Every precaution seems to have been taken, to preserve the health, and spare the vanquished; but still many unfortunate men perished. They drooped and died, it might be from la maladie du pays? Still the mortality was not so great as in the crowded prisons of other parts. For the sick, excellent hospitals were provided, containing some noble apartments, suited to the palace of a prince. The kitchens and laundries were well contrived; and the dungeon is far preferable to any place of confinement, which our common prisons can afford. But the walls are so thick, that the instrument of release could never pierce them; the light comes dimly through a small iron grating, and the doubly plated door closes with a thundering sound, which reverberates through the vaulted cell. It would be cold, heartless misery, to sojourn in such a place, even for a short time. Methinks I hear the cry of that poor young prisoner, who was forced to this gloomy domicile, for attempting to escape.

"Oh set me free,

I am young in years;

And my heart repines,

Though I shed no tears:

My spirit was formed for joy and glee;
It still is buoyant ;-"Oh set me free."

Oh set me free,

I am strong and bold;
Scarce fifteen summers

Have o'er me rolled.

Unfettered once as the boundless sea;
I am pinioned now ;-" Oh set me free."

Oh set me free,

I've a father true;

He is bowed with age;

Must I vainly sue?

From your sharpest swords he would scorn to flee;

But he mourns for his son :-" Oh set me free."

Oh set me free,

I've a mother dear,

Whose eyes are blinded

With many a tear.

She prays for her child with bended knee,

Must her prayers be useless? ;-" Oh set me free."

Oh set me free,

I've a sister fair;

Her brow is shaded

With early care.

She calls for her brother by bower and lea;

Yet has no reply ;-"Oh set me free."

Oh set me free,

I've a home so bright

With every beauty

That glads the sight.

That home once sounded with revelry;

And now it is silent;-"Oh set me free."

Oh set me free,

I've companions brave;

Each one would perish

His friend to save.

They wander in grief by our fav'rite tree;

Their pastimes are ended ;-"Oh set me free."

Oh set me free,

This dungeon deep

Is dark'ning round me ;—

I dare not sleep.

Unearthly forms in its gloom I see ;

They are mocking my sorrow;-"Oh set me free."

God-set me free,

Thou alone canst save:

For human pity

I vainly crave.

My spirit now longs for that liberty

Which death alone yields ;-"God-set me free."

My soul is free,

Though my heart is cold;

Mother, dear mother,

Your arms enfold.

Father, I perish for liberty;

Sister, your blessing;-God sets me free."

In contrast to this dismal strain, imagine the shouts of joy which must have resounded through this gloomy abode, when the first of the united powers, proclaimed universal peace. "Is it indeed true," exclaimed the delighted Frenchmen, "shall we see la belle France again?" And even the surly Americans, smiled at the idea of beholding their boasted land once more. Without the walls of the prisons, on the eastern side, is the burial place of the unfortunate captives, which has, of course, been sadly neglected; the horses and cattle have broken up the soil, and left the bones of the dead to whiten in the sun. Opposite the chief entrance to the depôt, is a large reservoir, which supplies the whole of the prisons with the freshest water. Regarding the numerous conveniences, and substantial construction of these extensive buildings, it appears unfortunate that they should be allowed to fall into decay. The repairs which have been recently commenced, will, it is feared, be insufficient to prevent the destruction of the woodwork. The floors in many places have entirely fallen in, which must necessarily be the case, while the houses are subject to the ravages of time in a moist climate, without being defended by wholesome heat, from the hearth fires of any inhabitants. In the grass-grown courts, sport the martin and weasel; the mountain mouse ranges through the solemn apartments, and the rabbit burrows under the lofty walls. It was once proposed to send convicts to this spot, but the design it appears has been since abandoned. "Subsequently a school of industry was projected and advocated by Lord Brougham. The design was to rescue orphans from the vice, infamy and ruin of the metropolitan streets."

We now return to the Duchy Hotel, at Prince-Town; where is to be found every refreshment for man and beast. This hostelry often affords accommodation for anglers and sportsmen, who range the moor for their

desired game. The brooks and rivers abound in fish, and much amusement may be derived by the observing spectator, from hearing the piscatory wanderers descant on the various merits of the Black-a-Brook, the Dart, or the Swincomb. Game of all descriptions is found on the moor. The black-cock and grouse are sometimes seen, and a solitary eagle has been before now observed wending its flight across the waste. The natural history of this interesting district will be mentioned elsewhere, but we may here introduce some valuable remarks on the use to which the natural peculiarities of the moor may be turned as a means of the improvement of health, from a manuscript kindly placed in my hands by a medical friend, who has directed his attention particularly to the statistics of the neighborhood of Tavistock.

"The whole of the causes of the differing healthfulness of various climates, is far from being yet ascertained; but the most essential of those which are so, temperature, moisture, and purity of air, are materially different on Dartmoor to those of the lower country. The same motives which induce the visits of the Anglo-Indian to the Neilghearies, or of the Anglo-Italian to Lucca, or Switzerland, might render eligible a removal from our towns, and valleys, and sea-coasts to the Moorland. The same qualities of climate, in fact, which serve to recommend our county as a winter residence for those whose lungs are delicate, often render it oppressive and loaded with moisture and exhalations during the summer and early autumn heats. In the case of our large towns, an additional source of depression arises out of the contamination produced by a large, and in some instances, confined population. The good effects of a visit to the moor in such seasons, are immediately perceptible ;elasticity, and vigor of appetite, take then the place of their opposites, and the balance of functions in which health consists is quickly re-established. The Temper

ature of the day is on the average about five degrees lower on the moor, than at Tavistock and Plymouth ;* it differs less from that of the night; and the range between the highest and lowest of each month, is by no means so great. The density of the air is much inferior to that of the low country, and consequently holds effluvia less readily in solution, whilst their production is not so much encouraged by heat, and is probably checked by the prevalence of carbonized vegetable matter, which very much impedes the putrefaction even of the animal bodies buried beneath the soil. There is, besides, no dense population to occasion impurity of air: if any such should accidently be produced, it would be immediately dissipated by the breezy agitation which may be said to be there perpetual." Such are the main elements of the summer climate of the moor. The method of turning to the best account these beneficial influences, has appeared to me to be the recommendation

*Ascertained from observations made by Mr. Bickford, of the Duchy Hotel, Prince town, on his thermometer, compared with those kept,-under the direction of Mr. Snow Harris, at the Devonport Dock-yard; hy Dr. Thomas Barham, of Exeter, and by Dr. Charles Barham, at Tavistock, during the year 1836.

+ The moorsmen are proverbially healthy, and celebrated for their great longevity, as well as for excelling in their favorite sport of wrestling. Abraham Cann, the famous pugilist, was a native of the moorland district. We may here speak of a race of gypsies, which once frequented Dartmoor, taking up their winter quarters at Moretonhampstead. They were men of might in various ways, and may properly be denominated "Children of the Waste."

Stout in heart as granite tor,
Fearless or for peace or war,
Rich in spirit, worldly poor,

Tameless as their native moor.

But their energies were perverted to the guilty practice of horse stealing the last of any celebrity, of whom I remember to have heard, was "Blue Jenny, of the gipsy tribe," condemned to death for stealing a horse from a gentleman at the prisons. Gipsies are still often to be met on the moor, where they encamp.

U