LON 
*ntrance is by a pair of iron gates, opening to the centre 
of the building, which is lofty, but very irregular. On 
the in fide are two courts, behind each other, in one of 
which is a hall, with painted windows, and a chapel. On 
♦he fides of thefe courts are infcriptions, fignifying that 
they were eretted at different periods. This charitable 
foundation was edabliflied for the relief of poor decayed 
members of the Fiihmongers’ Company, twenty-two of 
whom are conftantly in it; each of whom has two. rooms, 
three {hillings per week, fifteen /hillings at Chriftmas, a 
chaldron of coals, and a gown. One ot the penlioners is 
appointed to read prayers twice a-day in the chapel ; and 
is allowed forty (hillings at Chriftmas, over and above the 
common falary. 
To the fouth of this liofpital is another, founded by 
Mr. James Hulbert, a liveryman of the Fifhmongers’ Com¬ 
pany, in the year 1719, for twenty poor men and women, 
whofe accommodations are much the fame as tliofe in the 
one already mentioned. This building has plealant walks 
before it, and within the wall, fronting the houfe, is the 
ftatue of the founder, placed on a pedeital. The bene¬ 
volent bid liveryman is here reprefented with his livery- 
gown and fur; and, with an old-fafliioned walking flick 
-in his hand, he feems to point out the ground where the 
fir It (tone of the foundation was to be laid. The view, 
through an iron railing, is mod picturefque; and indeed, 
the whole of this eltablifhment conveys more to the mind 
than the pen can exprefs. The entrance lias a fort ot 
lobby with a lantern at top, which, when lighted, on a 
winter’s evening, and when the hell tolls for prayers, re¬ 
minds us of an Italian hermitage furrounded with trees 
in the vales of the Apennine or on the banks of the Arno. 
From hence we proceed towards the Obelifk, placed be¬ 
tween five liandfome roads which meet there and feem to 
form a far-radiating (tar.—This monument is noble and 
fimple, furrounded by an iron railing, and ends at top in a 
diamond-head. It is not gorgeoullv adorned with bas- 
reliefs or other fculptureti ornaments ; but each of the (ides 
has an infcription which is more ufeful than any other 
could have been. On the north front we read, “ One 
Mile CCCL feet from Fleet-itreetand underneath are 
the arms of the city plainly carved. On the welt fide : 
“ One Mile from Palace-yard, Weftminlter.” On the ealt 
fide: “One Mile XXXX feet from London Bridge.” 
At the back or fouth fide : “ Ere died in (the) Xlth year 
€>f the reign of Kang George the Third, M.DCC.LXXI. 
and on the plinth below: “The Right Honourable 
Brass Crosby, Efquire, Lord Mayor.” 
This (pot is furrounded by feveral very ufeful eftablifh- 
jnents—the Philanthropic School, the Blind Hofpital, the 
Royal Frecmafons’ School, the Afylurn, the New Bedlam, 
and the Magdalen. This laft is a benevolent in(titution, 
projected in the year 1758, by Mr. Robert Dingley. It 
was at firlt kept in a large houfe, formerly the London In¬ 
firmary, in Prel’cot-ltreet, Goodman’s Fields. The uti¬ 
lity of this charity was fo conspicuous, and fo well fup- 
ported, that the views of the benefaftors-extended to the 
building an edifice more enlarged and convenient for the 
purpole ; in confequence of which, the fpot on which the 
prefent edifice (lands was made choice of; and on the 
a8th of July, in the year 1769, the earl of Hertford, pre- 
fiuient, wiih the vice-prefidentand governors, laid the firft 
ftone at the altar of the chapel. This hofpital confids of 
four brick buildings, which enclofe a quadrangle, with a 
bafon in the centre. The chapel is an octangular edifice 
erected at one of the back corners ; and, to give the in- 
clofed court an uniformity, a building of a fimilar front 
is placed at the oppofite corner. 
The unhappy women for whofe benefit this hofpital 
was erected, are received by petition, a printed form of 
which may be obtained gratis on application at the door ; 
and there is a.diftinCtion in the wards, according to the 
education or behaviour of the perfons admitted. Each 
ward is entrulted to its particular alfiltant, and the whole 
i b under the infpeclion of a matron, The treatment of 
DON. 535 
the women is accompanied with every poffible degree of 
tendernefs, in order that the eftablifhment, inltead of 
being confidered as a houfe of correction or labour, may 
be thought a Life retreat from error, and its attendant 
wretchednefs. They are inftrucled and p radii fed in the 
duties of the Chriltian religion ; and each one its employed 
in fuch kind of work as is fuitable to her abilities, or 
trained in the various branches of domeftic employments 
in order to qualify her to obtain an honed livelihood by 
fervice. When a young woman is admitted into the 
houfe, and has given fatisfactory proofs of her inclinatioft 
to quit the paths of vice, great pains are taken to bring 
about a reconciliation between her and her friends, and, 
if they are people of honed fame, to put her under theit 
protection ; but no woman who behaves well in the houfe 
is ever difmided from it, except at her ow-n requed, until 
(he is provided with the means of obtaining a reputable 
livelihood ; and, as a further encouragement to a perfe- 
verance in redtitude, every woman placed in fervice from 
this inditution, wdro, at the end of a year, can obtain a 
fatisfactory tedimonial of her good behaviour for that 
time, receives a gratuity from the committee as a reward 
for the pad, and an encouragement for her future good 
conduct. 
To enlarge on the utility of fuch an inditution mud be 
needlefs. It is obvious that there cannot be greater ob¬ 
jects of compaflion than young thoughtlefs females, 
plunged into vice and ruin, by temptations to which 
their youth and perfonal advantages, no lefs than thofe 
paffions implanted by nature for wife, good, and great, 
ends, expole them. But to no clafs is fuch a landtuary 
more beneficial than to thofe who, having been feduced 
by promifes of marriage, are dela ted by their feducers. 
Thefe have never been in public proditution ; but, aban¬ 
doned by their relations in the fil'd moments of arrgefi, 
thrown upon an unfeeling world, without money, without 
character, and without a friend, the ftern impulfe of hun¬ 
ger would compel them to embrace a life of guilt and mi- 
lery, or to feek a more dreadful alternative in filicide, did 
not this manlion offer them a fecure retreat from further 
temptation, and a peaceful virtuous abode, until the re~ 
fentment of their parents became cooled by reflection, fir 
they had acquired the means of procuring a creditable 
maintenance by honelt induffry. The feeds of virtue are 
not fuddenly destroyed ; and, though paralyzed fora time 
by delulion, would frequently revive, were an aflifting 
hand ((retched forth. This truth was never more ftrongly 
exemplified than in the annals of the Magdalen Hofpital. 
Of feveral thoufands received into it fince its inditutiori, 
very few have been difeharged for improper behaviour, or 
from dilliketothe condraint; and upwards of two-tbird3 
have been reltored to fociety, have become reputable and 
indultrious members of it, many of them virtuous wives, 
and tender mothers, who, but for it, might have been 
forced to linger out a milerable existence, by preying on 
the unwary, and (preading profligacy, ruin, difeafe, and 
death, through the human lpecies. 
Nearly behind this houfe, in the road leading to Weft- 
minfter-bridge, (lands a kindred inditution : the Free- 
mafons’ Charity for Female Children ; originally called the 
Royal Cumberland Freemafons’School, becaufe founded 
under the patronage of the late duchefs of Cumberland. 
Freemafonry, which proudly boalts of its antiquity, and 
imperioufly demands the practice of every moral virtue, 
had not, till this inftitution was eflablifhed, extended its 
beneficence to female objects. The purpofe of this indi¬ 
tution is to preferve the female offspring of indigent free¬ 
mafons from the dangers and misfortunes to which a dif- 
treffed fituation naturally expoles them. On the -2.5th of 
March, 1788, this charity was inffituted for maintaining, 
clothing, and educating, the female children and orphan's 
of indigent brethren belonging to the ancient and honour¬ 
able (ociety of free and accepted mafons. At firff, 2, 
houfe for their reception was taken at Somers’ Town. 
But the liberal Support which the charity experienced. 
frost- 
