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with horror by the great mass of the people; their bars and gates and chains have been so intimately associated with crime and infamy, that the blood curdled at the very thought of them, and the shortest confinement was a lasting disgrace; and no wonder, for within the four walls, and frequently in the same room, the murderer, the thief, the insane, and the honest debtor, mingled their wailings, and breathed the same tainted atmosphere. It seemed as if the powerful and the benevolent were paralyzed in con-templating these evils, and thought the slightest remedy was beyond all hope. They could do some-thing to soften the miseries of the individual, but dared not combat the prejudices of the age, nor attempt to form a general system to reach a class of cases. About the middle of the last century, a philanthro-pist arose in England, who gave a new direction to the alms of individuals, to the sympathy of communi-ties, and to the charity of nations. This philanthro-pist was John Howard.* * See Appendix. He was a man of strict habits, of daring courage, both natural and moral. He began, as it was then considered, a crusade of charity. He examined the state of all the prisons in England and Wales, and then extended his researches through the continent. He made known his disco-veries to the grand inquest of the British nation, the House of Commons. This august body heard the relation with surprise, and set about turning the infor-mation they had gained to alleviating miseries, which until then had appeared as among legendary tales or incurable evils. Howard was still indefatigable in his new pathway of glory, and at last fell a martyr to his zeal in the cause, on the banks of the Euxine. His exertions, however, were so bold and novel, as to excite general attention, and to give a new impulse to the charitable dispositions of the human mind. He was indeed born for the universe, and the effects of his exertions are pervading the whole of Christendom.