THE INFIRMARY.

Instant a glorious angel-train defcends,
The Charities, to-wit, of rofy hue;
Sweet love their looks a gentle radiance lends,
And with seraphic flame compassion blends.
At once delighted to their charge they fly:
When, lo! a goodly hofpital afcends;

In which they bade each lenient aid be nigh,
That could the lick-bed smooth of that fad company.
It was a worthy edifying fight,

And gives to human kind' peculiar grace,
To fee kind hands attending day and night,
With tender ministry from place to place;
Some prop the head; some from the pallid face
Wipe off the faint cold dews weak nature sheds;
Some reach the healing draught; the whilst, to chace
The fear fupreme, around their soften'd beds
Some holy man, by prayer, all opening heaven dispreds.
THOMSON'S CASTLE OF INDOLENCE.

In describing this truly philanthropic and extenfive institution, we cannot adopt a better mode than copying the most effential parts of the account recently published by authority of the governors.

"To counterbalance the various evils and miferies of life," says an elegant and humane writer, “Providence has planted in our natures a benevolent principle, which inclines us, by an involuntary emotion, to relieve the distresses of our fellow-creatures, and gives us the purest and most sensible pleasure for our reward." From the universal diffufion of this amiable principle, few projects calculated to alleviate the fufferings of the lower orders of society have, in this age and nation, failed of meeting with effectual fupport: and, perhaps, no part of the country has been more confpicuous than the town and neighbour

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bourhood of Newcastle, in patronizing establishments for the relief of the poor, under the aggravated afflic. tions of want and disease.

"A flight sketch of the origin and state of the Infirmary will be a necessary introduction to the following account of the plan lately adopted for its extenfion and internal improvement.

The origin and present state of the Infirmary.

" In the beginning of the year 1751, the members of a respectable society in Newcastle resolved, on account of the deaths of fome, and the advancing age of others, of their body, to discontinue their stated meetings: but, previous to their doing so, to leave some permanent memorial of the society having existed, by the proposal of fome project of public utility. On the day appointed for this benevolent purpose, the late eminent furgeon, Mr. Richard Lambert, then a young man, suggested the establishment of an Infirmary; and this appearing more beneficial than any other project which had been presented, met with the unanimous concurrence of the meeting.* In consequence, a letter, figned K. B. was inserted in the Newcastle papers, strongly recommending a fubscription for effecting so defirable an object. A fubscription was accordingly opened, on the 9th of Feb. 1751, and foon attracted the notice of the following diftinguished characters: the earl of Northumberland, the lord bishop of Durham, lord Ravensworth, Sir Walter Blackett, bart. George Bowes, esq. the mayor of Newcastle, (Ralph Sowerby, esq.) Sir T. Clavering,

Mr. Joseph Airey, Mr. George and Mr. Ralph Headlam, and Mr. Richard Burdus, were also members of this society, and the earliest benefactors to the Infirmary.

Clavering, bart. Sir Henry Grey, bart, and Matthew Ridley, efq. To introduce the names of all the benefactors to this useful establishment would far exceed the limits prescribed to this sketch: but, in grateful testimony of the benevolence of the original contributors to the building, a lift of their names and donations is subjoined.

"On the 21st of March, 1751, it was resolved to carry the charity into immediate effect; and, in the mean time, a temporary house, capable of holding twenty-three beds, was hired; and application was made to the corporation for a piece of ground on the Forth banks, on which the Infirmary now stands.

"On the 5th of September the first stone of the building was laid by the Right Rev. Dr. Joseph Butler, lord bishop of Durham; and on the 8th of Oct. 1752, the edifice being completely fitted up, was opened for the reception of patients.

"The Infirmary stands in an open, dry, elevated fituation, at a short distance from the town, and from the river Tyne. The out-grounds are convenient, and command a pleasing profpect of the adjoining country. The building is of stone, and presents a plain but elegant front to the fouth; from the eastern extremity there runs northward a spacious wing fronting the east. The principal, or fouth front, contains four stories, the basement, the ground floor, the chamber, and the attic, The wing is two stories high, with an attic ward at its northern extremity. The ground floor is thirteen feet, the chamber twelve, and the attic story nine feet high. The offices are placed behind the front and the wing, with which they nearly form a quadrangle, inclofing a square paved

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paved yard; but the offices being low, the Infirmary, from without, is capable of a complete ventilation.

"With refpect to interior arrangements, it has hitherto had all the faults of the older hofpitals. Some of the wards are too large, and all of them too much crowded. The galleries in the wing, which ought to have acted as ventilators to the house, being closed up at one end, the ventilation is completely obstructed; while an ill-contrived necessary, placed in each, contaminates the air. One room only is fet apart for the reception of a fingle patient, when affected with a dangerous disease: and it is allotted for those who have undergone the operation of lithotomy. All the bedsteads in the house are made of wood, and have flock-mattraffes.

Plan for the internal improvement and extension of the Infirmary.

"From this account of the interior arrangements of the Infirmary, it will appear, that it has hitherto been by no means so well calculated as might have been wished, for giving relief in those diseases in which quiet, rest, and pure air, aré essential to recovery. In large wards, where mutual misery and difturbance continually prevail, the diseases of patients are often in danger of being rather aggravated, than remedied or relieved.

"A question then naturally occurs, Are these evils neceffarily and inseparably attached to Infirmaries? Or do they spring from faults which are capable of being rectified?" With a view to attract the attention and known humanity of the fupporters of this institution to the confideration of a question fo important, a printed paper, in the form of a letter,

was

was tranfmitted by Dr. Clark to every governor, on the 11th of June, 1801, containing the result of an enquiry into the state of various Infirmaries; a comparative view of the fuccess of the practice in the improved, and in the older hofpitals; and a proposal for the internal improvement and extenfion of that at Newcastle.'

"In consequence of the remarks contained in this paper, the following governors, together with the physicians and furgeons of the charity, were, at a special court held on Thursday, June 25, (Sir M. W. Ridley, bart. M. P. in the chair) appointed a committee, 'for the purpose of confidering the expediency of the proposed internal government of the Infirmary, procuring plans of the proposed extenfion of the building, and estimates of the expences at tending the same, and caufing a report of their proceedings and opinion thereon to be printed and circulated among the governors, previous to the anniversary meeting in August:" viz.

Thomas Bigge, efq.
Nathaniel Clayton, esq.
Thomas Gibson, efq.
Tho. E. Headlam, efq.
Anth. Hopper, efq.
William Lloyd, efq.

James Losh, efq.
Charles Ogle, efq.
Rev. Dr. Proffer.
R. H. Williamfon, efq.
Nich. Walton, efq,
Rev. Jona. Walton.

"On the 21st of July, the above committee, hav. ing previously with great attention examined the internal state of the Infirmary, circulated among the governors a most important report on the defects of the Infirmary, and the most effectual means of remedying them.

"The principal cause of the contamination of the air in the whole house," the committee obferve, " arifes