abuses are carried on. The very variety, and capriciou gularity which prevail in every part of the present most system, is a strong proof of its defects. We have alread ticed the practice in different places as to irons and fetters. allowance of food is no less irregular.

In Tothill Fields and Ipswich, no allowance for debtors from charity-Bedford, three quartern loaves per week for soners.-Bristol, a four-penny loaf per day.-Borough Compte teen ounces of bread per day, two pounds of meat per week.one pound and a half of bread per day, one pound of cheese, an quarters of a pound of meat per week. Norwich, two pounds per day, half a pound of cheese per week.-Penitentiary, I one pound and a half of bread, one pound of potatoes, two hot gruel, per day, and either six ounces of boiled meat, bone, or a quart of strong broth mixed with vegetables.-F ounces of bread per day, with two pounds of meat per week, enough to support life: Besides, in some prisons, the allow withheld for a considerable time. The hour of delivery is fixe if a prisoner arrives after it, he receives nothing till the nex ing. There are differences with regard to bedding;-from ding, or coverlid, a blanket for two men, a blanket for ea blankets for each, two blankets and a rug each, three blanke rug for each; to, three blankets, a rug, a hair bed, and two each. p. 69, 70.

That such gross abuses as most of those we have n should occur in the most populous and opulent districts enlightened country-and that they should be suffered to in the very heart of our great and benevolent metropolis the eye of the legislature, and in the very precincts of ou courts of justice, cannot but strike every one as equally ; and disgraceful. It is still more strange, however, and i instructive to learn, that intelligent and humane individua been found to defend the present system as the best tha be adopted in practice-that Mr Alderman Atkins public dicated the whole establishment of Newgate, and compar inside of that prison to a gentleman's dairy in the cou while another honourable member contended, that our ners had all that prisoners ought to have-unless gen thought they ought to be accommodated with Turk pets! There cannot be a finer specimen of the ten. which certain classes of persons always meet the staten any abuses in our existing establishments.

.

In the second part of his book, Mr B. goes on to sh. perimentally what reformations are practicable, and by ineans, and to what an extent they have been already into execution. With this view he gives an ample acce the jail and house of correction at Bury-the Penitent

in these accounts, had we act a

work before us a st

present them, in the hear

ments in the retation f

The story, we think. is r

mites, in car estimation the Goldest work of fan

of a grat moral less

The buses in N

mistry, constructed to

containing, of late pear

ford in the excellent C late transcribed the size. cives room to specim

Robserve, that the state of the

Lowed to be by far the : 12

ditted, that in that quare wit

able, though, in his a5 rea/2nG
cable. Though by c

of the worthy Aldermen

already

hould have been much dispose a LOT

The services of this gentian the FLO
is that on Madhouses. and sera e re Hole Drake
do we know another instance of 2 ecce. Arrance
ivity, displayed for so on a time these course ob.

n to s e, and br ample acc he Peniten

Most meritorios exerce

We hope socs to have as op

ad of directing the arena texters to me of the in-
bjects which the gateman has introduced to the notice

the subjects of those observations pretty nearly incorrigible; and eertainly should not have hesitated to pronounce the change which has actually been made upon them altogether impossible. Mrs Fry, however, knew better of what both she and they were capable; and, strong in the spirit of compassionate love, and of that charity that hopeth all things, and believeth all things, set herself earnestly and humbly to that arduous and revolting task, in which her endeavours have been so singularly blessed and effectual. This heroic and affectionate woman is the wife, we understand, of a respectable banker in London; and both she and her husband belong to the society of Friends-that exemplary sect, which is the first to begin and the last to abandon, every scheme for the practical amendment of their fellow-creatures-and who have carried into all their schemes of reformation a spirit of practical wisdom, of magnanimous patience, and merciful indulgence, which puts to shame the rashness, harshness, and precipitation of sapient ministers, and presumptuous politicians. We should like to lay the whole account of her splendid campaign before our readers; but our limits will no longer admit of it. However, we shall do what we can; and, at all events, no longer withhold them from this heart-stirring narrative.

About four years ago, Mrs Fry was induced to visit Newgate, by the representations of its state, made by some persons of the Society of Friends.

6

She found the female side in a situation which no language can describe. Nearly three hundred women, sent there for every gradation of crime, some untried, and some under sentence of death, were crowded together in the two wards and two cells, which are now appropriated to the untried, and which are found quite inadequate to contain even this diminished number with any tolerable convenience. Here they saw their friends, and kept their multitudes of children; and they had no other place for cooking, washing, eating, and sleeping. They slept on the floor, at times one hundred and twenty in one ward, without so much as a mat for bedding; and many of them were very nearly naked. She saw them openly drinking spirits; and her ears were offended by the most terrible imprecations. Every thing was filthy to excess, and the smell was quite disgusting. Every one, even the Governor, was reluctant to go amongst them. He persuaded her to leave her watch in the office, telling her that his presence would not prevent its being torn from her. She saw enough to convince her that every thing bad was going on. In short, in giving me this account, she repeatedly said-" All I tell thee is a faint picture of the reality; the filth, the closeness of the rooms, the ferocious manners and expressions of the women towards each other, and the abandoned wickedness which every thing bespoke, are quite indescribable." One act, the account of which I received from an

er quarter, marks the degree of wretchedness to which they were

reduced at that time. Two women were seen in the act of stripping a dead child, for the purpose of clothing a living one.

At that time Mrs Fry clothed many of the children, and some of the women, and read to them some passages in the Bible; and the willing and grateful manner with which, even then, they attended to her admonitions, left upon her mind a strong desire to do more for their advantage, and a conviction that much might be done. Circumstances, however, rendered any efforts, on her part, impossible, for the long period of three years.

About Christmas, 1816, she resumed her visits, and found that many, and very essential, improvements had been made by the Jail Committee; especially, the females were less crowded, as they occupied, in addition to their former rooms, the state-apartments, consisting of six wards and three cells, and the yard attached to them: They were provided with mats; and two gratings were erected, to prevent close communication between the prisoners and their visitors: With all these improvements, however, the prison was a dreadful scene. She found, she believes, all the women playing at cards, or reading improper books, or begging at the gratings, or fighting for the division of the money thus acquired, or engaged in the mysteries of fortune-telling; for then there was amongst them-one who could look into futurity; and the rest, who believed nothing else, were eager and implicit believers in the truth of her divinations. Want of employment was the subject of their continual lamentation. They complained that they were compelled to be idle; and that, having nothing else to do, they were obliged to pass away the time in doing wrong. p. 117-19.

Her design, at this time, was confined to the instruction of about seventy children, who were wandering about in this scene. of horror, and for whom even the most abandoned of their wretched mothers thanked her, with tears of gratitude for her benevolent intentions; while several of the younger women flocked about her, and entreated, with the most pathetic eagerness, to be admitted to her intended school. She now applied to the Governor, and had an interview with the two Sheriffs and the Ordinary, who received her with the most cordial approbation ; but fairly intimated to her their persuasion that her efforts would be utterly fruitless." After some investigation, it was officially reported, that there was no vacant spot in which the school could be established; and an ordinary philanthropist would probably have retired disheartened from the undertaking. Mrs Fry, however, mildly requested to be admitted once more alone among the women, that she might conduct the search for herself. Difficulties always disappear before the energy of real zeal and benevolence: an empty cell was immediately discovered, and the school was to be opened the very day after.

The next day she commenced the school, in company with a young lady, who then visited a prison for the first time, and who

since gave me a very interesting description of her feelings upon that occasion. The railing was crowded with half naked women, struggling together for the front situations with the most boisterous violence, and begging with the utmost vociferation. She felt as if she was going into a den of wild beasts; and she well recollects quite shuddering when the door closed upon her, and she was locked in, with such a herd of novel and desperate companions. This day, however, the school surpassed their utmost expectations: their only pain arose from the numerous and pressing applications made by young women, who longed to be taught and employed. The narrowness of the room rendered it impossible to yield to these requests, whilst a denial seemed a sentence of destruction, excluding every hope, and almost every possibility of reformation. Their zeal for improvement, and their assurances of good behaviour, were powerful motives; and they tempted these ladies to project a school for the employment of the tried women, for teaching them to read and to work.

When this intention was mentioned to the friends of these ladies, it appeared at first so visionary and unpromising, that it met with very siender encouragement: they were told, that the certain consequence of introducing work would be, that it would be stolen; that though such an experiment might be reasonable enough, if made in the country, among women who had been accustomed to hard labour; yet it was quite destitute of hope, when tried upon those who had been so long habituated to vice and idleness. It was strongly represented, that their materials were of the very worst description; that a regular London female thief, who had passed through every stage and every scene of guilt; who had spent her youth in prostitution, and her maturer age in theft and knavery; whose every friend and connexion are accomplices and criminal associates, is of all characters the most irreclaimable.-Novelty, indeed, might for a time engage their attention, and produce a transient observance of the rules of the school: but violent passions would again burst out; and the first offence that was given would annihilate the control of their powerless and self-appointed mistresses. In short, it was predicted, and by many too, whose wisdom and benevolence added weight to their opinions, that those who had set at defiance the law of the land, with all its terrors, would very speedily revolt from an authority which had nothing to enforce it, and nothing more to recommend it than its simplicity and gentleness. That these ladies were enabled to resist the cogency of these reasons, and to embark and to persevere in so forlorn and desperate an enterprize, in despite of many a warning without, and many an apprehension within, is not the least remarkable circumstance in their proceedings; but intercourse with the prisoners had inspired them with a confidence which was not easily to be shaken; and feeling that their design was intended for the good and the happiness of others, they trusted that it would receive the guidance and protection of Him, who often is pleased to accomplish the highest purposes by the most feeble instruments.