enriched his funds, as Treasurer to the Society for Small Debts, in the sum of 3281. 2s. 9d. evidently occasioned by the reading the Gentleman's Magazine, in which they were inserted.

The benevolence of my friend did not rest here; for, as he was no stranger to the inside of the prison-house, so did he frequently accompany me to those abodes of guilt and misery, and suggest what his professional skill so well enabled him to do, to my great advantage, and the prisoners' comforts. Many new gaols are now (1806) building; and, from the alterations and improvements which have been making these four years, and are now daily making, the particulars of which my "State of Prisons" will notice, my visits will become less necessary. As soon as this work is published, and I can provide for my necessary absence, I propose visiting Ireland; and happy will the short remaining period of my life be spent, if I can suggest to a brave and generous people, any improvements in their Prison police, and of which I am informed there is much need.

[The Memoir here terminates, but not so the benevolent labours of Mr. Neild. His health did not, however, allow him to visit Ireland as he intended; but he continued to inspect the various prisons of England, Scotland, and Wales, and to suggest numerous improvements, both in regard to the construction of the wards, and the internal management of these establishments.

In 1812 he published the "State of Prisons,"

above alluded to, in a large and very elegant 4to volume, with a portrait of the author. It is a work teeming with valuable information.

He continued his exertions, as Treasurer of the Society for Small Debts, until the time of his death, which took place Feb. 16, in the year 1814.] ED.

ON JAMES NEILD, Esq. LL.D.

By MISS PORTER.

Hence the true Christian, Lord of Appetite,
The conqueror of low but fierce resentments,
Which in a painful fever keep the soul
Free from impediments, pursues with ardor
All that adorns and meliorates the man;
That polishes our life, or soothes its ills.
Where'er compassion with her glist'ning eye
Points to the squalid cottage of Affliction,
Jews, Moors, and Infidels are all his Brethren.
Could he, in some remote and barbarous land,
By powerful gold, or salutary arts,

Make pale Distress give way to blooming Joy,
He'd traverse wilds or swelling seas to court
The god-like office; his expanded heart
In every climate feels himself at home.

LETTER CLII.

JAMES NEILD, Esq. to Dr. LETTsom.

Chelsea, Oct. 8, 1807.

When I was at the Isle of Wight last month, by the printed account given me, it appeared there were six farmers, who had, in the year 1805, paid the penalty of ten pounds each, rather than take an apprentice out of the House of Industry. The great end, therefore, proposed by the benevolent Mr. Howard, is not answered, and confirms me in opinion, that the food and lodging of these children are so much better than any state of servitude will allow, that they become lazy and restless; and that if each parish maintained its own poor, and relief, where necessary, was administered at home, less money would be expended, and a hardy race of lads introduced, to whom labour and coarse diet would be familiar; leaving (with a sound policy and true humanity) families to themselves, to make the most of their respective exertions, to enjoy the entire fruits of their own industry, and to bring up their children in their own hardy and laborious way. In this there would be no violence to the strongest attachments of our nature; and I believe it was the practice of the statesmen in Queen Elizabeth's reign, to hold out every induce

ment to families, by affording them the means, with proper industry, of feeding and clothing themselves. But I am getting into a wide field, and into business I am not competent to; it is easier to find fault, than to suggest a remedy. I wish you would lend me Colquhoun on Mendicity, when you can spare it, for a month, any day you pass the Property Office. Adieu!

cough, &c. have arrested my progress, which I must wait for the sun and warm weather to dissipate, or at least to alleviate.

Your packet contains more interesting matter than I have time to reply to.

In reading your Son's letters, there is a mixture of pleasure and pain. That the expences of young people exceed every expectation of age, I have myself experienced-but so it was from the beginning, is now, and ever will be. We We may fairly conclude, without reasoning on the subject, where

one gets riches, others must become poor. Nothing continues in one stay. We have now an instance of the richest subject in Europe, a prisoner, kidnapped like the friendless black, and dependant on the caprice of a fell tyrant, whether he eats his daily bread in a costly room or a dungeon.

Look at a stone just plucked from the quarry. Such is the mind of man in its infant state, rough and unhewn.

See it formed by the sculptor.

I will not, cannot, go on with the subject; the driver's lash, and the negro's shriek, vibrate in my ears. Yesterday I read the 14th Isaiah, which I think, with the two last verses 22d Jeremiah, strongly pourtray the present times. When you have leisure, pray peruse them. I have been writing the whole day, and it is now the last hour; exhausted and fatigued, I must conclude,

I little thought my letter of congratulation would be so soon followed by one of condolence *, though your letters seem rather to have presaged it.

* Alluding to the death of Mr. Pickering Lettsom, which took place a few weeks only subsequent to his marriage. ED.