'Father!' said I, 'Have mercy:' he replied, I know not what--the angry spirit lied, - 'Didst thou not draw thy knife?' said he: --'Twas true, But I had pity and my arm withdrew: He cried for mercy, which I kindly gave, But he has no compassion in his grave. "There were three places, where they ever rose, - The whole long river has not such as those - Places accursed, where, if a man remain, He'll see the things which strike him to the brain; And there they made me on my paddle lean, And look at them for hours;--accursed scene! When they would glide to that smooth eddy-space, Then bid me leap and join them in the place; And at my groans each little villain sprite Enjoy'd my pains and vanish'd in delight. "In one fierce summer-day, when my poor brain Was burning hot, and cruel was my pain, Then came this father-foe, and there he stood With his two boys again upon the flood: There was more mischief in their eyes, more glee In their pale faces, when they glared at me: Still they did force me on the oar to rest, And when they saw me fainting and oppress'd, He with his hand, the old man, scoop'd the flood, And there came flame about him mix'd with blood; He bade me stoop and look upon the place, Then flung the hot-red liquor in my face; Burning it blazed, and then I roar'd for pain, I thought the demons would have turn'd my brain. "Still there they stood, and forced me to behold A place of horrors--they can not be told - Where the flood open'd, there I heard the shriek Of tortured guilt--no earthly tongue can speak: 'All days alike! for ever!' did they say, 'And unremitted torments every day' - Yes, so they said"--But here he ceased and gazed On all around, affrighten'd and amazed; And still he tried to speak, and look'd in dread Of frighten'd females gathering round his bed; Then dropp'd exhausted, and appear'd at rest, Till the strong foe the vital powers possess'd; Then with an inward, broken voice he cried, "Again they come!" and mutter'd as he died. {13} LETTER XXIII. Poena autem vehemens ac multo saevior illis, Quas et Caeditius gravis invenit aut Rhadamanthus, Nocte dieque suum gestare in pectore testem. JUVENAL, Satire xiii. . . . . Think my former state a happy dream, From which awaked, the truth of what we are Shows us but this,--I am sworn brother now To grim Necessity, and he and I Will keep a league till death. SHAKESPEARE, Richard II. -------------------------- PRISONS. {14} The Mind of Man accommodates itself to all Situations; Prisons otherwise would be intolerable--Debtors: their different kinds: three particularly described; others more briefly--An arrested Prisoner: his Account of his Feelings and his Situation--The Alleviations of a Prison--Prisoners for Crimes--Two Condemned: a vindictive Female: a Highwayman--The Interval between Condemnation and Execution--His Feelings as the Time approaches--His Dream.