SKETCH OF BENJAMIN THOMPSON. 237 



importunity. These swarms of mendicants and freebooters were in 

 the main composed of strong, healthy, and able-bodied persons, who 

 preferred an easy life of indolence to any kind of industry. They had 

 become the terror and scourge of the country. They would steal, 

 maim, and expose little children, and compel them to extort, by their 

 piteous appeals, a fixed sum fov a day's gatherings, with the threat of 

 an inhuman punishment if they failed. Every attempt to suppress 

 this system of outrages having been thwarted, the community had 

 learned to submit and conform to it as admitting of no relief; and 

 this wretched tolerance seemed to double the number of these vaga-. 

 bonds, while it raised beggary into a profession." So systematic and 

 rooted had this state of things become that " the beggars formed a 

 caste in the cities, with professional rules, assigning to them beats 

 and districts, which were disposed of by regulations, in case of the 

 death, promotion, or removal, of the proprietors. 



Sir Benjamin resolved upon the extirpation of this system, and the 

 conversion of this lazy and dissolute class into thrifty, self-sustaining 

 laborers. His policy was cautious, deliberate, and wise. He knew 

 exactly what he wished to do, made ample provision for it, and secured 

 the cooperation of the influential classes in the execution of his plan. 

 We cannot describe it here, but its success was complete. The beg- 

 gars were swept from the streets, cared for, soon set to work, and 

 raised to a condition of self-respecting industry. So effectual was the 

 work that Sir Benjamin won the heart-felt gratitude of the very class 

 upon which he had operated. This is beautifully illustrated by the 

 fact that, " on one occasion, when he was dangerously ill, the poor of 

 Munich went publicly in a body to the cathedral and put up public 

 prayers for his recovery. And again, when, four years afterward, 

 they learned that he was in a similar condition at Naples, they of 

 their own accord set apart an hour each evening, after they had 

 finished their work in the military workhouse, to pray for him." 



For the valuable services rendered in Bavaria Sir Benjamin received 

 many distinctions, and, among others, was made Count of the Holy 

 Roman Empire. On receiving this dignity he chose a title in remem- 

 brance of the country of his nativity, and was henceforth known as 

 Count of Rumford. His health failing from excessive labor, and 

 what he considered the unfavorable climate, he came back to England 

 in 1798, and had serious thoughts of returning to the United States, 

 having received from the American Government the compliment of a 

 formal invitation to revisit his native land. While in England, Count 

 Rumford organized the Royal Institution of Great Britain in 1800, 

 which was designed for the promotion of original discovery and the 

 diffusion of a taste for science among the educated classes. Its suc- 

 cess has more than vindicated the sagacity of its founder. He after- 

 ward returned to the Continent, and, while frequently visiting Munich, 

 took up his residence in Paris. In 1805 he married the widow of the 



