emolument. He felt the loss of his seat somewhat deeply, but, as usual, resigned himself with perfect calmness to the disposal of Providence.

Meanwhile, his peculiar work had not been abandoned. In no degree agitated by the result of the election, he set out for Scotland and Ireland, and prosecuted still further his researches in England. He was just a month at home about the election business; in noting his method of going about his work here, one hardly sees wherein his "energy" was specially "slow."

Having looked with his own eyes into the prisons of England, Scotland, and Ireland, he sat down, in the beginning of 1775, in his house at Cardington, to arrange his materials for the press, and offer to the world such suggestions as he now felt himself in a position to give. But a thought struck him. There were other prisons in the world besides those of Britain; on the Continent of Europe might not new miseries be seen, and might not valuable hints be obtained? The fact was palpable; but then it delayed the work, and was so tedious. Howard calmly laid aside his papers, got ready his traveling gear, and set out for the Continent. There was "slow" energy here; and of a particularly valuable sort.

Howard's first journey in the inspection of Continental prisons lay through France, Holland, part of Flanders, Germany, and Switzerland. His researches were conducted in his usual way-quietly, quickly, thoroughly; his sense of justice marking every abuse, his sagacity noting every excellence. He did not travel so far without seeing misery, and here again comfort and hope went along with him into many a weary dungeon; but the general glance at Continental prisons afforded revela tions which redounded to the unquestionable honor of the Continent, and the shame of Britain. It is true that he did not

gain access to the severest form of confinement in France; his daring attempt to enter the Bastile was foiled; it is true, likewise, that he did discover traces of torture such as was not known in England. But, in cleanliness, order, and the general characteristic of being cared for, the Continental jails had the clear superiority. In Holland, at that time, to all appearance, the most orderly and internally prosperous kingdom of Europe, he saw in operation a system of management of criminals, in its main outlines, wise and humane. And the jail-fever existed only in Britain!

On returning from the Continent, he applied himself to the publication of his work on Prisons. His friends Aiken and Price assisted him in arranging his matter and securing literary correctness. The book was printed at Warrington. It was severe winter weather, yet Howard was always up by two in the morning, revising proof-sheets; at eight, he was at the printing-office, having just dressed for the day and breakfasted; here he remained till one, when the men went to dinner; he then retired to his adjoining lodgings, and taking in his hand some bread and raisins, or other dried fruit, generally walked for a little in the outskirts of the town, calling probably on a friend. The printers by this time had returned, and proceeding to the printing-office, he continued there until work was over. Still untired, he went then to look over with Aiken the sheets put together by the latter during the day. His supper consisted of a cup of tea or coffee, and he retired to rest at ten or half-past ten.

The book published by Howard requires no comment. It is a type of his work; accurate, substantial, valuable, but devoid of every thing allied, even most distantly, to adornment. It is rather a book of statistics than any thing else, and as such there can be no doubt it was mainly regarded by him

self; the facts of the case were wanted, and these he gave. It was published in 1777, and additions were made, at several subsequent periods.

In the course of the same year, by the death of his sister, he inherited £15,000. This addition to the means at his command he resolved to devote entirely to the prosecution of that task which he believed to have been appointed him by God. He knew his son to be amply provided for, even though his patrimonial estate was encroached upon; but this enabled him to leave that estate untouched. Howard did his work not merely without cash payment; he devoted to it every farthing he could conscientiously expend.

For several years now his course does not demand a detailed account. He went on calmly and indefatigably, ever widening the range of his excursions, and ever rendering more perfect what he had already done. Again and again, he visited the prisons of England, Scotland, and Ireland; again and again, he swept over the Continent, the speed of his journeys equaled only by the thoroughness of his work. He had in every respect attained perfect adaptation to this last. By long and vigorous temperance, entire abstinence from animal food and intoxicating liquors, and a constant use of the bath, his early weakness of frame seems to have been exchanged for a considerable hardiness; he inured himself to do without sleep to such an extent, that, on his journeys, one night in three, and that taken sometimes in his carriage, sufficed; so perfectly simple was his fare, that he could, without boasting, profess himself able to subsist wherever men were to be found, wherever the earth yielded bread and water. The tourist in the Highlands of Scotland might have seen him stopping at the cabin by the wayside to obtain a little milk; among the mountains of Sweden he pushed on, undaunted and tireless, living on sour

bread and sour milk; on the bleak plains of Russia, his lean and somewhat sallow face, and small spare figure, might have been marked as he dashed past in his light carriage; he was on the high roads of France, in the mountain gorges of Switzerland, tossing on the Mediterranean or the Adriatic. Never did he tarry, never did he haste, never was he moved from his deliberate and wakeful calmness. No personal duty was neglected. His son he always carefully remembered, having him near him at all needful and proper seasons, and diligently inquiring after the best instructors and guardians, to whose care to commit him. The little cottages of Cardington were not forgotten. These grew ever more numerous, and their inmates were well remembered; the work of alleviating the sorrow of the world did not prevent the little drops of comfort, which had gladdened them while their kind landlord dwelt beside, from falling within them still. And wherever Howard was, it was impossible for men not to discern wherein lay the secret of his indefatigable perseverance, his unwavering valor, his perpetual calm. In whatever land he was, and amid what observers soever, he never forgot or hesitated to join in evening prayer with his attendant; the door was shut, and the master and servant knelt down together as if at home in quiet Cardington. For his own exertions, his one reason was, that he believed himself doing the will of God; for the disposal of all events he trusted, with the simplicity of a little child, and the faith of a Hebrew patriarch, to the immediate power of Jehovah. He passes by contending armies; we mark a shudder going over his frame, but we see him also lift his eye upward, and comfort himself with the knowledge that God is sitting King over the floods: he enters dungeons where others shrink back from the tainted air; duty, he says, has sent him there, and Providence can preserve him: he is cast on a bed

of pain and languor; he bows submission to the chastening hand of his Father, or bends his head, and asks wherefore He contendeth with him. Men look upon him with various feelings. The cold, the hard, the cruel, scorn the whole enterprise; the worshipers of Mammon look on amazed, scarce finding heart to sneer; gradually, from all lands, there begins to rise a sound of approbation and acclaim. Howard hears neither sneers nor acclamations: he listens for the voice which seems to the world to be altogether silent.

As our eye follows him during these years, it is impossible not to discern a remarkable dexterity and adroitness in carrying through whatever business presents itself-a quick perception of what the case demands-a sure sagacity in providing against it a certain ready adaptation to circumstances, and swift assumption of the character necessary for the occasion; all which it really seems difficult to reconcile with dullness. Let us briefly make good our words.

Look at him, for instance, in that visit to Russia, in which he excited the interest, and was invited to the court of Catharine.

Unbroken by the toils and hardships undergone in Sweden, where not even tolerable milk could be obtained to put into his unfailing tea, he arrives in the neighborhood of St. Petersburg. Forgetful of nothing, and conscious that his fame now goes before him, and is apt to interfere with his work, he leaves his carriage in the neighborhood, and enters the town privately. The empress, however, has marked him, and sends a messenger to invite him to the palace. Here is clearly a call to the highest distinction and applause, to become the observed of all observers, in the smile of one whose smile secures that of all others if there is observable weakness, even pardonable weak ness, in his nature, if the appearance of his work, in the eyes