CONTAINING
Sketches of its History and Discipline;
WITH
APPROPRIATE STRICTURES,
AND
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS REFLECTIONS.
BY JOHN REYNOLDS.
Third Edition.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY A. WRIGHT.
1839.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1834,
BY ANDREW WRIGHT,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
"Lest men suspect your tale untrue,
Keep probability in view."
In following this suggestion of the poet, I have been compelled to"extenuate," and I have had no temptation to "set down aught inmalice." The world of gloomy horrors through which my memory has beenroving for the materials of this volume, cannot receive a deepeningshade from either reality or fiction; and my conscientious andprudential object has been, to take the brightest truths which mysubjects have required, and let the darker ones remain untold. Forthe correctness of the facts which I have recorded, as to allessential points, I hold myself responsible; and as to my stricturesand reasonings, I am willing they should pass for just what they areworth.
In sending these Recollections abroad, I am governed by principleswhich are equally remote from the considerations of either hope orfear. All my hopes, from my fellow men, are gone out in the cold andgloomy damps of despair; and having long endured their deepestscorn, I have nothing more to fear from them. My sole object is toplead the cause of suffering humanity, and drag iniquity from her darkretreats out into the view of mankind. I have also aimed to rend themask from spiritual wickedness; and rouse the energies of benevolencein favor of the wretched. My cause is a good one—would to God itcould find an abler advocate!
In noticing the opinions of others, I have been unrestrained, butcandid; and in touching the conduct of some, I have endeavored torender to each his due—praise, to whom praise, and censure, to whomcensure—and I am willing to step into the same scale myself.
(p. iv) I am well aware that this book will create me enemies, and putthe tongue of slander in motion; but none of these things move me. Thebird that is wounded will flutter. On the other hand, I expect toobtain some friends by this work; but this has been no inducementwith me to publish it. Finally, I can assure both friends and foes,that, if any good should result from this volume to the cause ofbenevolence in any way, I may take my pen again. At any rate, I shallhave the satisfaction of having done my duty, and performed my vow;and this satisfaction is of more value to me than any other rewardwhich may result from my labors.
THE AUTHOR.
Boston, April, 1834.
Egypt is said to have been the cradle of letters; and happy had itbeen for her history, if she had never cradled any thing worse. Thereare the first and oldest pyramids, the sphynxes, and the labyrinths;and there was erected the first prison of which history has takennotice. A cruel and heartless people, they deserve the infamy ofcorrupting the principles of penal justice, and of transform