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Fronting the entrance of the chapel is
a large pair of very handsome iron gates,
and at each end of the hospital is an
edifice of the same height as the chapel,
Ass park, Wheeler street, Spitalfields.
Assurance Office, for granting annui-
ties to be paid to the heirs of a person
after his death. See Amicable So-
ciety. For the offices of Assurance
from fire, &c. see the names by which
they are distinguished, as Hand in
Hand, London, Union, Sun Fire
office, &c.
Asylum, or House of Refuge for Or-
phans and other deserted girls of the
poor, within the bill of mortality, situ-
ated near Westminster-bridge, on the
the Surry side. Underneath the article
Magdalen Hospital, the reader will
find a noble foundation formed for the
reception of those unhappy women, who
have been abandoned to vice; but wise-
ly repenting of their folly, resolve to
reform. This charitable foundation of
which we are now going to give a de-
scription, was founded at the same time,
in order to preserve poor friendless and
deserted girls, from the miseries and
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dangers to which they would be exposed,
and from the guilt of prostitution.
The evils this charity is intended to
prevent, are not chimerical, but found-
ed on facts. It too often happens, that
by the death of the father, a mother in-
titled to no relief from any parish, is
left with several helpless children, to be
supplied from her industry; her resource
for subsistence is usually to some low oc-
cupation, scarcely sufficient to afford
bread and cloathing, and rarely the
means of instruction. What then must
become of the daughters of such parents,
poor and illiterate as they are, and
thereby exposed to every temptation?
Necessity may make them prostitutes,
even before their passions can have any
share in their guilt. Among these un-
happy objects, very agreeable features
are frequently seen disguised amidst dirt
and rags, and this still exposes them to
greater hazards; for these are the girls
which the vile procuress seeks after;
she trepans them to her brothel, even
while they are yet children, and she
cleans and dresses them up for prostitu-
tion. But what is still more dreadful,
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