In a corner of the yard I was shown a cell, in which, if the person who is confined in it does not incessantly pump out the water let into it, he must inevitably be drowned; but the gaoler informed me, that it had not been used for many years, and that it was now only an object of terror. In the warehouses, which are very shabby, were piles of rasped wood for dyeing various colours; amongst others, the Evonymus Europæus, the Morus Tinctoria, and the Hæmotoxylum Campechionum. I was informed, that women who are attached to the prisoners, are permitted to visit them at stated periods, without any restraint, by which one of the great political objects of Holland, the encouragement of population, does not suffer by this wholesome separation of the faulty from the blameless members of society. The number of prisoners amounted to 124; they were far from looking healthy; this I attributed more to the height of the walls enclosing the yard, which, as well as the number of logwood piles, must greatly impede the circulation of the air, than to excess of toil and severity of treatment. The prisoners are not encumbered with irons, and I should think an escape from such a prison might be easily effected. From the rasp-house I proceeded to the work-house, in the east quarter of the city, close to the Muider and Prince Gragts, an establishment which I believe has no parallel in the world. It is a vast building: the purposes to which it is applied are partly correctional and partly charitable. The number of persons within its walls, when I saw it, amounted to seven hundred and fifty of both sexes, and the annual expense is about one hundred thousand florins. In the rooms belonging to the governors and directresses, are some exquisite pictures by Vandyke, Rembrandt, and Jordaens. In a vast room very cleanly kept and well ventilated, were an immense number of women, occupied in sewing, spinning, &c.; amongst them was a fine, handsome, hearty looking Irish woman, who had been confined two years at the instance of her husband, for being more fond of a little true Schidam gin than of her liege spouse. In another vast apartment, secured by massy iron railing and grated windows, were about seventy female convicts, who appeared to be in the highest state of discipline, and were very industriously and silently engaged in making lace, &c. under the superintendency of a governess. From the walls of the room were suspended instruments of punishment, such as scourges, irons for the legs, &c. which, we were informed, were not spared upon the slightest appearance of insubordination. These women are always kept apart from the rest. The wards of the men, and the school-rooms for a great number of children, who are educated and maintained under the same roof, as well as the dormitories, were in the highest state of neatness. In another part of this building, never shown to strangers, were confined about ten young