Page images
PDF
EPUB

And when her soldiers, disciplin'd and brave,
Pant with the same illustrious zeal to save.
Still we should bow before the living Lord,
Like Isr'el, when we bear th' avenging sword,
Correct th' infringements of his wholesome laws, 415
That we may triumph in a glorious cause;
And still the throne for ever be prepar'd
With unabated energy to guard,

Should Discord shake, from pole to pole, the world,
And in confusion ev'ry state be hurl'd.

And surely they, each British heart should own,
Deserve affection who possess that throne.
When princes love the people and the laws,
They gain from Freedom unsuborn'd applause.

420

Lines 411 and 412. Frovidence seems to have raised up a great man in our Field-Marshal the Marquis of Wellington for the support of the liberties of Europe. We may here perhaps justly apply the words of the poet:

"And is that awful thing which Heav'n ordain'd,

The scourge of tyrants, and his country's pride." Line 415. A republic in England is a visionary and mischievous scheme. The attempt to introduce it in a large nation, like France or England, must naturally produce anarchy and despotism. It would not only make the people miserable, but enslaved. The English constitution, which gives order with liberty, is a political beauty. To other governments it is "like the lily among thorns." A very celebrated French writer, Montesquieu, calls it " a beautiful system;" and an intelligent American author says, "Not the for mation of languages, not the whole art of navigation and shipbuilding, does more honour to the human understanding, than this system of government." Adams on Government. Governor Livingston, of the Jerseys, when I went to America, after the late unhappy war, told me that General Washington (and scarcely any man could give a more judicious opinion upon the subject) had declared to him that he thought the Americans could not make a permanent government, and that it was to be lamented a separation had taken place between the United States and Great Britain. The independence of America is not only injurious to Great Britain, but may be ruinous to America itself. All the colonies should have their just rights, but should not be independent. The colonies, as well as Scotland and Ireland, should remember the fable in Æsop, of the oid man, his children, and the bundle of sticks. An union among us all is desirable, that we may guard against the mischievous ambition of such a large and powerful empire as France, and for the prevention of fatal and unnecessary wars among ourselves. It was the opinion even of an intelligent Frenchman, of the celebrated Abbe Raynal, that there was nothing in the conduct of Great Britain to justify a revolution in America.

L

THE

DYING PROSTITUTE.

A POEM.

O that I had my innocence again!

My long-lost honour!--but I wish in vain.

Waller.

Behold the house of incontinence: the mark of infamy is indelibly stamped on the threshold, and on the posts of the door. At the win. dow sitteth Misfortune, forcing a smile; and within are Remorse, and Disease, and irretrievable Misery.

Whole Duty of Woman. By a Lady.

PREFACE.

THE prostitution of women, which prevails to a high degree in all large cities, might be considerably lessened by giving them encouragement to enter into various occupations which are suitable to them. An appeal should be made to the delicacy and the prudence of ladies of fortune, not to employ any but their own sex, as milliners and as stay-makers. A man turning a cap, or bending a pair of stays, should be an object of ridicule, because he is an instrument of mischief. He does harm by taking the bread from those who cannot get it but by such means, while he can get it by innumerable other means. Women, however, I think, might be employed in many more Occupations than are usually given to them*. Some think their modesty might be hurt in taking measure for a suit of clothes. They might, however, sew the clothes together, as is the custom in some places, after they were cut out by the tailor. The making stuff shoes for their own sex might not be an improper employment for women. Some of the Dutch and Germans who settle in America, make their daughters do several parts of the work of their farms, even as far

There are some good observations on schools of industry for girls, in a valuable little work, by Mrs. Sarah Trimmer, called, "The Economy of Charity." See from page 61 to page 80.

as ploughing. The work of a farm might be thought by some too laborious an occupation for women; but the advantage arising from thus employing women (I am not here speaking of women of rank and fortune) might be very considerable. It might be of great use to agriculture, as well as to the women themselves, by giving them health and cheerfulness, and by preventing their living in large cities (which are, in some respects, very mischievous to a country), where, through the want of bread, they might be tempted to prostitution.

A great preservative from the prostitution of women, especially of the lower class, may consist in the institution of First Day, or Sunday Schools. If you are so fortunate as to give people a sincere regard for Christianity, you will make them chaste. There are some who talk of the morality of the deists: I can safely say, however, though I have known many deists, that I scarcely ever knew one moral character among them. It is the constant delight of almost every unbeliever to ridicule that chastity which is revered by Christians. St. Paul, by what he says in the 24th verse of the 1st chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and in what he says in the following part of his First Epistle to the Thessalonians, seems to justify these notions: "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye shall abstain from fornication; that every one should know to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God." First Epistle, chap. iv. ver. 3, 4, 5.

To those who have never been in large cities, it may appear improbable that women of the town should die, in any of them, through want. This, however, may be ascertained beyond the possibility of doubt. A true story is told of the celebrated Dr.

Dr. Fothergill, in his excellent "Treatise on Health and Longevity, recommends the being a considerable part of the day in the open air.

Johnson, which makes him, in this particular, greatly to resemble the good Samaritan in Scripture. It is said, that once in London, when he was going to his house, he saw a woman lying prostrate in the street. Upon inquiry, he found it was a woman of the town, who had become weak and incapable to move through want. He nobly took her upon his back to his house, gave her food and lodging until she was perfectly recovered, and then, with sensible admonitions to reform, dismissed her. This glorious act of humanity might make some atonement for the unjust severity with which he sometimes treated others, for which he expressed his remorse and his repentance a little while before his death. Seneca says, that Cato, composed in bad fortune, was a spectacle which Hea ven might look down upon with pleasure. Might not this be said of Johnson with a poor helpless female upon his back, whom he was going to relieve, not for the purposes of lust, but charity?" Go and do thou likewise?"

It is supposed by that admirable magistrate, Mr. Colquhoun, in his work entitled "The Police of the Metropolis," that there are 50,000 prostitutes in London and its vicinity. Mr. Pearson, the celebrated surgeon of the Lock Hospital, supposed there are about 30,000. If we split the difference in the calculations of these two intelligent persons, who are, perhaps, as well able to judge of this matter as any we can name, we make the number 40,000; but if we put the number at only 20,000, to which all who have had an opportunity of making any probable conjectures about the subject will readily assent, what a vast corruption of women appears before us! It is, however, to be observed, that the number of prostitutes bas lately been considerably augmented, from the rapid increase of the metropolis. The Magdalen was generally thought sufficient to reform, if they could be reformed, all the prostitutes of London and its vicinity; and the Magdalen has not room for more than about an hundred. If the respectable persons

who patronise and direct the Old Magdalen, were to institute a New Magdalen, in or near the parish of Marybone, the necessary subscriptions would probably be soon obtained. There might be advantage from ten or twenty or more institutions, in or near London, similar to the Magdalen. The new institutions of The Refuge for the Destitute, and The London Female Penitentiary, at Pentonville, with the Magdalen, cannot collectively admit three hundred women. I have great hopes of a society which is to be instituted, on a very extensive plan, for the benefit of destitute women.

The women most to be pitied, perhaps, of any in the world, are the prostitutes with children; for, if they repent, they cannot gain admission into any house of reformation with children; and it is not very easy to obtain or to attend much to work if the children should be young. When I used to attend the committee of the society called The Refuge for the Destitute, I was a witness to the miserable condition of those unfortunate prostitutes who are mothers, and would warmly recommend them to the charity of their own sex, as well as of others, when they are begging in the streets. The society of people called Quakers are much inclined to benevolent actions, and their humanity might be judiciously exerted in the erection of a penitentiary house in London, for the purpose of taking care of prostitutes who are willing to reform, with their children.

It is not only in London, but in other towns, that societies similar to the Magdalen should be instituted. The following paragraph was, a little time past, in the newspapers:-"An unfortunate woman of the town, named Duncan, was lately found on the shore, at Greenock, lifeless; having, it appears, died of cold, bunger, and disease: from the goodness of her appearance, and her skill in music, the wretched sufferer was known by the appellation of The Canary Bird."

« PreviousContinue »