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Article ON THE PRISONS OF THE METROPOLIS. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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On The Prisons Of The Metropolis.
morning with a friend of mine whom I had known at Paris , and who now swells the number of his unfortunate countrymen who have sought a refuge here . The ancient garb of vanity sits not so well upon him as in those silken days when I first became acquainted with him ; but he still displays its rao-s and tatters , and would be as much offended if Paris were supposed inferior to London , as when he possessed the most mao-nificent hotel and the grandest carriage within it . °
Rants enim ferine sensus communis in ilia Fortuna . I would not wound the feelings of any man , Mr . Printer ; but least of all of the stranger and the unfortunate : but to confess the truth , I do not like to hear my country depressed or humiliated upon any point , and perhaps partake in some small degree of that
national vanity which I have ventured to condemn . When I look at home and around me , Sir , I am happy to be an Englishman , and proud too . If I am wrong , let the native of some happier , wiser , honester , and braver Country reprove me ; to know the existence of such an one will comfort me under my correction , and cure me of my error . When I heard my friend , therefore , and occasion
extolling preferring upon every the city of Paris to London , thinking our town smaller , our population less , and preferring Notre Dame to the Abby , and St . Genevieve to St . Paul's ; it occurred to me as we passed through ' St . George ' s Fields , in our ramble , to remark to him the formidable and dreadful area of one single prison for debt . " Mon bon ami , " said I , " ne parlous plus des grandeurs , des ornamens ; voyons
un peu les miserables , et comptons les malheurs . " When I had been put in mind of the Bicetre , I pursued the tenor of my discourse : " Let us not dispute , " said I , " about a few streets , or the acres concealed by a prodi gal magnificence . What can it signify whether your New Pantheon be comparable with our Cathedral ? Of what importance is it , whether the Elysian de Park
Fields or Hy , the Bois de Boulogne or Kensington Gardens , produce the gayest croud of triflers ? or whether it be wiser to catch the rheumatism at our Ranelagh or 3 'our ' s ? . Let us compute by a rule unknown to vanity , and use an arithmetic new and foreign to ambition . What quarter of our town but contains a workhouse , an hospital , and a jail ? On which side shall we
walk but we behold a palace for the mad , or a city for the unfortunate ? You talk of your Bicetre—I have entered it , and beheld wretches of every description shut up and confounded together ; the madman and the murderer , the thief ; the pick-pocket , and the debtor . But look upon this town of wretchedness , where none but the debtor enters ; remember that all that perish here are the prey of folly and misfortune : for every wretch included within ' these walls exists a tyrant out of them , brooding over his revenge ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Prisons Of The Metropolis.
morning with a friend of mine whom I had known at Paris , and who now swells the number of his unfortunate countrymen who have sought a refuge here . The ancient garb of vanity sits not so well upon him as in those silken days when I first became acquainted with him ; but he still displays its rao-s and tatters , and would be as much offended if Paris were supposed inferior to London , as when he possessed the most mao-nificent hotel and the grandest carriage within it . °
Rants enim ferine sensus communis in ilia Fortuna . I would not wound the feelings of any man , Mr . Printer ; but least of all of the stranger and the unfortunate : but to confess the truth , I do not like to hear my country depressed or humiliated upon any point , and perhaps partake in some small degree of that
national vanity which I have ventured to condemn . When I look at home and around me , Sir , I am happy to be an Englishman , and proud too . If I am wrong , let the native of some happier , wiser , honester , and braver Country reprove me ; to know the existence of such an one will comfort me under my correction , and cure me of my error . When I heard my friend , therefore , and occasion
extolling preferring upon every the city of Paris to London , thinking our town smaller , our population less , and preferring Notre Dame to the Abby , and St . Genevieve to St . Paul's ; it occurred to me as we passed through ' St . George ' s Fields , in our ramble , to remark to him the formidable and dreadful area of one single prison for debt . " Mon bon ami , " said I , " ne parlous plus des grandeurs , des ornamens ; voyons
un peu les miserables , et comptons les malheurs . " When I had been put in mind of the Bicetre , I pursued the tenor of my discourse : " Let us not dispute , " said I , " about a few streets , or the acres concealed by a prodi gal magnificence . What can it signify whether your New Pantheon be comparable with our Cathedral ? Of what importance is it , whether the Elysian de Park
Fields or Hy , the Bois de Boulogne or Kensington Gardens , produce the gayest croud of triflers ? or whether it be wiser to catch the rheumatism at our Ranelagh or 3 'our ' s ? . Let us compute by a rule unknown to vanity , and use an arithmetic new and foreign to ambition . What quarter of our town but contains a workhouse , an hospital , and a jail ? On which side shall we
walk but we behold a palace for the mad , or a city for the unfortunate ? You talk of your Bicetre—I have entered it , and beheld wretches of every description shut up and confounded together ; the madman and the murderer , the thief ; the pick-pocket , and the debtor . But look upon this town of wretchedness , where none but the debtor enters ; remember that all that perish here are the prey of folly and misfortune : for every wretch included within ' these walls exists a tyrant out of them , brooding over his revenge ,