“Their dwelling was at one time far more magnificent than the palace of the King of England,” continued the professor. “There was no edifice erected for such a purpose to equal it in the whole world. There the wounded sailor passed the rest of his life enjoying every comfort he required. He had the range of a magnificent mansion, and an extensive and beautiful park. Proper officers watched over his health, his diet was strengthening and plentiful, and under the care of good and pious men his moral wants were equally well attended to. In another part of the river there used to be a building of similar extent that had been erected for poor and wounded soldiers, and they were provided for in a manner equally generous and considerate.”
“These people were distinguished for their charities, I believe,” remarked the young merchant.
“They were,” replied Fortyfolios. “They had numberless hospitals in which the poor, afflicted with disease, or hurt by accidents, were promptly cared for, and skilfully treated. The ablest physicians, the most experienced surgeons, and the most skilful nurses waited upon them; and all that the necessities of their cases demanded was immediately rendered. They had asylums for females who had strayed from the path of virtue, where they were taught industrious and moral habits, and then restored to society capable of taking a place with its most useful and honourable members. They had houses of instruction to reclaim young thieves, in which they received an excellent education, were taught some useful trade, and then re-entered the community capable of passing through the busy scenes of life with credit to themselves and others. They had——.”
“They had hospitals and asylums for every vice that disgraces humanity, don’t you see,” said the doctor, interrupting the speaker with more bitterness than was usual with him. “The vilest of the vile were sheltered and preached to, and made comfortable and happy; but while vice received every possible attention in fine buildings, with numerous servants, virtue might crawl through the public streets and starve; and while the rogue was carefully instructed in all things that were excellent to save his wretched life and soul, the honest man, struggling with adversity and sickness, was left to die and be damned. There was no asylum for the virtuous woman; but the vilest prostitute had always a ready home. Integrity and intelligence had to fight with famine alone and unnoticed; but ignorance and dishonesty, profligacy and crime, were sought after and generously provided for. In fact, under this miserable state of things there existed a bonus upon vice. If the vile were only vile enough, they were the objects of universal benevolence: but to be poor without being vile—oh! it was considered something so contemptible, that the charitable could not be brought to pay it the slightest regard.”
For a wonder Fortyfolios made no reply.
“This place is also of considerable importance to the scientific inquirer,” continued the professor; “for here was a famous observatory, in which the most illustrious astronomers carried on their investigations into the motions of the heavenly bodies, and the laws which govern them. Many interesting discoveries were here made. From here were calculated the distances of various parts of the world. The neighbourhood was also distinguished by being a place of favorite resort of the inhabitants of the metropolis; and even members of the government used to indulge themselves occasionally with a trip to this once delightful place, for the purpose of enjoying a delicacy in the shape of a very small fish, a thousand of which would scarcely make a sufficient meal.”
“Here are many heaps of stones and fragments of brickwork. I should suppose that they are the remains of a town of some kind,” observed the young merchant.
“They cover a space sufficiently extensive to make it probable,” replied Fortyfolios; “but they ought to be considered as a distant suburb of the metropolis. They were chiefly inhabited by persons engaged in the production or sale of naval stores, and boat-builders, fishermen, and sailors employed in managing the craft upon the river. In some places there are wharves for merchandise, in others for coals; here was a factory for the produce of canvass, there an establishment of engineers who sent steam vessels to every sea that flows. The river here used to be crowded with shipping; so much so that the passage of the vessels often became slow and dangerous. Here were ships from every commercial nation on the globe, each laden with the produce of their country, and each intent on returning with a cargo of English goods.”
“What a gloomy looking building this must have been, if we may judge from what remains of it!” remarked Zabra.