lovely infant was sleeping, without any covering, on a bare board.
Whether the fire gave additional glow to the countenance of the
babe, or that Nature impressed on its unconscious cheek a blush that
the lot of man should be exposed to such privations, I will not
decide; but if the cause be referable to the latter, it was in
perfect unison with my own feelings. Two or three other children
crowded round the mother: on their rosy countenances health seemed
established in spite of filth and ragged garments. The dress of the
poor woman was barely sufficient to satisfy decency. Her
countenance bore the expression of a set melancholy, tinctured with
an appearance of ill health. The hovel, which did not exceed twelve
or fifteen feet in length and ten in breadth, was half obscured by
smoke--chimney or window I saw none; the door served the various
purposes of an inlet to light and the outlet to smoke. The
furniture consisted of two stools, an iron pot, and a spinning-
wheel, while a sack stuffed with straw, and a single blanket laid on
planks, served as a bed for the repose of the whole family. Need I
attempt to describe my sensations? The statement alone cannot fail
of conveying to a mind like yours an adequate idea of them--I could
not long remain a witness to this acme of human misery. As I left
the deplorable habitation the mistress followed me to repeat her
thanks for the trifle I had bestowed. This gave me an opportunity
of observing her person more particularly. She was a tall figure,
her countenance composed of interesting features, and with every
appearance of having once been handsome.

"Unwilling to quit the village without first satisfying myself
whether what I had seen was a solitary instance or a sample of its
general state, or whether the extremity of poverty I had just beheld
had arisen from peculiar improvidence and want of management in one