-
Articles/Ads
Article ON THE PRISONS OF THE METROPOLIS. Page 1 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Prisons Of The Metropolis.
ON THE PRISONS OF THE METROPOLIS .
To THE PRINTER . SIR , A German Traveller being shewn the . vast Cathedral of St . Paul ' s , is said to have demanded of his Cicerone , Whetner it were not the Church of England of which he had heard so much and often ? Ridiculous this mistake must appear to us , I
so as question whether any reasonable or benevolent man , Mr . ^ nntei ; would be inclined , or indeed be able to laugh , if he were asked by a foreigner , Whether the King ' s Bench Prison were not the Jail ot Great Britain ? The high and g loomy walls which form its circumference appeared to me to : cover a large surface ot the soil of Liberty—they have kept pace with the improvements of the the
town , and extended their pomajria in no doubt same proportion as luxury and commerce have increased the inhabitants ofthe capital . A man who , like myself , wanders from one extremity ot the metropolis to the other , and thinks as he wanders , will form meditations more useful than pleasant from the survey of the numerous prisons and hospitals of this high-viced-city . w hat a mass is confined within
of guilt and misfortune , - of vice and misery , those walls ! What a part of the Commonwealth is constantly under punishment or cure , and in either case unhappy ! We behold a town of wretchedness , perhaps of crimes , a Poneropohs , policed , as Montaigne expresses it , by their vices themselves . and society organized from necessity , not virtue *; a town within a town , drafted and peopled from it by folly , wickedness , and misfortune . If we turn our eyes from these gloomy spectacles to behold the wealth of our Merchants , the state of our Nobles , our
River covered by a forest of masts , the population of our streets , the increase and luxury of our building ; our new Theatres , the squares , the crescents , circus ' s , aud all the imaginations of a sickly and pampered taste ; is it not a melancholy reflection , Sir , that each " of these should demand its proportion of jail and hospital , and that the balance should be struck with constant and even hand
a between Luxury and Distress , Prodigality and Indolence , Prosperity and Misfortune 1 Nations have ever entertained a foolish vanity , and endeavoured to magnify the extent and population of -their metropolitan cities beyond the truth . I was walking tin *
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Prisons Of The Metropolis.
ON THE PRISONS OF THE METROPOLIS .
To THE PRINTER . SIR , A German Traveller being shewn the . vast Cathedral of St . Paul ' s , is said to have demanded of his Cicerone , Whetner it were not the Church of England of which he had heard so much and often ? Ridiculous this mistake must appear to us , I
so as question whether any reasonable or benevolent man , Mr . ^ nntei ; would be inclined , or indeed be able to laugh , if he were asked by a foreigner , Whether the King ' s Bench Prison were not the Jail ot Great Britain ? The high and g loomy walls which form its circumference appeared to me to : cover a large surface ot the soil of Liberty—they have kept pace with the improvements of the the
town , and extended their pomajria in no doubt same proportion as luxury and commerce have increased the inhabitants ofthe capital . A man who , like myself , wanders from one extremity ot the metropolis to the other , and thinks as he wanders , will form meditations more useful than pleasant from the survey of the numerous prisons and hospitals of this high-viced-city . w hat a mass is confined within
of guilt and misfortune , - of vice and misery , those walls ! What a part of the Commonwealth is constantly under punishment or cure , and in either case unhappy ! We behold a town of wretchedness , perhaps of crimes , a Poneropohs , policed , as Montaigne expresses it , by their vices themselves . and society organized from necessity , not virtue *; a town within a town , drafted and peopled from it by folly , wickedness , and misfortune . If we turn our eyes from these gloomy spectacles to behold the wealth of our Merchants , the state of our Nobles , our
River covered by a forest of masts , the population of our streets , the increase and luxury of our building ; our new Theatres , the squares , the crescents , circus ' s , aud all the imaginations of a sickly and pampered taste ; is it not a melancholy reflection , Sir , that each " of these should demand its proportion of jail and hospital , and that the balance should be struck with constant and even hand
a between Luxury and Distress , Prodigality and Indolence , Prosperity and Misfortune 1 Nations have ever entertained a foolish vanity , and endeavoured to magnify the extent and population of -their metropolitan cities beyond the truth . I was walking tin *