and an aged parent in Scotland; who,
long after he was dead, indulged her maternal tenderness, by preparing
clothing for his use, and hoping for tidings of his prosperity. His name
is suppressed, lest even now the record of his fate might meet the eye
of a mourner.

Society, as it then existed, nourished every species of crime: tattered
promissory notes, of small amount and doubtful parentage, fluttered
about the colony: dumps, struck out from dollars, were imitated by a
coin prepared without requiring much mechanical ingenuity; and plate,
stolen by bushrangers and burglars, was melted down and disposed of in a
similar form.

Nothing was neglected: they burnt the implements of husbandry for the
iron; they robbed the gibbet of the chains: they even wrenched the plate
from the coffin of an opulent merchant, and stripped him of his
shroud.[94]

In looking at the origin of the population, and the various inducements
continually offered to the perpetration of wickedness, the total
dissolution of manners is no subject of surprise. It was, perhaps, but a
small aggravation, that prostitution and concubinage were held too
venial for remark: many of the officers of government made no secret of
their relation to the women whom they adopted as mistresses, and
sometimes respected as wives. Among the anomalies of the day, was the
release of such females from compulsory attendance on divine worship, on
account of the official preference they enjoyed--a curious immunity from
a penal obligation: to be taken, perhaps, as a sinister acknowledgment,
that the government was not insensible to virtue--as the Russian
courtezan extinguishes the candle of ceremony, and veils her patron
saint.[95]

Sorell, on his accession to the government, attempted to reform the more
flagrant abuses by which he was surrounded: he was aided in his task by
Mr. Humphrey, a man superior, by education and habit, to many charged
with similar duties. He established an exact register of the conviction,
arrival, and distribution of the prisoners, and appointed times for the
muster of such as were assigned. He imposed some restrictions on their
wandering habits, and required that those who employed them should
answer for their residence. It was the custom, however, to allow the
greater part to reside in lodgings provided by themselves; they thus
spent their leisure time where they were exposed to perpetual
temptation, and nightly robberies attested their diligence