“The hospital was another object of my immediate attention. It is remarkable that this abode of sickness and misery, was also the most abandoned portion of the depôt. In this respect, the remark which I have before made is completely borne out. And here, where it might have been hoped that the afflicting hand of God, and the constant view of death, would have brought the most wicked to tremble at the thought of judgment, hardened impenitence kept pace with outward misery. And even after their wants were supplied, and every comfort was promised for them, which affliction is susceptible of, the hospital continued to be, with some exceptions, much less under the influence of religious improvement, than any other part of the depôt. “My first object was to obtain for my countrymen a ward to themselves, separate from the prisoners of other nations. One of the prisoners had already been employed in the joint capacity of interpreter and nurse. He was by birth a Portuguese, but had been many years in the English navy, and spoke English nearly as well as a native. He was however a person in whom I had not the least confidence, was hardened in all the callous and profligate practices of the French nurses, and was evidently in the pay of the Commandant. For the same reason, however, I knew it would be impossible for me to displace him. And, after a vain attempt to do so, I endeavoured to make him as useful as possible; and contented myself with employing another person, and a third, as they were wanted, whom I found best suited to attend the sick, and administer to their comforts. “It was my anxious wish to find a pious person, who was fit for this affair, and was willing to take the charge, in which there were so many opportunities of usefulness. And at length I succeeded in obtaining the appointment of one, who would at all times be ready to speak a word in season, to those who might be induced to hear. From this time the poor men were as comfortable as in an English hospital. Extreme cleanliness succeeded to the state of filth in which I had found them; and as wine, and many other things of a cordial, or a nutritious nature, were there abundant, and very reasonable, they had even greater comforts than would have been provided for them at home. And the consequence was, that we had a smaller proportion of deaths, compared with the number of persons present, than is scarcely ever known.