I will, at the enfuing feflions, move
that his falary be difcontinued. The
character I confider as fitting the litu-
ation of chaplain, is peculiar to itself.
It is not poffible that any man fhould
execute the duties, with advantage
to his charge, whofe mind revolts at
the fervice; and the temper of mind,
that will produce an inclination to the
duty, is rather natural than moral.
Many excellent men, who live an
honour to their profeffion, and whofe
manners and abilities are the charm
of fociety, would very ill fulfil du-
ties that thould call them to fcenes of
mifery in folitude and fuffering; yet
there are thofe, whofe minds, fo far
from revolting, find indulgence in
that expanfion which attends duties
of this kind. To perfons bufy and
employed in the active and cheerful
fcenes of life, it may appear abftrac-
ted to fpeak of fuch an indulgence;
but how abftracted foever it may ap-
pear, I believe it to be a truth founded
in the harmony of moral difpenfation,
that there is no pofitive focial duty, that
bas not a correfponding incitement in the
affections of the heart. In thofe whofe
circumstances, or whofe difpofition,
fix them to reclufe and reflective
life, the mind takes the tone of its
affections from its habits, and the
nerves become agreeably excited by
objects of commiferation. From fuch,
only, may be expected that earneit
exertion which will have a conftant
effect.' I fhould, my dear fir, have
little pleafure in tranfcribing thefe
fentiments for you, were I not af-
fured here by thofe who have no
intereft in deceiving, that the original
principles upon which the conftitu-
tion of this prifon was formed, have
not been hitherto departed from in
any one inftance. The vifiting juf-
tices being men of large fortunes,
and above corruption in themfelves,
have excluded it from entering into
any department of this inftitution, and
the good effets of this conduct have
already been vifible.

In the jails of the metropolis, and in many others, an abominable cuftom

prevails, the very difgrace of a country
pretending to humanity, and to good
order and difcipline - I mean permit-
ting the prifoners to exact garnish, or
other fees, from other prifoners on
their commitment. This here, is ex-
prefsly forbidden, and indeed, from
the conflitution of the jail, no fuch
inftance can happen.-A table of rules
is printed for the use of the prifoners,
that they may exactly comprehend
what is required of them, and what is
due to their fituation. This is pasted
up in the cell of each prifoner, and is
befide read once a month in the cha-
pel. Gaming is particularly prohi-
bited in all its branches. The pri-
foners are enjoined to appear cleanly,
and the ftrictest attention is indeed
bestowed on cleanliness both in their
perfons and cells. A prifoner on his
firit commitment is confined in the
lazaretto ward, until examined by the
furgeon; and if fick, he is put into
the foul ward; if not, he is commit-
ted to his proper divifion, and pro-
vided with a prifon uniform, and his
own clothes, after being pu ified and
numbered, are depofited in the ward-
robe, until the time of trial or dif-
charge. The profits of their work
are divided into four parts, two of
which are paid to the prifoner, one
to the governor and manufacturer,
and the other to the county flock;
but if any prifoner chufe to accept the
county fhare of his labour, in lieu of
his allowance, the three parts are paid
to him; on the other hand, if it shall
appear that he is wilfully neg igent of
his work, it is at the option of the
governor to ftop the county allow-
ance, and give him the three parts
of his earnings in lieu thereof. No-
thing, you will perceive, can more
effectually fecure his industry, unless
he be among the number of those who
are abandoned beyond all power of
being reclaimed. Their hares of
the carnings are paid weekly, and
they may purchase any necellaries,
conf lent with the rules of the prison,
which exclude improper drink, &c.
Thus far of fuch prifoners as may be

termed

recollect, that he was fcarcely ever
fatisfied with what he faw and heard.
I need not remind you of the fcenes
of the King's Bench and the Fleet pri-
fons. Whether the plan adopted here
be preferable, you fhall judge for
yourfelf. Every debtor here, as far
as the construction of the prifon ad-
mits, has a feparate bed-room, fur-
nished at the county coft; if he chufes
to add
any thing to it, as extra-furni-
ture, &c. he may do it free of all
expence whatever. If inclined to
work, he is employed, and allows a
third part of his earnings to the
keeper or manufacturer; if he can
have the means of labour brought to
him from without the prifon, he may
work without the interference of the
officers of the prifon, or any fee what-
ever; there is an exception here, in
cafes where the materials or tools are
of a nature and bulk not fit to be ad-
mitted into a prifon-a condition
reasonable enough. I obferved fe-
veral of them at work, and I was
told fome, confined for confiderable
fums, had worked themselves out.
There is a houfe not far from the jail,
where all the prifon work is fold.
This confifts of moit kinds of mecha-
nic work of the lower order; I
bought fome trifles of turnery ware,
and a few drawings with pen and ink,
very neatly executed by a perfon
lately confined for debt, but who ex-
tricated himfelf by this means from
his difficulties, and is now employed
in works of art of a higher kind.
But as it will fometimes occur, that
a debtor is fo far removed from,
or deftitute of friends, as to be to
tally deprived of futtenance, and
without a power of procuring his
groats from his creditors; or that he
is either not able to work, or cannot
procure employment fufficient to fuf-
tain him; in fuch cafes, on producing
a certificate from the minifter, and
fome other refpectable inhabitants, of
the place of refidence of any debtor,
that he is fo deititute of friends, and
a deferving object of the public boun-
ty, the vifiting juftices, or any two

order of them, may fuch prifoner any relief from the county tock, not exceeding the ordinary allowance to felens, &c. or may affift him in procuring his groats. I have only to add, on this head, that the debtors are regulated, in every other part of their conduct, by the rules of very strict, though by no means oppreffive, difcipline. They are debarred from gaming, drinking, and every thing that may hurt them.

Such are some of the laws observed in the government of a jail erected, not fo much for the purposes of punifhment, as of reformation. If I have exceeded the bounds of my former letters in this detail, I have only to plead, that fuch a fubject must be dear and interefting to you, my dear fir, and to every man who confiders the prefent deplorable state of the criminal pcor. We fhall not probably banish crimes by fuch means, but they will, I flatter myself, be attended with circumstances of less atrocity in the commiflion, and with a more falutary penitence after they have been committed. Other punithments may yet be neceffary, but they will be more effectual both to the criminal and to the public. There have been only two initances of capital punishment fince this jail was erected. The place of execution is a platform raised confiderably above the roof of the jail, and commands a prospect of the whole city, from whence the awful folemnity may be witneffed. Where fights of this kind are not frequent, they generally leave very lafting impreflion. In the metropolis they are fo common, that, if I may use the phrafe, nobody thinks it worth his while to fee them.

If I have not imbibed mistaken notions on this fubject, the utmost that any legiflature can do, is to moderate, or leffen the more outrageous kinds of wickedness. To expel them entirely, is not in the power of man, and they who aim at perfection, will probably fall fhorter of doing any kind of good, than those whole ex

pectations

pectations are lefs fanguine. Were afraid that one prifon only for foli-
prifons in general regulated on the tary confinement will barely fuffice
plan, of which I have now given you for a tenth part of the objects for
fome, though an imperfect, account, whom that mode of reformation is
the advantages derived would like- requifite. A diftant county has a
wife be general; at prefent, thofe much better chance to fhew the ad-
are confined to two or three counties. vantages of the plan in their most
Why the metropolis did not take the favourable afpect; for the manners
lead in this very important reforma- of the people a hundred miles from
tion, I am at a lofs to conceive, for the metropolis are as different from
fhe has long taken the lead in all the the manners of those who inhabit it,
abuses which render reformation ne- as the fimplicity of a child is different
ceffary. I know, indeed, that a pri- from the cunning of a man. But I
fon is now building for the county of am afraid I tire you. In my next I
Middlesex, upon this plan, as to its fhall lead you to gayer fcenes, for
conftruction, and I hope that the inter- the chaife now waits to carry me to
nal regulations will be equally well Cheltenham, that feat of pleafure and
adapted to general good; but I know happiness. I am, &c.
nothing farther; and I am fomewhat

On the PREPOSSESSIONS of a FIRST SIGHT.
To the EDITOR of the UNIVERSAL MAGAZINE.

SIR,

TH

HE fcience of phyfiognomy, or phyfingnomony, as Lavater has termed it, appears to have a greater degree of prefumption in it than any other fpecies of natural or acquired knowledge to which men can attain. Whether it is capable of being reduced to certain rules, and taught like other sciences, as that fame writer maintains, may at least be doubted, if not contradicted, on the frongest evidence of reafoning and experience. It is indifputable, that we are apt to form fome opinion of a man at firft fight; but as we feldom or never can affign a reafon why we form fuch an opinion, it follows that if we are right, we are right by chance, or by fome kind of initin, or fecret kind of knowledge, wholly incommunicable; and if we thould be right in a number of fuch inftances, we cannot impart our knowledge to another; and, therefore, phyfiognomy, or phyfiognomony, is not a feience to be taught like any other. It is, at beft, a fort of inftinct given to man, as inftinct is given to the beafts, to enable them to distinguish one kind of herb

from another, and to guard them from accidents. Why, from merely feeing a man, we are inclined to love or hate him, to have a good or a bad opinion of him, we can no more tell, than why the animal which is grazing will avoid poisonous, and feed only upon the wholefome, appropriate productions of the earth.

The writer of this letter may lay' claim to a confiderable portion of phyfiognomical knowledge, were it worth boafting of, or could he communicate it. He has, without knowing why, been led to form a certain opinion of people at first fight, and this opinion he has never in one inftance found to be wrong. He has, indeed, in the courfe of a more intimate acquaintance, found reafon to change it; but in the course of a longer acquaintance than that, he has been perfectly fenfible that his first opinion, formed without any acquaintance at all, has proved to be the true one. Moit men have this kind of knowledge in a greater or leffer degree; but it may be doubted whether it adminifters much to their comfort,

02

whether

whether it may not often be mistaken, and whether, as prejudice is a weed of ftrong growth in the human mind, it be not dangerous to recommend it to others, or to make it known.

Were the works of Lavater generally ftudied, I am fully perfuaded that we fhould foon become an age of impertinents, prefumptuously deciding upon each others characters with out the leaft foundation. Phyfiogromony, even as he has explained it, is but the fcience of conjecture. You may be right, but you may also be wrong, and you have nothing but experience to tell you whether you are the one or the other; and experience will inform you of a man's character, without your having had the trouble to form an opinion of him at firft fight. Mens' characters, if phyfiognomy be true, muft always be the fame, which we know is rarely the cafe; the character of the child, the youth, the man, and the greybeard, are very different, while the changes in the countenance are not fuch as change of character gives, but fuch as are brought on by the progrefs of years, or rather the progrefs of man from health to diffolution.

Can we know nothing, then, from looking a man in the face?-Yes, a great deal; we can tell whether he be angry or well-pleafed, healthy or fick, young or old; but we cannot tell even this without risk of error; for fome mens features are not happily adapted to exprefs the paffions; and, befides, we differ in our ideas of health and fickness. Many men, too, particularly ftudious men, acquire a look of greater age than belongs to them; while others, from trong health, neatness of perfon, and agility of motion, appear to be much younger than they really are.

But it was not my design when I took up the pen, to write against Layater's fystem. It has many beauties, contains much information, and every where difplays the piety and philanthropy of the author. My purpofe, Mr. Editor, was to complain of a kind of phyfiognomical knowledge which has prevailed in this country, long before Lavater's researches were begun I mean that very happy faculty which fome people have of knowing men at first fight, by certain figns and fymptoms, which do not enter into Lavater's fyftem. People of fashion will know the character of a man from the curl of his hair, the cut of his coat, or the bow he makes at entrance, and judge of him accordingly. They likewife have a most penetrating eye in difcovering not only the character of the perfon, but even the business he comes about. They can read in his countenance whether he comes to receive or pay a bill, and regulate their behaviour accordingly, putting on a becoming gravity and earneftnefs, or a grateful kindly smile, according to circumftances. A plebeian, too, is no mean phyfiognomift in his way; when he prefents his bill he knows, at the first glance, whether it will be paid or not; and when he meets a great man with a fmile on his countenance, he is fure that he wants fenicthing, a fresh parcel of goods, longer credit, or perhaps, once in feven years, a vote. An acquaintance with this kind of phyfiognomony faves a great deal of unnecflary converfation, and confequently may prevent that difagreeable altercation, which is very apt to follow from the converfation of two men, one of whom owes, and cannot pay, and the other wants, and cannot have

Lavater is a man of genius and penetration, and a good deal of entertainment may be found in his book; but I am afraid it will not teach fagacity to thote on whom nature has not bestowed that talent, nor form to habits of minute attention thofe who are bab' tually inattentive; and if it fhould encourage the unfkilful to form tash judgments, there is reafon to apprehend that it may do more harm than good.'-Beattie's Elements of Moral Science.

patience,