ttress, whose condition proved that a half-decayed corpse had recently
been dragged from it. The room was large, but it was covered with beds
like my own. Between each, there was scarcely the interval of three
feet. Each sustained a wretch, whose groans and distortions bespoke the
desperateness of his condition.

"The atmosphere was loaded by mortal stenches. A vapour, suffocating and
malignant, scarcely allowed me to breathe. No suitable receptacle was
provided for the evacuations produced by medicine or disease. My nearest
neighbour was struggling with death, and my bed, casually extended, was
moist with the detestable matter which had flowed from his stomach.

"You will scarcely believe that, in this scene of horrors, the sound of
laughter should be overheard. While the upper rooms of this building are
filled with the sick and the dying, the lower apartments are the scene
of carousals and mirth. The wretches who are hired, at enormous wages,
to tend the sick and convey away the dead, neglect their duty, and
consume the cordials which are provided for the patients, in debauchery
and riot.

"A female visage, bloated with malignity and drunkenness, occasionally
looked in. Dying eyes were cast upon her, invoking the boon, perhaps, of
a drop of cold water, or her assistance to change a posture which
compelled him to behold the ghastly writhings or deathful _smile_ of his
neighbour.

"The visitant had left the banquet for a moment, only to see who was
dead. If she entered the room, blinking eyes and reeling steps showed
her to be totally unqualified for ministering the aid that was needed.
Presently she disappeared, and others ascended the staircase, a coffin
was deposited at the door, the wretch, whose heart still quivered, was
seized by rude hands, and dragged along the floor into the passage.

"Oh! how poor are the conceptions which are formed, by the fortunate
few, of the sufferings to which millions of their fellow-beings are
condemned. This misery was more frightful, because it was seen to flow
from the depravity of the attendants. My own eyes only would make me
credit the existence of wickedness so enormous. No wonder that to die in
garrets, and cellars, and stables, unvisited and unknown, had, by so
many, been preferred to being brought hither.

"A physician cast an eye upon my state. He gave some directions to the
person who attended him. I did not comprehend them, they were never
executed by the nurses, and