1826.] The Condemned Cell. 373 
in his helpless wretchedness, to strip herself of all that she possessed to 
furnish him with food and such aid as might bestead him ; and this too for 
aman whose claims upon her affection, if they could haye been estimated, 
were probably (as such men’s claims mostly are) less than that,which he 
would have had upon a brute devoid of reason! I know that most females 
know no limits in their exertions for men whom they love ; and that this 
should’ be the result of a sincere, and ardent, and pure attachment, 
excites no wonder; but that a woman divested of all the most estimable . 
attributes of her sex, degraded in mind and in person, regarded by the 
better part of society as an anomaly—a monster, belonging to neither 
sex, but the reproach of both—that she should, in the depth of her 
humiliation, practise, in one instance at least, the same devoted virtue 
which would have added dignity to the most exalted of women; that 
she should do this with a disinterestedness which admits of no doubt, 
(for the object of her love was a wretched criminal, whose days were 
numbered, and whose name was wedded to contempt and disgrace, ) this, 
it is that excites my astonishment, and the highest veneration for the 
passion which can work such wonders. 
The treasures of the deep are not so precious 
As are the concealed comforts of a man 
Locked up in woman’s love! 
In a corner near the door stood another groupe, which had com- 
manded, my attention from the moment of my entering. It consisted 
of.a hard-featured ugly young man who was also to die on the morrow, 
for uttering forged bank-notes, an old man of most respectable appear- 
ance, and a middle-aged person, upen whose arm the old man was lean- 
ing- . The elder of this party appeared to be about eighty years of age ;_ 
he was dressed in a fashion long gone by; his head was bald at the top; 
but from about his ears some few silver locks. hung curling down and- 
reached his shoulders: He was talking to the criminal in a solemn man-— 
mer, but in»so low a‘tone that its purport did not reach me. The 
frequent use which the other persons made of their handkerchiefs induced 
me to believe that he was earnestly exhorting the culprits to prepare for 
the fate, which awaited them. The youth listened with unmoved 
features, and when at length the old man bade him farewell for the last — 
time, and, blinded by his tears, felt his way down the stairs, the crimi-." 
nal accompanied him into the court-yard, when the gate which separated _ 
them for ever was closed upon him. He immediately came back to the 
dismal prison in which his fellows were, and after standing for a few 
moments with his eyes fixed, and the same dull, impenetrable expression — 
in his countenance, he uttered a loud yell, and dashed himself with 
frightful violence on the floor. It is impossible to describe the effect — 
which this scream, accompanied by the noise of his fall, and the clashing — 
of his fetters against the floor, had upon every one present. The 
criminals looked. aghast towards the spot, and the terrified woman grasped 
the.arm of the young man near whom she was standing. It seemed ag 
if the poor wretch had resisted, as long as he was able, ‘the feelings 
which flowed upon his heart, and that at length the force which they 
had acquired by being thus pent up, enabled them to burst through the 
restraint with overpowering violence. The old man was his grandfather, 
and had not seen him for several years before this last fatal interview. 
I could endure no more, but made a hasty departure from a scene of 
horror and despair, which I am conscious that I have failed in attempting 
adequately to describe, but which I can never forget. ha 
