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London Lives 1690 to 1800
Crime, Poverty and Social Policy in the Metropolis
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T. R.
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<
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Titor stands, with another Turnkey, or Gatekeeper; in the space between these two gates is a third
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Turnkey, each of these Turnkeys in succession, accurately examine the cloaths or linnen (which are
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the only articles permitted to pass) left letters or food should be transmitted. My mother on Tuesday,
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the next day, brought me some food, this I was not permitted to receive, it was contrary to the regu-
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lations, it being one of the bread and water days. I addressed the Committee for relief, but was
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informed, it was not a place of indulgence, but of punishment.
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<
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A
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Gentleman
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, Fellow of the University of
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Cambridge
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, soon after my arrival, waited on the Rev.
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Dr. Glasse, for the purpose of procuring me some accommodation, but was refused, and treated in a
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manner unbecoming a Gentleman, a Clergyman, or a Christian.}
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<
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The order was granted
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an imporper are
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being made of it
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his 2nd. application
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was refused
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Vide minutes Come
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to Fb. 1797
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Dr Glass dulory
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the whole to be
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false
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D Wurtainly did
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tell Bourks that
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it was a place of
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Punishment not of
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Indulgence
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See also 6th. Fb
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1797 Minutes of
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Come
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Jos. Burks in Pri
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states very different
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Jos Buks out of
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Prison}
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<
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It would be superfluous to dwell on the sufferings arising from cold, hunger, damp unwholesome air,
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from Scron and insult, from the prohibition of pen, ink and paper, knife and fork; in short, from the
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privation of the necessaries allowed, and the mockeries for borne even to the worst felon in the worst
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gaol in the kingdom; suffice it to say, that the oppression become so intolerable, that even under the
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apprehension of brutal violence, I complained of my hardships, and petitioned for an increase of
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food and light, and was cooly told by the Rev. Dr. Glasse, that such allowance was incompatible
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with the regulations of the house, that it was a place of Punishment, not of Indulgence, that the
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discipline was intended to mend the morals, and to accustom its inhabitants to temperance.
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<
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Gracious God! Are these the mild, and merciful laws of England? and is this conduct befitting
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a preacher of that religion, which recommends peace and goodwill to mankind?
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<
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When I returned to my cell after this refusal, all the horrors of the place came upon me with
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accumulated force, and in the bitterness of my anguish and despair, I prayed for death as a release
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from my sufferings.
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<
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The mind of man shudders at the idea of Suicide, of rushing into the presence of his Creator, his
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hand stained with his own blood; but that man must be a rare instance of fortitude, who, a pri-
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soner in Cold-Bath Fields, possessing the means of self-destruction, should at all times resist the im-
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pulse, and would find some excuse for the act, from the consideration, that they who urge a fellow-
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creature to such a state of despair, perhaps of phrenzy, are the real authors of the crime.
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<
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I can adduce instances of wretched beings in that dungeon, who became frantic, and of some who de-
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stroyed themselves. O fortunate Englishmen, who did not live to see the close of the eighteenth
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century!This is not the caricature of romance, nor the picture of remote danger; it is a plain state-
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ment of evils seen and felt, of evils present, imminent, and staring every. Englishman in the face.
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<
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Where is the Englishman who can secure himself and his children from the desolation of this public
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calamity? perhaps even he who now, either actively or passively, encourages this inhuman scourge,
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may by a reverse of fortune endure its torments; or if he himself should escape, could he rise from the
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grave a few years hence, might see his family immured in this burial place of the living, this vault of
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artificial death, almost without food, lodging in a damp and contracted cell, shut out from the light of
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day; and to finish the catastrophe, exposed to the brutality of the lowest of human beings, a Turnkey
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of the House of Correction in Cold-Bath Fields.
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<
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I do solemnly declare, that rather than undergo a repetition of my captivity, I would submit to
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the most cruel death that human malignity could inflict.
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<
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No. 50,
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Jewin-Street
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,
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Aldersgate-Street
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.
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JOSEPH BURKS
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.
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<
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To the credit and honour of one who was in that situation, he was discharged from his em-
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ployment, for the shocking crime of secreting some provisions, for the use of some of the prisoners
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>
who were subjected to a more than ordinary diminution of food!
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