The Press. — London, England, 1854-03-25 00:00:00

MARcu 25, 1854. So successful has been this training that our author, writing more than a year ago, tells us of his own personal knowledge, Only one of those who have had twelve months' training has turned out badly. But two have le ft the institution at their own request after having been hi it three months, and but four after two mouths' residence. Only twenty nine have been expelled. And there is every reason to believe that at least two hundred have been redeemed. We think it a favourable symptom for the :tritality of the institution that it has reached its present state of activity and prosperity by that gradual growth which in the moral as well as the vegetable world is the chief condi tion of strength and durability. The most in teresting portion of the present volume is the account of the steps by which Mr. Charles . Nash, the founder of the institution, was led first to conceive and then to execute his pre sent design. It seems that having, some where about the year 1843, given up the commercial pursuits to which he was brought up, in order to make himself the teacher of a ragged school, he did not confine himself to the mere routine duties of his office: — School being ended, he visited the haunts of vice for which Westminster is remarkable, and invited the ragged chil dren to attend his instructions. And as lie lived in the City, and had to go through the Strand on his way to the school, like the good Samaritan, he did not pass by the youthful vagrants and criminals whom he met on his road, but, tarrying to speak to them, invited them to his school. This invitation some of them most cheerfully accepted. A serious difficulty now presented itself. The school in Pye-street provided no food for the scholars; and the lads of whom we are now writing pleaded that it was useless to attend the school in the day, if at night they were obliged to beg, or to steal necessary food. It was impossible to meet this exigency in the case of all the lads ; but two of the most urgent eases were selected, and for these, though not without great difficulty, food and lodging were pro vided. • Subsequently Mr. Nash, consulting his zeal rather than his means, took a larger room, and increased the number of his boarders to six. As he and they took possession of their new apartment they knelt down together, and prayed God to give them that daily bread which they scarcely knew where to look for among men. He begged of all his friends, pawned his clothes, stinted himself in his meals; but all would not do. Help first came from a quarter whence it could least be ex pected; and this seems to us the most touch ing circumstance of the whole narrative. The day scholars who were fed at home (we may guess how scantily), knowing to what straits their master and his boarders were reduced, of fered to save for their use what they could spare from their own meals; and thus a subscription of crusts was daily brought to the school, which our author compares to the food collected by Elijah's ravens, and which, as we have heard it described, must, in a less serious and more literal sense, have much resembled a sup ply brought by such purveyors. But what a tale did every tiny uninviting fragment tell of childish gratitude and childish self denial! and such as it was this supply was steadily continued till better resources were found. But other difficulties arose. Mr. Nash's zeal for his boarding establishment was thought incompatible with his engagement as teacher of the ragged school, and he was required either to give up his little flock or his master ship, and with it his only certain means of support. He did not hesitate for a moment, but, with a generous recklessness of conse quences which in such a case may be accounted faith in God and reliance on the charity of man, he resolved to incur the risk. The sa orifice, however, was not immediately en forced; and in the meantime his undertaking had become more known, and friends and re sources had rapidly multiplied : The notice to our schoolmaster to quit the day school had not been carried into execution. It was withdrawn a few weeks after it had been given. But it was again given ; and now he is required to leave his daily employment. This he did, March, IMO, and devoted himself entirely to the work of reforming and training criminal youth. He was now dependent for rent, for the support and education of the lads, and for the supply of his own wants, upon the contributions of the benevolent. Hitherto the entire management of this good enterprise has been in his own hands. But the time h ad come to appoint officers and a committee. This was done at a public meeting convened in St. Martin's-hall on the 9th of May, I kW. At th is meet ing, president, treasurer , secretaries, and committee were appointed ; and Charles Na sh, whom in this brief sketch we have successively called ragged-school teacher sn s choolmaster, was installed as governor and correspondy d secretary. THE PRESS. Thus the " egg had become an eagle," and " the thought had become a thing." While we write, the two Inmates have increased to a hundred; one room has expanded to premises covering 4,522 square feet of ground • the crusts of the ragged-school children have been superseded by an income, for this year, of more than 1,0001. [including do nations, we presume] ; and the institution takes its place among the most important benevolent enterprises of the day.—page 33. By another pamphlet, published in the present year, the results arc thus enume rated Since the establishment of the institution there have been — Sent out as emigrants . • • • • . .. 190 Sent to situations .. . • • • .. . • .. 48 Restored to their friends . • • • .. 20 Enlisted for soldiers .. • • .. .. 21 Gone to sea . • • • • . • • .. .. 3 Sent to juvenile institutions .. . 75 Now in the institution .. .• • . .. 103 465 Making a total of 405 redeemed from crime and degra dation. We trust the following statement will turn the utilitarians into philanthropists : The annual cost of each inmate is 151.; of his emigra tion, 101.; making 251. It is estimated that each criminal, on each conviction, costs the public 631. The prosperity of the institution is, how ever, only relative Its annual expenses exceed 2,5001. The annual sub scriptions do not exceed 5001. The residue has been partly made up by donations ; but the institution is nearly 7501. in debt. Our author is at some unnecessary pains to vindicate the institution from the charge of offering a bonus to crime. No one, we think, who was hesitating on the brink of crime could look to the institution as an inducement to take the plunge. Indeed, no stronger proof of the burdensomeness of guilt could be offered than that the life of the institution should he voluntarily embraced as a refuge from it. But what will the reader think when ho hears, such is the eagerness to escape from a life of crime, that there are upwards of seventy fresh applications for admissions into the institution every week? And how painful is it . to think that the vast majority of these must be made in vain ? Who but must feel a thrill of regret when he reads that Levi Harwood, who, in the spring of 1851, was executed at Horsemonger-lane Gaol for the Frimley murder, had, a few months before that deed of blood, and the robbery which led to it, applied again and again to this institution for admittance? Had he been admitted, the probability is that, instead of now being numbered with executed cri minals, he would have been iu the path of reformation and social restoration. No one can close the volume without feel ing an earnest wish to open wider the gates to these numerous penitents. But, in order to make the wish effectual, we must not disguise to ourselves the difficulties to he encountered. In the first place, the institution of which Mr. Nash is the governor must not be so enlarged as to impair that intimacy and familiarity with each of its inmates in which the secret of his influence lies. In the next place, the multiplication of such establishments cannot be secured by money or legislation. The same buildings may be constructed, the same rules laid down, the same routine observed, but it is on the personal character of the governor, on his qualities of head and heart, that success must depend. If his heart is in the work, love begets love, confidence, and obedience, and he will succeed. If not, he must fail. It never can be easy to find persons ani mated with this spirit of philanthropy ; but we can imagine no more effectual way of win ning hearts to the cause than spreading abroad the knowledge of what has been done, the rapidity with which it has been accomplished, and the rich reward which has followed. It is for this reason we are desirous to give all the publicity in our power to the work at the head of this article. Since the above was written we observe that a public meeting on behalf of this institution was held at Willis's Rooms on Wednesday last. We were not present, and the report is meagre ; but we gather that, while the number of appli cants has increased, the income of the institu tion does not yet keep pace with its necessities. 281 Progress and Prejudice. By Mrs. Gore. London : Hurst and Blackett. THE present London season, we should judge, is to be of the orthodox kind, beginning with a novel by Mrs. Gore, and closing with a new opera for Grisi. It is not for alliteration that we couple the names of these two brilliant per formers, but because each in her own sphere has defied rivalry and ruled supreme in her special vocation for more years than would be polite to enumerate. There was a time when we were afraid that the too frequent appear ance of Mrs. Gore would tire us at last; but, after some interval, she reappears again with renewed fancy, some fresh characters, and a ♦ivacity that can cease to sparkle only with her life. " Progress and Prejudice " is one of her best novels, and will be in constant demand at the libraries. Its dranustis persona is crowded, and it is easy to see that some of the sketches are "from life." We could name some of them who must have been present to the writer's fancy while her facile pen recorded some of their peculiar traits. " Lord Curt de Cruxley," with his biting raillery—" Hamilton Drewe," the amateur author—Hargood, the hardworking reviewer—Mark Davenport, the hir - sical )f oddity Id talent— clever, whimsic man of oLlity ant Lt— have been other than lay-figures while this practised literary artist was engaged in taking their full-length miniatures. But, after all, the great merit of " Progress and Prejudice " is the presence of the animated style, with its lively stream of satire, and its copious supply of sharp sauce to make trifles palatable. After the nauseous mass of insipid fiction that we have recently tried to swallow, Mrs. Gore's bril liant writing comes with as much zest as a case of Schloss Johanisberg after a dose of "Oliveira's Mixture." Mere literary mechanicians do not give us sparkling dialogues like that of the Cruxleyans " Old Cruvey, again, by Jove !" cried one of the Craxlevana, who was watching for arrivals at IM slob • . - window ; which, now that Lonion was beginning to • at the close of the season, were hailed as a rafts novelty ; " Old Cruvey, dyed to look as good as new ; • with a white moss•rose in his button-hole, like a Zephir the last ballet —Where has ror Methuselah been Mill himself?-1 never missed him." • " He goes down into (Ilouoestershire, every slimmer, tot. eat Severn salmon in the original," replied Lord Curt. 4 , '• Rather," added Ned Barnsley, one of the amplitlertiv "to sponge upon an old brother-in•law ; who, being deaf as a post, runs less risk than ourselves of being prosed death by his lengthsomeness." t, " Pont abuse Cruvey ;—Cruvey is worth his weight its postage stamps ! " retorted Lord Curt. " Cruvey'a memo is a sort of national warehouse, in which ever)} thing stolen, or strayed, is to he found in bond.—Did yon nev see the list of articles deposited by honest calm (ntirabile dials) at the Inland Office? ' No. 1, aeo umbrella. No. 1, a lace veil. No. 3, a walking•stick. N 4, a diamond necklace. No. 5, a pair of gloves. No. 5, tz packet of railway debentures.'—Just such a jumble does a second bottle of claret extract out of the knowledge-box of my friend Cruvey." But what the deuce is he talking about?—Do let one listen, Curt." " Surely, my dear Ned, your ears are long enough for anything? " " Why not,—since extended by the immense practice you afford them !" " Here, Crnvey, my good fellow," cried the imperturbable Curt," come this way, and tell us all lhal over again. It sounds good enough for an encore." And Cruvey, seldom honoured with an audience by the brilliant founder of the Cruxleyans, recommenced his tune as punctually as a barrel-organ to which a shilling has been thrown from some nursery window. "The story is many days old," said he. " I only wunds► that—" " I beg your pardon, my dear Cruvey,—but, before ws begin to wonder. is this history a true bill, or a Naga. For at this oppressive time of year one can't afford to believe, then disbelieve, and finally argue matters over.— Give us first your authorities. Under what act of Parlia ment, in what reign ? " "Under favour of my having been resident within quarter of a mile of the spot where the whole business oc curred ; and an ear-witness of the greater part of it." " A quarter of a mile ?—Therr, Ned! " whispered Lord Curt, aside to Barnsley. " A pair of ears that beat your own by a couple of lengths! " We are quite aware that Peelite censors might make a great show of the cant of criti cism in commenting upon Mrs. Gore's fictions. Her circle of observation has been unneces sarily narrowed ; and we admit that, as " thunderstorms " and " two horsemen " are too frequent in the stories of Mr. James, so " Crocky's," " the crush-room at the opera," " the dowager duchess in the yellow turban," are too constantly " pottered over " in her 11 1111 -......,M1