Description of the Family. 183 



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 sensa- 

 tions ? The statement alone cannot fail of con- 

 veying 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 ob- 

 serving her person more particularly. She was 

 a tall figure, her countenance composed of in- 

 teresting features, and with every appearance 

 of having once been handsome. 



^i& oviUu4>Yi < w i.i 



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 impro- 

 vidence, and want of management, in one 

 wretched family; I went into an adjoining habi- 

 tation, where I found a poor old woman of 

 eighty, whose miserable existence was painfully 

 continued by the maintenance of her grand- 

 daughter. Their condition, if possible, was 

 more deplorable, and the scene more heart- 



