard's 
 father was partner in a firm that had " a very con- 
 siderable upholstery and carpet business " somewhere 
 1 Dr. Aiken.
 
 BOYHOOD. 
 
 about the corner of Long Lane ; and he so prospered 
 that he was fined for refusing to serve as Sheriff in 
 1739, when the son had reached the age of thirteen. 
 A fortune inherited from his parent mainly contributed 
 to the resources on which he drew so largely in his 
 memorable career. 
 
 The elder Howard was a decidedly pious man. "He 
 maintained," we are informed, "great order and regu- 
 larity in his house ; and to his constant observance 
 of the Sabbath, and of the duty of family prayer, his 
 son, perhaps, was indebted for that piety which ever 
 after formed a distinguished feature in his character." 
 Whether the worthy upholsterer retired from busi- 
 ness before or after his son's birth, is not clear ; but 
 if the conclusion adopted as to the birth-place of the 
 latter be correct, it would seem likely that the family 
 at the time were living, not in the city, but amidst 
 Clapton green fields. In a still more rustic locality 
 however he spent his earliest years, for he turned out 
 a sickly child ; and after his mother's death, of whom 
 we can gather nothing except that her maiden name 
 was Cholmley, and that she died soon after his birth, 
 he was taken to Cardington, where his father held 
 some property. Nursed there by the wife of John 
 Prole, of whom I shall have much to say hereafter, 
 he derived benefit from country breezes and whole- 
 some diet; this village, three miles from Bedford, 
 became the scene of his early boyhood, whilst the 
 old trees, the older church, and the winding Ouse 
 older still, formed the background of his earliest 
 recollections. 
 
 When of sufficient age, he was sent to the town of 
 Hertford, and placed under the tuition of a school-
 
 4 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 master named Worsley. This person is said by some 
 to have been a " good Greek scholar ; " but, whether 
 through the master's fault or the pupil's inaptitude, 
 or, it might be, through directions from the parent, 
 who did not wish him to be classically drilled, the 
 lad learned little ; for it is reported by Dr. Aiken, 
 that in later life, he declared, " with more indignation 
 than he commonly expressed, how, after a continuance 
 of seven years at this school, he left it, not fairly 
 taught one thing." l 
 
 The elder Howard dwelt in the parish of Hackney, 
 celebrated as the residence of Dr. Bates ; of Matthew 
 Henry after he left Chester ; and of other Noncon- 
 formist celebrities. His principles, for he was an In- 
 dependent, would be strengthened by the traditions 
 and social atmosphere of the neighbourhood ; and it 
 was a natural thing for him to entrust his son's educa- 
 tion to a member of his own communion. Dr. Aiken 
 speaks of this schoolmaster, as " extremely deficient 
 in qualifications requisite for such an office," and of 
 opulent Dissenters amongst Independents as pecu- 
 liarly liable to misplace confidence in defective 
 teachers. We can imagine the pupil at Hertford as 
 thin and fragile, with a benevolent countenance, 
 prominent nose, bright eyes, and thin lips, the last 
 showing he had a will of his own ; hair cut short in 
 front, and curled behind, his clothes like a court dress 
 in miniature they complete the boy's portrait. 
 
 The next step in his education requires more ex- 
 planation than it has received from his biographers. 
 The Act of Uniformity in 1662 excluded Noncon- 
 
 1 A View of the Characer and Public Services of the late John 
 Howard, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S. By John Aiken, M.D.
 
 BOYHOOD. 
 
 formists from the national seats of learning ; and 
 therefore they had to provide for the further instruc- 
 tion of their sons, after leaving ordinary schools, as 
 best they could. Hence arose Academies, as they 
 were called not like our boys' schools, not like col- 
 leges of the present day ; but of an intermediate 
 kind, generally, if not always, so conducted as to in- 
 clude ministerial and lay pupils. Several Institutions 
 of this kind existed in the country ; those of the first 
 period were, with two exceptions, under the care of 
 Puritan clergymen ejected from the Establishment. 
 Those of the second period, down to the middle of 
 the eighteenth century, had presiding over them mi- 
 nisters educated in Scotch and other Universities, or 
 trained in private for the office they fulfilled. Acade- 
 mies had no Councils or Committees to support them, 
 though help might be afforded by affluent friends. It 
 is a misnomer to dignify the instructors with modern 
 titles. In some cases there was only one tutor ; in 
 others, there were not more than two. 
 
 Misapprehensions of their nature are followed by 
 defective notions of the education they could afford. 
 Theology was by no means an exclusive study. 
 Greek, Latin, and mathematics came within the cur- 
 riculum. At Kibworth, where Dr. Doddridge was 
 educated, a liberal course was pursued. " The Greek 
 poets," says that accomplished scholar, " which gave 
 us the most employment, were Theocritus, Homer, 
 and Pindar." 
 
 More than one of these Academies existed in 
 London, and that which is connected with the history 
 of Howard, was for a time under the care of Thomas 
 Rowe, of Newington Green, son of John Rowe, one
 
 6 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 of the ministers at Westminster Abbey during the 
 Commonwealth. Among Thomas Rowe's pupils was 
 Dr. Watts. Rowe's successors included Dr. Ridgley, 
 with whom was associated, as tutor in philosophy 
 and languages, John Eames. He is described 
 as Howard's tutor. Eames was a man of singular 
 ability and of unusual attainments. After passing 
 through Merchant Taylors' school, he prepared for 
 the ministry, but did not enter a pulpit more than 
 once : nervousness, coupled with defective utterance, 
 produced an utter failure on the occasion. He 
 consequently gave up all idea of being a preacher. 
 His talents and attainments, however, fitting him for 
 educational work, he assisted, and then succeeded, 
 Dr. Ridgley, who died in 1734. He continued tutor 
 until his death, in 1744. He distinguished himself 
 in scientific pursuits ; and being favoured with the 
 acquaintance of Sir Isaac Newton, that philosopher 
 introduced him to the Royal Society, of which he was 
 elected member. So great was his scholarship, that 
 Dr. Watts said to one of his students, " Your tutor 
 is the most learned man I ever knew." He numbered 
 amongst his pupils, Dr. Furneaux, Dr. Savage, and 
 Dr. Price; and he is said also, at one time, to have 
 had under his care Thomas Seeker, aftenvards Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. 
 
 Certainly Howard was placed for a short time under 
 the tuition of Mr. Eames ; but whether as private 
 pupil or as one in common with others under his care, 
 I cannot say. 1 Dr. Price, one of the theological stu- 
 
 1 Dr. Brown has confounded the Institution presided over 
 by Mr. Eames, with the Academy supported by Mr. Coward, a 
 London Merchant. Howard did not study there.
 
 BOYHOOD. 
 
 dents, is known to have been his companion; and 
 companionship between them ripened into friendship. 
 What exactly were Mr. Eames' opinions I cannot 
 ascertain, but he is described as of "a candid and 
 liberal disposition, and a friend to free inquiry, which 
 exposed him to much opposition and uneasiness from 
 some narrow-minded persons." His piety, however, is 
 attested by Dr. Watts, in a singular remark, after his 
 friend's death, " What a change did Mr. Eames ex- 
 perience, but a few hours between his lecturing to his 
 pupils, and his hearing the lectures of angels." Never- 
 theless, I question whether this excellent man had 
 quite the same cast of religious sentiment as we shall 
 find strongly expressed in the correspondence of his 
 distinguished pupil. 
 
 What Mr. Eames did for Howard's education, I am 
 at a loss to determine; for Dr. Aiken says, "he was 
 never able to speak or write his native language with 
 grammatical correctness, and that his acquaintance 
 with other languages the French perhaps excepted 
 was slight and superficial." On the other hand, Dr. 
 Stennett, on whose ministry Howard attended when 
 in London, affirmed that his understanding and judg- 
 ment " were enriched and improved by a variety of 
 useful knowledge. And, as he had a taste for polite 
 literature, so he was well versed in most of the modern 
 languages, which he took no small pains to acquire, 
 that he might be the better enabled to carry his be- 
 nevolent purposes into effect." l What Aiken says 
 respecting Howard's mode of writing English is per- 
 
 1 "A Sermon occasioned by the death of John Howard, Esq." 
 What opportunities the two authors had of forming these opin- 
 ions, will appear hereafter.
 
 8 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 fectly correct ; but I feel some doubt, as to what he 
 tells us about Howard's acquaintance with languages, 
 since Dr. Stennett, who knew him intimately, gives a 
 different account ; surely Howard must have known 
 much of other tongues besides his own, or he could 
 never have conversed with foreigners in the way he 
 did. Instances of such conversation we shall meet 
 with in future chapters. Moreover, I should infer 
 from Stennett's statement, that Howard must in early 
 life have laid the foundation of subsequent attain- 
 ments. My impression is, when the two testimonies 
 are balanced, that his education was not so imperfect 
 as appears from the one, nor so complete as we might 
 conclude from the other. Perhaps he was one of those 
 who, with plenty of mental vigour in other directions, 
 have a natural incapacity for acquiring much " school 
 learning," but who nevertheless learn enough to form 
 the basis of subsequent acquirements. 
 
 The school-boy was bound apprentice to Alderman 
 Newnham, a grocer in Watling Street ; and hence, to 
 other memories which pleasantly haunt the streets of 
 London, we may add this of the grocer's apprentice 
 passing along that thoroughfare. The old city near 
 London Bridge, has become familiar through engrav- 
 ings and descriptions ; and we are at no loss to pic- 
 ture the apprentice looking about him and making 
 his observations, as he rambled under the shadow of 
 the Monument and past the Boar's Head in East- 
 heap.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SELF-EDUCA T 1 N. 
 I742-I75I. 
 
 HOWARD'S father died in September, 1742; and 
 being left without parents, with no relation 
 near enough to exercise a strong personal influence 
 over him, the son to a great extent became his own 
 master. He was entitled to a fair fortune for those 
 days seven thousand pounds in money, with plate 
 and furniture falling to his share. That sum was to 
 be paid when he came of age ; and being residuary 
 legatee of his father's property, after payment of 
 eight thousand pounds to his only sister, he had the 
 prospect of temporal prosperity. The executors were 
 Lawrence Channing, husband to the testator's sister ; 
 Ive Whitbread of Cardington, related to the deceased ; 
 and Lewin Cholmley, a friend and connection of 
 Howard's mother. These gentlemen had so much 
 confidence in the youth, then only seventeen years 
 old, that they gave him considerable power over the 
 management of his possessions. 
 
 He was now his own master a perilous position 
 for most young men of his age ; but it is evident that 
 those who knew him' best were convinced he would 
 not abuse the freedom they entrusted in his hands. 
 It would seem as if he had been well schooled in 
 filial obedience, if not in other things, for he had sub-
 
 io HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 mitted to commercial drudgery, with no liking for 
 scales and ledgers, for hogsheads of sugar and chests 
 of tea; and we find him, when he could do as he 
 pleased, obtaining release from his indentures. At 
 once he attended to the preservation and improve- 
 ment of his patrimony. 
 
 The Clapton house, left by old Mr. Howard, came 
 into his possession. It is described in 1790 as "a 
 venerable mansion, though decayed and disfigured ;" 
 situated on the western side of the village street ; 
 soon after that date it was pulled down. It stood in 
 need of repair when the young man first called it 
 his own ; and he did not fail to do with it what was 
 necessary in the way of repairs. 
 
 A story is handed down, one of several traditions 
 which will appear in this volume, exhibiting a 
 curious combination of benevolence and eccentricity 
 in Howard's character. A gardener, whose Chris- 
 tian name was Henry, liked to tell, when he was 
 ninety years old and John Howard had won a world- 
 wide fame, how his old master's son might be seen 
 close to a buttress of the garden wall, waiting for the 
 baker as he drove by in his little cart. When the 
 youth had bought a loaf of the man, he would fling 
 it over the wall, and, with a laugh, call out to the 
 servant, " Harry, see if there be not something for 
 you among the cabbages." The frolicsomeness of 
 the lad bore a kindly stamp ; and the regularity of 
 his appearance, exactly when the cart came up, in- 
 dicated his ingrained punctuality. , Generosity, order, 
 and a spice of fun were elements in the philanthropist 
 from beginning to end. 
 
 He did not make the Clapton house his home ;
 
 SELF-ED UCA TION. 
 
 that was let, and before he fixed on a residence, he 
 underwent an important process, which it is necessary 
 carefully to detail, as it prepared him for the work 
 of his after life. It was a process of self-education, 
 not carried on with any consciousness of what would 
 follow, but making up for school deficiencies. 
 
 " The world was all before him, where to choose 
 A place of rest, and Providence his guide." 
 
 Providence was his guide, and he was led into a 
 noble "rest," a rest of conscience and of soul, in 
 doing a great work appointed by God, and never to 
 be accomplished without His help and blessing. 
 " The way of man is not in himself, and it is not in 
 man that walketh to direct his path." The true pic- 
 ture of life, with a human being in the fore front, 
 fulfilling a destiny, requires a grand background, with 
 a Divine presence and guardianship throwing a 
 shadow across the path, and guiding the traveller 
 step by step ; as Murillo, in his charming picture by 
 the door of Seville Cathedral, represents an Angel 
 leading a child in a way he knows not. So I think of 
 Howard at that critical era of his life. 
 
 We find him, soon after his emancipation from 
 business, starting on a Continental tour. No mention 
 is made of this in some early biographical sketches ; 
 but, as Dr. Aiken speaks of the circumstance in a 
 decided tone, there exists no room for doubt on the 
 subject Delicate health had probably something to 
 do with the motives which prompted this journey. As 
 repeatedly, in notices of his early life, there are refer- 
 ences indicating that he was far from robust, a change 
 of air might be thought beneficial ; but besides that,
 
 12 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 I think he must early have been fond of travelling, 
 as we have records of four Continental journeys be- 
 fore he entered upon his memorable prison tours. He 
 evidently liked the change and excitement of travel. 
 It seems to have been almost the only recreation in 
 which he indulged ; that it was, in some instances at 
 least, to him a delightful recreation, is obvious, not- 
 withstanding the unselfish and heroic ends which he 
 proposed to himself in his later expeditions. If in those 
 days great difficulty existed in moving from place to 
 place, there also prevailed an idea, that to visit distant 
 capitals, and learn their manners and customs, was 
 desirable, if not indispensable, for a gentleman's edu- 
 cation. It is possible even that young Howard might 
 regard a Continental tour as adapted to make up for 
 educational defects, and to improve his knowledge 
 of languages French in particular. He was fond of 
 change, and had that innate love of novelty which 
 often grows stronger as years advance. 
 
 At all events, this is plain, that he started for 
 France and Italy when he was between eighteen and 
 twenty years old. How he travelled, whether alone 
 or in company, we are not informed. 
 
 As a defective education is attributed to him, so he 
 is considered to have been wanting in artistic taste. 
 Burke's eulogium may be regarded by some as coun- 
 tenancing the idea. Here, again, conclusions are 
 drawn too hastily. He is known to have had a col- 
 lection of pictures in his house at Cardington. His 
 house at Cardington, it is said by some one, " was 
 better filled with paintings and drawings than any 
 other on a small scale that he ever saw." l We shall 
 1 Robt. Hall's Works, iv. 17.
 
 SELF-ED UCA TTON. 1 3 
 
 meet hereafter with several indications that, in his 
 benevolent tours he was net blind to the charms of 
 Art, though he would not allow them to have suprem- 
 acy over his mind. Some have thought he bought 
 pictures on this first journey, which is quite possible ; 
 it is also possible that he procured them afterwards, 
 when he had more ample means at his disposal. 
 
 On his return to England, he went to live at Stoke 
 Newington, not much improved in health, but with 
 sufficient strength to enable him to pursue a course 
 of study which helped to make up for lost time. If 
 not a scholar, he was fond of books. Unable to 
 construe with ease either Greek or Latin, he liked 
 to read English ; and he availed himself of leisure 
 for that purpose. Also he had a decided taste for 
 science, which the example and attainments of his 
 master, John Eames, would tend to stimulate. Natural 
 philosophy, in its more popular branches, and even 
 the practice of medicine, occupied a considerable 
 amount of his attention ; the latter became of essen- 
 tial service on many occasions in his benevolent 
 career. Howard had considerable powers of observa- 
 tion, and by the accumulation of natural facts, and 
 the watchful notice of men and things, he educated 
 himself more efficiently than many do who have won 
 honours at a University. 
 
 At Stoke Newington he suffered from nervous 
 fever, and only through prescribed diet of a simple 
 kind, and the utmost self-discipline, did he overcome 
 perils which beset his early days. Horse exercise, 
 it is said, was added to other means of improving 
 health ; and around this simple circumstance stories 
 have gathered to the effect, that he rode in the
 
 14 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 morning to a common a few miles off, with some 
 book in his pocket, and that, sitting down to read, he 
 would leave the animal to graze on the surrounding 
 herbage. Much mythical history grows around illus- 
 trious names, and our hero did not escape the com- 
 mon fate ; yet this not improbable story points to 
 the fact, that he was fond of reading, and liked it 
 better than joining a shooting party, or following the 
 hounds. 
 
 At the time he lived in Newington he was thought 
 to be consumptive ; and his " rigorous regimen " is 
 reported to have produced extraordinary habits of 
 abstinence ever afterwards. He suffered from ner- 
 vous fever, and on that account visited Bristol Hot 
 Wells, and after drinking the waters would walk 
 under the rocks by the side of the Avon, and wander 
 about the breezy Downs. 
 
 But Newington was his home till about 1755. It 
 does not appear in what spiritual state of mind he 
 was at that period. There are decisive proofs of 
 evangelical convictions in his letters and journals ; 
 but whether by a sudden change he reached them, 
 or whether he resembled a child, " who cannot tell 
 when he first began to love his father," it is impos- 
 sible to determine ; it is likely, however, that parental 
 influence contributed to fix that decision of character 
 which continued to the end of his days. 
 
 Stoke Newington, like Hackney, was noted for 
 Dissenters ; the " Green," still retaining tints of its 
 early social colour, used to be called "the favourite 
 seat of Dissenting Muses," for there Theophilus Gale 
 and Charles Morton educated young men ; and 
 amongst them were Samuel Wesley, father of John
 
 SELF-ED UCA TION. 1 5 
 
 and Charles, and another celebrity of a different 
 class Daniel de Foe. Dr. Price, at a later time, 
 preached at a Presbyterian Meeting House on the 
 same green ; and in the old street to the north stood 
 an Independent place of worship, of which I have 
 a recollection as it appeared fifty years ago. It had 
 a small pulpit surmounted by a large sounding 
 board ; tall-backed pews and a heavy gallery even 
 then told of earlier days. The exterior presented 
 blank walls pierced by ugly windows and an ugly door, 
 whilst a high-pitched roof stamped the whole with a 
 barn-like look. The original edifice had been taken 
 down to make way for the new mansion of Sir 
 Thomas Abney, and the place just referred to was 
 erected about 1700. In that building Howard wor- 
 shipped, and of the Church there he became a member. 
 During the period of Howard's residence in 
 Newington, Abney House, which occupied part of 
 the ground now enclosed within Abney Park Ceme- 
 tery, was in its perfection an old fashioned edifice, 
 with a brick front, within high garden walls, faced by 
 a quaint iron gate, redolent of the reign of William 
 III. and Queen Anne. Inside, it was full of cumbrous 
 furniture, and from the windows could be seen a wide- 
 spreading garden, with noble trees and trimly-cut 
 shrubs, tulips, roses, and manifold English flowers. 
 There lived Dame Abney, relict of the famous Lord 
 Mayor, Sir Thomas Abney, with her daughter Sarah, 
 both pious women, addicted to works of benevolence. 
 There also resided the poet, philosopher, and divine 
 Isaac Watts. One day the Countess of Huntingdon 
 called on him. " Madam," said he, " your Ladyship 
 is come to see me on a very remarkable day." " Why
 
 16 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 so remarkable ? " she asked. " This day, thirty years 
 since, I came hither to the house of my good friend, 
 Sir Thomas Abney, intending to spend but one single 
 week under his friendly roof, and I have extended 
 my visit to the length of exactly thirty years." "Sir," 
 added the hostess, " what you have termed a long 
 thirty years' visit, I consider as the shortest visit my 
 family ever received." The family were members of 
 Dr. Watts' Church, at Bury Street But probably 
 the Doctor with his hostess and her daughter some- 
 times worshipped in the neighbouring Meeting House, 
 which seems to have been connected with the Abney 
 estate. A young person like Howard living near, for 
 a few years before the death of Watts, and a longer 
 space before the death of Dame Abney, could not 
 fail to become acquainted with so distinguished a 
 circle. It was inevitable that they should be thrown 
 into each others' society ; for then Dissenters were 
 much more clannish than they are now. Persecution 
 in former days had brought them together. And in 
 the middle of the last century they recalled stories 
 of sufferers for conscience sake, who, in that very 
 neighbourhood, had been imprisoned, or mulcted in 
 heavy fines, under Charles II. and his brother James. 
 Though comparatively halcyon days had dawned 
 after the Revolution, the clouds had returned after 
 the rain, under Queen Anne. Memories of trouble 
 were bonds of union ; they bound together the Dis- 
 senters in Newington, as members of the same 
 religious family. 
 
 Watts could not but be a centre of attraction, and 
 he brought to Newington many a visitor. We learn 
 much respecting his home and his friendships, and
 
 SELF-ED UCA TION. 1 7 
 
 more a great deal would be known by young Howard 
 when in that vicinity. Watts had a study much 
 talked of with lines from Horace over the door ; 
 and the mantlepiece and shelves laden with books of 
 every kind. Thither came Dr. Doddridge, younger 
 than Watts, but not destined to survive him more 
 than three years. The two Divines grew into each 
 others' hearts ; and I have heard from the lips of a 
 son to the gentleman who witnessed the incident, 
 how the venerable bard, oppressed by infirmities, rose 
 from his chair to take leave of Doddridge for the last 
 time, whilst the latter stretched out his arms, as if, 
 like Elisha, he was endeavouring to catch the mantle 
 of an ascending prophet. There too was often seen 
 Dr. Gibbons, then a youthful pastor at Haberdashers' 
 Hall. And others outside the circle of Nonconformity 
 were visitants, especially Mr. Speaker Onslow, who 
 went down in his coach with a few others, to take 
 leave of Watts just before his death. Some of these 
 notabilities Howard would personally know, and of 
 them all he certainly heard. Influence proceeding 
 from these associations contributed to form the re- 
 ligious character which to the end of life he exem- 
 plified, and that is the reason for my specifying them 
 here. 
 
 I like to think of the young man coming in contact 
 with one who had made his mark on English Litera- 
 ture ; of the two talking about Sir Thomas Abney, 
 whom Howard's father, a Dissenting nominee for the 
 shrievalty of London, must have known; and of his 
 receiving the venerable sage's advice, as they took a 
 turn together down shady avenues in the garden and 
 the park. 
 
 c
 
 1 8 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 It is not certain by whom the religious society, 
 worshipping in the meeting house described, was 
 originally formed. The earliest pastor was Joseph 
 Cawthorne, ejected from Stamford ; but in 1752, 
 Meredith Townshend became pastor, and remained 
 with the Church in that capacity until, from age and 
 infirmity, he felt compelled to resign his charge in 
 1789, a year before the death of Howard. He had 
 been an assistant for a short time to Dr. Watts at 
 Bury Street ; and his religious sentiments, we are 
 told, "proceeded much upon the plan" of that Divine. 
 We learn further, that he faithfully preached the 
 Gospel " in a practical way ;" that his sermons were 
 plain, serious, and earnest ; that his addresses at the 
 Lord's Supper were pathetic ; that he took an affec- 
 tionate interest in young people ; that his habits were 
 unassuming and his conversation was instructive. 
 In consequence of his prudence and peaceableness, 
 " he had not an enemy living or dying." His death 
 is said to have been in accordance with his life. 
 Often had he been heard to exclaim, "Oh that it 
 might please God to permit me quietly to slip away 
 without any noise or bustle ! " It did so please 
 God. The good man was heard one morning pray- 
 ing at intervals till four o'clock ; soon afterwards his 
 daughter found "his eyes closed and his breath de- 
 parted." He expired at Bath in 1801, aged 87. 
 
 These particulars are interesting in connection 
 with our biography, because between Meredith and 
 Howard an affectionate friendship sprung up, and 
 we shall find Meredith visiting Howard after he left 
 Newington. He was likely to win the love and con- 
 fidence of the young gentleman who attended his
 
 SELF-EDUCATION. 19 
 
 ministry, and who was by him received into Church 
 fellowship soon after 1752. Howard's connection 
 with the Newington congregation remained until he 
 died ; for it used to be common amongst Dissenters 
 to have their names retained on the roll where they 
 were first inscribed. When people moved from place 
 to place, they were unwilling, they said, to " forsake 
 their first love." In all his wanderings he regarded 
 that unattractive meeting house as his spiritual home. 
 Sympathies, in his case, however, were not contracted 
 within local limits, for in different' ways he largely 
 assisted benevolent objects in the neighbourhood and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 The period between seventeen and twenty-five, 
 especially in the life of a young man left in the world 
 his own master, cannot but be a critical era, owing to 
 temptations which surround his path. The present 
 chapter covers that period ; and if ever eight years 
 occurred, full of more than ordinary danger to one in 
 Howard's circumstances, they came between 1742 and 
 1750. To say nothing of its being a time of political 
 unsettlement, when English rule was shaken to its 
 foundations, for in 1745 nobody knew whether the 
 House of Hanover or the Stuart Dynasty was to 
 occupy the throne, it must be remembered that just 
 then the controversy between Deism and Christianity 
 was rife ; publications denying the claims of the 
 Gospel and the Resurrection of our Saviour were 
 issuing from the press ; and with these were coupled 
 others of a specious description, which, whilst paying 
 compliments in one way, were in other ways digging 
 up the corner stones of our holy faith. Gambling and 
 duelling were common amongst the upper classes.
 
 20 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Works of fiction made people familiar with scenes 
 and incidents thoroughly immoral. The stage pro- 
 duced spectacles unfriendly to domestic virtue. Dis- 
 sipated young men ran to uncommon excesses of vice 
 and riot, and lay in wait to catch others within their 
 fatal toils. London abounded in besetments of this 
 sort ; and to them it is plain enough that Howard, 
 with his independent fortune, living near the me- 
 tropolis where he had been born and bred, was par- 
 ticularly exposed. 
 
 The period was one, not only of danger, but of 
 self-education, which happily brought him safely 
 through. Defects in the tuition of earlier years were, 
 to a considerable extent, supplied ; but more than 
 that, intellectual, moral, and religious habits were 
 formed, which proved, not only safeguards, but forces 
 productive of a grand character in himself, and of 
 immense benefits to mankind. Travel, study, friend- 
 ship, were the main methods of this successful culture. 
 He became a traveller, almost as soon as he ceased to 
 be an apprentice. Something of the Ulysses bent 
 something of a mood in which discoverers fulfil their 
 mission, striving to break ice round the pole, or to 
 reach the source of African rivers, is visible in the 
 Howard of later years ; and in these early times we 
 see him making an experimental trip, which must 
 have involved discipline very useful to him in after 
 expeditions. He was fond of reading, of studying 
 nature, and of making experiments, the consequence 
 of which will presently appear ; and in intercourse 
 afforded him in the Newington suburb, he discovered 
 further means of personal improvement, which- he was 
 not slow to appropriate and apply. Above all, in this
 
 SELF-ED UCA TION. 
 
 momentous course of self-education, when we find him 
 giving himself to the service of God, and making 
 public profession of faith in the Saviour, the leaves 
 of life become stamped with a Divine signature, which 
 prepares for words of truth and deeds of sacrifice, such 
 as cover and illuminate the record, page after page, to 
 the melancholy yet glorious end.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HIS FIRST MARRIAGE. 
 I75I-I756. 
 
 "pIOGRAPHERS of Howard are much puzzled 
 JD about dates. What space intervened between his 
 return to England and the next important event of 
 his life, cannot be decided. But when he was about 
 the age of twenty-five he married ; and that marriage 
 has given rise to much remark. The circumstances 
 which led to it certainly were uncommon. 
 
 Lodgings which he first occupied in the village of 
 Stoke Newington not proving convenient, and the 
 attention shown by his landlady not meeting his 
 wants or his wishes, he removed to apartments in the 
 house of Mrs. Sarah Loidore (or Lardeau), a widow 
 residing in Church Street, who seems to have taken 
 much interest in her lodger ; and, as his delicate health 
 required, nursed him with extraordinary care. She 
 thus won unbounded thankfulness, which he expressed 
 in an extraordinary way. The widow had reached 
 the mature age of fifty-two, and Howard was scarcely 
 half as old ; but as he had some strange notions, which, 
 when they took the shape of duty, became irresistible, 
 he considered he could not justly repay his hostess 
 by anything short of an offer of marriage. Evidently 
 a conscientious sense of obligation led him to take
 
 HIS FIRST MARRIAGE. 23 
 
 this singular step. He who from a calm principle 
 of benevolence afterwards consecrated himself to the 
 reformation of a village, and then to the reformation 
 of the prison world, now from a calm principle of 
 gratitude resolved to employ himself for her welfare 
 who had promoted his. It is amusing to find in a 
 pamphlet entitled, "The Life of the late John Howard, 
 Esq., with a Review of his Travels," the following 
 statement, in which the writer, one would think, must 
 have largely drawn upon imagination : " On the first 
 opportunity, he expressed his sentiments to her in the 
 strongest terms of affection, assuring her that if she 
 rejected his proposal, he would become an exile for 
 ever to his family and friends. The lady was upwards 
 of forty, in fact upwards of fifty, and therefore urged 
 the disagreement of their years, as well as their cir- 
 cumstances ; but after allowing her twenty-four hours, 
 for a final reply, his eloquence surmounted all her ob- 
 stacles, and she consented to a union wherein grati- 
 tude was to supply the deficiency of passion." This 
 story of an ardent lover and his mistress would no 
 doubt have amazed and displeased the persons to 
 whom it referred ; but it was not made public until 
 1790, when both of them were in their graves. Then 
 the idea of it, in the history of so illustrious a man 
 as the great philanthropist, attracted general attention 
 and created no little amusement. 
 
 It is, however, certain that the match proved a 
 happy one ; and when the lady suffered from illness, 
 her husband did everything in his power to promote 
 her comfort. The same enthusiastic chronicler from 
 whom we have now quoted, proceeds to inform us 
 that Howard uniformly behaved to his wife with the
 
 24 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 greatest tenderness, and had been often heard to say, 
 " that he would freely part with a hundred pounds to 
 give her one good night's rest." The small independent 
 property which she possessed, he, with characteristic 
 disinterestedness, settled on her sister. Mrs. Howard 
 is described as "a woman of excellent character, ami- 
 able in her disposition, sincere in her piety, endowed 
 with a good mental capacity, and forward in exercis- 
 ing its powers in every good word and work." And 
 though she belonged to the Communion of the Church 
 of England, a difference in ecclesiastical opinions 
 threw no shadow over their wedded life, for the 
 strongest of bonds existed in their spiritual sympa- 
 thies and their common love to God and Christ. 
 
 The union did not last long. She died on the loth 
 of November, 1755, aged 54, "in hopes of a joyful 
 resurrection through the merits of Jesus Christ"; as 
 appeared from an inscription on her tombstone in 
 the churchyard of St. Mary's, Whitechapel. The same 
 writer who describes the courtship, informs us that 
 after her death Howard more than once declared 
 that were he to marry again, he would prefer just 
 such another person and mind as hers, to all the 
 charms of youth and beauty. Nay, more, he tells us 
 that as " a remembrance of her, he ever after carried 
 about with him, and when alone always used a dessert 
 spoon that had belonged to her." Dr. Brown, in his 
 memoirs gravely states, " The servants of Mr. Howard 
 inform me, that they never saw the spoon, or heard 
 anything of it, which could not have been the case, 
 had he used it so constantly as he is represented to 
 have done." The assertion and the denial are equally 
 amusing.
 
 HIS FIRST MARRIAGE. 
 
 Howard broke up housekeeping at Stoke Newing- 
 ton after his first wife's death, and distributed 
 amongst the poorer housekeepers of the neighbour- 
 hood, such parts of his furniture as he did not want 
 in apartments he took for a temporary residence in 
 St. Paul's Churchyard. The old gardener, to whom 
 he used to throw loaves over the wall, gratefully 
 remembered to the day of his death, that upon his 
 master's removal he had for his dividend, as he was 
 wont to call it, a bedstead and bedding complete, 
 a table, half a dozen chairs, and a new scythe, be- 
 sides receiving a guinea for a single day's work, 
 spent probably in assisting the removal of furniture 
 which his master reserved for his own use. 
 
 Howard's love of travel soon revived. He deter- 
 mined to visit Portugal, devasted by the earthquake 
 f I 755> which occurred shortly before his wife's 
 death. The motive for his expedition has been 
 thus interpreted : " Howard, attracted by reports of 
 the sufferings of the survivors, no sooner found him- 
 self at his own disposal, than he determined to hasten 
 with the utmost speed to their assistance." What- 
 ever might be his object, it was certainly frustrated 
 The high seas were then far from safe privateers 
 were scouring the deep in quest of spoil. This cir- 
 cumstance, according to a not very trustworthy 
 account published in 1790, was urged by "a Dissent- 
 ing minister," Howard's " intimate friend " as a reason 
 for his stopping at home. It was " tempting Provi- 
 dence," said this "intimate friend," "to run such a risk 
 of being taken by some of the ships of France, then 
 at war with this country." At all events, the young 
 widower did not reach Portugal.
 
 26 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 In the first section of his work, on " The State of 
 Prisons," he described what happened at the time. 
 "How they" the French "treat English prisoners 
 of war, I knew by experience in 1756 ; when a Lisbon 
 packet (the Hanover) in which I went passenger, in 
 order to make the tour of Portugal, was taken by 
 a French privateer. Before we reached Brest, I suf- 
 fered the extremity of thirst, not having for above 
 forty hours one drop of water ; nor hardly a morsel of 
 food. In the castle at Brest, I lay six nights upon 
 straw : and observing how cruelly my countrymen 
 were used there, and at Morlaix, whither I was car- 
 ried next ; during the two months I was at Carhaix 
 upon parole, I corresponded with the English pris- 
 oners at Brest, Morlaix, and Dinan. 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 
 perished ; and that thirty-six were buried in a hole at 
 Dinan in one day." 
 
 As this is the first occasion for introducing a quota- 
 tion from Howard's correspondence, and as I shall 
 have to employ extracts hereafter, it may be well, once 
 for all, to make a remark respecting the manner in 
 which his letters are written. Handwriting has 
 been of late years much studied as a key to character. 
 His penmanship was in accordance with his firmness, 
 decision, and boldness of spirit. Nobody can look on 
 what he wrote without seeing that he had a strong 
 will, and that he knew how to carry it into effect. 
 But his style of expression indicates great carelessness ; 
 and his manner of spelling words is certainly of a 
 very unique description. Orthography must have been
 
 HIS FIRST MARRIAGE. 27 
 
 strangely neglected a century earlier, when a noble- 
 man wrote about his clothes as of an " ash culler ;" 
 and a lady of title wrote the word " go " with two 
 additional vowels "gooe" But orthography in every- 
 day communications received more attention in How- 
 ard's time, though nothing like the correctness aimed 
 at in our elementary schools was either attained or 
 attempted. Howard's spelling must be estimated, 
 not by our standard, but by that of his own day ; 
 yet, judged by this rule, it is plain he had never 
 troubled himself much with the use of a dictionary. 
 As to his method of writing the names of foreign 
 towns, one is often puzzled to know what he means. . 
 It would be unsightly as well as worthless, to print 
 literal transcripts from his diary and correspon- 
 dence, and therefore the passages I employ for the 
 illustration of his life are presented in modern spell- 
 ing, and I have not scrupled occasionally to correct 
 small grammatical errors. 
 
 Some further particulars of Howard's captivity are 
 supplied by the Rev. Samuel Palmer, in the Universal 
 Magazine for 1790. After being kept at Brest for 
 some time without food, " a joint of mutton was 
 thrown into the filthy dungeon, which the prisoners 
 were obliged to tear to pieces and gnaw like dogs." 
 At Carhaix, Howard was allowed liberty on parole, 
 upon which he went into lodgings, where the master 
 of the house, though an utter stranger, supplied him 
 with clothes and money, as he had been deprived, at 
 Brest, of all he had. This kind-hearted person sup- 
 ported the stranger on the faith of being paid for it 
 when he should reach England. He was allowed to 
 return on condition of his coming back to France, if
 
 28 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 the Government at home refused to exchange him for 
 a French naval officer. When his friends congratu- 
 lated him on his escape, he desired them to postpone 
 their expressions of joy until he had fulfilled his 
 obligations. Like Regulus, he was ready to resume 
 his captivity, if he could not obtain freedom on the 
 terms to which he was pledged. His word was his 
 bond. 
 
 His sufferings abroad have been attributed to his 
 having "behaved with so much hauteur, so much a 
 r Anglais, to the captain of the privateer." The 
 author of this suggestion in the Gentleman's Maga- 
 zine for 1790 is not to be depended on; but it is quite 
 possible that the high-minded prisoner whatever 
 prudence might have dictated was in no mood to 
 treat with much consideration a man whom he looked 
 upon as not better than a pirate. Howard was not 
 apt to conceal his feelings, and, throughout life, it was 
 a habit with him calmly to speak his mind. 
 
 He thought more of others than himself. " When I 
 came to England, still on parole," he says, " I made 
 known to the Commissioners of Sick and Wounded 
 Seamen, the various particulars (already related), which 
 gained their attention and thanks. Remonstrance 
 was made to the French Court ; our sailors had re- 
 dress ; and those that were in the three prisons men- 
 tioned above " (Brest, Morlaix, and Carhaix) " 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. Malo, sundry chari- 
 ties, one of which was a penny a day to every English 
 prisoner of war in Dinan. This was duly paid, and 
 saved the lives of many brave and useful men. Per-
 
 HIS FIRST MARRIAGE. 29 
 
 haps what I suffered on this occasion increased my 
 sympathy with the unhappy people whose case is the 
 subject of this book." Such a passage at the opening 
 of his work on " The State of Prisons," indicates 
 plainly enough that even at that early period he had 
 feelings which contributed to a long career of self- 
 sacrifice. 
 
 It was in 1756, according to his own statement, 
 that he was taken prisoner and returned to England. 
 In the same year he was admitted a member of the 
 Royal Society. That Society, from the year 1710 
 till 1782, held its meetings in Crane Court " a very 
 handsome open place with freestone pavement and 
 graced with good buildings, the front house being 
 larger than the rest," and built by Sir Christopher 
 Wren. Within that house the members assembled 
 in Howard's time where sat the president "at the 
 middle of the table in an elbow chair holding a little 
 wooden mace in his hand, with which he would strike 
 the table when he would command silence." There 
 sits the new member, thin and spare, with large eyes, 
 bold Roman nose, and lips expressive of strength of 
 character his face crowned with a tie wig and double 
 curls. The circumstances of Howard's election as 
 member of this Society, though it would be unreason- 
 able to rank him amongst English philosophers, proves 
 that, at least, he had some taste for science, and was 
 anxious to increase his information. We have seen 
 already that, at an early age, he was wont to amuse 
 himself with the study of medicine, and probably 
 other branches of knowledge. Express mention is 
 made of his " great taste for meteorological observa- 
 tions, which he followed up with much assiduity."
 
 30 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 All that he ever contributed to the Transactions of 
 the Royal Society, were papers on the degree of cold 
 observed at Cardington in the winter of 1763, when 
 Bird's thermometer was as low as io| ; on the heat 
 of the waters at Bath ; and on the heat of the ground 
 on Mount Vesuvius. He also experimented on " the 
 union of the primary colours in different proportions, 
 in which he employed himself with some assiduity." 1 
 Such slight achievements give him no title to be 
 ranked amongst scientific men ; and Dr. Aiken admits 
 the honour of Fellowship was not conferred upon him 
 in consequence of any extraordinary proficiency in 
 science, "but rather in conformity to the laudable 
 practice of that Society, of attracting gentlemen of 
 fortune and leisure to the interests of knowledge." 3 
 
 A fondness for the country, which presented ad- 
 vantages for the investigation of natural objects, and 
 a desire to improve his estate at Cardington, led him, 
 soon after his return to England, to take up his abode 
 in that Bedfordshire village, which during the rest of 
 life remained his principal home. 
 
 We are at this point in a better position than ever 
 fully to understand his self-education. Now, as be- 
 fore, he was forming habits which prepared him for 
 the after-business of life. We witness a habit of 
 singular independence acting under a conviction of 
 duty in all affairs, and making his own conscience, 
 not the opinion of others, the guide of conduct, as 
 appears in the instance of his marriage, when he set 
 criticism at nought and would go his own way. But 
 for a spirit of independence gradually growing up, 
 and strengthening itself by acts small and great, he 
 1 Aiken, p. 23. 2 Ibid., p. 21.
 
 HIS FIRST MARRIAGE. 31 
 
 never could have accomplished the tasks he after- 
 wards undertook amidst the doubts of friends and 
 the opposition of foes. Next to that, we notice more 
 manifest than before a spirit of enterprise. His first 
 tour, lost in obscurity, no doubt involved, as I have 
 said, discipline useful in after-life; but his purpose 
 in visiting Portugal is still more of a piece with his 
 later travellings ; and what he saw and endured in 
 a French prison unmistakably educated him for that 
 which afterwards made him celebrated. 
 
 Inquisitiveness, penetrating and persevering when 
 not profound, challenges our notice as we read of his 
 studying medicine, and of early scientific experi- 
 ments, which fitted him to be a Fellow of the Royal 
 Society. And as we see him beginning to collect and 
 marshal facts, to set them down in order for a pur- 
 pose then not much thought of, he really comes out 
 as a statist before statistics had been established and 
 reduced to a system.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE, 
 I7S6-I770. 
 
 ABOUT two years after his admission to the 
 Royal Society, he married a second time. In 
 the " Life of Howard " by Dr. Brown, there is the 
 portrait of a lady, whose maiden name was Henrietta 
 Leeds, daughter of Edward Leeds, of Croxton, in 
 Cambridgeshire, Sergeant-at-law. She appears with 
 an ample forehead, arched brows, eyes expressive of 
 intelligence and affection, and the rest of her features 
 moulded well and finely set. Her smoothly dressed 
 hair, thrown back according to the fashion of the day, 
 is surmounted by a white coiffure, having a central 
 ornament of jewelled stars ; a lace kerchief covers her 
 bust with embroidered folds. Looking into her face, 
 one can hardly help seeing under it a thoughtful 
 mind, a loving soul, a meek and gentle spirit. No- 
 body has pried into the secrets of the courtship ; 
 certainly no one has revealed them, though they 
 must have been more tempting than in the former 
 instance. We only know that on the 25th of April, 
 1758, they were united, and that their chosen home 
 was Cardington. 
 
 Cardington, described by Lysons as "a neat vil- 
 lage," lies about three miles south-east of Bedford ; 
 and along the northern side of the parish runs the
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 33 
 
 river Ouse. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is 
 not remarkable for its architecture ; but it possesses 
 monuments belonging to the Gascoignes, Harveys, 
 and other families to be afterwards noticed. Close to 
 it stands the house in which Howard lived. It came 
 into his possession from his father, and to this he 
 added other property obtained by purchase. 
 
 It is interesting to notice that Cardington lay near 
 Elstow, where John Bunyan was born. Within a 
 walk of two or three miles is the church where the 
 " glorious dreamer," when a youth, rang the bells ; 
 and the green where, after plunging into village 
 sports, he passed through religious experiences which 
 he graphically describes. These spots, together with 
 the cottage where he first saw the light, must have 
 been familiar to John Howard, though I do not re- 
 member any allusion to them in his published works, 
 or in his printed correspondence. With Bunyan he 
 must have felt a strong religious sympathy, for their 
 piety in some respects was of the same character ; and 
 certain outbursts of fervid devotion I shall hereafter 
 describe, bear a marked resemblance to passages 
 found in Bunyan's writings. 
 
 It is a singular coincidence, that as Howard's first 
 wife was a Churchwoman, so was his second ; and in 
 each case spiritual sympathy prevented -ecclesiastical 
 collision. They both united traits of character often 
 deemed incompatible conscientiously attached to 
 their own denominations, they were not unwilling to 
 worship with other communions. She, like her hus- 
 band, was decidedly evangelical in sentiment ; and, 
 according to a custom prevalent in former days 
 amongst Puritans, and not unknown amongst Anglo- 
 
 D
 
 34 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Catholics, though in their case it took a different 
 form, she wrote with her own hand, " a surrender and 
 dedication of herself to her God and her Saviour;" 
 and this document Howard is said to have carried 
 with him on his journeys. According to the testimony 
 of a lady who had known her well, Howard, soon 
 after marriage, " sold some jewels his wife had no 
 longer any inclination to wear, and put the money 
 into a purse, called by herself and her husband, the 
 charity purse" And it is further related, that when 
 they were in London, soon after her marriage, he took 
 his wife to the Pantheon, in order " to ascertain what 
 effect such a scene would have upon her mind. As 
 they mingled with the throng, and walked the round, 
 she appeared lost in thought. "Now, Harriet," he 
 said, " I must insist on your telling me what you 
 have been thinking about." " Well," she replied, " if 
 
 I must tell you, I have been thinking of Mr. 's 
 
 sermon last Sunday." l The strange test which he 
 characteristically applied was met to his satisfaction. 
 
 In the course of this narrative there are many 
 proofs of his strong will, indeed his love of mastery. 
 He had a nature made to rule, and he seems to have 
 been conscious of it. " He had a high idea," we are 
 told, " of the authority of the head of a family. And 
 he thought it right, because most convenient, to main- 
 tain it for the sake of avoiding the unhappy conse- 
 quences of domestic disputes. On this principle," 
 says a friend, " I have more than once heard him 
 pleasantly relate the agreement he made with the 
 last Mrs. Howard, previous to their marriage, that to 
 
 1 Brown's Memoirs of Howard. Second edition, p. 25.
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 35 
 
 prevent 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 attended with the happiest effects." 1 
 Had she not been " an amiable lady," the result 
 would have been far otherwise. 
 
 Agreeing with him in matters of taste, she busied 
 herself in the Cardington improvements ; and we see 
 her light form tripping over the grass to train some 
 wayward flowers, while her husband discusses with 
 the gardener, matters touching the management of 
 trees and the laying out of walks. As she united 
 with him in the institution of the charity purse, and 
 put into it what had been obtained by the sale of her 
 jewels, so also, once, when striking the yearly balance 
 of accounts, he found a surplus, and purposed that 
 they should expend it in a trip to London, for her 
 gratification; she outstripped the philanthropist, and 
 replied, as she thought of new tenements they were 
 erecting for their peasant neighbours ; " What a 
 pretty cottage it would build." So the money went 
 for that. Care for the cottagers was a ruling passion 
 in this remarkable couple; they gave employment 
 whilst they bestowed charity ; and, it is said, that 
 most of the linen for the household was spun by 
 villagers, under Mrs. Howard's direction. At a later 
 period, he increased the stock, and thus furnished 
 industrial employment for 'people who could earn a 
 living in no other way. Aided by his wife, he is seen 
 
 1 Dr. Brown (p. 55), on the authority of the Rev. S. Palmer.
 
 36 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 at Cardington in the character of a village reformer. 
 In that capacity, he opened his benevolent mission ; 
 by these humbler offices, he trained himself for sub- 
 sequent wider usefulness, and when he had won, with- 
 out seeking, a renown which filled the civilized world, 
 he persevered in the discharge of his rural duties. If 
 only the monarch can boast of transforming into 
 marble a metropolis of brick, it is within the power 
 of most landed proprietors to reduce their domains 
 to order, and to clothe them with neatness. Howard 
 felt he had such power. The tenements on his estate 
 were, like others of that day, badly constructed, badly 
 ventilated, badly drained. He pulled them down, 
 and built new ones after an improved method, secur- 
 ing light, air, and cleanliness ; adding ornament to 
 convenience, and consulting taste, while he attained 
 utility. Behind the palings which enclosed the trim 
 little garden, stocked with useful vegetables, and 
 decked with gay and fragrant flowers, rose white- 
 fronted cottages, with weather-tight roofs. The occu- 
 pants, as they sat by the door on a summer evening, 
 rejoiced in the contrast which their new abodes pre- 
 sented to former wretched dwellings on the spot, and 
 felt the thanks they could only imperfectly express. 
 The beneficent landlord sometimes came and sat 
 down by their side, eating an apple, we are told, to 
 give familiarity to the interview, and gently patting 
 the heads of boys and girls, as he gave them half- 
 pence. Habits of cleanliness, in which he excelled, 
 he sought to promote amongst his tenantry, by per- 
 sonal inspection of their houses, and by strict injunc- 
 tions to wash well the floors. His alterations provided 
 employment. The village became a scene of busy
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 37 
 
 industry ; and while he employed men in building, 
 ditching, and draining, he set the women to work in 
 making linen for household purposes. No one knew 
 better than he did, that man has a body as well as 
 a soul, and that we attempt the work of intellectual 
 elevation at fearful odds, when the objects of our 
 philanthropy are victims of filth, disease, and hunger. 
 Having cared for the temporal needs of the poor, 
 this country gentleman thought of the mind, and 
 paid attention to their highest interests. He founded 
 schools, when schools were not popular as at present, 
 opening them to the children of all sects, and imposing 
 no condition which could touch the consciences of 
 parents. The young folks were required on a Sunday 
 to attend a place of worship; but neither church nor 
 meeting house was prescribed. He made a similar 
 stipulation with his tenantry, and had one cottage 
 fitted up as a place for preaching. 
 
 The change which he wrought in the village was 
 very great, aided, as we shall see hereafter, by a 
 distinguished neighbour and friend. 1 When recently 
 driving from Bedford to Cardington, I was struck 
 with the dull, tame, scenery for a couple of miles, and 
 with the contrast which opened, when approaching 
 Howard's village. Noble trees, forming an avenue, 
 rise on either side the road. Hedgerows and cottages, 
 neatly kept, speak of careful husbandry and pleasant 
 homes ; the road to Howard's house, under the 
 shadow of the church, indicates an approach to one 
 of those unpretending gentlemen's houses, so charac- 
 teristic of our rural neighbourhoods. A touch of 
 
 1 Mr. Whitbread.
 
 38 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Howard's taste, with that of his co-operator, were 
 visible every step I took. 
 
 The story just told is simple enough ; some may 
 deem it scarcely worth telling. Hundreds of land- 
 owners are doing the same now. But what is a 
 matter of course at present, was, a century and a half 
 since, a rare exception. We have only to visit some 
 villages, in which dwellings a hundred and fifty years 
 old remain unaltered, to understand the miserable 
 provision made for farm labourers at that period. 
 Schools, Board, National, or British, are plentiful 
 up and down the country ; but recollections which run 
 over not more than fifty years, are sufficient to prove 
 what an immense educational revolution has taken 
 place within that time. Industry, universally incul- 
 cated, is also, in unnumbered instances, well exem- 
 plified ; but when Howard lived, an opposite state of 
 things obtained. That cleanliness is next to godli- 
 ness, has become a motto ; pure water is counted a 
 precious blessing ; and a fountain by the wayside 
 furnishes it abundantly to man and beast ; ideas, 
 estimates, and provisions of such kinds rarely existed 
 when some men now living were little boys. 
 
 Howard really exhibited originality in his benevo- 
 lence, in this as well as in his prison enterprise. The 
 latter has overshadowed and dwarfed the former ; yet 
 the former is enough to elevate its author to a niche 
 in the temple of benevolence. Improvement of 
 dwellings for the poor ; elementary education for all 
 classes ; encouragement of individual industry on the 
 principle that people must help themselves ; and a 
 plentiful supply of good water these are conditions 
 of social well-being which Howard worked into his
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 39 
 
 schemes for Cardington improvement. It has been 
 said by an American orator : " Considering the time, 
 more than a century ago, and the general prejudices 
 which then prevailed against the possibility or the 
 desirableness of raising the rural population above an 
 abject condition, I am not certain that Howard's plan 
 for elevating the tenantry on his own estate was not 
 a more remarkable evidence of his characteristic in- 
 dependence of public sentiment, and a bolder display 
 of self-reliance, than even his attack on the prison 
 system. It was, however, in the same line, and only 
 a first wave of the tide that from his heart was to 
 sweep over Europe." l The mental independence 
 which appears *in this and other divisions of his career 
 is noteworthy. He did not wait for examples. He 
 did not sit with folded arms till committees woke him 
 up by sending an importunate circular. He did not 
 simply retail other folks' ideas ; he did not execute 
 patronized plans. He thought and acted for himself. 
 Only one Observer he noticed. He ever lived as in 
 his great " Taskmaster's eye." 
 
 It is interesting to notice that about the same time 
 in which Howard engaged in improving his Carding- 
 ton property, his neighbour, Francis, Duke of Bedford, 
 who had landed possessions, according to Mr. Burke, 
 " more extensive than the territory of many of the 
 Grecian republics," set himself to effect a vast revolu- 
 tion in his princely estate. Bedfordshire had been, 
 as to two-thirds of it, a mere common field, cultivated 
 and used in humble fashion by poor tenants under 
 
 1 John Howard, his Life, Character, and Services. By H. 
 W. Bellows, an Address delivered before the International 
 Prison Congress in London, July, 1873.
 
 40 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 the Manorial lord. Undrained water often destroyed 
 crops where there were any ; sheep died of rot by 
 scores and scores; and implements of husbandry were 
 as rude as those we now see in Spain. The Duke 
 wrought a marvellous change. He effected on a large 
 scale what Howard could only accomplish on a small 
 one. And it may be added that a like spirit of enter- 
 prise went on all over the Bedford Level as it was 
 called. Lands were more and more drained, and 
 tracts once studded with reeds, the refuge of wild 
 ducks, yielded crops of corn. " Since the drainage of 
 the Fens, numerous villages have sprung up where 
 previously was nothing but a watery waste, without 
 house or inhabitant, and several of the bordering 
 towns have doubled their population." l In such im- 
 provements Howard would rejoice. 
 
 Soon after the commencement of these village 
 reforms, Mrs. Howard's health began to give her hus- 
 band uneasiness ; he thought a milder climate might 
 be of advantage. He accordingly fixed upon the 
 New Forest, in Hampshire, which, with its woodland 
 scenery and its green glades, afforded a striking con- 
 trast to the landscapes of the Bedford Level ; its 
 warmer atmosphere promised relief and improvement 
 to the beloved invalid. The spot selected was Wat- 
 combe, near Lymington, where, within a few miles' 
 drive, delightful visits could be paid to the ivy-covered 
 ruins of Beaulieu Abbey, the Roman camp at Buck- 
 land Rings, Boldre Church with its tree-girdled 
 churchyard, and Shirley and Sway Commons, where 
 there is " one vast stretch of heather, which late in the 
 
 1 Journal of Royal Agricultural Society, vol. xii., p. 259. 
 Quoted by Charles Knight, Hist, of England, voL vii., p. 15.
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 41 
 
 summer covers the ground with its crimson and ame- 
 thyst" 1 There was a house and small estate at Wat- 
 combe belonging to Captain Blake of the East India 
 Company, who had managed by a display of Eastern 
 assumption to alienate the friendly regard of his 
 neighbours. This property was purchased by Howard, 
 who by his benevolent demeanour speedily wrought 
 a revolution in the village. Blake, a sportsman, had 
 employed " all the contrivances of engines and guns " 
 in order to preserve himself " from the depredations 
 and hostilities of the rustic population; but Howard," 
 says Dr. Brown, was " no sportsman, no executor of 
 the game laws, "and in no respects an encroacher on 
 the rights and advantages of others." 2 So now things 
 went on smoothly and pleasantly. The squire and 
 his lady were kind to the people, and the people were 
 respectful to the squire and his lady. For three or 
 four years they remained in this sylvan retreat, and 
 during that period his old nurse, living at Cardington, 
 excited his sympathy and attracted his attention, for 
 she was getting near her last home, and suffered from 
 the infirmities of advanced age. He had been accus- 
 tomed to pay her visits, and provide a good stock of 
 coal for her in cold weather ; now, when he heard that 
 the candle of life was burning down to the socket, 
 he would write to Cardington, directing a supply 
 of comforts for the sufferer; and on her death "he 
 ordered her to be buried, at his expense, in her native 
 village." 3 
 
 This residence of the philanthropist at Watcombe 
 has almost entirely disappeared. Only a small part, 
 
 1 Wise's New Forest, p. 81. 2 Brown's Memoirs, p. 27. 
 3 Brown, p. 28.
 
 42 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 originally occupied by servants, now remains. It is 
 used as a farmhouse, and stands on the edge of 
 Brockenhurst Park, belonging to Mr. Morant, who 
 has built a stately mansion in the midst of his 
 beautiful domain. Magnificent oaks give a special 
 charm to the rich sylvan scenery, and a ramble in the 
 woods is full of enjoyment. The village church is not 
 far off, with an early Norman doorway and a Purbeck 
 marble font of the same period. An enormous oak, 
 and a yew-tree with a hollow trunk, ivy-covered, are 
 the chief objects attracting general notice in the 
 churchyard, and must have interested Howard, dis- 
 tinguished as he was by rural tastes. Standing there 
 two summers since, I could picture him in his cocked 
 hat, on the way to Sunday worship ; and the memory 
 of the good man pleasantly haunts the neighbourhood 
 when visited by persons acquainted with his history. 
 But though I found references to him in guide books, 
 I was very curious to know whether traces of his liv- 
 ing there lingered in the present generation. Upon 
 inquiry, I discovered that those I spoke to were not 
 only ignorant of his having lived at Watcombe, but 
 did not even know his name. "Was he a bee-keeper?" 
 asked one of the villagers, across whose mind I 
 imagine there passed thoughts of a neighbour of some 
 such name. The person who now resides in the frag- 
 ment of Howard's house had never heard of its illus- 
 trious occupant. Curious, that one who has filled the 
 world with his fame should be forgotten in the place 
 where he lived for two or three years ! 
 
 The situation of Watcombe did not fulfil its promise. 
 It did not agree with Mrs. Howard ; and in addition 
 to this strong reason for a removal, it is said that
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 43 
 
 vapours in the neighbourhood were unfavourable to 
 her husband's astronomical observations. He there- 
 fore resolved to return to Cardington. There he 
 resumed the execution of reformatory plans, and 
 proceeded to enlarge and improve his dwelling, to 
 take in a field of three acres for the enlargement of 
 pleasure grounds, to form a shrubbery, to lay down a 
 lawn, and to arrange a walk skirted by firs. With 
 satisfaction he reported what he was doing. "We 
 have lately got the workmen clear of the house for 
 this year, and hope to complete my small habitation. 
 We find it more comfortable and suitable to our small 
 family than Watcombe, and I hope we are fixed for 
 what time Providence shall allot us. I have my 
 books and instruments comfortably about me, and I 
 hope for more time to enjoy them." l 
 
 Howard's gardener, when ninety years old, would 
 proudly point out a tree planted by his mistress, 
 which remained precious in his master's eyes, and a 
 particular description is preserved of the " root 
 house," at the end of the pleasure grounds. It was 
 made of gnarled roots and ancient trunks, and was 
 furnished with corresponding rustic simplicity peat 
 " cut out of a moss at Ampthill," and rude benches 
 serving for seats. Trifling ornaments and relics were 
 added from time to time ; and particular mention is 
 made of a bookcase containing the works of Baxter, 
 Flavel, Hervey, and other Evangelical divines, 
 favourites with the master of the place, together with 
 poems of Milton, Watts, Young, and Thomson. 
 Other works lined the shelves, including travels and 
 
 1 Cardington, Oct. 27th, 1762. Samuel Whitbread, Esq., 
 Chiswell Street, London.
 
 44 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 books on science, proper for a Fellow of the Royal 
 Society. The Bible which the philanthropist used 
 in his travels, was at a later date added to the col- 
 lection. An inscription was fixed opposite the door, 
 consisting of the following lines : 
 
 " O solitude, bless'd state of life below, 
 Friend to our thought and balm to all our woe ; 
 Far from thronged cities my abode remove, 
 To realms of innocence, and peace, and love. 
 
 " That when the sable shades of night appear, 
 And life's fair light no more these eyes shall cheer ; 
 Its work may be fulfilled, its progress won, 
 By virtue measured, not a lengthened sun." 
 
 The lines are given in Brown's Memoirs of Howard, 
 and he tells us he copied them from Mrs. Howard's 
 handwriting. The tradition is, that she composed 
 them ; but, so far as the first stanza is concerned, this 
 seems to be a mistake, for that occurs, it is said, in 
 Brown's Essay on the Universe, from which she 
 copied them. 
 
 It may be added, that in connection with the root 
 house a bath was contrived, which Howard used 
 every morning, summer and winter. 
 
 A memorial was erected after Howard's death, 
 bearing these words : 
 
 " This garden was formed, the root house built, and 
 the trees which overshadow and adorn them were 
 planted in the year 1762, by John Howard, the 
 philanthropist, who lived for many years in this re- 
 tirement, before his virtuous energies were called into 
 action, and he quitted it to become the benefactor of 
 mankind.
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 45 
 
 " To this spot he eagerly returned to pass the inter- 
 val between those labours which ended in his death, 
 and have insured to him a guiltless and imperishable 
 fame. 
 
 "Joseph Crockford, whose hand put the seedlings 
 into the earth under his master's eye, has spent 
 the intervening years in watching and assisting their 
 growth ; exhibiting, in his narrow circle, a model of 
 sobriety, industry, and neatness. 
 
 " He still lives, in his eightieth year ; faithful to his 
 duties, and strong to fulfil them ; contented in his 
 station, pleased with his charge, and full of the re- 
 membrance of his beloved master." l 
 
 When Dr. Brown visited the place, an aged servant 
 conducted him to the monument. " Never," said poor 
 old Joshua Crockford, as he stood by the simple 
 memorial, which Mr. Whitbread had erected on the 
 lawn by the side of the house, to record the faithful 
 attachment of an old servant to the best of masters, 
 his voice faltering, and a tear standing in his eyes as 
 he spoke " Never shall I see two such men again." 
 
 The house belonging to Howard, and left by him 
 to the Whitbreads, is now occupied by General Mills, 
 who married into the family ; and there very re- 
 cently it was my privilege to pay a visit, when I 
 was favoured with the intelligent and sympathetic 
 ciceroneship of Miss Whitbread, who pointed out 
 alterations made in the grounds. Howard's residence 
 remains almost intact the front plain and unpre- 
 tentious, but pleasantly covered with foliage trained 
 on lattice work ; the interior containing rooms he 
 
 1 This was composed by Samuel Whitbread, Esq., M.P. He 
 will be noticed hereafter.
 
 46 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 occupied But to the sides of the original dwelling 
 are now attached additional buildings, with spacious 
 and lofty apartments, making the whole much larger 
 than it was in the philanthropist's time. Relics of him 
 are carefully preserved. They include large pieces 
 of wood-carving which decorated the root-house, an 
 owl carved in stone, an hour-glass, a pruning-knife, 
 and five books, one belonging to his wife, Henrietta 
 Leeds. A characteristic likeness of him hangs in the 
 hall. The lawn and shrubberies are much as they 
 were. There remains a fine tree opposite the house, 
 which bears the original master's name, and another, 
 I was informed, once stood corresponding with it, 
 called after John Bunyan a circumstance which 
 brings together the two most memorable men that 
 ever lived in Bedfordshire. 
 
 Hidden amidst the shrubbery growths are divers 
 small stone figures, one of a fox, which once carried 
 in its mouth some sort of prey, another a figure of 
 sportsmanlike appearance carrying a gun. Under 
 these and other forms General Mills thinks there are 
 covert meanings, illustrative of that turn for humour 
 which, with very different endowments, undoubtedly 
 marked Howard's character. A large crowbar is 
 shown which he was accustomed to use industriously; 
 for when alterations went on, he was wont to be fore- 
 most amongst the workmen. 
 
 I may add here that at Southill, the seat of Samuel 
 Whitbread, Esq., M.P., I saw a catalogue of Howard's 
 Library and an inventory of his furniture made 
 after his death. The volumes numbered about 800 
 at a rough calculation. A parchment rent-roll ac- 
 count book, kept in exact order, indicates his preva-
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 47 
 
 lent habit. Scientific studies were not neglected by 
 the Fellow of the Royal Society after his return to 
 Cardington ; and in the Philosophical Transactions 
 we have the following record, already noticed : 
 
 " Sir, I would beg leave to acquaint you of a 
 degree of cold that I observed at Cardington, in 
 Bedfordshire, the 22nd of November last, just before 
 sunrise ; Fahrenheit's scale, by one of Bird's ther- 
 mometers, being so low as ten and a half. If it 
 should throw any light on the locality of cold, or 
 you think it worth the Society's observation, I would 
 leave to your better judgment. I remain, with great 
 esteem, Sir, Your obedient Servant, 
 
 "Read April I2th, 1764." "JOHN HOWARD." 
 
 In connection with this meteorological report may 
 be inserted the legend related in the sixteenth volume 
 of TJte Gentleman's Magazine, "That in whatever Mr. 
 H. engaged, it was summis viribus" and " that on the 
 frost setting in, he used, during the continuance, to 
 leave his bed at two every morning, for the purpose 
 of observing the state of a thermometer which was 
 placed in his garden at some distance from his house." 
 
 Within a year and a half after the observation 
 had been sent to Crane Court, death darkened the 
 writer's dwelling. Henrietta gave birth to a son on 
 the 27th of March, 1765. All seemed going on well. 
 On Sunday morning, the 3ist, her husband attended 
 church; on his return violent symptoms appeared, 
 and in a little time the lady expired in his arms. No 
 one can tell what he felt at that moment; but in the 
 gospel of Christ he possessed an effectual remedy for 
 the sorrows of bereavement.
 
 48 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 It is related that Howard, like Bishop Wilberforce, 
 regularly kept the anniversary of his wife's death, and, 
 so far also resembling Dr. Johnson, he spent the day 
 in fasting, meditation, and prayer. " I recollect his 
 telling me," says one of his friends, "just before he 
 set out on one of his foreign excursions, as he was 
 with his son " the boy born four days before his 
 mother died "walking round some plantations he 
 was making at Cardington, and pointing out to him 
 further improvements which he had in contemplation, 
 '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 remember, this walk 
 was planted by your mother, and if you ever touch a 
 twig of it, may my blessing never rest upon you.' " l 
 Her domestics fondly cherished her memory. Howard 
 gave the lady's-maid, Mrs. Prole, the miniature from 
 which Henrietta's well-known portrait was engraved ; 
 and when large offers of money were made to her, 
 that she might part with it, " No," she said, " I will 
 never part with anything that was my excellent 
 master's and mistress's till I want a piece of bread. 
 My master gave me this picture because he knew I 
 should value it, and I will keep it to the day of my 
 death." These and other things I saw thirty years 
 ago, when in the possession of Mrs. Prole's son ; what 
 now remains of the Howard relics in the Proles' 
 family were shown me very recently : The miniature 
 just mentioned, a pair of clogs which Mrs. Howard 
 wore in the garden, a knife, and, above all, a little 
 copper kettle which Howard carried with him on his 
 travels. These are carefully preserved, together with 
 1 Gentleman's Mag. vol. lx., p. 288. The sentence is confused.
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 49 
 
 two or three autograph letters written to the old 
 servant. 
 
 One of the first things noticeable after the death of 
 Mrs. Howard, is the baptism of her child, a rite which 
 was administered by Meredith Townshend, pastor at 
 Stoke Newington. The child was both a solace and 
 a care. The bereaved parent loved him for his 
 mother's sake as well as his own, and watched his 
 growth with deep delight. Entrusted to a faithful 
 nurse, the boy throve, but before he became a year 
 old, the father shared with the nurse in the manage- 
 ment of him. It may seem needless to notice this, 
 but for reasons which will hereafter appear. 
 
 According to Howard's ideas, " education had a 
 place from the dawn of life." Regarding children 
 as being " without reason and experience," he said 
 they were " marked out as the subjects of absolute 
 authority " ; believing this, the father, when the child 
 began to cry, would lay him quietly on his lap until 
 he became perfectly still; he never "humoured" the 
 little one, but insisted on entire submission ; and 
 after persevering in this course, he said " he believed 
 his son would have put his finger into the fire if he 
 had commanded him." l 
 
 In philosophizing upon the nursery Howard was 
 an adept ; and in his theory of bringing up children 
 he had perfect confidence. On the sincerity of his 
 affection there cannot rest a shadow of doubt, but as 
 to the wisdom of his plans there will be a diversity 
 of opinion. The enforcement of obedience to parental 
 authority he carried to an extraordinary extent ; and 
 a lady writes, " When I was with some friends on a 
 1 Aiken, p. 43.
 
 50 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 visit to Mr. Howard, he took us into the 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 bid him 
 put it on again." 1 Discipline of this kind was well 
 meant, and might bend or break a stubborn will; but 
 it is certain to do harm as well as good. Had the 
 mother's tenderness tempered the father's authority, 
 domestic rule probably would have been modified, 
 though one cannot forget the law laid down before 
 the nuptials. At all events the child was an immense 
 loser by his mother's death. More of this hereafter. 
 
 Time is a merciful healer ; yet, after more than a 
 year's seclusion, grief continued to prey on the 
 widower, so as to injure health never robust ; and in 
 the months of November and December, 1766, we 
 find him visiting the town of Bath, then in the zenith 
 of its fame, a fresh lustre having been given to its 
 popularity by the discovery of Roman baths there in 
 1755. Beau Nash's reign of idle vanity was over, but 
 numbers of the fashionable and the fair still rushed 
 to the city on a hill to search for pleasure, if not 
 health, in the crowded pump-room. To say that 
 Howard had no taste for such scenes, is language too 
 mild ; they were his positive aversion ; perhaps no 
 gentleman in England disliked them more. But 
 travelling was to him a relief, and the medicinal 
 waters promised benefit to his much-tried physical 
 constitution. He also endeavoured to amuse himself 
 with his favourite observations ; and in January, 1767, 
 a letter was received by Dr. Watson, respecting the 
 
 1 Brown, p. 62.
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 
 
 heat of the Bath waters, and read to the Royal 
 Society in the month of April following. In the 
 same winter he went to London, and there enjoyed 
 the society of literary and scientific friends, amongst 
 others, that of the eminent physician to whom the 
 letter just mentioned was addressed. 
 
 In the spring he determined on making an excur- 
 sion to Holland, and invited as his companion one 
 who afterwards distinguished himself in literature as 
 editor of " Camden's Britannia/' and as the author 
 of topographical and antiquarian works. This was 
 Richard Gough, son of a gentleman who lived in a 
 handsome mansion on his own estate at Enfield. His 
 father was dead at this time, and he was living with 
 his widowed mother, in the enjoyment of the paternal 
 domain. When he was only about seventeen his 
 archaeological taste was in full bloom ; and one who 
 became imbued with a similar spirit long afterwards, 
 describes him in the following terms : 
 
 "The mouldering turret and the crumbling arch, 
 the moss-covered stone and the obliterated inscrip- 
 tion, served to excite in his mind the most ardent 
 sensations, and to kindle that fire of antiquarian 
 research which afterwards never knew decay, which 
 burnt with undiminished lustre at the close of his 
 existence, and which prompted him, when in the full 
 enjoyment of his bodily faculties, to explore long- 
 deserted castles and mansions, to tread long-neglected 
 bye-ways, and to snatch from impending oblivion 
 many a precious relic and many a venerable ances- 
 try ! He is the Camden of modern times." l 
 
 1 Dibdin, quoted by Nichols, vol. vi., p. 306.
 
 52 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Mr. Gough, thirty years of age in 1767, was on the 
 February of that year admitted Fellow of the Royal 
 Society; and perhaps in Crane Court he attracted 
 Howard's notice, or perhaps their acquaintance arose 
 from some common connection with Dissenting 
 friends ; for though Gough was a Churchman, he had 
 been educated by a Nonconformist minister before he 
 went to Cambridge, and in later life visited another 
 of the same profession in Dorsetshire. 1 However 
 that might be, Howard wished for Cough's company 
 in his projected tour. The language of the letter is 
 such as to indicate Howard's acquaintance with the 
 family at Erifield ; and his promise to the mother of 
 taking care of a man already thirty years old, is rather 
 amusing. 
 
 " To Richard Gough, Esq., Winchester Street. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, Having fixed with my brother Leeds 
 the tour through Holland, about the week after next, 
 I seem desirous, if I could, to persuade you to take 
 the journey with us for about a month, as I am cer- 
 tain you will be highly entertained with the excessive 
 pleasantness of Holland. In the spring of the year 
 all is a neat beautiful garden, and not wanting in 
 antiquities to entertain a gentleman who has a turn 
 that way ; expense of travelling is less there than in 
 England, and dress not more regarded ; care of a 
 young voyager permit me to assure Mrs. Gough shall 
 not be wanting. I am sure, on the review, it will 
 be a pleasing jaunt to my friend ; as such, I could 
 
 1 Nichols' Anecdotes, vol. vi., p. 265.
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 53 
 
 not go without giving you a line, being with much 
 esteem, 
 
 " Dear sir, 
 "Your most humble servant, 
 
 "JOHN HOWARD." 
 
 " Cardington, near Bedford, 
 "May 5, 1767." 
 
 But the invitation was politely declined, and so 
 Howard started with Mr. Leeds, his brother-in-law, 
 as a companion. Of incidents connected with this 
 Dutch excursion I can find no account. It was most 
 likely short and rapid, as he spoke in his letter to 
 Mr. Gough of being absent "about a month." 
 
 Two years afterwards a similar invitation reached 
 Mr. Gough. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, I have heard you express a desire 
 of seeing Italy. I could not go abroad without 
 saying how much your company would add to my 
 pleasure, as our thoughts relative to the gay and ex- 
 pensive schemes are similar. My boy is going from 
 me to school. I intend, about the 2ist of Septem- 
 ber, crossing the water for Calais, so to the southern 
 part of France to Geneva, or going in a Leghorn or 
 Naples ship by sea, as would afford greater variety, 
 and not be so fatiguing or expensive as by land both 
 ways ; the accommodation aboard these ships being 
 far more preferable to any of the packets. Shall 
 probably be at Geneva about Christmas, where I in- 
 tend fixing my winter quarters. I am sure I should 
 be very happy if the scheme was agreeable to you, 
 as I intend it to be a frugal one, and shall appear as
 
 54 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 an English gentleman without glare or show. The 
 passage, with a genty (sic] table, always fresh meat or 
 fowls, twenty guineas. You will favour me the first 
 opportunity with a line. 
 " I am, Sir, 
 
 " Your friend and servant, 
 
 "J. HOWARD." 
 
 " Cardington, August $ot/i, 1769. 
 " Would beg my best compliments to our friend 
 Mr. Bush and Mrs. Gough." 
 
 This invitation met with the same fate as the one 
 before. Here Mr. Gough passes out of the circle of 
 Howard's biography ; but before we lose sight of 
 him altogether, it should be said that he was well 
 worthy of the philanthropist's regards on account of 
 his own philanthropic character. To the poor and 
 the afflicted " he was at all times a father, a protector, 
 and a benefactor." x 
 
 Settled down once more at Cardington, Howard 
 remained there until the Autumn of 1769. To this 
 period belong several anecdotes in connection with 
 his son, which, for reasons to be seen hereafter, are 
 very important. 
 
 One incident led to a base misrepresentation. 
 The report ran, that he had been cruel to the boy 
 that "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 did not return till 
 night." Some people increased the terrors of the 
 story by saying the child was put upon a high shelf, 
 from which a fall might have been fatal. The real 
 
 1 Nichols' Anecdotes, vol. vi., p. 311.
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 55 
 
 fact, as taken from Howard's own lips, is thus related 
 by his friend, Meredith Townshend, in The Universal 
 Magazine for 1/96. 
 
 " 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) 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 the garden, with which the young gentle- 
 man was familiarly acquainted, and were there for some 
 time, diverting 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 busi- 
 ness 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 prowl- 
 ing about the garden by himself, to the hazard of get- 
 ting into some mischief, he put the key in his pocket 
 and ran to the person in waiting as fast as he could. 
 The conversation 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 answer that he supposed him to be in the root- 
 house where he had left him. 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
 
 56 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 the confinement had made any disagreeable impres- 
 sion upon his mind." l 
 
 Dr. Brown has accumulated proofs, that, notwith- 
 standing the theory of education which Howard adop- 
 ted, he was in many respects a kind and even indulgent 
 father. He would take out the boy in his chaise for 
 a drive, and carry toys for his amusement. They 
 were numerous, and those for the garden included 
 " tiny carts and wheelbarrows, spades and rakes," 
 and other contrivances for juvenile amusement. 
 Friends related how with natural fondness his father 
 would "show him off " to admiring visitors. I well 
 remember that, when visiting Bedford thirty years 
 ago, people pointed out the pew where Howard sat 
 at meeting, and told me that he would stand up with 
 his arm round his son's waist, holding a hymn-book 
 before his eyes, and helping him to spell out easy 
 words of Divine praise. The child would stroke his 
 father's shoulder with his little hands and play with 
 the buttons of his coat. 
 
 About Michaelmas, 1769, Howard placed him 
 under the care of a lady who kept a boarding-school 
 at Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, where he was treated 
 with kindness ; and the father, being now free from 
 the immediate charge of the child, permitted himself 
 once more to indulge in foreign travel, now choosing 
 the fair scenes of Italy as his destination. 
 
 As he intended to be away for a long period, he 
 broke up his Cardington establishment, leaving, as 
 bailiff John Prole, his coachman, who had married Mrs. 
 Howard's lady's maid. Not succeeding in a second 
 
 1 The Rev. S. Palmer endorsed this letter.
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 57 
 
 effort to secure Mr. Gough as a companion, he started 
 alone for Calais, and travelled through France to 
 Geneva, where he tarried a few weeks by the charm- 
 ing lake before crossing the Alps to Lombardy. 
 During this journey he kept a diary, and by help of it 
 we are enabled to follow him from place to place. 
 
 Judging from passages which have been published, 
 we might infer, and many have inferred, that there was 
 in Howard's mind an utter absence of that taste for 
 natural scenery which is now so common in the case 
 of travellers. Passing over the Alps on the way to 
 Italy, he indulges in no description of mountains, 
 valleys, rocks, waterfalls, pine forests, vineyards, and 
 other views, which break on a tourist's eye as he 
 descends from hills in Savoy to plains in Lombardy. 
 Though it may seem strange to us now, this state of 
 mind was not uncommon in the last century. The 
 poet Gray, indeed, in his letters to Mr. West, does 
 break forth into a few warm exclamations as he al- 
 ludes to the descent from Mount Cenis ; but, if I 
 remember right, in the account Bishop Burnet gives 
 of his foreign travels, more of terror is manifested 
 at the sight of steep precipices than admiration on 
 beholding a valley rich in vineyards and gardens. 
 A wide-spread taste for natural beauties is of recent 
 growth, and results from mental cultivation promoted 
 by modern authors, especially Walter Scott. 
 
 Howard's first entry is dated Nov. 26, 1769, and 
 seems to have been written at Turin. In it he reckons 
 up eighty Italian holidays, and laments the Sabbath- 
 breaking which he witnessed. The shock he received 
 from what he saw of Roman Catholic worship, plainly 
 indicates his Puritan sentiments. " What curtseys,
 
 58 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 bowings, and ceremonies have I seen at Turin, how 
 is a sacred Sabbath called a feast day, not for holy 
 but unholy things operas, ballad-singing, concerts ; 
 one hundred and thirty-eight lights at the altar for 
 a feast of St. Anthony; what dressing and undress- 
 ing of the Archbishop, what parade before the Car- 
 dinal at Milan !" 
 
 That which was uppermost in the traveller's mind 
 at this moment, appears from an entry he made at 
 Turin in his Journal on the 3Oth of November, 1769. 
 
 " My return without seeing the southern parts of 
 Italy was after much deliberation. I feared a misim- 
 provement of a talent spent for mere curiosity at the 
 loss of many Sabbaths ; and as many donations 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-bed, 
 would 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." "Why should vanity 
 and folly, pictures and baubles, or even the stupen- 
 dous mountains, beautiful hills, or rich valleys which 
 ere long will all be consumed engross the thoughts 
 of a candidate for an eternal everlasting kingdom ? 
 Is a worm ever to crawl on earth, whom God has 
 raised to the hope of glory, which ere long will be 
 revealed to them who are washed and sanctified by 
 faith in the blood of the Divine Redeemer ? Look 
 forward, O 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
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 59 
 
 unworthy creature ; and unto Thee be all the glory 
 through the boundless ages of eternity." x 
 
 These sentences express a state of mind above the 
 common order of experience ; they indicate what 
 Dr. Chalmers calls " the expulsive power of a new 
 affection." 
 
 As this is the first explicit revelation which we 
 have of Howard's spiritual experience, it is impossible 
 to tell whether the feelings thus expressed had long 
 been habitual, or whether a change had come over 
 him, lifting up his faith and love to a higher level 
 than before. It is surprising to discover, that a man 
 so self-controlled, so calmly methodical, so simple 
 and practical in his common ways, should have had 
 such deep religious sensibility; yet the qualities just 
 enumerated are by no means incompatible with pro- 
 found emotion. A steady understanding and a 
 strong will are not weakened by affections of the kind 
 just indicated ; they are often found united in Chris- 
 tian people. Though expressions of the nature cited 
 will often occur in this narrative, showing that they 
 were habitual in later life, it is likely that an impulse 
 had been given to such spiritual emotions by the trial 
 through which he had passed, and the consolations 
 he had received from the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 In seasons of deep affliction, or when past griefs 
 acutely touch the mind, it is not uncommon for an 
 unsympathetic feeling to come over a spirit of im- 
 passioned piety. Dark clouds spread over the sky 
 and dim the fairest scenes. What, at other times, 
 would interest and delight, lose their charm ; even the 
 
 1 Brown, p. 78.
 
 60 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 bright sunshine provokes a feeling of irritation, and it 
 is thought wrong to indulge in earthly pleasure. The 
 shadow of the tomb where some loved one lies, and 
 which we are soon ourselves to enter, falls solemnly 
 over our life-path, each step we take. Eternity for the 
 moment swallows up time. So it was with Howard 
 as he turned his back on Italy. 
 
 In his travels at this period, we see that he re- 
 crossed the Alps, returned to Geneva, and spent 
 about ten days in Paris, which he calls " a dirty city " 
 no doubt a just appellation in the middle of the 
 eighteenth century. He proceeded to Abbeville, and 
 there, on the 4th of January, 1770, wrote a letter 
 to the Rev. Joshua Symonds, giving a general de- 
 scription of his tour up to that time. 
 
 " Having an opportunity by an Italian gentleman, 
 with whom I have travelled, 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 into Italy. The luxury and wickedness 
 of the inhabitants would ever give a thinking mind 
 pain, amidst the richest country, abounding 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 
 some little entertainment on a winter's evening. I 
 returned- to Geneva. There, are some exemplary 
 persons ; yet the principles of one of the vilest of men 
 (Voltaire), with the corruptions of the French, who 
 are within one mile of the city, have greatly debased 
 its ancient purity and splendour. I spent about ten
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 61 
 
 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 English 
 in Paris. I dined with about twenty at our ambas- 
 sador's, 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 its religious liberty. 
 
 " Thus, dear sir, I am travelling from one country 
 to another, and, I trust, with some good hope, through 
 abundant grace, to a yet better. My knowledge of 
 human nature should be enlarged by seeing more 
 of the tempers, tastes, and dispositions of different 
 people ; but shudder, my soul, at the glimpse of a 
 thought of its dignity and excellence, for 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." l 
 
 Leaving France, Howard bent his way to Holland. 
 He had expressed a wish to visit it, in the invitation 
 sent to Mr. Gough to become his companion ; and he 
 had spoken of the country in a way which indicated 
 that he thought it according to his taste, though he 
 had not seen it. I find no description of what he 
 now witnessed in the land of old cities, crowded ship- 
 ping, busy quays, pleasant canals, fertile meadows, 
 browsing cattle, comfortable homesteads, and toy-like 
 
 1 Brown, p. 81. Howard's religious feeling at this time was 
 peculiarly intense.
 
 62 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 tenements. But we can imagine objects of that class 
 had charms for the gentleman farmer from Carding- 
 ton, with memories of Bedfordshire scenes. Howard 
 felt himself at home amongst Dutch landscapes, 
 Dutch people, and Dutch industry. 
 
 However congenial with his tastes Holland might 
 be, there was one subject above everything which 
 interested his mind. Spending a Sunday evening 1 
 in the quaint and courtly Hague, he poured out his 
 soul in the pages of his Journal. He writes : " I 
 would record the goodness of God to the un- 
 worthiest of His creatures. I have had for some days 
 past an habitual serious frame, relenting for 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 ; and I hope 
 I have a more tender conscience by the greater fear of 
 offending God, a temper more abstracted from this 
 world, more resigned to death or life, thirsting for 
 union and communion with God as my Lord and my 
 God. Oh, the wonders of redeeming love ! Some faint 
 hope have even I, through redeeming mercy, the 
 perfect righteousness, and 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, unbounded grace ! Not I, not I, an 
 ill-deserving, a hell-deserving creature ! But where 
 sin has abounded, I trust grace superabounds. Some 
 hope I have what joy in that hope that nothing 
 shall separate my soul from the love of God in Christ 
 
 1 February 1 1 th, 1 770.
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 63 
 
 Jesus. And, my soul, as such a frame is thy delight, 
 pray frequently, and fervently, to the father of spirits, 
 to bless His word, and your retired moments, to your 
 serious conduct in life." 
 
 Such language may be scarcely intelligible to 
 some ; yet, making allowance for conventional ex- 
 pressions, it really points to tides of emotion which 
 have swept through Christian .minds in all ages and in 
 all Churches. The tone is intensely devout, such as 
 we find in the letters of Whitefield and Rutherford. 
 It indicates ecstasies of which we have traces in the 
 lives of Doddridge, Flavel, and Howe ; and again, 
 when we listen to mediaeval saints such as Buona- 
 ventura and Bernard, we catch strains in a similar 
 key ; going further back, we meet with them in the 
 Confessions of Augustine. 1 
 
 A similar outburst occurs in an entry made at 
 Lyons, whither he made his way after leaving 
 Holland for he was an erratic tourist. " Blessed be 
 the name of the Lord ! Endeavour, O 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 spreading 
 of the Redeemer's name and Gospel may be pro- 
 moted. Consider the everlasting worth of spiritual 
 and divine enjoyments ; then thou wilt see the vanity 
 and nothingness of worldly pleasures. Remember, 
 O my soul, St. Paul, who was determined to know 
 nothing in comparison of Jesus Christ and Him 
 crucified. A tenderness of conscience I would ever 
 cultivate, no step would I take without acknowledg- 
 ing God." 
 
 1 The great Latin Father is not less impassioned.
 
 64 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST, 
 
 From Holland; in his strangely zigzag course, 
 Howard made his way to Italy ; and proceeding 
 through France he reached the Papal City of Avignon 
 on the olive-clothed banks of the river Rhone, and 
 passed on to the flourishing port of Marseilles. Then 
 he passed Toulon, where he noticed "flowering shrubs 
 in the hedges, and, in most gardens, oranges and 
 lemons." Next we see him at the beautiful Antibes. 
 Cannes was .of no importance then; and indeed no 
 part of the Riviera had attained its present fame. 
 Taking a felucca, he swept along the coast to Nice 
 and Monaco. Then he speaks of going over the 
 Apennines into Italy. "Those mountains," he re- 
 marks, " are three or four days in passing, for many 
 many miles there is hardly a three-foot road, with 
 precipices into the sea, I should guess three times the 
 height of St. Paul's ; but the mules are so sure-footed 
 there is nothing to fear, though the road is also very 
 bad. Through the mercy of God, I travel pleasantly 
 on." 
 
 By this description he must have meant that part 
 of the Mediterranean shore which we now know 
 as the Corniche road, which generally throws the 
 tourist into raptures. He does not seem to have felt 
 them ; yet on reaching " Geneva the superb," with its 
 magnificent harbour, its streets full of palaces, its 
 striped Duomo, and its charming situation, he appears 
 to have been moved ; for "the stateliness of the city," 
 he goes on to say, " is not exceeded by any I have 
 seen." 
 
 He mentions Leghorn, then Pisa, then Florence, 
 Oddly enough, he says of the Duomo in the second 
 of these cities, " It is remarkable for its elegant
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 65 
 
 church, the gates of which were brought from Jeru- 
 salem." Of the third, he remarks, " Florence being 
 the seat of the arts, I visited the gallery many days." 
 This indicates his taste for pictures; and we can fol- 
 low him in imagination examining the Raphaels in 
 the Uffizi and the Pitti palace, and also gazing with 
 interest on the Ghiberti gates of the Baptistery, the 
 graceful campanile by Giotto, and the solemn aisles 
 of the Duomo. 
 
 Reaching Rome, he was evidently impressed, for 
 he says, " The amazing ruins of temples, palaces, and 
 aqueducts give some faint idea of its amazing gran- 
 deur, but it is comparatively now a desert. The de- 
 scription of them, as also of St. Peter's Church 
 and the Vatican, I must defer till I have the pleasure 
 of seeing you." x Rome was then under the rule of 
 Clement XIII., a pontiff distinguished more by his 
 virtues than his policy. He struggled to uphold the 
 prerogatives of his see, and found it hard work to 
 maintain the cause of the Jesuits. He disliked 
 change, and resisted reform. Howard saw him in the 
 streets riding in his state coach as popes then were 
 wont to do. " The Pope passed very close by me 
 yesterday ; he waved his hand to bless me. I bowed, 
 but not kneeling, some of the Cardinals were dis- 
 pleased. But I never can nor will to any human 
 creature, or invention, as I should tremble at the 
 thought of the adoration I have seen paid to him 
 and the wafer. My temper is too open for this coun- 
 try ; yet an important bit of news of this court " (he 
 cautiously writes, "expuls--n of the J-s-ites") "that 
 
 1 Letter to the Rev. Joshua Symonds, dated Rome, May 22nd, 
 1770. 
 
 F
 
 66 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 I now know I durst not commit to writing. That 
 crudest of all inventions, the Inquisition, stops all 
 mouths." 
 
 The Palazzo del S.S. Uffizio where the tribunal 
 was established in 1536 is in a street near the 
 famous colonnade of St. Peter's. As the old tribunal 
 was abolished in 1849, * ms building was afterwards 
 used as a barrack for French soldiers the new 
 tribunal, established by Pio Nono, now holds its 
 meetings in the Vatican. The Dominican convent 
 of Sopra Minerva, close to the Pantheon, was con- 
 nected with the Inquisition ; there Galileo was tried ; 
 but the convent is now suppressed, and its halls, 
 library, and MSS. are appropriated to public uses. 
 Howard wished to see the interior of the Inquisition, 
 but he informs us " 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 private apartments, till my continuance there 
 began to raise suspicion." 1 This, I conclude, refers 
 to the Office by the Vatican, not that of Sopra 
 Minerva. 
 
 From Rome he posted to Naples, saying, " As I 
 return to see the great procession on the i$th of 
 June, I intend staying about a fortnight." But whilst 
 he took a great interest in the antiquities as well as 
 the prisons of the " eternal city," his thoughts were 
 ever recurring to another eternal city. 
 
 " Thus," my dear friend, he writes to Mr. Symonds, 
 "am I travelling over desolate places of ancient 
 grandeur, and felt it to overpower that selfish and 
 
 1 This was written at a later period, perhaps. Comp. Brown 
 p. 255, and Field, p. 253.
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 67 
 
 vain principle that is rooted in my constitution and 
 that humbles the pride of one's heart ! And when at 
 other times I view in statues, paintings, architecture, 
 etc., 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 imperfection will be done away ! 
 Oh ! the free, sovereign, unbounded grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ ! How 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." 
 
 Arrived at Naples, he would not be insensible to 
 the charming sweep of the Mediterranean shore, the 
 blue waters, the blue sky, and the buildings which 
 climb up the hill towards the castle of St. Elmo. He 
 ascended Vesuvius, as we shall see, for meteorological 
 researches, and tested the degree of heat at the 
 highest point of the mountain. He laid himself 
 down on the lava, which was intolerably hot, and 
 immersed his thermometer in the liquid at the 
 volcano's mouth. The results he transmitted to the 
 Royal Society, and they were published in the 
 " Philosophical Transactions." 
 
 In Puritan times, and at later periods, as hinted 
 already, devout people had been accustomed to make 
 a covenant with the Almighty in a written form, 
 dedicating themselves to His service, and praying 
 for Divine grace to keep their vows. Howard 
 adopted this practice, and committed to paper the 
 following expressions of holy desire amongst many 
 others of a similar kind : 
 
 " O my soul, keep close to Him in the amiable
 
 68 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 light of redeeming love, and amidst the snares thou 
 art particularly exposed to in a country of such 
 wickedness and folly. Stand thou in awe and sin 
 not ; see what progress thou makest in thy religious 
 journey. Art thou nearer the Heavenly Canaan ? 
 A little while, and thy journey will be ended ; be 
 thou faithful unto death. Lord, I believe, help my 
 unbelief. O compassionate and Divine Redeemer, 
 save me from the dreadful guilt and power of sin, 
 and accept of my solemn, free, and, I trust, unre- 
 served surrender of my soul and of my dear child, all 
 I am and have into Thy hands. Thus, O Lord, my 
 God, even a worm is humbly bold to covenant with 
 Thee. Do Thou ratify and confirm it, and make me 
 the everlasting monument of Thy unbounded mercy. 
 Amen, Amen, Amen. 
 
 " Hoping my heart deceives me not, and trusting 
 in His mercy for restraining and preventing grace, 
 though rejoicing in returning what I have received of 
 Him into His hands, yet with fear and trembling, I 
 sign my unworthy name, 
 
 "JOHN HOWARD." 
 
 "Naples, 27th of May, 1770." 
 
 This solemn covenant, it seems, he was accustomed 
 to review, for in 1789, at Moscow, just before his 
 death, he wrote a renewal of it. 
 
 On his return to Rome he sent the following 
 letter to Lady Whitbread x : 
 
 1 For these and other letters to the Whitbread family, I am 
 indebted to the " Howard Correspondence," published by the 
 Rev. Mr. Field a book now out of print. He was permitted 
 to copy them from originals in the possession of a descendant 
 from Mr. Whitbread.
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE, 69 
 
 " Rome, June 13, 1770. 
 
 " MADAM, 
 
 " I have just received a very obliging letter 
 on my return from Naples. When ladies condemn, 
 we must plead guilty, and hope our judges are 
 merciful : so I enter not on my defence. Since I 
 had the pleasure of writing to Mr. Whitbread from 
 Geneva, I have visited Leghorn, Pisa, and Florence. 
 In those places, as indeed both in Rome and Naples, 
 I often see paintings of the first and second class, 
 leaving all the inferior ones. I confess that I had 
 seen nothing before I came to Rome. I had often 
 read of the Laocoon, the Apollo, the Gladiator, the 
 Pantheon and Coliseum, the paintings of Raphael, 
 Titian, and Guido; yet the description fell far short, 
 as it does also of the magnificence and elegance of 
 St. Peter's. To that church and the Vatican I go 
 most evenings, the views from the latter being 
 inexpressibly fine. The Pope I have often seen. 
 The worthy good man dispenses with my kneeling. 
 I should tremble to pay that homage to any human 
 creature that I have seen paid to him. 
 
 " The Pretender passed close by me yesterday, and 
 I had a full strong view of him. He has the look of 
 a mere sot, very stupid, dull, and bending double ; 
 quite altered to what I saw him twenty years ago in 
 France. 
 
 " The situation of Naples is fine. As I have 
 the best cartes? it may afford your ladyship some 
 pleasure to see them. I ascended Mount Vesuvius, 
 and when I was up three parts of the hill, the earth 
 was, by my thermometer, somewhat warmer than the 
 1 Views.
 
 70 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 atmosphere. I then took the temperature every five 
 minutes, till I got to the top. The heat was contin- 
 ually increasing. After I had stood the smoke a 
 quarter of an hour, I breathed freely ; so with three 
 men I descended so far as they would go with me, 
 where the earth or brimstone was so heated that, in 
 frequent experiments, it raised my thermometer to 
 240, which is near 30 hotter than boiling water, and 
 in some places it fired some paper I put in. As these 
 experiments have never before been made, I thought 
 the account of them might afford your ladyship some 
 entertainment. 
 
 " We begin to have hot weather here, so I shall 
 make my pilgrimage in the night to Loretto, and 
 from thence to Venice, where I shall stay about a 
 fortnight, when, I think, I shall take my route 
 through Germany to my favourite country, Holland. 
 When at Rotterdam I shall hope to be favoured 
 with a letter, though I believe I shall hardly be there 
 till the middle or latter end of September, as I 
 seldom fix any route or time in any place. This 
 uncertainty prevents my hearing so often from my 
 friends as I could wish. Permit me to say I. am with 
 much esteem, 
 
 " Your ladyship's obliged and 
 
 " Most humble servant, 
 
 "JOHN HOWARD." 
 
 In the streets of Rome he met with the Confrater- 
 nitd della Misericordia a brotherhood -of Charity 
 known by the singular garb they wear when on duty. 
 He describes the cemetery where criminals are in- 
 terred :
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 
 
 " I was in Rome on the 2Qth 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 interments 
 of those who are executed. Round these stones is 
 inscribed " Domine, cum veneris judicare, noli nos 
 condemnare." 
 
 He visited Civita Vecchia to inspect the Pope's 
 galleys. Prisoners condemned for life were chained 
 two and two, and if guilty of forgery, they had to 
 wear an iron glove. Punished for limited terms, they 
 were fastened by a single chain ; but after the lapse of 
 two years a ring only was attached to the leg, and 
 this was lessened as the expiration of imprisonment 
 approached. " None are sent to the galleys," he says, 
 "under the age of twenty; criminals of a younger 
 age are kept at the Hospital of St. Michele in Rome 
 till they are of age." 1 Of the prison at Civita 
 Vecchia, containing 1364 prisoners, he gives a hor- 
 rible account. He saw a low vaulted room with only 
 gleams of light, where men were chained heavily, 
 and fastened down, and the noise they, made was 
 " such as may be imagined at the entrance of hell." 
 Amongst them were 700 murderers and bandits. 
 " They were a ghastly crew, haggard, ferocious, reck- 
 less assassins." 
 
 " What are you here for? " Howard said to a heavy- 
 looking fellow lying on his back. The man would 
 not answer, but a companion said, " He is here for 
 stabbing." " Why is he in this part of the prison ? " 
 
 1 Foreign Prisons, p. 96.
 
 72 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 " Because he is incorrigible." " What are you con- 
 demned for ? " he inquired of another. " For murder." 
 
 On his way, again and again, at Naples and Rome, 
 and afterwards when travelling homewards, he re- 
 corded in his Journal and in letters, self-abasing 
 lamentations. Though on a mission of mercy, and 
 everywhere behaving with the utmost circumspection, 
 he confesses, in language like that of Augustine, not 
 in style but in spirit, his utter sinfulness, wrestling 
 with God for mercy and forgiveness. 
 
 It appears from the following letter, that passing 
 from Italy, he visited Stuttgart, the capital of Wur- 
 temberg, pleasantly situated, with long, wide streets, 
 and a Royal palace. 
 
 " Stuttgart, July 26th, 1770. 
 
 "MY LADY, I received a very kind letter at 
 Venice; accept a very poor return, my thanks, also 
 for your obliging visit to my boy. When I left Rome, 
 I steered my course to Loretto. The immense riches 
 that are there locked up are as surprising as the folly 
 of the votaries. The superstition, folly, and nonsense 
 that one hears and sees, must give any thinking mind 
 pain, and that such a gross imposition should be car- 
 ried on such a number of years. They say the 
 Virgin's chamber was brought over the Venetian Gulf, 
 A.D. 1 290 ; and they told me it was brought by a 
 miracle, and supported from falling by a miracle, 
 though enclosed by a marble case, and many iron 
 bars to prevent its falling in. I could not help 
 saying, in their holy chamber, it would be another 
 miracle to make me believe either one or the other. 
 
 " I went from thence to Bologna, and spent a few 
 days there. The city is no otherwise remarkable
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 73 
 
 than for the piazzas (as in Covent Garden) to every 
 house. There are some fine pictures, and one rich 
 Monastery of the Olivetano, from whence is one of 
 the finest views in Italy. Thence I came to Venice, 
 the situation of which amidst many, as it were float- 
 ing islands, is surprising ; yet when I saw the Rialto, 
 St. Mark's Place, etc., I was much disappointed ; 
 prints had raised my expectation, but they the 
 realities fell short. The streets are all alleys in 
 many places two persons cannot pass. The houses 
 are all dirty, the canals quite offensive, so that it re- 
 quired some patience to stay eight or ten days. And 
 I was not singular, as an English family there told me 
 they never were so tired of a place in a week's time." l 
 
 The course he took next is uncertain, except that 
 we find him at Heidelberg in July. Afterwards he 
 reached Rotterdam ; and he sat down one Sunday 
 night to express his sentiments in the following 
 strain : 
 
 " This morning, on the review of the temper of my 
 mind, how humbled I ought to be before God. I 
 have an evil and wicked heart, ever ready to depart 
 from Him, starting aside like a deceitful bow, mourn- 
 ing yet trusting in my Lord and my God, when by 
 calm, retired thoughts, I would hope I am one step 
 forward on my Christian journey. Yet, alas ! in com- 
 pany how many steps backward! God give me 
 wisdom ! " 
 
 " I 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 I am among the living, I trust, ever to praise 
 
 1 Addressed to Lady Whitbread. Howard Correspondence.
 
 74 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Him. And as to my soul, among all its weakness 
 and folly, yet I have some hope it has not lost ground 
 this year of travelling. I am very desirous of re- 
 turning with a right spirit, not only wiser, but better, 
 with a cheerful humility, a more general love, and 
 benevolence towards my fellow-creatures, watchful of 
 my thoughts, my words, my actions, and resigned to 
 the will of God, that I may walk with God, and lead 
 a more useful and honourable life in this world." l 
 
 From the Hague, that favourite spot, he wrote to 
 England : 
 
 " The Hague, Aug. 2Qth t 1770. 
 
 "MY LADY, In Italy, however magnificent the 
 objects, and highly elegant the curiosities may be, 
 we in England have the solid, the substantial, and 
 important, which we ought to value above all the 
 rest. 
 
 " I have been well gratified with foreign elegances, 
 and shall sit down at home in peace, as the comfort- 
 able, useful, and honourable life should be our aim. 
 I am sure I require the most favourable allowance of 
 my friends." 2 
 
 This, and the previous letter to the same lady, 
 written at Stuttgart, enables us to trace Howard's 
 route on his way home, a matter left in obscurity by 
 previous biographers. 
 
 1 Brown, p. 98. 2 Addressed to Lady Whitbread.
 
 w 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS AT BEDFORD. 
 
 1/70-1773. 
 HEN Howard returned from abroad after his 
 
 wife's death, he could not at once settle down 
 in his desolate home. Within a short time, he went 
 to Southampton, where he felt so unwell that he re- 
 quested the prayers of the congregation over which 
 William Kingsbury, an excellent and distinguished 
 pastor of the last century, presided. This circum- 
 stance led not only to a pleasant interview, but to a 
 lasting friendship. 
 
 Travelling again became his resource ; and from 
 Bristol he visited part of Wales and the south of 
 Ireland, accompanied by a servant named Thomas- 
 son, 1 who seems to have paid him the most assidu- 
 ous attention, and who in a MS. journal preserved 
 several particulars respecting his master's life. Upon 
 returning to Cardington, Howard was seized with 
 severe ague, which lasted three-quarters of a year ; 
 owing, it would appear, in part at least, to " the low 
 marshy situation of the village," a circumstance which 
 rekindled the sufferer's zeal in promoting sanitary 
 improvement, an object to which more than ever he 
 
 1 Much has been said about this man. I reserve any notice 
 of him for the present. 
 
 75
 
 76 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 devoted attention after his recovery. Other subjects 
 occupied his thoughts at this period, for we find him, 
 in the course of four years after his Continental 
 journey, engaged in ecclesiastical, social, and political 
 affairs which require our notice. 
 
 It had been his custom, since he went to live at 
 Cardington, to attend divine worship at Bedford. 
 The congregation with which he united had a remark- 
 able history. A number of godly people in the days 
 of the Civil Wars seceded from the parish churches 
 at Bedford, and chose for their pastor a person 
 named John Gifford. He was once a zealous Royalist, 
 and being taken prisoner by the Parliamentarians, 
 was sentenced to death ; but he escaped through the 
 intervention of his sister and the drunkenness of the 
 guard. Becoming converted, he joined a few Puri- 
 tans. The little band, in the year 1650, elected him 
 to be their spiritual guide ; and the effect of his teach- 
 ing, followed by an epistle he addressed to them, 
 " upon his departure out of the world," created in the 
 minds of the next generation the most profound re- 
 verence for his saintly life and apostolic character. 
 Gifford's epistle has been praised by Southey, who 
 says it exemplifies a wise, tolerant, and truly Christian 
 spirit ; that spirit he infused into the community, as 
 its subsequent history proves. He was the Evan- 
 gelist, and the Greatheart of the Bedford pilgrims. 
 His idea of Christian life was, that it springs from 
 spiritual union with the Lord Jesus ; and that the 
 bond of union amongst His followers does not con- 
 sist in oneness of theological or ecclesiastical opinion, 
 but in religious sympathy and brotherly love. The 
 Church he founded was neither exclusively Baptist
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 77 
 
 nor Paedobaptist ; members of both kinds were ad- 
 mitted on the same terms. 
 
 John Bunyan was first a deacon and then the pastor 
 of this unique Society. The humble annals contain 
 several notices of the great allegorist; relating how, 
 when he died, "the whole congregation met to humble 
 themselves before God by fasting and prayer for His 
 heavy and severe stroke upon them, in taking away 
 their honoured brother, Bunyan, by death " ; and how 
 it was " agreed by the whole congregation, that care 
 be taken to seek out for one suitably qualified to be 
 chosen an elder among them," and such " care " was 
 committed by all the rest to the brethren living in 
 Bedford. The name of Bunyan continued a house- 
 hold word in that community, and was fresh in the 
 memory and was often on the lips of the people 
 with whom Howard worshipped. Bunyan's " Grace 
 Abounding," and Bunyan's " Holy War," as well as 
 Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress," must have been books 
 after Howard's own heart, for the ecstatic expressions 
 contained in his Journals might be taken for echoes 
 of that wonderful man's religious teaching. 
 
 The Church had, in Bunyan's time, several 
 pastors. The Records mention no less than seven. 
 One of them was Nehemiah Cox, " a very excellent, 
 learned, and judicious divine." He appeared in 
 court at the Bedford Assizes, to answer a charge of 
 preaching contrary to the law of the land ; and, 
 oddly enough, " he first pleaded in Greek and then 
 in Hebrew" a piece of pedantry which appeared the 
 more remarkable, as in the indictment he bore the 
 description of " Cordwainer." When the circumstance 
 came to be buzzed about in Bedford, the townsfolk
 
 78 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 "wound up what they counted a good story, by 
 saying the Judge told the bar, ' Well, this cordwainer 
 has wound you all up, gentlemen.'" 
 
 A minister named Joshua Symonds undertook 
 the pastoral office in the Bedford Church the year 
 in which Howard's wife Henrietta died ; and as 
 Howard and he became intimate friends, and he was 
 one to whom he wrote several letters, notice may be 
 taken of him here. Born at Kidderminster, he lived 
 in Birmingham as a young man, when he was en- 
 couraged to enter the ministry by the pastor of Carr's 
 Lane congregation, by whose advice he went to 
 the academy of Dr. Conder, at Mile End. There he 
 approved himself to his instructors, and at the com- 
 pletion of his course visited Bedford. His preaching 
 favourably impressed the congregation, and in due 
 time he was ordained their minister. 1 His stated 
 labours were shortened by ill-health, and for some 
 years he was quite laid aside. After his death, John 
 Ryland, a celebrated Dissenting minister, remarked, 
 in a funeral sermon for him, " Few knew where to 
 find a man whose general conversation indicated 
 more godly simplicity and godly sincerity. Having 
 been put in trust with the Gospel, he spoke, not as 
 pleasing man, but God, who trieth our hearts. He 
 used to preach, not himself, but Christ Jesus the 
 
 1 I remember the old building, large and cumbrous ; and the 
 departed worthies who worshipped there would have been 
 astonished at the appearance of the present edifice, with its 
 magnificent bronze gates given by the Duke of Bedford. When 
 they were opened, I had the pleasure of delivering an address 
 before the Mayor and Aldermen and a large congregation of 
 townspeople.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 79 
 
 Lord ; and he meant " the good man had himself 
 selected the preacher on this occasion " that I should 
 not preach upon the excellences of Joshua Symonds, 
 but upon the excellences of Jesus Christ" "You 
 have seen a poor, afflicted, dying man, that has lain, 
 I may say, at the mouth of the grave for these several 
 months, under a strong probability, from week to 
 week, that that would be his dying week ; who was 
 yet supported, comforted, and enabled to wait patiently 
 for his expected and much-desired change. You 
 have seen a man who had nine strong ties to earth," 
 this alludes to Mr. Symonds' family, "drawn by 
 a far stronger tie toward heaven." He died in 1785. 
 Mr. Symonds had a daughter whose married name 
 was Emery, and who lived to a great age. She 
 knew, when a girl, people who remembered Bun- 
 yan ; and to indicate her recollections, it may be 
 mentioned that she used to tell of her going to 
 Bridge Street, Blackfriars, by her mother's special 
 permission, " to stand in a chair at the window, that 
 she might look at her uncle walking in the street 
 with an umbrella over his head." She knew three 
 generations of her ancestors, four of her descend- 
 ants. Her great grandfather, whom she recollected, 
 was born in the Revolution year, 1688. She was 
 acquainted with Newton, Venn, Lady Austen, An- 
 drew Fuller, the Rylands, and other worthies. She 
 spoke of her father as " a good Hebrew, Greek, and 
 Latin scholar," and as a particular friend of the 
 celebrities just named, especially John Newton, who 
 addressed 'to him some of the letters published in 
 the Omicron. What Newton thought of him, appears 
 from a letter written in 1776 : " If I should outlive
 
 8o HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 you, and I should have a call to write the life of the 
 Rev. Mr. Symonds, of Bedford, I should perhaps 
 have more to say in your favour than you are aware 
 of; and if you would have the darker side known as 
 well as the brighter, you must write it yourself." 1 
 
 Mrs. Emery talked much about Howard. " Often," 
 says Mrs. Emery's daughter, 2 " have I listened with 
 intense interest to the recital from my mother's own 
 lips, of various little incidents respecting Howard, and 
 beheld with great delight her beaming eyes, while 
 she graphically described his person, dress, and 
 manner, and told of his dignified appearance, of his 
 remarkable punctuality ; and how, sometimes, even 
 in the midst of an interesting conversation with her 
 parents, he would look at his watch, instantly rise, 
 and, with a low bow, leave the room." 
 
 The Church, as we have seen, was composed of 
 Baptists and Paedobaptist members. Bunyan was 
 a Baptist: Symonds, when chosen, was a Paedo- 
 baptist. This did not disturb the harmony of the 
 people, so long as the latter remained what he had 
 been at the beginning ; but in 1772 he changed his 
 views, and announced that he could no longer con- 
 tinue to baptize the infants of the flock. This cir- 
 cumstance led to a rupture, and, in the end, to a 
 separation the Paedobaptists seceding, and forming 
 a second Church on their own distinctive principles. 
 In the secession Howard joined, and it is on this 
 account that these details are introduced, since they 
 
 1 Bull's Life of Newton, p. 199. 
 
 2 Reminiscences of a Beloved Mother. Printed for private 
 circulation.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 81 
 
 show that, though a man of liberal ecclesiastical views, 
 he attached importance to infant baptism. 
 
 As Howard took a decided part in this con- 
 troversy, I have examined the documents on both 
 sides. The chief grounds alleged by the seceders in 
 a MS. of the period were, that Mr. Symonds, having 
 become an Anti-psedobaptist, was seeking to indoc- 
 trinate the whole congregation with his opinions; and 
 that, in this and some other objectionable respects, 
 a large party supported his proceedings. From 
 the Church Book of the Bunyan Meeting, in which 
 Symonds remained after the secession, it appears 
 that the majority who sustained him were prepared 
 to make concessions on condition of the opposite 
 party doing the same. As I am not writing a history 
 of the Church, the reciprocal concessions proposed 
 may as well sink, so far as this narrative is concerned, 
 altogether into oblivion. No doubt much was lying 
 beneath the surface which does not appear ; and those 
 who read between the lines may easily discern the 
 existence of personal feelings such as, alas ! underlie 
 many disputes of greater importance. Painful excite- 
 ment attended the division ; but it is pleasant to read 
 at the conclusion the following passage in a MS. 
 preserved by the separatists in reference to the 
 brethren from whom they parted : " Though they 
 cannot but conceive of them as mistaken, yet they 
 hope they are honest in their errors ; and though a 
 difference in judgment and practice, arising from the 
 present imperfections of knowledge and grace, ren- 
 ders it expedient to withdraw from their Society 
 at present, yet they would still conceive of them as 
 brethren, and treat them as such, hoping to unite 
 
 G
 
 82 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 with them again in the glorious assembly and Church 
 of the first-born, and to spend a happy eternity with 
 them in a world of perfect knowledge, holiness, and 
 joy : where all shall be peace, harmony, and love, 
 and party names and distinctions shall be heard no 
 more." ' In these charitable views, Howard concur- 
 red. Conscientiously compelled to withdraw, he did 
 it with dignity and temper; and, what is rare under 
 such circumstances, he is said to have retained the 
 goodwill of all parties, and to have preserved the for- 
 saken pastor's friendship. 2 
 
 Temporary arrangements followed ; a place was 
 secured for worship until a new Meeting House could 
 be built ; and amongst the ministers who officiated 
 was the son of Howard's old friend, Meredith Towns- 
 hend of Stoke Newington. " It gratified him highly," 
 says a correspondent of the period, who furnishes 
 these minute but interesting details, " to find that he 
 was appointed to sojourn at Mr. Howard's house 
 during his visit to the people. He found him not 
 
 1 The documents on which the statements of the separatists 
 rest were shown to me by my friend, the late Mr. Alliott, at the 
 time minister of the second chapel, called Howard ChapeL 
 
 3 The rules of the new Church are broad and catholic. The 
 first, which is fundamental, runs thus : " That those whose 
 names are hereunto subscribed, humbly hoping that we have 
 received the grace of God in truth, firmly relying on the media- 
 tion and atonement of the Son of God, and sincerely desirous 
 of yielding obedience to all His commandments, having been 
 formed into a Christian Society, do henceforth resolve to walk 
 together as long as circumstances shall permit in the fellowship 
 of the Gospel." The formation of a distinct Church after the 
 rupture, was approved by Dr. Winter, Dr. Gibbons, Samuel 
 Palmer, and other well-known ministers.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 83 
 
 disposed to talk much, and supposed that he talked 
 to him less than he would otherwise have done, be- 
 cause he was young in years, and almost boyish in 
 appearance ; besides that, he sat but a short time at 
 table, and was in motion during the whole day. On 
 the Sabbath he ate little or no dinner, and spent the 
 interval between the morning and afternoon service 
 in a private room alone. He had prayer in his family 
 every day, morning and evening, and read the Scrip- 
 tures himself, but asked his guest to pray. He was 
 very abstemious, lived chiefly upon vegetables, ate 
 little animal food, and drank no wine or spirits. He 
 hated praise ; and when Mr. Townshend once men- 
 tioned to him his labours of benevolence, he spoke of 
 them slightingly as a whim of his, and immediately 
 changed the subject." 
 
 A new and permanent buildin'g for the seceders was 
 speedily raised. Howard gave two hundred pounds, 
 and lent the same amount without interest, on a 
 bond which he afterwards cancelled. He made in 
 this case the present of a pulpit, as he had done 
 before for the Bunyan Meeting House. 
 
 The strict observance of the first day of the week, 
 the regular discharge of religious duties at that season, 
 and the avoidance of all business and amusement 
 during its sacred hours, formed a marked character- 
 istic of the Puritans of the seventeenth century, dis- 
 tinguishing them in this respect from most Protestants 
 on the Continent. The same habits were cultivated 
 by Dissenters of the eighteenth century; and though 
 perhaps not so rigid as their forefathers, they carried 
 their punctilious ideas to an excess, and created, in 
 many cases, prejudices against Evangelical religion,
 
 84 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 with which a more than Jewish abstinence from 
 common habits seemed apparently to be identified. 
 Howard was no doubt a thorough Puritan in his 
 Sunday behaviour ; but, whatever might be thought of 
 this, to him it was anything but self-denial. The day 
 in his estimation was " a delight, the holy of the 
 Lord, and honourable ; " if he expected it to be so to 
 others, unhappily, he was mistaken. The contrast 
 between English and foreign Sundays struck him 
 forcibly, when travelling abroad, as appears from his 
 correspondence ; and amidst the bustle and pleasure- 
 taking of Paris and Brussels he fondly sighed for the 
 quietude of Cardington and the worship at Bedford. 
 
 Before the described secession had occurred, Howard 
 purchased or built a house close to the Bunyan 
 Meeting. He had done so that he might have a home 
 in which to spend his Sundays, without being obliged 
 to travel from Cardington to Bedford on the day of 
 rest. According to one tradition, he came over on 
 Saturday and returned on Monday. The building is 
 scarcely, if at all, altered, except that some addition 
 is made on one side. It stands at the corner of Mill 
 Street with a walled-in garden before it. The front is 
 covered with a goodly vine, said to have been planted 
 by Howard himself. It is trailed on lattice-work 
 between the windows, and surmounted by a deep roof 
 exhibiting dormer windows. Two rooms, a sitting- 
 room and a bed-room, occupied by the philanthropist, 
 I lately visited with great interest. They are as plain 
 as possible. The Trustees of the Chapel have lately 
 purchased the premises. 
 
 With the pastor of the new Church, the Rev. 
 Thomas Smith, Howard formed a very intimate
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 85 
 
 friendship ; and even offered to build him a parsonage 
 house, which was delicately declined. 
 
 Howard, I was informed, loved him with a special 
 affection, as one with whom he could sympathize, and 
 in whom he could confide. He, like Mr. Symonds, 
 left behind him a daughter, who used to delight 
 in talking of old times. She spoke of Howard's 
 Sunday morning calls at her father's house. " I 
 remember," she would say, " how anxiously we used 
 to watch his knock, and how pleased we were to 
 walk to meeting by his side." She also told how 
 the two friends would go out on horseback together, 
 and Howard would decoy his companion into a ride 
 so long as to preclude his getting home at the usual 
 hour of his mid-day meal, and then would say, as he 
 rejoiced at the success of his manoeuvre, "I find, my 
 friend, that you can fast as long as I can ; but now 
 you must go to Cardington and spend the day with 
 me, as Mrs. Smith will have dined long before this 
 time." " My father," the lady added, " has often said, 
 those were some of the most delightful hours of his 
 life, for that Mr. Howard would then completely un- 
 bend himself, and give the most interesting accounts 
 of his past travels ; open to him all his future plans, 
 all his trials and sorrows, in short, every feeling of 
 his heart, in the most free and confidential manner." 
 
 Several letters are addressed by the philanthropist 
 to Mr. Smith, indicating the friendship between them, 
 which continued till death. Mr. Smith survived his 
 friend, and removed from Bedford to Foulmire in 
 1796. He returned to Bedford, and died suddenly in 
 1801, aged 52. 
 
 According to another tradition I heard thirty years
 
 86 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 ago, Howard, when he attended at Mr. Smith's place 
 of worship, reserved in the Mill Street house a little 
 parlour for his use on Sundays. There, I learnt, he 
 was wont to tarry in the middle of the day, and take 
 a slight repast between morning and afternoon ser- 
 vices. It was his habit, as I was further informed, to 
 walk on these occasions from Cardington and back ; 
 and a story was related that some one, whom he had 
 often reproved for his vices, resolved to waylay and 
 murder the philanthropist, when taking this accus- 
 tomed journey. " Providence," it is said in a funeral 
 sermon preached for him, " remarkably interposed to 
 preserve so valuable a life, by inclining him that 
 morning to go on horseback another road." 
 
 Thoroughly identifying himself with the Bedford 
 congregation in Divine worship, he still retained his 
 membership at Stoke Newington; and it is strongly 
 characteristic of his tenacious hold on that early fel- 
 lowship, of his love to what he regarded as his mother 
 Church^ that when his son was to be baptized, instead 
 of requesting the Bedford minister to discharge that 
 service, he sent for his Newington pastor, Mr. Towns- 
 hend. But practically he maintained communion 
 with Mr. Smith's people and discharged amongst 
 them the duties of benevolence, contributing liberally 
 to the relief of the poor, and assisting them " by 
 every means in his power." He maintained friendly 
 relations with the members ; and his urbanity to 
 every one is to this day a subject of praise. 
 
 Not within narrow boundaries did he confine his 
 sympathies. He knew no distinction of sect or party. 
 At all times he showed himself willing to do an act 
 of kindness for those of different persuasions from
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 87 
 
 his own. " In every way," says his friend and bio- 
 grapher Dr. Aiken, " in which a man thoroughly dis- 
 posed to do good with the means Providence has 
 bestowed upon him, can exercise his liberality, Mr. 
 Howard stood amongst the foremost. He was not 
 only a subscriber to various public schemes of be- 
 nevolence, but his private charities were largely dif- 
 fused and remarkably well directed." 
 
 Howard cultivated friendship amongst the people 
 called Quakers. There was a great deal in their 
 character calculated to attract him. Their purity, 
 simplicity, and unworldliness accorded with his taste. 
 Their vindication of the rights of conscience, and 
 their sufferings on account of it, commanded his 
 respect. Their peaceful disposition and opposition to 
 all kinds of war, were also accordant with his senti- 
 ments. Public opinion in reference to the community 
 had undergone a marked change since the time of 
 the Commonwealth. Indiscreet methods of express- 
 ing dislike to the Establishment and the predominant 
 sects, had at that period aroused ardent persecution of 
 the Quakers ; but the meekness and propriety of their 
 subsequent behaviour, their unblemished morals, and 
 the prosperous circumstances of some of their mem- 
 bers, had turned the tide of opinion, and raised 
 Quakerism to more than common respectability. Not 
 only did Howard share in this feeling, but he was 
 drawn towards Friends by affinities of conviction. 
 He had, if I may so say, much of the Quaker in him ; 
 and this was manifested in the singular neatness of 
 his apparel and in the plain furniture of his house. 
 
 Another religious body existed, for whom Howard 
 cherished fraternal regards. The Moravians who
 
 88 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 reverently preserve traditions of Bohemian martyrs, 
 and who in the middle of the last century committed 
 themselves to noble missionary enterprises beyond 
 other denominations had for some time carried on 
 work "at Bedford ; and in 1751 consecrated a chapel 
 for the preaching of the Gospel. Labourers amongst 
 them sought to promote the spiritual welfare of 
 neighbouring villages ; and their ordinary, Bishop 
 Johannes de Watteville, visited the Midland District 
 for the confirmation of converts. All this came 
 within Howard's knowledge. In gentleness, noncon- 
 formity to the world, and morality of life, they were 
 akin to Quakers ; and they had an additional quality 
 recommending them to his good graces, in their in- 
 tense Evangelicalism, and the burning fervour of 
 their hymnology. 
 
 There lived at Bedford in Howard's time a large 
 West Indian proprietor named Barham, who be- 
 longed to the Moravian Brethren. His abode was 
 called " The Great House," and its occupier was like 
 Gaius of old, for he entertained under his hospitable 
 roof apostolic men, especially John Newton. He 
 brings the names of Barham and Howard together 
 in the following passage : 
 
 " Such a happy family perhaps I never saw, where 
 the peace and love of God dwell in every heart. I 
 spoke every morning after breakfast, and attended 
 the chapel every evening. On Thursday we paid a 
 morning visit to Mr. Howard of Cardington, when 
 we had some interesting conversation. May the 
 Lord bless it. I presented him with an Omicron." l 
 
 1 Bull's Life of Newton, p. 204.
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL RELA TIONS. 
 
 This was in 1773. The clergyman, the Moravian, 
 and the Independent pleasantly met that day, as 
 good men of different denominations ought to do.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SHRIEVALTY. 
 
 IN the Bedford Corporation Records the name 
 of John Howard appears in 1757 and 1766 as 
 Mayor of the borough. At first sight, it seems 
 as if the subject of our Memoir accepted municipal 
 honours ; but a little consideration renders such a 
 circumstance very improbable. The matter is set 
 at rest by discovering that the signature of John 
 Howard the Mayor, is different from that of the 
 John Howard of Cardington; and I am informed 
 that Mr. Howard, the celebrated machinist, father of 
 the present Member for Bedfordshire, when he served 
 the office a few years ago, spoke of an ancestor of his 
 as having preceded him a century before. 
 
 A higher honour was conferred upon Howard of 
 Cardington not long afterwards. In 1773 he was 
 selected as High Sheriff for the county, by what 
 means and with what motive, has not been ascertained. 
 The circumstance is peculiar, because Protestant 
 Dissenters had been rendered by the Test Act 
 ineligible for the occupancy of such a position. That 
 Act had entailed pains and penalties of a severe 
 description upon any one who should fill a public 
 office without taking the Sacrament in the Church of
 
 SHRIEVALTY. 91 
 
 England ; and biographers of Howard have dwelt 
 upon the peril to which he exposed himself by 
 accepting the honour without a legal qualification. 
 But it is forgotten that Acts of Indemnity began to 
 be passed in the reign of George II. for the protection 
 of those who took office without qualification. These 
 Acts were renewed every year, with few exceptions, 
 up to the accession of George III. ; after that period 
 the renewal of the indemnity became regular from 
 time to time. Still, Nonconformists were at the 
 mercy of Parliament from year to year, and therefore 
 uneasiness was natural in reference to a statute which, 
 though suspended, was not repealed. Strange stories 
 are told about the Lord Chancellor giving Howard 
 an assurance of indemnification ; but these are re- 
 duced to more reasonable dimensions by a communi- 
 cation made to Dr. Brown after he had published the 
 first edition of Howard's Life. He was informed 
 that Howard waited upon the Lord Chancellor and 
 stated his difficulty respecting the Sacrament ; and 
 that the Chancellor told him, though he could not 
 say difficulties were entirely removed, yet if they 
 should arise, his lordship would " do all he could to 
 turn the edge of them." This version was supplied 
 by " a venerable Baptist minister at Bedford," in 
 " the ninety-first year of his age," and more than thirty 
 years after he had received the statement from 
 Howard's lips. There is room for doubting its perfect 
 accuracy, without calling in question the truthfulness 
 of the witness ; but it is possible the elected sheriff 
 consulted the holder of the great seal, and heard that 
 which justified his fulfilment of the office, without any 
 act of occasional conformity.
 
 92 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 It was the Test Act, not the Corporation Act, to 
 which Howard is described as laying himself open 
 the Test Act, passed in 1673, twelve years later than 
 the Corporation Act, was aimed at Roman Catholics, 
 not at Protestant Dissenters. The object was to 
 exclude from office the Duke of York, afterwards 
 James II., then High Admiral of England, Lord 
 Clifford, High Treasurer, and other notabilities, 
 whom it compelled to resign office. The Act 
 declared that all persons holding situations of trust 
 or profit should take the oaths of supremacy and 
 allegiance in public and open court, and also receive 
 the Sacrament according to the usage of the Church 
 of England, in some parish church on some Lord's 
 day, immediately after Divine service and sermon, 
 and deliver a certificate of having done so, under 
 the hands of the minister and churchwardens. 1 The 
 penalties for noncompliance were severe. The delin- 
 quent was liable to be disabled from engaging in 
 any lawsuit, from being guardian to a child, from 
 being executor to a will, from receiving a legacy, or 
 bearing any office in England or Wales ; and, in 
 addition to these incredible disabilities, he had to for- 
 feit the sum of 500. 2 
 
 A solemn denial of the doctrine of Transubstanti- 
 ation being included in what was demanded, makes 
 it plain that it was levelled at Papists, not at Dissent- 
 ers and there was a disposition in the House of Com- 
 mons at the time to relieve the latter from some of 
 their disabilities. This is no excuse for the injustice 
 
 1 Stat. 25 Car. ii., c. 2. 
 8 Neal : History of the Puritans, vol. ii., p. 460.
 
 SHRIEVALTY. 93 
 
 of the law. But the country at the moment was mad 
 about Popery ; and Dissenters joined in the policy of 
 excluding Roman Catholics from civil office. 
 
 The Test Act and the Corporation Act imposed 
 conformity to the Church of England in receiv- 
 ing the Lord's Supper as a qualification to office. 
 Three different courses had been pursued under 
 these circumstances. Sir John Shorter, in the reign 
 of James II., also Sir Humphrey Edwin and Sir 
 Thomas Abney, in the reign of William III., all 
 three Nonconformists, had, upon accepting the Lord 
 Mayoralty of London, submitted to law, by attend- 
 ing the Church of England and partaking of the 
 Holy Communion. This practice of occasional con- 
 formity, as it was called, excited a great deal of 
 violent controversy, many Dissenters resenting it, 
 especially Daniel Defoe, who, in his own trenchant 
 style, with vigorous Saxon idioms employed after a 
 rasping fashion, denounced the practice as utterly 
 inconsistent, saying that none but Protestants halt 
 between God and Baal, that none but Christians of 
 an amphibious nature could believe one way and 
 worship another. 
 
 Proceeding upon Defoe's principle, some Dissent- 
 ers would on ho account whatever accept any office 
 from which they were excluded by the Acts. They 
 objected conscientiously to receive the Lord's Supper 
 according to the rites of the Church, because they 
 deemed those rites unscriptural sitting at the table, 
 not kneeling at the altar rails, being regarded by 
 them as conformable to the primitive history of this 
 divine ordinance. Other points in the Church ser- 
 vice they disapproved, and they could not bring
 
 94 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 themselves to adopt occasional conformity pursued 
 by some co-religionists. 
 
 Another class refused to conform as a qualification 
 for office, not because they could not conscientiously 
 receive the Lord's Supper according to Episcopalian 
 usage, but simply because they could not bear to 
 make what the Saviour had ordained as a memorial 
 of Himself, and as a sign of brotherly love, the means 
 of securing entrance upon civil distinctions. They 
 deemed that a profanation, calling it the employment 
 of worship as a " pick lock " to place and worldly 
 honour. They could on some occasions, as a token 
 of true Catholic union, join brethren of the Anglican 
 Church in their mode of commemorating Christ's 
 love ; but they could not comply with Acts of Par- 
 liament requiring conformity as a qualification for 
 secular acts. This view certainly was taken by the 
 illustrious John Howe, Cromwell's chaplain, William's 
 acquaintance, and a kind of mediator between the 
 strict and the liberal Nonconformists of his day. 
 He proved that a person who, apart from worldly 
 motives, communes with one Church on particular 
 occasions and with another Church on common occa- 
 sions, does nothing which impeaches his conscien- 
 tiousness or destroys his consistency. He declared 
 that in 1662, "most of the considerable ejected Lon- 
 don ministers met and agreed to hold occasional 
 communion with the now Established Church, not 
 quitting their own ministry or declining the exercise 
 of it as they could have opportunity." * 
 
 Howard frequently attended the parish church at 
 
 1 Howe's Works, vol. v., pp. 26^-250.
 
 SHRIEVALTY. 95 
 
 Cardington ; but whether he ever united with the 
 parishioners in Communion Service I cannot learn. 
 It was his practice to go over to Bedford on Sundays 
 when the Lord's Supper was observed ; but it is not 
 inconceivable that, with his catholic ideas, his love of 
 Christian union, and his habit of worshipping with 
 Episcopalian congregations abroad, he might join 
 with his wife Harriet in receiving bread and wine at 
 the hands of the parish clergyman. I by no means 
 feel sure that he did so ; but I think the view taken 
 by John Howe is one in which John Howard shared. 
 At all events, he did not conform when he accepted 
 the office of Sheriff for Bedfordshire, nor were any 
 legal proceedings adopted against him. Such pro- 
 ceedings would have depended upon some officious 
 person informing against him, a circumstance not 
 likely to occur, as the penalties threatened by the 
 Test Act were so serious, that scarcely any one was 
 likely to set the law in motion against a man of 
 Howard's character and reputation. Moreover, the 
 law itself was in such a state of uncertainty, owing 
 to Acts of a contrary character subsequently passed, 
 especially Acts of Indemnity, that a conviction was 
 very improbable. Only six years before Howard's 
 name was pricked for Sheriff, the Corporation of 
 London had failed to enforce the Corporation Act 
 against Dissenters who refused to qualify for the 
 City shrievalty. The judges refused to support the 
 claims of the Corporation, and the Lords affirmed 
 the judgment of the court. Lord Mansfield said, 
 " It is now no crime for a man to say he is a Dis- 
 senter, nor is it any crime for him not to take the 
 Sacrament according to the rites of the Church of
 
 96 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 England ; nay, the crime is, if he does it contrary to 
 the dictates of his conscience." " There is certainly 
 nothing more unreasonable, more inconsistent with 
 the rights of human nature, more contrary to the 
 spirit and precepts of the Christian religion, more 
 iniquitous and unjust, more impolitic, than persecu- 
 tion." 1 Under these circumstances Howard ran no 
 risk by venturing on the shrievalty without the 
 qualification ; and a great deal said on the subject is 
 wide of the mark. 
 
 There was perhaps some falling off in the outward 
 splendours of the Bedfordshire shrievalty in the year 
 1773. At that time, and, indeed, within our own recol- 
 lection, county sheriffs were wont to maintain a very 
 imposing amount of state and ceremony, especially 
 when they went out in their carriages, with an array 
 of attendants, to meet the Justices of Assize. I dare 
 say there was not quite so much that was gorgeous 
 that year in the customary processions, as the Bed- 
 fordshire squires and yeomen had witnessed before. 
 The coach was not so smart as usual ; the blue livery 
 of the javelin-men was very plain ; and I was told at 
 Cardington that, in proof of this, a coat was long 
 preserved by one who wore it, and who carried a 
 javelin on the memorable occasion. No ball would 
 be graced by the Sheriff's presence, nor any play 
 bespoke at the theatre. I can fancy that the bells 
 seemed not to ring so merrily as usual. I am quite 
 sure that, as the Sheriff conducted the Judges into 
 court, and sat beside them with his white wand, he 
 esteemed it anything but a gala day. This eccentric 
 
 1 ParL Hist., vol. xvi., p. 316.
 
 SHRIEVALTY. 97 
 
 personage, so many thought him, had accepted his 
 responsibilities under a stern sense of moral obliga- 
 tion ; and evidently the guilt and misery with which 
 he was brought into contact gave to the discharge of 
 his duties a melancholy colouring. That contact led 
 to important issues. In the opening sentence of his 
 book on prisons he says, " The distress, 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 Bedford." Further on, he 
 adds, respecting the subject of his great life work, 
 " To the pursuit of it I was prompted by the sorrows 
 of the sufferers, and love to my country. The work 
 grew upon me insensibly. I could not enjoy my ease 
 and leisure in the neglect of an opportunity, offered 
 me by Providence, of attempting the relief of the 
 miserable." 
 
 Thus, it appears that Howard's shrievalty gave an 
 impulse to Howard's benevolence as a prison re- 
 former. It was a new path. He had no pioneer. 
 The first man who went up Mont Blanc, Balmat, 
 hero of Chamounix, had often walked round the base 
 of the mountain, seeking in vain for a way to the top. 
 Finding his endeavours fruitless, he exclaimed, " This 
 will never do ; if there be no path, why I'll make 
 one." Howard had conceived a mountainous enter- 
 prise ; and with only an energetic will, without any 
 map whereby to pick his steps, without any mortal 
 guide before him, he said, " If there be no path, why 
 I'll make one." And he did. How he did it will 
 appear as we proceed. It was gradually accomplished, 
 and at -the commencement he took one step at a 
 time. The circumstance which excited his compas- 
 
 H
 
 98 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 sion was seeing persons who had been declared not 
 guilty, or against whom the grand jury had not found 
 a true bill, or in whose case a prosecutor did not 
 appear on trial locked up for months, or more, until 
 they paid certain fees to gaolers, clerks of assize, 
 and other officials. Howard's statements are borne 
 out by those of others. " We may trace in the writers 
 of fiction how little the dominion of cruelty, neglect, 
 and extortion had been diminished at the accession 
 of George III. Fielding's Mr. Booth is committed 
 by an ignorant justice to Bridewell, upon a charge 
 of assaulting a watchman, when he had only inter- 
 fered to prevent an outrage by two men of fortune 
 who bribed the constable to let them escape. When 
 he goes to prison, a number of persons gather round 
 him in the yard and demand garnish. The keeper 
 explained that it was customary for every new 
 prisoner to treat the others with something to drink. 
 The young man had no money, and the keeper 
 quietly permitted the scoundrels to strip him of his 
 clothes." l " Three street robbers, certain to be 
 hanged, were enjoying themselves over a bottle of 
 wine and a pipe ; the man without a shilling in his 
 pocket had the prison allowance of a penny loaf and 
 a jug of water." 2 
 
 Howard immediately began to act, and applied to 
 the Bedfordshire justices to pay a salary to the 
 master of the gaol in lieu of fees. They asked for 
 a precedent to warrant their doing so. Forthwith 
 he rode into several neighbouring counties, and then 
 
 Charles Knight's History of England, vol. vii., p. 117. 
 2 Fielding's Amelia.
 
 SHRIEVALTY. 99 
 
 visited most of the prominent gaols in England, to 
 ascertain the general practice regarding this matter. 
 
 This first was a winter journey. He set out in 
 the middle of November, 1773, and pursued his re- 
 searches at intervals during the months of December, 
 January, and February following ; but nowhere could 
 he find the precedent of which he was in search. 
 Gaolers in every place were paid out of fees ex- 
 acted from prisoners, or out of profits upon such 
 articles as were sold to unhappy creatures within 
 prison walls. In some cases he afterwards found, 
 that in small places a public house was used as a 
 Bridewell, and the landlord acted as gaoler, thus 
 turning criminals into customers. 
 
 Failure to find an authority of the kind he sought, 
 was important in its consequence. "This I look 
 upon," remarks Dr. Guy, " as a most fortunate cir- 
 cumstance ; for had Howard, during some early visit, 
 found that which he sought, he would probably have 
 gone back to Bedford, told the justices of his success, 
 and persuaded them to substitute a fixed salary to 
 the gaoler for these objectionable fees and fines, and 
 with this local reform Howard might have rested 
 satisfied; but travelling, as he was led to do, from 
 place to place, and inspecting prison after prison, he 
 not only found the wrong done at Bedford prevailing 
 everywhere else, but each fresh prison either reveal- 
 ing some new defect of structure or administration, 
 or adding force and piquancy to the lessons which 
 those previously visited had taught him : so that, 
 drawn on and on, and farther and farther, in search 
 of a precedent, he was becoming ever better and 
 better acquainted with the manifold evils, physical
 
 ioo HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST, 
 
 and moral, that had made the prisons of England 
 their home." 1 Still, it must not be forgotten that 
 his experience in the French prison had first taught 
 him the horrible character of gaols, and that the 
 finding of a precedent for paying a salary to gaolers, 
 instead of leaving them to be supported by fees, was 
 not the only object he had in view. However, the 
 disappointment of his earliest endeavour served after- 
 wards to stimulate his attempt at the extinction 
 of greater evils. He started another subject of 
 inquiry, " What is the state of Bridewells, and 
 Houses of Correction ? " As soon as he began the 
 examination he discovered " a complication of dis- 
 tress ; " but his attention was arrested principally by 
 the prevalence of gaol fever. He studied the history 
 of that disease, reading Stowe's " Survey " and other 
 books. A good deal of research was involved in this 
 inquiry. He found in Baker's Chronicle the story of 
 the Black Assizes, when all who were present died 
 within forty hours "the Lord Chief Baron, the Sheriff, 
 and three hundred more." The disease was brought 
 into court by prisoners. Howard felt appalled. He 
 turned to the " Natural History " by Lord Bacon, and 
 there found that " the most pernicious infection next 
 to the plague is the smell of the gaol." Further, he 
 learned, that in 1730, at the Lent Assizes in Taunton, 
 prisoners from Ilchester " infected the court," and 
 the Lord Justice, the Sheriff, " and some hundreds 
 besides" died of the distemper. In 1750, the Lord 
 Mayor and an alderman of London, with many of 
 
 1 Paper on "John Howard's True Place in History," read 
 before the Statistical Society, i6th November, 1875.
 
 SHRIEVALTY. 
 
 inferior rank, were carried off in the same way. The 
 opinions of Sir John Pringle and Dr. Lind were 
 cited by Howard in support of the conclusion, that 
 mortality arising from this dreadful affection "was 
 greater than by all other diseases put together." He 
 saw also the effect of vicious example ; and remarked, 
 " It is often said, ' A prison pays no debts,' I am sure 
 it maybe added, 'A prison mends no morals.' Sir 
 John Fielding observes that, ' a criminal, discharged 
 generally by the next sessions after the execution of 
 his comrades, becomes the head of a gang of his own 
 raising, improved, no doubt, in skill by the company 
 he kept in gaol.' " 1 The three evils of keeping un- 
 convicted people in prison, of allowing the ravages 
 of fever, and of corrupting the morals of a criminal 
 by means of idleness and bad company, rose up as 
 gigantic monsters before the eyes of our philan- 
 thropist ; and he could give himself no rest till he 
 went forth to slay them. No knightly deed of old 
 could be so noble. 
 
 His expedition was difficult. " I found in search- 
 ing out evidence of fraud and cruelty in various 
 articles, together with other sources of distress, 
 obliged me to repeat my visits, and to travel over 
 the kingdom more than once ; and, after all, I sus- 
 pect that many frauds have been concealed from me, 
 and that sometimes the interests of my informants 
 prevailed over their veracity." It was not, he adds, 
 without some apprehension of dangers that he first 
 visited the prisons, and he guarded against them as 
 much as possible. 
 
 1 The State of Prisons, pp. 1 7-20.
 
 102 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST, 
 
 There were three prisons within the limits of Bed- 
 ford, a county prison, a Town Gaol, and a Bridewell. 
 Unrivalled interest attaches to one of them, as the 
 building where John Bunyan suffered a tedious con- 
 finement, and wrote his Pilgrim's Progress. The 
 Town Gaol, or Bridge Prison, long since swept away, 
 but familiar to us from old engravings, has been 
 commonly identified as the place of his incarceration; 
 no decisive evidence however on this point has yet 
 been found. Our philanthropist could not but inspect 
 all of them, and each certainly appeared "a den," as 
 Bunyan called the place where he dreamed his dream. 
 In the County Gaol, Howard states that male and 
 female felons were living together ; their night rooms 
 being two dungeons "down steps;" only a single 
 court-yard being provided for debtors and criminals. 
 No apartment was found for the gaoler. The gaol 
 fever had been there twenty years before, and many 
 townspeople had died in consequence. There was a 
 paper put up as follows, "All persons that come to 
 this place, either by warrant, commitment, or ver- 
 bally, must pay before discharged, fifteen shillings 
 and fourpence to the gaoler and two shillings to the 
 turnkey." * This condition of things was terrible ; 
 and in connection with the matter of fees, it inspired 
 the indignation of the benevolent Sheriff, and set him 
 to work upon schemes of improvement 
 
 First impressions deepened as he proceeded. " I 
 will show thee greater abominations than these," 
 
 1 State of Prisons, p. 244. He gives a table of fees at Hunt- 
 ingdon. Thirteen and fourpence when discharged from custody. 
 Half-a-crown to the turnkey. Three and sixpence a week for 
 bed. Four and eightpence for two people, if they slept together.
 
 SHRIEVALTY. 103 
 
 seem to have been words, which, like those addressed 
 of old to the prophet Ezekiel, rung in his ears as he 
 travelled from town to town, searching into the 
 secrets of prison life. 
 
 In the February of 1773, the year of Howard's 
 shrievalty, a Bill was introduced into the House of 
 Commons for effecting a reform, l like that which he 
 contemplated, before the year expired ; but the con- 
 nection between these two movements in the same 
 line I am unable to trace. At any rate, the Bill, 
 though read a first time and then committed, came 
 to nothing that session. Next year, however, we find 
 this measure, in an augmented form, re-introduced, 
 and under debate, so as to promise a favourable is- 
 sue. On the 4th of March, 1774, the House appears 
 resolving itself into Committee, upon a Bill " for the 
 relief of prisoners, charged with felony or other 
 crimes, who shall be acquitted or discharged by pro- 
 clamation, respecting the payment of fees to gaolers 
 out of the county rates ; and for the more effectually 
 securing the health of prisoners in gaol during their 
 confinement." Prisoners' health, it will be observed 
 here, is an additional object contemplated in the pro- 
 ceedings of this Committee, and Sir Thomas Claver- 
 
 1 1773, 1 8 Feb. "That leave be given to bring in a Bill 
 for the relief of prisoners charged with felony or any other 
 crime, who shall be acquitted, or discharged by proclamation, 
 respecting the payment of fees, and giving a recompense for 
 such fees out of the county rates ; and that Mr. Popham, the 
 Lord Folkestone, Mr. Cornwall, Mr. Morton, Mr. Fuller, Mr. 
 Feilde, and Sir Thomas Clavering do prepare and bring in the 
 same. 
 
 " igth Feb., Bill read first time and printed. 
 
 " 28th April, Committed." Commons' Journal.
 
 104 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 ing, the Chairman, reported to the House, that the 
 Committee had examined witnesses, and had gone 
 through the Bill, and made several amendments. 
 These were reported for subsequent consideration. 
 
 Another item of the report introduces us to the 
 subject of our biography under circumstances of sin- 
 gular interest, such as have often befallen illustrious 
 soldiers or sailors after righting victoriously for 
 their country ; but such a circumstance rarely has 
 happened to individuals in private life, who have dis- 
 tinguished themselves only by benevolent exertions. 
 Yet, in the esteem of many, these last are more 
 entitled to their country's congratulations and thanks, 
 than warriors whose garments are rolled in blood. 
 
 The entry on the Journals is as follows : " Sir 
 Thomas Clavering also reported from the said Com- 
 mittee, that he was directed by the Committee to 
 move the House that John Howard, Esquire, be called 
 to the Bar, and that. Mr. Speaker do acquaint him 
 that this House is very sensible of the humanity 
 and zeal which have led him to visit the several gaols 
 of this kingdom, and to communicate to the House 
 the interesting observations he has made on that 
 subject. And Sir Thomas Clavering moved the 
 House accordingly." l 
 
 It was resolved, nemzne contradicente, that John 
 Howard, Esquire, should be called to the Bar, to re- 
 ceive from Mr. Speaker's lips the acknowledgments 
 of his country. He was accordingly called in, and 
 Mr. Speaker acquainted him with the said resolution." 
 
 Many a subject, far less worthy of the artist's pencil, 
 
 1 Commons' Journal, under date.
 
 SHRIEVALTY. 105 
 
 has called forth an effort of skill, which, handed down 
 to posterity, still commands universal admiration, 
 both of the hero and the picture. 
 
 The House of Commons was far different in those 
 days from what it is at present. The portion of St. 
 Stephen's beautiful Chapel, as then fitted up for the 
 use of the Lower House, resembled more a Noncon- 
 formist Meeting than anything else. Inartistic 
 benches crowding the floor, lofty and narrow galleries 
 encumbering the side-walls, and projecting over the 
 members' seats ; ugly chandeliers with a few candles, 
 suspended from the middle of a plain ceiling, and 
 from the fronts of a rudely panelled gallery ; Mr. 
 Speaker's chair, standing like a pulpit, surmounted 
 by the royal arms, in front of the nation's assembled 
 wisdom. But the unattractive background advan- 
 tageously throws into relief this noteworthy incident 
 in Howard's life. There sat the Speaker in charac- 
 teristic dignity, clothed in accustomed robes of office, 
 prolonged curls of an artistic wig falling far down over 
 the front of his shoulders, and a cocked hat crown- 
 ing his portly figure. The officers of the House, in 
 gowns richer than are worn now, sat at Mr. Speaker's 
 feet ; and the benches, on each side, were filled with 
 gentlemen in the well-known costume of the period, 
 all bewigged, all wearing large cocked hats. Lord 
 North, as Premier, sat on the Speaker's right hand, 
 " a consummate master of debate," with the Attorney 
 General on the one side, and the Solicitor General on 
 the other, "two pillars of the law and state," Thurlow 
 of " majestic sense," Wedderburn of " skilful elo- 
 quence." And the Opposition benches rejoiced in 
 " the legal acuteness of Dunning," " the profusion and
 
 io6 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 philosophical fancy of Burke," and " the argumenta- 
 tive vehemence of Fox." l To be thanked by such a 
 House was no small honour ; and the honour was 
 deserved by Howard. We see him in plain attire, 
 hat in hand, led into the Parliament Chamber with 
 the usual ceremony; bowing to Mr. Speaker, he 
 received from him the unamimously voted form of 
 thanks. " Then he was requested to withdraw." 3 
 
 "As he was then little known, I cannot much 
 wonder," Dr. Aiken remarks, " that so extraordinary 
 an instance of pure and active benevolence was not 
 universally comprehended, even by that patriotic 
 body ; for a member thought fit to ask him at whose 
 expense he travelled, " a question which Mr. Howard 
 could scarcely answer without some indignant emo- 
 tions." 3 One would like to know whether the Biog- 
 rapher heard this from his friend's own lips. The 
 question of the rude or thoughtless gentleman could 
 not have been asked and answered in the House 
 when he appeared before the Speaker ; if really asked 
 at all, it must have been in committee, in the lobby, 
 or somewhere in private. Anywhere, the incident 
 seems odd and improbable; but if Howard told 
 Aiken this story, the authority of course would be 
 indisputable. 
 
 It is pleasant to think that amidst party strifes, 
 when violent speeches were listened to with applause 
 in St. Stephen's Chapel, this Apostle of Charity was 
 
 1 Gibbon's description of the House of Commons in 1774. 
 He was not returned till the close of the year ; but the ministers 
 he described were in office when Howard received the thanks 
 of the House. 
 
 2 Journals. 3 Aiken, p. 57.
 
 SHRIEVALTY. 107 
 
 allowed by the Legislators of his country to tell a 
 Committee the story of his travels, with a view to 
 the amendment of prison laws. The historian passes 
 over in silence this episode, which deserves to be re- 
 corded, as much as any of the debates which elicited 
 cheers from the Government and Opposition benches. 
 " I was examined in the House of Commons in 
 March, 1774, when I had the honour of their thanks," 
 is the modest record of the circumstance. 
 
 Three days after this memorable scene, a further 
 report from the Committee on the Prisons Bill was 
 presented, and the next day, March 6th, it was ordered 
 that the Bill be turned into two Bills. Both Bills 
 were ultimately passed the first, for the abolition of 
 fees, on the 3ist of March; the second, for the cleans- 
 ing of prisons, and other details relating to prisoners' 
 health, on the 2nd of June. 1 The making of these 
 laws, we may be pretty sure, gave Howard more 
 satisfaction than the ceremony performed before the 
 assembled House. No sooner were the Acts passed, 
 than he had copies of them printed to be sent to 
 every prison in the kingdom. 
 
 The passing of them was good so far as it went; 
 but they provided no means of efficiently carry- 
 ing out the contemplated reforms. No Inspectors 
 were appointed, no machinery whatever was contrived 
 for securing obedience. Reports from Government 
 officers as to effects of the new legislation will be 
 looked for in vain. Howard, in his books on prisons, 
 is the only reporter ; arid if he had not at his own 
 expense largely circulated what he wrote, little or 
 
 1 Journals.
 
 io8 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 nothing would have been known of the prison world, 
 after Parliamentary Reformers had finished their part 
 in the enterprise. It is mortifying to discover from 
 what he describes, so far as it relates to the Kingdom 
 of Great Britain and Ireland, how little improvement 
 was accomplished by these new statutes. 1 
 
 1 Mr. Guy, in his John Howard's Winter Journey, a book I 
 did not read till after my Memoir was finished, makes the 
 following statement, which corroborates what I have said. " It 
 was only in fifteen out of one hundred and fifty prisons, that the 
 law had been strictly obeyed. In the remainder, it had been 
 imperfectly carried into effect. I am speaking both of the Act 
 which had for its object the relief of prisoners from illegal extor- 
 tions, and of that which aimed at the preservation of their health 
 and the prevention of the gaol distemper." P. 32.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BEDFORD ELECTION. 
 I774- 
 
 IT was in the midst of his investigations that 
 Howard narrowly escaped being placed in a posi- 
 tion in which, though he might have been a benefactor 
 to his country, probably he would have been in some 
 less degree a benefactor to the world. He was near 
 being seated on one of the benches just described. 
 
 A general election occurred in the latter part of 
 1774. The country was agitated by more than ordi- 
 na'ry excitement. The storm created by the famous 
 Middlesex contest, and the echo of the well-known 
 cry, " Wilkes and Liberty," had only just sunk into 
 silence to be followed by the American conflict, then 
 assuming gigantic proportions. The tea-chests had 
 been flung into the waters of Boston harbour, and 
 military movements were proceeding amongst the 
 Colonists. Lord North persisted in taxing the 
 Colony, and his policy involved the kingdom in a 
 struggle with her own children on the other side the 
 water. 
 
 "The Americans are our children," said Lord 
 
 Carmarthen, " and how can they revolt against their 
 
 parent ? " " They are our children," replied Burke ; 
 
 " but when children ask for bread, we are not to give 
 
 109
 
 no HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 a stone." " When this child of ours wishes to assimi- 
 late to its parent, and to reflect with a true filial res- 
 emblance the beauteous countenance of British liberty 
 are we to give them our weakness for their strength, 
 our opprobrium for their glory, and the slough of 
 slavery, which we are not able to work off, to serve 
 them for their freedom ? " The strain of this great 
 Commoner's eloquence was caught up and repeated 
 with rival power by the great Peer, Lord Chatham, 
 who declared, " Had the British colonists been planted 
 by any other kingdom than our own, the inhabitants 
 would have carried with them the chains of slavery 
 and spirit of despotism ; but as they are, they ought 
 to be remembered as great instances to instruct the 
 world what great exertions mankind will naturally 
 make when they are left to the free exercise of their 
 own powers." The question touched a vital principle, 
 the principle of self-taxation the palladium of 
 English liberty. 
 
 Public opinion was divided, but a strong party was 
 in favour of conciliation and peace. The town of 
 Bedford shared in the excitement produced by a 
 struggle tending to such momentous issues. It was 
 no superficial matter that came before the electors. 
 Differences of opinion obtained in the Midland 
 Borough. It entered on a party struggle at the hus- 
 tings. Some were for the policy of Lord North, 
 and the subjugation of the American Colony ; and 
 some supported the Opposition, and condemned the 
 Ministry with all the party spirit which is common 
 to Englishmen. 
 
 Another element infused itself into the local strife. 
 The Duke of Bedford had been all but omnipotent in
 
 BEDFORD ELECTION. 
 
 the town, and had carried in his pocket the key of its 
 elections. But disputes arose in 1769, between his 
 Grace and the Corporation, and the latter determined 
 to shake his yoke from off their necks. Moreover, the 
 Duke was committed to Lord North's policy, and had 
 at an early period in the struggle moved an address 
 to the King, recommending that the leaders of the 
 trans-Atlantic revolt should be brought to condign 
 punishment. He proposed that one of the Secretaries 
 of State should issue a special commission for the 
 trial of the offenders ; and the proposal was carried. 
 No wonder this made the Duke unpopular with the 
 Liberal political party of his day, and exasperated 
 those of the Bedford burgesses who were opposed to 
 the Government. Moreover the Corporation, who 
 had quarrelled with him, were now resolved to take 
 the return of members into their own hands ; and 
 therefore, in prospect of the coming contest, the 
 Municipal body enfranchised five hundred honorary 
 freemen, who could be used for the fulfilment of the 
 Municipal pleasure on this critical occasion. 
 
 Municipal corruption, as well as electoral bribery, at 
 that period was sufficiently notorious ; and in this 
 instance the Corporation is said "to have unblush- 
 ingly offered for sale to the highest bidder," the two 
 seats become vacant through the dissolution of Parlia- 
 ment. This report, however incredible, when one 
 looks at it in connection with the history of the 
 times, seems likely enough to be perfectly true. Sir 
 William Wake and Mr. Sparrow were candidates at 
 this election ; and with them the Corporation made 
 their arrangements. 
 
 But a large number of the electors were opposed
 
 112 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 both to the Prime Minister and the Bedford magnates. 
 They were averse to the Government ; and they re- 
 sented an invasion on their electoral rights. Hence 
 they looked for candidates of their own. 
 
 Their neighbour Mr. Whitbread was selected, chiefly 
 perhaps on personal grounds. He was well known to 
 the inhabitants, and had won their favour by social 
 virtues. Mr. Howard, on similar grounds, and also 
 perhaps from his previous shrievalty, was put forward 
 at the same time. His philanthropy and general 
 character made him popular with the Liberal party, 
 and he strenuously opposed a war with America. 
 
 The latter selection is said to have taken the object 
 of it by surprise ; and we are further informed it was 
 only twelve days before opening the poll, that he 
 came to a decision. " He was actually forced to the 
 hustings, without time to deliberate upon the pro- 
 priety of the step his friends were about to take." 
 Another element entered into the strife. Howard 
 was a Nonconformist; and Nonconformists, though 
 admissible to Parliament, laboured under disadvan- 
 tages, and were objects of dislike to the High Church 
 party; and that party was prepared to employ all pos- 
 sible methods to prevent the return of a Dissenting 
 candidate. In consequence of such circumstances, the 
 Bedford election of 1774 was fiercely fought. How- 
 ard's opponents looked on him as the representative 
 of " Presbyterians, Moravians, and other sectaries," 
 with whom, they said, the borough swarmed. But it 
 appears that Howard, as well as Whitbread, had sup- 
 porters among Churchmen ; and the report goes that 
 a parish clergyman took sides with the popular can- 
 didates and inexcusably selected for his text " Are
 
 BEDFORD ELECTION. 113 
 
 not two sparrows sold for a farthing ? Fear ye not 
 therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." 
 When speeches had been made, and the poll books 
 were closed, the declaration showed for Wake, 527 
 votes; for Sparrow, 517 votes; for Whitbread, 429 
 votes, and for Howard, 402 votes. 
 
 The defeated candidates knew enough to justify 
 their presenting a petition against the return. Howard 
 was already so absorbed in his prison work, that, 
 immediately after the bustle of the contest, he tra- 
 velled as far as Yorkshire, and visited several gaols 
 and Bridewells ; but in December we find him and 
 his colleague lodging their petition to the House of 
 Commons ; and in March 1775 they were engaged 
 before a Committee for trying its merits. The in- 
 justice of such trials before the Grenville Act of 1770, 
 is notorious ; but though that measure produced 
 some amendment, its success was imperfect. Parties 
 fought for majorities in Committee; and the ablest 
 men, "most feared by their opponents, were almost 
 invariably struck off, a process familiarly known as 
 knocking the brains out of the Committee, and then 
 the Committee became at once partial and incompe- 
 tent." " A Whig candidate had scant justice from a 
 Tory Committee ; a Tory candidate pleaded in vain 
 before a Whig Committee." Most likely the Com- 
 mittee on the Bedford election to some extent resem- 
 bled others ; but the issue shows there must have been 
 a measure of impartiality. One main question was, 
 as to the legality of honorary freemen's votes ; an- 
 other, as, to the admissibility of voters who were re- 
 cipients of the famous Harpur Charity. The legality 
 of the first and the admissibility of the second were 
 
 I
 
 H4 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 conceded by the Committee. The first concession 
 told in favour of Wake and Sparrow ; the second, in 
 favour of Whitbread and Howard. Howard lamented 
 the one while he was glad of the other ; and said he 
 would rather lose his seat than allow an abuse of 
 power by the Corporation. 
 
 He communicated the decision of the Committee 
 in the following note to Mr. Symonds. 
 
 "DEAR SIR, I would beg to acquaint you that 
 the great question relative to honorary freemen was 
 determined in favour of them. The certificate voters 
 are allowed, and this day at three o'clock the recipi- 
 ents of Harpur's Bounty were declared not disquali- 
 fied, which determination, most probably, will give us 
 our seats ; yet, as our opponents declare they shall 
 object against other votes, the contest still continues. 
 I would have the deepest sense of that Hand which 
 ruleth the hearts of men, and turneth them which way 
 soever He pleaseth. We are in the hope that the 
 Committee will report to the House that great abuse 
 of power in the Corporation, by which influx your 
 liberties are destroyed. Could I have gained the first 
 question at the expense of the seat, with pleasure I 
 would have embraced it. 
 
 " I desire my sincere compliments to Mrs. 
 Symonds, with my best thanks for your assistance, 
 care, and concern ; a grateful sense I hope I shall ever 
 retain, being with much esteem, Sir, your affectionate 
 friend and obliged, humble servant, 
 
 "JOHN HOWARD." 
 
 The scrutiny went on and the balance wavered. 
 The numbers at one time stood thus : Whitbread
 
 BEDFORD ELECTION. 115 
 
 574, Howard 542, Wake 541, Sparrow 530. Then, by 
 a decision of the Committee, that all persons who 
 had received parochial relief within six months before 
 the election, should be struck off the poll, Whitbread's 
 supporters amounted to 568, Wake's to 541, Howard's 
 to 537, and Sparrow's to 529. Whitbread and Wake 
 were accordingly declared to be the sitting members. 
 
 Howard's feelings in reference to the contest are 
 expressed in a letter which he wrote to his friend Mr. 
 Symonds ; and from this it appears how much the 
 question of Nonconformity had to do with the elec- 
 tion. 
 
 "Accept my best thanks for your kind assistance 
 and zealous attachment, in an affair in which it has 
 pleased God to rebuke us ; I may say us, Dissent- 
 ers ; for having the honour of being supported by 
 them, and being a Dissenter, I was the victim of the 
 Ministry. Most surely I should not have fallen in 
 with all their severe measures relative to the Ameri- 
 cans ; and my constant declaration, that not one emo- 
 lument of five shillings, were I in Parliament, would 
 I ever accept of, marked me out as an object of their 
 aversion. Two or three of the members told me of 
 it on Monday, but I insisted, as the Committee were 
 on oath, that they must be consistent in their resolu- 
 tion as to the charities, and as ancient usage was the 
 line they went on; the free men they never would dis- 
 qualify in the town, as we knew many non-residents 
 who were paupers, but we never objected to them. 
 Yet alas, when one would not do, both must be 
 brought ; even resolutions were tortured, sooner than 
 one independent person should have a seat. 
 
 " I sensibly feel for an injured people ; their af-
 
 ii6 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 fection and esteem I shall ever reflect on with 
 pleasure and gratitude. As to myself I calmly re- 
 tire. It may be promotive of my best interests. My 
 large and extensive acquaintance, and the very kind 
 part the Protestant Dissenters of all denominations 
 took in the affair hurt me not a little, yet in the 
 firm belief of an overruling Providence, I would say, 
 It is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth right. He 
 maketh light to arise out of darkness." 
 
 Attempts were made afterwards by the townspeople 
 of Bedford to induce Howard to come forward as 
 candidate a second time ; but he was proof against 
 their solicitations. 
 
 Mr. Whitbread, associated with Howard in the 
 Bedford election, was related to him. In his will he 
 calls this gentleman his cousin. Samuel Whitbread 
 was grandson of William Whitbread, who married 
 Letitia Leeds of Croxton. 1 It must have been 
 
 1 The following inscription on a monument in Cardington 
 Church gives an interesting account of the family : 
 
 " Ive Whitbread, Esq., of this parish, and of the City of 
 London, merchant, erected this monument to the memory of 
 his ancestors, who, coming into England with the Normans, 
 settled at Ion, in the parish of Upper Gravenhurst, in this 
 county of Bedford, upon an estate given them by the Conqueror, 
 and continued there until the year 1650, when William Whit- 
 bread, Esq., purchased lands and settled in this town of Car- 
 dington, where the family have ever since continued, and many 
 of them upon their decease have been interred in this church. 
 His eldest son, Henry Whitbread, Esq., succeeded, and after 
 him his eldest son, William Whitbread, Esq., who espoused 
 the cause of his country in the reign of King Charles I., and 
 accepting of a commission in the army, behaved with the 
 greatest courage and gallantry, and was many years Receiver- 
 General and Justice of the Peace for this county. He married
 
 BEDFORD ELECTION. 117 
 
 through Howard's second wife, Henrietta Leeds, that 
 he traced a kind of cousinship to the Whitbreads, 
 and the cousinship became pleasant in consequence 
 of the friendship existing between him and the Bed- 
 ford Member. They co-operated in plans for the 
 improvement of Cardington. Mr. Whitbread had 
 large property there, and was Lord of the Manor. 
 
 Lattice, daughter of Edward 'Leeds, of Croxton in the county 
 of Cambridge, Esquire, by whom he had two sons and six 
 daughters. She died 4th June, 1698, aged 69 years. He died 
 4th August, 1701, aged 74 years. His eldest son, Henry Whit- 
 bread, Esq., succeeded to his estates and the office of Receiver- 
 General, and first married Sarah, daughter and co-heiress of 
 John Ive, of London, merchant, and had by her three sons 
 and three daughters. She died 27th December, 1710, aged 36 
 years. He died i3th October, 1727, aged 62 years. 
 Sarah \ f loth March, 1699 \ f ir months. 
 
 William v died < i6th July, 1721 (. aged < 28 years. 
 Lettice J ( 2ist Dec., 1721 j (25 years. 
 
 John, Ive, and Rachael are living. He married his second wife, 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Phillip Read, of New Sarum, in Wilts., 
 M.D., and had by her two sons and one daughter. She died 
 9th January, 1746, aged 59 years. Henry, the eldest son, died 
 22nd April, 1742, aged 22 years. Samuel and Elizabeth are 
 living. MDCCL." 
 
 A later addition goes on to say 
 
 " The above mentioned John Whitbread, Esq., died a 
 bachelor, i2th February, 1762, aged 67 years. Rachael married 
 Oliver Edwards, Esq., of the City of London, who died 29th 
 August, 1757, aged 66 years. Ive Whitbread, Esq., the above 
 and first mentioned, married Elizabeth, daughter of Peter 
 Hinde, of Theobalds, in the county of Hertford, Esq. He 
 died 7th May, 1765, aged 65 years. She survived him only 
 to 7th July, 1766, aged 46 years. Their remains are in- 
 terred underneath. They had one daughter, Catherine, who 
 died an infant, I3th June, 1748, and one son, Jacob, now living. 
 MDCCCXVI."
 
 n8 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 In an immense map of the estate, kindly shown me 
 by the present Member for Bedford, great-grandson of 
 old Mr. Whitbread, there are marked out a number 
 of holdings, long thin strips of ground, reminding one 
 of the open field system in Saxon times, illustrated 
 by Mr. Seebohm in his " English Village Com- 
 munity." 
 
 Whilst Howard was looking after his small tenan- 
 try, Whitbread was doing the same with his very 
 much larger one. Noble trees still adorning the 
 road-side were planted by them together ; and the 
 delightful appearance of things all round the church 
 is ascribed to their benevolent co-operation. 
 
 Mr. Whitbread was a remarkable man. He was 
 born at Cardington in 1720, and married Lady Mary 
 Cornwallis in 1769. She died in 1770. He was the 
 seventh child of a country gentleman, and was edu- 
 cated at Northampton. In the fourteenth year of his 
 age he entered a London brewery, and from that 
 time to the end of life distinguished himself by extra- 
 ordinary industry and business aptitude. Morning, 
 noon, and night, he was busy in his secular vocation, 
 but never neglected other duties of life. He would sit 
 up whole nights to attend to operations going on ; but, 
 in the small hours, he was accustomed to devote two 
 of them to reading, meditation, and prayer. He read 
 the writings of Doddridge, Watts, Thomas a Kempis, 
 and other works of various communions. His ances- 
 tors included Nonconformists ; and it was interesting 
 to me to find, in the early records of the Church 
 under Mr. Symonds' care, the name of Whitbread 
 next to that of John Bunyan, amongst members 
 admitted when GifFord was pastor. Mr. Whitbread
 
 BEDFORD ELECTION. 119 
 
 himself contributed to the funds of the Bunyan Meet- 
 ing House, and left it an endowment of 500, though 
 he was a decided member of the Church of England. 
 A conscientious observance of the Sabbath marked 
 his weekly life, but far from restricting religion to 
 particular seasons, he spread its influence over all his 
 time ; and in a MS. book, kept for the purpose, he 
 recorded the progress of his Christian experience. 
 Not slothful in business, he was fervent in spirit, serv- 
 ing the Lord. He could concentrate his mind upon 
 what interested him at the passing moment. Those 
 who saw him with his children would suppose he had 
 nothing to do but to attend to them. The same 
 wholeness of purpose appeared in his daily employ- 
 ment. 
 
 He occupied Bedwell Park in Hertfordshire with 
 its pointed roof, old staircase, and antique windows 
 for some time, and invited Clarkson there for several 
 months, when he was preparing for the anti-slavery 
 crusade. Small meetings at an early period were 
 held in the drawing-room of his town residence, 
 where friends of the cause simply inquired into the 
 evils of the slave-trade, with a view to its abolition. 
 He was the first man who called Mr. Pitt's attention 
 to the subject in the House of Commons. He, and 
 his illustrious son, Samuel, to be noticed hereafter, 
 always voted together on anti-slavery questions, 
 though differing politically on some questions. He 
 founded the Cancer Ward in Middlesex Hospital, 
 and contributed 8,000 to the General Infirmary at 
 Bedford. 
 
 He had in his possession Bunyan's pulpit Bible, 
 and a bowl which he used when in Bedford gaol ;
 
 J20 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 and in the Howard House at Cardington there are 
 two portraits of him, one in a brown wig and the 
 dress he wore at business, another in evening 
 costume, with an elegantly curled wig of silvery 
 whiteness. The face in each case is full of intelli- 
 gence, decision, and suavity. 
 
 Amongst his private memoranda occurs the follow- 
 ing characteristic passage : 
 
 " I most humbly acknowledge with a grateful 
 heart the goodness of God shown to me an unworthy 
 servant, in blessing my labours abundantly through a 
 long course of years, even near fifty years, with great 
 increase year by year, almost beyond example ; and 
 it was not acquired by the public funds, or contracts 
 with Government, or speculations, or legacies, but by 
 fair trade only. 
 
 "Lord, what shall I render? Thou art my God, 
 and I will thank Thee. Thou art my God, and I 
 will praise Thee. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, 
 my soul ; and indeed I may truly say with David, 
 ' What am I, O Lord God ; and what is my house, 
 that Thou hast brought me hitherto ? ' And I pray 
 God to establish and continue to bless my house and 
 the house of my fathers, and that Thy Name may be 
 magnified among them for ever. Amen. 
 
 " And I further pray God, that my posterity may 
 with comfort and peace enjoy the fruits of my labours 
 for many generations ; and in order to their doing so, 
 I beseech them to follow and practise the advice of 
 St. Paul, when he charges those that are rich in this 
 world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in un- 
 certain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us 
 richly all things to enjoy ; that they do good, that
 
 BEDFORD ELECTION. 
 
 they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, will- 
 ing to communicate, laying up in store a good founda- 
 tion against the time to come. 
 
 "S. W." 
 "August, I79O." 1 
 
 1 I am indebted for all the information and extracts here 
 given, to Lady Isabella Whitbread, who permitted me to inspect 
 the papers.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 
 1773-1780. 
 
 T)EFORE I enter further into this subject, it may 
 J3 be well to observe that such miseries as Howard 
 discovered had not been unnoticed and unlamented 
 in former years. In 1701 the Society for Promoting 
 Christian Knowledge, which then undertook benevo- 
 lent work beyond what the title would at first sug- 
 gest, turned attention to English prisons. A com- 
 mittee was appointed to visit Newgate ; and having 
 done this, they extended their inquiries to the Mar- 
 shalsea and other places. Dr. Bray, chairman of that 
 committee, drew up a paper, entitled " An Essay 
 towards the Reformation of Newgate and other 
 Prisons in and about London." The document re- 
 mained unnoticed amongst the Society's archives 
 until it was discovered by the Secretary, the Rev. J. 
 B. Murray, who mentioned its existence to Mr. Hep- 
 worth Dixon. By him it was published for the first 
 time. 1 
 
 The Essay produced no practical effect. But, in 
 1729, General Oglethorpe was chairman of a Parlia- 
 
 1 It is printed in Hepworth Dixon's "John Howard and the 
 Prison World of Europe, 1849." See what Mr. Field says in 
 the preface to his " Life of Howard," and his " Howard Cor- 
 respondence." It appears that Dixon was indebted to Field 
 for his knowledge of the " original and authentic document " 
 incorporated in his memoir. 
 
 122
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME, 123 
 
 mentary Committee, then appointed to make investi- 
 gations into the state of prisons. The subject once 
 more fell into abeyance till 1773, when Mr. Popham, 
 as we have seen, brought his Bill into the House of 
 Commons to accomplish what Howard so earnestly 
 desired. 
 
 It was just at this time that Howard began his 
 prison explorations. We have witnessed their com- 
 mencement. From the I5th to the 27th of Novem- 
 ber in 1773, he was engaged in visiting the coun- 
 ties of Northampton, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, 
 Stafford, Warwick, Worcester, Gloucester, Oxford, and 
 Buckingham. 
 
 He found that dungeons were deep and damp 
 and dark, and that prisoners slept upon wretched 
 mats of the thinnest description. At Nottingham 
 twenty-five steps had to be descended to reach three 
 cells of a less miserable kind, which prisoners had to 
 pay for ; twelve more to lower dungeons, cut out of 
 the well-known sandy rock, contained poor creatures 
 without money or friends. They were stowed away, 
 it might be, for years. Twenty-six underground steps 
 he counted at Worcester ; and at Gloucester, prison- 
 ers had died, as he thought, partly in consequence of 
 stench from a dunghill close to the stairway. 
 
 In December of the same year he set off again 
 to visit Hertford, Berks, Wilts, Dorset, Hants, and 
 Sussex. At Salisbury he saw outside the prison 
 gate a chain passed through a staple in the wall, at 
 each end of which stood a debtor, padlocked by the 
 leg, offering for sale nets, laces, and purses. 
 
 A surgeon at Winchester told him that twenty 
 prisoners had died of gaol fever in one year; and in
 
 124 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 his Rutland and Yorkshire journey he found that 
 there were cells of such narrow dimensions, that they 
 did not measure more than seven feet six and a half, 
 by six feet and a half. They let in light and air 
 through small perforations in the door ; yet within 
 this horrid confinement three people were locked up 
 together, night after night, from fourteen to sixteen 
 hours. 
 
 In the summer of 1774, he undertook a new tour 
 to the West of England, winding round into South 
 Wales. Stopping at Cardiff, where a new prison had 
 been erected, he heard of a poor man who for an 
 exchequer debt of seven pounds had spent ten years 
 in a dungeon, and then died of despair. This touched 
 to the quick the sensibilities of the prison explorer, as 
 he entered the empty cell. 
 
 Hermits of old tormented themselves by con- 
 structing wretched abodes in which they could not 
 stand upright ; and thus they strove to expiate their 
 sins. The prison authorities of Plymouth, whither 
 Howard went after leaving Cardiff, contrived a place 
 for felons of the same order, and for a similar pur- 
 pose, only they emulated the Anchorites, not as a 
 penalty for their own offences, but as a punishment 
 for other criminals committed to their charge. When 
 he struck down into the beautiful county of Devon, 
 and visited what is now the queenly seaport of the 
 South, he found there a gaol, which in its horrors vied 
 with the famous Nitrian caves, inhabited by Eastern 
 monks in the fifth century. " No yard, no water, no 
 sewer. The gaolers live distant," are ominous words 
 recorded in Howard's note-book. 1 
 
 1 State of Prisons, p. 380.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 125 
 
 This horrid establishment had in it a place called 
 the Clink, seventeen feet long, eight feet wide, and 
 five and a half feet high. No light could struggle 
 inside, no air could penetrate the den except through 
 an opening five inches by seven. Three people had 
 once been shut up within this receptacle for two 
 months, preparatory to transportation. By turns they 
 took their stand at the opening to catch what light 
 and air could by this method be obtained. The door 
 had not been unfastened for five weeks before Howard 
 paid his visit. He insisted upon entering, and there 
 found, amidst intolerable filth and stench, a human 
 being who had been confined in it for no less than 
 seventy days. The unhappy creature confessed he 
 would rather have been hung at once, than endure a 
 lingering death in this fearful grave. 
 
 Howard was at Exeter twice in 1774, once in Feb- 
 ruary and once in September. The gaol belonged to 
 the Walter family, who had the grant of it from the 
 Duchy of Cornwall ; and the gaoler paid for it a rent 
 of twenty-two pounds a year. It seems incredible, 
 but we are assured that the surgeon said he was by 
 contract excused from attending in the dungeons 
 prisoners with gaol fever. The gaoler permitted his 
 captives to seek charity in the city, but the box con- 
 taining the collection was broken open by the man 
 who conducted them on their begging excursions. 
 He stole the money and ran away. 1 
 
 At the end of 1774 we meet with Howard in East 
 
 1 State of Prisons, p. 372. Howard suggests : 
 " If any gentleman would undertake the disposal of the con- 
 tributions, this would not only prevent such a fraud, but the 
 money laid out for meat, firing, etc., would be far more bene-
 
 126 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Anglia. Norwich Castle, an old Norman fortress on 
 the top of a hill overlooking a city of gardens, long 
 since turned into a prison, and now refaced with stone, 
 which destroys its venerable appearance, attracted 
 the traveller's especial attention. He found within 
 the great square keep comprising two gaols, upper 
 and lower, with a small area in the middle, a 
 dungeon down a ladder of eight steps for men, a 
 small room for women, and two airy apartments for 
 the sick. The gaoler was humane and respected by 
 the prisoners, who sold at the gates laces, purses, and 
 nets. Here, as elsewhere, the careful inspector ob- 
 served the most minute particulars ; and it is amus- 
 ing to notice how frequently he was counting steps 
 and measuring walls. His allusions to mitigating 
 circumstances shows that he was not getting up 
 a case in favour of his own views, but was con- 
 scientiously endeavouring to ascertain the truth. 
 
 And it may also be remarked that Howard brought 
 his scientific habits to bear on his benevolent enter- 
 prise. He noticed the effects of the poisonous effluvia 
 in prison upon cloth, which became so offensive that 
 without changes of raiment he could not bear the 
 inside of a post-chaise, and therefore felt obliged to 
 travel on horseback. He also found the leaves of his 
 memorandum book so tainted that he could not use 
 it till he had spread it an hour or two before the fire. 
 He notices that Dr. Hales, Sir John Pringle, and 
 others had observed how " air, corrupted and putrified, 
 is of such a subtle nature, as to rot and dissolve heart 
 
 ficial than their spending most of it in liquor." The suggestion 
 indicates the good man's simplicity and benevolence.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 127 
 
 of oak;" and how walls had been impregnated with 
 pernicious matter for years together. The sanitary 
 laws of the Hebrews recognised the fact, and in 
 our time it is acted upon, when certain fevers have 
 entered a dwelling. 
 
 Swaffham, Wymondham, Thetford, and Yarmouth 
 underwent his scrutiny, with results differing a little 
 in detail, but agreeing in proofs of mismanagement 
 and misery. 
 
 Suffolk was visited the same year. Howard had 
 been there in the month of February, and again he 
 visited the town in December. At those periods he 
 examined the County and Town Gaol of Ipswich, 
 and all the particulars are minutely recorded in his 
 " State of Prisons." One entry shows a ray of light 
 falling on the darkness : 
 
 "A neat chapel lately built. Mr. Brome, the 
 chaplain, does not content himself with the regular 
 and punctual performance of his stated duty, he is a 
 friend to the prisoners on all occasions." 
 
 Another prisoners' friend, unknown to fame, at that 
 time resided in Ipswich ; and with him, most likely, 
 Howard would now come in contact. His name was 
 David Edwards, and, in the very year of Howard's 
 first visit, he published " Sermons for the use of con- 
 demned criminals." At the end of the book he gives 
 an account of two prisoners executed at Ipswich, 
 whose treatment casts an extraordinary light upon 
 prison affairs in those days. 
 
 The men were visited by Mr. Edwards, who was a 
 Nonconformist minister, and he made a deep impres- 
 sion on their minds. They wished to hear him preach ; 
 and though in gaol under sentence of death, such was
 
 128 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 the incredible laxity of rules, that they obtained per- 
 mission to attend a week evening service in the Inde- 
 pendent Meeting House. Stranger still, they went, 
 as it were, haphazard, for on their arrival they found 
 the Church privately assembled for the transaction of 
 business. Rumours in the town brought many of the 
 inhabitants together that night, to see and hear what 
 xvent on ; and it was determined by the pastor that ec- 
 clesiastical affairs should be put aside. He forthwith 
 ascended the pulpit and preached to the condemned. 
 " The prisoners came in with their fetters and shackles 
 on." "They shed abundance of tears" as they listened 
 to a discourse from the words, " This is a faithful say- 
 ing, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus 
 came into the world to save sinners." "The house was 
 thronged," the preacher informs us ; " and I suppose, 
 not a dry eye in the whole place, nothing but weep- 
 ing and sorrow; and the floods of tears which gushed 
 from the eyes of the two prisoners were very melting. 
 When we had concluded, I went and spoke to them 
 some encouraging words, by way of supporting them 
 under their sorrow. They then desired to see me in 
 the evening," the same evening, it would seem, 
 "which I did, and called upon Mr. Brindle by the 
 way. The old gentleman went along with me to the 
 prison, and was one who prayed with them, with much 
 fervour and enlargement of heart. We spent nearly 
 two hours with them, and a crowd of people was present. 
 At parting, they earnestly entreated me to attend 
 them to the place of execution the next day. I told 
 them I could not bear it. Mr. Brindle likewise 
 observed that it was an unprecedented thing ; that a 
 Dissenting minister was never known to do it in this
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 129 
 
 county. To which they calmly replied, ' I hope, sir, 
 it will be no disgrace.' I told them, as the minister of 
 the parish" probably not Mr. Brome, who acted as 
 chaplain in 1774 "was to give them the Sacrament 
 next morning, it was his province to attend them to 
 the place of execution, or some clergy of the town. 
 I left them after I had explained to them the nature 
 of the Lord's Supper, pointing out the qualifications 
 of a sincere communicant. 
 
 " About ten o'clock the next morning a messenger 
 came from the prisoners, saying they desired I would 
 meet them at the place of execution ; I did not at 
 first feel willing to comply, but begged they would 
 get some clergyman to go. By-and-by another mes- 
 senger came, to tell me that not one clergyman in 
 the town would go ; that the practice had for some 
 time been laid aside." Mr. Edwards went. " I con- 
 versed with them," he says, " and then prayed most 
 of the way ; but my place was so uneasy, that after I 
 had gone about a mile, I ordered the cart to stop, and 
 stepped into the chaise again. Soon after, we came 
 to the fatal tree. I then got out, and, inquiring for 
 the sheriff, was told that his deputy was there; to 
 whom I applied to know how long the prisoners had 
 to live ? He courteously replied, ' there was no time 
 particularly fixed! ' Sir,' said I, ' the prisoners are 
 both of them young, and there are abundance of 
 young people present ; will you suffer me to give 
 them a word of exhortation on this melancholy oc- 
 casion ? ' He answered ' With all my heart.' I asked 
 what time he would allow me ? to which he replied, 
 'Take your own time; your time shall be mine'" The 
 minister ascended the cart " and gave out part of a 
 
 K
 
 130 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 hymn at the end of Sternhold and Hopkins' Psalms, 
 entitled The Lamentation of a Sinner, which was sung 
 to Windsor tune." He addressed the multitude. 
 They were deeply affected. " There was the utmost 
 decency observed in every part. There was no 
 tumult or talking, but a solemnity in every counten- 
 ance, highly becoming the occasion. I then kneeled 
 down and prayed, then gave my last advice, told 
 them to take time, and concluded with the bene- 
 diction." l 
 
 According to this singular narrative, which I give 
 as I find it, the good minister seems throughout to 
 have acted with the utmost sympathy, and with a 
 deep concern for the welfare of the culprits ; but the 
 purpose for which I introduce the account is to throw 
 light upon the want of order, rule, and discipline in 
 the conduct of prison authorities and officers. The 
 manacled criminals walk through the streets to a place 
 of worship ! The officers have not ascertained what 
 preparations had been made for receiving them ! 
 They invite a preacher to the prison, and he takes 
 whom he likes, whilst there is a crowd to hear what 
 he says ! The clergy are indifferent ! No particular 
 time is fixed for the execution ! The deputy sheriff 
 is polite, and gives full liberty to the preacher to do 
 as he pleases. I wonder whether Howard became 
 acquainted with this strange incident ? Most likely 
 he did. 
 
 In January, 1775, and again in the same month of 
 the following year, he is in the picturesque city of 
 
 1 Mr. Edwards' narrative is printed in The Evangelical 
 Magazine, 1802, p. 257.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 131 
 
 Durham, where the Prince Palatine Bishop, who sat 
 enthroned in the rock-built Norman Cathedral, held 
 as his property the High Gaol, which he granted 
 by patent to a county baronet, as perpetual sheriff. 
 There were two sorts of debtors in the place ; the 
 common-side debtors, who had no courtyard, and the 
 master-side debtors, who had miserable privileges, for 
 which of course they paid. There was a debtors' 
 hall, used for a chapel, from which some were ex- 
 cluded on the Sunday Howard was there. He saw 
 six prisoners chained to the ground, and he adds : 
 "Their straw on the stone floor was almost worn 
 to dust." He saw the common-side debtors eating 
 boiled bread ; and they told him this was the only 
 nourishment they had for nearly a twelvemonth; For 
 an entire bedchamber, without a bedfellow, three and 
 sixpence a week was paid ; with a bedfellow, two 
 shillings, and one and threepence. A man who found 
 his own bed and bedding, and allowed a bedfellow, 
 got off for fourpence a week. Oddly enough, in the 
 table of fees, occur sums to be paid by knights, ten 
 shillings a week for diet and ten shillings on quitting 
 the prison. For squires and gentlemen, seven shil- 
 lings and sixpence a week, and three and ninepence 
 when discharged. A yeoman was put down at six 
 shillings for board, and eight and eightpence at the 
 end of his imprisonment. These charges are puzzling. 
 Keepers were allowed fourpence every time they ac- 
 companied prisoners who went abroad. 1 At Morpeth 
 three dirty rooms were used as a County Bridewell, 
 and over the way was a warehouse, where the gaoler 
 
 1 State of Prisons, pp. 417-419.
 
 132 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 carried on a clothier business, and employed the 
 prisoners as his workpeople. 1 
 
 Overleaping foreign travel, which I reserve for 
 separate consideration, I notice that from November, 
 1775, to May, 1776, he spent his time on long journeys 
 of home inspection. 
 
 In the autumn of the latter year, he visited Knares- 
 borough with its lofty cliff, its ruined castle, its wind- 
 ing river, its romantic bridge and there he was told 
 of an officer confined some years before for a few days, 
 who took with him a dog as a defence against vermin 
 infesting his cell. The dog was soon destroyed, and 
 the unprotected captive suffered in consequence by 
 the attack of rats. 3 Terrific tales perhaps were told 
 which the good man too readily believed ; but when 
 due allowance is made for exaggeration, enough of 
 horror remains. 
 
 We cannot follow him through the counties of 
 York, Derby, Leicester, Warwick, and Oxford. At 
 the close of this journey he stopped at Berkhampstead, 
 and saw in the Bridewell a dungeon underground 
 with a damp earth floor, and walls without a window. 
 No courtyard, no straw, no water, and fortunately no 
 prisoners. 3 
 
 No sooner home, than he was off again down into 
 Norfolk ; then through Suffolk, Essex, and Hertford, 
 rinding at the County Gaol, in the last place, that 
 fever had carried off seven or eight prisoners and two 
 turnkeys, and that four were still sick, with no in- 
 firmary to put them in. A week afterwards, he is in 
 
 State of Prisons, p. 428. 2 Ibid., p. 410. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 214.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 133 
 
 Essex and Suffolk again ; then he darts away down 
 to Gloucester, Somerset, and Wilts. In 1/74-6, he in- 
 spected a prison at Manchester, the town then advan- 
 cing beyond what it had been in the reign of Charles 
 II., when it is described as a mean market town of 
 6,000 people, lagging far, indeed, behind the Lanca- 
 shire metropolis of the nineteenth century. The new 
 prison was finished in 1774, and had separate court- 
 yards, and apartments for men and women, also work- 
 rooms as well as dungeons, and an iron-grated door 
 into each court, with "fastenings of a contrivance 
 singularly curious." l This house of correction is re- 
 presented by an odd old woodcut, as it appeared in 
 1776. The description given in words is more intelli- 
 gible than the engraving. The prison frontage has 
 five windows, three being cross-barred. " From two 
 of these are suspended five long ropes, bags being tied 
 to the ends to receive contributions ; while prisoners 
 stand at the windows to solicit alms, in money, 
 tobacco, or food, from the passers by. At the door 
 the beadle is pushing in an unwilling captive." " On 
 the Salford side, are trees repeating themselves in the 
 translucent Irwell. Upon the green margin at Hunt's 
 Bank, sits a disciple of Izaak Walton, angling with 
 due patience for eels." 2 
 
 Not to weary the reader with a repetition of 
 particulars abounding in sameness, I hasten on to the 
 year 1779, when Howard appears driving through 
 Hertfordshire again ; in the county gaol he was 
 "well informed" that a prisoner had been brought 
 
 1 State of Prisons, p. 440. 
 2 Memorials of Manchester Streets, by Proctor, p. 15.
 
 134 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST, 
 
 out as dead from one of the dungeons, and " on being 
 washed under the pump, showed signs of life and 
 soon after recovered." Our author adds, " Since this, 
 I have known other instances of the same kind." 1 At 
 St. Albans, the gaoler paid rent to the corporation 
 for premises used as a prison ; where two soldiers 
 and a girl were locked up all day together. 2 He 
 passed through Essex, and noticed the new county 
 gaol at Chelmsford, where a prohibition of spirituous 
 liquors was painted on a board. At Colchester 
 Castle, there was no water. At Halstead, prisoners 
 were employed in spinning, but not allowed to parti- 
 cipate in what they earned. At Harwich the room 
 had no chimney. At Canterbury the prison was 
 unhealthy because of offensive sewers ; there was no 
 bedding but mats, and prisoners slept in their own 
 clothes. Rochester he visited in 1779, and again in 
 1782, when he tells us the city Bridewell is in a house 
 with an inscription over the door : " Richard Watts, 
 Esq., by his Will dated 22nd of August, 1579, founded 
 this charity for six poor travellers, who, not being 
 rogues or proctors, may receive gratis for one night, 
 lodging, entertainment, and fourpence each." 
 
 Watts' charity has been immortalized by Charles 
 Dickens in his " Seven poor Travellers " ; but he says 
 nothing of the Bridewell that Howard describes. 
 The philanthropist would scarcely have recognised 
 the place in the novelist's description. " I found it 
 to be a clean white house of a staid and venerable 
 air, with the quaint old door, choice, little, long, low, 
 lattice windows, and a roof of three gables. The 
 
 1 Appendix, p. 181. 2 Ibid., p. 182.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 135 
 
 silent High Street of Rochester is full of gables with 
 old beams, and timbers carved into strange faces. 
 It is oddly garnished with a queer old clock that 
 projects over the pavement, out of a grave red build- 
 ing, as if Time carried on business there, and hung 
 out his sign." 
 
 In the Sussex county gaol at Horsham Howard 
 saw two spacious courts with water in each, and a 
 wall enclosing the whole prison. " The felons," he 
 says, "on their entrance are washed with warm 
 water, and each man is clothed in a green striped 
 uniform of coat, waistcoat, and breeches ; and has 
 two shirts, two pairs of stockings, a pair of shoes, 
 a hat, and woollen cap." This entry he made with 
 immense joy. Sussex " set a noble example of 
 abolishing all fees, and also the tap ; " in consequence 
 of this, "the gaol was as quiet as a private house." 1 
 At Kingston-upon-Thames "one woman was in a 
 bed on the men's side, and two women in the room 
 for faulty apprentices, but they pay for this privilege. 
 There is a door from the men's court into that of the 
 women ; and one of the men keeps the key, and can 
 let any of the prisoners into the women's apartments." 2 
 At Newport Pagnell the prisoners were almost suf- 
 focated in hot weather. The prison at West Wycombe 
 consisted of two garrets in the keeper's dwelling 
 house. Buckingham town gaol was new, built at the 
 expense of Lord Cobham a fact inscribed over the 
 portal. On October I4th there were "no prisoners 
 but a raving lunatic." 3 Howard learned that the 
 Cambridge town Bridewell had recently been a 
 
 1 Appendix, p. 189. 2 Ibid., p. 192. 3 Ibid., p. 195.
 
 136 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 thorough fever-den ; seventeen women had been con- 
 fined in a work-room without fire-place or drainage. 
 This made it so exceedingly offensive that it generated 
 gaol fever, which so alarmed the vice-Chancellor that 
 he emptied the Bridewell ; and two or three inmates 
 died in a few days. 1 Beccles Bridewell had no separate 
 apartment for women, though there was plenty of 
 room for one in the keeper's garden ; and in a room 
 called the Ward, was a window opening into the 
 street, where numbers of idle people gathered round, 
 to look in, and, perhaps, gossip with the prisoners. 
 At Lavenham the keeper had a number of thumb- 
 screws. At Clare three men wore a heavy chain, and 
 two had logs fastened to them as well. Our investi- 
 gator reports at a later date, that a Coventry felon 
 received a royal pardon ; and on the letter to the 
 clerk of assize conveying it, there was written : " The 
 Secretary of State's fee is i js. od., and my fee 
 i is. od., which you will take care to receive on the 
 back of the pardon, from the officer who receives 
 him." The man could not pay the fees ; hence, says 
 Howard, "I found the poor wretch in May 1782, 
 languishing in prison, on his pound of bread a day." z 
 In Oxford Castle the rooms were the same as they 
 had been at the time of the Black Assize ; and the 
 benevolent inspector thought it probable there would 
 soon be another similar visitation. 3 In Worcester 
 county gaol, prisoners were all night chained by 
 means of linked fetters, and iron rings fastened to 
 the floor. 2 From Gloucester county gaol he writes : 
 No proper separation of the sexes, or of the Bride- 
 
 1 Appendix, p. 199. * Ibid., p. 209. 3 Ibid., p. 222.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 137 
 
 well prisoners from the rest." The magistrates' in- 
 attention to this important point occasioned most 
 licentious intercourse ; and all endeavours by the 
 Chaplain to promote reformation was necessarily 
 defeated. " Many children have been born in this 
 gaol." l In Liverpool Bridewell he met with an odd 
 contrivance ; in the court was a bath, " at one end of 
 it was a standard for a long pole, at the extremity 
 of which was fastened a chair. In this all the females, 
 not the males, at their entrance, after a few questions, 
 were placed with a flannel shift on, and' underwent a 
 thorough ducking, thrice repeated, a use of the bath 
 which I dare say the Legislature never thought 
 of, when, in their late Act, they ordered baths with 
 a view to cleanliness and preserving the health of 
 prisoners : not for the exercise of a wanton and dan- 
 gerous kind of severity." a These are but a few of 
 the many items which cover page after page in the 
 book on prisons; but they are more than sufficient 
 to cast a fearfully lurid light on the prison world of 
 the last century. 
 
 Howard speaks of evils being perpetuated after 
 his former visits, in spite of his exposures and sug- 
 gestions. Magistrates were too careless to trouble 
 themselves about improvements, and gaolers who 
 farmed the prison estates considered it to their 
 interest to allow things to go on as they were. 
 There was reform, however, in many instances. A 
 second visit found things better than the first, and 
 a third better than the second. Walls were white- 
 washed ; water was supplied ; debtors were separated 
 
 1 Appendix, p. 231. 2 Ibid., p. 258.
 
 138 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 from felons ; the sexes were kept apart ; drink was 
 forbidden ; fees were abolished. Our philanthropist 
 had not laboured in vain. 
 
 When we read Howard's books and memoirs, we 
 are often puzzled in attempts to follow the chrono- 
 logical lines of his life. It is frequently difficult to 
 determine at what period a particular incident took 
 place. Dr. Brown again and again gives the months 
 and days without any clue to the year of occurrence. 
 We are also surprised at the zigzag course of the 
 traveller's tours. He rushed east, west, north, south. 
 He raced over a few neighbouring counties, and then 
 returned home, to race again over distant parts of the 
 kingdom, when one thinks it would have saved 
 expense, labour, and time to have taken journeys in 
 consecutive order. But it serves to explain what 
 looks at first like a vagrant career, that Howard by 
 degrees, and not by a large plan prepared at first, 
 pursued his inquiries. The future opened as he went 
 on and on, far beyond what he dreamed of at the 
 outset. If the map of his life had been spread out 
 before his shrievalty year, he would have started 
 back in astonishment, and pronounced its filling up 
 to be impossible. But light fell, thoughts arose, 
 purposes were formed, deficiencies were supplied, and 
 faulty designs improved as journeys were repeated, as 
 years rolled on, as experience widened. 
 
 When he started, he only thought of finding in- 
 stances authorizing an abolition of gaol fees. When 
 in search of that object, he stumbled on monstrous 
 evils, which were as new as they were terrible, and 
 as startling as they were new ; a sort of benevolent 
 fascination led him forward. He began with gaols ;
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 139 
 
 then he encountered Bridewells. " Seeing in two or 
 three of the county gaols some poor creatures whose 
 aspect was singularly deplorable, and asking the 
 cause of it, I was answered, ' They were lately brought 
 from the Bridewells.' This started a fresh subject 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." Here 
 we have one instance out of several. A casual 
 answer given to a question started a fresh subject of 
 inquiry. These subjects of inquiry rose before his 
 mind in swift succession. Inquiring after gaols and 
 Bridewells, he soon inquired after hospitals and other 
 institutions. What he saw in one place he wished to 
 compare with what could be seen in another. He 
 read, thought, studied ; and, wishing to be quite ac- 
 curate, he laid down his pen, packed up his luggage, 
 called his servant, and started off on an expedition of 
 many miles, to verify a fact or to rectify a suspected 
 mistake. He went abroad, and that suggested com- 
 parison with things at home, about which he was 
 anxious to be quite sure. Thus journeys grew out 
 of journeys, and on the way divergencies in his route 
 arose ; and probably by the time he returned home 
 he had wandered into quarters he did not dream of 
 when he first set out. Here is a clue to the maze in 
 which at times we are lost in our study of his life. 
 
 Before I dismiss this part of my subject, a word or 
 two ought to be said respecting his mode of travelling. 
 It is scarcely needful to remark that no such con- 
 veniences existed as are familiar enough now. Some- 
 times in a stage coach, in such parts of the country
 
 140 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 as could boast of the provision ; sometimes on horse- 
 back, and sometimes in a post-chaise, he made his 
 excursions. One day a postilion annoyed him greatly. 
 He would move slow or fast, just as he pleased, in 
 spite of commands from one accustomed to be obeyed. 
 When they stopped to change horses, Howard told 
 the landlord of the inn to send for any poor widow 
 he might know and could recommend for honest 
 industry. Placing her before him, he gave her double 
 the amount of the gratuity expected by the postilion ; 
 and then turning to the latter, said that he had for- 
 feited all claim to the customary reward, and it was 
 therefore withheld, not on the score of meanness, but 
 on the score of justice. He did not grudge money, 
 but he disapproved of incivility ; and so sent the man 
 about his business. 1 
 
 This may be thought eccentric. Still more eccen- 
 tric is the following fact. Reaching an hotel, he 
 would order a dinner like any other gentleman, only 
 stipulating that his own servant should wait at table. 
 When the repast was ready and brought in, and when 
 the waiter had retired, the travelling attendant would 
 obey his master's order by shifting the dishes on the 
 sideboard, and preparing a basin of bread and milk. 
 Howard not only paid the bill for the dinner he did 
 not eat, but gave liberal fees to the waiters whose 
 services he declined ; for it was a maxim with him, 
 never to destroy the pleasure of a journey for the 
 sake of saving a few shillings or a few pounds. He 
 soon became pretty well known on the road; and 
 it is unnecessary to remark, that a traveller of so ex- 
 
 1 Aiken, p. 218.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 141 
 
 traordinary a description found a welcome wherever 
 he went 
 
 Moving about England in those days was neither 
 comfortable nor secure. The public stage was incon- 
 venient ; so, in some respects, was the post-chaise ; 
 whilst highway robbers, all over the kingdom, were 
 the order of the day as well as the night. Flying 
 highwaymen, riding on "grey," "sorrel," and " black" 
 steeds, were subjects of common talk. Ruffians 
 attacked coaches laden with passengers, and rode up 
 to carriage windows pistol in hand. Not only were 
 there desperate characters who obtained a sort of 
 professional income on the road ; but I have been 
 assured by one who knew him, that a tradesman at 
 eventide, after shutting up shop, would mount a swift 
 horse, and do a little business amongst travellers in 
 the neighbourhood. At noon day, gentlemen on 
 charitable errands were stopped just outside a town, 
 and under threat of " Your money or your life," had 
 to surrender their purses and their watches. 1 Amidst 
 a state of things like this hard to be realized now-a- 
 days Howard performed his journeys ; and it ought 
 to be distinctly remembered, as illustrative of his 
 courage, together with his philanthropy, that though 
 scarcely a gentleman in England travelled more than 
 he did, he was never robbed by a highwayman but 
 once. Of this I was informed by his coachman's son. 
 
 Howard's exploration of prison life in London, 
 which I now take up by itself, began in March, 1774. 
 He called at the Marshalsea in Southwark, where 
 
 1 These incidents I became acquainted with many years ago, 
 on the testimony of persons concerned.
 
 142 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 buildings were out of repair ; charges were exor- 
 bitant ; debtors and felons, young and old, men and 
 women, were mingled together ; lodgings were let to 
 people not prisoners, who lived there with a family, 
 and also kept a shop ; the sick had no infirmary, the 
 healthy no regular food. In dark, narrow rooms, 
 four men slept on two beds ; the tap was let out to 
 a prisoner, and there inmates lay upon the floor. To 
 show the habits of drinking, Howard states, that one 
 Sunday, six hundred pots of beer were brought in 
 from a neighbouring public house, because the bever- 
 age supplied by the regular tapster did not meet the 
 customers' taste. 
 
 In April, Howard visited Clerkenwell. It had not 
 been whitewashed for years. Those who could not 
 pay for beds, slept on a little straw spread over the 
 floor. One room was so crowded, that some climbed 
 into hammocks slung from the ceiling. A penny 
 loaf a day was the whole allowance. He went there 
 again in 1777, and found thirty convicts committed 
 for a term of years, some of whom were ill, and their 
 feet turned black through long confinement. In 
 1783, one was dying, with little covering on the body, 
 another was dead. In the women's sick-ward were 
 twelve persons in their clothes on barrack bedsteads, 
 or on the floor without bedding of any kind. 
 
 Of course he examined the state of things at New- 
 gate. He describes the condemned cells. Fifteen of 
 these existed before the prison was rebuilt in 1778 
 and 1780. In twelve years, four hundred and sixty- 
 seven executions took place, and the processions to 
 Tyburn were amongst the London sights thousands 
 on thousands lining the road and looking down from
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 143 
 
 roofs and windows on the grim spectacle. The cells 
 in which criminals spent their last night were lined 
 with planks studded with broad-headed nails, and 
 altogether so forbidding in appearance, that wretched 
 inmates were struck with horror ; and some of the 
 most hardened are said, at the sight, to have burst 
 into tears. 
 
 Parodies of judicial forms were the amusement of 
 felons and juvenile offenders ; if the latter resisted 
 an initiation into deep mysteries of villany, they 
 underwent a mock trial by an impudent patriarch, 
 who tied on his head a knotted towel, in imitation of 
 a wig. Prisoners of course had to pay garnish for 
 riotous entertainments. 
 
 Howard describes what he witnessed in the Fleet. 
 "They play in the courtyard at skittles and not 
 only the prisoners ; for I saw amongst them several 
 butchers, and others from the market, who are 
 admitted here as at any other public house. The 
 same may be seen in many other prisons, where the 
 gaoler keeps or lets the tap. Besides the incon- 
 veniences of this to prisoners, the frequenting a prison 
 lessens the dread of being confined in one. On Mon- 
 day night, there was a wine club, on Thursday night, 
 a beer club, each lasting usually till one or two in 
 the morning. I need not say how much riot they 
 occasion, and how the sober prisoners are annoyed 
 by them." l 
 
 " Passing under Ludgate the other day," Howard 
 states, " I heard a voice bawling for charity, which 
 I thought I had heard somewhere before. Coming 
 
 1 State of Prisons, p. 158.
 
 144 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 near to the gate, the prisoner called me by name, 
 and desired I would throw something into the box." 
 I heard myself, half a century ago, from people living 
 in Windsor, that a prison in the royal town had iron 
 bars, through which the people could look into the 
 street ; and that when George III. passed by, they 
 had been known to say to him, "Please, your majesty, 
 let us out." The exposure of prisoners to the common 
 gaze, and faces peering out of cells and court yards, 
 may still be seen in Spain, in Egypt, and in Syria. 
 
 We are furnished with a glimpse of New Ludgate, 
 in Bishopgate Street, a prison for debtors free of the 
 City, and for clergymen, proctors, and attorneys. 
 The common-side debtors were placed in two large 
 garrets called the Forest, and the Dock without 
 fireplaces. The walls were black ; and a bath, as 
 well as an infirmary, was a thing unknown. 
 
 At the Wood Street Compter, Howard saw a room 
 thirty-five feet by eighteen, with twenty-three beds 
 ranged round the walls, on three tiers of shelves ; and 
 in one of his visits, he found thirty-nine debtors, 
 seven with wives and children. The place swarmed 
 with vermin ; but there could be seen in the court, a 
 chapel and a tap-room. 
 
 Westminster Gate House was empty ; but the 
 King's Bench, Southwark, overflowed in the summer 
 of 1776; for debtors, with their families, made up a 
 population of over a thousand. 
 
 An incident connected with London, and illustra- 
 tive of Howard's force of character, may be here in- 
 troduced. It occurred in 1782. A riot broke out in 
 the Savoy, then used as a place of military confine- 
 ment. Two hundred ruffians gained the ascendant
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 145 
 
 over their keepers, and ruled as masters in that old 
 historic building. Everybody was afraid to go near 
 the spot. The philanthropist heard of what went on, 
 and determined to subdue the gang. It was in vain 
 that friends tried to dissuade him from the enterprise. 
 His heart melted like wax under the hot touch of 
 human sorrow ; but his will was like iron, which no 
 opposition could break or bend. In he went, and 
 stood face-to-face with the outlaws, who had already 
 murdered two officers. The effect is said to have 
 been amazing. What Howard did, and how he did 
 it, is not described, only the effect. The lions were 
 as lambs before the marvellous peacemaker. They 
 stated their grievances ; he pledged himself that they 
 should be inquired into; and on the faith of his word 
 they ended the struggle, and were led without fur- 
 ther resistance back to their cells. 1 
 
 Of the Lock Hospital he makes particular mention ; 
 and his forcible remarks are worthy of consideration 
 by persons apt to look askance upon objects of 
 charity such as he describes. " Many a worthy 
 woman has here to lament the diabolical profligacy 
 of an abandoned husband. Many a poor and helpless 
 infant to deplore its being the offspring of a dis- 
 tempered parent. Many a young creature of tender 
 years, yea, even in infancy itself, has to bewail the 
 inhuman violence of a diseased, filthy, and loathsome 
 ravisher. Others who have been led away by the 
 arts and wiles of seducers, by promises made only 
 to be broken, and fair words meant only to deceive. 
 
 1 Anecdote related by Howard's friend, Dr. Brown, who must 
 not be confounded with the biographer of that name. 
 
 L
 
 146 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 And lastly, many who inadvertently have sought their 
 own ruin, have also been cured in this hospital. 
 Some of these, whose lives have happily been pre- 
 served, have kissed the rod of affliction, by the bless- 
 ing of God have turned from their iniquity, and have 
 been happily restored to their family, the country, 
 and themselves. Therefore, their having brought on 
 themselves disease by their own sin and folly, is no 
 reason why they should be left to perish. A life lost 
 to the public, from whatever cause, is still a loss. Jf 
 we speak of the matter in a Christian view, how dare 
 any, who profess to know the grace of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, make this an objection ? Suppose the Re- 
 deemer had urged such a plea against becoming poor 
 for our sakes ; suppose He had said of us, ' Leave 
 those sinners to the consequences of their sins and 
 folly ; they are miserable, guilty, lost, and undone, 
 but it was their own fault; let them perish eternally ; 
 let the law take its vengeance on them. I'll not be- 
 come poor for their sakes, to save them from its 
 curse, for they do not deserve that I should.' Had 
 this been the language of our Lord, where had we 
 now been ? " l 
 
 He did not visit the prisons in Wales till the sum- 
 mer of 1774. At Flint he saw offenders in two dark 
 closets, called the Black Holes each measuring five 
 feet by four. They were too small to allow of any- 
 one lying down ; yet women sometimes were doomed 
 to dwell in these chambers of horror. At Ruthin, he 
 met with cells only three feet wide. At Caernarvon 
 and Dolgelly, receptacles of the same kind, dirty, 
 
 1 Lazarettos.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 147 
 
 offensive, and insecure. In 1779, he revisited the 
 northern parts of the Principality; and though his 
 efforts to better their condition had not been very 
 effective, "he saw improvements enough to forbid 
 despondency." 
 
 Scotland he visited repeatedly. He was there in 
 1775. In Glasgow, where his fame had gone before 
 him, he was welcomed and entertained with distin- 
 guished hospitality, and had presented to him the 
 freedom of that city. There he noticed what afforded 
 him much satisfaction, namely, a regulation to the 
 effect, that the gaoler, every morning and even- 
 ing, at the opening and shutting up of the prison, 
 should personally visit every part of it. Four years 
 afterwards, 1779, he recorded in notes of a Scotch 
 tour : " The prisons which I saw in Edinburgh, Glas- 
 gow, Perth, Stirling, Jedburgh, Ayr, etc., were old 
 buildings, dirty and offensive, without courts, and 
 also generally without water. They are not visited 
 by the magistrates, and the gaolers are allowed the 
 sale of most pernicious liquors." 
 
 He mentions the Tolbooth at Edinburgh. No 
 particular interest attached to it when he wrote down 
 the name in his crowded journal ; but now that Scott's 
 " Heart of Midlothian " has given to it a wide and 
 lasting fame, one does not glance with indifference at 
 the brief and dry entry. " In the Tolbooth at Edin- 
 burgh, July 6, 1779, there were thirteen debtors and 
 nine felons ; and in the Canongate Tolbooth, there 
 were five debtors and one felon." "March 28, 1782, 
 there were in the Tolbooth four debtors and twenty- 
 three criminals ; in the Canongate, two debtors." 1 
 1 Appendix, p. 149.
 
 148 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 " There are in Scotland," he says in his " State of 
 Prisons," " but few prisoners ; this is partly owing to 
 the shame and disgrace annexed to imprisonment, 
 partly to the solemn manner in which oaths are 
 administered and trials and executions conducted, 
 and partly to the general sobriety of manners, pro- 
 duced 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 possessed of a 
 Bible, which is always read in the parochial schools." 1 
 
 In 1782 he again appears on the other side of the 
 Tweed, welcomed at Edinburgh, as he had been at 
 Glasgow, and receiving the freedom of the city from 
 the Corporation of Modern Athens. The prisoners 
 of war confined there were, according to his account, 
 well treated ; but he pitied poor creatures in the 
 Tolbooth, shut up in a horrid cage, and chained to 
 an iron bar. " I say poor," he adds, " 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 whisky in the tap-room, in company 
 with many profligate townsmen, who were readily 
 admitted as they promoted the sale of the gaoler's 
 liquor." a 
 
 Howard met with various adventures in travelling ; 
 and I heard many years ago, from the son of his 
 favourite servant, John Prole, the following anecdote : 
 Once, in Scotland, his master and he came to a 
 little public-house, where the only fare consisted of 
 
 1 Appendix, p. 148. * Ibid., p. 151.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 149 
 
 black bread, eggs, and oatmeal. They placed this 
 humble refreshment, in a large awkward dish, upon a 
 three-legged stool, and proceeded to cut slices with 
 a garden knife, the house furnishing neither table- 
 knives nor forks. Howard, however, was pleased 
 with the humble hostess, for on being asked, how she 
 could live in such a lonely place "without privileges," 
 a current phrase for religious ordinances, she 
 readily replied, "Moses, sir, had greater privileges 
 while keeping his father Jethro's flock in the wilder- 
 ness than when in the court of Pharaoh." 
 
 I may add that the same faithful attendant, in a 
 pamphlet already noticed, 1 relates the following in- 
 cident : " How kindly did that Great Preserver 
 protect me and my good master in that hazardous 
 journey into Scotland in the deep snow, when we 
 went through drifts in many places far deeper than 
 our horses and ourselves. And in a remarkable 
 manner was I preserved in our journey from New- 
 castle ; for, about five o'clock in the morning, as I 
 was riding on before my master, getting out of the 
 road, both the horse and myself fell into a pit, which 
 I could not see, it being made level by the snow, and 
 in which we were covered ; but having a strong horse, 
 he worked himself out with me on him, without any 
 hurt ; among many other dangers we were in our 
 journey preserved from ; while many as we heard of 
 lost their lives in that severe season. And all our 
 escapes from death were owing to that kind hand 
 which, in the moment of danger, is often remarkably 
 
 Legacy to his Children.
 
 ISO HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Howard visited Ireland in 1779, and found prisons 
 there in as bad a state as they were in Scotland. 
 The country had no houses of correction, and people 
 acquitted were kept in confinement till they paid 
 their fees. Boys, almost naked, might be seen 
 detained for the payment of some forty shillings ; 
 and of course their intercourse with old and hardened 
 criminals produced most mischievous effects. 
 
 Once more he arrived in Dublin about the begin- 
 ning of the summer, 1782. A Committee of the Irish 
 Parliament had been appointed to inquire into the 
 state of Irish gaols, and he afforded them some 
 valuable evidence. He visited prisons in Dublin and 
 Tuam, and reports that they were dirty and crowded ; 
 that men and women were huddled together ; that 
 there was no religious service ; that pigs in the latter 
 place were more cared for than prisoners, inasmuch 
 as what had been intended for a bath had been 
 turned into a sty. A good deal of discomfort was 
 endured by him in his journeys through the sister 
 Isle. Along bad roads he had to make his way, and 
 often met with no other provision than what could be 
 obtained in the huts of peasants. A basin of milk, 
 or a little water with which to make a cup of tea, 
 were all he asked for; and this, with biscuits, which 
 he had provided at starting, satisfied his wants. In 
 connection with this mode of living, it may be 
 mentioned that once an Irish nobleman invited 
 Howard to dinner, and after some hesitation he 
 consented, on condition he should have nothing pro- 
 vided but potatoes. When he sat down to table 
 he was surprised to see seventeen covered dishes. 
 He thought the pledge had been broken ; and what
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 151 
 
 was his surprise when he found each dish contained 
 potatoes cooked in different ways. The abstemious 
 guest reproached himself for having caused more 
 thought and trouble in the kitchen, than if no condi- 
 tion had been imposed. l 
 
 In Dublin he was highly honoured. University 
 degrees had been conferred on him before, now a 
 diploma of LL.D. was added by the University of 
 the Irish capital. 
 
 An incident is related in The Gentleman's Magazine 
 (Dec., 1790) which may here find a place. "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 oppor- 
 tunity of showing his disposition more plainly. On 
 coming to take possession of his berth, he 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 account he is now 
 calumniated. 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 
 
 1 Related by Dr. Brown in his Memoirs (p. 523) on the au- 
 thority of the Rev. Mr. Bealey.
 
 152 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 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 enthu- 
 siasm, but the effusions of a truly benevolent heart 
 to which that noble sentiment, ' Humani nihil a me 
 alienum putoj might deservedly be applied. I knew 
 not Mr. Howard's name during these transactions, 
 and learned it only by accident a short time before 
 we landed." 
 
 When at Dublin in 1787, he was introduced to 
 John Wesley. "I had the pleasure," says the founder 
 of Methodism, "of a conversation with Mr. Howard, 
 I think one of the greatest men in Europe. Nothing 
 but the mighty power of God can enable him to go 
 through his difficult and dangerous employments." 
 Wesley was pleased with Howard. Howard was 
 pleased with Wesley. " I was encouraged," Howard 
 told Alexander Knox, " to go on vigorously with my 
 designs. I saw in him how much a single man might 
 achieve by zeal and perseverance, and I thought, Why 
 may not I do as much in my way as Mr. Wesley 
 has done in his, if I am only as assiduous and per- 
 severing ? and I determined I would pursue my work 
 with more alacrity than ever." 1 Again, in 1789, an 
 interview occurred between these two extraordinary 
 men. " Mr. Howard," writes Wesley, " is really an 
 extraordinary man ; God has raised him up to be a 
 blessing to many nations. I do not doubt but there 
 
 1 Life of Henry Moore, p. 271, quoted by Tyerman in The 
 Life and Times of John Wesley, vol. iii., p. 495.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 153 
 
 has been something more than natural in his pre- 
 servation hitherto, and should not wonder if the 
 providence of God should hereafter be still more 
 conspicuous in his favour." l 
 
 The American orator already noticed has drawn 
 a parallel between the two. They resembled each 
 other in person, both were of short stature ; in habits, 
 both were ascetic and self-denying ; in working 
 power, both sacrificed sleep, food, society, to the ful- 
 filment of their mission ; in courage, both overcame 
 prejudice, passions, and perils ; in executive ability, 
 both had clear-cut purposes, and carried them into 
 practical effect ; in self-reliance, they resolved not on 
 other peoples' opinions, but on their own judgment ; 
 in entire consecration, both were above the tempta- 
 tions of riches and honours ; and in their manner of 
 travelling, both lived on horseback, travelling by 
 night and by day, careering through the three king- 
 doms, making themselves equally at home in the 
 city and hamlet, among the rich and the poor. 3 The 
 parallel is clever, but it does not give prominence to 
 what brought the two most closely together they 
 were united in a faith substantially the same, in spite 
 of their Calvinistic and Arminian difference. Both 
 trusted simply and entirely to the same Saviour. 
 Both constantly felt that salvation is all of grace, 
 and on their knees could join in the same prayers, 
 and in adoring worship join in the same psalmody. 
 In each case religious principle was the root of enter- 
 prise, heroism, perseverance, and success. 
 
 At the same time we see he met Knox, private 
 
 1 Tyerman, vol. iii., p. 581. 2 Bellows' Howard, p. 57.
 
 154 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Secretary to Lord Castlereagh, known as the friend 
 and correspondent of Bishop Jebb. He wrote Essays 
 on the political circumstances of Ireland ; and his 
 " Remains," eulogized by his episcopal friend, have not 
 in them " a page which has not some energetic truth 
 or some happy illustration, and these illustrations 
 always powerful arguments." 
 
 On the whole, the journeys in Great Britain and 
 Ireland we have described were not in vain. The 
 last of them found things better than they were at 
 first. Some gross abuses had been stopped, gaols 
 and Bridewells had been cleansed, and were more and 
 more systematically arranged. His recommenda- 
 tions had borne some fruit. He was becoming more 
 and more a power in the country; his presence 
 everywhere commanded respect, and his counsels in 
 numerous cases carried weight. 
 
 Between 1776 and 1782 he paid repeated visits to 
 the hulks on the river Thames hulks being a new 
 mode of dealing with criminals, whose number 
 greatly perplexed the Government. In nineteen 
 years eight thousand convicts, save one, were divided 
 between an old ship named the Justicia, moored at 
 Woolwich, and two others in Langton and Ports- 
 mouth harbours. Out of six hundred and thirty 
 prisoners in the Justicia, one hundred and seventy-six 
 died within nineteen months. This led to a Parlia- 
 mentary inquiry, which had a beneficial effect on the 
 health of the convicts, which Howard gratefully ac- 
 knowledges. In 1787 the system of transportation to 
 New South Wales commenced; and two years after- 
 wards our benevolent voluntary Inspector found the 
 Justicia converted into an hospital, a frigate named the
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 155 
 
 Censor being employed for receiving prisoners. Both 
 showed signs of improvement the second less than 
 the first, which set him to search out causes, which he 
 soon ascertained, and then suggested fitting remedies. 
 In 1783 he reports : "The men in the Justicia looked 
 well, which I doubt not was in a great measure owing 
 to their being employed, and also restrained from 
 spirituous and other strong liquors. Of late but few 
 of them have died ; this shows that their situation is 
 better with respect to health, but the association of 
 so many criminals is utterly destructive to morals." x 
 
 The hulk system worked badly. Howard was ex- 
 amined by a Parliamentary Committee, and related 
 what he knew. Some other method of home punish- 
 ment was desirable. 
 
 In 1779 an Act was passed for the erection of two 
 English penitentiaries, under three competent ,super- 
 intendents. Howard was one, Dr. Fothergill was 
 another. Fothergill was of Quaker extraction, and 
 studied medicine at Edinburgh, where he took a de- 
 gree, and afterwards distinguished himself in his pro- 
 fession. To scientific attainments he added extra- 
 ordinary beneficence. He paid much attention to the 
 restoration of persons after being drowned, and 
 decidedly opposed intramural interments. A com- 
 mon philanthropy drew these two men closely to- 
 gether, and disposed them to unite in the Penitentiary 
 scheme, however reluctant they might be on other 
 grounds to undertake the difficult task. Howard's 
 scruples were overcome by the persuasion of Sir 
 William Blackstone, who is to be remembered amongst 
 
 1 State of Prisons, 4th edit, enlarged, pp. 466, 467.
 
 156 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 his acquaintances. The third superintendent was Mr. 
 Whatley, treasurer of the Foundling Hospital. 
 
 The arrangement failed. The superintendents 
 could not agree on a site. Howard and Fothergill 
 preferred Islington, Whatley chose Limehouse. Time 
 was lost in this way, and the philanthropist's patience 
 was nearly exhausted. Blackstone died, saying in his 
 last hours to Fothergill, " Be firm in your opinion." 
 
 " That advice," Howard remarked to his friend, 
 " seems to me to be the most important direction in 
 our conduct We are fixed upon as the proper per- 
 sons to determine on a plan and situation for a peni- 
 tentiary. Why then transfer the office to other 
 persons, whose station in life and other engagements 
 must render them very unfit for entering into such a 
 matter ? Let us, when we meet, absolutely fix on one 
 situation as the best on the whole, according to our 
 ideas ; and, specifying our reasons, let us submit the 
 approbation or rejection of this one plan to those in 
 whom the law has invested such a power ; but not 
 give them the unnecessary trouble, nor us the im- 
 proper degradation, of determining in our stead the 
 respective advantages of such different plans." 
 Whatley was obstinate, and Fothergill died. How- 
 ard now stood alone, and did not choose to fight a 
 single-handed battle with his colleague. Accordingly 
 he resigned. " My Lord," he wrote to Earl Bathurst 
 in January, 1781, "when Sir William Blackstone 
 prevailed upon me to act as a supervisor of the 
 buildings intended for the confinement of certain 
 criminals, I was persuaded to think that my observa- 
 tions upon similar institutions in foreign countries 
 would, in some degree, qualify me to assist in the
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 157 
 
 execution of the statute of the nineteenth year of his 
 present Majesty. With this hope, and the prospect 
 of being associated with my late worthy friend, Dr. 
 Fothergill, whose wishes and ideas upon the subject 
 I knew corresponded entirely with my own, I cheer- 
 fully accepted His Majesty's appointment, and have 
 since earnestly endeavoured to answer the purpose of 
 it ; but, at the end of two years, I have the mortifi- 
 cation to see that not even a preliminary has been 
 settled. The situation of the intended buildings has 
 been a matter of obstinate contention, and is at this 
 moment undecided. Judging therefore from what is 
 past, that the further sacrifice of my time is not likely 
 to contribute to the success of the plan, and being 
 now deprived, by the death of Dr. Fothergill, of the 
 assistance of an able colleague, I beg leave to signify 
 to your lordship my determination to decline all 
 further concern in the business, and to desire that 
 your lordship will be so good as to lay before the 
 King my humble request that His Majesty will be 
 graciously pleased to accept my resignation, and to 
 appoint some other gentleman to the office of a 
 supervisor in my place." x 
 
 When Howard retired the scheme collapsed. 
 Botany Bay took the place of penitentiaries for many 
 a year. Convicts were shipped off to the other side 
 of the globe, to demoralize one of the most beautiful 
 regions in the world ; and only at a comparatively late 
 period have our countrymen worked out the true idea 
 of penitentiaries by founding establishments at Pen- 
 tonville, Portland, and Dartmoor. 
 
 1 Dated January, 1781. Printed in Brown's Memoirs, p. 309.
 
 158 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Another unfortunate class of persons inspired 
 Howard's compassion. England, in the eighteenth 
 century, had been involved in one war after another. 
 The dispute with America led to hostilities in 1773 ; 
 our country in 1777 became embroiled with France, 
 which allied itself to the revolted colony; in 1778 
 Spain joined France, and thus we had to deal with a 
 third foe. In 1780 a rupture with Holland came to 
 be added to other calamities. The consequence was, 
 that a number of war prisoners were confined, both 
 on the Continent and in England, when the last of 
 these quarrels had continued for awhile; and people 
 at the present day have little idea of the misery 
 which, in consequence of being taken captive in a 
 time of war, existed at the close of the last hundred 
 years. Not only were foreign soldiers and sailors 
 liable to be captured, but peaceable people crossing 
 the sea were in peril. A vessel belonging to a 
 country with which we were at war, might by one 
 of our ships be attacked, be run down and seized, 
 and persons of the upper as well as lower class on 
 board be arrested and brought over to England. 
 I remember hearing, when I was a boy, of romantic 
 adventures on both sides. I had a schoolmaster who 
 in one of these turns of fortune was seized in a 
 vessel, and conveyed to a French prison, where for 
 the space of some years he remained in confinement. 
 One odd occurrence I heard related. A gentleman 
 eloped with a lady, and the fugitive pair set out for 
 the Continent. As they were crossing the Channel a 
 French crew took them prisoners; and they were 
 separated and detained abroad for several years. 
 
 Howard discovered the privations to which pri-
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES AT HOME. 159 
 
 soners on both sides the Channel were exposed, 
 and he gives details of what he saw both in French 
 and English prisons. It is needless to repeat them 
 or to indicate his suggestions for improvement ; but it 
 is worth while to record a remarkable incident which 
 happened in connection with his work amongst foreign 
 prisoners. Above three hundred Dutchmen, kept in 
 confinement on the banks of the River Severn, had 
 been so neglected that they were left almost naked. 
 Some benevolent people heard of it and made a col- 
 lection for the sufferers' relief. A worthless official 
 interfered to prevent the benevolent design ; he 
 wished, it appears, to force them into acts of enlist- 
 ment, that, under a British flag, they might fight 
 against their own country. Such manoeuvres were 
 not uncommon in those days. Howard no sooner 
 heard of this than, with characteristic promptitude, 
 he came to the rescue. Not sending to make in- 
 quiries, not trusting to official reports, he repaired to 
 the spot, saw the poor Netherlanders, examined their 
 statements, ascertained the particulars, commenced a 
 subscription, put down his name for ten guineas, and 
 ordered articles for the prisoners' relief to be sent 
 the next day. He went himself to see how things 
 proceeded, no doubt greatly to the chagrin of offi- 
 cials. He had the captives brought before him, and 
 having distributed the clothing, urged them, as men 
 and patriots, never to fight under the flag of a country 
 not their own.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 
 I775-I78I. 
 
 HOWARD'S home and foreign journeys suc- 
 ceeded each other so rapidly, that readers of 
 his life become confused. I have therefore thought 
 it best to keep his researches on the Continent dis- 
 tinct from those in Great Britain and Ireland, that a 
 clear impression may be left respecting the lines of 
 his philanthropy. 
 
 In April, 1775, he started for France. Louis XVI. 
 was on the throne. Marie Antoinette in the pride of 
 her beauty presided over her luxurious court. The 
 finances of the country were in a state of wretched 
 disorder. Turgot, Maurepas, and Necker were busy 
 with theories for filling an empty exchequer. The 
 country was discontented, and cries for reform came 
 from the lips of all classes, premonitory of a crash 
 which soon startled the world. Still, fashion and 
 folly were rampant in the metropolis and the pro- 
 vinces. Splendid equipages rolled along the streets, 
 balls and masquerades dazzled the aristocracy in the 
 halls of Versailles and the hotels of Paris, whilst 
 peasants groaned under the salt tax and cursed the 
 rich, who generally were unmindful of their sufferings. 
 Amidst these lights and shadows Howard made his 
 appearance.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 161 
 
 Reaching the city on the banks of the Seine by 
 some lumbering diligence, or some scarcely more 
 convenient chaise, he began immediately to thread 
 narrow, winding, dirty streets, amidst din and bustle, 
 searching for the Conciergerie, the Grand and Petit 
 Chatelet, the Fort L'Eveque, and the Bicetre prisons. 
 His first question everywhere was "Whether the 
 gaoler or keeper resided in the house ? " An answer 
 always came in the affirmative. In most cases he 
 found four or five gates ; the inner one called a turn- 
 stile. Five or six turnkeys were seen on patrol, 
 watching for plots and surprises. No prisoners were 
 in irons, a fact which astonished one familiar with 
 chains in England. Courts were clean, air was fresh, 
 and he seldom perceived offensive smells. Mass was 
 daily said, from which the attendance of Protestants 
 was excused. He measured the cells, tested the 
 supplies, copied the regulations, interrogated the 
 gaolers, and picked up information respecting men 
 and women in confinement. He found few debtors, 
 owing to a law which made persons who committed 
 them to prison, responsible for the payment of nine 
 shillings a month towards board and lodging. In 
 default of payment, prisoners recovered their liberty. 
 
 The Bicetre, an hospital built on an eminence two 
 miles from Paris, included paupers and lunatics. 
 About five hundred rooms had an occupant in each. 
 La Cour Royale, in this edifice, had eight dungeons, 
 with chains fastened to the wall, and a stone funnel 
 in each cell to let in air. Prisoners made straw 
 boxes, toothpicks, and other articles, which they were 
 allowed to sell to visitors. * 
 
 1 State of Prisons, p. 92. 
 
 M
 
 1 62 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 The Bastille so huge, so strong, so walled and 
 moated, so full of mystery, that Carlyle exclaims, 
 " Could one but, after infinite reading, get to under- 
 stand so much as the plan of the building." The 
 Bastille, so covered in everybody's thoughts with 
 stories of injustice and cruelty, of innocent lives sac- 
 rificed, or, what was worse, lengthened out in misery, 
 that inaccessible fortress, of course, inspired the 
 curiosity of the traveller. Of his attempt to explore 
 its secrets, which might be wrought up into a sensa- 
 tional story, or, painted by a skilful artist, would 
 make a capital picture he gives the following 
 account a perfect specimen of sententious sim- 
 plicity. " The Bastille may occur to some of my 
 readers as an object concerning which some informa- 
 tion would be acceptable. All that I can give them 
 is that I knocked hard at the outer gate, and imme- 
 diately went forward through the guard to the draw- 
 bridge before the entrance of the castle. I was some 
 time viewing this building, which is round, and sur- 
 rounded by a large moat. None of the windows look 
 outwards, but only towards a small area ; and if the 
 State prisoners are ever permitted to take the fresh 
 air, it must be on the leads, which have high parapets. 
 But whilst I was contemplating this gloomy mansion, 
 an officer came out of the castle, 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." 
 
 This incident, recorded with conscientious accuracy, 
 I find to have been also entrusted to tradition as well 
 as to paper ; and instead of being worn away by long 
 handling, it has recently developed into the following
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 163 
 
 romantic dimensions. " He boldly drove up to the 
 gates in a handsome carriage and four, with several 
 servants in livery, dressed himself like a gentleman 
 of the court. Stepping out of the carriage, with an 
 air of authority, he desired to be shown over the 
 building. The officials, taken by surprise, and never 
 doubting from his deportment his right to be obeyed } 
 permitted him to examine everything he chose." 1 
 
 This comparison of an original and authentic state- 
 ment in writing, with a story told by one person to 
 another over and over again, well illustrates the mar- 
 vellous effect of tradition. How the traveller gained 
 admittance to other prisons, he explains by reference 
 to a law, which allowed of charitable individuals 
 visiting the inmates, to bestow alms, either by their 
 own hands or through the medium of a gaoler. The 
 latter method alone was allowed in the case of dun- 
 geon-prisoners. 
 
 In the provincial gaols of France, Howard saw 
 little worth noticing ; and in May we follow him to 
 Belgium. Near Brussels is the town of Vilvorde, 
 where William Tyndale, the English translator of 
 the Scriptures, was imprisoned, strangled, and burnt. 
 Whether or not the 'prison explorer thought of that 
 tragedy I do not know, but he stopped to see the 
 House of Correction, and took down the dimensions 
 of rooms and the number of steps. 
 
 At Mechlin, under the shadow of its grand cathe- 
 dral, he sought out the prison, and was glad to find 
 no debtors in it. The criminals lodged " up stairs," 
 not in filthy dungeons ; each was provided for with 
 
 1 Memories of Seventy Years, edited by H. Martin, p. 59.
 
 164 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 " straw and two blankets," and " clean linen every 
 week from a charity." 
 
 At Bruges, he heard the far-famed Carillon ring 
 out its mysterious music from 
 
 The belfry old and brown : 
 
 Thrice consumed, and thrice rebuilded, still it watches o'er the 
 town. 
 
 There too were pictures quaint and beautiful, having 
 charms for most travellers ; but in a book on " The 
 State of Prisons," he only tells us how debtors and 
 criminals were treated ; the former receiving an 
 allowance from their creditors, the latter not shut up 
 in underground cells. He records the care taken of 
 the sick, and states that a list of charities hung up in 
 the council chamber. 
 
 In Ghent, the Hotel de Ville told of Charles V., 
 and the streets, of the Brewer, Jacob Van Arteveld. 
 The name of the city further suggested to an English- 
 man, recollections of " time-honoured Lancaster ; " 
 but Howard had one thing to do. In La Maison de 
 Force he tells us that prisoners had bedsteads, mat- 
 tresses, pillows, sheets, and blankets, also good and 
 sufficient food. Men and women were separated, 
 the former weaving, the latter washing, spinning, and 
 mending. Spirituous liquors were prohibited ; and 
 altogether he pronounced the establishment " a noble 
 institution." But the prison belonging to the Bene- 
 dictine Monastery presented a contrast, with its 
 dreary subterranean dungeons. Howard's habit of 
 counting steps and measuring doors and windows 
 greatly displeased the governor, who soon cut short 
 his stay, and thus put an end to his inquiries.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 165 
 
 He visited a nunnery, the famous Beguinage, I 
 apprehend, where the women in black gowns and the 
 ancient Flemish faille, kneeling on the floor at Vespers 
 in a dim light, present a picture which no tourist who 
 has seen it can forget. The Sisterhood attend the 
 sick ; and Howard speaks of the place as " the Hos- 
 pitable Mansion," not inhabited solely by nuns, but 
 destined for the reception of men who were insane, 
 and aged women who were sick. " The tenderness," 
 he adds, with which both were treated, " gave me no 
 little pleasure." J 
 
 He went to Delft, or Delfshaven, that interesting 
 Dutch town so intimately connected with the story 
 of the Pilgrim Fathers. There they engaged in weari- 
 some correspondence with the English Court, and 
 were much troubled by hard terms exacted by mer- 
 chant adventurers, till a few brave-hearted brethren 
 resolved to start for America at all hazards. There 
 John Robinson preached to this advanced guard, 
 from the pertinent text " Then I proclaimed a fast 
 there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict our- 
 selves before our God, to seek of Him a right way 
 for us, and for our little ones, and for all our sub- 
 stance." 2 And there " sundry of the Dutch strangers 
 that stood on the quay as spectators could not refrain 
 from tears," and " the scene was remembered there a 
 quarter of a century afterwards." 3 What Howard 
 saw and chiefly thought of at Delft, however, was the 
 prison. 
 
 1 State of Prisons, p. 140. 2 Ezra viii. 21. 
 
 3 " History of Plymouth Plantation, and Hypocrisy Un- 
 masked," quoted in Dr. Dexter's "Congregationalism of the last 
 three hundred Years."
 
 166 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 "At Delft there were nearly ninety in the House of 
 Correction, men and women quite separate ; all neat 
 and clean, and looked healthy. They told me their 
 allowance was five stivers a day. 1 All were em- 
 ployed in a woollen manufacture ; women spinning, 
 carding, etc., men were weaving from coarse to very 
 fine cloth ; their task was to earn thirty-five stivers a 
 week. Some earned a small surplus, but they had 
 only half of it." If a prisoner behaved well for a few 
 years, and gave proofs of amendment, the magistrates 
 abridged the time for which he was sentenced. 2 
 
 All this delighted our friend, and suggested to him 
 what might be done in English prisons. Opposite to 
 Rotterdam, on the other side of the river, he noticed 
 a House of Correction as " airy, and built round a 
 court, in which is a basin of water communicating 
 with the Maes." An outbreak of patriotism occurs 
 here. " I mention this edifice, on account of the sen- 
 timents 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 
 brave countrymen to whom Howard alludes fell in 
 the year 1747. The son-in-law of George II., Prince 
 William of Nassau, Stadtholder of Holland, being then 
 engaged in defending his country against the invasion 
 of a French army sent by Louis XV., British soldiers, 
 under a son of George II., were despatched to help 
 the Dutch. " Our two young heroes agree but little," 
 said Mr. Pelham, " our own is open, frank, resolute, 
 and perhaps hasty ; the other, assuming, pedantic, 
 
 1 A stiver is about a penny. 2 State of Prisons, p. 132.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 167 
 
 ratiocinating, and tenacious." The Duke of Cumber- 
 land fought with desperation ; but the British were 
 sacrificed by the Dutch, whom they' went to help, 
 and who got out of the fight as quickly as possible. 1 
 At Bergen-op-Zoom there followed terrible work ; 
 and it was over the buried bones of the English sol- 
 diers that Howard expressed veneration for English 
 courage. He hated war, but he appreciated valour. 
 
 An Institution at Amsterdam, similar to that at 
 Delft, arrested his attention. Men were winding silk 
 as well as rasping wood ; and as Howard looked with 
 a keen eye on what went on, he seems to have made 
 the authorities suspicious. " I wished," he says, " to 
 know more particulars of this famous prison, but 
 could scarce ever get from the cautious old keeper a 
 direct answer to any one question, though I paid him 
 five visits with that intent." In the Spin House he 
 saw thirty-two females, some abandoned characters, 
 yet now sitting, in the presence of the mistress, quiet 
 and orderly. He watched them as they went to 
 dinner. The keeper, whom they called Father, pre- 
 sided at table. " 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. 
 Then they sat down cheerful, and each filled her bowl 
 from a large dish, which contained enough for four of 
 
 1 Pelham's Letter to Mann, quoted by C. Knight, History of 
 England, vol. vi., p. 180.
 
 168 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 them. Then one brought on a waiter slices of bread 
 and butter, and served each prisoner." l 
 
 In Holland he was greatly interested in the Rasp 
 Houses for men, and in the Spin Houses for women. 
 Men rasped wood, women spun worsted. Work was 
 Howard's delight ; and he rejoiced in the maxim on 
 which these Dutch systems were founded ; " Make 
 tJiem diligent, and they will be honest" He relates the 
 following story in illustration : " I have heard in Eng- 
 land that a countryman of ours, who was a prisoner 
 in the Rasp House at Amsterdam several years, was 
 permitted to work at his own trade, shoemaking ; 
 and by being constantly employed, was quite cured 
 of the vices which brought him to confinement. My 
 informant added, that the prisoner received at his 
 release a surplus of his earnings, which enabled him 
 to set up in London, where he lived in credit, and 
 at dinner commonly drank " Health to his worthy 
 masters at the Rasp House." 2 
 
 Of all foreign countries, Howard liked Holland 
 best ; and he learnt there more than he did anywhere 
 else. " There is one short paragraph in his Journal 
 in Holland," says Mr. Bellows, " that contains unde- 
 veloped every sound and reformatory idea that has 
 since entered into prison science. 
 
 It is this : " 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 in- 
 deed of all others, to industry. The States do not 
 transport convicts ; but men are put to labour in the 
 Rasp Houses, and women to proper work in the Spin 
 
 1 State of Prisons, pp. 126, 127. 2 Ibid., p. 122.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 169 
 
 Houses upon this professed maxim : ' Make them 
 diligent, and they will be honest.' Great care is 
 taken to give them moral and religious instruction, 
 and reform their manners, for their own and the 
 public good ; and I am well informed, that many 
 come out sober and honest. Some have even chosen 
 to continue and work in the house after their dis- 
 charge. Offenders are sentenced to these houses, 
 according to their crimes, for seven, ten, fifteen, 
 twenty, and even ninety-nine years ; but, to prevent 
 despair, seldom for life. As an encouragement to 
 sobriety and industry, those who distinguish them- 
 selves by such behaviour, are discharged before the 
 expiration of their term." 1 
 
 These are now primary principles in prison reform, 
 and they were adopted by Howard when most Eng- 
 lishmen were ignorant or unconvinced of their efficacy. 
 The Dutch were far before us in those days. 
 
 Howard from Amsterdam made his way to 
 Utrecht, carrying letters of introduction to Dr. 
 Brown, English chaplain, to Groningen, to Lewar- 
 den, where prisoners were at work, and to Bremen, 
 where a workhouse had done much to relieve the 
 streets of beggars. At Hamburg, however, he was 
 horrified. " Among the various engines of torture," 
 he says, "which I have seen in France and other 
 places, the most excruciating is kept and used in the 
 deep cellar of this prison. It ought to be buried ten 
 thousand fathoms deeper. It is said the inventor was 
 the first to suffer by it, the last was a woman not two 
 years ago." 
 
 1 John Howard, his Life, Character, and Services, by H. H. 
 Bellows, p. 35.
 
 170 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 In the kingdom of Hanover, then under the English 
 crown, he found, at Luneburg, criminals employed 
 in digging chalk, preparing it for the kiln, grinding, 
 sifting, and packing it in barrels. At Hanau, the 
 chief town of a small principality, he tells us the 
 galley slaves were divided into honnetes and dhhon- 
 nttes ; the former had their term of imprisonment 
 shortened on account of good behaviour. They 
 worked on the public roads, and told Howard they 
 preferred it to being idle. The dtshonnetes were never 
 let out of the town, and had to perform " disagreeable 
 services." The following entry furnishes a curious 
 instance of grim humour. 
 
 "At Mannheim, Monsieur Babo, Counsellor to the 
 Regency, very politely gave orders to show me every 
 room of La Maison de Force. Prisoners committed 
 to this house are commonly received in form with 
 what is called the bien venu, or welcome. A ma- 
 chine is brought out, in which are fastened their 
 necks, hands, and feet. Then they are stripped, and 
 have, according as the Magistrate orders, the grand 
 venu, of twenty to thirty stripes ; the demi venu, of 
 eighteen to twenty ; 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 some 
 other towns in Germany." 1 
 
 In June, 1775, we find him in the fair city of Bonn 
 on the banks of the Rhine, -whence he wrote to Mr. 
 Symonds. 
 
 1 State of Prisons, p. 112.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 171 
 
 " Bonn, June 2Of/i, 177.5. 
 
 "DEAR SIR, I flatter myself a line will not be 
 unacceptable. 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, be- 
 ing just come from the prisons in this place. I had 
 visited many in France, Flanders, and Holland ; but 
 I thought I might gain some knowledge by look- 
 ing into the German police. I have carefully visited 
 some Prussian, Austrian, Hessian, 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 im- 
 proved 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, 
 it exalts 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 Englishman. We are here surrounded 
 with vineyards, so I must not say it is hot ; yet 1 
 cannot help wishing for my refreshing bath. 
 
 " I have spent some Sundays with the French Pro- 
 testants. I love and esteem them. Though separated, 
 yet truly united. I trust and hope we shall make one
 
 172 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 great and glorious body. In which wish, I truly 
 remain, etc., 
 
 "JOHN HOWARD." 
 
 " P.S. Mr. Castleman, Mr. Freelove, etc., with 
 gratitude. I think of their late instance of affection, 
 and with pleasure in some sacred moments. Adieu ! 
 I pray God bless you ; and may many be your crowns 
 of rejoicing in that great and glorious day. J. H." 
 
 Howard returned to England in July, 1775 ; but in 
 May, 1776, he again crossed Dover Straits on his way 
 to Switzerland. After tarrying two or three weeks in 
 Paris, he proceeded to Lyons, where he examined the 
 prison of St. Joseph formerly a convent containing 
 twenty-nine criminals, who, on account of the heat, 
 wore no other covering than shirts. The Swiss can- 
 tons deeply interested him ; Geneva and Lausanne 
 confirmed his conviction of the good effects resulting 
 from industry. At Bern, most of the prisoners he 
 saw were employed in cleaning the streets. Four or 
 five dragged a wagon, and the rest loaded it. They 
 wore a collar with a hook projecting above their 
 heads, a contrivance which must have been a great tor- 
 ment, seeing that it weighed five pounds. He asked, 
 " whether they chose to work thus, or be confined 
 indoors." " Much rather work thus," they replied. 
 
 The effect of this visit is noticed by Archdeacon 
 Coxe, who, writing in 1801, informs us that the House 
 of Correction, in such a deplorable state at the time 
 Howard visited the city, had undergone a great 
 change through the efforts of M. Manual, a member 
 of the Council. Prisoners were classified and dis- 
 tinguished by the colours of their dress. The men
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 173 
 
 and women were lodged in different parts of the 
 building and were Constantly employed. They were 
 also taught to read and write, and instructed in vari- 
 ous trades, so as to render the establishment nearly 
 self-supporting. 1 Switzerland reaped benefit from 
 the philanthropist's visit. 
 
 At Basle, he heard a strange story, " When I was 
 in the room [of a felon] and took notice of the un- 
 common strength of it, the gaoler told me a prisoner 
 had lately made his escape. 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 art of striking his door, just when the 
 great clock struck, to drown the noise, and in fifteen 
 days he forced all the bolts. 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 surgeon pro- 
 nounced his recovery impossible. But his bones were 
 set, and with proper care he did recover, and was 
 pardoned? 
 
 From Basle Howard revisited Germany ; and at 
 Metz his eye caught a significant symbol, over the 
 door of the House of Correction. It was a carving, 
 which represented a wagon drawn by two stags, 
 two lions, and two wild boars, with an inscription 
 explaining the device, i.e., "If wild beasts can be 
 
 1 Coxe's Travels in Switzerland, vol. ii , p. 232. The author 
 was a friend of the Whitbread family, and accompanied Samuel 
 Whitbread, the statesman, on his grand tour. To him he dedi- 
 cated his travels. He most likely knew Howard. Howard 
 commends a tract which Coxe published on foreign prisons.
 
 i?4 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 tamed to the yoke, we should not despair of reclaim- 
 ing unruly men." 
 
 Howard was far removed from a mere theorist. He 
 had, of course, ideas of prison reform, but they were 
 not with him a substitute for facts. No imagination 
 of what prisons were or ought to be filled his mind. 
 His philanthropy arose from what he saw, and oper- 
 ated along lines established accordingly. Not more 
 consistently had Bacon dwelt in. thought on the prin- 
 ciple of induction, than did Howard in practice act 
 upon it. 
 
 In the month of August, 1776, he completed his 
 journey by a re-inspection of the Ghent prisons ; but 
 he scarcely touched his native shores, before he was 
 travelling through England to compare things at 
 home with things abroad. The spring of 1778 saw 
 him commencing another Continental tour, by cross- 
 ing over to Helvoetsluis on the way to Amsterdam. 
 There he met with a serious accident. A runaway 
 horse caught him by the coat, and threw him on a 
 heap of stones. The pain he suffered brought on an 
 attack of fever, which confined him for six weeks ; 
 and during this period he kept a diary, in which he 
 recorded his spiritual experience. 
 
 " In patience may I possess my soul, and say, It is 
 the Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him good." 
 " Righteous art Thou in all Thy ways and holy in all 
 Thy works." " May this great affliction 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." 
 When he was better he proceeded to Hague and 
 then to Rotterdam.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 175 
 
 Holland was a favourite land of John Howard's, 
 and this time he wrote the following passage in his 
 Journal. " I leave this country with regret, as it 
 affords a large field for information in the important 
 subject I have in view. I 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 attention of the 
 magistrates and governors." 
 
 At Osnaburgh, then under the government of the 
 Duke of York, Prince Bishop of the Dominions, he 
 saw much to disapprove. At Brunswick things were 
 not better ; but at Magdeburg he noticed prisoners 
 employed on the fortifications, while in the House of 
 Correction large chambers were occupied by women 
 tending silkworms. 
 
 He wrote from Berlin, on the 28th of June, 1778, 
 a letter in which he said, " We are here on the eve of 
 an important event the king of Prussia in Silesia 
 and the enemy encamped within a few miles of him ; 
 40,000 men ready to destroy one another as the 
 prejudice or passions of an arbitrary monarch may 
 direct. This would be matter of great concern 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." Curiously enough, about two years before 
 this, an ex-Prussian officer, one Major Kaltenborn, 
 wrote, as Carlyle tells us in his Life of Frederick the 
 Great, the following words respecting a review : 
 " What a sight, and awakening what thoughts, that 
 of a body of 18,000 to 20,000 soldiers, in solemn 
 silence and in deepest reverence, awaiting their fate
 
 1 76 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 from one man." l The two passages were written by 
 different men with different sentiments. They point 
 to stirring times, and to encampments, and to the 
 great Bavarian succession quarrel. War was threat- 
 ening in the year 1778. " Who," it was asked, " shall 
 succeed to the throne at Munich Karl Theodore, 
 Elector Palatine, or one of the Imperial Austrians ? " 
 Frederick said, " Not an Austrian." So Prussia and 
 Austria prepared for war. This historical reference 
 explains Howard's letter. Negotiations were going 
 on at the moment. What the King offered, the 
 Emperor rejected ; what the Emperor offered, the 
 King rejected. An ultimatum was sent on June 
 1 3th, offering to Austria a small piece of Bavarian 
 territory. Austria returned, on the 24th, a note of 
 non-acceptance. Frederick, enraged, issued his de- 
 claration of war on the 3rd of July. This out- 
 burst of passion, this kindling of the war-blaze, 
 lights up a picture of our philanthropist in his 
 hotel chamber at Berlin, writing home to his friend, 
 Mr. Smith, reflecting upon the formidable belli- 
 gerents. 
 
 Presently Howard forgets the armies, on his way 
 to Spandau, looking after criminals who were rasping 
 log-wood, carding wool, or tending silkworms. At 
 Dresden, on the Elbe, rich in pictures, curiosities, and 
 historical associations, he finds, to his sorrow, slaves 
 and prisoners heavily ironed, even some who were 
 sick, women as well as men, fastened by a chain to 
 a staple in the wall. 
 
 At this very time we find, as Carlyle tells us, the 
 
 1 Carlyle's Frederick the Great, vol. x., p. 81.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 177 
 
 " Elbe, and his branches, and the intricate shoulders 
 of the giant mountains," thick with armed men. 
 " From Konigsgratz, northward by Konigshof, by 
 Arnau up to Hohenelbe, all heights are crowned, all 
 passes bristling with cannon. Rivers Aupa, Elbe 
 beset with redoubts, with dams in favourable places, 
 and are become inundations, difficult to tap. There 
 are ditches eight feet deep by sixteen broad. Be- 
 hind, or on the right bank of the Elbe, it is mere 
 entrenchments for five-and-twenty miles." l 
 
 Frederick, on his war-horse, reconnoitered his army 
 on the 8th of July, just at the moment when Howard, 
 in a modest travelling carriage, drove past, perhaps on 
 the opposite side of the river, full of humane projects. 
 The contrast between the two men is notable. So 
 do mortals in this troubled world meet and pass one 
 another little heeding, as they are bent on different 
 enterprises all under the eye of Heaven. 
 
 Somehow or other, Howard reached the grand city 
 of Prague, where the people were frightened by 
 martial noise and fury, which signified nothing or 
 next to nothing ; for, after all, the two armies did not 
 close with each other. Everybody who has visited 
 the quaint old place, with its never-to-be-forgotten 
 bridge striding the Moldau, and searched after me- 
 mentos of Jerome of Prague, has been sure to visit 
 the Hradschin and the Dom, and to have noticed 
 beyond them, if they have not reached it, the Monas- 
 tery of Strahow, whose famous Library is the admi- 
 ration of bibliographers. Perhaps that may be the 
 building to which Dr. Brown, Howard's biographer, 
 
 1 Life of Frederick the Great, vol. x., p. 1 16. 
 
 N
 
 1 78 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 alludes, when speaking of a Capuchin Convent^ though 
 it is in fact an establishment of Premonstratensian 
 monks. He tells an amusing story about it on the 
 authority of Howard's servant. 1 It was dinner time, 
 on a day when rigorous abstinence was prescribed ; 
 but instead of scanty and simple fare, delicious viands 
 loaded the brotherhood's table. Invited to sit down, 
 and enjoy the hospitality of the house, Howard ad- 
 ministered a sharp rebuke, saying he had heard they 
 lived a life of seclusion for self-denial and prayer, 
 whereas he found in the convent revelry and drunken- 
 ness. He informed them that he was going to Rome, 
 and it would be his duty to make a report to the 
 Pope of what he had seen ; whereupon the brethren 
 were troubled, and a deputation afterwards went to 
 his hotel, to beg he would spare them the threatened 
 exposure. He intimated that reformation would be 
 their best safeguard. 
 
 From Prague he travelled to Vienna, crossing the 
 bastions, and plunging into that strange network of 
 streets, well compared to a spider's web, the cathedral 
 of St. Stephen's being a centre, the suburbs a cir- 
 cumference. There, as everywhere, he looked after 
 prisons, and was shocked at the dungeons of La 
 Maison du Bourreau, where he thought he had found 
 an unhappy victim of gaol fever, but it turned out 
 otherwise. He was pleased with the hospitals of 
 Vienna, and a little amused with a contrivance for 
 punishing bakers who sold bread of defective weight. 
 The culprit was put into his own basket, fastened to 
 the end of a long pole, and in this way underwent a 
 
 1 Brown, p. 249.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 179 
 
 good ducking in the Danube waters. As an excep- 
 tion to his general rule, Howard visited the Court, 
 and dined with the Queen of Hungary, when he met 
 some of the nobility and the foreign ambassadors. 
 He also accepted an invitation from the English 
 minister, Sir Robert Murray Keith, when the follow- 
 ing conversation took place : 
 
 "'The glory of abolishing torture in his own 
 dominions,' remarked a German gentleman, ' belongs 
 to his Imperial Majesty.' 
 
 " ' Pardon me,' said 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, some- 
 times years. The poor wretches are plunged into a 
 noisome dungeon, as bad as the Black Hole at Cal- 
 cutta, from which they are taken only if they confess 
 what is laid to their charge.' 
 
 "' Hush,' said the ambassador; 'your words will 
 be reported to his Majesty.' 
 
 " ' What,' replied Howard, ' shall my tongue be tied 
 from speaking truth, by any king or emperor in the 
 world? I repeat what I asserted, and maintain its 
 veracity.' " l 
 
 This uncourtly but honest conversation does not 
 seem to have given offence, for the character of the 
 man could not be separated from his speech. 
 
 True to his mission, he hastened from Vienna to 
 Gratz, from Gratz to Lambach, from Lambach to 
 Trieste. At Gratz, a town surrounded by fortified 
 
 1 Brown, p. 252.
 
 i8o HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 ramparts which command an extensive view, he 
 observed in the House of Correction that the prisoners 
 were more healthy than were those at Vienna, and 
 that they had beds and coverlets. Of Lambach an 
 ancient village on the borders of the Salzkammergut, 
 near the Traunfalls, with a Benedictine monastery 
 he omits particulars respecting the prison, because he 
 could not say a word in its favour. 
 
 Trieste was then rising in commercial and maritime 
 importance in proportion as Venice in this respect 
 decayed. The Altstadt, with its narrow streets, 
 scarcely passable by carriages, formed a fourth of the 
 whole town ; and the Duomo, or cathedral, of San 
 Giusto, a Byzantine edifice founded in the fifth cen- 
 tury, telling of old Lombard times, crowned the hill 
 near the castle. Its tower is said to stand on the 
 site of a temple of Jupiter, the foundation of which 
 still exists. Like the queen of the Adriatic, the new 
 town rises on ground reclaimed from the sea or salt 
 marshes close on its borders ; and a broad canal, 
 named after the Empress Theresa, carries on its 
 bosom vessels whose cargoes can be unshipped close 
 to the doors of the merchants' warehouses. A motley 
 crowd throng the streets. Greeks, Armenians, Dal- 
 matians, Slavs, Germans, and Jews presented, a hun- 
 dred years ago, odd varieties of costume, and lan- 
 guages as confused and as confounding as those 
 spoken round the Tower of Babel. 
 
 Such was the place now reached by Howard. He 
 found offensive rooms in the prison. Pale counte- 
 nances told of misery. In the castle eighty-five slaves 
 (condannati) seemed healthy and well. They worked 
 on the roads round the harbour, and some were in a
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 181 
 
 lighter, raising mud close to the windows of Howard's 
 hotel. To prevent escape, these men were guarded 
 by six soldiers. They had two pounds and a half of 
 bread and four farthings a day. Howard heard them 
 called over, and saw them receive their pay as they 
 entered the castle. They had two shirts each, and 
 good beds with coverlets in airy rooms. " They were 
 distinguished from other labourers by a light chain 
 on their legs, and a chain supported by a girdle of 
 leather at their waists." l So particular was the 
 observation of this remarkable inspector, and so 
 minute are the details which he jotted in his pocket- 
 book. What he did thus at Trieste is a specimen of 
 what he did everywhere. 
 
 From Trieste, in a small shallop, he crossed the 
 Gulf of Venice and entered the Lagoons, landing on 
 the marble pavement of the Piazzetta. 
 
 " At Venice," he remarks, " the great prison is near 
 the Doge's palace, and it is one of the strongest I 
 ever saw." Much has been written on this subject. 
 The fiombi, prisons under the leads, have been dra- 
 matically described by Casanova, who was confined 
 there in 1755. Rogers, in lines familiar to every- 
 body, paints them in fearful colours : 
 
 " But let us to the roof, 
 
 And when thou hast surveyed the sea, the land, 
 
 Visit the narrow cells that cluster there 
 
 As in a place of tombs. There burning suns 
 
 Day after day beat unrelentingly, 
 
 Turning all things to dust ; and scorching up 
 
 The brain till reason fled, and the wild yell 
 
 And wilder laugh burst out on every side, 
 
 Answering each other as in mockery." 
 
 1 Appendix to State of Prisons, p. 65.
 
 182 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 A French author, Jules Lecomte, 1 has attempted to 
 remove the impression generally entertained ; and he 
 condemns as extravagant what several have written. 
 Mr. Ruskin, too, regards much that is said about the 
 piombi as unfounded. But Howard certainly was 
 struck with the terrific condition of any one con- 
 fined in those strange chambers, for he says : " The 
 rooms for the State prisoners are over part of the 
 palace in the leads, which renders confinement in the 
 heat of summer almost intolerable." My own recol- 
 lections of them, as they were twenty-five years ago, 
 are in accordance with Howard's statement ; though, 
 except as to the heat, I cannot agree with the 
 description of them given by some writers. 
 
 Theflozzi, or dungeons, are worse than the piombi. 
 They are connected in one's thoughts with the Ponte 
 dei Sospiri, or Bridge of Sighs, across which prisoners 
 were led to receive sentence. 2 Between three and four 
 hundred prisoners were confined in these loathsome 
 and dark cells for life, when Howard saw them, in 1778. 
 Some of them I can testify have only a loophole in 
 the wall ; and to enter is to be smitten with imagina- 
 tions of unutterable horror. Howard inquired of 
 those he saw whether they would not prefer the 
 galleys, to which they answered " Yes." Mercifully 
 there were no irons ; happily there was no fever. He 
 however noticed a corpse lying on the sands of a 
 lagoon, which he concluded to be that of a galley 
 slave who had committed suicide ; for no one could 
 hope to escape by swimming with seven-and-twenty 
 
 1 Venise, ou Coup-d'ceil LitteYaire, Artistique, etc. p. 217. 
 
 2 I visited them three years ago ; they are frightful enough, 
 but are now disused.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 183 
 
 pounds of iron fastened to his limbs. " If the galley 
 slave," he said, " had light and air, which the cell cap- 
 tive had not, his fetters counterbalanced the advan- 
 tage." 
 
 Next to Venice he visited Padua, and could hardly 
 fail to see Giotto's paintings in the Arena Chapel, 
 though anti-pre-Raphaelite prejudices were then in 
 the ascendant. For the Palazzo della Ragione in the 
 old market-place, with its allegorical devices, Howard 
 would not care, nor much for its Duomo and Bap- 
 tistery ; but the prison he explored, without giving us 
 any account of its condition. Ferrara he passes over 
 with a bare mention ; but at Bologna, besides its 
 three prisons, he mentions the hospital 5. Maria 
 de Vita, which I am at a loss to identify amongst 
 several ospedali boasted of by the citizens. It 
 afforded him great pleasure. "All was clean; and 
 the wards were lofty and not in the least offensive. 
 The wards of the men and women were of the same 
 size, each containing thirty-eight beds, nineteen on 
 each side. The bedsteads were of iron, and the 
 coverlets were white and clean. Each ward had 
 fourteen windows, seven on a side, and all had 
 curtains. They had folding wooden casements, and 
 on the outside wire lattices." These minute specifi- 
 cations, with others in a foot-note, are characteristic ; x 
 and it is a relief to find so pleasant an exception to 
 his catalogues of miseries. 
 
 He proceeded to Florence. Upon his arriving there 
 he was presented by the famous English ambassador, 
 
 1 Appendix, p. 67. " Over each curtain was a slip of black 
 marble with the number of the bed."
 
 1 84 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Sir Horace Mann, to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, 
 who promised special facilities for obtaining informa- 
 tion ; and to his prison inquiries Howard devoted 
 himself. 
 
 In his Appendix he speaks of two prisons. In the 
 great prison Palazzo degf Otto, I suppose the Palazzo 
 del Potesta, or Bargello, is meant, there were twenty 
 criminals, six of them confined in strong secret cham- 
 bers. They were left unchained. But in the torture 
 room he saw a sort of guillotine, " a machine for de- 
 collation, which prevents that repetition of the stroke 
 which too often happens when the axe is used." He 
 mentions another prison, which he calls Delle Stinche, 
 the approach to which was through five doors, which 
 he carefully counted ; the first surmounted by the 
 words, Oportet misereri, " We ought to be compassion- 
 ate." There was a new infirmary. In the place were 
 forty-two men and fourteen women. Debtors were 
 not divided from other inmates. 1 To the prisoners he 
 gave some money for the purchase of beef and mut- 
 ton, of tea and sugar ; and this so delighted them, 
 that they saluted him with hymns and choruses, 
 " and would have sainted him had he not prevented 
 it." 2 It was like the reception of Paul and Barnabas 
 at Lystra. 
 
 Howard's description of Florentine prisons in 1778 
 is very different from that by Charles Dickens in 1846 : 
 " In the midst of the city, in the piazza of the Grand 
 Duke, adorned with beautiful statues and the fountain 
 of Neptune, rises the Palazzo Vecchio with its enor- 
 mous overhanging battlements, and the great tower 
 
 1 Appendix, p. 67. 2 Brown, p. 254.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 185 
 
 that watches over the whole town. In its court-yard, 
 worthy of the castle of Otranto in its ponderous 
 gloom, is a massive staircase that the heaviest wagon 
 and the stoutest team of horses might be drawn up. 
 Within it is a great saloon, faded and tarnished in its 
 stately decorations, and mouldering by grains, but 
 recording yet in pictures on its walls the triumphs of 
 the Medici and the wars of the Old Florentine people. 
 The prison is hard by in an adjacent court-yard of the 
 building " (he means the Bargello, a distinct building 
 altogether, and at some little distance), " a foul and 
 dismal place, where some men are shut up close in 
 small cells like ovens, and where others look through 
 bars and beg ; where some are playing draughts, and 
 some are talking to their friends, who smoke the 
 while to purify the air ; and some are buying wine 
 and spirits of women vendors ; and all are squalid, 
 dirty, and vile to look at. ' They are merry enough, 
 signore,' says the jailer. ' They are all blood-stained 
 here/ he adds indicating with his hand three-fourths 
 of the building. Before the hour is out, an old man 
 eighty years of age, quarrelling over a bargain with a 
 young girl of seventeen, stabs her dead in the market 
 place full of bright flowers, and is brought in prisoner 
 to swell the number." l 
 
 If these two accounts be true, prison life at 
 Florence did not improve in the space of sixty-eight 
 years. 
 
 On this journey Howard paid a second visit to Rome. 
 It was then under the rule of Pius VI., a handsome 
 dignified person, reputed for his patronage of litera- 
 
 1 Pictures from Italy, p. 265.
 
 1 86 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 ture and art, and making himself agreeable by his 
 gracious manners. His administration is reported 
 to have been mild and liberal, and all this accords 
 with an anecdote related respecting the Papal sove- 
 reign and Mr. Howard. The latter was honoured 
 with an interview in one of the Pontifical palaces, 
 when the usual ceremonies were dispensed with, and, 
 after conversation with the English visitor, his Holi- 
 ness, taking him by the hand, said, " I know you 
 Englishmen do not value these things ; but the bless- 
 ing of an old man can do you no harm." 1 
 
 A parallel instance of Papal courtesy occurred 
 many years afterwards, when Stephen Grellet, a well- 
 known member of the Society of Friends, and in 
 some respects resembling John Howard, visited the 
 palace of the Quirinal. It is interesting to place the 
 incidents side by side. "We went upstairs," Mr. 
 Grellet says in his diary, "through several apart- 
 ments in which were the military body-guard." " In 
 a large parlour were several priests ; one dressed like 
 a Cardinal, but who is the Pope's valet de chambre, 
 opened the door of his cabinet and said in Italian, 
 ' The Quaker has come/ when the Pope said, 'Let him 
 come in.' He was sitting before a table ; his dress was 
 a long robe of fine white worsted, and a small cap of 
 the same. He had read my reports to the Cardinal 
 respecting many of the visits I had made to Rome, 
 to prisons, etc. He entered feelingly on some of these 
 subjects, and .intends to see that the treatment of 
 prisoners and of the poor boys in the House of Cor- 
 
 1 I do not feel sure whether this occurred in the first or second 
 visit.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 187 
 
 rection, and various other subjects that I have men- 
 tioned, should be attended to, so that Christian tender- 
 ness and care be exercised. On the subject of the 
 Inquisition, he said he was pleased I had seen for 
 myself what great changes had been brought about 
 in Rome in this respect ; that it was a long time 
 before he could have it effected ; that he has made 
 many efforts to have similar alterations introduced 
 into Spain and Portugal, had succeeded in part to 
 have the Inquisition in those nations conducted with 
 less rigour, but was far from having yet obtained 
 his wishes. 'Men,' he said, 'think that a Pope has 
 plenitude of power in his hands, but they are much 
 mistaken ; my hands are greatly tied in many things.' 
 He, however, expressed his hope that the time was 
 not far distant when Inquisitions everywhere will be 
 totally done away." Friend Grellet addressed him 
 with great solemnity, and adds, " The Pope, while I 
 thus addressed him, kept his head inclined and 
 appeared tender; then, rising from his seat in a 
 kind and respectful manner, he expressed a desire 
 ' that the Lord would bless and protect me wherever 
 I go,' on which I left him." l 
 
 Of the Inquisition Howard laments, the chambers 
 were silent, melancholy, and inaccessible. " In this 
 city," he remarks, " and in many others in Italy, is a 
 confraternita delta misericordia, called 6". Giovanni di 
 Fiorentini" Members of such a fraternity are still 
 to be seen; and their strange costume, enveloping the 
 whole person from top to toe, leaving only two open- 
 ings for the eyes, makes a ludicrous impression; 
 
 1 Abridged from Memoirs of Stephen Grellet, vol. ii., p. 69.
 
 1 88 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 I shall never forget witnessing it for the first time. 
 The Society consists of about seventy, chiefly nobles 
 of the best families. After a prisoner is condemned, 
 one or two of them come the midnight before his 
 execution, to inform him "of his sentence, and con- 
 tinue with him till his death. They, with the con- 
 fessor, exhort and administer comfort, and give him 
 the choice of most delicate food. " All the fraternity 
 attend the execution, dressed in white. When the 
 prisoner is dead, they leave him hanging till the even- 
 ing ; then one of the fraternity, generally a noble, 
 cuts him down and orders him to be conveyed to the 
 burial-place which they have appropriated to male- 
 factors." The men " are interred in the same dress in 
 which they were hanged, for in Italy coffins are not 
 in general use." 1 
 
 The hospital of St. Michele, with its manufactories 
 and shops, met with his warm approval so far as its 
 industrial arrangements were concerned. "The hos- 
 pital of St. Michele," he says, " 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 and 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 refectory. They appeared happy and thankful. 
 
 1 Appendix, p. 75.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 189 
 
 Another part is a prison for boys or young men. 
 Over the door is this inscription : ' Clemens XL, 
 Pont. Max. Perditis Adolescentibus corrigendis insti- 
 tuendisque ut qui inertes oberant instruct! reipub- 
 licae serviant, MDCCIV.' In the room is inscribed 
 the following admirable sentence, in which the grand 
 purpose of all civil policy relative to criminals is ex- 
 pressed : Parum est coercere improbos pcend, nisi probos 
 efficias disciplina. l The regulations of this prison, and 
 the Latin maxim just quoted, delighted the visitor 
 amazingly ; and Dr. Aiken remarks, " He would, I 
 believe, almost have thought it worth while to have 
 travelled to Rome for that alone." 2 
 
 Travelling to Naples a second time, he visited 
 prisons and galleys ; also certain hospitals for the 
 cure of wounds inflicted by stilettos a mode of 
 violence, as he reckoned, causing more deaths in a 
 year than all the murders in our three kingdoms put 
 together. 
 
 At Civita Vecchia he noticed, in a spacious hospital 
 for galley-slaves, a particular room for such as had 
 cutaneous disorders, and another for consumptive 
 patients ; for in that country " physicians are per- 
 suaded that consumption is a contagious disorder." 3 
 From Civita Vecchia he went on board a vessel bound 
 for Leghorn. The captain landed the second night 
 and pitched a tent, when the sky and shore were full 
 of Italian beauty, to find in the morning all changed. 
 For there arose a fearful tempest of thunder and light- 
 ning, and the bark was driven on an island, where the 
 
 1 " It is of little advantage to restrain the bad by punish- 
 ment, unless you render them good by discipline." 
 2 Aiken, p. 97. 3 Appendix, p. 78.
 
 190 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 people would not permit them to land, because they 
 were supposed to come from a plague-stricken port. 
 Next day they were swept as far as the African coast, 
 where they could not step on shore without submit- 
 ting to quarantine. As they declined this detention, 
 they had to put out to sea again ; and at last, after 
 another rough night, they reached the island of Gor- 
 gona, where the Governor courteously welcomed the 
 philanthropist, and entertained him for five or six 
 days. On his travels again, he may be traced from 
 Leghorn to Lucca, and from Lucca to Lerici, along 
 shores adorned by charming scenery and ennobled by 
 allusions in Virgil and Homer. But prisons, prisons, 
 were all this benevolent man seemed to think of 
 strong, invincible, victorious everywhere, was his one 
 fixed idea. As at home he would deny himself the 
 pleasure of accepting hospitable invitations, and 
 sometimes even decline to look at a newspaper, lest 
 his attention should be diverted from the great 
 business of his life, so abroad scenery and recreation 
 were often avoided. Once he was persuaded in Italy 
 to attend a concert, " but finding his thoughts too 
 much occupied by the melody, he could never be 
 persuaded to repeat the indulgence." " No other 
 man," says John Foster, "will ever visit Rome under 
 such a despotic consciousness of duty as to refuse 
 himself time for surveying the magnificence of its 
 ruins. Such a sin against taste is far beyond the 
 reach of common saintship to commit." 
 
 " 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
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 191 
 
 nigh, and beguiled the toilsome length of labour and 
 enterprise by which he was to reach it. So con- 
 spicuous was it before him, that not a step deviated 
 from the direction, and every movement and every 
 day was an approximation. As his method referred 
 everything 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 ac- 
 complish, he might conclude to be placed beyond the 
 sphere of mortal activity, and calmly leave to the 
 immediate disposal of Providence." l 
 
 From the unity of his purpose there arises a great 
 deal of sameness in the record of his journeys ; but 
 now and then some striking incident is brought to 
 light, tinged, however, with the character and spirit 
 of the traveller. For example, on reaching Milan, he 
 met with a young man imprisoned for bigamy. He 
 worked in the manufacture of fine gold brocade ; 
 and on conversation with him Howard discovered 
 he could converse in four or five languages. His im- 
 prisonment had produced a good effect ; and the 
 visitor, finding his liberation could be accomplished 
 by the payment of a fine, not only advanced the 
 money, but made a present to pay his expenses 
 to another country. The rescued youth manifested 
 his gratitude by respectful attention to his benefactor 
 during his stay in the Lombardic capital. 
 
 Leaving Milan for Turin, Howard crossed Mont 
 Cenis, and overtook a lady on horseback, to whom 
 
 1 Essay on Decision of Character, Letter iii.
 
 192 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 he gallantly offered a seat in his carriage, which she 
 politely declined. At Chambery, he renewed his 
 prison inspections, and then, on the same errand 
 employed himself at Geneva. Winding his way up 
 to Berne, he heard of an odd occurrence in prison life. 
 Twelve convicts managed to escape; five were re- 
 taken, and, strange to say, " the magistrates ordered 
 they should not be punished, as every one must be 
 desirous of gaining his liberty, and they had not been 
 guilty of any violence in obtaining theirs." "The 
 punishment, therefore, fell where it ought to fall 
 upon the keeper " l ; that was Howard's judgment. 
 
 On his way home he found instruments of torture 
 in the old city of Augsburg, and dungeons for people 
 convicted of witchcraft so long did that superstitious 
 idea linger in Europe. At old Munich (the new part 
 of the city was not then erected) was a room contain- 
 ing a table and six chairs for the magistrates and 
 their secretaries, all covered with black cloth and 
 fringe, and elevated above the floor by two steps of 
 the same sable hue. Various engines of torture, some 
 stained with blood, hung on the walls. When these 
 were applied, candles were lighted, as the windows 
 were closed to prevent the sufferers' cries from being 
 heard abroad. At the venerable Ratisbon and the 
 picturesque Nuremberg torture chambers still re- 
 maining though happily not used were visited by 
 the explorer : at one place he saw prisoners grinding 
 glasses and polishing steel buttons, and at another, 
 male convicts working up the marble of the neigh- 
 bouring mountains. Passing through Wurtzburg, 
 
 1 Brown, p. 267.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 193 
 
 Frankfort, and Cologne, he noticed prisoners em- 
 ployed in useful ways ; and at Aix-la-Chapelle on 
 Sunday evening, November 8th, 1778, he writes, 
 " Hallelujah, blessing, honour, glory, and power be 
 unto the Lamb for ever." Refreshed with spiritual 
 joy, he wended his way homewards through Lie"ge, 
 where he had prison sights that filled him with hor- 
 ror, though the city was under episcopal dominion. 
 But he could not resist the temptation to cross into 
 Holland, where he made copious notes of all his 
 observations, and then, after his characteristic zig-zag 
 fashion, he darted southward, and having stopped at 
 Lille, prolonged his pilgrimage as far as Paris. Two 
 mornings were spent at the Bicetre; and the hospitals 
 of St. Louis and I'Hotel Dieu were examined. On 
 reaching Calais, he paid attention to the prisoners 
 of war, and relieved the crews of English vessels 
 wrecked on the coasts. There he ended a journey of 
 4,636 miles. After his return he reflected on what he 
 had seen, and compared the whole with the state of 
 prison life in England. The balance was much in 
 favour of what he had seen in the Netherlands. 
 
 "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 respected their situation, religion, man- 
 ners, 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 narrative, the same emotions of shame and 
 regret as the comparisons excited in me on behold- 
 ing the difference with my own eyes ; but from the 
 account I have given him of foreign prisons he may 
 
 O
 
 194 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 judge whether a desire of reforming our own be 
 visionary ; whether idleness, debauchery, disease, and 
 famine be the necessary, unavoidable attendants of 
 a prison, or only connected 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 censuring everything 
 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 manage- 
 ment 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 pris- 
 oners 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 execu- 
 tioner or by diseases which are almost inevitably the 
 result of long confinement in our close and damp 
 prisons, 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 constant attention to the one 
 object of my pursuit alone, during the whole of my 
 two last journeys abroad." l 
 
 1 State of Prisons, last edition, p. 45.
 
 PRISON RESEARCHES ABROAD. 195 
 
 He compared modes of execution at home and 
 abroad, and he remarks, " 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." This conclusion, of late, I am 
 thankful to remember, has been adopted by our legis- 
 lators, and the horrid scenes witnessed once in front 
 of Newgate executions are abolished. Howard seems 
 to have preferred a private mode of putting criminals 
 to death, and notices that at Aix-la-Chapelle decol- 
 lation is concealed from the view of the public by 
 a scaffolding round the spot where it is performed. 1 
 Mr. Field, after quoting the sentence, adds this para- 
 graph of his own : 
 
 "The writer," who, as a gaol chaplain, may be 
 cited as an authority on the subject, "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." 2 This sentence 
 was written in 1850. It has carried with it public 
 opinion ; and now the chaplain's hope is fulfilled. 
 
 1 Life of Howard, p. 173. 2 Ibid., p. 174.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 LATER RESEARCHES. 
 I78I-I783. 
 
 HOWARD was exceedingly careful in the record 
 of facts, but he seems to have had little power 
 of generalization ; hence, in reading his voluminous 
 reports, it is difficult to summarize the result of his 
 inquiries. Here and there he makes a comprehen- 
 sive remark, but, in most cases, he is content to note 
 down measurements, rules, occupations, the state of 
 health, and a number of sanitary facts. Therefore it 
 is no easy task to give a compact yet complete view 
 of his journeys ; and now that I take up later ex- 
 peditions, I am under the necessity of making a 
 selection from a large mass of material. 
 
 The tour which began in May, 1781, and ended in 
 December of the same year, was to the countries 
 of Denmark, Sweden, and Russia, which he had not 
 visited before. Passing through Holland and a part 
 of Germany, he reached the city of Rendsburg, in the 
 Duchy of Holstein, on the bank of the Eider. There 
 he found seventy-seven slaves receiving their daily 
 dole of bread whilst employed on fortifications that 
 had stood many a siege. He calls attention to a 
 196
 
 LATER RESEARCHES. 197 
 
 post at the entrance of the town, exhibiting the figure 
 of a man with a sword by his side and a whip in 
 his hand, premonitory of consequences attendant on 
 crime ; and to the strange sight of people, under the 
 charge of an officer, walking through the streets 
 encased in tubs, which covered their bodies, their 
 heads projecting through a hole on the top, their 
 legs moving through the open bottom ; the con- 
 trivance being termed " a Spanish mantle." Gibbets 
 and wheels used for executions were placed on 
 eminences ; but the common mode of putting crimi- 
 nals to death was beheading. Capital punishment, 
 however, was rare in Denmark. Condemnation to 
 the spinning houses seems to have been regarded as 
 worse than death. Rooms in the citadel of Copen- 
 hagen were clean and whitewashed, and had chains 
 fixed to the walls ; but in the Blue Tower, set apart 
 for State prisoners, the dirtiness of the male wards 
 contrasted with the cleanliness of the female ones. 
 There were dungeons, however, which drew forth the 
 exclamation, "The distress and despair in the pale 
 and sickly countenances of these slaves were shock- 
 ing to humanity." In walking to their work, prisoners, 
 branded for their crimes, were chained hand to hand. 
 Crossing the Sound at Elsinore, which reminds one 
 of Shakespere and Hamlet, Howard entered Sweden, 
 and made some stay in Stockholm, with its picturesque 
 streets alive with people, its waters alive with boats, 
 and its bridges alive with traffic. Executions there 
 were performed with an axe by a headsman ; and 
 women,' after being beheaded, were burnt together 
 with the scaffold, which was set on fire at the four 
 corners. Torture had been abolished, but prisons
 
 *98 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 were dirty and offensive. Our philanthropist, with 
 his own hand, distributed bread among starving 
 prisoners, remarking that their punishment seemed 
 severe, to which the gaoler replied, " It was good 
 for their health." Coffins were kept ready for those 
 who died ; but the place of confinement reserved for 
 the condemned seems to have been comparatively 
 comfortable. 
 
 Howard found the Swedish houses generally neater 
 than Danish ones ; whence he inferred that he should 
 find Swedish prisons also in better condition. This 
 was not the case ; and altogether Swedish travels 
 gave him no satisfaction, personal inconvenience 
 being added to his disappointments. He therefore 
 gladly proceeded to Russia. 
 
 Russia was then the talk of Europe. It had not 
 long emerged from barbarism, under the discipline of 
 Peter the Great, yet it aspired to artistic refinement, 
 under the profligate Empress Catherine, who had 
 just purchased the Walpole collection of pictures to 
 adorn her palace walls. Howard naturally felt some 
 curiosity about an empire which made such a start in 
 civilization ; but especially, he wished to see what was 
 the operation of its criminal laws, and the state of its 
 criminal population. To escape observation for he 
 was now a famous man all over Europe as he ap- 
 proached St. Petersburg, he stepped from his carriage, 
 and walked into the city alone, wishing to remain 
 unrecognised, and to examine prisons in their usual 
 state, not as they might be specially prepared for 
 inspection. The Empress heard of his arrival, and, 
 whatever might be her motive, immediately invited 
 him to Court. He replied that he had come to
 
 LATER RESEARCHES. 199 
 
 visit prisons, not palaces. The Empress's character 
 might have something to do with this curt reply ; but 
 probably, had she been as virtuous as she was base, 
 he might have shrunk from a visit. 
 
 In his notes on Russia he is more concise and 
 comprehensive than usual ; therefore I cannot do 
 better than use his own words. 
 
 " In Russia the peasants and servants are bonds- 
 men or slaves, and their lords or masters may inflict 
 on them any corporal punishment, or banish them 
 to Siberia, on giving notice of their offences to the 
 police. But they are not permitted to put them to 
 death. Should they however die by the severity of 
 their punishment, the penalty of the law is easily 
 evaded. 
 
 " Debtors in this country are often employed as 
 slaves by Government, and allowed twelve roubles 
 yearly wages, which goes towards discharging the 
 debt. In some cases of private debts, if any person 
 will give sufficient security to pay twelve roubles a 
 year as long as the slave lives, or till the debt is paid 
 off as also to produce the slave when he is de- 
 manded such person may take him out of confine- 
 ment ; but if he fails to produce him when demanded, 
 he is liable to pay the whole debt immediately. 
 
 " There are no regular gaolers appointed in Russia, 
 but all the prisons are guarded by the military. 
 Little or no attention is paid to the reformation of 
 prisoners. There is no capital punishment for any. 
 crime but treason ; but the common punishment of 
 the knout is often dreaded more than death, and 
 sometimes a criminal has endeavoured to bribe the 
 executioner to kill him. This punishment seldom
 
 200 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 causes immediate death ; but death is often the con- 
 sequence of it." 1 
 
 Howard saw the different instruments of death and 
 torture the axe and block,, a machine for breaking 
 arms and legs, a knife for slitting noses, a contrivance 
 for branding by puncture and black powder, and the 
 cat a whip of from two to ten strings. 
 
 The knout, a whip with a wooden handle, con- 
 sisted of thongs two feet in length, twisted together 
 and ending in a thick one, measuring a foot and a 
 half. Howard, wishing to know all about this in- 
 strument, took a coach and drove to the house of 
 the executioner. The man was astonished at such a 
 visitor. But his manner overawed the official, who, 
 very unwillingly, made his confessions. Can you in- 
 flict the knout in such a manner as to occasion death 
 in a short time ? " " Yes, I can." " In how short a 
 time ? " " In a day or two." " Have you ever so in- 
 flicted it ? " "I have." " Have you lately ? " " Yes, 
 the last man died of the punishment." " How do you 
 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." 
 
 He afterwards witnessed what he thus describes. 
 
 "August 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 
 huzzars and ten soldiers. When they arrived at the 
 place of punishment, the huzzars formed themselves 
 into a ring round the whipping post, the drum beat 
 
 1 Appendix to the State of Prisons, ed. 1784, p. 40.
 
 LATER RESEARCHES. 
 
 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 her 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 huzzars and counted the number 
 as they were chalked on a board ; and 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 condition some days after, but could not 
 find the man any more." l 
 
 In the fortress were vaulted rooms, insufferably 
 hot, where deserters lodged, and whose doom was to 
 work on the fortifications and to drag wood out of 
 the river Neva. Slaves were seen with logs fastened 
 to both legs. He found debtors, as well as criminals, 
 in close confinement, the former subsisting upon alms 
 collected in boxes hung out of the window. Yet 
 there were lights amidst the shadows. New and bet- 
 ter prisons were being erected, the hospitals of St. 
 
 1 Appendix, p. 41.
 
 202 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Petersburg were well managed. The Empress had 
 established a school for the education of the nobility, 
 and a limited number of common people; on Howard's 
 visiting this institution, the pupils made him a pre- 
 sent of some ivory work, which he took home and 
 placed in the root house at Cardington. 
 
 From St. Petersburg he passed on to Cronstadt, 
 where he found culprits and debtors taking ballast 
 out of ships ; the men had healthy faces and were 
 robust, and though scantily fed were warmly clothed. 
 He paid repeated visits to prisons and hospitals, and 
 then started for Moscow, by which means, to use his 
 own words, he travelled his ague off. He declined a 
 military escort, and proceeded in his simple fashion, 
 accomplishing five hundred miles in less than five 
 days, without ever taking off his clothes. He astonished 
 the drivers by his liberality ; and on offering each 
 about the value of half a crown, instead of the accus- 
 tomed fee of twopence or threepence, they were afraid 
 to accept so large a gratuity till he told them, as he 
 had committed his life to their charge, he must insist 
 upon paying them for their care. 
 
 He tells some frightful stories of what he saw in 
 different Russian prisons. But he also says, " I 
 found no traces of any such prisons or dungeons as 
 were common formerly in the castles of England, 1 
 and in several foreign countries. That cruel mode of 
 confinement in many of our prisons has been a prin- 
 cipal cause of the gaol fever. I saw no symptoms of 
 the gaol fever in Moscow or in any part of Russia." 2 
 
 1 See Burns' Justice, edit. 1780, vol. ii., p. 345. 
 3 Appendix, p. 51.
 
 LATER RESEARCHES. 203 
 
 On his reaching Moscow, he sat down to write the 
 following letter to Mr. Smith at Bedford, dated Sep- 
 tember /th, 1781 : 
 
 " I am persuaded a line will not be unacceptable 
 even from such a vagrant. I have unremittedly pur- 
 sued the object of my journey, and have looked into 
 no palaces, or seen any curiosities, so my letters can 
 afford little entertainment to my friends. I stayed 
 about three weeks at Petersburg. I declined every 
 honour that was offered me, and when pressed to 
 have a soldier to accompany me, I declined that also. 
 Yet I fought my way pretty well, five hundred miles, 
 and bad roads, in less than five days. I have a 
 strong yet light and easy carriage, which I happily 
 bought for fifty roubles (about ten guineas). This 
 city is situated in a fine plain, totally different from 
 all others, as each house has a garden, which extends 
 the city eight or ten miles, so that four and six horses 
 are common in the streets. I content myself with a 
 pair, though I think I have drove to-day near twenty 
 miles to see one prison and one hospital. I am told 
 sad stories of what I am to suffer by the cold ; yet I 
 will not leave this city till I have made repeated visits 
 to the prisons and hospitals, as the first man in the 
 kingdom assured me my publication would be trans- 
 lated into Russian. My next step is for Warsaw, 
 about seven or eight hundred miles. Every step 
 being homeward, I have spirit to encounter it, though 
 through the worst country in Europe. I bless God I 
 am well, with calm easy spirits. I had a fit of the 
 ague a day or two before I set out for Petersburg, but 
 / travelled it off, the nights last week being warm. I 
 thought I could live where any men did live ; but this
 
 204 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 northern journey, especially in Sweden, I have been 
 pinched ; no fruit, no garden-stuff, sour bread, sour 
 milk ; but in this city every luxury, even pineapples 
 and potatoes." l 
 
 Howard's medical knowledge was turned to good 
 account wherever he went, and an instance of its 
 successful application occurred during his Russian 
 travels. An English lady was seized with typhoid 
 fever during the absence of her husband, and was 
 supposed to have expired, the usual signs of life hav- 
 ing disappeared. The servants were laying her out 
 as a corpse when Howard, who happened to be in 
 the neighbourhood, was informed of the circumstance. 
 On examining the body he saw that animation was 
 not extinct, and by the employment of restoratives 
 saved the patient from a premature grave. Some 
 time afterwards she brought a daughter to England ; 
 and one of the first objects of interest in London to 
 which her mother conducted the young lady, was the 
 statue of her deliverer in St. Paul's Cathedral. 
 
 Leaving Russia, he passed through Poland, and had 
 sights of misery at Warsaw ; but on entering Silesia 
 thankfully discovered humane methods of treating 
 criminals. 
 
 He returned to Germany, and in the Prussian 
 dominions had an adventure which brought out one of 
 his peculiarities. His firmness offered resistance like 
 granite rock, when any one, no matter who, strove to 
 crush it. On this occasion he met a royal courier, 
 who had neglected the prescribed precaution of blow- 
 ing a horn as he came to a narrow piece of road 
 
 1 Brown, p. 331.
 
 LATER RESEARCHES. 205 
 
 which admitted of only one carriage at a time. The 
 messenger insisted upon proceeding, asserted the 
 authority of his master, Frederick the Great, and told 
 the Englishman to turn back. The Englishman re- 
 fused, on the ground that he had observed the law, 
 but the courier had broken it. 1 There they sat, look- 
 ing each other in the face, till the officer had to give 
 way to an opponent whose strength consisted in a 
 sense of right. 
 
 After stopping at Brunswick he repaired to Holland. 
 Whether it was on his way thither I do not know, 
 but he certainly stopped at Osnaburg during this 
 journey, and whilst there had an interview with the 
 Duke of York, Prince-Bishop of that small dominion. 
 He informed him of the continued infliction of torture 
 in the Principality. The young prince desired to 
 learn the particulars. Howard declined to enter into 
 the subject, thinking the recital would be too much 
 for his Highness ; but he begged him to institute an 
 official inquiry. After this interview he forwarded a 
 copy of the new edition of " The State of Prisons," 
 with a ribbon fixed at the page which described the 
 visit of 1778, where he had expressed a hope, "that 
 it might engage the notice of an amiable Prince who 
 is the present Bishop, and so be the means of allevi- 
 ating the sufferings of the miserable prisoners." 
 
 One more visit to Antwerp, one more inspection 
 of Vilvorde, Ghent, and Bruges, and the traveller 
 reached his native shores. At the last of these towns 
 a Sister of Charity asked him, "Are you a Catholic ?" 
 " I love people of all religions," was his catholic 
 
 1 Aiken, p. 219.
 
 206 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 reply. " Then," said the lady, " we hope you will die 
 a Catholic." l 
 
 It was in the year 1781, when the fourth prison 
 journey was performed, that Burke pronounced his 
 memorable eulogium. " I cannot name this gentleman 
 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 sump- 
 tuousness 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 curiosity 
 of modern art ; nor to collect medals, or collect 
 manuscripts but to dive into the depths of dun- 
 geons, to plunge into the infection of hospitals, 
 to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain, to take 
 the gage and dimensions of misery, depression, 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 ; it is as full of genius as it is of 
 humanity. It was a voyage of discovery, a circum- 
 navigation 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 
 efforts fully realised in his own." 3 
 
 Howard's next tour abroad was to the South, and 
 for this he left Falmouth in January, 1783, bent on 
 visiting Portugal and Spain, which he had not seen 
 before. 
 
 In the month of November, 1755, as noticed al- 
 
 1 Appendix to State of Prisons, p. 104. 
 2 Speech delivered at Bristol.
 
 LATER RESEARCHES. 207 
 
 ready, Lisbon had been shattered by an earthquake, 
 and soon afterwards Howard made an attempt to 
 reach the spot, not that he might behold a sensational 
 spectacle in the ruins, but that he might administer 
 relief to suffering citizens. The attempt, as we have 
 seen, was frustrated. Many years had elapsed and 
 the city was now restored, including one building 
 in particular, towards which the traveller was drawn 
 by a fascination which influenced him as a Protestant 
 and a philanthropist. He would fain see one of those 
 famous establishments which the Romish Church had 
 employed for crushing the Reformation ; and would 
 also fain endeavour to mitigate the sufferings of those 
 immured within its mysterious walls. A Portuguese 
 gentleman, the Chevalier de Oliocyra, had in vain 
 sought the abolition of this institution ; it still re- 
 mained, doing its accustomed work. It is curious to 
 notice that the Jesuits, who are credited with the in- 
 troduction of the tribunal into the country, were, 
 three years after the earthquake, expelled from Portu- 
 gal ; the engine, however, which they are said to have 
 raised, went on with its machinery down to Howard's 
 visit, and long afterwards. He would be sure to hear 
 of the autos da //, which had been recently held, with 
 all the ceremonies attending the occasion, and of the 
 quemadero, where victims of all sorts had been burnt 
 to ashes. He tried to get into the prisons of the 
 Holy Office on the banks of the Tagus, but in vain ; he 
 heard, however, of its nineteen vaulted rooms, some 
 of them called secret, totally dark, and separated from 
 each other by walls sixteen feet thick. 
 
 From Lisbon he entered Spain, and visited Badajoz, 
 which had existed in Roman times, and passed
 
 208 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 through varied fortunes under the Moors, till Alonso 
 IX. recovered it for the Christians. There our 
 traveller found things in a better state than in 
 Portugal. The prisons were clean and had fountains 
 in the courtyard, which gratified him much ; but he 
 mourned to find that torture was still used to obtain 
 confession. He entered Toledo with its Alcazar 
 crowning the height, reminding most Englishmen 
 who see it, of Durham and its grand Norman cathe- 
 dral ; but he was chiefly interested in the prison 
 where people were loaded with irons. A short jour- 
 ney brought him to Madrid, when Fernando VI. was 
 on the throne, just at the end of a war for the recovery 
 of Spanish dominions which at different times Eng- 
 land had conquered and annexed. Peace was agreed 
 by treaty in September, 1783. 
 
 There is much in the metropolis of Spain to interest 
 a traveller, in spite of the cutting winds which come 
 from the Sierra and sweep through the Puerto, del 
 Sol in early spring the season when Howard entered 
 it. But there, as everywhere, prisons and hospitals 
 were his chosen haunts. The largest of the former, 
 the Carcel de Corte, he describes as having stone beds 
 with hooks to which the prisoners were chained ; but 
 there happened at the time to be a gaoler who, exer- 
 cising a discretionary power, treated people under 
 his charge with compassion and forbearance. In the 
 prison intended for the city it was otherwise ; dun- 
 geons were filthy, and walls of the torture chamber 
 showed bloody stains. In another place where con- 
 victed criminals were confined, a mischievous practice 
 obtained of revising sentences already passed ; but in 
 a building provided for petty offences judicious regu-
 
 LATER RESEARCHES. 209 
 
 lations existed adults were employed, and young 
 criminals were under instruction. 
 
 The Inquisition is a characteristic Spanish insti- 
 tute, and in Madrid it exercised a terrible sway. The 
 memory of old horrors is perpetuated in works of 
 art, as if they were objects for admiration ; and to this 
 day may be seen in one of the smaller rooms of the 
 immense Museum an enormous picture, displaying 
 with minute accuracy all the details of an auto da fe, 
 happily now amongst things of the past. Such 
 scenes secured sympathy a hundred years ago ; and 
 though the Inquisition then was beginning to totter 
 before its final fall, Spaniards whom Howard saw 
 tolerated the tyranny of the Holy Office. When I was 
 in Madrid, last spring, I had the pleasure of meeting 
 with the British Episcopalian chaplain and the Scotch 
 Presbyterian missionary, who hold Protestant wor- 
 ship respectively in two large apartments of an ex- 
 tensive building known as No. I in the Leganitos, a 
 much-frequented street in Madrid. I was informed, 
 by those acquainted with the facts, that this edifice 
 was formerly devoted to Inquisitionary business, and 
 I was shown over it from top to bottom. Under- 
 ground there are long passages with openings here 
 and there, now bricked up, which led, I was informed, 
 into dungeons, where victims were shut up in dark- 
 ness and misery. Howard in vain sought to pene- 
 trate into these recesses ; but he managed to secure 
 an interview with the Grand Inquisitor, who received 
 him at seven o'clock one morning and led him into 
 the room where the accused were examined. The 
 judge's seat was hung with scarlet, and over it rose 
 a crucifix. A table stood in the middle, with two 
 
 P
 
 210 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 chairs for secretaries ; and at the further end a stool 
 supported the miserable being brought before the 
 tribunal. What Howard saw and described is repre- 
 sented in old engravings. 
 
 The hospitals at Madrid were magnificent, the 
 Royal Hospital in particular. There nine hundred 
 patients were accommodated ; but the critical eye of 
 the uncommon visitor detected things he disapproved : 
 numerous people allowed to come in, disturbed the 
 sufferers, and rooms for convalescents were so close 
 as to retard recovery. 
 
 He mentions particularly the Hospital of San 
 Antonio, and informs us that "in a room in this 
 hospital, a charitable society, called the Hermandad 
 del Refugio, met every evening, and then went about 
 the streets, giving notice of their presence by striking 
 the pavement with sticks shod with iron. Whatever 
 poor and distressed people they met with in their 
 perambulations, they conducted to this hospital, and 
 supplied them with a supper of bread' and eggs, one 
 night's lodging, and a breakfast of bread and raisins. 
 The sick they sent to the general hospital, where one 
 of eighteen physicians always attended to examine 
 and admit patients. In that part of the hospital 
 next the street, was a place into which the sick put 
 notices of distress, in consequence of which they were 
 immediately visited and relieved. 1 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that, in this and other 
 journeys, Howard's attention was confined to prisons. 
 He took cognisance of hospitals, schools, and every 
 kind of benevolent institution existing in the cities 
 and towns he visited. 
 
 1 Appendix, p. 117.
 
 LATER RESEARCHES. 
 
 He proceeded to Valladolid, the main centre, after 
 Seville, of Protestant excitement in Spain at the 
 period of the Reformation. There, in the Plaza 
 Mayor, Philip II. had looked on ladies and gentle- 
 men of high rank condemned to the flames for read- 
 ing the Bible and holding religious meetings. Out- 
 side the city lay the Quemadero, where executions 
 took place after the ceremony of the Auto da Fe. 
 Something of that wonderful history of Protestant 
 faith and fortitude Howard would remember ; and, as 
 in Madrid, so here he sought access to the Inquisition, 
 and with more success than he did in Lisbon. 
 
 In one room he saw a picture of the Auto da Fe 
 of 1667, when ninety-seven people were burnt. The 
 room of the tribunal resembled that at Madrid ; but 
 he further mentions an altar, and a door into the 
 Secretary's cabinet, surmounted by an inscription 
 denouncing the greater excommunication against 
 any one who should dare to enter within it. Pro- 
 hibited books, some in English, multitudes of crosses, 
 beads, and small pictures, together with a painted 
 cap and a sanbenito for condemned heretics, were 
 freely shown. Then he approached a passage with 
 several doors, when his guide told him "none but 
 prisoners could be admitted." Our eager and inquisi- 
 tive friend actually said, " I would be confined for a 
 month, to satisfy my curiosity." "None come out 
 under three years," rejoined the attendant. Howard 
 learned that the cells had double doors and were 
 separated by double walls, and that over the inter- 
 vening space rose a chimney, or funnel, with perfora- 
 tions to let in gleams of light. At the back of the 
 prison sat a great mastiff.
 
 212 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 On his way towards France, Howard stopped at 
 the romantic city of Burgos, with its picturesque 
 bridge and gateway, and its glorious cathedral. In 
 the prison he witnessed more humane treatment than 
 in some other places a circumstance which gave him 
 greater pleasure than any architecture, however won- 
 derful. Pausing again when he reached Pamplona, 
 he discovered an odd abuse of power. The governor 
 twice a year released as many prisoners as he pleased, 
 without assigning any reason for it. 
 
 From Pamplona he wrote to his friend, Mr. 
 Smith : 
 
 " I am still in Spain. The manner of travelling by 
 mules is very slow. I was fourteen days 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 ; l 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 and lie on the floor, he 
 may pass tolerably well through this country. I 
 have come into many an inn and paid only fivepence 
 for the noise (as I may term it) I made in the house. 
 No bread, eggs, milk, or wine do they sell. Peace 
 has not been declared ; many will hardly believe it. 
 The Spaniards speak of General Elliott with a spirit 
 
 1 My experience in the north-east of Spain last spring 
 resembled Howard's.
 
 LATER RESEARCHES. 213 
 
 of enthusiasm. Never were two nations so often at 
 war who had such esteem and complacency one 
 towards another. I travelled 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 Bor- 
 deaux, where I shall find many horrid dungeons. 
 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." 
 
 From Bordeaux, where Howard found what he 
 expected deep dungeons and plenty of irons, he 
 travelled to Paris, where matters had somewhat im- 
 proved ; the worst dungeons were unused, air and 
 light were admitted into cells, and some sort of classi- 
 fication was adopted. A newly-erected prison pre- 
 sented a gratifying contrast to the old ones. In Lille, 
 things were as bad as ever ; but the General Hospital 
 and the workhouse received commendation. At the 
 Tour de St. Pierre he caught a fever, to the cure 
 of which he thus alludes : " I have abundant reason 
 for thankfulness to Divine Providence 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
 
 .214 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 in the Great Redeemer, whom having not seen, yet 
 I hope I love, and desire to serve to the end of my 
 days." l 
 
 Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Ghent again saw the 
 philanthropist within prison walls. Applying for 
 permission to enter the Maison de Force, in the last 
 of these cities, he was told by the burgomaster, " The 
 Emperor has prohibited access to visitors ; but you, 
 sir, are an exception to all rules." There he found 
 the manufactory given up, because it was thought 
 injurious to the trade of the country. The building 
 was neglected for want of funds, and dirt accumu- 
 lated as a necessary consequence. 
 
 The traveller reached England in the summer of 
 the same year, 1783, having completed a distance 
 of three thousand three hundred and four miles. 
 
 1 Brown, p. 380.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 LAZARETTOS. 
 1785-1788. 
 
 TWO impulses moved Howard to undertake the 
 researches described in this chapter. The 
 primary one was a desire to diminish the sufferings 
 of mankind, and this motive shaped before him a 
 practical result which he contemplates in the follow- 
 ing passage from his work on Lazarettos : 
 
 " Although the subjects of the Turkish Empire be 
 little enlightened by the modern improvements in 
 arts and sciences, I conceived that from their inti- 
 mate acquaintance with the disease in question [the 
 plague], and from the great difference between their 
 customs and manners and ours, some practices might 
 be found among them, and some information gained, 
 not unworthy the notice of more polished nations. I 
 was also pleased with the idea, not only of learning, 
 but of being able to communicate somewhat to the 
 inhabitants of these distant regions, if they should 
 have curiosity enough to inquire, and liberality to 
 adopt the methods of treating, and of preventing con- 
 tagious diseases which had been found most successful 
 among ourselves." 
 
 With the motive here expressed, another blended 
 itself. In early years he had shown a taste for
 
 216 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 studying medicine. Without attaining to any large 
 acquaintance with healing science, he acquired some 
 skill in the healing art. He prescribed remedies, 
 he administered drugs ; and the means by which in- 
 fection spread and the methods by which it might be 
 stamped out excited in him a beneficent curiosity, 
 like that which induces our physicians to study the 
 secrets of Asiatic cholera. 
 
 He had heard of plague-stricken cities ; he had 
 seen the perils of contagion ; he had felt troubles 
 attendant on quarantine laws ; and he conceived the 
 purpose of a new tour in order to study the whole 
 of this perplexing subject. " I had been led," he re- 
 marks, " by the view of several lazarettos in my 
 travels, to consider how much all trading nations are 
 exposed 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 in 
 respect to this object. It likewise struck me that 
 establishments effectual 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." He was a man 
 devoid of fear, dauntless respecting danger ; therefore, 
 trusting himself to the Almighty's protection, once 
 more he took leave of his native shores. But he was 
 not rash. He took precautions. " I answer, once 
 for all," he said, " that next to the free goodness and 
 mercy of the Author of my being, temperance and 
 cleanliness are my preservatives. Trusting in Al- 
 mighty 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 an
 
 LAZARETTOS. 217 
 
 hospital or prison before breakfast ; and in an offen- 
 sive room I seldom draw my breath deeply." l 
 
 Lazarettos, it may be observed in passing, were 
 established to check the ravages of the plague, and 
 are said to have originated at Venice in the twelfth 
 century ; but Jewish laws respecting leprosy seem to 
 have been an anticipation of the quarantine which 
 obtained in the Middle Ages. In Mediterranean ports 
 quarantine is still enforced, and it usually lasts from 
 six to fifteen days, for which period travellers are 
 detained. Lepers were called Lazari ; and a leper 
 house, or church for them, outside the walls of Jeru- 
 salem, is mentioned in a monastic chronicle, as dedi- 
 cated to Saint Lazarus. Several such buildings are 
 noticed in Mediaeval literature. 2 The St. Lazarus of 
 " Legendary Art" is identified as " the brother of Mary 
 and Martha, and is often represented as a bishop ; 
 but the Lazarus, whose name is connected with the 
 buildings called Lazarettos, must have been him in 
 the parable who is mentioned as lying at the gate of 
 the rich man, 'full of sores.'" 3 I do not find the 
 name of Lazarus in Butler's " Lives of the Saints." 
 
 At the close of autumn in 1785, Howard set sail 
 once more for Holland. There he wished to prepare 
 for his business by collecting opinions respecting 
 the plague. Moreover, he desired to examine the 
 Lazaretto at Marseilles, and for this purpose had 
 requested the English Foreign Secretary of State, 
 Lord Carmarthen, to seek for him permission from 
 the French Government to visit that institution. He 
 
 1 Brown, p. 251. 2 See Du Cange's Glossary. 
 
 3 Mrs. Jameson's Legendary Art.
 
 218 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 waited at the Hague for the arrival of an answer ; 
 when it came, he learned that the application had 
 not been successful, and that if he showed himself in 
 France, he was likely to be thrown into the Bastille. 
 Determined to overcome resistance, he planned a 
 scheme which had in it a touch of romance. He 
 went to Brussels, took a place in the diligence to 
 Paris with another passenger, who wore a " black 
 wig," and reached the French capital at night, where, 
 as secrecy was essential, he sought an obscure hotel 
 near the office of the Lyons diligence by which he 
 meant to travel southwards. He went to bed about 
 ten o'clock, and at midnight was aroused by loud 
 knocking at his chamber door. Presently the femme 
 de chambre entered with a man behind her, dressed 
 in black, wearing a sword, and keeping his hands 
 warm in an enormous muff. "Is not your name 
 Howard ? " " Yes ; what of that ? " " Did you come 
 in the Brussels diligence in company with a man in 
 a black wig ? " Our irritated traveller answered, that 
 he had paid no attention to any such trifling circum- 
 stance, whereupon his interrogator vanished. This 
 strange interruption between twelve and one o'clock 
 in the morning excited suspicion ; and knowing 
 enough of France to be aware not only of the ex- 
 tensive practice of espionage, but of the facility with 
 which arrests were made, he thought it wise to leave 
 the place as soon as possible. So, having discharged 
 his bill the night before, he early shouldered his 
 small portmanteau, and marched away to the office, 
 whence he set off at the appointed hour for the city 
 of Lyons. In the course of this journey, a lady was 
 taken ill, for whom he was able to prescribe medi-
 
 LAZARETTOS. 219 
 
 cine which gave relief; acting the part of a physician 
 made a favourable impression upon his fellow tra- 
 vellers, and this enabled him to proceed on his cri- 
 tical journey with all the more confidence. Critical 
 indeed it was ; more so than at the moment he ima- 
 gined, even after the warning at the Parisian hostelry. 
 The fact was, that the French ambassador at the 
 Hague had been informed of the Englishman's 
 movements in consequence of his application to visit 
 Marseilles. The man in the black wig was a spy 
 employed to watch him ; but it so happened that an 
 official, who might otherwise have ordered his arrest, 
 had gone over to Versailles, and was absent from 
 the metropolis on the night of his arrival. Evidently 
 Howard had a narrow escape ; yet, though privacy 
 would have been the best policy and he did keep 
 himself out of public company he ventured to visit 
 the prisons and hospitals at Lyons before he started 
 for Avignon, where again he stopped to fulfil his chari- 
 table mission. At Lyons he found the Hotel Dieu 
 worse than it had been on his former visit. Rooms 
 were offensive, windows were unopened, two patients 
 were lying in one bed, and fringed furniture retained 
 infection. 1 At the pontifical Avignon he saw no 
 prisoners in irons, for the thick walls, the Argus eye 
 of the gaoler, and the presence of fierce watch-dogs, 
 made escape impossible ; but he heard that im- 
 plements of torture were employed, so that blood 
 issued from the pores of racked victims. Arrived at 
 Marseilles, he learned the true story of the black- 
 wigged man, and was informed how he himself had 
 escaped snares cunningly laid for him. 
 1 Lazarettos, p. 53.
 
 220 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Monsieur Durand, a Protestant pastor on whom 
 he called, addressed him in alarming terms. " Mr. 
 Howard," said he, " I have always been happy to see 
 you till now. Leave France as soon as you can ; I 
 know they are searching for you in all directions." 
 But Howard would not leave France without seeing 
 the Marseilles Lazaretto, the very thing he came for. 
 He did see it, in spite of spies and police. He tells us 
 that he visited Le Bureau de Santt at the end of the 
 port ; that there was an iron lattice with a door 
 opened only by servants of the directors, dressed in 
 a blue livery ; that letters from captains "performing 
 quarantine were received with a pair of tongs and 
 dipped in vinegar ; and that the Lazaretto stood on 
 an elevated rock commanding the entrance to the 
 harbour, where he found numerous rooms, guards, 
 passengers with wire contrivances to prevent contact 
 between them and other people. The building had a 
 governor's house, and a chapel where religious service 
 was daily performed. He does not omit to inform us 
 there was also a tavern. 1 
 
 He made further inquiries, through which he heard 
 a report that in the Toulon Arsenal a Protestant was 
 confined simply on account of his religion ; where- 
 upon he determined to proceed to that place, and 
 assuming the disguise of a fashionable Parisian, and 
 speaking French with facility, he succeeded in obtain- 
 ing access to the building. There he was assured the 
 report was false ; and that the last prisoner for not 
 being a Roman Catholic had left eight years before. 
 This did not satisfy him. He found out the man 
 
 1 Lazarettos, p. 4.
 
 LAZARETTOS. 
 
 of whose imprisonment he had heard, and from him 
 ascertained that he had been a slave in the galleys 
 forty-two years, the charge against him being, that 
 at the age of fourteen he had joined other boys in a 
 quarrel with somebody who lost a gold-headed cane. 
 After being doomed to a life-long imprisonment for 
 so small an offence, the man had become a Protest- 
 ant, and been steady in his attachment to the re- 
 formed faith : now past work, he lived in a galley set 
 apart for the aged and infirm, who received a small 
 daily allowance from the king. Relieving this 
 sufferer, and purchasing of him some musical pipes 
 which he had ingeniously cut and tuned, the philan- 
 thropist took the opportunity of seeing the galleys 
 moored near the Toulon Arsenal. The galleys were 
 moored near each other, with names painted on the 
 stern the Finn, the Brave, the Intrepid. They con- 
 tained about six hundred prisoners, all wearing caps 
 differently coloured. The grey denoted deserters ; 
 the green, smugglers ; the red, thieves ; the last were 
 branded on the left shoulder. The galleys had one 
 deck, swept twice every day ; and windows on the 
 roof were open. Some slaves had been on board 
 forty, fifty, and even sixty years ; but they had good 
 clothes and good bread, and a small allowance in 
 money. Those who worked had three sous a day for 
 wine. Some were making shoes, others baskets ; and 
 some on shore outside the Arsenal were employed in 
 digging and sawing. 
 
 Howard gives a touching story which he heard at 
 Toulon. The brother of a lady related to his inform- 
 ant, was apprehended by dragoons as he came out of 
 a Protestant conventicle. His son saw soldiers seize
 
 222 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 him, and immediately went to the governor, offering 
 to take his father's place. Accepted as a substitute, 
 he was sent to the galleys for life. At the end of ten 
 years he obtained his liberty through the intercession 
 of a friend. The parent lived long enough to see his 
 noble son at liberty, and then expired. 1 
 
 Howard's next destination was Nice. At Nice 
 not the French fashionable watering-place it is now 
 there were two hundred and fifty galley slaves 
 living in dirty rooms near the water. They were 
 employed in pontoons for clearing the harbour. 
 Sundays and Thursdays were idle days ; and as the 
 expiration of imprisonment approached, the prisoners 
 had a measure of liberty allowed. 
 
 From Nice, on the 3<Dth of January, 1786, he wrote 
 to Mr. Smith : " I had a nice part to act," he says. 
 " I travelled as an English doctor ; and, perhaps, 
 among the number of empirics I did as little mischief 
 as most of them. I never dined or supped in public. 
 My secret was only trusted to the French Protestant 
 ministers. I was five days at 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 were 
 drawn, one coming late put the assembly in fear, 
 even so as to make inquiry before the door was 
 opened. I was twice over the Arsenal, though strictly 
 
 1 Lazarettos, p. 55.
 
 LAZARETTOS. 223 
 
 prohibited to our countrymen. There is a singular 
 slave who has publicly professed himself a Protestant 
 these thirty-six years a sensible, good man, with an 
 unexceptionable and even amiable character." 
 
 " 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 resolution not to be shaken 
 in order to pursue it. 
 
 " I write this with my windows open, in full view of 
 an orange grove, though the mountains at a great 
 distance are, I see, covered with snow." 
 
 He then coasted the beautiful shore and reached 
 Savona, where, in an hospital, he discovered a deli- 
 cate provision which greatly delighted him an al- 
 cove recess concealed by linen curtains between beds 
 in the women's ward. 
 
 He proceeded to Genoa, which he had visited 
 before, and where he noticed an arrangement similar 
 to that in Savona. He tells an odd story about 
 benefactors to the charity. They were rewarded by 
 having statues placed in the wards and on the 
 staircase, the attitudes assumed according with the 
 amount of their contributions. Many were standing, 
 others occupied a chair, this latter distinction being 
 secured by giving a hundred thousand crowns. One 
 statue had its foot under the chair, a diminution of 
 dignity, consequent upon a subscription of only ninety 
 thousand crowns. 
 
 At Genoa he found a Lazaretto, spacious and 
 convenient, "plentifully supplied with a stream of 
 water descending from the mountains." At Varig-
 
 224 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 nano, by the Gulf of Spezia, on a rising ground near 
 the port, he copied the plan of some new buildings ; 
 and at Leghorn he was grieved to see plague-ships 
 admitted, " instead of being chased away and burnt" 
 There, the Grand Duke of Tuscany invited him to 
 dinner, an honour he declined, though he admitted 
 " The repeated visits which I have paid to his prisons 
 and hospitals have given me the fullest conviction 
 that he is the true father and friend of his country." l 
 At Pisa he felt delighted with the alterations which 
 had taken place. The Hospital had a ward on the 
 ground floor, with iron grated doors opening into " an 
 elegant botanic garden, which through the iron gates 
 affords a pleasant view." 8 At Florence he experienced 
 a similar enjoyment, for things had improved there 
 since his visit seven years earlier. 
 
 On the iQth of March, he landed at Malta. Sir 
 William Hamilton, friend of Lord Nelson, had given 
 him a letter to the Grand Master of the Knights of 
 St. John. Climbing up steep streets like staircases, 
 lined with shops full of curiosities, and crowded with 
 people of all nations, he reached the Hospital of the 
 Order, and on presenting his introduction, obtained 
 permission to see whatever he wished. What he saw 
 distressed him exceedingly. For he witnessed the 
 utmost inhumanity on the part of servitors, who, as 
 he thought, should have been gentle nurses ; instead 
 of which, he says, "I once found eight or nine of them 
 highly entertained with a delirious dying patient." 
 There were twenty-two persons employed in attend- 
 ing above five hundred patients ; whereas the Grand 
 Master's fifty horses had forty grooms. 
 
 1 Lazarettos, p. 7. - Ibid., p. 57.
 
 LAZARETTOS. 225 
 
 " The slaves," as he calls prisoners he saw, " have 
 many rooms, and each sect, their chapel or mosque, 
 and sick rooms apart. A woollen manufactory is 
 carried on by some of them, but the majority are 
 blacks, and unhappy objects ; for the Religious, the 
 Knights so called, being sworn to make perpetual 
 war with the Turks, carry off by piracy many of the 
 peasants, fishermen, or sailors from the Barbary 
 coasts. How dreadful, that those who glory in bear- 
 ing on their breasts the sign of the Prince of peace, 
 should harbour such malignant dispositions 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 'pretence 
 of friendship ? ] 
 
 At a later interview with the Grand Master, His 
 Highness asked what he thought of the place. "I 
 told him my sentiments," he says, " and made some 
 of the remarks that I now publish, adding, if he him- 
 self would sometimes walk over the hospitals, many 
 abuses would be corrected. But my animadversions 
 were reckoned too free; yet, being encouraged by the 
 satisfaction which the patients seemed to receive from 
 my frequent visits, I continued them ; and I have 
 reason to believe they produced an alteration for the 
 better in the state of these hospitals, with respect to 
 cleanliness and attention to the patients." 2 
 
 Howard often met with coldness on the part of 
 officials, and saw plainly enough they were displeased 
 at the freedom of his remarks ; but the grateful smiles 
 
 1 Lazarettos, p. 58. 2 Ibid., p. 60. 
 
 Q
 
 226 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 of relieved patients and prisoners were a recompense 
 for what he had to put up with, and encouraged him 
 to proceed with his mission of mercy. 
 
 A convent called Casa della Maurisa, founded for 
 the accommodation of travellers at a small expense, 
 was a pleasant religious retreat in which Howard 
 spent two afternoons, and found " all still, quiet, 
 agreeable." The passages, the rooms, and the church 
 were neat and clean ; and over each door hung a pic- 
 ture representing "some one celebrated for virtue and 
 piety." Windows looked into a garden. The refec- 
 tory was decorated with Scripture subjects. 
 
 A peculiar interest attaches to this visit at Malta, 
 from the circumstance that the Order of St. John was 
 then on the point of being extinguished. 
 
 Emmanuel de Rohan was a French Knight, raised 
 to the supreme dignity, the last but one ; and he held 
 the office when Howard delivered his letter of intro- 
 duction. The affairs of the Order then looked pro- 
 mising. The fraternity were at peace with one 
 another. " If their galleys," it is remarked by their 
 last historian, "cruised in the Mediterranean rather 
 as a pleasure-trip, than a warlike demonstration, the 
 tranquillity of the times brought with it many sub- 
 stantial benefits to the island." * 
 
 This statement does not accord with what Howard 
 wrote to his friend, Mr. Whitbread, on reaching Zante. 
 " I took my final congt of the Religious, as they are 
 called, who are detested by the Maltese for their 
 pride and profligacy. In short, they are a nest of 
 pirates, running on the Barbary coast, and catching 
 
 1 Knights of Malta, by Porter, pp. 641, 642.
 
 LAZARETTOS. 227 
 
 all the little boats of fishermen and traffickers in the 
 creeks, bringing them with their wives and children 
 into perpetual slavery. They wear the cross, the en- 
 sign of the Prince of peace, and yet declare eternal 
 war and destruction to their fellow-creatures." 1 
 
 The French Revolution brought destruction on the 
 brethren. " The institution of the Hospital, remarks 
 the author just quoted, was far too aristocratic in 
 constitution to escape the antagonism of the sans 
 culottes, whose cry of a bas les aristocrats was ringing 
 through France. Everything marked the Order as 
 one of the fitting victims to revolutionary fury and 
 popular clamour." This is true, but far from the whole 
 truth. The scandalous repute into which the Knights 
 had fallen must be taken into account, before any one 
 can decide on the merits of the question. It was en- 
 acted in 1792 that the Order should cease within the 
 limits of the French Government. De Rohan died in 
 1797, and in 1798 his successor, D'Hompesch, sur- 
 rendered Malta to the French nation. 
 
 During Howard's stay in the island he wrote the 
 following letters : 
 
 "Malta, March 31^, '86. 
 
 " JOHN PROLE I am well, with intrepid, firm 
 spirits and resolution, in pursuing my determined 
 object ; but 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 
 twelve to four o'clock we expected a watery grave. 
 
 1 Zante, May ist, 1786. Letter to S. Whitbread, Esq., 
 printed in " Howard's Correspondence," by Field.
 
 228 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Though our sailors all cried to St. Anthony 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 wrapped 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 
 in Germany, on my return home, the latter end of 
 July or the 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 Cardington friends, Mr. Smith, 
 Mr. Gadsby, Mr. Cosin, Mr. King, Mr. Leach, etc., etc. 
 
 " The old smith's shop you and Joseph may take 
 down. Mr. Smith may directly have all the materials 
 for the hen house that he desired. He is to set it up 
 with his workmen ; and tell him I will allow and pay 
 him the expense thereof. You will then make foot- 
 path the side of some hurdles that you will put up 
 all neat. 
 
 " I remain, yours to serve you, 
 
 "JOHN HOWARD." 
 
 We find another letter written from Malta, ad- 
 dressed probably to a maternal relative, Mr. Tatnall. 
 
 "Malta, April tyh, 1786. 
 
 "DEAR SIR, As the French Minister thought 
 proper to deny Lord Carmarthen's request for me, I
 
 LAZARETTOS. 229 
 
 travelled incog., as on a physician's tour, and did my 
 business both at Marseilles and Toulon. In the latter 
 place, in one of the galleys in the arsenal, there is one 
 Protestant who openly makes the profession thereof; 
 and his exemplary character for thirty years does us 
 credit. I was informed that no strangers are to enter, 
 but particularly no Englishman on any account 
 However I passed several hours there on two days, 
 but was advised to get off by shipping as soon as 
 possible. My advisers were the Protestant ministers, 
 who alone were trusted with the secret, and who per- 
 haps were the only persons to be trusted. At Genoa 
 and Leghorn I was received in the most generous 
 manner, was allowed to visit the Lazarettos ; the 
 plans sent to my lodgings to copy, etc. 
 
 " I visited Florence, Rome, and Naples, about a 
 fortnight in each place, to review the places in my 
 line. I then took shipping for this island. We lay 
 by contrary winds several days close to Messina, 
 Catania, Syracuse, etc., and saw the dreadful effects 
 of the earthquake about two years ago in Sicily. 
 Soon after we met a sad storm ; but happy for us, it 
 lasted only four hours, and we arrived here about 
 ten days ago. 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, 
 beans in plenty, melons ripe, roses and flowers in 
 abundance ; but at night tormented with millions of 
 fleas, gnats, etc. 
 
 " I am bound for Zante, Smyrna, and Constanti- 
 nople. We have here many Turks, the accounts from 
 them are not favourable. A ship to-day arrived
 
 230 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 from Tripoli, the plague now ravages that city. The 
 crew, etc., went into strict quarantine. 
 
 " One effect I find during my visits to the Lazaretto, 
 viz., a heavy headache, a pain across my forehead ; 
 but has always quite left me in one hour after I have 
 come from these places. As I am quite alone, I have 
 need to summon all my courage and resolution. 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 per 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 '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. Doddridge, '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 consola- 
 tion. 
 
 " 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 of 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 half- 
 penny. 
 
 " I am, I bless God, pretty well ; calm steady 
 spirits. All see at the inns, etc., that I have the mode
 
 LAZARETTOS. 231 
 
 of travelling, and try to oblige me ; but I inflexibly 
 keep to my mode of living, with regimen or low diet. 
 The physicians in Turkey, I hear, are very attentive 
 too in the time that 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. With great esteem, I am, 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 " Your affectionate Friend, 
 
 "JOHN HOWARD." 
 
 Leaving Malta, Howard for the first time visited 
 Asia. He entered a new world. Two civilizations 
 rose in contrast, and must have produced startling 
 effects on so keen and careful an observer. Now he 
 saw a mosque and a minaret, so different from Euro- 
 pean cathedrals and churches ; and came in contact 
 with the green-turbaned Mohammedan, descended 
 from the Prophet's family, and the vagrant Arab child 
 of Ishmael, Abraham's son. Such a transition opens 
 a new world of ideas ; the traveller seems as if trans- 
 lated back to the patriarchal era. 
 
 Landing at Smyrna, there stretched before him a 
 long line of flat coast, backed by a range of hills, call- 
 ing to mind the primitive age, when Polycarp under 
 their shadow died at the stake. European-looking 
 edifices, an extended group of shops, warehouses, 
 and dwellings, first caught his eyes, as he stepped on 
 the quay ; and these objects were seen melting into 
 a mass of unmistakable Oriental architecture. The 
 first sight of a bazaar is never to be forgotten the
 
 232 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 open stall the counter on which the salesman, pipe 
 in hand, sits motionless and sleepy, as if the disposal 
 of his goods were the last thing he thought of ; the 
 stock closely packed within the smallest possible 
 compass ; the neighbourhood of various trades, each 
 working in its own way a row of goldsmiths here 
 and of saddle-makers there ; the narrow street or 
 alley, shaded from the sun by an awning of extended 
 mats ; the donkey creeping along under a burden of 
 wood ; a camel stalking through the crowd with a 
 load of building materials ; and a white ass richly 
 caparisoned trotting amidst the crowd, bearing on his 
 back a turbaned military officer. All these objects 
 produce on a European unaccustomed to them a sort 
 of theatrical effect, as if he were mingling in a crowded 
 fancy ball or wandering amidst the stalls of a fancy 
 fair. 
 
 Beyond other contrasts, perhaps, is that between 
 religious buildings in these two divisions of the world. 
 A mosque is utterly unlike a church ; a minaret is 
 utterly unlike a steeple or a spire. Then, thinking of 
 an Eastern mausoleum and an English graveyard, 
 what surprise overtakes the stranger from the West 
 when he enters the tomb of a Turk, fitted up with 
 carpets and cloths of silk as though it were the home 
 of a living man ; or when he wanders amidst rows of 
 cypresses, which overshadow graves with turbaned 
 headstones. Of these contrasts Howard was sensible. 
 
 Oriental prisons, however, he chiefly thought of, 
 and they certainly are equally curious and distressing. 
 Small attempts are made to confine either the accused 
 or the condemned. They are seen herding together 
 in open walled areas, or in stable-like cells, like
 
 LAZARETTOS. 233 
 
 neglected cattle ; no discipline, no classification, no 
 employment. The laxity of restraint has the terrible 
 accompaniments of nakedness and want. Ghastly 
 forms huddled in corners, peering through grates, 
 these are pictures which meet one's eye in Eastern 
 prisons. Howard came up to a gate of this kind, 
 and found three Turks squatted on the ground idly 
 smoking ; and he procured admission to the interior, 
 because he was taken for a professor of the healing 
 art a sacred personage in Eastern lands, one holding 
 a pass key into all manner of secret places. A poor 
 creature in one of the dens had been bastinadoed from 
 hand to foot ; his relief and restoration by plasters of 
 salt and vinegar, not a pleasant remedy, and the 
 administration of a dose or two of medicine, procured 
 for this reputed physician the highest respect < 
 
 Smyrna came within the limits of the Levant Com- 
 pany, which appointed chaplains to their stations, or 
 Factories, as they used to be called. The neglect of 
 religion by English merchants and travellers at that 
 period greatly distressed our devout friend. " Here," 
 he said, " I had an opportunity which in this tour I 
 did not enjoy at any of the hotels of the ambassadors, 
 of attending public worship on Sunday, performed 
 by the worthy chaplain of 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 countries, to 
 make the Lord's day a season of diversion and amuse-
 
 234 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 ment. How have I been mortified by the comparison, 
 when, after calling at their hotels, I have seen upon 
 my return from thence, the chapels of the Spanish 
 and French ambassadors crowded." 
 
 Amongst other adventures at Smyrna, our traveller 
 threaded the narrow streets and the crowded bazaars 
 in company with the Cadi, as he went his rounds, to 
 test the weights and measures used by tradespeople. 
 Faultiness incurred imprisonment, or the strokes of a 
 bastinado. The poor Turks expressed in their coun- 
 tenances the terror felt at the appearance of the 
 officer ; and well they might, for justice was not the 
 invariable rule of his proceedings; various motives, 
 often selfish, would lead to the punishment of innocent 
 people. 
 
 The hospital, as well as the prison and the market, 
 came under Howard's inspection; and he found in one 
 an aged superintendent, called a prior, who, having 
 suffered from the plague, was devoting himself to 
 the nursing of others under the same calamity. 
 This beautiful instance of charity was in fulfilment of 
 a vow ; but his success was unequal to his wishes, for 
 he told his visitor that half the patients were swept 
 off by death. 
 
 From Smyrna he proceeded to Constantinople. On 
 his way he saw the plains of Troy and Mount Ida, 
 caught a distant view of Mount Athos, and perhaps 
 touched at Gallipoli. The Dardanelles were beautiful ; 
 and passing on to the Sea of Marmora, the charms of 
 the scenery increased. 
 
 The first sight of Constantinople, which is as it were 
 a strip of Asia, bound on the edge of Europe, the 
 Golden Horn full of shipping, with caraques gliding
 
 LAZARETTOS. 235 
 
 on the still waters of the harbour, Scutari on the 
 Bosphorus, with its palaces and minarets climbing 
 up the rocky bank, a vision of rare beauty, all this 
 makes an arrival at the City of Constantine a 
 memorable moment. Howard must have felt the 
 charm. Pera and Stamboul, the long walls of the 
 latter, the line of cypresses, as tower after tower, gate 
 after gate are passed ; the gloomy cemeteries with 
 Turkish graves ; the Palace of Sweet Waters, the 
 gardens and kiosks answering to the name; the 
 Sultan's Seraglio, the Sublime Porte ; the Arsenal, 
 once a church, echoing with the music of Chrysostom's 
 eloquence ; the Mosque of St. Sophia, with an ex- 
 quisitely contrived group of domes ; the old Hippo- 
 drome, commenced by Septimus Severus, and the 
 obelisk of Theodosius ; these and other objects of 
 fascinating aspect rise in remembrance, as forming 
 the background of Howard's pilgrimage of charity in 
 the wonderful city, which has seen such marvellous 
 revolutions in succession. 
 
 " At Galata," he says, " 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 chari- 
 table example. In another, 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." He would find no asylum for dogs. 
 In the prison at Galata were eighteen debtors, and 
 they depended for their subsistence partly upon 
 charity. A bag, he observed, fastened in the middle of 
 the street leading to the prison, as a receptacle for
 
 236 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 any kind of charity people were disposed to bestow. 
 Meat, as well as money, was deposited. Greeks, Jews, 
 Armenians, and Turks, being members of different 
 religious bodies, had separate apartments allotted to 
 them in prison ; and, he says, " It may be worth men- 
 tioning as a general observation, that I always found 
 fewer prisoners of the Mahometan than of other 
 religions." l 
 
 Whilst at Constantinople he heard of a recent oc- 
 currence illustrative of the methods of detecting and 
 punishing distinguished officials at that period. The 
 Grand Vizier sent for the Grand Chamberlain, who 
 supplied the city with bread and the garrison with 
 biscuits. 
 
 " Why is the bread so bad ? " asked the superior. 
 
 " Because the last harvest was so bad," replied the 
 Chamberlain. 
 
 " Why is the weight so short ? " came as the next 
 question. 
 
 On which followed this answer 
 
 " It might have happened by accident to two or 
 three amongst such an immense number of biscuits ; 
 but the greatest care shall be taken for the future." 
 
 The Chamberlain left the Vizier's presence, but 
 before he got home an executioner overtook him and 
 cut off his head in the street, putting it under the arm 
 of the corpse, which remained there three days, and 
 placing the light biscuit by his side. 
 
 " It being very hot weather, I said," Howard wrote 
 this to his friend, Dr. Hermott, " it was impossible it 
 could remain three days in the street." 
 
 1 The chief information respecting his Eastern tour is supplied 
 by the book on Lazarettos.
 
 LAZARETTOS. 237 
 
 " ' Yes, it did/ replied the informant ; ' for our three 
 days may be only five or six and twenty hours. If 
 one half-hour before sunset, we call it a day ; and so, if 
 half an hour after sunrise, we call it another day.' My 
 mind reverted to the glorious event of the Resurrection 
 that is our joy and rejoicing." 
 
 Howard's medical fame went before him ; and if it 
 gave him influence it caused him trouble. A daughter 
 of one in high position at the Porte suffered from a 
 disease which baffled Turkish physicians. The Eng- 
 lish visitor was called in ; he prescribed for the young 
 lady with success. The overjoyed father sent him a 
 purse of two thousand sequins, worth about 900, 
 which he, of course, declined, saying, " He never took 
 money, but a plate of grapes would be acceptable." 
 So long as he remained in the city, grapes were never 
 wanting on his table. 
 
 No doubt Howard met with much courtesy. The 
 polite Turk would pour out coffee, and pile up sweets, 
 and offer other luxuries abounding on the banks of 
 the Bosphorus ; but the English visitor cared for none 
 of these things ; he preferred to thread the dirty alleys 
 of Stamboul, in quest of prison cells and pining 
 captives. 
 
 He saw day by day sad scenes. " I am sorry to 
 say," he told Dr. Aiken, " some die of the plague 
 about us ; one is just carried before my window ; yet 
 I visit where none of my conductors will accompany 
 me. In some hospitals, 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." l 
 
 1 Aiken, p. 133.
 
 238 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 After all, though he had heard so much of Laza- 
 rettos, he had not entered one. This thought struck 
 him, hence he resolved nobody should in future have 
 reason to make the deprecatory remark. With cha- 
 racteristic promptitude he returned to Smyrna, and 
 on his way came in contact with the plague. A pas- 
 senger on board the same boat with him fell ill. 
 Fetid breath, and a black spot behind the ear, plainly 
 showed what ailed the sufferer. Howard, to whom 
 the case had been referred, ordered that the patient 
 should be placed in a cabin by himself. The day after 
 his arrival at Salonica the man died. 
 
 Howard wrote the following letter 1 on his arrival at 
 Salonica : 
 
 " Salonica, July 22nd (1786). 
 
 " With pleasure I will converse an hour with my 
 worthy friend, who, I doubt not, has been informed of 
 my intention to visit and collect all the plans, regula- 
 tions, etc., of the principal lazarettos in Europe. I 
 have been at Marseilles, Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, 
 Malta, etc. 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 at 
 Zante, Smyrna, and Constantinople, and I came 
 hither about a week ago. I visit boldly, 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 
 1 Brown, p. 439.
 
 LAZARETTOS. 239 
 
 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, I saw the grave in which he was buried. I visit 
 all the prisons to inform myself, but my interpreters 
 are very cross with me. I am bound for Scio, as in 
 that island is the most famous hospital in the Le- 
 vant. 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 performed on the confines of the 
 Emperor's dominions ; but should such an establish- 
 ment for our shipping be ever introduced into Eng- 
 land, 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 ambas- 
 sador the strongest recommendation to assist me in 
 the minutest observations I may make during my 
 quarantine. I bless God I am quite well, calm, and 
 in steady spirits ; indeed, I have at times need of 
 determined resolution, as, since I left Helvoetsluys, I 
 have never met with any English ship, or travelled 
 one mile with any of my countrymen. 
 
 " I am persuaded I am engaged in a good cause, 
 and confirmed of having a good God and Master ; 
 His approbation will be an abundant recompense for 
 all the little pleasures I may have given up. At 
 Smyrna,, the Franks', or foreigners', houses are shut 
 up ; everything they receive is fumigated, and their 
 provisions pass through water; but in Constantinople,
 
 240 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 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's, at Vienna, will 
 be a cordial to the drooping spirits of 
 " Your affectionate Friend, 
 
 "JOHN HOWARD." 1 
 
 Salonica is the ancient Thessalonica, " where was a 
 synagogue of the Jews : and Paul, as his custom was, 
 went in unto them, and for three Sabbath days 
 reasoned with them from the Scriptures, opening 
 and alleging, that it behoved the Christ to suffer, and 
 to rise again from the dead ; and that this Jesus, 
 whom, said he, I proclaim unto you, is the Christ." z 
 Howard could not fail to think of this as he walked 
 within the lofty stone walls, five miles in circuit, rising 
 from the sea a vast triangle surmounted by a fort- 
 ress of seven towers. The Grand Mosque resembles 
 that of Constantinople, and there are in the city 
 Greek churches and Jewish synagogues, successors 
 to that in which the Apostle preached. The place 
 rejoices in the marble propylseum of the Hip- 
 podrome one of the finest specimens of ancient art 
 remaining in the world. 
 
 Howard visited a Jewish hospital, it was " a sort of 
 
 1 The address of this letter, inserted in Brown's Memoirs of 
 Howard, is not given. 
 
 2 Acts xvii. 1-3, Revised Version.
 
 LAZARETTOS. 241 
 
 spacious shed, lightsome and airy;" and being quite 
 open, without any surrounding walls, it would have 
 greatly pleased his 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." l 
 
 Landing at " Scio's rocky Isle," where he does not 
 appear to have troubled himself about Homer, he 
 sought a leper house, where he found what pleased 
 him lepers lodged in separate apartments, with lit- 
 tle almond, fig, and grape gardens, two streams of 
 mountain water flowing amidst the trees. He recom- 
 mended, in addition, baths separately for men and 
 women. 
 
 Meeting with a vessel bound for Venice, whose 
 foul bill of health was passport to a Lazaretto, he, 
 with courage, some would call it hardihood, em- 
 barked at once, and whilst making the trip met with 
 an adventure painted in highly sensational colours 
 by one of his biographers. 2 After leaving the Morea, 
 where the captain touched and took in fresh water, 
 a ship hove in sight, wearing no friendly aspect, and 
 presently commenced an attack. We are told there 
 was only one gun of large calibre on board, and that 
 Howard took charge of it, and rammed it almost to 
 the muzzle with nails and spikes, and then, waiting 
 his opportunity, sent the contents with murderous 
 effect on the enemy's deck. Aiken's Memoirs .and 
 Brown's MSS. are cited in support of the narrative, 
 but they do not bear out this version. 
 
 On turning to Howard's own description of what 
 
 1 Lazarettos, p. 65. 2 Dixon's John Howard, p. 343. 
 
 R
 
 242 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 took place, a very different impression is received. 
 "A few days after leaving Modon, we had a smart 
 skirmish with a Tunisian privateer. In this skirmish 
 one of our cannon, charged with spike nails, etc., 
 having accidentally done great execution, the privateer 
 immediately, to our great joy, hoisted its sails and 
 made off. The interposition of Providence saved us 
 from a dreadful fate, for I understood afterwards that 
 our captain, expecting that either our immediate 
 death or perpetual slavery at Tunis would be the 
 consequence of being taken, had determined to blow 
 up the ship rather than surrender." Howard's habitual 
 modesty might have prevented him from mention- 
 ing any share he had in this naval engagement ; 
 but at all events the mention of " one of our cannon 
 having accidentally done great execution," diminishes 
 the blaze of colour in the imaginative sketches of his 
 biographer. 1 
 
 The vessel now went on its way over the Mediter- 
 ranean, touching at Corfu and Castel Novq ; but the 
 treacherous weather of that latitude so baffled them, 
 that the captain and his illustrious passenger did not 
 reach Venice until the end of two months. Many a 
 discomfort fell to his lot ; and after mentioning the 
 action with the Barbary pirate in a few simple words, 
 he adds : " I remember I had a good night when, one 
 
 1 Aiken (p. 134) remarks that there was a smart skirmish, and 
 the corsair was beaten off by " a cannon loaded with spike nails 
 and bits of iron, and pointed by Mr. Howard himself." If true, 
 the author must have learned it from Howard's lips. He adds, 
 " It afterwards appeared to have been the intention of the 
 captain to blow up his vessel, rather than submit to be taken 
 into perpetual slavery."
 
 LAZARETTOS. 243 
 
 evening my cabin baskets were floated with water, 
 and I thinking I should be some hours in drying it 
 up, I went to bed and forgot it." Working their way 
 up the gulf, they at length reached the beautiful city, 
 which seems to float on the waters, so that one who 
 visited it has said : " Buildings with their strange 
 Eastern architecture seemed, like fairy ships, to totter, 
 to steady themselves, and come to anchor one by one ; 
 and where the shadow was, and where the palace 
 was, you scarce could tell." 1 Such thick-coming 
 fancies, as we write or think of this and other en- 
 chanting spots on the shores of Italy, serve to bring 
 out, in all the more bold and sublime relief, those 
 moral qualities which shine forth calmly in Howard's 
 life, making us feel that, after all, in such self-denial 
 as his there is a true spiritual beauty, surpassing that 
 of blue seas and marble palaces and all the pictures 
 painted by Titian and Tintoretto. 
 
 On reaching Venice, where he had been before, 
 Howard had to submit to quarantine laws, and was 
 confined first in one Lazaretto, then in another; the 
 second, perhaps, rather the best of the two. He tells 
 us : "A messenger came in a gondola to conduct me 
 to the new Lazaretto. I was placed with my baggage 
 in a boat, fastened by a cord ten feet long to another 
 boat in which were six rowers. When I came near 
 the landing-place the cord was loosed, and my boat 
 was pushed with a pole to the shore, where a person 
 met me who said he had been ordered by the magis- 
 trates to be my guard. Soon after unloading the 
 boat, the sub-prior came and showed me my lodging, 
 
 1 Faber's Foreign Churches and Peoples, p. 282.
 
 244 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 which was a very dirty room, full of vermin, and 
 without chair, table, or bed." l 
 
 The old Lazaretto of Venice originated in 1448 by 
 decree of the Senate, when rules and tariffs were 
 devised by the heads of the far-seeing Republic ; and 
 similar arrangements were afterwards adopted in 
 other European Lazarettos. Over the gateways of 
 two large warehouses were carved in stone the 
 images of three saints, San Sebastian, San Marco, and 
 San Rocco, who were esteemed patrons of the Vene- 
 tian Lazaretto. Formerly, when persons who had 
 the plague were brought out of the city, they were 
 put into one Lazaretto room for forty days, and then 
 into another for a like period. It must have been a 
 tormenting circumstance, to be kept in durance out- 
 side the City of St. Mark, amidst broad, muddy, and, 
 in bad weather, most dreary lagoons. Yet he says : 
 " I had a pleasant view, but the rooms were without 
 furniture, very dirty, and no less offensive than the 
 sick wards of the worst hospital. The walls of my 
 chamber, not having been cleaned probably for half 
 a century, were saturated with infection. I got them 
 washed repeatedly with boiling water, to remove the 
 offensive smell, but without any effect. My appetite 
 failed, and I concluded I was in danger of the slow 
 hospital fever. I proposed white-washing my room 
 with lime slaked in boiling water, but was opposed 
 by strong prejudices. I got, however, this done one 
 morning through the assistance of the British Consul, 
 who was so good as to supply me with a quarter of a 
 bushel of fresh lime for the purpose ; and the con- 
 sequence was, that my room was immediately ren- 
 1 Lazarettos, p. 12.
 
 LAZARETTOS. 245 
 
 dered so sweet and fresh that I was able to drink tea 
 in it in the afternoon, and to lie in it the following 
 night" l 
 
 Howard escaped the plague ; but the experience 
 of the Lazaretto and his observations upon it were 
 valuable in relation to the object he had in view ; and 
 when he was liberated he rejoiced in his freedom, 
 though the blessing was accompanied by great 
 debility. He heard many a story in such Venetian 
 circles as he chose to enter. I insert two : 
 
 "A German merchant happening to be in Venice 
 on business, supped every night at a small inn, in 
 company with a few other persons. An officer of the 
 State Inquisition 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, but re- 
 ceived no answer to his inquiry, except by 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 underground to 
 a small, dark apartment, where he 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 mantelpiece. Having remained here 
 in perfect solitude for a couple of days, he suddenly 
 saw a curtain drawn, and heard a voice questioning 
 him concerning his name, his business, the company 
 he kept ; and particularly whether he had not been, 
 on a certain day, in the society of persons who were 
 1 Lazarettos, p. u.
 
 2 4 6 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 mentioned, 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 dis- 
 missed. 
 
 A senator of this Republic was " called up from his 
 bed one night by an officer of this same Inquisition, 
 and commanded to follow him ; he obeyed the sum- 
 mons, 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 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 unguarded moments com- 
 municated 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." 1 
 
 1 These occurrences Howard described to his friend Dr.
 
 LAZARETTOS. 247 
 
 Howard left the Lazaretto and spent three days in 
 crossing the Gulf of Venice to Trieste. The hospital 
 fever was creeping over his system as the result of 
 confinement ; and he heard of the death of the last 
 ambassador from Constantinople through the same 
 fearful complaint. He was now bound for Vienna, if 
 his health would permit ; and fortunately an Austrian 
 sub-governor lent him an easy carriage, in which he 
 rode for five days, stopping only a single night by 
 the way. The fatigue reduced him in body and mind, 
 but he blessed God for "steadiness of resolution," 
 and on he went, mile after mile. What followed on 
 his arrival at Vienna requires a few words to be said 
 respecting the Emperor of Germany. 
 
 Joseph II., eldest son of the illustrious Maria 
 Theresa, occupied the throne. Frederic the Great, 
 of Prussia, who had kept in check the Emperor's 
 ambition, died in 1786, the year of Howard's visit ; 
 and the former was now beginning, in alliance with 
 Catherine of Russia, a war against the Turks. He 
 had distinguished his reign by abolishing the separate 
 jurisdictions of Austria, and subdividing the monar- 
 chy into thirteen uniform civil and judicial circles. 
 Besides, he had abolished feudal servitude, and sub- 
 stituted a fixed tax in the room of feudal dues. He 
 had taken away the censorship of the press, estab- 
 lished universities, schools, and libraries, and, above 
 all, granted toleration to Romanists, Protestants, and 
 Greeks. Other innovations were of a still more 
 startling character. He forbade pilgrimages and 
 processions, treated marriages as a civil contract> 
 
 Brown, from whose MS. memoranda they were copied by the 
 biographer. Brown's Memoirs, p. 456.
 
 248 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 would allow no Papal bulls to be published in his 
 dominions without consent, and prohibited pomp in 
 conducting funerals. The character of the man may 
 be inferred from these proceedings. 
 
 As soon as Howard arrived at the great city on 
 the Danube, he devoted himself at once to prison in- 
 inquiries and the inspection of hospitals. The Em- 
 peror Joseph had reared an enormous building in the 
 Alser Vorstadt called Allgemeine Krankenhaus 
 containing ten quadrangles, one hundred and eleven 
 chambers, and altogether accommodation for 3,4/7 
 patients. Connected with it was a lying-in hospital, 
 to which persons were admitted with the utmost 
 secrecy and in the easiest manner. Vienna also boas- 
 ted of asylums for the insane, for the deaf and dumb, 
 and for the blind, so that there was plenty of work 
 for the philanthropist to do in the Austrian capital. 
 Upon the whole, he was delighted. He said that 
 these institutions were " objects of the Emperor's par- 
 ticular attention ; and having been either founded or 
 improved by him, they manifested a public spirit 
 which did him great honour, and gave a striking ex- 
 ample to other potentates." 
 
 Howard was now a man of renown, and he might 
 well attract the notice of a person like Joseph II. 
 Shortly the English ambassador informed him of 
 the Emperor's desire for a private interview. " Can 
 I do any good by going ? " he asked. He could have 
 no such reluctance to comply as he might feel when 
 invited by Catherine. Assured that the conference 
 would prove useful, he consented. Still there was a 
 difficulty, as, having finished his business of inspec- 
 tion, he felt anxious to leave early next day. A
 
 LAZARETTOS. 249 
 
 second message informed him his Imperial Majesty 
 would receive him next morning. 
 
 It was Christmas day when the interview took 
 place. Reaching the Imperial palace in the old city, 
 encompassed by the wonderful glacis now covered 
 with gardens which lie embosomed within vast circles 
 of public and other buildings, he was conducted into 
 a kind of "counting-house room," where he found 
 his Imperial Majesty attended by a secretary, and 
 was then taken into another apartment, " so plainly 
 furnished that it had neither looking-glass nor 
 chair." 
 
 The first inquiry made by the august personage 
 related to the Military Hospital. The Englishman 
 was frank, saying, " It is ill constructed ; one defect 
 particularly struck me, the care of the sick is com- 
 mitted to men who are very unfit for that office, 
 especially when it is imposed on them as a punish- 
 ment, which I understand to be the case here." 
 Turning to the workhouses, Howard said, " There 
 are many defects ; the people are obliged to lie in 
 their clothes ; little or no attention is paid to cleanli- 
 ness, and the allowance of bread is too small. 
 " Where," he was asked, " did you see any better 
 institutions of this kind ? " He replied, " There was 
 one better at Ghent, but not so now, not so now," 
 alluding to alterations recently made there. He 
 wrote the following in his diary . 
 
 " Christmas Day, 1786, Vienna. I this day had the 
 honour of near two hours' conversation in private 
 with the Emperor ; his very condescending and affa- 
 ble manner gave me that freedom of speech which 
 enabled me plainly and freely to tell him my mind.
 
 250 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 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 recollections 
 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 lost their rational faculties by it. His 
 Majesty asked me the condition 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 better 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 hospital ; now he continually 
 and unexpectedly looks into all his establishments. 
 I 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."
 
 LAZARETTOS. 251 
 
 The conversation bore fruit, for he afterwards 
 ascertained that orders were issued to rectify evils 
 which he had pointed out. 
 
 In the great prison he found few dungeons empty, 
 and all inmates were kept in darkness. They were 
 chained to the wall, and no priest or clergyman 
 had been near them for eight or nine months a 
 punishment so great that he says, " they complained 
 to me with tears in the presence of their keepers." 
 But a new prison had been erected when Howard 
 visited the capital, and he found it so constructed 
 that the dungeons were less horrid than in the old 
 one. Criminals sent off to Hungary were first 
 brought to the House of Correction and clothed in 
 uniform. They were divided into companies of five, 
 chained together, with iron round their necks and 
 feet. Their doom was to draw boats up the Danube, 
 which wore them out so fast that they rarely survived 
 beyond four years. 
 
 He next met with a German Countess who treated 
 him differently from what the Emperor had done. 
 She haughtily asked about some prisons in her 
 husband's province. "The worst in all Germany," 
 Howard curtly answered, " particularly as it regards 
 the female prisoners ; and I recommend you, Coun- 
 tess, to visit them personally, as the best means of 
 rectifying abuses." " I go to prisons ! " she in- 
 dignantly exclaimed as she left the room ; then 
 she heard him calling after her, " Madam, remember 
 that you are a woman yourself, and must soon, 
 like the most miserable female prisoner in a dun- 
 geon, inhabit but a small space of that earth from 
 which you originally originated." This bore no re-
 
 252 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 semblance to the accents of a German courtier ; it 
 had the tone of John Knox or of an. old Hebrew 
 prophet 
 
 With this incident all that is interesting in the 
 Lazaretto journey comes to an end. He returned 
 home through Frankfort, Aix-la-Chapelle, Bois-le- 
 Duc, and Amsterdam, and reached London in Feb- 
 ruary, 1787. 
 
 Two things greatly agitated Howard at this time. 
 
 One was the conduct of his son. Repeated allu- 
 sions occur to it in his letters. " 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. A great loss to children is their mother, for 
 they check and form their minds, curbing the corrupt 
 passions of pride and self-will, seen very early in 
 children. I must leave it to Him with whom are all 
 hearts, and sigh in secret, trusting that the blessing 
 of such an excellent mother is laid up for him." l 
 Again, " I have a melancholy letter from John Prole 
 relative to my unhappy young man ; it's indeed a 
 bitter affliction a son, an only son." 2 It is apparent 
 how deeply amidst his later travels this domestic trial 
 penetrated his heart, how exquisite was the pain 
 inflicted by it. The whole melancholy story can 
 better be related in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 The other trouble was of a different kind. The 
 fame of this friend of humanity travelled far and 
 wide, and supplied matter for newspaper reports, 
 public speeches, and private conversation : in his 
 
 1 Letter to Prole, Oct. 31, 1786. 
 
 2 Letter to Mr. Smith, Jan. 18, 1787.
 
 LAZARETTOS. 253 
 
 life-time there were zealous admirers, who wished to 
 see a monument for the perpetuation of his memory. 
 A correspondent of The Gentleman's Magazine for 
 May, 1786, stated that he had met Mr. Howard in 
 Rome, and described him " as the most truly glorious 
 of mortal beings," whom " he all but worshipped." He 
 therefore proposed the collection of a fund for the 
 erection of a statue, which should hand down his name 
 and acts to posterity. Most persons, except those 
 who were so intimate as to be aware how discordant 
 with his taste was such an idea, took it up with 
 warmth and eagerness ; and even Dr. Lettsom, who 
 knew him well, seconded the proposal, in a letter 
 written to the same magazine in the following month. 
 "Virtue," he said, "whether shining in the public walks 
 of life or emitting the soft rays of human benevolence 
 in the dungeons 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 specta- 
 tors to go and do likewise, nothing seems more 
 conducive than a monument to Howard." 
 
 About the same time the following prospectus was 
 issued : 
 
 " Many sincere admirers of Mr. Howard, 
 
 ' The friend to every clime, a patriot of the world,' 
 
 anxious that his transcendent philanthropy may not 
 wait for the tardy, and, as it should seem, almost un- 
 willing gratitude, of posthumous acknowledgment from 
 the public, entertain a hope, from the hint thrown out 
 in The Gentleman's Magazine for May, and so nobly 
 improved upon in that for June, that a statue may be
 
 254 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 erected to him, to perpetuate the memory of it before 
 it be taken from mortal eyes, and during his absence 
 upon a God-like errand which carries him to Turkey, 
 to try to restrain the ravages of the plague. And 
 who knows not with how truly Christian a spirit and 
 undaunted courage he before went about doing good ; 
 how gloriously he has devoted a great part of his life 
 and property to repeated visits to most of those 
 mansions of misery and infection, the gaols of 
 Europe ; and how many a weary prisoner whom he 
 came unto has been bound to bless him, for the 
 removal of at least some horror, for the alleviation of 
 at least some anguish, which, with the iron entered 
 into his soul, when it was cast down and disquieted 
 within him ! Those persons, therefore, who, feeling 
 like men, Christians, and Englishmen, the exalted 
 merit which does so much honour to their nature, their 
 religion, and their country, wish to avail themselves 
 of the humble possessor's absence, for the pleasure of 
 expressing that feeling, in doing something towards 
 erecting such a monument of public gratitude to 
 him, and of encouragement to equal virtue, if it be 
 possible, in others, are hereby invited to send their 
 contributions to Messrs. Goslings, Bankers, Fleet 
 Street; Dr. Lettsom, Basinghall Street; or to J. 
 Nichols, Printer, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street." l 
 
 It was in May, 1786, that the erection of the 
 monument was proposed, and the idea excited in- 
 terest amongst all ranks peers, ministers, and other 
 people of distinction placing their names on the 
 list. All sorts of projects were discussed columns, 
 
 1 Nichols' Literary History, vol. ii., p. 682.
 
 LAZARETTOS. 255 
 
 statues, chapels, almshouses, being suggested by 
 different persons. The public prints contained re- 
 ferences to minute details, such as the site of the 
 monument, whether St. Paul's Cathedral, or West- 
 minster Abbey, or St. George's Fields, or Shooter's 
 Hill. Zealous supporters went so far as to contend 
 with each other as to the most appropriate kind of 
 inscription, whether it should be Latin or English, in 
 prose or in poetry. As soon as Howard heard of all 
 this, he protested against it with his whole might. 
 " 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 aver- 
 sion to it, as I knew I was going on a dangerous 
 expedition. Thomas will remember almost the last 
 word 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 with this inscription, 
 " John, died , aged . My hope is in Christ.' " 
 These were private expostulations. He added public 
 ones. He wrote a letter to the subscribers, afterwards 
 printed in The Gentleman's Magazine)- " Gentlemen, 
 I shall ever think it an honour to have my weak 
 endeavours approved by so many respectable per- 
 sons, 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 man- 
 ner, to declare my repugnancy to it, and that the 
 
 1 Vol. Ivii., Pt. I., p. 101.
 
 256 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 execution of it will be a punishment to me. It is 
 therefore, gentlemen, my particular and earnest re- 
 quest that it may for ever be laid aside." The letter 
 is dated Vienna, Dec. 15, 1786. 
 
 Soon afterwards he wrote to England, saying, " I 
 hope the statue will be entirely destroyed by my 
 letter, which Mr. Willoughby will deliver on Wednes- 
 day sennight, as the popular frenzy seems abated. 
 Our ingenious friend, Aiken, endeavoured by a letter 
 to throw a damp on the scheme at first, but to little 
 purpose. Is it known who wrote the first letter in 
 the magazine ? However intentionally good, yet 
 most assuredly a stranger to my temper." 
 
 Amsterdam, Jan. 18, 1787. 
 
 The letter privately addressed did not stop the 
 enterprise. Another public appeal appeared in The 
 Gentleman's Magazine, urging the continuance of 
 endeavours to erect a statue, as reflection would 
 " correct the wrong suggestions of sensibility, and 
 Mr. Howard would at last respect that decision 
 which he was unable to control." This led to the 
 following address on the part of the man whom so 
 many delighted to honour : 
 
 " To the Subscribers for erecting a Statue, etc., to 
 Mr. Howard. 
 
 "Mv 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
 
 LAZARETTOS, 257 
 
 feelings, consent to it, and that the execution of your 
 design will be a cruel punishment to me. It is, there- 
 fore, my earnest request that those friends who wish 
 my happiness and future comfort in life would with- 
 draw 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 gaols 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 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 particu- 
 lar districts by a constant attention and a constant 
 residence. 
 
 " I am, my Lords and Gentlemen, 
 
 " Your obedient and faithful 
 " humble servant, 
 
 "JOHN HOWARD. 
 " London, Feb. i6t/t, 1787." 
 
 No argument could move Howard's decision. He 
 was firm as a rock, and felt pleasure when some one 
 said to him, " Mr. Howard, you may be sure you 
 would have seen my name in the subscription set 
 on foot during your absence, if I had thought the 
 measure would be acceptable to you." " My dear 
 friend," he replied, "I am sure you know me too 
 
 S
 
 258 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 well. I thank you, and all my best friends, for 
 judging so correctly of my sentiments, and not 
 assisting to wound my feelings." To Mr. Smith he 
 declared, " Conscious as I am of many sins and im- 
 perfections, I must always view with pain and abhor- 
 rence every attempt of my friends to bring me forward 
 to public view and public approbation. If, therefore, 
 you love me, if you value my peace of mind, you will 
 use your utmost endeavours to prevent any similar 
 attempt." On another occasion he waived all claim 
 to merit, " Oh, dear sir, as for the merit, I'll say 
 it is my hobby-horse." With a touch of humour he 
 said to Prince Kaunitz, who told him, that though 
 no statue might be erected to him in his own country, 
 one would be raised in the prisons of Vienna. " I 
 have no objection to its being erected where it is 
 invisible." Ultimately, about .500 of the fund was 
 returned to the donors, and the remaining 1,035 
 13^. 6d. was invested. Part of this was given to 
 prisoners, part for striking a medal in honour of 
 Howard, and the rest was appropriated to the erec- 
 tion of the monument in St. Paul's Cathedral. 
 
 The curious dislike Howard felt even to his portrait 
 being taken, is illustrated in the following anecdote: 
 
 " I have detected a fellow at work upon this face of 
 mine (ugly as it is) even as I have been walking in 
 the streets of London ; and, if a hackney coach has 
 been within call, I have popped into it, drawn up the 
 blinds, and sat snug till I got to my own door, as if 
 I was apprehensive a bailiff was at my heels. Nay, 
 I have often had my door itself infested by a lurk- 
 ing artist, who was literally in wait to take me off." 
 Looking into a shop window once, he found some
 
 LAZARETTOS. 259 
 
 one trying to take his likeness ; but he frustrated the 
 design by throwing his face into such contortions 
 that, as he said, "the resemblance between my actual 
 self and the copy would have been just as striking as 
 I could wish it to be." l 
 
 It should be added before I close this chapter, that 
 after Howard's return from his tour for examining 
 Lazarettos, he applied himself afresh to the investiga- 
 tion of prison life in England. 
 
 He found little improvement, in 1787, amongst 
 London gaols. The City authorities were lukewarm 
 in the matter ; fees were still extorted, filth was 
 abundant, disease prevailed, moral contamination 
 deepened and spread. New buildings perpetuated 
 old defects. " The Borough," he said, " is a new gaol 
 on a bad plan. The wards of the men and women 
 join, so that the prisoners associate together. The 
 whole prison very dirty. Garnish not abolished." 
 
 Soon after he revisited Ireland. New gaols had 
 been erected, but not on a plan which he approved. 
 The interest of the revenue prevailed over the inter- 
 ests of the nation ; and the Commissioners of Excise 
 granted licences to village tippling houses, in op- 
 position to gentlemen living on the spot, who saw 
 plainly enough that these places were fountains of 
 mischief. Drinking in prison was a great curse. " At 
 the Newgate one lay dead from this cause in the 
 infirmary, and another was killed in a drunken affray 
 a few days after." Irish County Hospitals were main- 
 tained in part by County rates, and King's letters for 
 
 1 Gleanings, vol. i., p. 226. Quoted by Field in his Howard 
 Correspondence, p. 138.
 
 260 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 collections and contributions an old practice which 
 was still carried on. All this was insufficient. It left 
 selfish and short-sighted county people to do as they 
 liked, and to think more of their own purse than of 
 the public welfare. Still, he thought things were on 
 the mend, and hoped that his comments would ac- 
 celerate progress. 
 
 He had much to say about charter schools in the 
 Sister Island. He laid the conclusions he reached on 
 the subject before a Committee of fifteen gentlemen 
 who had the management of these institutions. He 
 also placed a report before the House of Commons. 
 He extended his visits to all the establishments, 
 thirty-eight in number ; and ventured, as was his 
 wont, upon unsparing criticisms. 
 
 Though a zealous Protestant, he disapproved of the 
 manner in which zeal for a cause he valued, some- 
 times betrayed itself. "I hope I shall not be thought, 
 as a Protestant Dissenter, indifferent to the Protest- 
 ant cause when I express my wish that these distinc- 
 tions (between Catholic and Protestant) were less 
 regarded in bestowing the advantages of education ; 
 and that the increase of Protestantism were chiefly 
 trusted to the dissemination of knowledge and sound 
 morals." He adds an exemplary instance of good 
 management in Chester Blue Coat Hospital ; and 
 copies the rules of a Quaker school at Acworth, as 
 excellently adapted to promote "decent and regular 
 deportment in youth." 
 
 He gives a bad account of Ireland in letters written 
 to his friend Mr. Whitbread. 
 
 "June %th, 1787. There is a spirit of improve- 
 ment, but it has to struggle with the vice of persons,
 
 LAZARETTOS. 261 
 
 from the highest to the lowest, who make a job of 
 every public institution." 
 
 " Dublin, July 6th, 1787. In this country every 
 public institution is a private emolument ; all are 
 corrupt, or totally inattentive, from the highest to 
 the lowest. It never can be a rich, united, or in- 
 dependent State. Many parts are as savage as the 
 inland parts of Russia." 
 
 "Dublin, April 28t/i, 1788. I am sorry to say I 
 know no country that is so profligate, so wild, so 
 cruel. On the road I myself passed, the most cruel 
 murder was committed on the day before ; yet people 
 talk as calmly of it as we do of a pick-pocket ; and 
 as to perjury, it is a general evil." 
 
 During his journeys in Ireland " several of the 
 principal towns presented him with their freedom ; 
 and the University of Dublin conferred on him the 
 honorary degree of Doctor of Laws " ; Howard, how- 
 ever, would never use the title. Whilst there, in 1788, 
 he gave authority to a bookseller to sell a large case 
 of his first work on prisons, and his account of the 
 Bastille, at the original publication price, and to pay 
 over the amount realized to the Mercers' Hospital ; 
 but the vessel conveying the present was wrecked, 
 and therefore his generous design was frustrated. 
 
 It was during this tour that he wrote a letter to 
 Dr. Price, from which the following is an extract : 
 "Dublin, March 2yd. 
 
 " My journey into this country was to make a 
 report of the state of the charter schools, which 
 charity has been long neglected and abused, as 
 indeed most public institutions are made private
 
 262 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 emoluments, one sheltering himself under the name 
 of a bishop, another under that of a lord, and for- 
 electioneering interest breaking down all barriers 
 of honour and honesty. However, Parliament now 
 seems determined to know how its grants have been 
 employed. I have, since my visits 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 journeys my 
 strength is somewhat abated, but not my courage or 
 zeal in the cause I am engaged in." l 
 
 Whether it was during this Irish tour, I am not 
 certain, but the following story appears to relate to 
 it: "Towards persons confined for trifling debts, or 
 unjustly detained in custody for their fees, he fre- 
 quently exercised a liberality which, considering the 
 comparatively narrow limits of his means, should 
 make our rich ones blush. I have often seen him 
 come to his lodgings," says the Journal of his at- 
 tendant on most of his tours, " 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." 
 
 He went over once more to Scotland, and relates 
 1 Aiken, p. 148.
 
 LAZARETTOS. 263 
 
 this circumstance respecting the House of Correction 
 at Edinburgh. " In the three close rooms were forty- 
 seven women, some of them lying sick. No magis- 
 trate ever looked in upon them, and no clergyman 
 ever attended them, or used any endeavours to re- 
 claim 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 tears in their eyes." l 
 
 I conclude this chapter with two testimonies to 
 the effect of Howard's visits and influence. 
 
 On the foundation-stone of a new prison at Man- 
 chester, this inscription was engraved : 
 
 " 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." 
 
 At a later period, Sir G. O. Paul proposed the 
 erection of a penitentiary at Gloucester, and began 
 his proposal with the remark, "It is impossible to 
 enter on this subject without paying a tribute of 
 respect to the indefatigable Mr. Howard, the presid- 
 ing genius of reform of these melancholy mansions 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 obser- 
 vations are intended ; for to him all future reformers 
 
 1 Brown, p. 527.
 
 264 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 are indebted for seeing what they see and feeling 
 what 'they feel. They only reflect the rays of his 
 benevolence on mankind." l 
 
 1 Sir G. O. Paul on Prison Discipline, vol. i., p. 12.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 AUTHORSHIP. 
 1/77-1789. 
 
 HOWARD, in all his travels, had an eye to the 
 publication of results ; and in 1777 his first 
 book appeared, entitled " The State of Prisons in 
 England and Wales." An Appendix followed in 
 1780, containing a "Further Account of Foreign 
 Prisons and Hospitals." An enlarged edition was 
 issued in 1784. Also in 1780 he "published "An 
 Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe, with 
 various Papers relative to the Plague ; together with 
 Further Observations on some Foreign Prisons and 
 Hospitals, and Additional Remarks on the Present 
 State of those in Great Britain and Ireland." Howard's 
 " Translation from a French Account of the Bastille," 
 is dated the same year ; and, to 1789 belongs his 
 English version of the Duke of Tuscany's " New 
 Code of Civil Law." The fourth edition of "The 
 State of Prisons," in 1792, contains much more matter 
 than the first. 
 
 Respecting the design of his publications, he says 
 distinctly, "The whole conduct of this matter must 
 be ascribed to Providence alone ; and God by me 
 intimates to the world, however weak and unworthy 
 I am, that He espouses the cause ; and to Him and 
 265
 
 266 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Him alone be all the glory." Throughout, the man 
 was consciously fulfilling a Divine vocation. He did 
 not propose to establish a new theory of prison 
 discipline, pitting one scheme of treatment against 
 others, tenacious, as many reformers are, of certain 
 ideas which they are proud of calling their own. 
 Much less did he think of entering the domain of 
 criminal jurisprudence. Philosophers were at work 
 upon that subject, whilst he was practically studying 
 details. A remarkable impetus to speculations upon 
 the treatment of criminals was given about that time. 
 Nugent published his English translation of Mon- 
 tesquieu's "Spirit of Laws" in 1766; and questions 
 were then raised as to the power of punishment, and 
 the proportions between penalty and crime. The 
 Italian Beccaria gave to the world his Treatise on 
 Crimes and Punishments in 1764, which had an amaz- 
 ing run amongst the reading public, and was translated 
 into several languages ; an English translation of it 
 appeared in 1766. Its popularity showed that public 
 interest was beginning to be felt on this long- 
 neglected point. Paley scantily noticed it in his 
 "Moral and Political Philosophy," dated 1785; de- 
 voting a chapter to " The Administration of Justice." 
 Evidently, the philosophy of crime and its treatment 
 had come to be a spirit in the air, making its presence 
 felt throughout all Europe. Howard did not soar 
 into lofty regions, but kept his footing firm upon the 
 ground, going about, knocking at prison doors, and 
 talking to gaolers, turnkeys, and prisoners, to find 
 out the real condition of things and the best methods 
 of mending them. He not only saw, but looked; not 
 only heard, but listened. His object was thoroughly
 
 A UTHORSHIP. 267 
 
 practical. Maxims of reforms he suggested' and 
 enforced. The situation, construction, and furnishing 
 of buildings ; the separation of criminals according 
 to their offences ; the provision of baths and venti- 
 lators for the promotion of health, and of infirmaries 
 for recovery from sickness ; the classification of 
 debtors and felons apart from one another ; the 
 employment of criminals in various kinds of useful 
 labour ; the appointment of honest, active, and 
 humane gaolers ; the suppression of taps and liquor 
 bars within prison precincts ; care in the selection 
 of chaplains, and in the orderly conduct of Divine 
 Service ; these were expedients for improvement at 
 that time most urgently needed, and these he com- 
 mended with all the force derived from extensive 
 observation and eminent personal authority. He 
 would not have criminals tormented, he said ; nor 
 would he have them indulged. Starvation and ex- 
 travagance he alike opposed, and misrepresentations 
 as to these points sometimes involved him in con- 
 troversial argument. He was not qualified to enter 
 into the philosophy of the subject ; he had no 
 genius akin to that of Romilly or Bentham ; but as 
 a plain practical man, he opened the way for reforms 
 which have now become established, more or less, 
 throughout the civilized world. 
 
 The modesty of the author is touching. "A person 
 of more ability, with my knowledge of facts, would 
 have written better; but my ambition was not the 
 fame of an author. Hearing the cries of the miser- 
 able, I devoted my time to their relief. In order to 
 procure it, I made it my business to collect materials, 
 the authenticity of which could not be disputed.
 
 268 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 For the warmth of some expressions where my 
 subject obliges me to complain, and for my eagerness 
 to remove the several grievances, my only apology 
 must be drawn from the deep distress of the sufferers, 
 and the impressions the view of it excited in me 
 impressions too strong to be effaced by any length of 
 time." l 
 
 The book on the State of Prisons gives a bare 
 account of what he had seen, coupled with statistics 
 in the driest tabular form ; but at the close of the 
 volume the Author attains to real eloquence. 8 
 
 "What I have proposed throughout my work, is 
 liable, I am sensible, to some objections ; and these 
 will doubtless be heightened by the cavils of those 
 whose interest it is to prevent the reformation of 
 abuses on which their ease or emolument may 
 depend. Yet I hope not to be entirely deserted in 
 the conflict ; and if this publication shall have any 
 effect in alleviating the distresses of poor debtors and 
 other prisoners in procuring for them cleanly and 
 wholesome abodes, and thereby exterminating the 
 gaol fever, which has so often spread abroad its 
 dreadful contagion in abolishing, or at least reduc- 
 ing, the oppressive fees of clerks of assize and of the 
 peace, and checking the impositions of gaolers and 
 the extortions of bailiffs in introducing a habit of 
 industry in our Bridewells, and restraining the shock- 
 ing debauchery and immorality which prevail in our 
 gaols and other prisons if any of these beneficial 
 consequences shall accrue, the writer will be ready 
 to indulge himself with the pleasing thought of not 
 
 1 State of Prisons, p. 488. 2 Ibid., p. 489.
 
 A UTHORSHIP. 269 
 
 having lived without doing some good to his fellow- 
 creatures, and will think himself abundantly repaid 
 for all the pains he has taken, the time he has spent, 
 and the hazards he has undergone." 
 
 Then he adds a passage somewhat prophetic of 
 what is now being done in the way of Parliamentary 
 inquiries, and the publication of Blue Books. In 
 that long and dreary but useful procession, his own 
 modest collection of facts may be considered to take 
 the lead. " Nothing effectual will however, I am per- 
 suaded, be done in reforming the state of our prisons, 
 till a thorough Parliamentary inquiry concerning them 
 be set on foot, on which may be grounded one comprehen- 
 sive statute for their general regulation. Should this 
 be undertaken, I would cheerfully (relying still on the 
 protection of that kind Hand which has hitherto pre- 
 served me, and to which I desire to offer my most 
 thankful acknowledgments) devote my time to one 
 more extensive 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." 
 
 Howard's method and style of treatment improved 
 as the volumes succeeded each other. The first 
 edition of the Appendix, in point of interest exceeds 
 the earlier work. The second edition of the Appendix 
 is fuller than the first, containing as it does some 
 remarkable and even romantic narratives. The book 
 on Lazarettos is best of all. When he wrote that, he 
 had gained a better method of arranging material, 
 and a superior dexterity in the use of his pen. 
 
 In the allusion he makes to a Parliamentary in- 
 quiry, he recommends what is now a basis of statis-
 
 270 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 tical science. Blue Books form a staple on which 
 Statists employ their industry for practical purposes ; 
 but in the case before us, quite independent of the 
 aid of Parliament, going up and down England and 
 the Continent at his own expense as a noncom- 
 missioned inquirer, except as Divine Providence 
 employed him in that capacity, our philanthropist 
 may be said to have laid the foundation, or at least 
 one of the corner-stones, of that kind of literary 
 and scientific enterprise which is now promoted by 
 the Statistical Society. Dr. Guy indicates this as 
 Howard's true place in history. " His highest place 
 in the annals of the world is that of a philanthropist ; 
 yet he is worthy of a place in the annals of civili- 
 zation as an original Statist. Undoubtedly he was 
 the discoverer or inventor of that modern method of 
 dealing with social wrongs, which is gradually build- 
 ing up for us a civilization worthy of the name." 1 
 
 In preparing his MSS. and carrying them through 
 the press, he stood in need of assistance. And he 
 found what he wanted in two friends who claim a 
 distinct place in this biography. 
 
 The first to be mentioned, is Richard Densham, 
 who, after being a fellow-pupil with Howard under 
 the tuition of Mr. Eames, became assistant master 
 in his Academy. Eames filled the Divinity chair, 
 and gave lectures on Oriental languages, Densham 
 attended to mathematics and philosophy. Between 
 him and Howard a friendship arose which was ter- 
 minated only by death. He is expressly represented 
 
 1 Dr. Guy's Paper, read before the Statistical Society, Nov. 
 16, 1875.
 
 AUTHORSHIP. 271 
 
 as helping his friend in preparing his work on prisons. 
 He received materials which he carefully arranged, 
 no doubt correcting inaccuracies as to spelling and 
 grammar. Densham was poor, and Howard never 
 lost sight of his early companion ; when disabled, the 
 former received an unlimited draft on his friend's 
 banker. This, however, the needy man, who had 
 only twelve or thirteen pounds a year, respectfully 
 declined to employ. Mr. Whitbread's son also be- 
 friended the scholar, and settled on him an annuity 
 for life. Densham, in return, left a legacy of eighty 
 pounds to that gentleman, which he, as might be 
 expected, delicately refused ; so that in these inci- 
 dents we have refreshing examples of kindness, in- 
 dependence, and gratitude. 
 
 Another assistant is well known. Dr. Richard 
 Price, it will be remembered, was pupil at the New- 
 ington Academy. His name is conspicuous in 
 English Literature as a politician, a philosopher, and 
 a divine. He sympathized in the American War of 
 Independence, and preached a sermon in 1789, en- 
 titled " The Love of Country," which made no small 
 stir. In it he dilated upon truth, virtue, and freedom, 
 as blessings on which the country depends, and for 
 the attainment of which patriotism should be the 
 guide of our endeavours. At the close he bursts into 
 an impassioned eulogium on the French Revolution, 
 before the Reign of Terror had come, and whilst its 
 indescribable atrocities were lying in the bosom of an 
 unknown future. As metaphysician and financier, 
 he made a broad mark ; and it is said that William 
 Pitt was much indebted to Price's work on " Rever- 
 sionary Payments and Annuities." As a divine, he
 
 272 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 exhibited .freedom of thought, and deviated from 
 orthodox lines, though not to the extent often sup- 
 posed. He held no particular theory about the 
 Divine existence and the relations between Father, 
 Son, and Holy Spirit, but sought to follow a middle 
 course between Calvinistic and Socinian Schools, 
 rejecting the doctrine of our Lord's simple Humanity, 
 and holding an Arian theory as to His exaltation 
 and glory. He refused to say anything of Substitu- 
 tion or Satisfaction ; but he believed in some kind of 
 Atonement, and, though denying Predestination, he 
 interwove the doctrine of philosophical Free-will into 
 the web of his speculations. 
 
 " Although Dr. Price's middle scheme seems to 
 have been better received by the Trinitarians than 
 the Socinians, it had but little effect in satisfying 
 either of them." l 
 
 Whilst an intimate friend of Lord Shelburne, Price 
 was shunned by Dr. Johnson ; and at Oxford the 
 latter left a room as soon as Price entered it Praised 
 by friends, he was denounced by enemies. Priestley, 
 at Dr. Price's funeral, eulogized him as a patriot and 
 philosopher, a paragon of virtue and religion. Burke 
 described him as connected with "intriguing philo- 
 sophers and political theologians," and painted scenes 
 of desolation and misery as the practical outcome 
 of speculations such as his. 2 
 
 Howard could have no sympathy in Price's dis- 
 tinctive views. Yet it seems that with aberrations 
 from orthodoxy the latter combined singular fervour 
 
 1 Memoirs of Dr. Price, by William Morgan, p. 1 10. 
 
 2 Reflections on the Revolution in France.
 
 AUTHORSHIP. 273 
 
 in devotion, 1 and this might the more endear him to 
 the intensely Evangelical philanthropist. A friend- 
 ship undoubtedly existed between them, arising out 
 of early association in Mr. Eames's Academy, and 
 fostered by intercourse, when the two were living as 
 neighbours at Stoke Newington. Such a friendship 
 is remarkable, and perhaps was not approved by 
 zealots in opposite camps ; but it shows the breadth 
 of Howard's social affections, and how he could 
 embrace in fraternal love persons whose intellectual 
 apprehensions and whose religious peculiarities dif- 
 fered from his own. Dr. Stennett remarks: "His 
 candour, as might naturally be expected in a man 
 of his exemplary piety, was great. As he steadily 
 adhered to his religious principles, so he abhorred 
 bigotry. Having met with difficulties in his inquiries 
 after truth, he knew how to make allowance for those 
 who met with the same." 3 
 
 Howard was largely assisted by Dr. Price. " I am 
 ashamed," he says, " 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 Provi- 
 dence, 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." Our author 
 received further assistance. He chose for his printer 
 a Mr. Eyres, of Warrington, in Lancashire, " induced 
 by various elegant specimens which had issued from 
 his press," 3 and because there the printing could be 
 
 1 Priestley's Funeral Sermon for Price, p. 19. 
 
 2 Funeral Sermon by Dr. Stennett, preached at Little Wild 
 Street. 
 
 3 Aiken, p. 62. 
 
 T
 
 274 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 executed under his own inspection. But an addi- 
 tional attraction appears in the family of the Aikens, 
 who then resided there. 
 
 The Aikens, on the mother's side, descended from 
 Sir Francis Wingate, who lived in the neighbourhood 
 of Bedford, and owes his notice in history to the dis- 
 creditable fact of his committing John Bunyan to 
 Bedford Gaol. A daughter of this knightly Justice 
 was married by a Nonconformist minister, named 
 Jennings, tutor to Dr. Doddridge, who succeeded him 
 as superintendent of his Academy. Doddridge fell in 
 love with Jennings' daughter Jane, when she was only 
 fifteen ; but the young lady gave her heart and hand, 
 not to him, but to John Aiken, who became Doctor 
 of Divinity, and was placed at the head of a distant 
 Academical Institution at Warrington. Jane had a 
 brother, Francis Jennings, a brewer at Bedford, who 
 communed with the Church where Howard attended 
 Divine worship, and who offended some precise fellow 
 members by wearing red slippers his wife aggra- 
 vating the offence by the profusion of ringlets which 
 adorned her neck. Howard probably became first 
 acquainted with the Aikens through the Jennings' 
 connection at Bedford, 1 and it has been lately stated, 2 
 that after the death of his Henrietta, he made an 
 offer to Ann Letitia, the daughter of Dr. Aiken, after- 
 wards the well-known Mrs. Barbauld. This lady, in 
 after life, was very fascinating, but her girlhood must 
 have been peculiar; for when a young gentleman 
 
 1 This circumstance was suggested to me by my friend the 
 Rev. John Brown, of Bedford, and the suggestion is confirmed 
 in " Memories of Seventy Years," recently published. 
 
 1 In the publication just referred to.
 
 AUTHORSHIP. 275 
 
 went into her father's garden to woo the damsel, she 
 climbed up a tree and disappeared on the other side 
 of the garden wall. 1 If Howard really did make her 
 an offer, it is to be hoped she treated him in a dif- 
 ferent way. Certainly he knew, and I have no doubt 
 admired, that remarkable woman. She married Mr. 
 Barbauld, a Frenchman, and lived at a distance from 
 Warrington when Howard was carrying his book 
 through the press. But in the Aiken circle he would 
 be often present, feeling himself quite at home there. 
 The Warrington Academy " first located in a re- 
 spectable terrace, which stood in a pleasant garden, 
 overlooking the Mersey, a little westward of the 
 Bridge," 2 and afterwards removed to a square in the 
 eastern part of the town had in 1777 seen its best 
 days ; but it continued under the care of Dr. Aiken ; 
 and he and his family formed a centre of social at- 
 traction in the neighbourhood. The Doctor had a 
 son John, who became a physician, and distinguished 
 himself as an author. He it is who, then living at 
 Warrington, assisted Howard in preparing his work 
 for the press. The former, in his memoirs of the latter, 
 makes the following statement : " On his return from 
 his tours, he took all his memorandum-books to an old 
 retired friend of his, who assisted him in methodizing 
 them, and copied out the whole matter in correct lan- 
 guage. They were then put into the hands of Dr. 
 Price, from whom they underwent a revision, and re- 
 ceived occasionally considerable alterations." 3 " With 
 his papers thus corrected, Mr. Howard came to the 
 
 1 Memories of Seventy Years, p. 109. 
 
 2 Lancashire Puritanism and Nonconformity, vol. ii., p. 402. 
 
 3 Aiken, p. 64.
 
 276 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 press at Warrington ; and first he read them all over 
 carefully to me, which perusal was repeated sheet by 
 sheet as they were printed. As new facts and obser- 
 vations were continually suggesting themselves 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 oc- 
 casions, such was his diffidence that I found it difficult 
 to make him acquiesce in his own language, when, 
 as frequently happened, it was unexceptionable. Of 
 this additional matter, some was interwoven with the 
 text ; but the greater part was necessarily thrown 
 into notes, which, in some of his volumes, are numer- 
 ous." Aiken informs us further that Howard resided 
 in Warrington during the whole time of printing, 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. 
 
 He took lodgings near the printer's shop, and 
 sometimes rose even as early as two in the morn- 
 ing, because the stillness of the hour favoured him in 
 his work. At seven he dressed. At eight he finished 
 breakfast, and proceeded to the printing office, where 
 he continued several hours, and then took a stroll out 
 of the town, with bread and dried fruit in his pocket. 
 His evenings he spent with friends, then returning to 
 his lodgings, he took tea or coffee, after which he re- 
 tired to rest ; but not until he had engaged with his 
 manservant in family prayer. Such minute particu- 
 lars give a lively picture of the good man at this 
 period of his life ; and we can imagine him passing
 
 A UTHORSHIP. 277 
 
 the pleasant garden on the banks of the Mersey, or 
 entering the Academy House in the Square at the 
 eastern part of the town. 
 
 A stray anecdote is worth picking up in connection 
 with days at Warrington. Once, when leaving the 
 printing office, he heard some oaths and curses ; 
 whereupon, buttoning up his pockets, he 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." 
 
 The particular account of Howard's employment 
 relates to the printing of his first book on " The State 
 of Prisons ; " but as subsequent works were also exe- 
 cuted at Warrington, it may be inferred that the 
 author paid repeated visits to the place. His labours 
 as an author were very considerable. From about 
 1780, they "had been greater than in any former 
 equal period ; yet it could not be expected that the 
 matter absolutely new which he had collected should 
 be proportionably great. It was, however, enough to 
 employ him very closely during several months of 
 the year 1784, in printing an Appendix and a new 
 edition of the main work, in which all the additions 
 were comprised." The last book Howard sent into 
 the world, was his account of the Lazarettos. As 
 Aiken says : " It composes a quarto volume, beauti- 
 fully printed, and decorated with a number of fine 
 plates, which, as usual, are presented to the public ; 
 and so eager are the purchasers of books to partake 
 of the donation, that all the copies were almost im- 
 mediately bought up." l 
 
 1 Aiken, p. 151.
 
 278 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 As so many references have been made to Dr. 
 Aiken, it may be proper to state, that after his 
 father's death, in 1784, the time when Howard was 
 busy with the Appendix, he went to the University 
 at Leyden, and then removed to London in 1792, 
 after Howard's death. He seems to have been of a 
 restless disposition ; for, after commencing practice 
 as a physician in the metropolis, he settled for a while 
 at Yarmouth, where he cultivated acquaintance with 
 the clergy. But friendly relations between him and 
 them ceased in consequence of a pamphlet which he 
 published relative to the Test and Corporation Acts. 
 The effect of this pamphlet was heightened by sym- 
 pathy, which he felt and expressed, in the earliest 
 stages of the French Revolution. 
 
 Aiken, in his " View of the Character of Howard," 
 has much to say of his social, or, as some thought 
 them, unsocial habits. His acquaintance with the 
 subject of his biography was probably confined 
 chiefly, but not entirely, to what they saw of each 
 other at Warrington. The distance of their abodes 
 at other times, and the philanthropist's Continental 
 journeys, must have limited their intercourse to occa- 
 sional opportunities. The biographer speaks of his 
 hero as not very " companionable ; " yet while " he 
 assiduously shunned all engagements which would 
 have involved him in the forms and dissipation of 
 society, he was by no means disinclined to enter 
 into conversations on his particular topics ; on the 
 contrary, he was extremely communicative, and 
 would enliven a small circle with the most entertain- 
 ing relations of his travels and adventures." l And 
 1 Aiken, p. 231.
 
 AUTHORSHIP. 279 
 
 again, " He was fond of nothing so much as the con- 
 versation of women of education and cultivated 
 manners, and studied to attach them by little elegant 
 presents and other marks of attention. Indeed, his 
 soft tones of voice and gentleness of demeanour might 
 be thought to approach somewhat to the effeminate, 
 and would surprise those who had known him only 
 by the energy of his exertions." 
 
 It seems to me, that the writer was here thinking 
 of what he had witnessed at Warrington during 
 Howard's visits, particularly when Mrs. Barbauld was 
 present.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 LATER PRIVATE LIFE. 
 1770-1789. 
 
 CARDINGTON, not Warrington, was Howard's 
 home. We can watch his private habits in that 
 favourite retirement. His memory, wherever he went, 
 constantly carried a number of matters connected 
 with his household and estate ; and he exercised his 
 judgment upon them at a distance, undisturbed by 
 the main scheme of his life. Cutting timber, sorting 
 tiles, preparing lime, underpinning barns, trimming 
 hedges, nailing up matting all manner of minor 
 things he used to think of when far away. Notices 
 of them occur in his letters, and they indicate how 
 much he looked after affairs at home. 
 
 Though Henrietta was gone, he persevered in doing 
 what he knew she liked. When abroad, he continued 
 to devise liberal things for poor neighbours and 
 tenants, such as she would have approved ; and, 
 considering how much his heart and time were en- 
 gaged in greater enterprises, " it was surprising with 
 what minuteness he would send home his directions 
 about his private donations. His schools were con- 
 tinued to the last." l The memory of the departed 
 had for him special charms, and threw a halo round 
 
 1 Aiken, p. 37. 
 280
 
 LATER PRIVATE LIFE. 281 
 
 associated objects. He said to his nephew, as he 
 offered the Cardington residence rent free, " You will 
 find the house and grounds just as they were in your 
 Aunt's time, and I have no doubt you will keep them 
 so." It has been indicated already that he would 
 have nothing touched which bore the impress of her 
 gracious hand. 
 
 Some thought that the widower might one day 
 seek an occupant for the vacant chair beside his 
 solitary hearth. I have repeated a story current in 
 the Aiken circle. There is another to this effect, 
 that once in Holland he sat near an elderly gentle- 
 man, who had with him a young lady somewhat re- 
 sembling Henrietta. So struck was Howard with the 
 likeness, that he set his servant to ascertain who she 
 was. It turned out that she was the elder gentleman's 
 wife! Another anecdote is given. He derived so 
 much pleasure from the works of an unnamed au- 
 thoress, that he made an expedition to the neigh- 
 bourhood where she lived, that he might seek an 
 interview, if private inquiries confirmed his favour- 
 able impression. On reaching his hotel he fell into 
 conversation with some one he had travelled with, 
 from whom he ascertained that the lady had another 
 and a favoured admirer. " His chagrin," it is added, 
 "however, was somewhat lessened by sympathy, 
 when he discovered that his companion, having 
 travelled upon the same errand, was as much dis- 
 appointed as himself." z I mention these stories 
 for what they are worth. Reticence with regard to 
 his own plans, provoked curiosity. Incidents which 
 
 1 Aiken, p. 234. * Field, p. 351.
 
 282 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 really occurred were magnified, and mere imagination 
 at times stood in the place of facts. Had he known 
 all that was said about him, he would have been 
 greatly diverted. 
 
 But whatever questionable things might be ru- 
 moured, this is certain, that he steadily continued 
 dispensing such charities as he had commenced in 
 earlier days. A pleasant instance of thoughtful kind- 
 ness has been related. A journeyman wheelwright 
 succeeded his master in business, and married a re- 
 spectable woman in the parish. Howard was absent 
 at the time, but on his return told the new couple it 
 was not too late to make them a present. Forthwith 
 he ordered his bailiff to look out the best cow in the 
 farmyard, and drive it to the wheelwright's cottage. 
 "On second thoughts," he added, "the poor fellow 
 has nothing to keep her on this winter ; we will keep 
 the cow for him till she has calved." 
 
 It is worth while to add, that Howard never re- 
 turned from distant journeys without bringing pre- 
 sents for his tenantry and servants ; and on visiting 
 the North of England he would buy for them articles 
 of cutlery and other hardware. 
 
 Cardington was no place for sumptuous hospitality. 
 His habits were abstemious ; for he lived upon vege- 
 tables, and " never tasted animal food, not so much 
 as an oyster." Yet "his meals were always served 
 up, whether he had company or was alone, in a style 
 suited to his rank in life ; and those who saw him the 
 most frequently, and under circumstances of strict 
 reserve, declare that they never were in a house 
 where domestic arrangements exhibited more regu- 
 larity and comfort."
 
 LATER PRIVATE LIFE. 283 
 
 A stray anecdote may fitly fall in here. One day 
 an elderly gentleman on horseback, attended by his 
 servant, stopped at an inn in Cardington, and began to 
 catechise the landlord about the merits of this much- 
 talked-of man. " Characters," he said, " often appear 
 very well at a distance, which would not bear close 
 inspection " ; and he had therefore come to Howard's 
 home to ascertain his real character. He went into 
 the garden, saw the dwelling, questioned the house- 
 hold, examined the tenantry, noticed everything he 
 could on the premises, and narrowly examined the 
 interior of the cottages which were built for the tenan- 
 try. The stranger departed, satisfied that Howard at 
 home was the same as Howard abroad. This care- 
 ful inquisitor turned out to be the eccentric Lord 
 Monboddo. 
 
 Howard's sister died in 1777, and left him a house 
 in Great Ormond Street, where he resided when after- 
 wards in London. In the first half of the last century 
 it was a street of fine buildings, that side of it next 
 the fields, being " beyond question one of the most 
 charming situations about town." It runs out of 
 Queen Square, and the immediate neighbourhood is 
 little altered from what it was a hundred years ago ; 
 but it is amusing to read of its side " next the fields," 
 seeing that now it requires a walk of some miles to 
 get into a region such as was then contiguous. The 
 old houses, of which a large majority remain, are tene- 
 ments of a rather ordinary description ; and in one of 
 the most moderate the philanthropist lived, in a style 
 such as is hardly conceivable when we remember who 
 were his neighbours. They included several cele- 
 brities. Dr. Hickes, and Dr. Mead, and Dr. Stukely,
 
 284 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 and the Duke of Powis. There, too, resided the 
 grim Lord Chancellor Thurlow, Cowper's friend ; and ' 
 from his house, one night in 1784, the great seal of 
 England was stolen by burglars, who got in at the 
 window. Probably it was when the Chancellor and 
 the philanthropist were neighbours, that his Lord- 
 ship, in a debate upon the Bill for releasing insol- 
 vent debtors, remarked, "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 conversed with." During 
 Howard's residence in Ormond Street, a woman of 
 rather forbidding appearance made repeated ineffec- 
 tual attempts to gain an interview ; at last she 
 succeeded. He thought from her looks that one of 
 the other sex had come with a mischievous intent. 
 He therefore rang the bell, and told his servant not 
 to leave the room. The stranger turned out to be 
 a woman rather crazed, but an infatuated hero-wor- 
 shipper, who poured out a flood of compliments, and 
 then took her leave, declaring that, as she had seen 
 the object of her admiration, she should go home and 
 die in peace. 
 
 During his occasional residence at the West End 
 he regularly attended Divine worship in Little Wild 
 Street. We can follow him in his Sunday haunts 
 through Bloomsbury Square, which had scarcely 
 ceased to be one of the wonders of the metropolis, 
 to a turning out of Drury Lane, where few vestiges 
 even then remained of the pride and fashion which
 
 LATER PRIVATE LIFE. 285 
 
 marked the neighbourhood before the Revolution. In 
 Wild Street stood a meeting-house with a curious 
 history. It had been a Roman Catholic chapel, first 
 for the Portuguese, and next for the Spanish ambas- 
 sadors ; and, as a Protestant place of worship, it had 
 an endowment for an annual sermon in commemora- 
 tion of the destructive storm in 1703. 
 
 In the rebellion of '45 members of this Church 
 formed themselves into a volunteer corps, and turned 
 their place of worship into a parade ground ; and it 
 may be further noticed as a fact in connection with 
 Howard's shrievalty at Bedford, that a member of 
 the Wild Street Church was one of the gentlemen 
 who, in 1754, refused either to serve as sheriff or to 
 pay a fine of five hundred pounds for not serving. 1 
 
 These traditions were rife in Howard's time, and 
 were often on the lips of old-fashioned folks who 
 frequented the spot 
 
 Holloway, the famous engraver, and Joseph 
 Hughes, afterwards one of the founders and secre- 
 taries of the British and Foreign Bible Society, were 
 Howard's co-worshippers. 
 
 Dr. Stennett was minister, and between him and 
 Howard a warm friendship sprang up, and that is a 
 
 1 Amongst other remarkable members was one Thomas 
 Laugher, born in 1700, and lived till 1812. He remembered 
 having seen Queen Anne go to the House of Peers seated on a 
 pillion behind the Lord Chancellor, and could recollect bread 
 being sold at twopence farthing the quartern loaf, and butcher's 
 meat at a penny a pound. He had a son who died before his 
 father, at the age of eighty. " If," said he, " the young fool had 
 taken so much care of his life as I have, he might now have been 
 alive and hearty."
 
 286 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 reason for noticing the place and the man. He was 
 born at Exeter, and educated by tutors of competent 
 learning. He maintained Nonconformist opinions 
 in an age marked by looseness of principle and 
 eccentricity of opinion ; and though separated from 
 the Established Church, he was free from sectarian 
 bigotry. 
 
 Partaking of the piety which distinguished early 
 Nonconformists, he lamented irregular attendance 
 on worship, and inveighed against conformity to 
 the world. Monkish austerity and criminal indiffer- 
 ence were alike the objects of his aversion. 1 Such a 
 man suited Howard's taste, and, though the latter re- 
 mained an Independent, he identified himself with 
 the Wild Street congregation, contributed to the sup- 
 port of its institutions, and aided in the erection of a 
 new chapel in 1788. 
 
 Howard wrote from Smyrna to his friend, saying : 
 " The principal reason of my writing is most sincerely 
 to thank you for the many pleasant hours I have had 
 in reviewing the notes I have taken of the sermons I 
 have had the happiness to hear under your ministry. 
 These, sir, with many of your petitions in prayer, have 
 been and are my songs in the house of my pilgrim- 
 age. With unabated pleasure I have attended your 
 ministry ; no man ever entered more into my re- 
 ligious sentiments, or more happily expressed them. 
 It was some little disappointment when any one 
 else entered your pulpit. How many Sabbaths have 
 
 1 I here follow the description, and use language employed 
 in a Funeral Sermon for Dr. Stennett, Dr. Kippis, and Dr. 
 Harris, by John Evans. I have also before me "A Brief History 
 of the Baptist Church in Little Wild Street."
 
 LATER PRIVATE LIFE. 287 
 
 I ardently longed to spend in Wild Street ; on those 
 days I generally rest, or, if at sea, keep retired in 
 my little cabin. It is you that preach, and, I bless 
 God, I attend with renewed pleasure. God in Christ 
 is the rock and portion of my soul. I have little 
 more to add. I pray God reward you a thousand- 
 fold." i 
 
 " You know, my friends," said Dr. Stennett in his 
 funeral sermon for Howard, " with what seriousness 
 and devotion he attended for a long course of years 
 on the worship of God among us. It would be scarce 
 decent for me to repeat the affectionate things he 
 says in a letter sent to me from a remote part of the 
 world, respecting the satisfaction and pleasure he had 
 felt in the religious exercises of this place. I shall, 
 however, be excused if I just observe that his hours 
 of religious retirement, whether on land or at sea, 
 were employed in reviewing the notes he had taken 
 of sermons delivered here. 'And these,' adds he, 
 ' are the songs in the house of my pilgrimage. Oh, 
 sir, how many Sabbaths have I ardently longed to 
 spend in Wild Street God in Christ is my rock, the 
 portion of my soul.' " 
 
 Dr. Stennett had a remarkable ancestry. His father, 
 Joseph Stennett, occupied the same pulpit before 
 him ; and his grandfather, another Joseph, was a dis- 
 tinguished seventh-day Baptist in the reign of William 
 IV., celebrated in John Dunton's doggerel as 
 
 " Stennett the patron and the rule of wit, 
 The pulpit's honour and the saints' delight." 
 
 Dr. Stennett, the grandson, was more than fifty 
 1 This letter is printed in the " Brief History."
 
 288 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 years member of the Wild Street Church, and forty- 
 seven of them its minister ; having assisted his father 
 some time before he himself became sole pastor. He 
 published several volumes, amongst them one, once 
 rather popular, on " The Parable of the Sower " ; and 
 historians of Dissent have said, that "in a soft, tender, 
 and insinuating persuasion and influence he was a 
 master." 1 
 
 The decay of the neighbourhood whither Howard 
 wended his way on Sundays has increased since 
 then. Sunday traffic is carried on there now, vege- 
 tables are exposed for sale, and plenty of fowls may 
 be seen feeding on scattered garbage. Amidst it 
 all a Mission Chapel has been built of late on the 
 site of the old meeting-house, where good work is 
 being done. The beneficent spirit of Howard lives 
 in that neighbourhood still. 2 
 
 Having glanced at Howard's private life in Card- 
 ington and London, we turn to look at his appearance 
 and general habits. 
 
 He is described as of middle height, with " a speak- 
 ing" benevolence in his face, and when young de- 
 cidedly handsome. A rude engraving represents 
 him with a wig, cocked hat in hand, ruffles at the 
 wrists, buckles on his shoes, and in attitude resem- 
 bling a polite Frenchman. He is thus portrayed by 
 one who knew him. " Personally, John Howard was 
 about the middle size, stout and well-made, dark 
 complexion, with dark quick eyes and aquiline nose. 
 
 1 Bogue and Bennett, Hist, of Dissenters, vol. ii., p. 650. 
 
 2 Lord Justice Lush, as a young man, worshipped in Wild 
 Street ; and it is to his family that the work here noted is chiefly 
 owing.
 
 LATER PRIVATE LIFE. 289 
 
 He used to wear a bag wig, and had much the air of a 
 foreigner." l 
 
 William Brodie Gurney, the short-hand writer, and 
 one of the founders of the Sunday School Union, de- 
 lighted to tell how, when a boy, he had seen Howard 
 " in his pepper-and-salt coat, scarlet waistcoat, and 
 cocked hat." 
 
 His voice, which was musical, his countenance 
 combining humour and gravity, his manner of con- 
 versation, at once courteous and courageous, attracted 
 the timid and over-awed the bold. Above all, he had 
 an imperial decision which none could resist. Of his 
 personal influence we have seen a proof in his Savoy 
 prison exploit. Another of a different kind has been 
 recorded. When Ryland, the engraver, was under sen- 
 tence of death for having committed forgery, a gen- 
 tleman told Howard of the mysterious concealment 
 of a servant girl who had lived in the prisoner's fa- 
 mily. What became of her no one could say. The 
 condemned man would give no information. The 
 philanthropist undertook to bring her to her friends 
 in twenty-four hours, and he succeeded. Somehow 
 or other he managed to elicit the secret, and to recover 
 the lost. 
 
 An individual who professed to know him well, 
 tells us, that when Howard travelled it was usually in 
 the public stage or diligence, and that on the road he 
 would sometimes change name and character with the 
 servant who attended him. 
 
 " Persons of all descriptions," he adds, " have obtru- 
 ded themselves into his presence to catch one glance 
 
 1 Cooper MSS. in Bedford Library.
 
 2QO HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 of his features ; and indeed so very troublesome and 
 alarming to him did these frequent visits become, that 
 he at last suspected his life to be endangered by the 
 promiscuous admission of strangers. Some particular 
 publications of the Bastille which he had procured 
 under the disguise of an old fruit-woman, and at the 
 immediate hazard of his life, and which he had 
 printed gave rise to his fears." 
 
 It is also said, by the same authority, " He was 
 invited by Mr. B. Pryce, of Wilton, to dine at his 
 house ; and, as an inducement, that gentleman spoke 
 of the painting and sculpture at Wilton House as 
 worthy of attention. Howard politely assured him 
 ' that he never stopped to see any famous houses or 
 the curiosities they contained.' " 1 
 
 I feel hesitatipn in repeating these stories. They 
 contain possibly some grains of truth ; at all events 
 they show the interest taken by contemporaries in 
 the private habits of this extraordinary man. But I 
 am satisfied we are on sure ground in what now fol- 
 lows. "No time was lost with him," says his faith- 
 ful servant, John Prole, "but improved for the most 
 valuable purposes." 2 He calculated how long it 
 would take to walk or ride to fulfil an engagement 
 with such nicety that he seldom was a second behind. 
 The brisk step which tradition ascribes was significant 
 of his active mind ; the neatness of his person and 
 the order of his apparel also corresponded with the 
 
 1 "Anecdotes of the Life and Character of John Howard, Esq., 
 F.R.S., written by a gentleman whose acquaintance with that 
 celebrated philanthropist gave him an opportunity of learning 
 particulars not generally known." 
 
 2 A Father's Legacy to his Children.
 
 LATER PRIVATE LIFE. 291 
 
 method of his plans and the regularity of his life. 
 And with all his self-sacrificing devotion, he did not 
 lack a wise measure of prudence and precaution. 
 When visiting prisons, he used to smell vinegar and 
 change his apparel ; and he was careful, as he states, 
 never to enter an hospital before breakfast, and in 
 offensive rooms never to draw his breath deeply. 
 Moreover he had a great distaste for luxuries. " No 
 parade of equipage, or outward appearance," to quote 
 again the words of his attendant, " no superfluities nor 
 indulgences in eating or drinking ; but the strictest ab- 
 stinence from everything that could in the least be a let 
 or hindrance to him in performing 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." 1 I may add, that he 
 was entitled to be called a teetotaller and vegetarian. 
 "Animal foods and fermented and spirituous drinks 
 he utterly discarded from his diet. Water and the 
 plainest vegetables sufficed him. Milk, tea, butter, 
 and fruit were his luxuries ; and he was equally 
 sparing in the quantity of food and indifferent as to 
 the stated times of taking it. Thus he found his 
 wants supplied in almost every place where man 
 existed, and was as well provided in the posadas 
 of Spain and caravanseras of Turkey as in the 
 inns and hotels of England and France. Water 
 was one of his principal necessaries, for he was a 
 very Mussulman in his ablutions; and if nicety or 
 delicacy had place with him in any respect, it was 
 in the perfect cleanliness of his whole person." 3 
 1 A Father's Legacy to his Children. 2 Aiken, p. 222.
 
 292 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 He could endure what would have been insupport- 
 able to most men. In some of his journeys he was 
 subject to distressing privations, to protracted fatigue, 
 to painful illness. We have seen how he travelled off 
 a fit of the ague when travelling in Russia, and how 
 in the Venetian lazaretto, lying amidst water, he em- 
 ployed his time in translating and abridging the rules 
 of the establishment. When from home, he sent letters 
 full of minute directions to his servant, respecting his 
 property. Of this habit I give an example : 
 
 " JOHN PROLE, I suppose the posts and rails are 
 down ; the quick and hollies all planted ; and that 
 the carpenters at Fenlake are off. Desire Sharp to 
 cut the hedge in Allen Brown's close, as also that at 
 the upper end of Smith's close ; the same as he has 
 done all along the road side. 
 
 " Let Mr. Easton go on with the finishing Calle- 
 man's house, by putting up the doors, shelves, closets, 
 dressers, etc. ; and to put down the new posts and 
 gates at your pickle ; before which, tell John Joice 
 and Thomas James to range the posts and rails 
 between Gulliver's and the new gates, by putting 
 them more back in the close, as I ordered and their 
 own view will direct, as this post wants coming about 
 a foot out. Tell Mr. Calleman to put down the 
 stones and slabs you brought ; and then, from the 
 front of one of the houses, the width of the stone 
 before the door, dig two spit of mould out of the 
 intended palisade doorway. Carry the mould to 
 the new hedge and then gravel it as a footpath to 
 the house. Let it be done by a line. The four or 
 five load of gravel may be dug from the pit in the
 
 LATER PRIVATE LIFE. 293 
 
 close. Let it be done to either house that I may see 
 it when I come down, which cannot possibly be next 
 week ; but it will be the week after, when I can stay 
 to see very little done, as many affairs take up my 
 time and thoughts. The well, the side of Calleman's 
 house dig out and finish by putting the pump (Mrs. 
 Thody's) down, as it suits to have the labourers. 
 Give yourselves room and do it at once (getting it as 
 deep as possible) by Joe and two or three more 
 hands at work ; the kerb bricks, etc., being all ready 
 for it. Write on Tuesday or Wednesday. Let me 
 know how much wheat and barley we have. Let Joe 
 thresh all the oats out. When will he probably 
 finish ? It is time, the first dry weather, to get the 
 rood of potatoes planted. Be particular as to the 
 quantity. The yard is not now so littery, if Conquest 
 has been a couple of days since. 
 
 " I enclosed 10, so you have 20 5^. 8d. in hand. 
 Never hardly was known such a time, nobody will 
 part with any money ; the American War, unjust 
 and cruel, has brought the nation into contempt, and 
 many individuals to poverty and misery. You will 
 get Mr. Green's and Mr. Coombs' bills. I will pay 
 and settle everything before I go on my arduous 
 task. Did I not stay myself on a better strength, 
 wisdom, and righteousness than my own, I should 
 faint. I do see my danger by the commotions in 
 Europe, but I bless God my spirits do not fail me. 
 " Yours, 
 
 "J. HOWARD." 1 
 
 1 I copied this from an autograph in the possession of my 
 friend the late Sir Charles Reed. Pickle means, enclosure.
 
 294 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Several things are remarkable in this letter. The 
 distinct view which our practical farmer has of his 
 estate, so that it lies like a map before him and he 
 can point to each part without any hesitation ; the 
 clear directions, in spite of confused grammar, which 
 he gives to Prole respecting what ought to be done 
 on the farm ; the trust in Providence, which cannot 
 be concealed even in a letter consisting of orders to 
 a servant ; and an under-current touching the great 
 enterprise of his life. Prison journeys, surrounded by 
 perils, were ever within his view. 
 
 He was singularly modest, forming a low estimate 
 of his own character. " I am not at all angry," he 
 once wrote, " 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. The 
 whole conduct of this matter must be ascribed to 
 Providence alone ; and God by me intimates to the 
 world, however weak and unworthy I am, that He 
 espouses the cause, and to Him, to Him alone, be the 
 praise." 
 
 He shrunk from publicity, and uniformly com- 
 bated arguments against his scrupulous dislike of it. 
 That dislike, his friend Mr. Smith felt sure, " did not 
 arise from false modesty, or even from any reserve of 
 disposition, but from truly Christian principles, as he 
 would come forward with great readiness and energy 
 whenever he thought he could render a service to his 
 fellow-creatures." 
 
 He never wished to be known beyond a circle of 
 chosen friends. These were but few. It is remarkable,
 
 LATER PRIVATE LIFE. 295 
 
 that one who occupied so prominent a position on the 
 Continent as well as in England, and could not but 
 have an immense number of casual acquaintances, 
 should have so small a number of intimate associates. 
 The Whitbread family, his pastors Symonds and 
 Smith, with Dr. Stennett and Dr. Price, the Aikens, 
 and perhaps two or three more, exhaust the list. In 
 harmony with the habit which made him shrink from 
 observation during his lifetime, he did all he could 
 to prevent notice being taken of him after his death. 
 Some of his last days were spent in destroying letters 
 and papers which would have been most valuable in 
 the preparation of his Memoirs. 
 
 As we have seen, he knew John Wesley ; and we 
 meet with him in 1789, calling at City Road Chapel 
 House, to present a copy of the book on Lazarettos. 
 The busy preacher and ecclesiastic was not at home. 
 The author left this message, " Present my respects 
 and love to Mr. Wesley, tell him I had hoped to see 
 him once more perhaps we may meet again in this 
 world, but if not, we shall meet, I trust, in a better." l 
 Wesley was then eighty-six. Howard but sixty-one. 
 There is no account of their meeting afterwards. 
 The next year, in January, the latter was in his 
 Russian grave: the former expired in 1791, aged 
 eighty-eight 
 
 Dr. Lettsom was a distinguished physician, born on 
 a small island of the Atlantic, and sent to England 
 for his education. Here he was received into a family 
 in which a celebrated Quaker minister happened to 
 be residing ; and in process of time the young visitor 
 
 1 Quoted in Tyerman's Life of Wesley, vol. iii., p. 495.
 
 296 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 adopted the tenets of this zealous and persuasive 
 person. An old engraving represents him as a rather 
 prim-looking gentleman in a neatly curled wig, a 
 plain cravat, and a collarless coat. Nichols, the his- 
 torian of eighteenth century worthies in literature, 
 boasts of his undeviating friendship, which had 
 afforded " most grateful and rational enjoyment," and 
 pronounces him "an ornament to society, the liberal 
 friend to merit, and an example of beneficence to 
 every avenue of human distress." " He was equally 
 distinguished for public and private benevolence, and 
 for every species of useful exertion, both in the 
 medical profession and as a member of society at 
 large." 1 In illustration of his character there is 
 related an " extraordinary and well-founded fact, of 
 his having been attacked on Finchley Common by 
 a highwayman, with whom his remonstrances and 
 pecuniary assistance operated so powerfully, that in 
 the result a public robber, impelled to transgression 
 by extremity of want, was converted into a useful 
 member of society." This incident was such as to 
 delight Howard. Dr. Lettsom had a villa at Grove 
 Hill, Camberwell, then a charming rural suburb, 
 eulogized in " an elegant poem " of the period, which 
 describes the interesting scenery and the beautiful 
 landscapes with which it abounded. A museum of 
 natural history, a botanical garden, and a rich library 
 attracted to his residence the virtuosi of the day. 
 Perhaps Howard, who does not seem to have cared 
 much for such objects, never visited " this terrestrial 
 Elysium," but he was one of Lettsom's acquaintances 
 and correspondents. 
 
 1 Nichols' Literary History, vol. ii., p. 657.
 
 LATER PRIVATE LIFE. 297 
 
 It was Lettsom who, in co-operation with the 
 literary printer John Nichols, and a Dr. Warren, not 
 mentioned by Fame, started the idea of a monument. 
 Lettsom, in writing to the typographer when sending 
 a subscription, observes : 
 
 "Persuaded as I am, that his character and writings 
 will survive the most durable monument of friend- 
 ship ; yet such an example of approbation appears to 
 me calculated to promote many beneficial purposes, 
 though it cannot augment the zeal of this amiable 
 man in the pursuit of lessening human misery. 
 Public approbation of private and public virtues, 
 whilst it acknowledges a debt due to intrinsic merit, 
 reflects the highest honour on the community ; for to 
 reward virtue is a pleasing proof of its prevalence, 
 and that it does prevail, the monument of Howard 
 will testify. Virtue, whether shining in the public 
 walks of life, or emitting the soft rays of human bene- 
 volence in the dungeons of misery, will ever obtain 
 its own reward beyond all the powers of sculpture; 
 but to exhibit that evidence to the public, to excite 
 emulation in virtuous pursuits, and to induce specta- 
 tors to go and do likewise, nothing seems more con- 
 ducive than a monument to Howard. The present 
 moment, during his absence in Turkey, is the most 
 proper to accomplish such a design. With goodness 
 of heart, he unites exemplary humility, and a perfec- 
 tion of mind rarely equalled is veiled by a modesty 
 that shuns praise and adulation ; but the public 
 applause, which is due to great and virtuous actions, 
 cannot be ungrateful to the God-like breast of 
 Howard." l 
 
 1 Nichols' Literary History, vol. ii., p. 682.
 
 298 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Lettsom called on Howard, to overcome his ob- 
 stinate scruples to accept this public testimonial ; but 
 all in vain. Two or three hours' attempted persuasion 
 produced not the slightest effect. 
 
 Capel Loft, who patronized rising merit and cheered 
 the heart of Kirke White by his sympathy and praise, 
 when stung by the attacks of heartless reviewers, is 
 also numbered in the circle of Howard's acquaint- 
 ances. Another is found in the famous Dr. Warton, 
 historian and critic of English poetry ; and of this 
 fact I find a memento in a copy of the " State of 
 Prisons," now on the shelf of the Athenaeum Club 
 Library, containing an inscription of his name as a 
 " friend," written by the author. Another literary man 
 Hayley, author of the " Life of Cowper," belonged 
 to the class of Howard's admirers ; and this is 
 demonstrated in an anonymous book entitled : " The 
 Eulogies of Howard : a Vision " a singularly strange 
 production. " I am," says Hayley, writing in 1791, 
 "particularly desirous that the author of the little 
 work I have mentioned may for the present remain 
 unknown. That it may not appear even at the press 
 in my hand, I must still detain the manuscript about 
 a week, till I can get it copied under my own roof. I 
 flatter myself, however, you will receive pleasure when 
 I tell you that the chief aim of this performance is to 
 honour the memory of our departed friend, the ex- 
 cellent Howard, with a view to quicken and extend 
 the generosity of the nation in subscribing to his 
 monument." The work is in prose, and entitled " The 
 Eulogies of Howard : a Vision." " To show how 
 much all ranks of men are interested in his glory, I 
 have represented, in this visionary form, persons of
 
 LATER PRIVATE LIFE. 299 
 
 different professions pronouncing different panegyrics 
 on his incomparable character. The work altogether 
 does not amount to a hundred pages." * 
 
 This curious letter is addressed to Mr. Nichols; 
 and in an earlier one, dated 1789, Hayley mentions 
 a printer's proof of " The Young Widow," a novel he 
 had written, saying, " If it be ready, be so good as to 
 despatch it by Tuesday's coach, with a line to tell 
 me if you received my letter to Mr. Howard, and if 
 it has found him in England." The absurd vision 
 represents Heaven, where eulogies are pronounced on 
 the philanthropist, and a funeral sermon is delivered. 
 
 Here, before I proceed any further, I may fittingly 
 introduce the sequel of Howard's sad domestic 
 story ; and it is a painful task. His son when about 
 nine years old, just as his father had determined to 
 travel abroad, was placed in an Academy at Pinner, 
 no long drive from the residence of his aunt, then 
 living in Ormond Street. With his aunt the boy 
 spent his holidays during his parent's absence. About 
 the time of her death he was removed to an Academy 
 at Daventry, which had been under the care of Dr. 
 Doddridge, at Northampton. To this circumstance, 
 it may be, we are to attribute the once current report 
 that Howard purposed making his son an Indepen- 
 dent minister. As John Howard's father had sent 
 him as a lay pupil to an academy for the education 
 of ministers, so John Howard himself sent his boy to 
 an institution of the same kind. Neither of them, 
 in doing this, thought of the holy office. When the 
 boy went to Daventry he was too young for his father 
 
 1 Nichols' Literary History, vol. iv., p. 741.
 
 300 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 to have a purpose in that direction. But this should 
 be noticed : the tutor, Mr. Robins eulogized by 
 Robert Hall, for " delicacy of taste and elegance of 
 diction," and as having imparted to that great pulpit 
 orator his first perception of those qualities, as he 
 heard him preach must have been a teacher of no 
 mean order, and the lad, therefore, enjoyed dis- 
 tinguished advantages. During his parent's absence 
 he had the additional benefit of Mr. Smith's care ; 
 that gentleman " considering him a charge over which 
 he was bound to watch with as unceasing a solicitude 
 as he felt for his own children. He, therefore, at his 
 father's request, often wrote to him at school, giving 
 him the same excellent advice as was contained in 
 the very affectionate letters which that father himself 
 frequently addressed to him during the course of his 
 various tours." l 
 
 At this early period there is no reason to doubt 
 the boy's filial affection. Though he had been taught 
 to submit implicitly to parental commands, he had 
 loved as well as feared his father, and was accus- 
 tomed, at a later period, to speak of him with rever- 
 ence. But an evil power, so it is said, worked in a 
 contrary direction. A servant named Thomasson, 
 standing high in Howard's estimation, gained an as- 
 cendency over the stripling, and turned it to the 
 worst of purposes. When the latter was rising out 
 of boyhood, the former led him into temptation. In 
 London, at Ormond Street, he had opportunities of 
 doing so ; and he employed them, we are assured, 
 in a manner truly diabolical. Nor were there wanting 
 
 1 Brown, p. 406.
 
 LATER PRIVATE LIFE. 301 
 
 people who, looking with a jealous eye on the far- 
 famed parent, insinuated that he was spending money 
 upon amiable eccentricities, which ought to be saved 
 for his son and heir. To the credit of the misguided 
 youth, however, it is recorded that he said himself 
 when such insinuations reached his ear, " What good 
 can I do with money, which will bear any comparison 
 with the good he has done ? " Howard became too 
 late aware of what went on ; and when his son was 
 eighteen or nineteen, he took him to Edinburgh, 
 and placed him under the care of Dr. Blacklock. 
 But habits of dissipation had taken too strong a hold 
 to be destroyed, or even checked, by judicious dis- 
 cipline. He is described as having been, at that time, 
 "a fine, tall, pleasing, and promising young man." 
 Soon afterwards signs of mental aberration made 
 their appearance. These were betrayed in his inter- 
 course with fellow-students ; " but whatever was the 
 prevailing disposition of the moment, if the name 
 of his father was mentioned he never failed to mani- 
 fest the strongest degree of filial affection, and spoke 
 of him with that exultation which manifested the 
 pride he took in his descent." Removed from Edin- 
 burgh, he came to reside at Cardington, where he 
 lived in greater style than ever his father did. 
 
 Now came a change of disposition. He could not 
 bear his father's expostulations, he had independent 
 property, and therefore did not rely upon resources 
 beyond his own ; yet no open breach occurred, for 
 when, in 1784, he entered St. John's College, Cam- 
 bridge, as a gentleman commoner, his father intro- 
 duced him to particular friends, including the Baptist 
 minister, Robert Robinson, predecessor of Robert
 
 302 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Hall, in the University town. In spite of all that 
 could be done, young Howard became worse and 
 worse ; insanity took a decided form. He vexed the 
 authorities, frightened the gownsmen, played mad 
 tricks in the neighbourhood, turned against his 
 friends, became the enemy of his tempter and alto- 
 gether behaved in such a way, that the maternal 
 uncles engaged two keepers from an asylum to re- 
 move the young man to Cardington, where he was 
 kept under restraint. 
 
 Of course, Howard has been reproached for what 
 happened. Many think that personal superinten- 
 dence of his son's education might have prevented 
 the mischief that home interests were neglected, 
 and that therefore the child of his beloved wife fell 
 into evil hands. The fact is, Howard, feeling himself 
 called to fulfil a mission which took him far from 
 home, it was a matter of necessity, if he obeyed the 
 call, that he should devolve the education of his son 
 on other people. Whether, for the sake of one's own 
 child, a work for the welfare of multitudes in all 
 coming time should be set aside, is a case on which 
 different persons would give different opinions. But 
 no one reflecting on the habits of Howard's mind 
 and the peculiar genius of his character leading him 
 to sacrifice the individual to the universal, will wonder 
 at the conviction which he formed of his own duty. 
 At the same time, it is plain he did not think his 
 son's proper education need be neglected. Nor can 
 he be charged with omitting such attention to his 
 son as philanthropic toils allowed. His letters and 
 memoranda, when abroad, contain proofs how near 
 his heart lay the welfare of the child ; for a man who
 
 LATER PRIVATE LIFE. 303 
 
 used terms of endearment as real coin, not as mere 
 counters, could scarcely be wanting in parental at- 
 tachment. That the son, whilst sane, felt convinced 
 of his affectionate solicitude, is evident from the fact 
 that, when once asked whether his father would not 
 be angry, he answered, " Not angry, but unhappy? 
 
 Yet, after all, whilst admitting what may be urged 
 in Howard's excuse, I am constrained to say that he 
 thought too much of parental authority as being 
 absolute kingship, to which implicit submission was 
 due ; and further, I confess that his idea of the end 
 of education, as being to teach obedience rather than 
 to inspire love, is not the true idea. Therefore I 
 must think that in this respect he erred, yet that he 
 was cruel appears entirely false. 
 
 A distinction is to be made between the man and 
 his method. He is to be judged by the times iri 
 which he lived, his method is to be judged by un- 
 changeable principles. In his day, ideas of parental 
 and school discipline were different from what they 
 happily are now. They were based more on the in- 
 spiration of fear than on the inspiration of love. They 
 were stern, rather than amiable. A father was a 
 ruler, the child a subject; a schoolmaster wielded 
 the rod, a pupil expected stripes. There was no 
 mutual confidence. Busby, not Arnold, was a type 
 of past pedagogues. This must be remembered. In 
 prison management Howard was above his age, in 
 educational rule he was on a level with it. Much 
 may be said in excuse of the man, nothing in excuse 
 of the system. 
 
 A letter published not long ago for the first time, 
 brings to light the condition of Howard's private
 
 304 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 affairs in 1785. Not from a profuse expenditure in 
 housekeeping, or on works of art, but from his 
 "reforming schemes," as he called them, he antici- 
 pated pecuniary difficulties. 
 
 In a letter from Cardington, written on June the 
 2 1st, of the year just mentioned, he entrusted Mr. 
 Whitbread with " a secret," namely that about 
 Christmas he would probably take a final leave of 
 Cardington. He adds, "You might guess, that prior 
 to my sister's death, I was somewhat involved by my 
 reforming schemes. Her death, and her great kind- 
 ness to me, 1 enlarged my ideas, and I persevered ; 
 though I foresaw the prosecution thereof would 
 prevent my living in the easy manner I had done. 
 Viewing the great expense thereof, and knowing that 
 with my very moderate parts, nothing but a long and 
 continued application to the subject would carry me 
 through it, I did not allow myself my natural rest, and 
 for some years hardly the necessaries of life. I quitted 
 my town house (where I know not that there were 
 a dozen joints of meat in the seven years) and came 
 to Cardington. Some money I have laid out in 
 necessary repairs, and every bill was paid to Lady 
 day ; but I do see that with strictest economy here, 
 my expenses will exceed my actual certain income, 
 so I propose living in some airy lodgings in town, 
 and perhaps, with my attendance on the hospitals 
 of which I am Governor, I may wear out my life 
 usefully." 
 
 Mr. Whitbread replied that the news "struck him 
 
 1 She bequeathed him about ,20,000, as well as the house 
 in Ormond Street.
 
 LATER PRIVATE LIFE. 305 
 
 like an alarum bell," adding, "it requires revising 
 again and again." Howard did not finally leave 
 Cardington, probably influenced by his friend's wise 
 expostulations. 
 
 A letter at a later period addressed by him to the 
 same gentleman, indicates the strong determination 
 Howard felt to accomplish his last great journey : 
 
 "Affliction you know I have, but I am not cast 
 down, and I shall face every danger with calmness 
 and resolution; and should it please God to give me 
 the health and strength I now enjoy, I shall endea- 
 vour to take a far more extensive journey than I 
 have yet taken. As to a return to my own country, 
 there is little probability of it. I have a firm and 
 fixed determination, and that tried at the bar of a 
 calm judgment, that a retirement to ease would be 
 cowardly, sinful, and base. The season of zeal and 
 activity is passing away, and fain would I give some 
 check to greater ravages than any occasioned by 
 the destructive weapons of war. Harriet 1 and my 
 younger friends will rank me with enthusiasts ; but 
 probably that they have long done ; yet have 
 patience with me, for finis coronat opus"* 
 
 Shortly before Howard left Cardington for the last 
 time, an incident occurred in the Whitbread family 
 calculated to give him pleasure. His young friend, 
 Samuel Whitbread, had been educated at Eton, and 
 then removed to St. John's College, Cambridge. He 
 came of age in 1778 ; and probably it was some- 
 where about that time that he made the grand tour 
 
 1 Mr. Whitbread's daughter. 
 
 2 This letter is dated, Cork, May I2th, 1788. 
 
 X
 
 306 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 of Europe under the companionship of a gentleman 
 afterwards known as Archdeacon Coxe. Coxe was 
 a great Whig, and in politics agreed with John 
 Howard ; and beforehand, as well as when they were 
 on their travels, Howard would be sure to feel an 
 interest in the plans and adventures of the tourists, 
 being himself so well acquainted with their route. 
 But the event to which I more particularly refer, is 
 the marriage in 1789 of Mr. Whitbread. He then 
 was united to Lady Elizabeth, eldest daughter of 
 the first Earl Grey ; and six years later the lady's 
 brother, Sir Charles, married the bridegroom's sister. 
 In 1790 Mr. Whitbread, the son, entered Parliament 
 as member for the borough of Steyning, and distin- 
 guished himself as a strenuous supporter of the Whig 
 party. Such an event would probably be anticipated 
 by Howard ; and when his eyes were for ever closed, 
 the rising statesman did not fail to mark the phil- 
 anthropist's memory with expressions of love and 
 honour. 
 
 This chapter may be fitly closed with an extract 
 from a letter written by Lucy Aiken, daughter of 
 John Aiken, M.D., and niece of Mrs. Barbauld : 
 
 " Several months ago you asked me whether I had 
 not seen Howard, the patriarch of English philan- 
 thropists. I answered that I had ; and that, eight 
 years' child as .1 was, I retained the most distinct 
 recollection of his person, his manners, and his 
 interesting conversation with us children, to whom 
 he was ever full of kindness. 
 
 "It was in the summer of 1789 that John Howard, 
 previous to setting out on his last mission, passed ten 
 days at Yarmouth in consultation with my father.
 
 LATER PRIVATE LIFE, 307 
 
 Child as I was, the impression he made on me was 
 indelible : a small man, brisk in his movements, 
 with a lively eye and expressive countenance, ex- 
 tremely fond of children, and entertaining them with 
 narrations fitted to them. His image is still before 
 
 my eyes." l 
 
 Memories of Seventy Years.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 HIS LAST JOURNEY. 
 1789, 1790. 
 
 HOWARD determined on another expedition 
 to foreign fields. His object not definitely 
 indicated by himself, but guessed at by intimate 
 friends seems to have been to explore regions 
 entirely new to him, such as Asiatic Turkey, the 
 land of Egypt, and the coasts of Barbary ; and 
 also, by retraversing old ground, to detect aspects of 
 things he had before overlooked, and to gather fresh 
 material for enforcing lessons of improvement. " If 
 to these motives be added the long-formed habitude 
 of pursuing a certain track of inquiry, and an in- 
 quietude of mind proceeding from domestic mis- 
 fortune, no cause will be left to wonder at so speedy 
 a renewal of his toils and dangers." l 
 
 It is sometimes given to the children of mortality 
 to detect in the distance a gathering of the death 
 cloud. The dark shadow is discerned moving across 
 the landscape. Howard was one in whom this pre- 
 sentiment was strong. Even in his second book on 
 prisons, when announcing his intention to revisit 
 Russia and other countries, he remarked he was not 
 
 1 Aiken, p. 184.
 
 HIS LAST JOURNEY. 309 
 
 insensible of the dangers attending the journey, yet 
 he could calmly resign himself to the disposal of 
 unerring Wisdom. " Should it please God," he went 
 on to say, "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." 
 
 The apprehension which he publicly avowed was 
 privately expressed in more touching tones. To one 
 he said, " If we never meet each other more below, I 
 trust we shall meet in heaven " ; to another, " 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 " ; to a third, " We shall soon meet in 
 heaven, and the way to heaven from Grand Cairo 
 is as near as from London " ; to a fourth, " 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, I am 
 quite resigned to the will of God." It is remarkable 
 that amongst the countries where he anticipated 
 danger, it does not appear that he mentioned Russia. 
 
 Before his departure, he made a will specifying 
 certain characteristic bequests. A considerable part 
 of his property, after providing for his son, he left to 
 the poor. It included a donation of five pounds each 
 to ten Cardington cottagers who had not been in an 
 alehouse for twelve months preceding his death; a
 
 310 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 like donation to ten poor families who had been 
 most constant in attending Divine worship during 
 the same period ; and fifty pounds to the poor of 
 the parish " where he married his last invaluable 
 wife." His servants were all remembered. His body 
 was to be buried wherever he died, and the cost of 
 the funeral was not to exceed ten or fifteen guineas. 
 By a codicil he directed five hundred pounds to be 
 applied for alleviating the miseries of public prisons. 1 
 He gave directions to his friend and pastor, Mr. 
 Smith, as to the text from which he was to preach a 
 funeral sermon, in case of the journey proving fatal. 
 The text is the last verse of the seventeenth psalm. 
 " That text," said he, " is the most appropriate to my 
 feelings of any I know, for I can indeed join with the 
 Psalmist in saying, ' As for me, I will behold Thy 
 face in righteousness : I shall be satisfied, when I 
 awake, with Thy likeness.' At the same time he laid 
 a strong embargo on any attempt to hold him up to 
 the admiration of survivors." 
 
 There were many leave-takings on the eve of this 
 last journey. Among the letters of Ridley, the mar- 
 tyr, is one written on the eve of his fiery trial, in which 
 he reviews scenes and companions much endeared, 
 
 1 " When Mr. Howard was making his will, and had named 
 all his relations, his legal adviser said to him, ' Whose name 
 shall we add as your heir, in case all these should die ? ' Mr. 
 Howard replied, turning to Mr. Whitbread, who had entered 
 the room, ' My friend here ; I will leave it to his second son.' 
 Mr. Howard's relations died, and my father, Samuel Charles 
 Whitbread, the second surviving son, inherited Mr. Howard's 
 property at Cardington." I give this interesting anecdote as 
 communicated to me by Miss Whitbread, who resides in the 
 Cardington House.
 
 HIS LAST JO URNE Y. 311 
 
 and by name bids farewell to each. It is unutterably 
 solemn this shaking hands with old friends, and 
 especially with Time itself, the oldest of all, under 
 the shadow of the eternal doorway. Howard seems 
 to have gone about in a very tender, subdued spirit, 
 bidding good-bye to one after another, especially the 
 members of the Whitbread family. He had a loving 
 interview with Mr. Smith, in which he commended 
 to him the oversight of the Cardington schools. The 
 last night he walked round the dear old garden, with 
 Joshua Crockford, and took a parting look at the firs 
 planted by Henrietta, thinking that now at last 
 everything had been arranged as she would have 
 liked. He called at John Prole's cottage and gave 
 the good wife two relics her lady's miniature, and a 
 little tea-caddy. Such treasures were carefully pre- 
 served, and more than sixty years afterwards were 
 publicly exhibited at Bedford in Howard's Chapel, 
 as the meeting-house where he worshipped came to 
 be called. Mention was made of an ivory thimble 
 which Howard had carved in early days and given 
 to Henrietta before her marriage, being found in a 
 work-box after her death. It was bestowed on her 
 lady's-maid as an heirloom. It remained in the pos- 
 session of the Prole family. 
 
 Howard set out on horseback for London accom- 
 panied by the faithful old servant, to whose dame, 
 already enriched with presents, the master gave a 
 guinea in compensation, as he said, for her husband's 
 loss of time. So he rode away for ever. Arrived 
 in London, he sent back his trusty domestic, saying, 
 "John, these two horses are yours when you get 
 home " ; and to this gift he added a large parcel of
 
 312 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 tea and sugar for his wife, who was a favourite with 
 Howard as she had been with his wife. 
 
 It is a great mystery, after reading the accounts 
 by Howard's biographers of Thomasson having been 
 the ruin of the son, to find in the will, made when 
 all the mischief had been done, and within a year of 
 Howard's death, this same Thomasson named as 
 an annuitant of ten pounds for life. It is even still 
 more strange, to find this man accompanying his 
 master in the last journey abroad, and attending him 
 in his dying moments, apparently without having 
 forfeited his confidence. It would seem, from these 
 circumstances, that the father could not have believed 
 reports about him circulated by fellow-servants and 
 other persons ; but the puzzle involved in the affair 
 no one has explained, and we must leave it as it is, 
 amongst the hidden things of this world. 
 
 It is, however, to be remembered, that the evidence 
 against Thomasson rested on incidents of misbe- 
 haviour and treachery of which his master had no 
 personal cognisance, that Thomasson, before his 
 misconduct, had been a favourite servant, possessed 
 of his master's confidence, that, afterwards, when sus- 
 pected by people about him, he would cunningly 
 do all he could to retain his master's good-will, that 
 the testimony of other servants against him might 
 be put down to the account of either prejudice or 
 jealousy, and finally, that there was this peculiarity in 
 Howard he had a high opinion of his own judgment, 
 paid little attention to what other people said, if he 
 did not like it, and made up his mind upon what 
 he saw, or could ascertain by personal investiga- 
 tions.
 
 HIS LAST JOURNEY. 
 
 Early in July, 1789, he embarked for Holland, and 
 on reaching the capital, wrote to Mr. Whitbread. 
 
 "Amsterdam, July \Qth, 1789. 
 
 " As to my affairs, I am perfectly easy about them. 
 Having food and raiment, I trust I shall be content. 
 I have lately seen how unfit I am to bustle in the 
 world. My affairs are pretty clear." 
 
 From Amsterdam he travelled to Utrecht; and 
 the subject at that time uppermost in his mind, ap- 
 pears in his note-book. " 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 particular place, 
 as perhaps in Egypt or the coast of Barbary. Im- 
 portant is the inquiry whether it is ever found thus 
 to arise spontaneously. But as to the nature or cause 
 of this malady, I don't entertain much hope of seeing 
 that investigated and ascertained with precision, any 
 more than the essence or cause of the small-pox or 
 measles. 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." 
 
 Whilst at Utrecht, he departed from his usual 
 practice of declining invitations to dinner. His friend 
 Dr. Brown, under whose roof he sojourned, relates 
 the following incident : 
 
 "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
 
 314 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Ceylon. I had the honour of his particular acquaint- 
 ance ; and he expressed to me the strong desire he 
 felt to be introduced to Mr. Howard, though, as he 
 was confined to his 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 de- 
 scribed this gentleman to me, I will depart from my 
 rule ; and if he does me the honour of asking me to 
 dinner, I will certainly accept the invitation.' This 
 reply I reported to Mr. Loten, and he sent an im- 
 mediate invitation to Mr. Howard, who dined with 
 him accordingly, though without violating his con- 
 stant regimen, in abstaining from animal food and 
 wine." l 
 
 Leaving Utrecht, he went to Osnaburgh in Ger- 
 many, to find prisoners in noxious cells, ironed hand 
 and foot ; and to Hanover, to find torture perpetuated 
 a circumstance which so depressed him that he 
 exclaimed, " 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 my- 
 self wholly to this work." 
 
 At Brunswick, he learned that eighteen years had 
 elapsed since torture was practised, and the chamber 
 had not since been opened. 
 
 He called on a public executioner an official 
 holding a different position from his pitiable compeers 
 
 1 Brown, p. 564.
 
 HIS LAST JOURNEY. 315 
 
 in this country 1 and saw horrid instruments, then 
 unused. The man seems to have been very com- 
 municative on points connected with his dreadful 
 calling, and informed his visitor that he had " been 
 several years in that occupation at Hanover, though 
 here," in Brunswick, " he had only beheaded four or 
 five." On his being asked if nothing was put into a 
 tortured person's mouth, he replied, " No ; the Osna- 
 burgh executioner thinks they suffer less," and on 
 his describing some, modes "which the art of devils 
 and men had invented," he said, " Sir, the Osnaburgh 
 torture is still ruder." 
 
 Places next mentioned are Berlin, where men and 
 women were seen marching about in " the Spanish 
 mantle ; " and Spandau, where he met with an 
 Englishman as gaoler ; and Konisberg, where people 
 were sent "to perish from nastiness and neglect." 
 He begged that irons might be taken off some who 
 were dying ; and says the very magistrates who 
 accompanied him " were covered with vermin." At 
 Riga, he entered within the Russian confines. Here, 
 in the military hospital, he found "three hundred sick, 
 crammed into two dirty and offensive wards ; " and 
 he learned, without surprise, that five hundred recruits 
 had lately died there. Men with slit nostrils and 
 scarred cheeks appeared in a prison ten miles from 
 Riga ; and he was told how the head knout-master 
 at St. Petersburg had quarrelled with two of his 
 colleagues, and had struck off the heads of both, in a 
 
 1 I remember lighting some time ago upon a funeral sermon 
 preached by a German divine on the death of an executioner, 
 in which he is described as an important functionary, and as 
 having been a most exemplary character.
 
 316 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 fit of passion. For this, he was sentenced to two 
 hundred and seventy strokes of the knout, and im- 
 prisonment for the rest of life. 
 
 Together with the nature of the plague, the subject 
 of vegetable diet occupied much of his attention ; and 
 at Riga he wrote in his pocket-book on the 23rd 
 of August, 1 " I am firmly persuaded, as to the 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 a 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 for 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 place 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, 
 
 1 This and other extracts from the pocket-book are given by 
 Brown, and repeated by Field.
 
 HIS LAST JOURNEY. 317 
 
 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." 
 
 Here, simply for his own use, he refers to a 
 Covenant made at home with God long before : and 
 he now devoutly renews it in a land of strangers. 
 
 At St. Petersburg he found things much in the 
 same state as they had been eight years before, 
 except that a new House of Correction was almost 
 finished. In hospitals judicious improvements had 
 taken place. He inspected the Foundling and 
 another Institute for the practice of inoculation; and 
 with regard to opinions of what he saw, the travel- 
 ling critic was as outspoken as usual. The Marine 
 Hospital at Cronstadt appeared to him worse than 
 ever. He wrote home to Mr. Whitbread, " Let us, 
 my dear friend, think of the mercies of so long a life, 
 and offer up songs of praise. Our souls break ' the 
 mist of human things' and know their emptiness. 
 Ere long we shall be gathered to our fathers, not 
 scattered and lost in the abyss of annihilation, for 
 we know that our Redeemer liveth ; we are going 
 to a land peopled with our fathers and our kindred 
 and the friends of our youth. This makes us, even 
 amidst our doubts and fears, cry out, 'I would not 
 live always.' " 
 
 " St. Petersburg. Sunday, Sept. 6th, 1789." 
 
 He proceeded to Moscow, with which Englishmen 
 are now much better acquainted than they were then. 
 In a prison he noticed the want of bedding for the
 
 3i8 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 sick, though in one room were eighty-eight men, 
 several of them in a state of high fever ; prisoners 
 subsisted on charitable contributions, and did not 
 seem to be in lack of necessaries. " Hence," he says, 
 " I conclude that the nation is humane ; and in 
 travelling through a great tract of the country, the 
 peasants appear to me of a kind and hospitable 
 disposition." One prison he saw, he pronounced "a 
 disgrace to any civilized country." 
 
 From Moscow he wrote to Dr. Price. The letter 
 contained a notice of his plans, and a forewarning of 
 his fate " 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. I labour to convey 
 the torch of philanthropy into these distant regions, 
 as in God's hands 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 quite 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 hope of 
 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." 
 
 In this journey, as in others, he diverged from his 
 intended route, and hastened through the deserts of 
 Tartary to the Euxine Sea. 
 
 Vast plans rose on his mind : one country after
 
 HIS LAST JOURNEY. 319 
 
 another, one city after another opened before him, 
 but he would first see more of Russian hospitals. So 
 he accomplished a long, dreary journey to Crements- 
 chuok, on the banks of the river Dnieper, proceeding 
 thence to Cherson. 
 
 - Cherson, or Kherson, is a town near the mouth 
 of the Dnieper on the shores of the Black Sea. It 
 was built by Prince Potemkin so late as 1778 ; and 
 in Howard's time, though young, was of importance, 
 but it declined as Odessa rose. It consists of four 
 divisions the Citadel, the Admiralty, the Greek 
 suburb, and the military suburb. The population, 
 thirty years ago, amounted to thirty thousand. It 
 has a Cathedral, Courts of Justice, and Government 
 offices, with extensive docks and barracks. In the 
 eyes of Englishmen it possesses a claim to particular 
 notice from its connection with Howard in his last 
 days ; and what we know of it forms the background 
 of our final story. 
 
 He wrote from this place to Mr. Whitbread, 
 
 " Cherson in Tartary, Nov. i^th, 1789. 
 " I was somewhat sensible of the dangers I had to 
 encounter and the hardships I had to endure in a 
 journey thirteen or fourteen hundred miles with only 
 my servant. I went on pretty well till on the 
 borders of Tartary, when, as I depended on my 
 patent chain, my great trunk and hat-box were cut 
 off from behind my chaise. It was midnight, and 
 both of us having travelled for four nights, were fast 
 asleep. However we soon discovered it, and having 
 soon recovered the shock, I went back directly to 
 the suspected house and ran in among ten or twelve
 
 320 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 of the banditti. At break of day I had some secured, 
 and search made; my hat-box was found, but my 
 great trunk I almost despaired of, though I stayed 
 before the door in my chaise two days. Providentially 
 the fourth day it was found by a peasant. The brass 
 nails glistened in a part where the oilskin was worn. 
 His oxen would not go on, he beat them, but they 
 would not go on, he then saw something, but durst 
 not approach till another peasant came up ; when, 
 after signing themselves with the cross, they went up 
 to it and carried it directly to the magistrate of the 
 village. He sent after me to a town about eighty 
 miles off, where I was to stay two or three days, 
 and I returned. I found by my inventory that not a 
 single handkerchief was lost ; and they missed about 
 a hundred guineas in a paper, in the middle of the 
 trunk. My return stunned them, all would have 
 been moved off before light. I have broken up the 
 band ; four will go into I am well. 
 
 " The wild Cossacks who live underground in the 
 Crimea, must look sharp if they rob me, as I will not 
 go to sleep any night on the road, and I am well 
 armed. I am persuaded no hurry or fear will be on 
 my mind. My journey, I still think, will engage me 
 for three years ; and as I have a year's work in Eng- 
 land, I think little of Cardington. 
 
 " The land for several hundred miles is the finest 
 garden mould, not a stone mixed with it, not a single 
 tree, nor any inhabitants. A person may have any 
 quantity for ten years, and after that, by paying the 
 Empress fifteen roubles (about if guineas) a year. 
 Fine haystacks a person showed me ; two-thirds he 
 took, and one-third he gave the Empress, but no rent."
 
 HIS LAST JO URNE Y. 321 
 
 A fragment from a letter written at Cherson, dated 
 November i/th, has been preserved, in which he says, 
 "Many here are shivering with the ague, and a 
 morass of twenty miles is before my window. I 
 give the ounce of bark and drachm of snakeroot 
 and wormwood, which has not failed me once." He 
 goes on to say, seventy thousand recruits had died 
 in Russia the preceding year. 
 
 In Cherson he received a newspaper in which he 
 read with joy an account of the fall of the Bastille ; 
 presently we find him plunging again into prison work, 
 and off through a treeless country to a place he calls 
 Witowka, where he saw "many brave fellows who 
 had fought well for their country before Otschakov, 
 suffered to perish with filth, neglect, and vermin." 
 Others were lying dead by the road side. He 
 laboriously sought, first to measure, and next to 
 remedy the distressing evils before him ; and, though 
 he had to deal with people who, as he suspected, 
 were ready to impose on him, he succeeded to some 
 extent in his benevolent designs. At this time, in 
 a more than usually pathetic vein, he expressed his 
 feelings, dwelling upon the condition of exiles, forced 
 from their homes and dearest connexions, and com- 
 paring them with others, cheerful and happy at a 
 wedding or village festival. " Let them," he says, " be 
 viewed quitting their birth-place, with all their little 
 wardrobe, and their pockets stored with roubles, the 
 gifts of their relations, who never expect to see them 
 more ; now joining their corps in a long march of 
 two or three thousand versts ; their money gone to 
 the officer, who conducts them and defrauds them 
 of the allowance ; arriving fatigued and half-naked 
 
 Y
 
 322 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 in a distant dreary country, and exposed immediately 
 to military hardships with harassed bodies and 
 dejected spirits ; who can wonder that so many 
 droop and die in a short time without any apparent 
 illness ? The devastations ! 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." 
 
 At Cherson, great preparation had been made in 
 expectation of the renowned visitor : the shifting of 
 patients, the coverlids on beds, and the presence of 
 surgeons waiting to receive him, showed an anxiety 
 to make a favourable impression, but he had not 
 faith in his own influence over them. He told the 
 officers, " 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, what he 
 said would have no other effect on them, but to make 
 them despise him ; he should, however, assuredly 
 relate, what he had beheld with so much concern and 
 indignation." 
 
 About that time he wrote the following sentences 
 in his journal : 
 
 " 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 is, His mercy endureth for ever : but I am 
 faint and low, yet I trust in the right way pursuing, 
 though too apt to forget my Almighty Friend and 
 my God. Oh ! my soul, remember and record how 
 often God has sent an answer of peace. Mercies in
 
 HIS LAST JOURNEY. 323 
 
 the most seasonable times, how often, better than 
 thy fears, exceeded thy expectations. Why should I 
 distrust this 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, not to my own strength 
 which is weakness. Help me to glorify Thee on 
 earth, and finish the work Thou givest me to do ; and 
 to Thy name alone be all the praise." 
 
 The last entry in his memorandum book indicates 
 his opinions on the Temperance question. 
 
 " How many patients do I see," he exclaims, " in 
 many disorders, which, I am persuaded proceed from 
 the use of spirituous liquors ! What strict care should 
 be taken that the attendants 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 pro- 
 moting this, I fear I killed half a dozen of them ; or, 
 at least, put them some days sooner out of their 
 misery ! " 
 
 Russia now was at war with Turkey. The fortress 
 of Bender higher up the Dnieper, near which Charles 
 XII. of Sweden found a retreat after the battle of 
 Pultawa in 1709 fell before the victorious arms of the 
 great Northern Power, just after Howard's arrival at 
 Cherson. Pausing in a career of conquest on account 
 of the season, the general allowed his officers to visit 
 the Russian port. Accordingly they flocked into the 
 new city, and were welcomed with rejoicings. Balls, 
 masquerades, and other scenes of gaiety made winter
 
 324 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 evenings bright as day, and filled many a young heart 
 with gladness, soon to be dashed with terrible sorrow. 
 For, as, in Brussels, a midnight dance was followed by 
 death at Waterloo, so, in Cherson, festivities were suc- 
 ceeded by an outbreak of fever, which the soldiers had 
 brought from Bender. A lady of sixteen was attacked, 
 and her friends, hearing of Howard's skill, sent for 
 him. At first, from various unselfish reasons, he hesi- 
 tated to comply, but afterwards he paid her more than 
 one visit, requesting he might be informed of the effect 
 of the medicine he prescribed. A letter to him was 
 delayed for eight days, and when he received it he re- 
 solved at once, on a rainy night intensely cold, to ride 
 to his patient on a dray horse, for he could procure 
 no better animal. He sat down by the bedside and 
 watched her till morning. That day she died ; and 
 at the same time the visitor felt he had caught the 
 fever. 
 
 Returning to Cherson, he remained in his lodging 
 a day or two, after which he was able to visit Admiral 
 Mordvinof. He stayed later than usual, and on 
 reaching home, took sal volatile in a little tea. He 
 appeared better, but soon had a violent attack, accom- 
 panied by fits, which made his face black and his 
 breathing difficult. 
 
 Prince Potemkin sent a physician ; and his friend, 
 Admiral Priestman, paid him assiduous attentions. 
 One day he found him sitting by the stove in his bed- 
 room, exceedingly ill. After a vain attempt by the 
 visitor to rally the patient's spirits, the latter solemnly 
 replied, "Priestman, you style this a dull conversa- 
 tion, and endeavour to divert my mind from dwelling 
 upon death; but I entertain very different sentiments.
 
 HIS LAST JOURNEY. 325 
 
 Death has no terrors for me ; it is an event I always 
 look forward to with cheerfulness, if not with pleasure, 
 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 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 live 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." 
 
 He then gave directions respecting his funeral. 
 " There is a spot near the village of Dauphine, this 
 would suit me nicely ; you know it well, for I have 
 often said 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." 
 
 He further requested that the burial service of the 
 Church of England should be read over his remains. 
 A letter came from England just at the last, contain- 
 ing a hopeful account of his poor son. 
 
 " Is not this comfort for a dying father ? " he 
 exclaimed. 1 
 
 It was the 2Oth of January. The snow was lying 
 1 Brown, pp. 587-589.
 
 326 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 on Russian fields ; cold winds blew round the house ; 
 a few strangers were beside his bed. Admiral Mord- 
 vinof came in to see him. A change had taken 
 place. A messenger rushed for the physician. Ere 
 he came, the object of solicitude had passed into a 
 region of which the Lord of it has said, " There shall 
 be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying ; neither 
 shall there be any more pain." 
 
 The people honoured Howard with general mourn- 
 ing ; but the best tribute to his memory was rendered 
 by peasants and slaves, who wept over him, wondering 
 much how a gentleman should have left the comforts 
 of his home to look after the prisoner and the captive. 
 " On the day appointed for his interment thousands 
 assembled to witness it. The coffin was placed on a 
 bier drawn by six horses. The carriages of the Prince 
 of Moldavia, Admiral Priestman, Admiral Mordvinof, 
 the General and staff officers of the garrison, and 
 the Cherson magistrates and merchants followed 
 the remains. A large body of cavalry attended, with 
 other persons on horseback, and two or three thou- 
 sand on foot." l 
 
 Howard's son survived him about nine years. His 
 father's estate descended to the unhappy man, who 
 remained totally incapable of managing his affairs. 
 His uncle, brother of Henrietta Leeds, looked after 
 them ; and account books and letters relating to 
 him and to his property are in the possession of 
 Mr. Whitbread, at Southill. Amongst the papers is 
 an account of money received and paid by the agent 
 at Cardington, showing great care, and that a steady 
 
 1 Clarke's Travels, vol. ii., p. 339. See also pp. 175-179.
 
 HIS LAST JOURNEY. 327 
 
 watch was preserved, all the way through, by the uncle 
 over his subordinate. Letters contain reports of the 
 patient's state of mind and body. Now he appears 
 in a frantic condition, and then in a state of sullen 
 obstinacy, refusing every kind of food. Nourishment 
 had to be administered by force. Health wavered, 
 now better, then worse, until death put a period 
 to miseries which had covered the greater portion 
 of his life. Particulars were carefully given by Mr. 
 Leeds to the person employed to conduct the funeral ; 
 and the uncle appeared anxious to carry out what he 
 judged would have been the wish of the parent had 
 he survived his son. He was buried at Cardington, 
 near his mother. Their names are united with that 
 of the philanthropist on a tablet in the Parish 
 Church : 
 
 "John Howard, only son and heir of J. and Henrietta How- 
 ard, died the 24th of April, 1799, aged 34 years. In hope of a 
 resurrection to eternal life through the mercy of God, through 
 Jesus Christ, rests the mortal part of Henrietta Howard, wife of 
 John Howard, daughter of J. Edward Leeds, Esq., of Croxton, 
 in Cambridgeshire, who died the 3ist of March, 1765, aged 39. 
 ' She opened her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue was 
 the law of kindness.' Proverbs xxxi. 26. 
 
 "John Howard died at.Cherson, in Russian Tartary, January 
 2ist, 1790, aged 64. Christ is my hope." 
 
 Howard's friend, Mr. Whitbread the elder, died in 
 1796, and was interred in his family vault. Not far 
 from it, in Cardington Church, is an elaborate monu- 
 ment, designed by Bacon, representing the deceased 
 in the attitude of prayer. The dying man's left hand 
 extends to an open Bible, which is on the floor, and 
 his finger is on the passage, " I am the resurrection
 
 328 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 and the life : he that believeth in Me, though he were 
 dead, yet shall he live." Underneath is the following 
 inscription : 
 
 " Sacred to the memory of Samuel Whitbread, Esq., who was 
 born in this parish, August 2oth, 1720 ; and died at Bedwell 
 Park, in Hertfordshire, June nth, 1796. By the indefatigable 
 exertions of honest industry he acquired an ample fortune, 
 which his large but discriminating generosity rendered service- 
 able to the encouragement of virtue, the diffusion of knowledge, 
 and the relief of the afflicted. He was humane without weak- 
 ness, liberal without prodigality, and religious without bigotry 
 or ostentation. He endeavoured to live as all men when they 
 are about to die would wish they had done, and died in the 
 earnest hope and firm belief of a resurrection to eternal life." 
 
 In the same aisle is also a monument to the 
 memory of the popular statesman who, like his 
 father, was one of Howard's friends. The monu- 
 ment is surmounted by figures of a man and woman 
 kneeling, the latter leaning on the former. The fol- 
 lowing inscription is on the slab : 
 
 " To the memory of Samuel Whitbread, of Southill, in this 
 County, only son of Samuel Whitbread, of Bedwell Park, Hert- 
 fordshire, born 1 8th January, 1764 ; married 27th January, 
 1788 ; died 6th July, 1815. Elected Member of Parliament for 
 the Borough of Bedford, 1790, which Borough he represented 
 to the time of his death. A statesman of unblemished integrity, 
 a roan of truth, constancy, and virtue ; he loved freedom and 
 peace, and applied in their behalf talents, eloquence, energy, 
 and perseverance ; sincere in his attachment to the Christian 
 faith, he abhorred all persecution as unwise, unjust, and un- 
 righteous ; he never relaxed in his endeavours to promote the 
 extension of religious and political liberty. Those who looked 
 to him followed him as a faithful guide, those who differed from 
 him, respected him as an honest man. Also to the memory of 
 Elizabeth, his wife, daughter of Charles, 1st Earl Grey, born 7th
 
 HIS LAST JOURNEY. 329 
 
 April, 1765, died 28th November, 1846. She was pious, virtuous, 
 and charitable. Her duties were pleasures. She drew from her 
 religion her sweetest counsel in prosperity and her chief conso- 
 lation in affliction." 
 
 Howard's death was announced in the Gazette a 
 distinction, it is said, never conferred before on a 
 private person. Unnumbered tributes were paid to 
 his memory, and many laudations sent to periodi- 
 cals never appeared for want of room. Many funeral 
 sermons were preached, and those by Dr. Stennett, 
 Mr. Smith, and Mr. Palmer were published. The 
 last of these preachers remarked, " That others upon 
 his decease would be excited to prosecute some of 
 his schemes for the public good, he himself had a firm 
 persuasion. This made him the less anxious about 
 his own life, which his friends thought of so much 
 importance. In the last conversation I had with him, 
 when I expressed my fears for his safety, and my 
 wishes that he could have been prevailed upon to 
 continue at home, in order to carry into execution 
 the generous plans he had formed for the good of his 
 country, his answer was, ' When I am dead, some- 
 body else will take up the matter and carry it 
 through.' " 
 
 Death having removed the only obstacle to the 
 erection of a monument in his honour, the design 
 was renewed and prosecuted with ardour. Instead of 
 being what so many wished, a statue of the living 
 man, it was a funereal memento in the metropolitan 
 cathedral. 
 
 " The first statue admitted to St. Paul's," observes 
 Dean Milman, " was not that of statesman, warrior, 
 or even of Sovereign ; it was that of John Howard,
 
 330 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 the pilgrim, not to gorgeous shrines of saints 
 and martyrs, not even to holy lands, but to the 
 loathsome depths and darkness of the prisons 
 throughout what called itself the civilized world. 
 Howard first exposed to the shuddering sight of 
 mankind the horrible barbarities, the foul and 
 abominable secrets of those dens of unmitigated 
 suffering. By the exposure, he at least let some 
 light and air into those earthly hells. Perhaps no 
 man has assuaged so much human misery as John 
 Howard; and John Howard rightly took his place 
 at one corner of the dome of St. Paul's, the genuine 
 apostle of Him, among whose titles to our veneration 
 and love, not the least befitting, not the least glorious, 
 was that He went about doing good." 
 
 The following inscription, written by Mr. Whit- 
 bread, the statesman, is engraven on the south side 
 of the pedestal : 
 
 This extraordinary man had the Fortune to be honoured 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 Publick has now consecrated to his Memory.
 
 HIS LAST JOURNEY. 33! 
 
 He was born at Hackney, in the County of Middlesex, 
 
 Sept. ii d , MDCCXXVI. 
 
 The early Part of his Life he spent in Retirement, 
 Residing principally upon his paternal Estate, 
 
 At Cardington, in Bedfordshire ; 
 For which County he served the Office of Sheriff in the 
 
 Year MDCCLXXIII. 
 He expired at Cherson, in Russian Tartary, on the xx th 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. 1 
 
 1 Another inscription has been preserved; and it is interesting 
 from the circumstance that it was composed by the poet Cowper. 
 But it could not have been intended for St. Paul's Cathedral. 
 It relates to a monument intended for his grave, or for one 
 proposed to be erected at Cherson. The following letter and 
 its appendage are printed in "Howard's Correspondence," edited 
 by the Rev. J. Field. It appears as if Bacon, the sculptor, was 
 at work on another monument besides the one intended for the 
 great metropolitan church, and also that the artist had con- 
 sulted the poet respecting the inscription it should bear. 
 
 "West on Underwood. Sept. "jlh, 1790. 
 " DEAR SIR, 
 
 " I have found no need to make a new inscription, your own 
 being, in respect of the matter of it, unimprovable. The 
 alterations that I have made in the expression, I have made 
 merely on this principle, that the merit of all monumental 
 writing consists in a strict adherence to classical neatness of 
 phrase and connection, that the members of which the whole 
 consists may slide harmoniously into each other, and that there 
 may not be one syllable redundant.
 
 32 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 " You will find my labours on the other side, for which I can 
 say nothing, but that I have done my best, which best is always 
 most readily at your service. I am, with Mrs. Unwin's respects, 
 yours, dear Sir, very affectionately, 
 
 "WM. COWPER." 
 
 "JOHN BACON, ESQ." 
 
 Sacred to the Memory of 
 John Howard, 
 
 who 
 devoted life and fortune to the service of his fellow creatures. 
 
 Author of many merciful regulations 
 In the Gaols of his own native England, 
 
 He compassed Europe 
 That he might communicate them 
 
 To other Countries also. 
 Prompted forth a second time 
 
 By the desire and hope 
 
 Of alleviating that dreadful calamity the plague, 
 He terminated his course of benevolence 
 
 at this place, 
 Jan. 9, 1790. Aged 64. 
 
 With many virtues, 
 
 Each worthy of a memorial, 
 
 All springing from the faith and animated by the charity 
 
 of a Christian, 
 He refused a statue at home, 
 
 But has here a monument 
 That posterity may share with us the benefit of his example. 
 
 Whether the letter and inscription relate to a monument 
 placed over his grave, or to one proposed at Cherson, Mr. 
 Field could not ascertain.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HOWARD'S CHARACTER. 
 
 FROM the sketch I have given of Howard's private 
 life, taken in connection with the story of his 
 journeys, we see what manner of man he was. The 
 elements of his character, all which can be attributed 
 to his original constitution of mind and body, to the 
 influence of early circumstances, and to his natural 
 predilections and habits all these are manifest from 
 what has been described in former chapters. 
 
 Such a person could never have been an artist, a 
 poet, or a philosopher. He had not the rich ideality, 
 or the passionate imagination, or the subtlety and 
 comprehensiveness of such gifted children of "the 
 Father of lights." But he might have been a success- 
 ful lawyer, an eminent merchant, an ingenious dis- 
 coverer, a useful statesman, or a distinguished admiral 
 or general. Indeed, looking steadily into the man, one 
 finds that his common sense, his observant mind, his 
 methodical habits, his punctuality and prudence, his 
 activity, enterprise, courage, endurance, and firmness, 
 bear more than a slight resemblance to the qualities 
 of a Wellington. The warrior and the philanthropist 
 were a good deal alike. Out of similar primitive 
 materials were formed the Waterloo soldier and the 
 prison philanthropist. Into such diversified shapes
 
 334 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 can two rough pieces out of the same quarry be hewn 
 and carved. But what was natural in Howard took 
 a different turn from being wrought into what was 
 higher than itself. 
 
 The religious aspect of his character we shall notice 
 presently. 
 
 In the meanwhile he is to be viewed as a Traveller, 
 a Sanitary Reformer, a Statist, a Prison Revolutionist, 
 and a General Philanthropist. \ He made no geographi- 
 cal discoveries, threw no lignt on the habits, the lan- 
 guage, and the physical peculiarities of barbarous 
 races ; did not make observations on the government 
 and laws of civilized Europe ; collected no political 
 information of any kind, and had no power of pictu- 
 resque narrative ; was perhaps incapable of criticizing 
 architecture, statuary, and pictures. But he had a 
 courage like that of wonderful explorers. His jour- 
 neys in Russia with a single servant over thousands 
 of dreary miles and amidst untold privations, are a 
 proof of this. There was in him remarkable curiosity, 
 associated with disregard of peril and persistency in 
 carrying out a purpose on which his will was bent. 
 Witness his visit to the Bastille the only man who 
 ever left it reluctantly his adventures on the way to 
 Marseilles, and his conduct on reaching that port. 
 This especially is to be remembered, that if the pub- 
 lished result of his travels be not an eminently read- 
 able book, if it do not supply philosophical details 
 and principles, or reveal political secrets, it does what 
 far more materially concerns the well-being of man- 
 kind ; for it assists society to reform its greatest ene- 
 -mies, and stimulates people of all descriptions to cul- 
 tivate a spirit of humanity and benevolence.
 
 HOWARD'S CHARACTER. 335 
 
 Sanitary matters were shamefully neglected during 
 the last century. / Such neglect, perpetuated for ages, 
 then reached a frightful culmination. In a total dis- 
 regard of cleanliness we recognise the main causes of 
 pestilential outbreaks such as ever and anon come 
 under our notice as we turn over the chronicles of 
 age after age ; and what renders that disregard the 
 more remarkable is, that at the same time the minu- 
 test attention was paid to the habits of the people in 
 a variety of ways sumptuary laws, interferences with 
 trade, regulations enacted by guilds and companies, 
 and the adoption of merchants' marks with other devices 
 to protect vested interests these were the order of the 
 day. ^Indulgence in dirt was chief amongst English 
 liberties ; and out of abundant dirt sprung abundant 
 disease. The accumulated evils which it produced 
 defy accurate description. House drainage, the state of 
 streets and roads, dens of filth in great cities, tumble- 
 down thatched cottages in the rural districts, were a 
 disgrace to England ; and though in one sense insuf- 
 ferable, they were tolerated without an effort for their 
 removal.] Even in my own time I have witnessed 
 in the northern counties what would seem incredible 
 to the present generation. 
 
 All the more credit then is due to Howard for his 
 sanitary crusade. The cleanliness of prisons was one 
 of the objects he promoted in his prison tours ;lbut 
 it is a great mistake to suppose that those criminal 
 abodes were the exclusive or the principal spheres 
 of that purifying process he sought to promote. In- 
 deed, he began with the cottage and ended with the 
 gaol. With no precedents to guide, with no exten- 
 sive sympathy to encourage, Howard, aided by Whit-
 
 336 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 bread, set to work at Cardington to remove long-con- 
 tinued nuisances, to provide clean and decent dwell- 
 ings, and to transform the whole into a model village. 
 Afterwards, in every visit he paid to prisons, the sani- 
 tary condition of cells and court-yards became an 
 object of careful inquiry, and improvement in these 
 particulars was the subject of his earnest suggestions. 
 A wonderful endeavour after the proper lodgment of 
 the poor is at this moment exciting sympathy and 
 assistance. Outcast London is now filling our news- 
 papers with descriptions and appeals. All this will, 
 we trust, form a volume of sanitary improvement, to 
 which Howard maybe said to have produced a modest 
 but original preface more than a hundred years ago. 
 I Of Howard as a Statist I leave another to speak : 
 
 " We who are now living know that Howard was 
 the founder of an epoch, because we are the witnesses 
 from day to day of the adoption by the State of the 
 very method of procedure which Howard used on the 
 many occasions on which he found work to doj 
 
 " Howard found his first opportunity of rendering a 
 great public service in the year 1756, when he was 
 thirty years old, and soon after his election as a Fellow 
 of the Royal Society. He was captured on the high 
 seas and imprisoned in France, where he shared the 
 sufferings of large numbers of his fellow-countrymen ; 
 but having been liberated on parole, he remained in 
 France till he had made himself master of all the 
 painful facts and figures relating to their captivity. 
 He then came to England, and submitted these facts 
 to the ' Commissioners of Sick and Wounded Sea- 
 men,' who thanked him for his services, and, remon- 
 strating with the French Government, brought about
 
 HOWARD'S CHARACTER. 337 
 
 an exchange of prisoners, and, as I infer, a redress of 
 the grievances that Howard had pointed out. In this 
 instance ^Howard's self-imposed duty began with a 
 most laborious investigation of the facts of the case, 
 and ended when he had placed the matter in the 
 hands of the Commissioners, who proved to be both 
 willing and able to obtain redress.^ 
 
 " Some person among those lookers-on who pro- 
 verbially see more of games than the players them- 
 selves, happens to become cognisant of some cruel 
 injustice, the inheritance perhaps of remote times, 
 the product, may be, of some brisk and thriving in- 
 dustry, and he exposes it. "If there is real ground of 
 complaint, the public is brought to sympathize with 
 the sufferers, the press gives the needful publicity, 
 and possibly some benevolent association lends its 
 support. The subject is brought under the notice of 
 Parliament, or laid before some executive department 
 of the Government. A Parliamentary Committee or 
 a Royal Commission is appointed, witnesses are ex- 
 amined, evidence taken. The results are embodied 
 in a Report. At length an Act of Parliament is 
 passed, and inspectors are appointed, with power in 
 some cases to bring about the punishment of those 
 who neglect its provisions or set them at defiance ; 
 in others, to give, by means of periodical reports, that 
 publicity which either checks malpractices or, point- 
 ing out legislative shortcomings or defects, paves the 
 way for improved legislation. It is by such succes- 
 sive processes as these that our great social evils 
 and wrongs are first exposed, then prohibited, then 
 watched, checked, and destroyed) 
 
 " Now every word of this description applies in 
 
 z
 
 338 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 its full force to the method of procedure of John 
 Howard." 
 
 '"As a Prison Revolutionist he has scarcely been dis- 
 criminately appreciated. Vague eulogiums are pro- 
 nounced on his career, without trouble being taken. to 
 understand wherein lay the strength and value of his 
 life-work. He was far from believing that men and 
 women are mere creatures of circumstance, that their 
 misdoings are mainly the fruits of social wrongs com- 
 mitted from age to age by such as are chiefly rulers of 
 the world. He felt strongly the individual responsi- 
 bility of human beings, that everybody has a personal 
 will, that every one is a free agent. He also was con- 
 vinced that sin and misery, that crime and penalty, 
 are linked together by laws of God as well as by laws 
 of man. He did not adopt modern theories of punish- 
 ment for capital offences ; and he approved, though 
 reluctantly, of the infliction of death on murderers 
 and other extreme felons. He had no notion of pet- 
 ting the condemned, and treating them as if they were 
 heroes. But he felt indignant when he witnessed 
 brutal conduct under the guise of justice. He could 
 not admit that imprisonment, transportation, and 
 death should be executed as if they were acts of 
 vengeful retaliation. He advocated the blending of 
 humanity with justice, and looked upon the sufferings 
 of a culprit as chastisement to be administered in 
 mercy. The reformation of the offender he constantly 
 sought. He aimed at making a prison a school for 
 amendment. It was his cherished maxim, that idle- 
 ness is the mother of crime. " Make them diligent, 
 and they will be honest," he had seen written over 
 the Spin and Rasp Houses of Holland ; and the words 
 never departed from his memory, i
 
 HOWARD'S CHARACTER. 339 
 
 The efficacy of his labours has been thus described 
 by an American at the National Prison Congress : 
 
 "It is wonderful how little of his indignation or 
 wounded sensibility he wasted in the first report of 
 his early experiences, the most disheartening because 
 of their newness, upon words and sentimental re- 
 proaches. His moral fury all went into work. He 
 did not make a moment's parade of his fine feelings, 
 nor call in the neighbours to witness his transports of 
 indignation. He quietly records, for his own use, his 
 distressing observations, and reflects with practical 
 good sense, and without speculative profundity, upon 
 their causes. Strange to say, his personal unsup- 
 ported inspections, without warrant or authority, were 
 not without some immediate effect, for Howard 
 carried in his small and homely stature, a certain 
 grave and potent personality, made up of unaffected 
 earnestness, simplicity of purpose, and religious 
 courage, which awed and commanded from the first, 
 alike prisoners and prison keepers." 
 
 " What other man has made his personality for so 
 many years so directly felt by the very persons for 
 whose improvement and reform he was labouring ? 
 Associated beneficence, deputed and vicarious sacri- 
 fices for the vicious, organized corporations for 
 charity and for reform ; we all know their necessity, 
 their advantages, and their power. But do we not 
 also know their limitations, their dangers, their ex- 
 posures to superficiality and perfunctory work, their 
 tendency to become at last only costly machines, run 
 largely or mainly for the sake of officers who admin- 
 ister them ? John Howard was a sublime exception 
 to the rule which trusts more to the machinery than
 
 340 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 the power that drives it, to the wheels than the spirit 
 in the wheels. His personal labours were as abun- 
 dant as his public reports were few and far between ; 
 his inquiries as minute, special, and particular, as 
 they were numerous, broad, and universal. He swept 
 the whole field, but it was carefully as if he had 'only 
 a single threshing-floor." l 
 
 Of his character as universal philanthropist, numer- 
 ous illustrations have been afforded in the chapter on 
 his private life. Broad in spirit, minute in detail, he 
 sought out the troubles and inconveniences of the 
 poor, with a hand ever open to the bestowment of 
 substantial help as far as resources allowed. His 
 quiet beneficence at Cardington has been eclipsed by 
 brilliant achievements in the great theatre of Europe. 
 Many who have heard of what he did in France, 
 Italy, Spain, and Russia, know nothing of what he 
 accomplished in Bedfordshire. Yet the Cottage 
 Reformer deserves to be remembered as well as the 
 Reformer of Prisons. 
 
 His Evangelical piety has sometimes been repre- 
 sented as if it were enthusiastic and fanatical, a 
 drawback on his character, a blot on his escutcheon. 
 Whereas this really is to be regarded as the main- 
 spring of his vast philanthropy. It was not simply 
 an addition to character otherwise noble. It was the 
 source of that nobility. Religion was everything to 
 him, in his work, his endurance, and his intercourse 
 with mankind. 
 
 Religion was his guide, his stay, his solace, his 
 
 1 John Howard : his Life, Character, and Services. An ad- 
 dress delivered before the International Prison Congress, July, 
 1872. By Henry W. Bellows, of New York, pp. 27, 31.
 
 HOWARD'S CHARACTER. 341 
 
 delight. It was not confined to Sundays and places 
 of worship, but breathed itself over journals and 
 letters, and hallowed the whole breadth of a wonder- 
 ful activity. His devotion, his trust in God, his 
 obedience to Divine precepts, his loving covenants 
 with the supreme Friend of Souls, his steady con- 
 fidence amidst perturbations of circumstance, his in- 
 sight into the spiritual world, his glimpses of celestial 
 scenes flooded with eternal love, meet us ever and 
 anon, as we turn over the modest records of his 
 private spiritual life. Faith in Christianity properly 
 so called, in the glorious Gospel of the blessed God 
 this is conspicuous in his papers. A man must be 
 the best exponent of his own motives and impulses; 
 and Howard ever expresses Evangelical convictions 
 as lying at the basis of his efforts. 
 
 The Bible, in the sum of its revelations, was the 
 guide of his faith, the charter of his joys, the guide of 
 his life ; but he looked on the New Testament as the 
 consummation and finished glory of the Old. He 
 has been described as realizing the ideal of a Hebrew 
 patriarch, devout and dignified. The fact is, he was 
 vastly more of a Christian than a Hebrew. Like 
 Abraham, in his moment of evangelical rapture, he 
 saw " the day of Christ," yet not far off, but near ; 
 "he saw it and was glad." His models were not 
 patriarchs, prophets, and kings, so much as apostles, 
 and their Divine Lord. His precepts were the words 
 of Jesus, rather than the institutes of Moses ; the 
 Spirit which filled his soul was not that which 
 emanated from Sinai, but that which descended at 
 Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. 
 
 In the letters and notes from which most of the
 
 342 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 information in this volume is drawn, are found pas- 
 sages such as the following : 
 
 " God considers what weak creatures we are, there- 
 fore 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 dangers; 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 and brightens every gloomy hour ; disarm- 
 ing 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 degra- 
 dation of human nature, our inability to restore our- 
 selves, our need of a Mediator, and of Divine aid, 
 are doctrines which strike at the root of vain glory. 
 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, infallible 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 con- 
 venience of others. Our conveniences should give 
 place to the necessities of others. And even our ne- 
 cessities 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 
 confidence in that unseen Power, to believe in hope,
 
 HOWARD'S CHARACTER. 343 
 
 as the Lord orders all things ; therefore I leave every- 
 thing to Him, trusting He will always give His angels 
 charge concerning me, and then I am equally safe in 
 every place; therefore I will fear no evil, for Thou art 
 my God." 
 
 In other memorandum-books the following passages 
 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 everlasting strength. I come to the 
 throne of God for mercy and help in time of need, 
 and that I might 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 approach- 
 ing." "My desire is to be washed, cleansed, and 
 justified in the blood of Christ, and to dedicate myself 
 to that Saviour who has bought us with a price." 
 
 Howard felt he was saved by Divine grace, and for 
 the glory of that grace he lived and died. It is re- 
 markable that of the great enterprise of his life, as 
 far as the matter related to himself, he felt disin- 
 clined to talk. He would not dwell on his own 
 achievements. He did not derive satisfaction from 
 that source. His eye was fixed, not on his own
 
 344 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 philanthropy, but on Divine love, which he fervently 
 adored. Visiting the prisoner was only a specific form 
 into which his benevolence was shaped. The benevo- 
 lence itself cannot be accounted for except by attri- 
 buting it to the influence of religion. Till a man shall 
 be found without that, doing what he did, or anything 
 like it, Christianity must retain the glory of making 
 him what he became. His philanthropy is the re- 
 flection of that which only one book in the world 
 reveals. 
 
 It is exceedingly unfair to speak of what he did 
 as platform philanthropy, as an anticipation and 
 pattern of Exeter Hall compassion. Yet some have 
 indulged in this strain, who ought to have known 
 better. He did not make appeals to the public to 
 execute what he proposed, nor even to help him in 
 his efforts. He worked alone, draining his own purse 
 for needed supplies. No contrast, as to modes of 
 operation, can be greater than between the course he 
 pursued and that adopted in later times. Societies 
 have their place, and some of them are due to his 
 inspiration ; but he himself preferred to stand on his 
 own foundation, and to fulfil a mission in his own 
 way. Nor is compassion for the prisoner, pity for 
 the criminal, to be sneered at, as weak sentimental- 
 ism ; for whilst it appeals to our purest natural sym- 
 pathies, it reflects the spirit of that Divine One who 
 devoted His life to the diminution of individual suf- 
 fering, to the seeking and saving of them that are 
 lost. 
 
 The resemblance of Howard to his Divine Master 
 is striking. Well has it been said, "We cannot 
 contemplate the example of Christ without asking,
 
 HOWARD'S CHARACTER. 345 
 
 If He were now living on earth, where should we be 
 obliged to go if we wanted to see Him ? We should 
 have to go to the back streets, and alleys, and courts 
 of our large cities, to the bedside of the untended, 
 uncared-for sick, to the squalid home of poverty 
 and ignorance, to the garret or cellar where father 
 and mother and child are pining and dying for want 
 of bread. This is where Christ would certainly be 
 found." And it was amidst the poor and imprisoned 
 that Howard was to be found. Of those who shall 
 be at the right hand at the last day, to whom will 
 Christ's word be more applicable than to Howard ? 
 " I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat : I was 
 thirsty, and ye gave Me drink : I was a stranger, and 
 ye took Me in : naked, and ye clothed Me : I was 
 sick, and ye visited Me : I was in prison, and ye 
 came unto Me. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto 
 one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done 
 it unto Me." 
 
 In connection with his religious character, it can- 
 not be too distinctly remembered, that it had not in 
 it an atom of bigotry. He had his own theological 
 and ecclesiastical convictions. He acted upon them 
 with consistency ; but he never refused to those who 
 differed from him catholic rights of love and fellow- 
 ship, which the Divine Head of the universal Church 
 has conferred upon all His spiritual followers. His 
 catholicity is conspicuous in an age when sectarian 
 lines were strongly marked, when the opposite of 
 what some now condemn as Latitudinarianism was 
 in the ascendant. An age of intense religious beliefs 
 has not in the past been an age of tolerance and unity, 
 though no religious belief ought to be stronger than
 
 346 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 this that we are all one in Christ Jesus. Such belief, 
 carried to a pitch of intensity, would revolutionize 
 Christendom. Howard had much more of it than 
 most Christians a hundred years ago. His fraterniz- 
 ing with other Churches than his own, and his social 
 friendliness with those from whom he differed on 
 momentous points, are facts which ought to be pon- 
 dered in the present day. 
 
 It is said of a hero amongst the Hebrews, " We 
 shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except 
 we find it against him concerning the law of his 
 God." 1 The same may be said respecting the sub- 
 ject of our memoir. His conscientiousness, some- 
 times thought to be punctiliously scrupulous ; his un- 
 worldliness, by some accused of ascetic excess ; his 
 humility, on certain occasions carried to the length of 
 an unreasonable self-abnegation ; his devotional fer- 
 vour, appearing to unsympathetic minds as enthusi- 
 astic and fanatical these qualities sprung from in- 
 tense religious convictions, from unaffected conscien- 
 tiousness. Not a speck of sin or weakness can be 
 detected on his moral purity, his uprightness, his 
 veracity, and his brotherly love for all mankind. 
 
 The drawbacks of his character are to be attributed 
 wholly to natural eccentricity 2 and to mental mis- 
 judgments. That he was, like other excellent per- 
 
 1 Daniel vi. 5. 
 
 2 A curious instance of his eccentricity occurred at Venice. 
 The Venetians were " astonished at his going about the streets 
 during a hard winter without boots or gaiters, with no great 
 coat, and sometimes even no cravat on ; though at this time 
 the poorest citizen dared not to venture out of doors unless he 
 was almost buried in furs or in broadcloth." Brown, p. 458.
 
 HOWARD'S CHARACTER. 34? 
 
 sons, especially men of independent mind, very odd 
 in certain ways, no one can dispute after reading 
 what has been recorded relative to his habits. The 
 only thing I can find in his character seriously objec- 
 tionable, is the method of domestic education which 
 he felt constrained to adopt. I say felt constrained, 
 for it does not appear to have proceeded at all from 
 the absence of affection and sensibility. Proofs that 
 he loved his unfortunate son are abundant. The 
 child of his Henrietta he regarded with the utmost 
 attachment. But he had a theory of family discipline 
 which, however conscientiously formed, will be ap- 
 proved by only a few in the present day. His idea 
 of obedience was, not the submission of love, but a 
 subjugation of will through the influence of fear, or 
 through the force of authority. But we see in his 
 case, not parental unkindness, not insensibility, not a 
 hard, severe, ungenerous mind only a misjudgment, 
 an unwise opinion. All he did, he really meant to 
 be for his son's good ; and he felt surprised when the 
 result turned out otherwise. As I have intimated 
 already, it can be pleaded in excuse of the mistake, 
 that he carried out persistently, and to an advanced 
 degree, the notion of juvenile discipline then fashion- 
 able in public schools, and in the homes of all classes, 
 especially the uppermost. 
 
 To those whom Divine Providence has placed in 
 circumstances of affluence or of competency, so as 
 to raise them above the need of a trade or profes- 
 sion, he presents a specially appropriate example. It 
 shows how such persons may nobly consecrate their 
 leisure and resources ; and it ought to stimulate them 
 to industry in what Dr. Barrow significantly calls,
 
 348 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 their " particular calling as gentlemen." 1 Yet wealth 
 is far from being a sine qud non for beneficence. 
 Sarah Martin as well as Elizabeth Fry was a heroine 
 in the same list as that graced by Howard's name. 
 
 Further, in an age when association for benevolent 
 purposes is so widely developed and is so liable to 
 abuse when people lean so much on one another, 
 looking for precedents, waiting for examples, tarry- 
 ing on the borders of beneficence till more dari-ng 
 spirits beckon them on, the story of Howard's indi- 
 viduality and independence, shrinking from praise, 
 comes as a corrective. Not that it ought to interfere 
 with united action wisely conceived ; but it ought to 
 supersede feeble developments in the way of servile 
 reliance, by inspiring a manly resolution, guided, not 
 by the doings of others, but by a consciousness of in- 
 dividual power and obligation. In these times, when 
 Christians are fond of having their good deeds re- 
 ported and emblazoned, and when so many are ex- 
 travagantly disposed to raise memorials of persons 
 whom they admire, and not a few are equally glad 
 to receive them, the tale of Howard's self-forgetful- 
 ness supplies a correction, checking base-born pride 
 and bidding every worker look for his reward in the 
 approval of conscience and " the praise of God." 
 
 " Lay me quietly in the earth," said Howard ; 
 " place a sundial on my grave, and let me be forgot- 
 ten." That he cannot be ; but we are constrained to 
 recognise his resemblance to One who " made Him- 
 self of no reputation." 
 
 1 See Barrow's Sermons.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 HOWARD'S MANTLE. 
 
 A GOOD man's influence does not die with him. 
 In Howard's case the fact is conspicuous. Could 
 we collect all instances in which his memory has con- 
 sciously touched ministers of mercy in this world of 
 sorrow, still more, if we could trace all streams of 
 moral power which, flowing from him, have uncon- 
 sciously reached multitudes of workers, the record 
 of these manifold and mysterious impulses would 
 make a marvellous history. 
 
 A few examples may justly close the present volume. 
 
 As early as 1772, a clergyman at Bedford Chapel 
 set on foot subscriptions for the relief of small debtors 
 who were confined in prisons with the vilest criminals. 
 A Society was instituted for its permanent promo- 
 tion, "James Neild, a jeweller in St. James Street 
 who amassed a large fortune and became High 
 Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, was a zealous supporter, 
 and rilled for some years with great success the office 
 of Treasurer. He won the title of a second Howard, 
 and distinguished himself amongst those who were 
 anxious to raise a monument in honour of Howard 
 the first." 
 
 Mr. Neild in 1800 published, "An Account of 
 Persons Confined for Debt in the various Prisons of 
 England and Wales, together with their Provisionary 
 Allowance during Confinement." He states himself
 
 35 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 that during a period of twenty-eight years he visited 
 most of the prisons in England, endeavouring every- 
 where to separate the debtor and vagrant from the 
 abandoned felon. He tells sad stories illustrating the 
 wretched effect of "the laws betwixt debtor and 
 creditor," which he with other wise men anxiously 
 desired to reform. The law of bankruptcy was then 
 on the carpet, as it has been so recently in our time. 
 Ten shillings in the pound would be offered to a 
 creditor and not accepted, and then the money would 
 be spent on the fees, the lodging, and the mainte- 
 nance of the debtor, during perhaps a long incarcera- 
 tion. If, after arresting and putting a man in gaol 
 for what he owed, a creditor forgave the debt, libera- 
 tion did by no means take place as a matter of con- 
 sequence. " No," says the gaoler, " my demand for 
 prison fees and lodgings amounts to so-and-so, and I 
 will detain him till these are paid." Thus a gaoler 
 acted as judge, jury, and executioner ; and this abom- 
 inable system Mr. Neild strove to overturn. Window 
 duty was imposed on prisons, and therefore, for 
 economy's sake, light and air were excluded from the 
 captive's cell. Hence disease was engendered, gaol 
 fevers raged, and this painstaking person, in his be- 
 neficent labours, caught the pestilence, from which 
 he did not recover for twelve months. As he con- 
 templated the Association with which his journeys 
 were connected, he exclaimed with pardonable excite- 
 ment, "This little rivulet shall one day swell into a 
 wide and copious stream that shall diffuse plenty and 
 prosperity on every side of it ; it shall abound like 
 Euphrates and like Jordan in the time of harvest ! " 
 He volunteered, in connection with Sir John Mild-
 
 HOWARD'S MANTLE. 351 
 
 may, in 1802, to examine and report on the manage- 
 ment of convicts in Portsmouth harbour. His per- 
 sistent endeavours after reform put gaolers on the 
 alert, inspiring a salutary fear of being visited ; and 
 so he helped to keep these dismal domains in a state 
 of preparation for the eyes of gaol critics like himself ; 
 and at the same time magistrates were stirred up to 
 make themselves better acquainted than they had 
 been with the inside of a county prison. Mr. Neild's 
 name, coupled with that of Howard, received honour- 
 able mention from judges on the bench ; and better 
 still, gaols at Aylesbury, at Gloucester, at Dorchester, 
 at Chelmsford, and even at Edinburgh, were im- 
 proved, as the result of his influence. 
 
 He seems to have been somewhat eccentric. One 
 day he wrote stating that he had been surprised by 
 receiving a bank note for ;i,ooo in a blank note 
 addressed to James Neild, Esq., Cheyne Walk, 
 Chelsea. He presented it to the Committee of his 
 pet Society, saying it must have been intended for 
 them, he being their Treasurer. Lord Romney was 
 of a different opinion ; but the Treasurer insisted upon 
 the money being thrown into the Society's exchequer. 
 The bank note could not be traced, being of three 
 years' earlier date; and Mr. Nichols informs us, 
 "Happening at that time to be an acting commis- 
 sioner at a public Board of which Mr. Neild was a 
 regular attending member, I saw both the letter and 
 the bank note, and had no doubt of its being a pious 
 fraud of the worthy Treasurer ; in other words, that 
 the thousand pounds was a gift from himself." l 
 
 1 Nichols' Literary History, vol. ii., p. 696.
 
 352 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Mr. Neild died in 1814. A year after, the follow- 
 ing incident occurred. A gentleman named Yenning 
 was attracted by a Society formed at that period 
 under the presidency of the Duke of Gloucester, and 
 having succeeded in reforming some juvenile offend- 
 ers at a time when that was judged hardly possible, 
 he resolved to devote his remaining life to the enter- 
 prise. Proceeding to St. Petersburg with mercantile 
 views, he found so much room for the exertions of a 
 philanthropist, that he totally surrendered his original 
 pursuits, and gave himself over to the work of amelio- 
 rating the national prisons. No personal dangers, 
 and no consideration of ease or wealth, restrained 
 him. He plunged into the receptacles of disease and 
 crime, and by a skilful organization of noblemen of 
 great influence, he was enabled, in a marvellously 
 short time, to correct flagrant abuses. So deep and 
 general was the impression produced by his dis- 
 interested consecration, that when he died of a fever 
 contracted in gaol, shortly after completing the thirty- 
 ninth year of his age, Prince Galitzin, in proposing 
 the monument to his memory which now stands in 
 the Smolenskoi Cemetery, said : " While Russia has 
 to show near one frontier the ashes of his contryman 
 who produced the first traces of amelioration in the 
 condition of prisoners and of the sick and suffering, 
 let her show here the monument of a second Howard, 
 a worthy follower and emulator of the good deeds 
 of the first." 1 Mr. John Yenning, his relative, sym- 
 pathized with him. I had the privilege of knowing 
 this gentleman when I was young, and of visiting him 
 
 1 Knill's Life of Walter Yenning.
 
 HOWARD'S MANTLE. 353 
 
 whilst occupying a large old house in the city of 
 Norwich. He was well acquainted with the Emperor 
 Alexander, and used to relate how his majesty, when 
 driving through the streets without any parade, would 
 pull up his horses and stop to speak with the English 
 merchant. He was an eminent philanthropist, and 
 liberally supported the Bible Society and other reli- 
 gious institutions. 
 
 Upon another man, an eminent Quaker, a French 
 refugee of noble family, Howard's mantle fell. 
 Stephen Grellet was in 1813 led to visit London 
 prisons. First he entered the Compters now abo- 
 lished where offenders were temporarily confined, 
 and was astonished at the number of occupants. In 
 Newgate, accompanied by William Forster, he saw 
 four men under sentence of death, one of them with 
 a wife and two children come for a last dreadful 
 interview. The governor endeavoured to prevent 
 the prison visitor from seeing the women, because 
 they were so riotous and ungovernable. He per- 
 sisted. " They occupied two long rooms, where they 
 slept in three tiers, one on the floor, and two tiers 
 of hammocks over one another. They had the whole 
 soon rolled up, and all the women came together in 
 one room. When I first entered, the foulness of the 
 air was almost insupportable ; and everything that is 
 base and depraved was so strongly depicted on the 
 faces of the women who stood crowded before me, 
 with looks of effrontery, boldness, and wantonness 
 of expression, that for a while my soul was greatly 
 dismayed ; surely then did I witness that the Lord is 
 a refuge and strength, His truth is a shield and 
 buckler." He spoke to them of Christ's love, they 
 
 A A
 
 354 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 hung down their heads and began to weep. Then he 
 inquired after the sick, and discovered " a mass of 
 woe and misery, many lying on the bare floor or on 
 some old straw," and several infants, " born in the 
 prison among them, almost naked." l 
 
 Grellet's Newgate visit was most important, and 
 was followed by memorable consequences. It led to 
 the great mission fulfilled by Elizabeth Fry, Joseph 
 John Gurney, and Thomas Powell Buxton. 
 
 I remember meeting Mrs. Fry in her daughter's 
 house at Kensington, when I felt myself in the 
 presence of an extraordinary person. Her Quaker 
 dress, her muslin cap, her hair parted over her fore- 
 head, her beautiful face, her benignant expression, 
 her musical voice, her queen-like dignity, left an 
 impression which forty years have not effaced. That 
 lady, as everybody knows, carried Howard's work to 
 a point it had not reached before. I had heard much 
 of her when I was a boy at Norwich, and visited 
 Earlham, where she had spent her girlhood amidst 
 gaiety not common in the Society of Friends ; she 
 had received, through the ministry of a Philadelphia 
 Quaker preacher, William Savory, seeds of grace 
 which ripened into a harvest of spiritual good. Ste- 
 phen Grellet told this lady, then become a minister 
 of the Gospel in her own communion, of what he had 
 seen and heard within the walls of Newgate ; and 
 this inspired her with a wish to share in such visita- 
 tion. She went, accompanied by a sister of Thomas 
 Fowell Buxton, and found there three hundred 
 women, with their children, crowded together. The 
 
 1 Memoirs of S. Grellet, vol. L, p. 196.
 
 HOWARD'S MANTLE. 355 
 
 convicted and untried were in the same apartments, 
 without sufficient clothing, living in rags and filth, 
 sleeping at night on the floor, without bed or bed- 
 ding, and spending the day in absolute idleness. 
 They were turbulent, profane, intemperate ; they cla- 
 morously begged of those who came near, and then 
 squandered at the prison tap the alms they had 
 managed to extort. The sight shocked Mrs. Fry. 
 She writes in her journal, " Yesterday we were some 
 hours in Newgate with the poor female felons, 
 attending to their outward necessities ; we had been 
 twice previously. Before we went away, dear Anna 
 Buxton uttered a few words in supplication ; and very 
 unexpectedly to myself I did also. I heard weeping, 
 and I thought they appeared much tendered ; a very 
 solemn quiet was observed ; it was a striking scene, 
 the poor people on their knees around us in their 
 deplorable condition." 
 
 Four years after her first visit, she attempted a 
 more comprehensive and systematic method. Being 
 left alone for some hours with a number of unhappy 
 women, " she read to them the parable of the Lord 
 of the Vineyard in the 2Oth chapter of St. Matthew, 
 and made a few observations to them on the eleventh 
 hour, and on Christ having come to save sinners, even 
 those who might be said to have wasted the greater 
 part of their lives estranged from Him. Some asked 
 who Christ was ; others feared that their day of 
 salvation was past." She talked to mothers about 
 their children, and thus secured an entrance into 
 their hearts. That key to usefulness she well knew 
 how to turn. She proposed to establish a school for 
 these little ones and desired them to select a gover-
 
 356 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 ness of their own, impressing this upon them, that 
 without their co-operation she could do nothing. 
 They chose a mistress. She proved herself equal to 
 the hard task. She had stolen a watch, but was now 
 repentant and reformed. Mrs. Fry attended and 
 formally opened the school, installing the young 
 woman in office ; other ladies joined Mrs. Fry in her 
 new work, and it went on successfully. 
 
 In 1817 there was formed "an Association for the 
 Improvement of the Female Prisoners in Newgate," 
 with these objects, " to provide for the clothing, the 
 instruction, and the employment of the women ; to 
 introduce them to a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, 
 and to form in them, as much as possible, those 
 habits of order, sobriety, and industry, which may 
 render them docile and peaceable while in prison and 
 respectable when they leave it." The Lord Mayor, 
 the Sheriffs, and some Aldermen went at a month's 
 end to ascertain the results. One of the ladies read 
 a chapter. The attention of the women was remark- 
 able, their decent dress, quietness, and decorous 
 behaviour excited astonishment and admiration. The 
 magistrates entrusted these humane visitors with a 
 portion of their own authority, to punish refractory 
 individuals by short confinement. 
 
 The meetings held were much talked of. Described 
 bythe press, they were pictured byartists and engravers. 
 Prints of Mrs. Fry fulfilling her mission, with criminals 
 in front, and the faces of noted Friends and philan- 
 thropists at her side were common in shop windows, and 
 began to decorate the walls of Friends, when pictures 
 were rare in their neat abodes. Grandees thought it 
 a favour to be admitted to these gatherings, and royalty
 
 HOWARD'S MANTLE. 357 
 
 itself was glad to see what was being done in Newgate 
 by the queenly Quakeress. 
 
 Joseph John Gurney,of Earlham Hall, near Norwich, 
 was a younger brother. He had a dignified presence, 
 a pleasant face, a condescendingly courteous manner, 
 a musical voice, and a flowing utterance, indicative of 
 literary culture. Mrs. Fry and her brother were of 
 one mind in reference to prison discipline ; and in 
 their tours for preaching the Gospel, according to the 
 principles of Friends, they steadily persevered in 
 prison visitation. Two memorable journeys they 
 took in the years 1819 and I828. 1 
 
 In 1819 they visited Scotland and the North of 
 England. " They felt themselves much indebted to 
 the magistrates of the towns and districts through 
 which they passed for the kindness and openness 
 with which they received them. They rejoiced that 
 the views entertained by those gentlemen were 
 correct and benevolent ; few evincing any disposition 
 to adhere to the old system, fraught as they had 
 found it to be with accumulated errors and evil 
 consequences. In many places the expediency of 
 erecting prisons on an improved plan was under 
 consideration, and in some they were already in 
 course of building." Thus, after the lapse of more 
 than thirty years, the influence of Howard's visits to 
 
 1 " Prison Discipline. Notes of a Visit to some of the Prisons 
 in Scotland and the North of England in Company with 
 Elizabeth Fry, with some Remarks on Prison Discipline," 1819. 
 
 " Report addressed to the Marquis Wellesley, Lord Lieutenant 
 of Ireland, by Elizabeth Fry and J. J. Gurney, respecting their 
 late Visit to that Country," 1828.
 
 358 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Scotland, and the spirit he had awakened were pro- 
 ducing the desired results. 
 
 But in many of the small boroughs, and even at 
 Haddington, Aberdeen, and Glasgow, gaols " were of 
 the worst possible description." Mr. Gurney depicts 
 the prison of Dunbar in terms similar to those em- 
 ployed by Howard in his early researches : " Small 
 rooms," " extreme filth," " a little straw," " a tub for 
 every dirty purpose" these are the dark colours 
 which he lays on his canvas. Then comes a sketch 
 of Haddington in similar tints : " Miserable cells," 
 "scenes of barbarity," "no clothing allowed," "no 
 medical man, no chaplain," these are the wearisome 
 items, sentence after sentence. But there was this 
 happy circumstance, " Many of the prisons in Scot- 
 land are without any inhabitant." Special reference 
 is made to the treatment of debtors and lunatics. 
 Owing to peculiarities in Scotch law, the former were 
 kept in "durance vile," like the worst of criminals, 
 and their health was exposed to serious injury ; and 
 the latter, though innocent, were placed in prison for 
 want of any other refuge, and treated as if they were 
 felons. " The frequent appeals made by Mrs. Fry in 
 behalf of the insane, and the tenderness with which 
 she treated them when she came in personal contact 
 with those afflicted ones, in prisons or other places, 
 proved how powerfully her heart was touched with 
 compassion for the heaviest of human maladies,. ' the 
 worst of evils,' as she once expressed it, ' to the 
 individual and those connected with him, except 
 sin.' " i 
 
 1 Memoirs of Elizabeth Fry, vol. i., p. 340.
 
 HOWARD'S MANTLE. 359 
 
 The book produced different impressions. Some 
 contradicted certain statements, being annoyed and 
 irritated because responsible for the evils exposed. 
 Others rejoiced that hidden things of darkness were 
 brought to light, for the unveiling of abuses is one 
 step towards reformation. Best of all, the influence 
 of religion promoted the purpose of these benevolent 
 travellers. Mrs. Fry raised her ' voice to proclaim, 
 that reformation, not revenge, is the object of punish- 
 ment, " to be a terror to evil doers, and a praise to 
 them that do well," whilst, in the words of her great 
 Master, she was heard to say, " Neither do I condemn 
 thee : go, and sin no more." l 
 
 In 1827 the sister and brother visited Ireland. At 
 Dublin they began their inspection of prisons. They 
 found vast crowds of criminals without occupation, 
 without instruction, without provided clothing, there- 
 fore half-naked, herded together in great dens. The 
 City Marshalsea was very bad ; the Smithfield Peni- 
 tentiary was in pretty good order. " While we were 
 visiting," says Mr. Gurney, " the judges, then on the 
 bench of a neighbouring court, heard of us, and sent 
 a message to invite us into their presence." The two 
 visitors, in Quaker garb, entered the hall of justice, 
 and sat by the side of their lordships " in the front of 
 a crowded and inquisitive assembly." 2 Afterwards 
 they went to Kilmainham so much talked of in our 
 time and they describe it as " well conducted and 
 superintended," " a contrast to the Dublin Newgate." 
 The prison at Trim, they said, " was once the pride 
 
 1 Memoirs of Elizabeth Fry, vol. i., p. 341. 
 2 Life of J. J. Gurney, by J. B. Braithwaite, vol. i., p. 325.
 
 360 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 of the country, but is now considered one of the 
 worst in Ireland." Such were the fluctuations of 
 prison discipline, showing that a statement in re- 
 ference to one period is no guide to the judgment 
 respecting another. 
 
 The arrival of the travellers at Belfast produced 
 great excitement. Crowds of ladies and gentlemen 
 flocked to meet them ; Presbyterian clergymen, Roman 
 Catholic priests, and Dr. Croly, one of their bishops, 
 were of the number. Mrs. Fry and Mr. Gurney went 
 to the penitentiary, the schools, and the poor-house 
 a place of refuge well managed. They record facts 
 which show that Ireland then was certainly no better 
 than it is now. At Enniskillen, " a populous town 
 prettily situated on the banks of Lough Erne, we 
 visited the infirmary and a very indifferent gaol, in 
 which were six persons under a charge of desperate 
 murder. This is no uncommon crime in Ireland. 
 Deeply settled revenge is in general the cause ; and 
 it is often attended with awful barbarity. I do not 
 exaggerate when I say that we have seen dozens of 
 murderers during the last week. In Roscommon gaol 
 were ten more, for the murder of a member of our 
 society, a mere nominal Friend, who had a quantity 
 of arms in his house, which were in part the object 
 of pursuit. He defended himself vigorously, but it 
 was all in vain. He was shot by the assailants ; and 
 more desperate characters than they appeared to 
 be, I never beheld. At Sligo there was a prisoner 
 who had roasted a poor woman alive. Nothing can 
 exceed the ferocity into which the unbridled passions 
 of this unhappy people lead them, when party spirit 
 has the sway over them."
 
 HOWARD'S MANTLE. 361 
 
 As a set-off it should be noticed that in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Lord Enniskillen's Castle, Florence 
 Court, the peasantry, very numerous, were "well 
 dressed, decent, and intelligent." l 
 
 Again, on their way to Enniskillen, they visited the 
 prison, the lunatic asylum, and infirmary at Lifford, 
 and the prison and infirmary at Omagh. Respecting 
 them Mrs. Fry writes, " We think that in these insti- 
 tutions there is a great spirit of improvement, though 
 some of them remain in a deplorable state. The 
 infirmary we visited to-day was so. I found there a 
 poor patient without any linen, laid between blankets, 
 and in an exceedingly dirty state ; but this is not 
 common, some are in beautiful order." 2 There arose 
 light in the darkness. 
 
 It is curious to find Mr. Gurney saying of Limerick, 
 " Whilst in that city we could a little understand 
 what the Apostle Paul meant by ' being pressed out 
 of measure ;' for the multitudes that came after my 
 dear sister put us to some inconvenience at the 
 prisons." 3 At Carlow there were complaints made 
 by the Catholic priests, that Protestant clergy inter- 
 fered with their prison visitations. They appealed to 
 the Quaker as an umpire. " We happily brought 
 them to terms," he tells us ; "and I went afterwards 
 to the Roman Catholic Bishop Doyle, to get the 
 arrangement confirmed." He gave his full sanction 
 to it. The popularity of these visitors was surprising. 
 " We arrived at Wexford, a large town on the sea- 
 coast, early in the evening, and truly it was an evening 
 
 1 Life of J. J. Gurney, by J. J. Braithwaite, vol. i., p. 340. 
 
 2 Life of Mrs. Fry, vol. ii., p. 36. 3 Ibid., p. 347.
 
 362 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 of overpowering exertion. Crowds were waiting for 
 us at the gaol, at the entry of the town. It was in 
 vain to attempt to pass by it, though a public 
 meeting was appointed for seven o'clock. We visited 
 it, and my sister formed her committee." * 
 
 Mr. Gurney was a general philanthropist ; but the 
 books he wrote on prison discipline show the especial 
 interest he took in that subject, and how plainly 
 Howard's mantle fell on his shoulders. An anecdote 
 related respecting this trait in his character confirms 
 the impression derived from the publications I have 
 noticed. Not long after the first of them appeared, 
 the Mayor and Corporation of Norwich perambulated 
 the boundaries of the county, Norwich being a county 
 as well as a city, and the boundaries running over 
 much rural scenery. One of the lines approached 
 Earlham Hall ; and the hospitable master of the 
 mansion invited the municipal officers and their fol- 
 lowers, to the number of 800, to partake of refresh- 
 ment. Afterwards he made a speech to his guests ; 
 and urged upon the Mayor and Corporation the 
 importance of attending to prison affairs, which had 
 been sadly neglected, and had fallen into a very un- 
 satisfactory state. He told them a new gaol was 
 needed ; that one much better than that they had at 
 present could be easily erected, since much had been 
 accomplished for the improvement of such edifices ; 
 that the whole institution ought to be placed on prin- 
 ciples which reformatory investigation had brought 
 to light ; and that prisoners should be industrially 
 employed, whilst their morals were watched with a 
 
 1 Life of Mrs. Fry., vol. ii., p. 355.
 
 HO WARD? S MANTLE. 363 
 
 view to their correction. He enforced his appeals by 
 referring to the change recently wrought in Newgate 
 through the exertions of a Ladies' Committee, whose 
 proceedings he described. He promised a donation 
 of one hundred pounds towards the object ; and his 
 speech and example are said to have produced some 
 practical fruit afterwards. 
 
 The next prominent name in the succession is that 
 of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton. It is now between 
 fifty and sixty years ago that I first saw him in the 
 chair at a Bible meeting. In after time his majestic 
 form (he was six feet four) his thoughtful counte- 
 nance, his conspicuous spectacles, his measured utter- 
 ance, and his satisfying judgment on public questions, 
 became familiar. And I can, at this moment, recall 
 a trifling incident illustrative of his readiness. He 
 was advocating slave emancipation, in which cause 
 he caught Wilberforce's mantle, and spoke of negroes 
 becoming our brothers in law, which provoked a 
 laugh; in an instant he substituted the words, "in 
 law our brothers." Perhaps his labours as an eman- 
 cipator of slaves, have thrown into, the back-ground 
 his services in promoting prison reform. 
 
 He tells us one day, while walking past Newgate 
 with Mr. Samuel Hoare, their conversation turned 
 upon the exertions of their sister-in-law, Mrs. Fry, 
 and her companions, for the improvement of the 
 prisoners within its walls ; and this suggested the 
 idea of employing themselves in a similar manner. 
 They soon entered into communication with Mr. 
 William Crawford, Mr. P. Bedford, and other gentle- 
 men, who were anxious to improve the condition, at 
 that time deplorable to the last degree, of English
 
 364 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 gaols. The exertions of Mrs. Fry and her associates 
 had prepared the way, public attention had been 
 drawn to the subject, and in 1816 the Society for 
 the Reformation of Prison Discipline was formed. 
 In the list of the committee, the name of Buxton 
 stands between those of Dr. Lushington and Lord 
 Suffield. He received a fresh stimulus in this enter- 
 prise from a visit to Newgate in 1817. He wrote, " It 
 has made me long much that my life may not pass 
 quite uselessly, but that in some shape or other I may 
 assist in checking and diminishing crime and its con- 
 sequent misery." In 1817 he published a book on 
 prison discipline. It was noticed and much praised 
 in Parliament ; and then, being translated into other 
 languages, it produced beneficial results, not only in 
 England and Ireland, but also in France and Turkey. 
 In 1817 he visited the Continent, and wrote in his 
 diary full particulars respecting prisons at Ghent and 
 Antwerp. He was struck with the admirable manage- 
 ment of the Maison de Force in the former town, as 
 Howard had been in 1778 (though with serious 
 modification in 1781); and the new visitor determined 
 to lay an account of it before the Prison Discipline 
 Society in London. He did so, and was requested to 
 publish his report. When he sat down to the task, 
 it grew insensibly in his hands. " It was necessary," 
 he remarks, " to prove that evils and grievances did 
 exist in this country, and to bring home to their 
 causes the increase of corruption and depravity. For 
 this purpose repeated visits to prisons were requisite." 
 Notwithstanding Howard's endeavours after reform, 
 the new inquiries developed a system of folly and 
 wickedness which surpasses belief.
 
 HOWARD'S MANTLE. 365 
 
 His successful efforts on behalf of the Hottentots 
 who had been enslaved by the Boers efforts which 
 secured their freedom in 1828 and his untiring ex- 
 ertions in the cause of negro emancipation, so glori- 
 ously crowned in 1833, did not wean him from a deep 
 interest in the improvement of prison discipline and 
 criminal law. As it regards the latter subject, he sur- 
 passed Howard. In 1821, a speech of his on criminal 
 law excited great interest, " the drift of it was, to 
 prove that the law, as it stood, was at once inhuman 
 and ineffective ; that the severity of the punishment 
 induced judges and jurors to strive for an acquittal; 
 and that the uncertainty of the greater penalty was 
 therefore more readily incurred than the certainty of 
 the lesser one." No less than two hundred and thirty 
 offences were at that time punishable with death. 
 The sanguinary penal code has since been reformed 
 so far, that only eight or nine crimes remain punish- 
 able by death in 1848, and now, practically, execution 
 is confined to cases of murder. Sir Powell's labours 
 contributed largely to this result. 
 
 In 1840, he visited Italy ; and it is interesting to 
 place his reports by the side of Howard's account of 
 visits to Roman prisons in the previous century. 
 
 " On Thursday," he says, " I finished the prisons 
 by seeing the San Michele. This is an asylum for 
 orphans, old men, and old women (several hundreds 
 of each), and a very good one it is. Annexed to it 
 was a female prison, 280 women in it ; some impri- 
 soned for life, others for periods from twenty years 
 down to one. It is a wretched place, with next to 
 no instruction ; of the 280 prisoners only thirty could 
 read. Why don't they elect me Pope? The army
 
 366 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 of priests should soon have something to do in the 
 way of Infant Schools, etc." 
 
 He also inquired into the state of the Civita 
 Vecchia prison. He found 1,364 desperate criminals 
 He entered a low room with a vaulted ceiling, which, 
 following Howard's plan, he measured. The dimen- 
 sions were thirty-one yards long, and twenty-one 
 broad. The noise was such as one imagines might 
 be at the entrance of hell. Murderers and bandits 
 were chained to a ring fastened on a platform. A 
 fourth room was worse than any other, damper and 
 darker, the inmates more villanous in appearance. 
 " What are you here, for ? " he asked a heavy-looking 
 fellow lying on his back at the end of the room. He 
 remained silent, but a sharp-featured Italian replied, 
 " He is here for stabbing." " Why is he in this part 
 of the prison ? " the visitor inquired. " Because he is 
 incorrigible," was the answer. "And what are you 
 condemned for ? " " For murder." " Why placed 
 here ? " " Sono incorrigibile." l 
 
 Leaving the place, the inquirer wrote these words : 
 ' 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." 
 
 As Howard visited the Pope, so did Buxton. "The 
 
 1 Compare this with Howard's prison visits in Italy.
 
 HOWARD'S MANTLE. 367 
 
 Pope," he says, " is a civil, lively, little gentleman. 
 He gave us an audience of three-quarters of an hour. 
 He was very inquisitive to know what I thought of 
 the Roman prisons." The interpreter said oftener 
 and more strongly than Sir Fowell liked, contentissimo. 
 " I praised everything I could," he says, " such as the 
 chancellor of the gaols, the boys' prison, the San 
 MicJtele hospital, and the liberality of the Govern- 
 ment in giving me free access and full information ; 
 to all of which, he very gracefully replied, that if 
 gentlemen, from motives of benevolence, took the 
 trouble to visit these institutions, the least he could 
 do was to afford facilities, furnish documents, and 
 listen attentively to every suggestion." When the 
 praise was over, the critic honestly told the Pope 
 that the female prison of the San MicJule and the 
 gaol of Civita Vecchia needed a through reformation ; 
 and the Pope seemed attentive and well-disposed. I 
 may add, that Sir Fowell mentioned the cruelty of 
 butchers in the treatment of lambs. Some months 
 afterward, he heard that his observations had pro- 
 duced an effect. 
 
 He visited debtors in prison, and wished to give 
 them some relief ; but hesitated as to the bestowment 
 of money, lest it might be wasted in drink. It was 
 suggested that he should procure the liberation of 
 some one. He selected a tailor, with a wife and ten 
 children, who was sent to gaol by a malicious creditor 
 for a small debt. " After a most loving and grateful 
 kiss of our hands, away he started, the happiest tailor 
 in the Roman dominions." 
 
 In Rome, the traveller found no classification of 
 criminals, except on a small scale with regard to
 
 368 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST, 
 
 boys. Other prisoners were huddled together, males 
 of all ages and for all sorts of crimes. There was no 
 inspection, no employment for the majority, though 
 convicts sentenced to long periods of imprisonment 
 worked in the streets ; the rest, tried and untried, had 
 nothing whatever to do. There was no gaol delivery. 
 But there were no chains, nor any adoption of the 
 solitary and silent system ; on Sundays there was 
 mass, and the repetition of a creed at nightfall. 
 
 He tells a startling story of Italian banditti, and 
 of Gasparoni their chieftain, who combined opposite 
 qualities, like our Robin Hood, only that the latter 
 and his men must not be compared with robbers of 
 the Roman States. No one who travelled from Rome 
 to Naples twenty years ago, could fail to notice 
 between Terracina and Gaeta, ill-looking fellows 
 skulking about, of whose occupation there could 
 be no doubt. Three little towns, perched on rocks, 
 shining like silver, Cora, Norma, and Sermone, at- 
 tracting the traveller's eye at Appii Forum, were 
 haunts of desperate gangs at a still earlier period ; 
 and tales were told of them not pleasant to travellers, 
 who rode amongst the mountains at night-fall. Gas- 
 paroni was seen by Sir Fowell, who asked him, " How 
 many people have you murdered ? " " I cannot ex- 
 actly recollect," he said ; " somewhere about sixty." 
 It was notorious he had killed twice the number. 
 Yet he accounted himself a religious man, for he 
 never killed anybody on Friday, but fasted that day, 
 saying : "Perche sono della religione della Madonna." 1 
 
 1 Memoirs of Sir Thomas F. Buxton, Bart., by his Son. That 
 interesting volume is my authority for the facts I have related 
 respecting his work as a prison visitor and reformer.
 
 HOWARD'S MANTLE. 369 
 
 Buxton's great work was the abolition of slavery, 
 and in that cause he manifested as much firmness and 
 courage as Howard did in another. Well might his 
 daughter say, in a letter written in 1833, " He seems 
 to be devoted to it in a way that renders him insen- 
 sible to minor influences, and reminds one of the de- 
 scription of Howard in Foster's Essay on ' Decision 
 of Character.' Himself is strangely forgotten ; not 
 subdued or resisted, but genuinely forgotten." l 
 
 Though I never, to my knowledge, saw Sarah 
 Martin, I seem as if I had been acquainted with her, 
 through the circumstance of my intimate friendship 
 with two gentlemen who were closely connected with 
 her history, and who often spoke to me respecting 
 her. One was a minister 2 who converted her to the 
 service of Christ when she was young, and whose 
 Church she entered " as a member " ; the other was a 
 resident at Yarmouth, 3 to whom she gave many of 
 her manuscripts ; and some of these he showed me, 
 containing hundreds of pages covered over with ex- 
 uberant versification. 
 
 There is a long street, which runs parallel with the 
 Dutch-like quay of Yarmouth. It contains a curious 
 building, now much altered inside, but outside nearly 
 the same as it appeared when I was a boy. A covered 
 wooden staircase in front led up to a small court- 
 room where the quarter sessions used to be held. 
 The mayor, aldermen, and common council, attending 
 the Recorder, used to march in procession from St. 
 Nicholas' church carrying large bouquets of flowers 
 in their hands, to open in that quaint and ugly edifice 
 
 Memoirs, p. 330. 2 Rev. W. Walford. 3 Mr. Etheridge. 
 
 B B
 
 370 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 the periodical proceedings of justice in the borough. 
 Beyond and below the court-room was a miserable 
 sort of day provision for debtors and felons ; and two 
 dungeons or night rooms were at the end of a ladder 
 in which Howard counted ten steps. 
 
 Mr. Neild informs us, that in 1808, there was but 
 one courtyard for all descriptions of prisoners. "One 
 room," he says, " is set apart for the sick, with a large 
 iron grated and glazed window, but no fire-place." 
 In 1805 a recommendation had been made that an 
 adjoining public-house should be purchased and added 
 to the gaol, that the sexes should be separated from 
 each other, and the loathsome cells should be bricked 
 up. But years passed before the recommendation 
 could be carried into effect. 
 
 The doors were simply locked, and inside the 
 prisoners prowled about, whiling away time as they 
 pleased gambling, fighting, swearing in the most 
 fearful manner. That continued a common spectacle 
 sixty years ago. It was the scene of Sarah Martin's 
 toils. Her acquaintance with the place began in 
 1818, when she entered it to see a woman who had 
 been committed for the cruel usage of her own child. 
 "When I told her the motive of my visit, her guilt, 
 and her need of God's mercy, she burst into tears, and 
 thanked me whilst I read to her the twenty-third 
 chapter of St. Luke the story of the thief on the 
 cross, who, although suffering justly from man's judg- 
 ment, sought and found mercy from the Saviour." 
 The incident encouraged the visitor, and she found 
 herself committed to a work which afterwards made 
 her known as the Prison Visitor of Yarmouth. 
 
 There was at that period no Sunday worship in the
 
 HOWARD'S MANTLE. 371 
 
 prison. The first day resembled the other days of 
 the week. She persuaded the inmates to have a ser- 
 vice of their own, one reading to all the rest, and she 
 made up her mind to be present as a hearer. " After 
 many changes of readers, the office devolved upon 
 me. That happy privilege, thus graciously opened to 
 me, and embraced from necessity and in much fear, 
 was acceptable to the prisoners, for God made it so, 
 and also an unspeakable advantage and comfort to 
 myself." 
 
 She began with reading to the little congregation 
 out of printed books ; at last she preached to them 
 sermons of her own. Many of them are still pre- 
 served, and some are printed in the Life of her pub- 
 lished by the Religious Tract Society. They are very 
 excellent, plain, judicious, heart-searching, full of 
 evangelical truth, and breathing much fervour of spirit. 
 Her audience consisted of agricultural labourers, de- 
 praved boys who picked up "a precarious livelihood 
 amongst the chances of a seaport town," sailors be- 
 longing to Yarmouth and other ports, smugglers (a 
 race of criminals then numerous), a few poachers, and 
 perhaps a few London pickpockets, who had come 
 down to Norfolk to pillage something at a country 
 festival. 
 
 This excellent woman agreed with Howard in attri- 
 buting crime in a large measure to idleness. .She 
 therefore set men, women, boys, and girls to work. 
 To work they went, even with alacrity, and found, 
 after their irksome idleness, amusement in their in- 
 dustrial occupation. Old bronze-faced beachmen 
 took up needle and thread, and began to patch up a 
 quilt ; young folks, with nimble fingers, learned to
 
 372 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 carve all sorts of things out of big beef bones. Mutton 
 shanks supplied material for cutting out spoons and 
 apple scoops. Straw hats and cloth caps were pro- 
 duced in that busy workshop ; and altogether it be- 
 came a bee-hive where human bees might be said to 
 fill their dark cells with honey. 
 
 Many of the prisoners could neither read nor write. 
 Sarah Martin determined to teach them on week 
 nights. Grandfathers with cramped hands strove to 
 guide a pen, and with empty minds began to use a 
 spelling book, and pick up from lesson boards texts 
 of Scripture. She made herself one of them ; and 
 when she set them to learn and repeat a verse of the 
 Bible, she would do the same exercise herself; and if 
 they said, " It is of no use/' she replied, " It is of use 
 to me, and why should it not be so to you ? You 
 have not tried it, but I have." 
 
 Once she showed them an etching by Ketzsh. 
 This inspired the emulation of a shoemaker and a 
 bricklayer. Pencil, pen, and paper were given them, 
 and they succeeded in producing a tolerable copy of 
 the original. The etching was selected for a purpose. 
 It represented a chess-player ; it suggested an amuse- 
 ment far superior to that in which they had been 
 accustomed to indulge. 
 
 When the term of imprisonment closed, she did not 
 forget them. She would seek suitable lodgings for 
 homeless people, persuade masters to take back old 
 servants, reconcile parents to reformed children, secure 
 employment for industrious youths, get boys and girls 
 into Sunday schools, and encourage sailors to call on 
 her when they returned from a voyage. 
 
 Her prison Journal is in the public library at Yar-
 
 HOWARD'S MANTLE. 373 
 
 mouth. She makes some general remarks, and speci- 
 fies a number of individual cases. She remarks, 
 " I always find the worst of convicts thoughtful be- 
 fore their departure, and softened. The most inacces- 
 sible minds then become accessible. Such was the 
 case with those who departed to-day ; and, as usual, 
 this fresh state of feeling, which was produced and 
 prevailed before they left the prison walls, was at an 
 end when they appeared in the street. It was then 
 subverted by the herd around them, exciting them to 
 laugh and shout These were their former compan- 
 ions, the thieves of the place, whose influence was as 
 a repetition of the death-blow ; whilst that evil the 
 mad, joyous feeling which they excited in the con- 
 victs, reflected back on them removed all terror 
 which the example ought to have produced ; so that, 
 instead of being by the sight deterred from crime, a 
 different effect may be expected." 
 
 She relates at length the conduct of several crimi- 
 nals. When she argued with them patiently and 
 firmly, some of them were convinced and confessed 
 their faults ; one was very obdurate, but at length he 
 yielded. 
 
 " February 1 1. This day I afforded F. J. the oppor- 
 tunity he desired of some private conversation with 
 me, by asking him to take my Bible up to the gate. 
 He said he should be sorry to bring up his children 
 with such views as he had expressed ; that he had 
 reflected, and felt that he had been wrong ; he ex- 
 pected to be ridiculed by the other prisoners, but was 
 determined to adopt a new line of conduct altogether. 
 There were deep feeling, thoughtfulnesss, and strong 
 earnestness of manner. He spoke highly of his wife,
 
 374 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 I then asked, * Do you love your wife ? ' ' Oh, yes ; 
 and my wife loves me.' 'And do you love your 
 children?' 'Oh, yes; I love my children.' 'And 
 were I or any other to say, " I hate your wife, I hate 
 your children," would you like it ? ' ' No ; I should 
 not.' ' And yet you spoke against my God ; and of 
 this holy book you said, " It is all a pack of nonsense, 
 I do not believe one word of it." ' F. J. acknowledged 
 the application with much emotion. He said he had 
 been accustomed to sit from Sunday morning till 
 Saturday night in a public-house, but would attend 
 a place of worship in future, which his wife had 
 formerly advised in vain. He acknowledged that I 
 was justified in leaving him after his having spoken 
 of the Bible and of God as he did. 
 
 "After the date, February n, he seemed a new cha- 
 racter, no longer close or sly on the one hand, nor 
 presuming on the other ; but simple, honest, and open. 
 The poor fellow has obtained no work, his children 
 are ill, and his excellent wife, whilst rejoicing at the 
 change in her husband, is cast down by extreme 
 poverty. I gave them an order for some flour." 
 
 And who was this Prison Visitor ? Not a person in 
 circumstances like those of Howard or Neild ; not a 
 lady of the upper class, like Mrs. Fry, but a poor semp- 
 stress, who earned a few shillings a week, and that 
 for a while "was all her living"; and she would trudge 
 on foot in bad weather from the village of Caistor to 
 the further end of Yarmouth to keep her appoint- 
 ments at the gaol. A relative died, and left her be- 
 tween two and three hundred pounds, and that was 
 really all she had to depend upon when her dress- 
 making failed; how could that succeed amidst her
 
 HOWARD'S MANTLE. 375 
 
 charitable vocations ? Friends helped her ; but she 
 was so delicately conscientious, so afraid of being paid 
 for her well-doing, that it was difficult to persuade 
 her to accept what was offered. The corporation 
 proposed to allow a salary for her gaol work ; from 
 that she shrunk, and they found it difficult to induce 
 her acceptance of a miserable pittance of twelve 
 pounds a year. One of the magistrates told her, 
 " The business is out of your hands ; if we permit 
 you to visit the prison, you must submit on our 
 terms." l 
 
 " In the full occupation of dress-making," she 
 writes, " I had care with it and anxiety for the future ; 
 but as that disappeared care fled also. God, who had 
 called me into the vineyard, had said, ' Whatsoever is 
 right I will give you.' I had learned from the Scrip- 
 tures of truth that I should be supported. God was 
 my Master, and would not forsake His servant. He 
 was my Father, and could not forget His child. I 
 knew also that sometimes it seemed good in His 
 sight to try the faith and patience of His people, by 
 bestowing upon them very limited means of support, 
 as in the case of Naomi and Ruth, of the widow of 
 Zarephath and Elijah ; and my mind, in the contem- 
 plation of such trials, seemed exalted by more than 
 human energy, for I had counted the cost, and my 
 mind was made up. If, whilst imparting truth to 
 others, I became exposed to temporal want, the pri- 
 vation, so momentary to an individual, would not 
 admit of comparison with following the Lord, in thus 
 
 1 The Memoir of Sarah Martin. I am entirely indebted to 
 this admirable book for the account I give of this excellent 
 woman.
 
 376 HOWARD THE PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 administering to others. Supported with these views, 
 I advanced, still meeting increased disclosures of the 
 Divine goodness." 
 
 " Noble woman ! " says the Edinburgh reviewer. 
 "A faith so firm and disinterested might have removed 
 mountains ; a self-sacrifice founded upon such princi- 
 ples is amongst the most heroic of human achieve- 
 ments." Strictly speaking, in later life, she had 
 no income but the interest on her relative's legacy. 
 She lived by faith ; and friends ministered to her 
 necessities bountifully. The friendly hamper never 
 failed, the grocer's supply reached her week by week. 
 They were her cruse of oil, her barrel of meal. 
 
 In her last days she was greatly afflicted. She 
 suffered much, " but in patience possessed her soul." 
 Twenty minutes before her death, on being told her 
 end was near, she clapped her hands, exclaiming, 
 " Thank God ; thank God." " She slept in Jesus, 
 October 15, 1843, aged 52 years. ' As we have borne 
 the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image 
 of the heavenly.' " This is the inscription on her 
 tombstone. A stained glass window in the grand 
 old church of St. Nicholas, Yarmouth, commemorates 
 her virtues. Good Dr. Stanley, Bishop of Norwich, 
 sent his contribution to it with the words, " Could I 
 canonize Sarah Martin, I would do so."
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abney, Sir Thomas, 15-17. 
 Aiken, Dr., notices of Howard, 
 4, 7, 11,30, 87, 189, 275,278. 
 Aiken, Lucy, 306. 
 
 Barbauld, Mrs., 274, 279. 
 
 Barham, Mr., 88. 
 
 Bedford, Duke of, 39, no. 
 
 Bellows, Mr., 339. 
 
 Bill for relief of prisoners, 103, 
 
 107. 
 
 Blacklock, Dr., 301. 
 Blackstone, Sir William, 156. 
 Bunyan, John, 77, 80, 102. 
 Burke, Edmund, 109, 206. 
 Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell, 
 
 363-369- 
 
 Cardington, Village of, I, 12, 32, 
 37; 43) 54, 280-283 5 improve- 
 ments at, 117; Sundays at, 
 86, 90 ; Howard's son at, 
 301 ; monuments at, 327. 
 
 Cherson, 319-332. 
 
 Civita Vecchia, 71, 189, 366. 
 
 Clavering, Sir Thomas, 103, 
 104. 
 
 Commons, House of, 104-106. 
 
 Cox, Nehemiah, 77. 
 
 Coxe, Archdeacon, 306. 
 Crawford, William, 363. 
 Crockford, Joshua, 45, 311. 
 
 De Foe, Daniel, 15, 93. 
 Densham, Richard, 270, 271. 
 Doddridge, Dr., 17, 274. 
 Durand, M., 220. 
 
 Eames, tutor of Howard, 6, 7. 
 Edwards, David, 127-129. 
 Emery, Mrs., 79, 80. 
 Eyres, Mr., 273. 
 
 Field, Rev. Mr., 195. 
 Fielding, Sir John, 101. 
 Fothergill, Dr., 155. 
 France, 161-163, 218-221, 
 Frederick the Great, 175-177, 
 
 205, 247. 
 Fry, Mrs., 354-364. 
 
 Germany, 173-176,314. 
 Gifford, John, 76. 
 Gough, Richard, 51-54. 
 Grellet, Stephen, 186, 353. 
 Gurney, Joseph John, 354, 357- 
 362. 
 
 377 C C
 
 378 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Gurney, W. B., 289. 
 Guy, Dr., 99, 336. 
 
 Hamilton, Sir William, 224. 
 
 Hayley, 298. 
 
 Hoare, Samuel, 363. 
 
 Holland, 51-53, 73, 168. 
 
 Howard, John, birth of, I ; early 
 education, 2 ; Mr. Eames' 
 academy, 6, 7; apprenticeship, 
 8 ; death of his father, 9 ; first 
 journey abroad, 11-13; state of 
 health, 13, 14, 50; first mar- 
 riage, 22 ; death of his wife, 
 24 ; sails for Portugal, 25 ; 
 second marriage, 32 ; birth 
 of his son, 47 ; death of 
 second wife, ib. ; education of 
 his son, 49, 54-56 ; foreign 
 travels, 51-53, 56-74; eccle- 
 siastical relations, 76-89 ; 
 High Sheriff, 90-97 ; visits 
 prisons in England, 99, 123 
 -138, 141, 259 ; candidate 
 for election at Bedford, 112- 
 116 ; visits prisons in Wales, 
 146 ;. in Scotland, 147, 263 ; 
 in Ireland, 150, 259-262; in- 
 troduced to John Wesley, 
 152; elected superintendent 
 of penitentiaries, 155 ; his 
 interest in war prisoners, 158 ; 
 later prison tours on the Con- 
 tinent, 196, et seq., 206-214 ; 
 visits Lazarettos, 215-252 ; 
 conduct of his son, 252 ; 
 authorship, 266 ; later private 
 life, 280-307 ; last journey, 
 308-325 ; his will, 310 ; his 
 
 death, 324 ; monument in St. 
 Paul's, 330 ; his character, 
 333-348 ; his followers, 349- 
 376. 
 
 Howard, John, son of the philan- 
 thropist, his birth, 47 ; educa- 
 tion, 49, 55, 56; conduct, 252, 
 299-303 ; death, 327. 
 
 Howard, John, mayor of Bed- 
 ford, 90. 
 
 Howe, John, 94. 
 
 Inquisition, the, in Spain, 209. 
 
 Jennings, Jane, 274. 
 
 Joseph II., of Austria, 247-250. 
 
 Kaunitz, Prince, 258. 
 Keith, Sir R. M., 179. 
 Kinsbury, William, 75. 
 
 Leeds, Henrietta, second wife of 
 
 John Howard, 32-37, 46, 47. 
 Leeds, Mr., 53, 326. 
 Lettsom, Dr., 253, 295-298. 
 
 Malta, 224-227. 
 Martin, Sarah, 369-376. 
 Monboddo, Lord, 283. 
 Moravians, 87. 
 
 Naples, 66, 69, 72. 
 Neild, James, 349-352, 37O. 
 Newton, John, 79. 
 Nichols, John, 297. 
 
 Onslow, Mr. Speaker, 17. 
 Palmer, Samuel, 27, 329.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 379 
 
 Papists, 92, 93. 
 
 Popham, Mr., 123. 
 
 Prole, John, 48, 56, 148, 227, 
 
 290-292,311. 
 Price, Dr., 6, 15,271-273. 
 Priestman, 324. 
 
 Quakers, 87. 
 
 Robinson, Robert, 301. 
 Rohan, Emmanuel de, 226, 227. 
 Rome, 65, 185. 
 Russia, 315-326. 
 Ryland, John, 78. 
 
 Smith, Thomas, 84-86, 310, 311. 
 
 Spain, 207, 212. 
 
 Sparrow, 111-115. 
 
 Stennett, Dr., 8, 273, 285, 287, 
 
 329- 
 
 Switzerland, 172. 
 Symonds, Joshua, pastor of 
 
 Bedford Church, 66, 78-81. 
 
 Thomasson, 300, 312. 
 Townshend, Meredith, 49, 82, 
 86. 
 
 Venice, 73, 181, 245. 
 Yenning, Walter, 352. 
 Vienna, 178. 
 
 Wake, Sir William, in, 115. 
 
 Watcombe, 40-43. 
 
 Watteville, Johannes de, 88. 
 
 Watts, Isaac, 15-17. 
 
 Watts, Richard, his charity, 134. 
 
 Wesley, John, 152,295. 
 
 Wesley, Samuel, 14. 
 
 Whateley, Mr., 156. 
 
 Whitbread, Samuel (Sen.), 112- 
 ii 8, 305,328. 
 
 Whitbread, Samuel (The States- 
 man), 119, 305, 328. 
 
 Wingate, Sir Francis, 274. 
 
 Worsley, Mr., 4. 
 
 Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London.
 
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