The Press. — London, England, 1853-08-27 00:00:00

AUGUST 27, 1853. been tried, begin a task of labour, with the prospect of losing his dinner if he be sullen and refuse to complete it. Should he ask for a companion, he will be at once nfased. Between times he may wish to comfort himself with a pipe, or at least with a pinch of snuff; but no, the rules in• eaorably and most properly forbid all luxuries, especially such as foster habits of expense. At dinner be may ask for at least a little beer; but he is again refused, and he finds that, however much against his will, he has suddenly become a member of a total abstinence society. As for opportunities of gambling, he has neither anything to stake nor any person with whom to play. - - The report from which these lines are ex tracted deals with Scotch gaols ; bat those of England, though in sonic instances comfort. has been too much studied, are conducted on the same general system. As a rule it may safely be assumed that where discipline is properly maintained, and labour enforced, there is no fear of prisons ceasing to be places of punishment. Three main objects present themselves, in considering the arrangements of a prison. It should provide for the safe keeping of the in mates ; it should be self-supporting. or nearly so; and it should be reformatory. The first of these desiderata is completely secured, es capes being now of exceedingly rare &sew renee. The second and third are more diffi cult of attainment. Hitherto a natural jea lousy lest the rights of free industry should be interfered with have operated to render prison labour unprofitable. This jealousy is fast disappearing, under the influence of high wages and abundant employment. Another exception to the rule of self-support exists in the practice of inflicting taskwork of a purely useless character by way of extra punishment, such, for instance, as turning an empty tread• wheel. Mr. Hill, of course, protests against this as degrading—an objection which will not have much weight. with men in general. who consider that degradation is the manna and just recompense of crime. He lays it down, 8. That the principles of a good systom of prison disci pline are simple. 7. That the basis of such a system is work. 8. That, as far as practieable, the work should be both instructive and profitable. 0. That tread-wheels, labour-machines, and all other con trivances by which work is turned to waste, and made painful and degrading, are erroneous in principle. 10. That, as far as practicable, the rules of a prison ought to be so framed as to orris the same motives to in dustry as exist in the outer world: and that, in addition, the time of a prisoner's release ought, to a considerable extent, to depend on his industry. 11. That, in accordance with this principle, a prisoner's supply of tliod, mid other necessaries and comforts, should, under ordinary circumstances, depend mainly on his labour. It. That he ought also to have an opportunity of earn ing a fund to help him for a time after liberation, and iu some cues to pay the cost of emigration. He objects to the system of seclusion, long continued, on the ground that it produces des pondency and enfeebles the mind. He would allow intercourse under due restrictions be tween prisoners and their friends out of doors, such intercourse having a tendeney to hit manise and encourage in good resolutions. He thinks that prisoners should be suffered to earn money by extra work, and thus to form a fund which may be available at the time of their release. Lastly, he remarks on the im portance of " taking measures for making the " transition from the prison to the world at " large less abrupt ;" that is, of giving a par tial and gradual instead of an entire and sud den freedom. All these suggestions are vain able ; and, except where Mr. Hill's too obvious leaning to the side of mercy against justice invalidates the truth of his conclusions, we know no work on criminal law from which more instruction may be derived. Clan Albyn. 13y Mrs. Johnstone. (The Railway Library.) London : Routledge and Co. Is this novel Mrs. Johnstone has ventured upon a story much larger than any of her " lidinburh Tales," which obtained for her deserved attention amongst readers of light literature. She is a proti tient in the mechanical part of novel-writing; but " Clan Albyn" wants freshness of costume, originality of ideas, and intensity of passion. IN construction is clever, but it is not interesting, and the story labours under the disadvantage of being spun out too long. We would r:commend its authoress to choose fresher subjects, and to treat them at less length. THE PRESS. The Mosaic Miracles Real, not Mythical. Ily the Hey. W. G. Cookesley, M.A. Eton : 11'illiam r. Tins is a letter from the author to his son. Mr. A. F. Cookesley (residing at Malta), and contains, in a brief form, adapted for popular circulation, a vigorous reply to the pseudo-philosophical assertions of Ne ology. It is very tliffieult within the compass of a dozen pages to rise "to the height of the great argument ;" but Mr. Cookesley succeeds in exposing the presumptuous mode of reasoning followed by the Stranssiru►s. He thus specifies the works best adapted, in his opinion, for a popular confutation of the errors of German infidelity : " Yllll asked me to inform you where I thought yon would find the best answer to any objection that may be raised against the truth of the Mosaic miracles. I was alai 4444 s not to leave you without a reply for a longer time tl►:un was unavoidable, and I sent you by the overland mail of the following day a copy of Leslie's Short and Easy Method with the Deists,' anal the '2l/th number of the • Cautious for the Times,' ambling some observati of nay own in a hurried letter. l also advised you to read 'times on the Pentateuch.' I have now sent you 'Watson's Apology far the Bible,' together with Arch• bishop Whately's ' Introductory Lessons on Christian Evidences,' and his admirable ' Historic Doubts relative to Napoleon Buonaparte.' " " Graves on the Pentateuch" is an admirable work, but tit only for advanced students. Leslie is au excellent writer, though his modes of statement are too technical to gain popular readers. Watson's " Apology" is a most effective tract, with an ambi guous title that savours of weakness. We prefer " Magee on the Atonement " to any of the works named above, as, in its refutation of Priestley and lielsham, it destroys the class of arguments put forward by Strauss and his disciples. It has been publi, , lied in Scotland for popular circulation. We are very glad to see Mr. Cookesley's eminent talents employed on subjects which few are •u competent to discuss. Facts and Documents relating to our National De fences. By Captain ti. A. Warner. London : Piper. CAPTAIN WARNER is the Mother Carey's chicken of our political voyage. Whenever the horizon is dark and storms seem brooding round us, the gallant officer appears with some pamphlet fluttering in the wake, symbolising to us the perils that are approach ing, and warning us to prepare against them. The best, or rather the only, preparaf which he sug gests, we need hardly say, is the adoption of his own mysterious projectiles. With these England, he declares, is invulnerable ; without them she is assail able at every point. And if—which patriotism forbid —they should be purchased by an enemy, from that moment no wooden walls, no screw steam fleet, no military camp, though multiplied twentyfold beyond that lately evolutionising on Chobharn-heath, can save us for a single hour. These conclusions, after having formed the burden of many former brochures, are reproduced in the present pamphlet, where we find also a copious selection of reports, opinions, and criticisms elicited from various quarters during the protracted series of efforts on the part of the anther and his patrons to obtain a ministerial sanction and national purchaser for the invent' s in question. t'apt. Warner, we still observe, persists in believing that his system, whatever it is, has not haul a fair trial, and that professional prejudices or personal favouritism has always stood in his way. It would, evidently, at this late stage of the business, be utterly vain to make any attempt to undeceive him on this point. The Herb of the Field. By the Author of " The Kings of England," ite. London : Nlozley. TursE " Ch apters on Flowers," as they were originally entitled, appeared first in the pages of a magivine. They were designed ti, illustrate, every month, the particular flowers then in bloom, with no attempt at a bota:►ieal classification. A more scientific arrange ment was afterwards adopted: and the papers are now collected into a vohnne, and presented in a form likely to prove attractive to the juvenile readers for whom they arc intended. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVE!). - - the rhumb. fly Rev. C.Nlaelienlie. .1. nii.l W. Rollins. Treettiee ms the Bunk tif Common Proper. By W. G. 11 tioliplir Il.n. .1. W. l'oirk.•r nod 54111. Donaldson 's Ilebrese (:rfiNowtesr. .1 W. l'utker fuel Son. tint ;kris. LECTIIIES AND LECTEEEIN I'Dlt THE MECIIANDT . INSTITUTES.—The Society of Arts has }wen actively engaged for some time past in forming a union of the literary and mechanics' institutions throughout the country. One object of this society in entering upon this work has been to collect for the institutions such information as may aid them in procuring a more able body of lecturers and a sounder and a more useful class of lectures. In furtherance of this ob ject, it has recently issued to the institutions in union a tabulated list of lecturers (formed from returns furnishesi by the institutions themselves), with the subjects on which they lecture ; and, having corre sponded with the lecturers KO recommended, has been enabled t► state the periods and districts during and in which the lecturers are open to engagements, as well as, in some cases, the'cost at which the lec tures may be obtained. It is believed that this list will save much unnecessary trouble and cores spondence, both On the part Of the institutions and the lecturers; but the society cautions the institu tions against supposing that the number of institu•• tions recommending a lecturer can be taken exactly SS a guide to their relative merits. 1 t is believed that the list so prepared will place before the ma naging committees of institutions a class of subjects exceeding in interest, usefulness, and extent any they may have hitherto possessed ; and by its means it is hoped they may be enabled t► infuse an interest into that class of subjects for want of which it is to be regretted of late years the theatres of institutions have become iu many cases deserted, or mere places of amusement. l4t rant 1. PRINCESS'S TI I EATRE. The Honeymoon has been played here without Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean. Mr. Walter Levy, RS the Duke, played with more met' than his predeces sor. Ilurley, as the muck Duke, was, as usual, con ventional, but eminently " funny." Miss Murray's performance was little more than a shadow of Mrs. Charles Kean's in the same character; hut Miss C. Leclerc,' played rio/ente with an intelligence and meaning which only wanted a mow natural manner in order to make her assumption perfect. usit. DRURY-LANE THEATRE. ReoAmino the operatic performances at Drury Lane as an expointent, to ascertain whether the best works of the tieri and Italian, and even of the English, school will attract autliences at moderate prices, we are not disposed to criticise these perforinanceit very severely. Yet. they will bear testing by any but a very high standard. An ample orchestra, well kept in hand by an efficient conductor, Mr. Anseheutz, who has before tilled the post in London, is supported by a numerous and disciplined chorus, with whose faces the habitu4s of the Italian opera- houses are familiar. it' in either department. the finish and pro cision are wanting that characterise the perform ances at the Royal Italian Opera, allowance must fairly be made for the haste with which the under taking has been organised, and for the want of the influence of habit. In the dresses, with the excep tion of those of two or three of the principal artists, and in the general false en saw, there are serious deficiencies, which must he aseribed partly to the same cause and partly to the state of the wardrobe of the theatre. To counterbalance any shortcomings in these respects, the director, Mr. Jarrett, has given improvised public (which we are glad to see has been multitudinous) principal artists of a high onler of excellence. The operas hitherto performed have been Per Freigelliitz (sung in Gentian) and lAwrezia Borgia, which was given in Italian. Of the former, the main uttraction was the Casper of Formes, a unique artistic creation. The Lucrezia Borgia was given for the• first time on Thursday evening. Madame Cartelori, the prima donna of the troupe, has a pure soprano voice of con siderable range, pleasing quality, and sufficient flexibility, which she manages with musician-like skill and occasionally invests with ;neat power. A finely-formed and commanding person, and a digni fied carriage, cover what is conventional in her act ing. She has more energy than passion ; but in the two trying points, after the poisoning of Gennaro, and later, where she discloses to liim her relation ship, she carried the sympathies of her audience by sheer power, though falling short of that height of tragic passion which is only the gift of genius. Ity comparison with the great majority of singers of litr class she is far superior, and it is only a recollection of the creation of Grisi that points criticism to htr disfavour. llerr Reiehart, a concert-singer, as Gen nom sang with much sweetness and tenderness, though exhibiting many of the peculiarities or faults of German tenors. Formes realised, in Don Al.. .fonsio, a distinct creation, though his anger and „ire.- lousy ware more rough and impulsive than what se have been accustomed to in the more subtle and Italian-like portraiture of Ronconi. A dibutante, Madlle. Weinthal, was the Orsini. A nervousness, natural to the occasion, was increased by some pre mature and seemingly-purposed sibillations, but, partly through her merits and partly through the re spending indignation of the audience, she obtained,