valuable regulations in the establishment, and that it was
difficult to rate its advantages too highly, the freshness of mind which
it brought infinitely outweighing any loss of time, interruption, &c. I
spent three interesting hours in this admirable institution.

The next establishment I visited was of a very different description;
i.e., the jail of solitary confinement. I much wished to have seen
some of the prisoners who had been confined for a length of time, but
from some informality in the letter I brought, the guardian did not feel
authorized to break through the regulations. The prisoners are sometimes
confined here for twelve years; they are kept totally separate, but they
are allowed to occupy themselves at different trades, &c., in their
cells. My guide told me he had never seen any of them become the least
idiotic or light-headed from long confinement. Their cells were clean
and airy, and some had a little eight-feet-square garden attached; their
food was both plentiful and good, and discipline was preserved by the
rod of diet; "but," says the guide, "if they become very troublesome
and obstinate we" ... what d'ye think?... "give them a shower-bath;"
criminals here seem to hate fresh water as much as the tenants of the
poor-houses in England do. The jail seems very well adapted for
escaping; but I suppose the rifle-armed sentries at the angles of the
wall keep them in sufficient awe, as I was told they very rarely get
away. The number confined was two hundred and eighty.

The last place I visited was the Lunatic Asylum, which appears admirably
placed and admirably conducted. The situation commands a view of two
public roads, where the bustle and stir of life are continually passing
before their eyes, and with no visible fence intervening, the ground
being so undulating and wooded as effectually to conceal the barrier.
The grounds are pleasantly laid out in walks, gardens, hothouses, &c.; a
comfortable reading-room and ten-pin alley[AF] are provided on each
side, one for the males, the other for the females. The rooms and
dormitories are large and airy, and carriages and horses are ready for
such as the physician recommends should take that exercise. The comfort
of the inmates appeared fully equal to that of any similar establishment
I have visited, and the position far superior, for there was no visible
barrier between them and the open country.

But Time says to the traveller what the policeman says to t