he
Continent where the prisoners were the worst treated, many of them
wearing irons, and few of them having enough food.

* * * * *

It would be impossible to give an account of all Howard's journeys,
which included Italy, Russia, Turkey, Germany, France, and Holland, but
I have told you enough for you to understand what a task he had
undertaken. When he was abroad he was sometimes entreated to attend
private patients, so widely had his fame spread; and though he did not
pretend to be a doctor, he never refused to give any help that was
possible, and it was through this kindness that he lost his life. Once,
during a visit to Constantinople, he received a message from a man high
in the Sultan's favour, begging him to come and see his daughter, as she
was suffering great pain and none of the doctors could do anything to
relieve her. Howard asked the girl some questions, and felt her pulse,
and then gave some simple directions for her treatment which soon took
away the pain, and in a few days she was nearly well. Her father was so
grateful that he offered Howard a large sum of money, just as he would
have done to one of his own countrymen, and was struck dumb when Howard
declined the gift, and asked instead for a bunch of the beautiful grapes
that he had seen hanging in the garden. As soon as the official had made
sure that his ears had not deceived him, he ordered a large supply of
the finest grapes to be sent to Howard daily as long as he stayed in
Constantinople.

So for a whole month we can imagine him enjoying the Pasha's grapes, in
addition to the vegetables, bread, and water which formed his usual
meals, taken at any hour that happened to be convenient. If he wished to
go to visit a prison or hospital or lazaretto, there was no need to put
it off because 'it would interfere with his dinner-hour,' for his dinner
could be eaten any time. Not that there were any hospitals, properly
speaking, in Constantinople; for though there was a place in the Greek
quarter to which sick people were sent, hardly a single doctor could be
found to attend them, and the only real hospital in the capital was for
the benefit of cats.

* * * * *

Now in most of the great seaport towns along the Mediterranean,
lazarettos, or pest-houses, were built, so that passengers on arriving
from plague-stricken countries should be placed in confinement for forty
days, till there was no