
Hawkinses. They too had been the victims of Mr. Falkland. He exhibited, upon a
contracted scale indeed, but in which the truth of delineation was faithfully
sustained, a copy of what monarchs are, who reckon among the instruments of
their power prisons of state.
 

                                   Chapter XI

For my own part I had never seen a prison, and like the majority of my brethren
had given myself little concern to enquire what was the condition of those who
committed offence against, or became obnoxious to suspicion from the community.
Oh, how enviable is the most tottering shed under which the labourer retires to
rest, compared with the residence of these walls!
    To me every thing was new, the massy doors, the resounding locks, the gloomy
passages, the grated windows, and the characteristic looks of the keepers,
accustomed to reject every petition, and to steel their hearts against feeling
and pity. Curiosity and a sense of my situation induced me to fix my eyes on the
faces of these men, but in a few minutes I drew them away with unconquerable
loathing. It is impossible to describe the sort of squalidness and filth with
which these mansions are distinguished. I have seen dirty faces in dirty
apartments, which have nevertheless borne the impression of health, and spoke
carelessness and levity rather than distress. But the dirt of a prison speaks
sadness to the heart, and appears to be already in a state of putridity and
infection.
    I was detained for more than an hour in the apartment of the keeper, one
turnkey after another coming in, that they might make themselves familiar with
my person. As I was already considered as guilty of felony to a considerable
amount, I underwent a rigorous search, and they took from me a penknife, a pair
of scissars and that part of my money which was in gold. It was debated whether
or not these should be sealed up, to be returned to me, as they said, as soon as
I should be acquitted; and had I not displayed an unexpected firmness of manner
and vigour of expostulation, such was probably the conduct that would have been
pursued. Having undergone these ceremonies, I was thrust into a day room in
which all the persons then under confinement for felony were assembled, to the
number of eleven. Each of them was too much engaged in his own reflections to
take notice of me. Of these two were imprisoned for horse stealing, and three
for having stolen a sheep, one for shop lifting, one for coining, two for
highway robbery and two for burglary.
    The horse stealers were engaged in a game at cards, which
