furthermore, we may learn the important lesson, that the truest way to do good to the world, is simply to go on in the steady and faithful performance of duty, doing that which is set before us with all our might and with pure motives, cultivating at the same time our mental powers, cherishing all good and noble affections, and,—what is hardest yet most effective of all,—resisting in ourselves disorderly inclinations and bad passions. So doing, we shall be daily fitting ourselves for higher and wider spheres of action; and as we become fitted for them, we shall infallibly be brought into them, under the guidance of an all-watchful Providence, whose end is to bring every man into the highest possible sphere of use which he is capable of filing. Whereas, he, who, forsaking his proper duties, sets about reforming the world in his own strength and according to his own notions of fitness, will presently be seen displaying more zeal than discretion, and will soon find that he is leading both himself and others into unforeseen difficulties,—and in the end, perhaps, will discover that he has increased the very evil which he sought to remedy. So it is ever, when a man (however good his motives) undertakes busily to lead himself and others, instead of quietly following the leadings of Divine Providence.
Howard, being brought, in the manner we have mentioned, to a knowledge of this new form of human suffering, found his feelings and sympathies strongly interested, and he determined to use his utmost efforts for the removal of the evil. He took the resolution to visit all the prisons in the kingdom, ascertain by inspection their actual condition, and the state and circumstances of the unhappy beings immured within them, and then,
