d rents. The
farmer was "protected" by having the price of corn kept artificially
above a certain point, and further "protected" by a prohibitory tax
upon foreign corn, all in order that the landlord {152} might collect
undiminished rentals from his farm lands. But, alas! there was no
"protection" from starvation. Is it strange that gaunt famine was a
frequent visitor in the land?--But men must starve in silence.--To beg
was a crime.

"Alas, that bread should be so dear,
And flesh and blood so cheap!"

Children six years old worked fourteen and fifteen hours daily in mines
and factories, beaten by overseers to keep them awake over their tasks;
while others five and six years old, driven by blows, crawled with
their brooms into narrow soot-clogged chimneys, and sometimes getting
wedged in narrow flues, were mercifully suffocated and translated to a
kinder world.

A ruinous craving was created for stimulants, which took the place of
insufficient food, and in these stunted, pallid, emaciated beings a
foundation was laid for an enfeebled and debased population, which
would sorely tax the wisdom of statesmanship in the future.

If such was the condition of the honest {153} working poor, what was
that of the criminal? It is difficult now to comprehend the ferocity
of laws which made _235 offenses--punishable with death_,--most of
which offenses we should now call misdemeanors. But perhaps death was
better than the prisons, which were the abode of vermin, disease and
filth unspeakable. Jailers asked for no pay, but depended upon the
money they could wring from the wretched beings in their charge for
food and small alleviations to their misery. In 1773 John Howard
commenced his work in the prisons, and the idea was first conceived
that the object of punishment should be not to degrade sin-sick
humanity, but to reform it.

Far above this deep dark undercurrent, there was a bright, shining
surface. Johnson had made his ponderous contribution to letters.
Frances Burney had surprised the world with "Evelina;" Horace Walpole,
(son of Sir Robert) was dropping witty epigrams from his pen; Sheridan,
Goldsmith, Cowper, Burns, Southey, Coleridge, Wordsworth, in tones both
grave and gay, were making sweet music; while Scott, {154} Byron,
Shelley added strains rich and melodious.

As all this was passing, George Stephenson was pondering over a daring
project. Fulton had completed his invention in 1807, and in 1819 th