After a fhort repofe on his return from this tour, he made another journey in the fummer of the fame year into Scotland and Ireland, and again vifited feveral of the English prifons. His materials had now once more accumulated to fuch a mafs, as to demand communication to the public. During the last three years his labours had been even greater than in any former equal period: yet it could not be expected, that the matter abfolutely new which he had collected fhould be proportionally great. It was, however, enough to employ him very clofely during feveral months of the year 1784, in printing an Appendix, and a new edition of the main work, in which all the additions were comprized. The Appendix contains all the matter of that of 1780, together with what had fince accrued.' The remainder of that, and the greater part of the next year, do not appear marked with his public fervices. They were, I believe, chiefly employed in domeftic concerns, of which the choice of a proper place of education for his fon, now rifing towards manhood, was one that most interested him. But the habitude of carrying on researches into an object, which by long poffeffion had acquired deep root in his mind, together with a new idea, collaterally allied to it, which had ftruck him, at length impelled him once more to engage in the toils and perils of a foreign journey. He had obferved that, notwithstanding the regulations for preferving health in prifons and hofpitals, infectious difeafes continued occafionally to arife and spread in them: he had alfo in his travels remarked the great folicitude of feveral trading nations to preferve themselves from that most deftructive of all contagious diftempers, the Plague; and, at the fame time, he was well apprized of the rude and neglected ftate in which the police of our own country is left refpecting that object. Combining thefe ideas, he thought that a vifit to all the principal Lazarettos, and to countries frequently attacked by the plague, might afford much information as to the means of preventing contagion in general, as well as particular inftruction concerning eftablishments for the purpose of guarding against peftilential infection. His intent, therefore, was nothing less, than to plunge into the midst of those dangers which by other men are fo anxiously avoided; to fearch out and confront the great foe of human life, for the fake of recognizing his features, and difcovering the most efficacious barriers against his affaults. Who but must be ftruck with admiration of the firmness of courage, and the ardour of benevolence, which could prompt fuch a defign! As a proof of his own idea of the hazards he was to encounter, it may be mentioned, that he refolved to travel fingle and unattended; not thinking it juftifiable to permit any of his fervants to partake of a danger to which they were not called by motives fimilar to his own. It was towards the end of 1785 that Mr. Howard fet out upon this tour, taking his way through Holland and Flanders, to the South of France. As, from the jealoufy and difpleasure of the French government, he was not able to obtain permiffion to vifit the establishments there, or even to gain affurance of perfonal fafety, fafety, he travelled through the country as an English physician, never took his meals in public, and entrusted his fecret only to the Proteftant minifters. In a letter from Nice to the friend abovementioned, dated January 30, 1786, he acquaints him with these circumstances, and fays, that he was five days at Marseilles and four at Toulon; and, as it was thought that he could not get out of France by land, he embarked in a Genoefe veffel, and was feveral days ftriving against wind and tide. They who at present conduct the government of France, will blush at the idea, that a Howard was obliged to conceal his name and purpose while carrying on in their country inquiries which had no other aim than the good of mankind! From Nice, Mr. Howard went to Genoa, Leghorn, and Naples, and to the islands of Malta and Zante. He then failed to Smyrna, and thence to Conftantinople.' He defigned to proceed from Conftantinople over land to Vienna; but having determined, upon reflection, to obtain by perfonal experience the fulleft information of the mode of performing quarantine, he returned to Smyrna, where the plague then was, for the purpofe of going to Venice with a foul bill, that would neceffarily fubject him to the utmoft rigour of the procefs. His voyage was tedious, and rendered hazardous by equinoctial ftorms;" and in the courfe of it he incurred a danger of another kind, the fhip in which he was a paffenger being attacked by a Tunifian corfair, which, after a fmart fkirmish, was beaten off by the execution done by a cannon loaded with spike nails and bits of iron, and' pointed by Mr. Howard himfelf. It afterwards appeared to have been the intention of the captain to blow up his veffel, rather than fubmit to be taken into perpetual flavery. It was not till the clofe of 1786 that Mr. Howard left his difagreeable quarters in the lazaretto of Venice, in which his health and fpirits fuffered confiderably. Thence he went by Trieste to Vienna. In this capital he had the honour of a private conference with the Emperor, which was conducted with the atmoft eafe and condefcenfion on the part of Jofeph II. and equal freedom on the part of the Englishman. A relation of this inftructive fcene in his own words, will, I doubt not, be agreeable to the reader: "The Emperor defired to fee me, and I had the honour of a private audience with him of above an hour and a half. He took me by the hand three times in converfation, and thanked me for the vifit. He afterwards told our ambaffador, That his countryman fpoke well for prifoners; that he ufed no flowers, which others ever do, and mean nothing.' But his greatest favour to me was his immediate alterations for the relief of the prisoners." That the late Emperor had an ardent zeal for improvement of every kind, and a ftrong defire of promoting the profperity of his fubjects, will scarcely be denied even by those who are the feverest cenfurers of the mode in which he conducted his plans, and his extreme mutability refpe&ting them. He will also be honoured, for the readiness with which he laid afide the eti * Letter to Mr. Smith.' quette quette of his rank, on every occafion where it obftructed him in the acquifition of knowlege, or the activity of exertion. Mr. Howard returned through Germany and Holland, and arrived safe in England early in 1787.' After his return, he took a fhort repofe, and then went over to Ireland, and vifited most of the county gaols and charter fchools, and came back by Scotland. In 1788 he renewed his vifit to Ireland, and completed his furvey of its gaols, hospitals, and fchools.' "The great variety of matter collected in these journies was methodized and put to the prefs in 1789. It compofes a quarto volume, beautifully printed, and, decorated with a number of fine plates, which, as ufual, are prefented to the public; and fo eager were the purchafers of bocks to partake of the donation, that all the copies were almost immediately bought up. The title is, An Account of the principal Lazarettos in Europe, with various Papers relative to the Plague; together with further Obfervations on fome foreign Prifons and Hofpitals; with additional Remarks on the prefent State of thofe in Great Britain and Ireland *.? Mr. Howard remained but a fhort time at home after the printing of this work. In the conclufion of it he had delared his intention" again to quit his native country, for the purpose of revisiting Ruffia, Turkey, and fome other countries, and extending his tour in the east.". In the beginning of July 1789 he arrived in Holland. Thence he proceeded through the north of Germany, Pruffia, Courland, and Livonia, to St. Petersburgh. From this capital he went to Mofcow.' 6 From Moscow he took his courfe to the very extremity of European Ruffia, extended as it now is to the fhores of the Black-fea, where long dreary tracts of defert are terminated by fome of those new establishments, which have coft fuch immenfe profufion of blood and treasure to two vaft empires, now become neighbours and perpetual foes. Here, at the distance of 1,500 miles from his native land, he fell a victim to disease, the ravages of which, among unpitied multitudes, he was exerting every effort to reftrain. Finis vita nobis luctuofus, amicis trifiis, extraneis etiam ignotifque non fine cura!' 6 The winter being far advanced on the taking of Bender, the commander of the Ruffian army at that place gave permiffion to many of the officers to vifit their friends at Cherfon, as the feverity of the feafon would not admit of a continuance of hoftilities against the Turks. Cherfon, in confequence, became much crowded; and the inhabitants teftified their joy for the fuccefs of the Ruffians by balls and mafquerades. Several of the officers, of the inhabitants of Cherfon, and of the gentry in the neighbourhood, who attended these balls, were almoft immediately afterwards attacked with fevers; and it was Mr. Howard's idea, that the infection had *Of this work an account will be found in the ift volume of our New Series, p. 134. 248. -been been brought by the officers from Bender. Amongst the number who caught this contagion was a young lady who refided about fixteen miles from Cherfon. When the had been ill fome little time, Mr. Howard was earneftly requested to vifit her. He faw her first on Sunday, December 27. He vifited her again in the middle of the week, and a third time on the Sunday following, January 3. On that day he found her fweating very profufely; and, being unwilling to check this by uncovering her arm, he paffed his under the bed-clothes to feel her pulfe. While he was doing this, the effluvia from her body were very offenfive to him, and it was always his own opinion that he then caught the fever. She died on the following day. Mr. Howard was much affected by her death, as he had flattered himself with hopes of her amendment. From January 3d to the 8th he fcarcely went out*; but on that day he went to dine with Admiral Montgwinoff, who lived about a mile and a half from his lodgings. He ftaid later than ufual; and when he returned, found himfelf unwell, and thought he had fomething of the gout flying about him. He immediately took fome fal volatile in a little tea, and thought himself better till three or four on Saturday morning, when, feeling not fo well, he repeated the fal volatile. He got up in the morning, and walked out; but finding himself worse, foon returned and took an emetic. On the following night he had a violent attack of fever, when he had recourfe to his favourite remedy, James's powder, which he regularly took every two or four hours till Sunday the 17th. For though Prince Potemkin fent his own phyfician to him, immediately on his being acquainted with his illness, yet his own prefcriptions were never interfered with during this time. On the 12th he had a kind of fit, in which he fuddenly fell down, his face became black, his breathing difficult, and he remained infenfible for haif an hour. On the 17th he had another fimilar fit. On the 18th he was feized with hiccupping, which continued on the next day, when he took fome mufk draughts by direction of the phyfician. About feven o'clock on Wednesday morning, the zoth of January, he had another fit, and died in about an hour after. He was perfectly fenfible during his illness, except in the fits, till within a very few hours of his death. This event hé all along expected to take place; and he often faid, that he had no other wifh for life than as it gave him the means of relieving his fellow-creatures.' In the preceding abstract, we have been under the neceffity of omitting many important particulars: but they will be perufed with more pleafure and effect, in connection with the numerous observations and reflections which accompany them. These are so pertinent and judicious, that we fhould fcarcely think our duty difcharged without making fome extracts from them, were we not perfuaded that the work itfelf will be uni 6 There feems fome mistake here, as there is a full report in his memorandums, of a vifit to the hofpitals in Cherfon, dated January 6.' The above particulars were given by Mr. H.'s fervant. Y 2 verfally verfally read. One paffage from Dr. Aikin's masterly portrait of Mr. Howard's character we must quote, because it may ferve to obviate a misapprehenfion which feems to have been commonly entertained concerning him : Mr. Howard poffeffed the rare quality of being able, for any length of time, to bend all the powers and faculties of his mind to one point, unfeduced by every allurement which curiofity or any other affection might throw in his way, and unfusceptible of that fatiety and difgoft which are fo apt to fteal upon a protracted purfuit. Though by his early travels he had fhewn himself not indif. ferent to thofe objects of taste and information which strike the cultivated mind in a foreign country, yet in the tours expressly for the purpose of examining prifons and hofpitals, he appears to have had eyes and ears for nothing elfe; at least he fuffered no other object to detain him or draw him afide*. Impreffed with the idea of the importance of his defigns, and the uncertainty of human life, he was impatient to get as much done as poffible within the allotted limits. And in this difpofition confifted that enthufiafm by which the public fuppofed him actuated; for otherwife, his cool and fteady temper gave no idea of the character ufually diftinguished by that appellation. He followed his plans, indeed, with wonderful vigour and conftancy, but by no means with that heat and eager nefs, that inflamed and exalted imagination, which denote the enthufiaft. Hence, he was not liable to catch at partial reprefentations, to view facts through fallacious mediums, and to fall into thofe miftakes which are fo frequent in the refearches of the man of fancy and warm feeling. Some perfons, who only knew him by his extraordinary actions, were ready enough to bestow upon him that fneer of contempt, which men of cold hearts and felfish difpofitions are fo apt to apply to whatever has the fhew of high fenfibility. While others, who had a flight acquaintance with him, and faw occafional features of phlegm, and perhaps harfhnefs, were difpofed to question his feeling altogether, and to attribute his exertions either merely to a fenfe of duty, or to habit and humour. But both these were erroneous conclufions. He felt as a man should feel; but not fo as to mislead him, either in the estimate he formed of objects of utility, or in his reafonings concerning the means by which they were to be brought into effect. The reformation of abufes, and the relief of mifery, were the two great purposes which he kept in view in all his undertakings; and I have equally feen the tear of fenfibility ftart into his eyes on recalling fome of the diftrefsful fcenes to which he had been witnefs, and the fpirit of indignation flash from them on relating inftances of bafeness and op preffion. Still, however, his conftancy of mind and self-collection rever deferted him. He was never agitated, never off his guard; and the unspeakable advantages of fuch a temper in the fcenes in which he was engaged, need not be dwelt upon. *He mentioned being once prevailed upon in Italy, to go and hear fome extraordinarily fine mufic; but, finding his thoughts too much occupied by it, he would never repeat the indulgence." • His |