T. R.

Titor stands, with another Turnkey, or Gatekeeper; in the space between these two gates is a third
Turnkey, each of these Turnkeys in succession, accurately examine the cloaths or linnen (which are
the only articles permitted to pass) left letters or food should be transmitted. My mother on Tuesday,
the next day, brought me some food, this I was not permitted to receive, it was contrary to the regu-
lations, it being one of the bread and water days. I addressed the Committee for relief, but was
informed, it was not a place of indulgence, but of punishment.

A Gentleman , Fellow of the University of Cambridge , soon after my arrival, waited on the Rev.
Dr. Glasse, for the purpose of procuring me some accommodation, but was refused, and treated in a
manner unbecoming a Gentleman, a Clergyman, or a Christian.}

The order was granted
an imporper are
being made of it
his 2nd. application
was refused
Vide minutes Come
to Fb. 1797
Dr Glass dulory
the whole to be
false
D Wurtainly did
tell Bourks that
it was a place of
Punishment not of
Indulgence
See also 6th. Fb
1797 Minutes of
Come
Jos. Burks in Pri [..]
states very different
[..]
Jos Buks out of
Prison}

It would be superfluous to dwell on the sufferings arising from cold, hunger, damp unwholesome air,
from Scron and insult, from the prohibition of pen, ink and paper, knife and fork; in short, from the
privation of the necessaries allowed, and the mockeries for borne even to the worst felon in the worst
gaol in the kingdom; suffice it to say, that the oppression become so intolerable, that even under the
apprehension of brutal violence, I complained of my hardships, and petitioned for an increase of
food and light, and was cooly told by the Rev. Dr. Glasse, that such allowance was incompatible
with the regulations of the house, that it was a place of Punishment, not of Indulgence, that the
discipline was intended to mend the morals, and to accustom its inhabitants to temperance.

Gracious God! Are these the mild, and merciful laws of England? and is this conduct befitting
a preacher of that religion, which recommends peace and goodwill to mankind?

When I returned to my cell after this refusal, all the horrors of the place came upon me with
accumulated force, and in the bitterness of my anguish and despair, I prayed for death as a release
from my sufferings.

The mind of man shudders at the idea of Suicide, of rushing into the presence of his Creator, his
hand stained with his own blood; but that man must be a rare instance of fortitude, who, a pri-
soner in Cold-Bath Fields, possessing the means of self-destruction, should at all times resist the im-
pulse, and would find some excuse for the act, from the consideration, that they who urge a fellow-
creature to such a state of despair, perhaps of phrenzy, are the real authors of the crime.

I can adduce instances of wretched beings in that dungeon, who became frantic, and of some who de-
stroyed themselves. O fortunate Englishmen, who did not live to see the close of the eighteenth
century!This is not the caricature of romance, nor the picture of remote danger; it is a plain state-
ment of evils seen and felt, of evils present, imminent, and staring every. Englishman in the face.

Where is the Englishman who can secure himself and his children from the desolation of this public
calamity? perhaps even he who now, either actively or passively, encourages this inhuman scourge,
may by a reverse of fortune endure its torments; or if he himself should escape, could he rise from the
grave a few years hence, might see his family immured in this burial place of the living, this vault of
artificial death, almost without food, lodging in a damp and contracted cell, shut out from the light of
day; and to finish the catastrophe, exposed to the brutality of the lowest of human beings, a Turnkey
of the House of Correction in Cold-Bath Fields.

I do solemnly declare, that rather than undergo a repetition of my captivity, I would submit to
the most cruel death that human malignity could inflict.

No. 50, Jewin-Street ,
Aldersgate-Street .

JOSEPH BURKS< no role > .

[mark] To the credit and honour of one who was in that situation, he was discharged from his em-
ployment, for the shocking crime of secreting some provisions, for the use of some of the prisoners
who were subjected to a more than ordinary diminution of food!