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\viewkind4\uc1\pard\f0\fs17 Free-standing monument to John Howard (1726-1790) by John Bacon the Elder, 1795.\par
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JOHN HOWARD SEPT IID. MDCCXXVI. / THE EARLY PART OF HIS LIFE HE SPENT IN RETIREMENT, / RESIDING PRINCIPALLY UPON HIS PATERNAL ESTATE, / AT CARDINGTON IN BEDFORDSHIRE; / FOR WHICH COUNTY HE SERVED THE OFFICE OF SHERIFF / IN THE YEAR MDCCLXXIII. / HE EXPIRED AT CHERSON IN RUSSIAN TARTARY, ON THE XXTH. OF JAN.MDCCXC, / A VICTIM OF THE PERILOUS AND BENEVOLENT ATTEMPT / TO ASCERTAIN THE CAUSE OF, AND FIND EFFICACIOUS REMEDY / FOR THE PLAGUE. / HE TROD AN OPEN BUT UNFREQUENTED PATH TO IMMORTALITY, / IN THE ARDENT AND INTERMITTED EXERCISE OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY: / MAY THIS TRIBUTE TO HIS FAME / EXCITE AN EMULATION OF HIS TRULY GLORIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS.THIS EXTRAORDINARY MAN HAD THE FORTUNE TO BE HONORED WHILST LIVING, / IN THE MANNER WHICH HIS VIRTURES DESERVED: / HE RECEIVED THE THANKS / OF BOTH HOUSES OF THE BRITISH AND IRISH PARLIAMENTS, / FOR HIS EMINENT SERVICES RENDERED TO HIS COUNTRY AND TO MANKIND. / OUR NATIONAL PRISONS AND HOSPITALS / IMPROVED UPON THE SUGGESTIONS OF HIS WISDOM, / BEAR TESTIMONY TO THE SOLIDITY OF HIS JUDGEMENT, / AND TO THE ESTIMATION IN WHICH HE WAS HELD, / IN EVERY PART OF THE CIVILIZED WORLD, / WHICH HE TRAVERSED TO REDUCE THE SUM OF HUMAN MISERY; / FROM THE THRONE TO THE DUNGEON HIS NAME WAS MENTIONED / WITH RESPECT, GRATITUTE AND ADMIRATION. / HIS MODESTY ALONE / DEFEATED VARIOUS EFFORTS THAT WERE MADE DURING HIS LIFE, / TO ERECT THIS STATUE, / WHICH THE PUBLICK HAS NOW CONSECRATED TO HIS MEMORY. / HE WAS BORN AT HACKNEY IN THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEXJOHN BACON R.A. SCULPTOR 1795
