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Not distant from the poorhouse I found a woman in a private dwelling, supported by two invalid sisters; she was in the highest state of phrensy, and nearly exhausted the patience of love in those who toiled laboriously for her and their own scanty maintenance. She had once been transferred to the poorhouse; but patience was never there exercised in behalf of the unruly; and bearing the marks of harsh blows, she was taken again by her sisters, to share "the little they could earn so long as they or she should live."

In E--, the insane, as usual, were unfitly disposed of. To adopt the language of a neighboring farmer, "those damp dreary cells were not fit for a dog to house in -- much less for crazy folks."

At R--, and M--, and L--, and B--, were repetitions of the like dismal cells -- heavy chains and balls, and hopeless sufferings. After my visit at L--, I found one of the former inmates at the hospital in charge of Dr. Brigham. He bore upon his ankles the deep scars of fetters and chain, and upon his feet evidence of exposure to frost and cold.

In B--, several idiots occupied together a portion of a most comfortless establishment. One gibbering, senseless, creature was the mother of an infant child.

At A--, the most furious were in narrow cells, which were neither cleaned, warmed, nor ventilated. In 0--, was an insane man, so shockingly neglected and abused that his limbs were crippled, so that he could neither stand nor walk; he was extended on a miserable dirty pallet, untended and little cared for.

At B--, the insane were confined in cells crammed with coarse, dirty straw, in the basement, dark and damp. "They are," said the keeper, "taken out and washed, (buckets of water thrown over them,) and have clean straw, once every week."

In H--, were many furiously crazy. Several of the women were said to be the mothers of infants, which were in an adjoining room pining with neglect, and unacknowledged by heir frantic mothers.

I pass over hundreds of desperate cases, and quote a few examples from my notes in New Jersey; altogether omitting Canada East and West, as being without the limits of the United States; though corresponding examples with those in New York were found in almost every direction. In 1841, there were found in New Jersey, upon a rather cursory survey, two hundred and fifty-two insane men, one hundred and sixty-three insane women, and one hundred and ninety-six idiots, of both sexes. I traversed the State in 1844; the numbers in every county were increased, and their miseries were also increased. Sixty patients had been placed in the hospitals in New York and Pennsylvania., but hundreds still occupied the wretched cells and dungeons of almshouses, and of prisons. In the winter of 1845 several froze to death, and several perished through severe exposure and alarm at a fire which consumed a populous poorhouse. At S--, of eight insane patients, several were heavily chained, and two were furiously mad.

In one poorhouse was a man who had been chained by the leg for more than twenty years, and the only warmth introduced into his cell was derived from a small stove-pipe carried through one corner.

On a level with the cellar, in a basement room, tolerably decent but bare of comforts, lay upon a narrow bed a feeble, aged man, whose few gray locks fell tangled over the pillow. As I entered he addressed one present, saying, "I am all broken up -- broken up!" "Do you feel much weaker, Judge?" "The mind, the mind is going -- almost gone," responded he in tones of touching sadness. This feeble, depressed old man in a lone room in the poorhouse -- who was he? I answer as I was answered. In his young and vigorous years he filled various offices of honor and trust in his county. His ability as a lawyer raised him from the bar to the bench. As a jurist he was distinguished for uprightness, clearness, and impartiality. He was also judge of the orphans' court, was for many years a member of the legislature. He was somewhat eccentric, but his habits were always correct. I could learn nothing remembered to his discredit, but much which commends men to honor and respect. He had passed the meridian of a useful and active life. The property, honestly acquired, on which he had relied for comfortable support in his declining years, was lost by some of those fluctuations in monetary affairs which so often procure unanticipated reverses. He became insane: soon, insanity took the form of furious mania: he was chained, "for safety;" and finally, for greater security, committed to the county jail -- a most wretched place -- dreary, damp, and unfurnished. Time passed: a more quiet state supervened. He was placed at board in a private family, till the remnant of his once sufficient property was consumed, and then he was removed to the poorhouse. Without vices and without crimes, he was at once the victim of misfortunes and the prey of disease. A few months subsequent to my visit the almshouse was consumed by fire. The inmates, barely rescued, were hastily removed, and such cares rendered as the emergency demanded. Fires were kindled in the court-house, and a portion of the poor removed thither. Of this number was Judge S. His pallet was laid within the bar, below the bench where be had once presided. The place perhaps revived painful memories: he was conscious of his condition; spoke of his trials; languished a few days; and, in the good providence of God, was then released from the pains and afflictions of this mortal life, and, it is believed, passed to that state of existence where all tears are wiped from all eyes, and where troubles are unknown.