Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of John Hooward the Philanthropist (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1823 Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VII. Mr. Howard's First And Second Journey On The Continent, For The Purpose Of Inspecting The Prisons Of France, Holland, A Part Of FlanDers, Germany, And Switzerland;--His Second General Inspection Of English Jails, And The Publication Of His State Of Prisons--'1775--1777; With The History Of His Private Life To The Close Of The Latter Year. On Mr. Howard's return from his tour in Scotland and Ireland, early in the year 1775, it was his intention to have given to the world the result of his inquiries as to the state of the prisons of those countries, and of their sister kingdom; but, in the modest and unassuming language of the work in which that valuable information was afterwards communicated to the public, with some very interesting additions, "conjecturing that something useful to his purpose might be collected abroad, he laid aside his papers, and travelled into France, Flanders, Holland, and Germany." The precise route which he pursued in this journey, neither does his own printed account of its results, nor any information in my possession, enable me to trace. But it is of infinitely less importance to follow his footsteps from stage to stage, than it is to collect the few scattered fragments that the low estimation in which he always held his own exertions has suffered to remain, of the difficulties he had to contend with, in penetrating the gloomy recesses of the dungeon, whilst his fellow-countrymen on their travels, often the companions of his journeys in the public con State of Prisons, 1st Edit. p. 78. veyances, were eager in the chase of pleasure;--of the firmness, the courage, and the address with which those difficulties were surmounted, that cannot fail to give an additional interest to the sedulous anxiety with which he drew fro...