518 
LON 
ing will be expefted, attefted in the manner therein fpe- 
cified ; and the paper, when properly filled up, may be 
lent under cover, to the Rev. Dr. Grindlay, fecretary to 
the inltitution, at the School for the Indigent Blind, in 
St. George’s Fields, Surry. It will be by him laid before 
the fchool committee for examination, and their report on 
the cafe fubmitted for confirmation to the general com¬ 
mittee ; upon whofe order alone the name maj' be placed 
on the lift of candidates. If the party, on whofe behalf 
the application is made, be chargeable to his parifh, it is 
required that fuch parifh lhall contribute a weekly allow¬ 
ance towards his maintenance in the fchool; and, if the 
parifh be at a diftance from town, then fome refpecta- 
ble houfekeeper, in or very near London, mult become 
refponfible for the regular payment of the fum llipulated. 
It is alfo expected, in all cafes, that fome refpeftable per- 
fon, rcfident in London or Weftminfter, lhall engage to 
take the pupil back again, when difcharged from the fchool, 
either in confequence of being fufficiently inftrudled, or 
on account of mifconduft, or for any other caufe ; and 
likew ife to defray the expenfes of burial, if he dies there. 
This inltitution is under the direction of a prefident, 
eight vice-prefidents, a treafurer, and a committee of 
twenty-four members. A fubfcription of one guinea an¬ 
nually, or of not lefs than ten guineas at once, or within 
one year, conftitutes a member. The principal officers 
are annually elefted ; but the lame perfon is not capable 
of being re-eleCted to the office of vice-prefident more 
than three times fucceffively. They, together with the 
prefident and treafurer, are members of all committees. 
The chaplain is annually elected on the fecond Thurfday 
in February, by the committee. He performs divine fer- 
vice at the fchool once on every Sunday, and attends twice 
in every week for the purpofe of giving religious and mo¬ 
ral inffructions to the pupils. Three vifitors are elected 
half-yearly by the committee, to vifit the fchool from time 
to time, to infpeCt the conduct of all perfons employed 
for the inltitution, and of all the pupils ; to inquire into 
the circumltances of the perfons applying for admiffion 
when necelfary, and into any other incidental affairs, and 
report the refult to the committee. The fecretary is ap¬ 
pointed by the committee ; and upon his appointment 
joins with fome other perfon to be approved of by the 
committee in a bond, with the penalty of 200I. to the 
treafurer, for his fidelity. No officer, inftruftor, or fer- 
vant. Can accept of any fee or gratuity from the pupils or 
their friends, on pain of difmiffion. 
The trade account of 1813, confiding of articles fold 
and unfold, implements, &c. amounted to 2460k 8s. ioAd. 
and the expenditure for"raw materials, and wages of four 
matters, one miftrefs, and a porter,amounted to 1883l.4s.0-Jd. 
which left a furplus in favour of the charity of 577!. 4s. rod. 
The account for general purpofes dated annual fubfcrip- 
tions under twenty guineas, at 1566I. 4s. thefe with other 
benefaftions, and The balance of the trade account, 
amounted to 6109k 5s. 2|d. the expenditure in houfe- 
keeping, rent, wages, rewards to pupils, Sec. amounted 
to 4979I. 13s 8d. leaving a furplus in favour of the charity 
of 1129I. its. 6Jd. The funded capital, however, has 
been of courfe diminifhed by the new Buildings: it 
amounted, on the 31ft ofDecember, 1813,1040501. 17s. 3d. 
conf. 200I. navy, and 150I. of 4 per cent, confols. 
The next object which from the Obelilk attracts our 
notice is the New Bethlehem Hofpital, which is nearly 
finiffied, and prefents already a noble afpeft to the paffen- 
ger. We went on purpofe to get a view of it. The fun 
was fetting on the left, and its declining rays were glancing 
affiant over the broad face of this extenlive building. The 
yellow-tints of the brick were animated by the purple 
light of the evening ; and the deep azure of the Ikies ferved 
as an harmonious background to the whole. The portico, 
which confifts of fix gigantic columns of the Ionic order, 
fupports a maffy entablature, furmounted by a large pedi¬ 
ment. On the fides of the entrance will be ftone pillars, 
upon which, we are told, the two celebrated brazen figures 
DON. 
at the gate of the old Bedlam in Moorfields are t® he placed. 
The whole fagade is compofed of three double avant-corps, 
or projecting bodies, one at each extremity, and one in the 
centre. The number of the windows is one hundred and 
eighty-nine in front, including the doors at the top of the 
flight of fteps under the portico. The folemnity, extent, 
folidity, and noble elegance, of the whole edifice, reminds 
us of the famous palace of Priam and his fifty fons ; whiltl 
fome will naturally exclaim: “And all this for inhabi¬ 
tants unconfcious of its worth !” Yet we exult, in the 
mean time, in the reflection that it (lands as a folemn 
proof of the fober and folid tafte, as well as of the moral 
feelings and humane dilpolition, of the Britifh nation. 
The flat cupola, which furmounts the central corps of the 
building, has a grave and appropriate appearance ; yet a 
wag faid in our hearing that it looked like an empty Jkull — 
a propery 7 g« for fuch a public houfe. See Plate VII n. The 
whole is executed after the defign of Mr. Lewis, at an 
expenfe of 95,000k It is 580 feet long, and capable of 
receiving in this front two hundred patients. Another 
line of building, extending towards the fouth, is deligned 
for an equal number of thofe unfortunate beings ; and alfo 
for flxty criminal lunatics, the charge of which latter 
department exclufively belongs to the government. The 
ground occupied by the buildings, and intended for the 
exercife of the patients, is twelve acres. 
With a new Bedlam it is to be hoped we lhall have a 
new and improved mode of treatment; for though, in 
our article Insanity, vol. xi. we have fpoken with com¬ 
mendation of the treatment, general and particular, pur- 
fued in the old one, yet it is to be obferved, that our 
ftatements, particularly p. 126 of that article, were taken 
chiefly from Mr. Haflam, himfelf the apothecary to the 
inltitution. But the attention of the public has been 
lately turned more particularly to the fubjeCt in confe¬ 
quence of the very humane treatment of infarie perfons 
at an hofpital called the Friends’ Retreat, near York; the 
fame of which having reached the metropolis, a plan is 
now in agitation to inftitute a “London Afylum for the 
Care and Cure of the Infane,” upon a fimilar plan and 
principle. The perfons with whom this idea originated 
thought it might deferve inquiry, whether the extenfive 
praftice of coercion, which obtains in thofe inllitutions, 
does not arife from erroneous views of the character of 
infane perfons ; from indifference to their comfort; or 
from having rendered coercion necelfary by previous un¬ 
kind treatment. It did not appear to them, that, becaufe 
a man is mad upon one particular fubjeCI, he is to be 
confidered in a Hate of complete mental degradation, or 
infenfible to the feelings of kindnefs and gratitude. When 
a madman does not do what he is bid to do, the Ihortelt 
method, to be fare, is to knock him down ; and ftraps 
and chains are the fpecies of prohibitions which are the 
lealt frequently difregarded. But we ought rather to 
confult the intereft ot the patient than the eafe of his 
keeper; and to aim at the government of the infane, by 
creating in them the kindelt difpofition towards thofe who 
have the command over them. 
The averfion to infpeCt places of this fort is fo great, 
and the temptation to neglect and opprefs the inlane fo 
Itrong, both from the love of power and the improbabi¬ 
lity of detection, that there was every reafon to fuppofe, 
the exiltence of great abufes in the interior of many mad- 
houfes. A great deal had been done for prifons ; but the 
order of benevolence had been broken through by this 
preference; for the voice of mifery may fooner come up 
from a dungeon, than the oppreffion of a madman be 
healed by the hand of jultice.—A committee of gentle¬ 
men was at length appointed to inveliigate the fubjeft ; 
and they have drawn up a report which every philan- 
thropilt would wifh to be made as public as pollible, be¬ 
caufe it clif'plays a fyliem of negligence and cruelty which 
muff excite univerfal horror, and confequently caufe its 
immediate abolition. The committee not, however, being 
invefted with government-authority, their inlpe&ion has 
beea 
