they neglected to appropriate a sufficient part
of the patient's income in promoting his cure,
or adding to his general comforts.

"A few cases also came under our
observation, in which it was evident that the sums
paid were amply sufficient to provide
everything necessary for the comfort and restoration
of the patients, but the benefit of which the
patients in fact did not enjoy. A marked
instance of the disproportion between the
amount paid and the accommodation provided
for a gentleman of property, having been
brought before the Board, we issued the
following circular to the proprietors of private
asylums in the metropolitan district:—

             " ' Office of Commission in Lunacy,
                    " ' 19, New Street, Spring Gardens,
                             "' 12th February, 1850.

" 'Sir,—The Commissioners in Lunacy having
reason to suppose that in some cases a smaller
allowance is made for the maintenance of
patients in lunatic asylums than their annual
income would justify; and also, that in other
cases the amount of accommodation and
comfort supplied to the patients is less than was
stipulated for by the relatives, and less than,
having regard to the sums charged, the patients
may be considered to be reasonably entitled
to, are desirous, and request that you will,
without delay, make out a tabular list
(according to the annexed form), specifying the
names of all the private patients in your
house (as far as may be, alphabetically),
separating the males from the females, and
specifying also, against their several names, their
stations or profession in life, together with
the total annual rate of payment agreed to
be charged for them respectively, for their
maintenance and treatment, and also for extras
(if any); and the Commissioners further
request that you will have this list ready, and
accessible to them, whenever they may visit
your licensed house.

                        " ' I am, &c.,
                           " ' (Signed) R. W. S. LUTWIDGE,
                                                           " 'Secretary.
   " 'To the Superintendent of—' "

"We think it due to some proprietors of
licensed houses to state that we have
ascertained that in various instances superior
comforts and accommodation have been afforded to
patients, more with reference to their former
habits and station in life, than to the mere
amount of money received for their maintenance."
We have hitherto referred only to the
case of an individual whose affluent
circumstances render him more likely to be well done
by than if he belonged to the middle rank of
society. But the great majority of private
patients are not persons of superabundant
wealth. In numerous instances, their means
of maintenance depend entirely on the bounty
of their relatives or friends; and who shall
say in how few cases the mere pecuniary
burden does not seriously interfere with the
prosperity of an entire family?

The wants of the insane, even under the
most favourable circumstances, are much too
apt to be under-rated. Domestic order and
regularity, even with the more substantial
requisites of good treatment, by no means
include all that is necessary. The monotony of
a secluded life, at the best, is not always well
adapted to soothe the morbid irritability of
the feelings, still less to afford such a salutary
amount of mental stimulus as is requisite for
exciting and for gradually imparting due tone
to the impaired powers of the constitution.
But having intimated that the existing
arrangements for the accommodation of private
patients are generally defective, we conclude
with the expression of a hope that we may
yet witness the establishment of a system into
which speculation, in the hope of private gain,
will not be allowed to enter, or will be far more
stringently restricted than it is at present.

                      SUPPOSING.

SUPPOSING that among the news in a
Weekly Newspaper—say, " The Examiner"
for Saturday the twenty-third of August in
the present year—there were stated in succession
two cases, presenting a monstrous contrast.

Supposing that the first of these cases were
the case of an indigent woman, the wife of a
laboring man, who died in a most deplorable
and abject condition, neglected and unassisted
by the parish authorities:

Supposing that the second of these cases
were the case of an infamous woman, drunken
and profligate, a convicted felon, a returned
transport, an habitual inmate of Houses of
Correction, destitute of the lowest attributes
of decency, a Pet Prisoner in the Model
Prison, where the interesting creature was
presented with a large gratuity for her
excellent conduct:

I wonder whether it would occur to any
governing power in the country, that there
might be something wrong here!

Because I make bold to say, that such a
shocking instance of Pet Prisoning and Pet
Poor Law administering has profounder
depths of mischief in it than Red Tape can
fathom.

On the 29th instant will be published, price 5s. 6d., neatly
                         bound in Cloth,
                   THE THIRD VOLUME
                                 OF
                  "HOUSEHOLD WORDS."
                                 ———
      Publishing Monthly, price 2d., Stamped 3d.,
            THE HOUSEHOLD NARRATIVE
                    OF CURRENT EVENTS.
* * This Monthly Supplement of " Household Words,"
containing a history of the previous month, is issued
regularly (pending the decision of the Barons of the
Exchequer as to whether it be liable, in law, to the Stamp
Duty) with the Magazines. The FIRST VOLUME, being a
Record of the Public Events of the Year 1850, is still to
be had of all Booksellers.