passing from one room to another, they have to pass through the court round the house.  This operation takes three minutes, and is repeated about eight times a-day, during which intervals all the doors and windows are open, thus thoroughly ventilating the rooms; but there is a further advantage, which is thus described in the Report,—­“These movements are found very useful in giving periodically a fresh impulse both to the bodies and to the minds of the students, and in interrupting almost mechanically the dull monotony which is apt to befall school hours.”  The Principal told me, that, from careful observation, he looked upon this as one of the most valuable regulations in the establishment, and that it was difficult to rate its advantages too highly, the freshness of mind which it brought infinitely outweighing any loss of time, interruption, &c.  I spent three interesting hours in this admirable institution.

The next establishment I visited was of a very different description; i.e., the jail of solitary confinement.  I much wished to have seen some of the prisoners who had been confined for a length of time, but from some informality in the letter I brought, the guardian did not feel authorized to break through the regulations.  The prisoners are sometimes confined here for twelve years; they are kept totally separate, but they are allowed to occupy themselves at different trades, &c., in their cells.  My guide told me he had never seen any of them become the least idiotic or light-headed from long confinement.  Their cells were clean and airy, and some had a little eight-feet-square garden attached; their food was both plentiful and good, and discipline was preserved by the rod of diet; “but,” says the guide, “if they become very troublesome and obstinate we” ... what d’ye think?... “give them a shower-bath;” criminals here seem to hate fresh water as much as the tenants of the poor-houses in England do.  The jail seems very well adapted for escaping; but I suppose the rifle-armed sentries at the angles of the wall keep them in sufficient awe, as I was told they very rarely get away.  The number confined was two hundred and eighty.

The last place I visited was the Lunatic Asylum, which appears admirably placed and admirably conducted.  The situation commands a view of two public roads, where the bustle and stir of life are continually passing before their eyes, and with no visible fence intervening, the ground being so undulating and wooded as effectually to conceal the barrier.  The grounds are pleasantly laid out in walks, gardens, hothouses, &c.; a comfortable reading-room and ten-pin alley[AF] are provided on each side, one for the males, the other for the females.  The rooms and dormitories are large and airy, and carriages and horses are ready for such as the physician recommends should take that exercise.  The comfort of the inmates appeared fully equal to that of any similar establishment I have visited, and the position far superior, for there was no visible barrier between them and the open country.