CHAP. II] Henry CoticJi' s Last Letters. 75 



will gratefully accept as a boon. I am employed as a 

 tailor. I am in a very comfortable cell, well supplied 

 witli books and writing materials. If sufficiently indus- 

 trious I shall be credited witli fourpence, sixpence^ or 

 eightpence a week out of my earnings ; I do not know 

 in what manner the remainder will be applied. I believe 

 that the present amount of the ISTational Debt is two 

 hundred and eighty millions ; but I have no doubt that 

 the lesson taught by the affair of Paul, Strahan and 

 Bates, will excite in the authorities a becoming caution 

 as to how they invest it. The chapel holds about 1000 

 persons. There are two full services on Sundays ; and 

 one every day from ten to eleven. The manifestations 

 of piety on the part of the congregation must be very 

 edifying to observers possessed of sufficient charity to 

 believe in their genuineness. The prisoners rise at six 

 o'clock^ and are supposed to work until half-past seven, 

 when each is supplied with eight ounces of bread (baked 

 about the time of the Norman Conquest), and half a pint 

 of very apocryphal milk. I know nothiug of the geo- 

 logical formation of this part of Yorkshire : about Scar- 

 borough there is a substratum of chalk. Dinner is 

 served at one. This meal is superior in quality to any- 

 thing to be found on the table of a working man, and of 

 many an artisan. It is better than that allowed in any 

 other of this sort of establishment, which, in general, is 

 such as a Grosvenor or Belgrave Square cat, anxious to 

 preserve caste among his peers, would not compromise 

 his dignity by coudescending to look at. At seven we 

 drop work, and read until nine, when we go to bed. 

 Some receive three or four hours' instruction in the course 

 of the Aveek, but for this privilege I am considered in- 

 eligible. 



