If we estimate at a fhilling a day what is loft by the inaction and confumed in the fupport of each man thus chained down to involuntary idleness, the publick lofs will rife in one year to three hundred thousand pounds; in ten years to more than a fixth part of our circulating coin. A B for themselves. But whatever be the evil or the folly of thefe retreats, thofe have no right to cenfure them whofe Prifons contain greater numbers than the Monafteries of other countries. It is, furely, lefs foolish and less criminal to permit inaction than compel it; to comply with doubtful opinions of happinefs, than condemn to certain and apparent mifery; to indulge the extravagancies of erroneous piety, than to multiply and enforce temptations to wickedness. I am afraid that those who are beft acquainted with the state of our prifons, will confefs that my conjecture is too near the truth, when I fuppofe that the corrofion of refentment, the heaviness of forrow, the The mifery of gaols is not half their evil, corruption of confined air, the want of ex- they are filled with every corruption which ercife, and fometimes of food, the contagion poverty and wickedness can generate between of difeafes from which there is no retreat, them, with all the fhameless and profligate and the feverity of tyrants against whom enormities that can be produced by the imputhere can be no refiftance, and all the com- dence of ignominy, the rage of want, and plicated horrors of a prifon, put an end every the malignity of defpair. In a prison the year to the life of one in four of those that awe of the publick eye is loft, and the power are fhut up from the common comforts of of the law is fpent; there are few fears, human life. C there are no blushes. The lewd inflame the lewd, the audacious harden the audacious. Every one fortifies himself as he can against his own fenfibility, endeavours to practise on others the arts which are practifed on himfelf, and gains the kindness of his affociates by fimilitude of manners. Thus perifh yearly five thousand men, overborne with forrow, confumed by famine, or putrified by filth; many of them in the moft vigorous and ufeful part of life, for the thoughtiefs and imprudent are commonly young, and the active and bufy are feldom old. According to the rule generally received, D which fuppofes that one in thirty dies yearly, the race of man may be faid to be renewed at the end of thirty years. Who would have believed till now, that of every English generation an hundred and fifty thousand perifh in our gaols! That in every century, a nation eminent for fcience, ftudious of com- E merce, ambitious of empire, fhould willingly lofe, in noifome dungeons, five hundred thousand of its inhabitants: A number greater than has ever been destroyed in the fame time by the Peftilence and Sword! A very late occurrence may fhew us the value of the number which we thus con- F demn to be ufelefs; in the re-establishment of the Trained Bands, thirty thousand are confidered as a force fufficient against all exigencies: While, therefore, we detain twenty thousand in prifon, we fhut up in darknefs and ufeleffnefs two thirds of an army which ourfelves judge equal to the defence of our country. Thus fome fink amidft their mifery, and others furvive only to propagate villainy. It may be hoped that our Lawgivers will fome time take away from us this power of starving and depraving one another: But, if there be any reason why this inveterate evil fhould not be removed in this age, which true policy has enlightened beyond any former time, let thofe, whofe writings form the opinions and the modes of their cotemporaries, endeavour to transfer the infamy of fuch imprisonment from the Debtor to the Creditor, till univerfal infamy shall pursue the wretch, whofe wantonnefs of power or revenge of disappointment condemns another to torture and to ruin, till he shall be hunted through the world as an enemy to man, and find in riches no fhelter from contempt. ; Surely, he whofe Debtor has perished in prifon, though he may acquit himself of deliberate murder, muft at least have his mind G clouded with difcontent, when he confiders how much another has fuffered from him when he thinks on the wife bewailing her hufband or the children begging the bread which their father would have earned. If there are any made fo obdurate by avarice or cruelty, as to revolve thefe confequences without dread or pity, I must leave them to be awakened by fome other power, for I write only to human Beings. The Monaftic Institutions have been often blamed as tending to retard the increase of mankind. And perhaps retirement ought rarely to be permitted, except to those whofe employment is confiftent with abstraction, and who tho' folitary will not be idle; to H those whom infirmity makes uselefs to others, or to those who have paid their due proportion to Society, and who, having lived for others, may be honourably difmiffed to live [Idler, or Universal Chronicle.} The The ufes to be made of Bracelets. The ufes to be made of Bracelets. A$ To the IDLER. 31 The Ladies might enroll themselvess in diftinct claffes, and carry in open view the em S none look more diligently about them blems of their order. The Bracelet of the than those who have nothing to do, or Authorefs may exhibit the Mufes in a Grove do nothing, I fuppofe it has not efcaped your of Laurel; the Housewife may thew Peneobfervation, that the Bracelet, an ornament lope with her Web; the Votrels of a fingle of great antiquity, has been for fome years A Life may carry Urfula with her troop of Virrevived among the English Ladies. gins; the Gamefter may have Fortune with her Wheel; and thofe Women that have ng Character at all may display a Field of white Enamel, as imploring Help to fill up the vacuity. The genius of our nation is faid, I know not for what reafon, to appear rather in improvement than invention. The Bracelet was known in the earliest ages; but it was formerly only a hoop of gold, or a cluster of jewels, and thewed nothing but the wealth or vanity of the wearer, till our Ladies, by carrying Pictures on their wrifts, made their ornaments works of fancy, and exercifes of judgment. B This addition of art to luxury is one of the innumerable proofs that might be given of the late increase of female erudition, and C I have often congratulated myself that my life has happened at a time when those on whom so much of human felicity depends, have learned to think as well as speak, and when refpect takes poffeffion of the ear, while love is entering at the eye. I have obferved, that, even by the fuffrages of their own fex, thole Ladies are accounted wifeft, who do not yet difdain to be taught; and therefore I fhall offer a few hints for the completion of the Bracelet, without any dread of the fate of Orpheus, To the Ladies who wear the Pictures of their husbands or children, or any other near relations, I can offer nothing more decent or more proper. It is reasonable to believe that the intends at least to perform her duty, who carries a perpetual excitement to recollection and caution, whofe own ornaments must upbraid her with every failure, and who, by any open violation of her engagements, muft for ever forfeit her Bracelet. Yet I know not whether it is the intereft of the husband to folicite very earnestly a place on the Bracelet. If his image be not in the heart, it is of fmall avail to hang it on the hand. A husband encircled with diamonds and rubies may gain fome esteem, but will never excite love. And he that thinks himfelf moft fecure of his wife, fhould be fearful of perfecuting her continually with his pretence; the joy of life is variety, the tendereft love requires to be kindled by intervals of abfence, and Fidelity herself will be wearied with transferring her eye only from the fame Man to the fame Picture. In many countries the condition of every woman is known by her drefs. Marriage is rewarded with fome honourable diftinction which celibacy is forbidden to ufurp. Some fuch information a Bracelet might afford. There is a fet of Ladies who have outlived moft animal pleasures, and having nothing rational to put in their place, folace with Cards the loss of what Time has taken away, and the want of what Wildom having never been courted has never given. For these I know not how to provide a proper decoration. They cannot be numbered among the Gamefters, for though they are always at play they play for nothing, and never rife to the dignity of Hazard or the reputation of Skill. They neither love nor are loved, and cannot be fuppofed to contemplate any human image with delight. Yet though they despair to please, they always wish to be fine, and therefore cannot be without a Bracelet. To this Sifterhood 1 can recommend nothing more likely to please them than the King of Clubs, a perfonage very comely and majestick, who will never meet their eyes without reviving the thought of fome paft or future party, and who may be displayed in the act of dealing E with grace and propriety, D F G But the Bracelet which might be most eafily introduced into general ufe is a small convex Mirror, in which the Lady may fee herself whenever the fhalt lift her hand. This will be a perpetual fource of delight. Other ornaments are of ufe only in publick, but this will furnish gratifications to folitude. This will fhew a face that must always pleafe; the who is followed by Admirers will carry about her a perpetual juftification of the publick voice, and the who paffes without notice may appeal from prejudice to her own eyes. But I know not why the privilege of the Bracelet fhould be confined to Women, it was in former Ages worn by Heroes in battle, and as modern Soldiers are always diftinguished by fplendor of dreis, I could rejoice to fee the Bracelet added to the Cockade. In hope of this ornamental innovation, I have spent fome thoughts upon Military Bracelets. There is no paffion more heroic than love, and therefore I fhould be glad to fee the Sons of England marching in the field, every Man with the Picture of a Woman of Honour bound upon his Hand. But Lince unce in the Army, as every where elfe, there will always be Men who loves nobody but themselves, or whom no Woman of Honour will permit to love her, there is a neceffity of fome other diftinctions and devices. A fers from all other animals of the fame kind, for he is larger than an Ox, and has low, black, fhort horns, with a large beard under his chin. The top of his head is covered with hair, which is to long that it falls over his I have read of a Prince who having lost a eyes, and gives him a terrible look. He has Town, ordered the name of it to be every a bunch on his back, which begins at his morning fhouted in his ear till it fhould be haunches, and encreafes gradually till it comes recovered. For the fame purpose, I think the to the fhoulders, where it is very high. The profpect of Minorca might be properly worn first rib before is higher by half a yard than on the Hands of fome of our Generals the reft, and is three inches broad. The others might delight their Countryinen and, whole bunch covered with long reddish dignify themselves with a view of Rochefort hair, and the rest of the body with a fort of as it appeared to them at Sea. And thofe B black wool, which is very long, and in very that shall return from the conquest of, Ame- high esteem. He has fcarce any neck, but his rica, may exhibit the Warehoufe of Fronte head is larger than that of a Bull. However nac, with an infeription denoting, that it they are very timorous, and a whole herd of was taken in less than three Years by lefs them will fly at the fight of a dog. The flesh than twenty thousand Men. [Univer. Chron.] is thought to be good eating, and the hide is Defeription of the MISCELLANEOUS PLATE, put to various ufes, as well as the hair which Fvarious kinds, and the body of one of To the Editor of the GRAND MAGAZINE IG. The Eaft Indian Bats are of Canfwers moft of the purpofes of fuk. them is larger than a Cat. As for the shape that will beft appear from the figure. They SIR, " of MAGAZINES. R. Dubourg, a Gentleman very fond hang upon trees by the hooks on the wings Moffwimming, but fubject to the cramp, for a confiderable time together; but they #y abour in the day time, and not at twilight as the bats do in thefe parts of the world. FIG. II. The Dronte, or Dedaers, is a Bird of a size between an Ostrich and a large Turkey, and has fome refemblance to the former in the feathers and rail: The head is very Large and not unlike that of a Cuckow, but quite naked of feathers. The eyes are large and black, the neck crooked and very thick, with a very long thick bill of a pale blue, except towards the extremities, where it is black above and yellowish underneath. Both the upper and lower parts are hooked at the ends. The body is very thick, and covered with foft grey feathers like thole of an Ostrich, and the legs are to thort that its belly alinott reaches the ground. On both fides there are fort of pen feathers inftead of wings, of a pale yellow colour, and there are five curled plumes inftead of a tail. This bird is fo efhy, that one of them will dine near thirty men, FIG. III. The Wanderbw is a fort of a Monkey of Ceylon, which has a large white beard that reaches from one ear to the other, intomuch that he may be mistaken at a difzace for an old Negroe, for his face is black; it is a very innocent harmle's creature, that lives in the woods and feels upon the buds of trees and fruits. FIG. IV. The Sea Hedge-Hog is fo called from the fharp prickles all over the body. It. his very large eyes, and fwims fo extremely flow, that it would become an easy prey to other fith, if the prickles, did not prevent it. F10. V. The North-American Buffalo dif D E F was led to confider of fome contrivance to fecure to himself the pleasure of that exercise, without danger. For this purpose he has invented a cork waificoat, compofed of four pieces of cork, two for the breasts, and two for the back, each pretty near in length and breadth to the quarters of a waistcoat without flaps; the whole is covered with a coarse canvas, with two holes to put the arm's through; there is a space left between the two back pieces and the fame betwixt each back and breaft-piece, that they may fit the easier to the body. By this means the waiftcoat is open only before, and may be faitened on the wearer with ftrings, or, if it fhould be thought more fecure, with buckles and leather straps. This waifcoat does not weigh above 12 ounces, and may be made up for about five or fix fhillings expence. It is more fimple in its make than the bag, (fee p. 326. vol. I.) not liable to the inconvenience of being blown up, as is abfolutely neceflary to the ufe of the bag, nor, like that, fubject to be torn. Mr. Dubourg has tried his waft coat in the river Thames, and found that it not only supported him on the water, but that even two men were not able to fink: him, tho they made their utmost efforts for that purpofe. The expence of providing a fufficient H number of them for our Navy, cannot be great; if a fingle one can be made for about five shillings, furely 30 or 40,000 may be made upon an average, for much less a piece. G The cork will last very long; and the can vals, which would feldom want renewing, is the least chargeable material. |