keeper of the prison, Daniel succeeded to the situation. It was within a year after this appointment that his bulk received the greatest and most rapid increase. This he attributed to the confinement and sedentary life to which he was now obliged to submit, which produced an effect so much the more striking, as, from his attachment to sporting, he had previously been in the habit of taking a great deal of exercise. Though he never possessed any extraordinary agility he was still able to kick to the height of seven feet, standing on one leg.

About the year 1793, when Lambert weighed 448lbs, he had occasion to visit Woolwich, in company with the keeper of the county gaol cf Leicester. As the tide did not serve to bring them up again to London, he walked from Woolwich to the metropolis, with much less apparent fatigue than several middle sized men who were of the party.

The inhabitants of Leicester are remarkable for their expertness in swimming, an art which they are encouraged to practise by their vicinity the river Soar. Form the age

of eight years Lambert was an excellent swimmer, and such was his celebrity, that, about ten years ago, all the young people in his native town, who were learning to swim, resorted to him for instruction. His power of floating, owing to his uncommon bulk, was so great that he could swim with two men of ordinary size upon his back. He has been heard to relate that, on these occasions, when any of his young pupils manifested any ti midity, he would convey them to the opposite bank of the river from that on which clothes, and there leave them to find their way back as well as they could. By this means, they soon acquired that courage which is so indispensably ne cessary to the attainment of excellence in the art of swimming.

they laid their

Lambert's father died about five years after his son's appointment to be keeper of the prison, which office he held till 1805. In this situation he manifested a disposition fraught with benevolence; whatever serveity he might be under the necessity of exercising towards the unhappy objects comitted to

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his care during their confinement, he never forebore to make the greatest exertions to assist them at the time of their trials. left the prison without testifying their gratitude, and tears often spoke the sincerity of the feelings they expressed. His removal from the office, was in consequence of a wish on the part of the magistrates to employ the prisoners in the manufacture of the town. As a proof of the approbation which his conduct had merited, they settled upon him an annuity of 501. for life, without any solicitation whatever; and what was still more gratifying to his feelings, this grant was accompa nied with a declaration, that it was a mark of their esteem, and of the universal satisfaction which he had given in the discharge of the duties of his office.

Such were the feelings of Lambert, that no longer than four years ago, he abhorred the very idea of exhibiting himself. Though he lived exceedingly retired at Leicester, the fame of his uncommon corpulence had spread over the adjacent country to such a degree, that he frequently found himself not

a little incommoded by the curiosity of the people, which it was impossible to repress, and which they were constantly devising the means of gratifying, in despite of his reluctance.

Finding, at length, that he must either submit to be a close prisoner in his own house, or endure all the inconveniences without receiving the profits of an exhibition, Lambert wisely strove to overcome his repugnance, and determined to visit the metropolis for that purpose. As it was impossible to procure a carriage large enough to admit him, he had a vehicle constructed expressly to carry him to London, where he arrived for the twenty-second time, in the spring of 1806, and fixed his residence in Piccadilly.

His apartments there had more the air of a place of fashionable resort, than of an exhibition; and as long as the town continued full, he was visited by a great deal of the best company. The dread he felt on coming to London, lest he should be exposed to indignity and insult from the curiosity of some of

his visiters, was soon removed by the polite ness and attention which he almost universally experienced. There was not a gentleman in town from his own country but went to see him, not merely gazing at him as a spectacle, but treating him in the most friendly and soothing manner; which, he declared, was too deeply impressed upon his mind ever to be forgotten.

The spirit of politeness which always prevailed in the presence of Lambert, was such as was, perhaps, never observed on a similar occasion.

Many of his visiters seemed incapable of gratifying their curiosity to its full extent, and called again and again to behold what an immense magnitude the human figure is capable of attaining; one man, a banker in the city, jocosely observed, that he had fairly had a pound's worth.

Lambert had the pleasure of receiving persons of almost every description and nation. He was one day visited by a party of fourteen, eight women and six men, who