with female assistants; and, on the whole, it appears to be under good regulations. The prisoners are chiefly composed of women who live by prostitution; and they are clean and neat in their persons; those who have not decent clothes of their own, wearing a kind of prison uniform. A woman may be confined for life in the Spin-house, but it is not tenanted at present by any one for so dreadful a period. Few are sentenced for more than a twelvemonth's imprisonment; and on representations to the magistrates of their good behaviour, they are frequently liberated before the expiration of that term. A small fee is paid at this place for admission, as at the Rasp-house; but I believe it is appropriated here to the benefit of the prisoners. The female convicts are healthier and more cheerful in their looks than the male, and their treatment and accommodations are altogether better.
From the prisons of Amsterdam the transition is easy to the licensed brothels of the city, the nurseries and hot-beds which
