êTUDY XÎII. 211 



1 am fenfible that T may be apt to ramble a 

 little too far. Bur fhould I have been fo happy as 

 to fuggeft a fingle good idea to one more enlight- 

 ened than myfelf 5 fhould I have contributed to 

 prevent, fome day in time to come, one poor 

 wretch, in defpair, from going to drown himfelf, 

 or, in a fit of rage, from knocking out his enemy's 

 brains, or, in the lethargy of languor, from going 

 to fquander his money and his health among loofe 

 women ; I (hall not have fcribbled over a piece of 

 paper in vain. 



Paris prefents many a retreat to the miferable, 

 known by the name of hofpitals. May Heaven 

 reward the charity of thofe who have founded 

 them, and the ftill greater virtue of thofe perfons 

 of both fexes who fuperintend them ! But firft, 

 tvithout adopting the exaggerated ideas of the po- 

 pulace, who are under the pcrfuafion that thefe 

 houfes poffefs immenfe revenues, it is certain, that 

 a perfon well known, and an adept in the fcience 

 of public finance, having undertaken to furnidi 

 the plan of a receptacle for the lick, found, on 

 calculation, that the expenfe of each of them would 

 not exceed eight-pence halfpenny a day : that they 

 might be much better provided on thefe terms, 

 and at an eafier rate, than in the hofpitals. For 

 my own part, I am clearly of opinion, that thefe 

 fame pence^ diflributed day by day, in the houfe 



p 2 q£ 



