If these pious
women could send up an ejaculation, when the child expired, all was
well, and no questions asked by the superiors. An ingenious friend of
mine informs me, that this has been so often the case, in some
workhouses, that Venice treacle has acquired the appellation of 'the
Lord have mercy upon me,' in allusion to the nurses' hackneyed
expression of pretended grief, when infants expire! Farewell."
I know not upon what observation Mr. Hanway founds his confidence in the
governours of the Foundling Hospital, men of whom I have not any
knowledge, but whom I entreat to consider a little the minds, as well as
bodies, of the children. I am inclined to believe irreligion equally
pernicious with gin and tea, and, therefore, think it not unseasonable
to mention, that, when, a few months ago, I wandered through the
hospital, I found not a child that seemed to have heard of his creed, or
the commandments. To breed up children in this manner, is to rescue them
from an early grave, that they may find employment for the gibbet; from
dying in innocence, that they may perish by their crimes.
Having considered the effects of tea upon the health of the drinker,
which, I think, he has aggravated in the vehemence of his zeal, and
which, after soliciting them by this watery luxury, year after year, I
have not yet felt, he proceeds to examine, how it may be shown to affect
our interest; and first calculates the national loss, by the time spent
in drinking tea.
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