1786.

vation.

From what has been faid, it appears, 1. That thieves of all kinds have been of late increafing moft rapidly in numbers, that their crimes are become multiplied s far as the utmoft ftretch of human in vention can go, that new and unheard of ruelties are daily practifed, and that owing the great increase of thieves, they are become moft aftonishingly daring, and har dened in wickednefs beyond any former precedent.

2. That murders are become frequent, and that there is no fpecies of cruelty which they hesitate to commit, if any refflance be made to their defperate defigns. 3. That this increase, enormity, and Ellainy acquires every day greater ftrength, and if collected into one combination, could withstand any civil power that we an raife to oppose them.

14. That the prefent punithments have O other effect than on the immediate fufitrer, and that although executions never were fo frequent, the frequency of them carries no terror, and is perceivable by no decrease in the numbers or enormity of

the furvivors.

5. That the prefent modes of imprifonent are ill calculated either for punishment, or reform; on the contrary, that the geater part of our prifons are the nurseries of vice, fo that the unexperinced Tyro in villainy fhall, before he has been two months in a jail, come out a finifhed

villain.

correct.

141

That an enquiry be made into the characters of thofe houfes which are licenfed to fell fpirits, beer ale, and that this enquiry be ftrict in proportion to the obfcurity of the ftreet, and the number of alehoufes in the fame ftreet..

That all idle, diforderly perfons, who can give no account of themselves, and whole appearance gives fufpicion, be apprehended in houfes, ftreets, lanes, or alleys, or in any place where they may happen to be.

That the number of alehoufes every where be curtailed. There are, on a moderate computation, two-thirds more in London than are at all necessary.

That no alehoufes be allowed to receive company on Sundays; and that none on any account be allowed to furnish the guefts with cards, or permit to carry on any fort of game whatever, under the fevereft penalty, lofs of the license, and imprifonment and fine.

That all houfes which are known to receive and entertain thieves and robbers taken fhall be prohibited, the licence, away, and the keeper or keepers confidered as guilty of felony.

That all loose and diforderly women of whatever defcription, fhall be apprehended, if found in the street, or in alehoufes with vagabonds; and as the number of fuch women is exceedingly great, and as many hundreds might be reclaimed, if proper care was taken, that it be recommended to the legislature to vote certain fums for erecting workhouses where they may be employed ufefully, the induftrious encouraged, and the refractory punished and confined from mifchief; and that on no pretence whatever, proftitutes are to be allowed to walk the streets, or herd together in companies, at the corner of streets, lanes, and alleys.

But as the increase of prostitutes is in a great measure owing to the frequency of feduction; that feducing a young woman, and abandoning her, thall be punished by a fine and long imprisonment, if the culprit be a fingle man, and refuse to but that feduction, if committed by a married man, fhall be punished by death.

marry

her;

That the trade and bufinefs of pawnbroking fhall be entirely abolished; or if any plan of the kind should seem neceffary, that goverment do bring the matter under particular laws, and their immediate infpection, in order that it may not be fafe for a thief to pawn or fell any articles in the fhop of a pawnbroker.

That perfons receiving ftolen goods, knowing them to be ftolen, fhall fuffer death, and their goods be confifcated.

That the laws already in force, be car

ried

ried into execution with regularity, firmnefs, and perfeverance.

These propofitions are, my Lord, but outlines of a great plan, but they are fufficient to compofe a mode of redrefs, like to which, ere long, it will be found abfolutely necessary to adopt something.

There are only two particulars which remain to be mentioned.-To revife the penal and the poor laws.-The first admit of many improvements, and the latter, I believe, are executed in a very ufelefs manner, and little conducive to general good.

If by throwing out these few hints on the fubject of a Police, I have awakened the attention of any part of the public hitherto unfufpecting of their danger; if I have used one argument which has thrown light or conviction on any part of my fubject; if I am the means of calling forth the exertions of any man of will and power, it is all I propofed when I firft addreffed your Lordship; and in the fond hope I haye obtained my wifh, I fubfcribe myself

DO

Your Lordship's most obedient,
And very humble fervant,
CIVIS.

(Concluded.) Memoirs of Don Carlos III, King of Spain. ON CARLOS III. King of Spain, was born at Madrid, January 20, 1716. He was proclaimed King of Spain, September 11, 1759. Shooting is his ruling paffion: he is the Nimrod of his time: when the days are fhort, he often fhoots by torch light. In perfon, he is middle fized, round houldered, large boned, of a dark brown complexion, has fmall eyes, and a very large prominent Roman nofe. His dreis is too homely for a Prince: he wears commonly a plain cloth frock, leather waistcoat and breeches, boots always made in London, a large pair of tanned gloves, ufually carries a gun on his shoulder, and his fervants attending with guns, powder, shot, water, wine, victuals, clothes, and his dead game, wolves, hares, rooks, gulis, &c. When he travels, he drives fo furioufly, that it is no uncommon thing for fome of his guards to break a leg, arm, or neck; on which his Majefty obferves, "he died in his "duty."

He rifes at feven in the morning, opens his fhutters, writes his letters and difpatches, and then fets out, let it rain or fhine, for the chace, or rather fhooting, for he never hunts as we do in England. It is his conftant maxim, that rain breaks no bones; therefore it never fufpends any thing he is engaged in, to the no small mortification of his attendants. His faite, on these oceafi

ons, is generally the Infant Don Lewis, the great officer in waiting, usually the Duke de Lozada, the body guards, and three or four coaches and fix, with which there is alway● a furgeon in cafe of any accident. He returns before noon, and dines regularly at eleven o'clock, and always in public, attended by the foreign minifters and his courtiers. He ufually eats fix things, drink, three times, and is not long at table. After dinner he sets out again to fhoot, and feldom returns till dark, or later. Then he hears his minifters for an hour; after that fits with the Queen mother in her apartment, and goes to bed between nine and ten. This is the conftant round of his Majesty's life.

In February or March, every year, he goes to the palace of Pardo, in April, to Aranjuez, returns in June to Madrid, end of July fets out for San Ildephonfo, in October goes to the Efcurial, and in November returns to Madrid,

Sometimes he fishes for variety, and at other times he has a general Battida, which is setting five or fix hundred men to drive all the game for many miles round, into toils of a great extent, and then the King, Don Lewis, with the whole court, ladies as well as gentlemen, fet out and kill it. The foThis reign ambassadors always attend. makes great havock among the game, and is a very expensive diverfion.

Many think him a very weak Prince, and of little or no understanding. This is a miftake. He has fome parts, but is mulish and obftinate to the higheft degree, and being conftantly flattered, he imagines he is much wifer than he really is. He is referv ed beyond the common referve of Princes; has no confidant, and communicates his will only by his orders to put it in execution. He can neither be led nor driven; all muft come from himself. Thofe things to which he has applied, he is a very complete mafter of; he talks Italian, French, and Spanish, fluently. He is an exceeding good turner, and has practised the trades of taylor and hoemaker. He has turned a multitude of things in the wooden ware way. He examines minutely into moft circumstances. He has made with his own hands every part of a foldier's drefs, to judge of the true expence of their uniforms. He told the foreign minifters one day, that he had made a pair of fhoes: "not indeed, fays he, "very good fhoes, but fuch as might be walked in.'

He rules with fuch defpotic fway, that he permits no minifter to argue with, or remonftrate to him. In 1760, he removed the Duke of Alva, who had been firft minifter all the late reign, and who was very popular. He is very chafte. He banished the Dukes of Arcos and Offuna from Madrid, for

4786.

N

(Continued from p. 25.)

ses, which

In addition to the furnituretely clefcrib. ed by Captain Cook, I have only to add, that at one end are mats on which they fleep with wooden pillows, or fleeping ftools, xactly like thofe of the Chinese. Some of the better fort of houles have a courtyard before them, neatly railed in, with Imaller houses built round it, for the fer; vants. In this area they generally eat, and fit during the day-time In the fides of the hills, and among the steep rocks, we alfo obferved feveral holes of caves, which appear to be inhabited; but as the entrance was defended with wicker work, and we allo found, in the only one that was vifited, a ftone fence running across it within, we imagined they are principally defigned for places of retreat, in cafe of an attack from an enemy.

The way of spending their time appears to be very fimple, and to admit of little variety. They rife with the fun; and, after enjoying the cool of the evening, retire to reft a few hours after fun-fet. The making of canoes and mats forms the occupations of the Erees; the women are employed in manufacturing cloth; and the Towtows are principally engaged in the plantations and fifning. Their idle hours are filled up with various amusements. Their young men and women are fond of dancing; and, on more folemn occafions, they have boxing and wrestling matches, after the manner of the Friendly Iflands; though, in all these refpects, they are much inferior to the lat

ter.

Their dances have a much nearer refem

143

blance to those of the New Zealanders, than of the Otaheitans or Friendly Islanders. They are prefaced with a flow, folemn fong, in which all the party join, moving their legs, and gently ftriking their breafts, in a manner, and with attitudes, that are perfectly eafy and graceful; and fo far they are the fame with the dances of the Society Iflands.

Their mufic is of a ruder kind, having neither flutes nor reeds, nor inftruments of any other fort, that we faw, except drums of various fizes. But their fongs, which they fung in parts, and accompany with a gentle motion of the arms, and in the fame manner as the Friendly Islanders, had a ve ry pleasing effect.

It is very remarkable that the people of thefe iflands are great gamblers. They have a game very much like our draughts, but, if one may judge from the number of fquares, it is much more intricate. The board is about two feet long, and is divided into two hundred and thirty-eight fquares, of which there are fourteen in a row, and they make use of black and white pebbles, which they

There is another game,

which confifte

in hiding a ftone under a piece of cloth, which one of the parties fpreads out, and rumples in fuch a manner, that the place where the ftone lies is difficult to be diftinguifhed. The antagonist, with a flick, then ftrikes the part of the cloth where he imagines the ftone to be; and as the chances are upon the whole, confiderably a gainft his hitting it, odds of all degrees, varying with the opinion of the fkill of the parties, are laid on the fide of him who hides.

Befides thefe games, they frequently amufe themfelves with racing-matches between the boys and girls; and here again they wager with great fpirit. I faw a man in a moft violent rage, tearing his hair, and beating his breaft, after lofing three hatchets at one of these races which he had just before purchafed from us, with half his fubftance.

Swimming is not only a neceffary art, in which both their men and women are more expert than any people we have hitherto feen, but a favourite diverfion amongst them. One particular mode, in which they fometimes amufed themselves with this exercife, in Karakakooa Bay, appeared to us moft perilous and extraordinary, and well deferving a diftinct relation.

The furf, which breaks on the coaft round the bay, extends to the diftance of about one hundred and fifty yards from the fhore, within which space, the furges of the fea, accumulating from the fhallownefs of the water, are dashed against the beach

with

with prodigious violence. Whenever, from ftormy weather, or any extraordinary fwell at fea, the impetuofity of the furf is encreafed to its utmoft height, they choose that time for this amusement, which is perform ed in the following manner: Twenty or thirty of the natives, taking each a long narrow board rounded at the ends, fet out together from the fhore. The first wave they meet, they plunge under, and suffering it to roll over them, rife again beyond it, and make the best of their way, by fwimming out into the fea. The fecond wave is encountered in the fame manner with the firft; the great difficulty confifting in feizing the proper moment of diving under it, which if miffed, the perfon is caught by the furf, and driven back again with great violence; and all his dexterity is then required to prevent himself from being dafhed against the rocks. As foon as they have gained, by these repeated efforts, the fmooth water beyond the furf, they lay themfelves at length on their board, and prepare for their return. As the furf confifts of a number of waves, of which every third is remarked to be always much larger than the others, and to flow higher on the shore, the reft breaking in the intermediate space, their firft object is to place themiclves on the fummit of the largeft furge, by which they are driven along with amazing rapidity toward the fhore. If by miftake they fhould place themselves on one of the fmaller waves, which breaks before they reach the land, or fhould not be able to keep their plank in a proper direction on the top of the fwell, they are left expofed to the fury of the next and, to avoid it, are obliged again to dive and regain the place, from which they fet out. Thofe who fucceed in their object of reaching the fhore have ftill the greatest danger to encounter. The coaft being guarded by a chain of rocks, with here and there, a fmall opening between them, they are obliged to fleer their board through one of thefe, or, in cafe of failure to quit it, before they reach the rocks, and plunging under the wave, make the beft of their way back again. This is reckoned very difgraceful, and is often attended with the lofs of the board, which I have often feen, with great terror, dashed to pieces, at the very moment the islanders quitted it. The boldnefs and addrefs, with which we faw them perform thefe difficult and dangerous manoeuvers, was altogether aftonishing, and is fcarcely to be credited.

An accident, of which I was a near fpectator, fhews at how early a period they are fo far familized to the water, as both to lofe all fear of it, and to fet its dangers at defiance. A canoe being overfet, in which was a woman with her children, one of them

an infant, who, I am convinced, was more than four years old, feemed highl delighted with what had happened, fwim ming about at its cafe, and playing a hun dred tricks, till the canoe was put to right: again.

Befides the amusements I have already mentioned, the young children have one, which was much played at, and fhewed no fmall degree of dexterity. They take a fhort ftick, with a peg fharpened at both ends, running through one extremity of it, and extending about an inch on each fide; throwing up a ball made of green leaves moulted together, and fecured with twine they catch it on a point of the peg; and immediately throwing it up again from the peg, they turn the ftick round, and thus keep catching it on, each point alternately, without miffing it, for a confiderable time. They are not lefs expert at another game of the fame nature, toffing up in the air, and catching, in their turns, a number of thefe balls; fo that we frequently faw little children thus keep in motion five at a time. With this latter play the young people like wife divert themielves at the Friendly 10ands.

The great resemblance which prevails in the mode of agriculture and navigation, amongst all the inhabitants of the South Sea iflands, leaves me very little to add on those heads. The moft curious fpecimens of their fculpture, which we faw during our fecond vifit, are the bowls, in which the Chiefs drink ava. These are usually about eight or ten inches in diameter, perfectly round, and beautifully polithed. They are fupported by three, and foraetimes four small human figures in various attitudes. Some of them reft on the hands of their fupporters, extending over the head; others on the head and hands; and fome on the shoulders. The figures, I am told, are accurately proportioned, and neatly finished, and even the anatomy of the mufcles, in fupporting the weight, well exprefled.

Their cloth is made of the fame mate rials, and in the fame manner, as at the Friendly and Society iflands. That which is defigned to be painted, is of a thick and ftrong texture, feveral folds being beaten and incorporated together; after which it is cut in breadths, about two or three feet wide, and is painted in a variety of patterns, with a comprehenfivenefs and regularity of defign, that befpakes infinite tafte and fancy. The exactnefs with which the most intricate patterns are continued, is the more furprizing, when we consider, that they have no ftamps, and that the whole is done by the eye, with pieces of bamboo cane dipped in paint; the-hand being fupported by another piece of the cane in the manner practifed

by