‘Letters’, An Account of the Lock Hospital, 1837

Source: ‘Letters’, An Account of the Lock Hospital; to Which is Added an Account of the Nature and Intention of the Lock Asylum, for the Reception of Penitent Female Patients When Discharged from the Lock Hospital: With an Abstract of the Accounts, from the First Institution to LADY-DAY, 1837. Also the Code of Regulations, with a List of Benefactors and Subscribers , Royal College of Surgeons of England Library, MS 0022/3/8 “The first letter is to the Matron from a young woman, E.H. once in the Asylum, but placed out in service in 1828. After expressing her most heartfelt gratitude to the Committee for their benevolence and charity, and to the matron for her kindness and religious instructions, and returning thanks for the gift of a Bible and Prayer, as a reward for remaining in her place a twelvemonth, she says, ‘I hope by the grace of the Almighty I shall always follow the precepts contained therein, convinced as I am, by sad experience, that true happiness is alone to be found in prayer, and living a virtuous life, but I hope, like Mary Magdalen, my real repentance for the past, I may look forward to the future with confidence and hope: that every blessing may attend those to whom I am indebted for my present prosperity is the constant prayer of Your sincere and grateful servant, E.H.’” This is a letter from a mistress of one of these women to the matron.