.N E I L D. 
“ About fix months afterwards, going down Wood- 
ftreet when a felon was being taken to gaol, I went and 
peeped through the apertures of the wooden-grated door, 
and the turnkey faid I might go in : ‘ Yes, but, fays I, 
will you let me out again ?’ He faid he would; fo in I 
went, and, looking down a very long flight of fteps, a 
cellar feemed full of people in irons, drinking; this was 
called the tap-room, but I had been fo frightened in 
Newgate, that I durft not venture down. So, putting 
three-pence into the turnkey’s hand, for a pot of beer, 
was glad when I got into the ftreet again. I concluded 
that all the gaols in which felons were confined were the 
fame, and my curiofity would bring me to fome mifchief; 
therefore dropt the purfuit. 
“ In 1766, being then in my twenty-fecond year, I had 
a defire to fee my friends in Chefhire; but I took the 
flage only to Derby, intending to pafs one day there, to 
fee if the gaol was like thofe in town. This gaol had not 
been long built, and the fituation was both airy and 
healthy: there was a large dungeon in it down a few Heps, 
but in every refpeft it was fo much better than Newgate 
or Wood-ftreet, that it gave me courage to vifit others 
before my return. The conveyance by the dtike of 
Bridgewater’s canal to Warrington cofl me but fix-pence; 
and for about half-a-crown more I reached Liverpool, and 
from thence to Chefler for a few fhillings. As I had never 
feen either of tliefe places, I carefully concealed the mo¬ 
tive of my vifits, particularly from my uncle, who doated 
upon me, and made his will during my flay, in which he 
left me almoft the whole of his property. At Liverpool 
there was the fame promifcuous intercourfe of the fexes, 
the fame drunkennefs going forward, which I had ob- 
ferved in London ; but the dungeons were worfe, and fo 
very offenfive I did not ftay to examine into them. In 
the Bridewell I faw a ducliing-Jlool complete, the firft I 
had ever feen. We had two at Knutsford. But the 
ftandard in each, w'as all that remained in my memory. 
I ne.ver remembered them ufed; but this at Liverpool 
enables me to defcribe it. A ftandard was fixed for a long 
pole, at the extremity of which was faftened a chair ; on 
this the woman was placed, and foufed three times under 
water till almofl; fuftocated. At Liverpool, the ftandard 
was fixed in the court, and a bath made on purpofe for 
ducking; but why in a prifon this wanton and dangerous 
feverity was exercifed on women, and not on men, I could 
no-where learn. This mode of punifhment feems formerly 
to have been general, for it is in the memory of perfons 
now (1806) living, when a machine of this kind was in 
the Green Park. This, however, was not the only cruel 
punifhment ufed at Ahis Bridewell, for the women were 
flogged weekly at the whipping-poft. 
“ In the polite city of Chefter I expected to find better 
prifons: abetter police I certainly did. The keeper ap¬ 
peared to me to be a civil humane man; but, as I went 
down fteps, near feven yards below the court, to vifit the 
dungeons, I almofl: now feel the hprror with which I was 
then (truck. There were fix of them, very fmall, and as 
dark as pitch ; three felons dept in each every night; not 
a breath of air but what was admitted through a fmall hole 
in the door. The fame drinking and intercourfe of the 
fexes as in Liverpool and London. The dungeon of the 
North Gate was yet worfe than thofe of the Caftle; it was 
nearly as deep, and had fourteen inches of water in it. 
Thefe fubterraneous places, which are totally dark, are 
beyond imagination horrid and dreadful. On my return 
to London I do not recollect vifitingany prifons; till, in 
1768, I revifited my native county, calling at Derby as 
before. My uncle died foon after I came down, having 
quitted the farming bufinefs in a fttort time after I left 
him in 1760. 
“ I was now out of my apprenticeship, and had taken 
up my freedom of the city. This year I employed myfelf 
in embanking fome meadow-land to protect my tenant 
from again fuft’ering the great lofs which the floods of a 
preceding year had occafioned. The large fum of money 
ypL.XVI. No. 114.6. 
693 
requifite to fet upas a jeweller,made me hefitate whether 
I fhould go into bufinefs or not. The firft thing I did was 
to pay off the legacies and incumbrances on my father’s 
eftate, which I did by felling fome detached property. 
My rental then was not fufficient to fupport me as a gen¬ 
tleman, and I returned to London to confult my friends. 
They were unanimoufly in favour of trade, and their opi¬ 
nion was decifive. In 1770 I fettled in St. James’s-ftreet, 
and immediately made it known to thofe ladies and gen¬ 
tlemen who, when I was an apprentice, had promifed me 
their fupport. At this time French fafhions were preva¬ 
lent, and I thought a trip to Paris would give me a fanc- 
tion and advantage. My houfe was under the care of my 
excellent aunt, and I left my (hop to the care of a jewel¬ 
ler with whom I had been long acquainted, and fet out, 
accompanied by Mr. Thomas Evans, bookfeller, of ICing- 
ftreet, Covent Garden. This gentleman could fpeak 
French fluently, and had feveral correfpondents at Paris. 
On our arrival at Calais we went to fee the prifon, and 
likewife at St. Omer’s and Dunkirk, and the city-prifon 
at Lille; there were, I think, no priloners in any of 
them. Some days afterwards, I vifited fir William Bur¬ 
naby, bart. who refided there; but he was not willing to 
accompany me to the prifon in the Citadel, and I could 
not gain admittance. When we arrived at Paris, I got, 
through the intereft of a bookfeller, admiflion into a 
prifon called Fon l’Eveque, and Petit Chatelet. The 
dungeons were dreadful, and, I then thought, worfe than 
any I had feen in England. There were feveral prifoners 
in both, but I think not in irons. My recollection of 
them is, however, very imperfeCI. Colonel (afterwards 
fir Eyre) Coote lodged in the fame hotel with us, and I 
made application to fee the Baftille, but was unfuccefsful. 
Mr. Evans faid he believed I was prifon-mad, and that 
my impertinent curiofity would perhaps fend us both 
to prifon : after this reproof I was (ilent on the fubjeft. 
He however accompanied me to many of the hofpitals, 
which appeared to be affectionately attended by fome fe¬ 
male religious order: and this I oblerved in the provin¬ 
cial gaols, which in my feveral vifits to France I vifited. 
“ Frefli imported from Paris, from whence I had 
brought many curious articles, my (hop foon became 
vifited by carriages, and I found my bufinefs increale be¬ 
yond my capital; but I found no difficulty in borrowing 
5Q0I. which, with the frugal management of my aunt in 
my houfehold concerns, foon opened flattering profpefts. 
In 1772 a fermon was preached, on behalf of perfons im- 
prifoned for fmall debts, at which I was prefent. A ge¬ 
neral approbation of the idea was declared, and a few of 
us formed ourfelves into a committee, and vifited the 
prifons to fearch out proper objefts. The diftrefs and 
extreme wretchednefs to which we were eye-witnefies, 
determined us to lay an account before the public, who 
inftantly caught the flame, and enabled us to reach out 
the hand of pity to a very large number of miferable fuf- 
ferers in confinement. In May 1773, the Society for the 
Relief and Difcharge of Perfons imprifoned for Small 
Debts, was inftituted or formed; and, in 1774, I was 
unanimoufly elefted the treafurer, [in which office he 
continued till his death, forty years after.] At this time 
I vifited fome of the prifons in and about the metropolis, 
and reported upon them every week. The finances of 
our fociety increafed, and my vifits and inquiries extend¬ 
ed ; fo that in a few years I had travelled over a very con- 
fiderable part of the kingdom. 
“ In 1778 I married the eldeft daughter of John Cam¬ 
den, of Batterfea, efq. by whom I had two fons and a 
daughter. 
“ In 1779 I went through Flanders into Germany; and, 
getting acquainted with colonel (afterwards general) 
Dalton, I was, through his intereft, permitted to vifit the 
Maifon de Force, at Ghent. This was, without excep¬ 
tion, the beft-planned and the beft-regulated prifon I 
had feen before, or, I think, fince. It is fituated near a 
canal 3 the plan oftagon; feparale courts for men-va- 
8 O grants 
