TKUE WEROIS’. 247

shown in acting, the other in suffering; and these
shall be trwe stories, which iis. perhaps, more than can be
said of half that is recorded of Achilles and Alexander,

You have probably heard something of Mr. Howard,
the reformer of prisons, to whom a monument may be
seen in St. Paul’s church. His whole life, almost, was
heroism; for he confronted all sorts of dangers, with
the sole view of relieving the miseries of his fellow-
creatures. When he began to examine the state of
prisons, searcely any in this country was free from a
very fatal and infectious distemper, called the gaol-
fever. Wherever he heard of it, he made a point of
secing the poor sufferers, and often went down into
their dungeons, when the keepers themselves would
not accompany him. He travelled several times over
almost the whole of Europe, and even into Asia, in order
to gain knowledge of the state of prisons and hospitals,
wad point out means for lessening the calamities that
prevail in them. He even went into countries where
the plague was, that he might learn the best methods
of treating that terrible contagious discase; and he
voluntarily exposed himself to perform a strict quaran-
tine, as one suspected of having the infection of the
plague, only that he might be thoroughly acquainted
with the methods used for prevention. He at length
died of a fever, caught in attending on the sick on the
borders of Crim Tartary, honoured and admired by all
Kurope, after having greatly contributed to enlighten
his own and many other countries, with respect to
some of the most important objects of humanity. Such
was Howard the Good; as great a hero in preserving
mankind, as some of the false heroes above mentioned
were ww destroying them.

My second hero is a much humbler, but not less
genuine one. .

There was a journeyman bricklayer, in this town, an
able workman, but a very drunken, idle fellow, who
spent at the alehouse almost all he earned, and left his
wife and children to shift for themselves as they could.