Elizabeth Fry

idence respecting the prisons of the metropolis. On the 27th of February, 1818, Mrs. Fry was examined by this Committee, relative to her personal experiences of this work, and he

forward story of quiet but persistent endeavors to lessen the human misery within the wa

o the Committee of th

ave rules more strictly attended to than they are, as far as I order them, or our friends in general. With regard to our work, they have made nearly twenty thousand articles of wearing apparel, the generality of which is supplied by the slop-shops, which pay very little. Excepting three out of this number that were missing, which we really do not think owing to the women, we have never lost a single article. They knit from about sixty to a hundred pairs of stockings and socks every month; they spin a little. The earnings of work, we think, average about eighteenpence per week for each person. This is generally spent in assisting them to live, and helps to clothe them. For this purpose they subscribe out of their small earnings of work about four pounds a

criptures, and pointing out generally the mo

genera

ating any parti

e doctrine; in short, they are no

of the Scripture,-the du

prison, but we understand from the governor and clergyman at the penitentiary, that those who have been under our care are very different from those who come from other prisons. We also may state that when they left Newgate to go to Botany Bay, such a thing was never known in the prison before as the quietness and order with which they left it; instead of tearing down everything, and burning it, it was impossible to le

the room and accommodatio

id not visit i

as it i

accomplished. We labor very much in the day, and we see the fruit of our labor: but if we could separa

icted for all offenses

icial it is to take care of the prisoners, is afforded by the case of a poor woman, for whom we have obtained pardon (Lord Sidmouth having been very kind to us whenever we have applied for the mitigation of punishment since our committee has been formed). We taught her to knit in the prison; she is now living respectably out of it, and

usband was executed, and she herself con

e i

ery materially changed since

eat blessing to her at Newgate, and I think there has been a very great change in her. He

hope of reward,

ery class, and our matron at the head. It is the duty of every monitor to take up to the matron every night an account of the conduct of her class, which is set down; and if they have a certain

what proportion of the women, without your as

upport from out-of-doors is most injurious, as it respects their moral principles, and everything else, as it respects the welfare of the city. There are some very poor people who will almost starve at home, and be induced to do that which is wrong, in order to keep their poor relations who are in prison. It is an unfair tax on such people;

there is any clothing

esource but our own, excepting that the sheriffs used to clothe the prisoners occasionally. Lately, nobody has clothed

regular cloth

e that there is

there who have suffered mate

point of lying-in, brought to bed not many hours after she came in. She had hardly a covering; no stockings, and onl

e in they come

clothe her baby. She could not be tried the next sessions, but after she had been tried, and

e the prison, you have been obliged to stand before the wom

tand before one of the women to prevent her being seen. W

d the woman

e have been there, suffer them to

to each woman to lie upon, taking

ng measured; from eighteen inch

six

ce; to have their meals together, and their recreation also; but I would always have them separated in the night. I believe it would conduce to the health both of body and mind. Their being in companies during the day, tends, under proper regulations, to the advanc

ng entire

elves by it; however, I was sitting with the matron, and heard a gentle tap at the door, and in came a trembling woman to tell me she had brought her pack of cards, that she was not aware how wrong it was, and hoped I would do what I liked with them. In a few minutes another came up, and in this way I had five packs of cards burnt. I assured them that so far from its being remembered against them, I should remember them in another way. I brought them a present of clothing for what they had done, and one of them, in a striking manner, sai

of a prison: first, religious instruction; secondly, classification; thirdly, empl

l, but if we allow them their time, and they have nothing

s have you had in the last year, in N

nd thirty-seven to

mber of convicts these have b

n; but, of course, o

only one regular remova

ming a prison that would really tend to the reformation of the women; but there is a fourth, viz: that women should be taken care of entirely by women, and have no male attendants, unless

ement is it not so wit

apart from the men's prison, and into which neither turnkeys nor anyone else should enter but female attendan

urnkey interfere no

in the prison; it is impossible that they should be entirely separate. In the present state of Newgate such a plan as I have in my mind respecting the proper management of women prisoners cannot b

rom all communication with the women now as

they might be allowed to take for tea, sugar, etc., but a part should be laid by that there maybe some provision for them when they leave the prison, without their returning to their immoral practices. This is the case, I believe, in all prisons well regulated, both on the continent of Europe and America. In a prison under proper regulation, where they had very little communication with their friends, where they were sufficiently well fed and clothed, constantly employed and instructed, and taken care of by women, I have not the least doubt that wonders would be p

the tales of lions being turned into lambs, and sinners into saints, by the exertions of this woman and her band of helpers, caught the ear and thrilled the heart of the public. The excitement produced among the community deepened and intensified as more of the work became revealed. Representatives of every class in society visited the gloomy precincts of Newgate, in order to see and hear for themselves how far these wonders extended, while at every hospital and f

ime the Queen, now aged and infirm, perceived her. As soon as the examination of the children was over she advanced to Mrs. Fry. Her Majesty's small figure, her dress blazing with diamonds, her courtesy and kindness as she spoke to the now celebrated Quakeress, who stood outwardly calm in the costume of her creed, and just a little flushed with the unwonted excitement, attracted universal homage. Around stood several bishops, peers, and peeresses; the hall was filled with spectators, while outside the crowd surged and swayed as crowds are wont to do. For a few moments t

the work spread among all classes of society. Various opinions were passed upon her, and on one occasion a serious misunderstanding with Lord Sidmouth, respecting a case of capital punishment, severely tried her constancy.

, quoting facts relating to the miseries of the jails, and concluded with a high eulogium on Mrs. Fry's labors among the criminals of Newgate, giving her the title "Genius of Good." This step drew public attention still more to the matt

This had been stopped with the happiest results, and now it seemed time to adopt some measures which should secure some little additional comfort for the prisoners. In order to effect this a sub-matron, or gate-keeper, was engaged, who assisted in the duties at the lodge, and kept a small shop "between gates," where tea, sugar, and other little comforts could be purchased by the prisoners

much enjoyed the palatial hospitality which greeted them. They made a point of visiting most of the jails and bridewells in the towns through which they passed, finding in some of them horrors far surpassing anything that Newgate could have shown them even in its unreformed days. At Haddington four cells, allotted to prisoners of the tramp and criminal class, were "very dark, excessively dirty, had clay floors, no fire-places, straw in one corner for a bed, and in each of them a tub, the receptacle for all filth." Iron bars were used upon the prisoner

torture. At Forfar, prisoners were chained to the bedstead; at Berwick, to the walls of their cells; and at Newcastle to a ring in the floor. The two most objectionable features in Scotch prisons, as appear

wholly at the mercy of brutalized keepers who were responsible to hardly any tribunal. Of the horrors of that dark, terrible time within those prison-walls, few records appear; few cared to probe the evil, or to propose a remedy. The archives of Eternity alone contain the captive's cries, and the lamentat