that they might wither in the blaze of day, to lighten the load of human suffering, to wipe the tear from the prisoner's eye, and to let many a captive free.' Of the arrangements of the Portuguese prisons, he spoke in general terms of approbation; but he could not avoid regretting the proofs which he observed of the use of torture, the walls of some of the prisons being, in many parts, stained with blood. The Spanish ambassador at Lisbon, Count Fernan Lunez, furnished him with such introductions as gave him the opportunity of visiting all the prisons of that city except one, to which the mandate of a secular minister could not reach, that of the Inquisition. At Valladolid he was more successful. "He was received here by two of the inquisitors, their secretaries, and two magistrates, who conducted him into several rooms, one of which was graced by a fit ornament for such a place a representation of an Auto da Fe in 1667, when ninety-seven persons were burnt in presence of the Spanish court. This scene was well characterised by Pegna, himself an inquisitor of no small note, as horrendum ac tremendum spectaculum: yet was it here enshrined as a memorial of the church's power, and of the zeal with which this most holy court then earnestly contended for the faith. The tribunal-room resembled that of Madrid, except that it had an altar, and a door with three locks into the secretary's room, over which was inscribed the greater excommunication denounced against all strangers who should presume to enter there. In two other tribunal-rooms were the insignia of the holy office, whilst a large room near them contained many of the books whose pages these saintly guardians of the public morals and of the public faith had, in the plenitude of their power, forbidden all who did not wish to feel its weight to venture to peruse; some because their tendency was vicious, but many more because it was what they thought proper to style heretical: : many of the latter were English. Another was filled with crosses, beads, and small pictures, together with the painted cap and vestments of the unhappy victims of the tender mercies of the church. After much deliberation amongst his conductors, he was permitted to go up the private staircase by which prisoners were brought to their dread tribunal, and which led to a passage with several doors in it, 'which he was not allowed to enter. So ardent, however, was his desire to ascertain what was the cruelty and rigour of confinement practised here, that on one of the secretaries assuring him that none but prisoners ever passed their threshold, he courageously answered, that he would willingly be confined there a month to gratify his curiosity; but, being told that none ever came out under three years, he was compelled to rest satisfied with what he had seen. By walking in the court, and conversing with the inquisitors, he learnt, however, that the cells of this horrid prison had double doors, and were separated by two walls, to prevent prisoners communicating with each other; and that over those walls was a sort of funnel, enclosed at the top, but having perforations in the sides, through which some air and a glimmering of light might enter. They were double barred, and one of them served two cells; the passages having also small apertures for the admission of light. A gloomy area at the back of the prison contained but a great mastiff dog. From the sentence of the court to which these cells of hopeless misery belonged, no appeal could ever lie: the irrevocable certainty of its doom, the horrid severity, and the impenetrable secrecy of its proceedings, excited, therefore, such general alarm in those who, for aught they knew, might the next hour be its victims, that the very sight of the walls of this inquisitorial jail struck terror into the common people as they passed; yet, by a monstrous perversion of language, the tribunal, whose house of incarceration, of torture, and of death it was, styled itself a holy and apostolic court!" pp. 371–373. On reviewing the result of this and his former journeys, after his return to England, Mr. Howard perceived that he yet wanted archilast edition of his work he had tectural plans of prisons. In his thrown out a hint for future travellers to procure these. He also wished to furnish greater security against the contagion of the dreadful malady the plague; and he imagined that an examination of the principal lazarettos of Europe might throw some light on the rapid communiIcation of this disease. He therefore determined with his accustomed zeal and energy to undertake a sixth investigations. At Toulon he met journey to the continent. Towards with an interesting individual who the latter end of November 1785, had been confined to the galleys he accordingly set sail; and although forty-two years for a trivial and boythe state of affairs on the continent ish offence, when only fourteen years was at that time such as to render of age, but who had learned in his the visit of any foreigner in France confinement to read that Sacred highly dangerous to his own personal Record which, through the tender safety from the intense and ever mercy of Him before whom the wakeful suspicions of its jealous sorrowful sighing of the captive ever government, he resolved that no comes with effect, had made known dangers should alarm him, nor any to him warnings of his friends deter him from the exccution of his design. These warnings were soon proved to be not without reason; for the first night of his arrival at Paris, although he had taken many precautions to avoid observation, " he was disturbed in his bed by a tremendous knocking at his room-door, which, starting up in somewhat of an alarm, he immediately opened; and having returned to bed, he saw the chambermaid enter with a candle in each hand, followed by a man in a black coat, with a sword by his side, and his hands enveloped in an enormous muff. This singular personage immediately asked him if his name was not Howard. Vexed at this interruption, he hastily answered, Yes,-and what of that?' He was again asked if he had not come to Paris in the Brussels diligence, in company with a man in a black wig? To this question he returned some such peevish answer, as that he paid no attention to such trifles; and his visitor immediately withdrew in silence. Not a little alarmed at this strange adventure, though losing none of his self-possession, and being unable to recompose himself to sleep, Mr. Howard got up, and, having discharged his bill the night before, took his small trunk, and, removing from this house, at the regular hour of starting took his seat in the diligence, and set off for Lyons." p. 415. We leave our readers to judge of his feelings, when, on reaching Lyons, he learnt that the man in the black wig was a spy, sent with him to Paris by the French Ambassador at the Hague; and that he would have been arrested there if Monsieur Le Noir had not been at Versailles on the day of his arrival. He was, however, pursued, but not overtaken. Still he prosecuted his CHRIST, OBSERV. No. 271. "A liberty, unsung By poets, and by senators unpraised; Which whoso tastes can be enslaved no Howard, by his conduct in reference to the prisoners of war at Dunkirk, and his exposure of the Bastile, was an old enemy of the French government; but he was so happy as to escape their pursuit of him, and to accomplish the object of his visit to France in obtaining some plans of jails, which he carried off with him. From Nice he passed to Geneva and Leghorn. At the former place he was much amused with the mode in which the benefactors to the hospital were honoured. Their statues were placed with such a precise reference to the amount of their benefactions, that a person who had given 90,000 crowns, had one of his legs under the chair in which a bequest of 100,000 would have fairly seated him. At Leghorn he obtained some important plans. At Rome he had an audience of the pope," the dignified but unfortunate Pius VI." The account of their interview is creditable both to the pope and the philanthropist. "Mr. Howard was privately introduced, when the ceremony of kissing the pope's toe, indeed every ceremony of every kind, was dispensed with; as the independence, as well as the piety, of our illustrious countryman's character would never have perfallible mortal like himself. At parting, mitted him to prostrate himself before a however, his holiness laid his hand upon his heretical visitor's head; at the same ime good-humouredly observing, I know -3 K you Englishmen do not mind these things, but the blessing of an old man can do you no harm and I am persuaded that the spirit of Howard was too catholic to hold the benediction of such an old man in light esteem; not on account of the dignity of his station, but of the solidity of his virtues." pp. 424, 425. He afterwards proceeded to Naples and Malta, and thence to Smyrna, and the Cities of the Plague." In the English Factory at Smyrna, he had an opportunity of attending public worship on Sunday; a privilege which he says he did not enjoy at any of the hotels of our ambassadors. We cite this remark, in order to call the attention of our readers to what follows, reflecting not only the greatest honour on the decided piety and fearless independence of Howard's character, but conveying a most wholesome and important suggestion. voyage gave rise to the display of his coolness and presence of mind, in two remarkable circumstances. The first was on occasion of the captain of the vessel bringing to him a man who complained of sickness, and which, on examination, Howard discovered to be the plague, but cautiously abstained from giving by the black spot behind the ear; the alarm, pursuing only such plans the crew till he died. as to keep the man separate from The other instance was his undertaking, when attacked by a piratical corsair, a vessel; and actually himself pointprincipal part of the defence of the ing a large cannon, the only one and effect that the corsair was beaten on board, with so much judgment off. On his arrival at Venice, he was compelled to submit to quarantine, and found the apartment appro"I take this occasion,' he observes, priated to his use so infected and ' of mentioning a secret source of conta- unw holesome that he was fast losgious irreligion, that most of our ambas- ing his appetite; when, by the simple sadors have no chaplains, nor any religi- expedient of whitewashing the walls, ous service in their houses. With pain I which he could not however accomhave observed on Sundays, many of our young nobility and gentry, who are to filled the contagion. While here, two plish without stratagem, he removeminent 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 anusement. 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.' p. 433. circumstances were brought to his knowledge, which occasioned him much affliction;-the first, the intention of erecting a statue to his honour; the second, the misconduct of his son. The latter circumstance we pass over in silence, as perhaps it may be in part attributed to the first influence of the malady which afterwards deeply affected his mind. The former was a brilliant testimony to Howard's merit, proceeding as it did from individuals the most dignified by wealth, by character, and by talents; but it was so foreign and revolting to the humble feelings of the philanthropist, that, in consequence of his most earnest entreaties, it was abandoned. He calls it, in his letters, a hasty and disagreeable measure, and says, "It wounds me sadly. Alas, what a mixture of sin and folly there is in our best performances! Such praise His is highly displeasing to a thinking At Constantinople, Mr. Howard greatly distinguished himself by a display of his medical skill, in successfully prescribing for the daughter of a Turk high in office at the Porte. The delighted father pressed him to accept a purse of 2000 sequins (about 9007.), but he refused; adding, however, that a plate of grapes from his garden would prove acceptable. Of course he was regularly supplied with the finest fruit while he remained in the L neighbourhood. Shortly afterwards Mr. Howard again set sail for Smyrna. The restoration of his liberty, at the expiration of his quarantine, was employed by Howard in visiting the prisons and galleys at Venice. The two following instances exhibit the despotism of the Venetian government at that period. "A German merchant, happening to be at 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 received no añswer to his inquiry, except by the officer's putting his hand to his lips as a signal for silence. He then mufiled his head in a cloak, and guided him, through different streets, to a low gate which he was ordered to enter; and, stooping down, he was led through various passages under ground to a small, dark apartment, where 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 mantle-piece. 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 mentioned, and heard an abbé, who was also named, make use of expressions now accurately repeated. At last he was asked if he should know the abbé if he saw him; and on his answering that he should, a long curtain was drawn aside, and he saw this very person hanging on a gibbet. He was then dismissed. The other circumstance, or rather combination of circumstances, happened but a short time before Mr. Howard's visit, to a senator of this arbitrary republic. Called up from his bed one night by an officer of this same inquisition, and commanded to follow him, he obeyed the summons, and found a gondola waiting near his door, in which he was rowed out of the harbour to a spot where another gondola was fastened to a post. Into this he was ordered to step, and the cainto it, and as a dead body with a rope bin door being opened, he was conducted about its neck was shewn to 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.” pp. 457, 458. It is not to be wondered at that this people should not have been able to comprehend the voluntary privations and singular plans of Mr. Howard. At Vienna, the emperor desired an interview with him; and the bold and fearless expression of his opinions exhibited, as usual, the philanthropist's character. "It was in a little apartment, up three pair of stairs, that our illustrious countryman received, through his minister, Count Kaunitz, an intimation from the emperor, that he should be pleased by a visit from him; to which he returned for answer, that he was sorry that his intention of leaving Vienna on the next morning would prevent him the pleasure of waiting upon his majesty. He then received a second message through the ambassador from his own court, informing him that the emperor would receive him at the earliest hour he chose to name before his departure; and then, after the conversation already detailed, he named nine o'clock for the interview. Punctually at that hour he was announced at the palace, and was ushered into an apartment resembling a countinghouse, where he found the emperor, attended by a single secretary. He was desired to step into another room, so plainly furnished that it had neither lookingglass nor chair. Hither his imperial majesty immediately followed, and soon directed the conversation into the channel he wished it to take, by asking his visitor's opinion of his new military hospital. Before he returned an answer to this question, Mr. Howard begged to know whether he might speak freely what he thought; and being assured that he might, he replied, I must then take the liberty of saying, that your majesty's military hospital is loaded with defects. The allowance of bread is too small; the apartments are not : kept clean, and are also, in many respects, ill-constructed. One defect particularly struck me the care of the sick is committed to men who are very unfit for that office, especially when it is imposed upon them as a punishment, as I understand to be the case here.' To these free observations, the emperor replied, that, as to the bread, the allowance was the same as that of every other soldier, a pound per day;' to which our philanthropist unceremoniously rejoined, that it was not sufficient for a man who was obliged to do any kind of work, or who was recovering from sickness, being barely adequate to the support of life.' The next question was concerning the new tower for lunatics, of whose condition Mr. Howard briefly observed, by no means such as I could wish it is too confined, and not properly managed.' He then particularized several defects; for which purpose he had taken his notes with him. Next of prisons:here he hesitated, as if afraid of having said too much, and apprehensive of giving still greater offence by what he was about to utter. 'Speak without fear,' said the emperor, on observing this hesitation. I -saw in them, then,' said his faithful and his fearless monitor, many things that filled me with astonishment and grief. They have all dungeons. The torture has been said to be abolished in your majesty's dominions: but it is only so in appearance; for what is now practised is in reality worse than any other torture. Poor wretches are confined twenty feet below ground, in places just fitted to receive their bodies; and some of them are kept there for eighteen months. Others are in dungeons, chained so closely to the wall that they can hardly breathe. All of them are deprived of proper consolation and religious support.' Here the monarch seemed to feel some uneasiness, and abruptly said, Sir! in your country they hang for the slightest offences.' I grant,' replied Mr. Howard, that the multiplicity of her capita punishments is a disgrace to England: but as one fault does not excuse another, so neither in this case is the parallel just; for I declare that I would rather be hanged, if it were possible, ten times over, than undergo such a continuance of sufferings as the unhappy beings endure who have the misfortune to be confined in your majesty's prisons.' Resuming the thread of his discourse where it had been so suddenly broken off, he thus continued his remonstrance in behalf of the violated rights of humanity: Many of these men have not yet been brought to trial; The and should they be found innocent of the crimes laid to their charge, it is out of your majesty's power to make them a reparation for the injuries you have done them; for it is now too late to do them justice, weakened and deranged in their health and faculties, as they are, by so long a solitary confinement. He then objected to the allowance of bread to the convicts condemned to clean the streets; and in order to touch his majesty by the point of honour, told him how excellent, in this respect, were the regulations of the Prussian hospitals and prisons. next topic of conversation was work-. houses. In them, too,' said our philanthropist, there are many defects. In the first place, the people are obliged to lie in their clothes; a practice which never fails to produce distempers in the end: secondly, little or no attention is paid to cleanliness: and, thirdly, the allowance of bread is too small.' Where,' asked his majesty, did you see any better institutions of this kind?' There was one better,' replied the hero, (' for how much more,' observes Dr. Brown, in relating the particulars of this interesting interview, is this title due to such characters, than to those who drench the earth with blood!') at Ghent ; but not so now! not so now!' At this the emperor started, and seemed a great deal shocked; but he had magnanimity enough to take the bold reprover of his conduct by the hand, as he had done more than once during the preceding part of their discourse, and, on his taking leave, thanked him most cordially for his advice. On the next day, he told our ambassador that his countryman was without ceremony or compliment, that he liked him the better for it; adding, moreover, that he should follow some of his recommendations, others he should not. Conviction,' remarks Dr. Brown, dictated the first of these resolutions: pride had probably some share in the second.' From the impression which he evidently saw that some parts of his discourse had made upon the mind of his imperial auditor, our benevolent countryman was induced to remain a day or two longer in the capital of his dominions, to ascertain what practical effects it would produce; and he had the satisfaction to know, before he left Vienna, that orders had been issued for amending, in many particulars which he pointed out as defective, the regulations of the prisons and charitable institutions of that city, especially by the speedy trial of such of the prisoners in the dungeons as had not yet been tried, and the immediate release |