probable that the same practice prevailed at this time in other countries; and perhaps the founder of the foundling hospital at Milan, on this account, declared so expressly that the children, when they grew up, were to be discharged from the institution, as persons born free. In the year 1168, St. Galdinus, cardinal and archbishop of Milan, exercised great severity against heretics; but took particular care of the poor, who believed what he taught; namely, that the hospital there considered itself obliged, not only to receive the sick, but also such children as might be exposed in the city, and to provide them with food and clothing'. In 1070 Olivier de la Trau founded at Montpellier an order, the members of which called themselves hospitalarii, sive spiritus. They entered into an engagement to take care of the poor as soon as possible, and to provide for the maintenance and education of foundlings and orphans. In the course of a little time they spread themselves into different countries; and wherever they went, the effects of their benevolent vow are still to be found. Some say that the institution for foundlings, or the Hospital of the Holy Ghost, at Montpellier, was established in the year 1180. In 1201 they settled at Rome, and, according to the testimony of historians, formed there an establishment of the same kind, after they had been confirmed by Pope Innocent III., in the year 1198, and obtained for that purpose an elegant mansion, fitted up in the best manner. In the papal bulls mention is made of many convents founded by this order; and I am inclined to think that those who might take the trouble to examine thoroughly the confused history of these hospitallers, or of this order of the Holy Ghost, and of the still existing hospitals distinguished by that title, would find much information in regard to this subject. I call the history confused, because there have been many kinds of hospitallers and similar orders, and these have often been confounded with each other. Our neighbourhood had similar establishments at an early period. At any rate there was one of this kind at Einbeck, before the year 1274, that is to say, an hospital of the Holy See Muratori Antiq. Ital. Medii Ævi, iii. p. 591. See Greg. Rivii Monastica Historia Occidentis. Lips. 1737, 8vo cap. 34. The name of the author was Lauterbach. Ghost. It began to be built by duke Albert, who brought Einbeck to the house of Brunswick, when it submitted to him in 1272, in order to get rid of the importunity of count von Dassel. Alms were collected for its establishment and maintenance; and to promote these, the council issued recommendations, or letters-patent, in which it was expressly stated, that not only the indigent, and among these foreigners, were received into their hospital, but alŝo orphans and foundlings, who were maintained and educated till they grew up. Such recommendations were from time to time repeated, for one still exists of the year 1300, which is a literal transcript of that issued in 1274. I do not believe that the hospital at Einbeck was established by the order before mentioned; at any rate, hospitals of the Holy Ghost occur chiefly in the twelfth and two following centuries; and were founded, not by hospitallers, but established perhaps upon their model. In this manner a rich citizen of Nuremberg, Conrad Heinz, surnamed der Grosse, founded the hospital of the Holy Ghost, in 1331. It began to be built in 1333, and was completed in 1341. Neither in the letter of foundation, however, nor in the confirmation, are foundlings particularly named; but it may be readily seen that this institution received poor pregnant women, and educated the children which were either born in it or admitted into it. In the like manner pregnant females, both married and unmarried, and also foundlings, are received into the hospital of St. John, at Turin. The founder of the house at Nuremberg made it a rule, that the day of the birth or reception of each child should be written down, in order that the expense incurred by it might be known, in case it should ever be able and inclined to repay it'. The magnificent foundling hospital at Florence, called at present Spedale degl' Innocenti, was founded in 1316, by one Pollini. There can be little doubt that this is the same establishment for which the well-known Camaldule monk, Ambrosius, often mentioned under his family name Traversari, solicited support from the pope, in the beginning of the fifteenth century. He boasts that the foundlings received by this institution, which he calls brephotrophium, were first 1 The documents may be found in Von Murr Beschreibung der Merkw. in Nürnberg, 1801, 8vo. given to nurses to be suckled, and then admitted into the house and instructed. Girls fit for marriage were furnished with a portion. Citizens also were accustomed to send their children to be educated in the school of this hospital'. L'Hopital du S. Esprit, at Paris, is said to have been founded in 1362, and various persons out of compassion for the exposed children contributed the money necessary to its support. A brotherhood, called la Confrairie du S. Esprit, established to conduct the affairs of the institution, was confirmed the same year by pope Urban V. Paris, however, from time to time obtained more institutions of this kind. In the year 1638 a widow devoted her house to this purpose, and on that account it was called la Maison de la Couche, a name still given to the foundling hospital at the church of Notre Dame. But it was soon found necessary to abandon this well-meant institution, in consequence of the shameful abuses which had crept into it. The nurses often sold the children to beggars, who distorted or mutilated their limbs, in order that they might excite more compassion, and thereby obtain greater alms. Many were purchased also for magical purposes. The price for each was twenty sous. St. Vincent de Paule, of the congregation St. Lazare, founded, in 1640, a new institution, which in 1670 was transferred to the street Notre Dame. It obtained new improvements by the chancellor Etienne d'Aligre and his lady Elizabeth Luillier. At present this house is known under the name l'Hopital des Enfans Trouvés, or de Notre Dame de la Misericorde. That an institution for foundlings at Venice, named before the destruction of the republic Della Pietá, was established in 1380, by a Franciscan named Petruccio, I have somewhere read, but in what author I do not at present remember. In England a proposal for a similar institution was made so early as 1687; but the present foundling hospital was not established till the year 17392. I shall not however enlarge 1 Martenne, Vet. Script. amplis. Collectio. Paris, 1724, fol. iii. p. 15. 2 [The foundling hospital of London was founded in the year 1739, by charter of king George II., on the petition of captain Thomas Coram, and the memorial of sundry persons of quality and distinction. It maintains and educates 500 children, from extreme infancy to a period of life further on the modern institutions of this kind: my object was to show that they are by no means a new invention, and that they have been continued from the oldest periods to the present time through all ages, and even in those which we are accustomed to call barbarous. In our times most of the foundling hospitals have been suffered to fall to decay; chiefly because, to answer the benevolent purpose for which they are intended, they would require to be on a larger scale and better supported than it is possible for them to be at present; also because they do not entirely prevent child-murder, as they are not capable of completely removing the causes of it. After the establish ment of the foundling institution at Cassel, not a year passed without some children being found murdered, either in that place or its neighbourhood. To this may be added also, that it is impossible with the utmost exertion to provide sound nurses for the continually increasing number of children brought in, and to ensure to them sufficient attention. From the year 1763 to the end of 1781 the number of children brought into the foundling hospital at Cassel amounted to 740, of whom no more than eighty-eight remained alive at the end of the latter year. More than one half of them died under the age of eight, and scarcely ten attained to their fourteenth year. In Paris, in the year 1790, more than 23,000, and in 1800 about 62,000 children were brought in'. In 1790, of the children which had been brought in between 1774 and that period, 15,000 only were alive; and it is estimated that of all the children brought in perish annually through hunger or neglect. Of 100 foundlings in the foundling hospital at Vienna, 541⁄2 died in the year 1789. In 1797, the nurses in the foundling hospital at Metz had for fourteen when they are capable of being placed out in the world. Illegitimate children are the objects of this hospital. The child must be under twelve mouths old when offered for admission, and the committee require to be satisfied of the previous good character and present necessity of the mother, and that the father has descrted both mother and infant; and that the reception of the infant will, in all probability, be the means of replacing the mother in the course of virtue and the way of an honest livelihood.] [The number of illegitimate births in France is truly fearful. In 1831 there were 71,411, about 1-13th of the total number of births; in Paris the proportion is still larger, being about one in every three births! -Penny Cyclopædia.] months received no wages, and calculation showed that ths of the whole children perished. In an institution of this kind, in a certain German principality, only one of the foundlings in twenty years attained to manhood, and yet the establishment had cost the country annually 20,000 dollars at least. The education of no German prince ever cost so much. The case with foundling hospitals is the same as with the artificial breeding of fowls; it is easy to obtain chickens, but for want of maternal feeding and care it is almost impossible to rear them. Of what use then is it to collect chickens? ORPHAN HOUSES. As so ancient proofs are found of public attention paid to foundlings, it may be readily supposed that in well-regulated states care was employed at an early period to provide also for the maintenance and education of orphans. There is reason to believe that this was the case at Thebes, which took under its protection the children of all poor parents. Solon made a law, that children whose fathers had fallen in the defence of their country should be educated at the expense and under the inspection of government'. The same thing was customary among the Iasei, who inhabited an island on the western coast of Caria2. At Rome children maintained at the public expense were called pueri alimentarii, and puellæ alimentariæ3. The emperor Trajan was the first who formed large esta 1 Diogen. Laert. i. § 55, and the observation of Menage. This law is praised by Plato in Menexenus, and by Demosthenes, adversus Macar tatum. 2 Heraclides de Politiis, added to the addition of Aristot. Politic. Heinsii, Lugd. Bat. 1621, 8vo, p. 1004. 3 Mention is made of them several times in the Roman code of laws J. 8, § 9, et § 24, D. de Transact. L. pen. § 1, D. ad leg. Falcid. See also Ælii Spart. Vita Adriani, c. 7.—El. Capitolin. Vita Antonini. P. cap. 8.Vita Pertin. c. 9, p. 555.-Æl. Lamprid. Vita Alexandri Severi, c. 44, p. 995. VOL. II. 2 G |