The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1870-04-19 00:00:00

CONVENT INSPECTION;

The Pall Mall Gazette says .—" We believe that,
according to the theory of the Boman CatholieChrirch,
persoos are by no means supposed to become monks and
suns with the cxelltaireobject of saving their own souls.
That end they might attain without taking any vows.
Their life and practice are rather intended to keep
before the eyes of the world a particular ideal of Me—
ths ascetic, and to win men's minds to the recognition
of the ascetic virtues as the most excellent of all. The
ordinary Protestant is hardly illogical when he replies
to this appeal by taking issue on the first statement
Implied in it—the statement that these virtues are really
practised in the convent. He refuses to believe that
the •Ileged self-abnegation exists, and suggests' that the
appearance of it nosy be accounted for by moral or
physical constraint. And when the leis commonplace
Protestant comes to inquire into him own reasons for
believing that oppression is, to say the leant, very rarely
practised in English convents, he will find that they
are hardly of a nature to be tionvineing to the multitude.
As a matter of fact they are chiefly founded on hie
knowledge of the habite and general character of the
clam from which the monks and nuns are taken. He
can hardly go the length of saying that there is no
historical evidence that cruelties have been perpetrated
In convent', for, in fact there is a great deal of such ,
evidence ; nor could he deey that the rules which the
members of religions orders bind theoaselves under
the most solemn sanctions to obey give great
facilities for oppression, 'apposing that the superior
authorities should be inclined to exercise it. least
of all could the educated Protestant use the argilment which the fervent Roman Catholic would
employ. The ideal of life exemplified by the " re.
ligiomi," the Last would say, is too high, good, and holy
for small cavils to be admissible &pima the motive's of
there who profess to follow it. But the great majority
of Englishman do not believe the ideal to be a good or
wholesome one. They rather agree with the Italians,
who have just abolished their convents, that it bag been
proved by experience to be morally and politically Luis-
chievocui. Hero, then, is a real and substantial difii•
culty. The convents rising up on all sides in England
are deliberately intended as appeals to Englishmen to
come and see the beauty and holiness of a particular
form of life which can only be lived in the Roman
Catholic Church. The demand for inspection amounts
So a denial that such a life is really lived. It is a reply
to a very deliberate and public challenge, and cannot
quite fairly be celled mere religion. ie410^47 Over.
eteppiai the bounds of decent forbearance.

lovely chronicles of Mt* police-
Some
.otirdme. ago
(be
"pee r rly significant eharacter.
court - -la a".
of
e-
tanriselcieed the existence of
The theft of a pair of
f five little boys, *sting under
• robber band composed
in nose years of iniquity were
the orders of • 0•06.- w mber of the band bore
not quite fourteen. Every
amlieleeak•n of nine, • Jack
THlrair LITKRATURE.
an heroin name. There was
Wild at
eleven, a
bible age, sod a feisties-
t/Mk Turpin of the same formof
fewer by three than the
String ha, who.' les" were The dopes-
garter-strings of his greeter predecessor.
_,
166661 of "6 "afealirsaY were
would sn'errk '°•l76;
Sheppard id twelve.
i charactee. Sometimes Wild wo
oinitimes would
with a pair of boote ; Tornio
Weber's open stall ;
ravish a ;due Of beet from the these w„rp not charged
; but
e"l°4l
more
daring
then
robbers made it clear
'against either. Nevertheleas, the ro n
answer
lat the polies-court where they were arrigbeedat
to
&stain
for their crimes that they bad done their
• Jonslhan
to an heoric ideal, and, coneciou of that merit,
enraged when the magistrates showed a diapositn w
re
innned
treat there like pilferers. He would have gen
urned
them to a few weeks' iitip,.;so,,iywor, but they PP
the degrading mercy, shouting, " Give no three yea
'vei a right to three year'!
e inee
We wants three year, ! e
leer and ovi r again boys of vari.ius grades in life, from
the lowest to that which is " quite respectable:"
.I.itans,e,
heel, arrested for C moon the pro oc
' to which hut been found in their teickv•t , in the i ,ai
sonic spicy bit of gallows 'iterative only the other
ilay • lad of decent paientage sod fair hrredint coin•
mimed a career of housebreaking under the inspi tttt on
of • work called "Th. Art if Burglary ;" and when a
of .
dullard of twenty was lately hanged for killing a child
who had never offended him, the murderer said he had
been wrought up to that deed by the recollection of •
I i•ertitin picture of aseassitiation in the Illosirated
' ,t Police News. The Phut rated Police News News is a
hideous
production, but • very little inquiry shows that
'there are many publication! infinitely inore pernicious.
, The titles of some of thus are of themselves no
significant that it may be as well to set down • few of
them. Among a filthy heap of "penny number," we
find Claude Duval, the Drohing Highwayman ; Wild
Will, or the Pirates of the Thames ; Rose Mortimer, or
the Ballet Girl's Revenge, being the account of a virtuous
heroine in humble life, the mystery if her birth, her
latrugeles for bread, her lirrenesa in temptat;on, Ike.;
Red Ralph, or the Dailehtera of Night; the Wild Rots
of Paris. or the My-tetiet of the Vaults of Death ; the
Work Girls of L-niloo ; the Dashing Girls of London ;
Black Rollo, the Pirate King. or the Dark Woman of
the Deep ; Black Bees, tr the Knight of the Road ; the
,
Boy Detective, or the Crimes of Lou lon ; Red Wolf.
the Pirate the Dance of Death, or the Hangman's
I Plot ; Dare• Devil Dick ; The Boy King of the
Smugglers ' • the Shadowless Rhler, or the League of
the Cross of Blood, or the Mysteries of the King's
Highway; The True History of John Ketch ; Moon-
light Jack, or the King of the Road; the. Original
Highwayman, afterwards Common Jack Ketch, of
London. Let u. La .e the first sheet that comes to bend,
No. 33 of the' Will Boys of London" (rather a favourite
with the youth who devour sash literature), an I de-
scribe what is in it. The engraving in this ease repre•
Nuts " Margaret thwarting Stephen Grantham." She
ia presenting • pistol at Stephen's heed, an expedient
which (as we afterwards learn) saves her honour at the
lest desperate uromtnt. Another young lady, who is
riimovered by the Brethren of the Iron League in a
dark and loathsome dungeon, seem' to have been less
fortunate. She. " reir girl," had been lowered from
, an upper chamber into the vault., *ouch and all, and
now lay, a mere female f.•rm, among the whitened
bones of other victim.. Little of this episode is con-
tained in the precious sheet before us_, but we know
gist the villain is that game Stephen Grantham, and
that he is chief of the drak•robed Companions of the
Silver Dagger; and we infer that thin particular thread
of the story is intended for lads of sentiment and their
little sisters. In another chapter we are introduced
to a totally different set of characters. The hero
is one Sam, a brave and noble hearted errand
bay. His master. the saddler, has a nephew ficim
the coutty -another little boy, Tommy Molt. The
saddler sends the two boys to the Polytechnic. for their
amusement. On the way, Sam treats bowel( to •
penny cigar. At the Polytechnic, or Polly Picnic as it
In humorously called, this noble boy contrives to have
Tommy Soft so dreadfully electrified that be runs away
late the stieet followed by his laughing companion. At the
same moment a young lady panes by; whereupon Tommy
Soft cries-" ' That be the girl who took fayther's big
watch l' Sam Imiked, and sow • very fast young lady
with a scarlet feather in her bat, Balmoral boots with
very high heel, and very light eyelet laceholes, pink
stockings, and the prettiest alleles he had ever seen.
Sam, who was growing, and near the age of disorimina.
wher trippingchn? clown
'Nuns
tion, looked at her. • She be mortal pretty,' said
.ofttilinemamtrye4f.enii•nSahed ont
ee'hn watchedinke lookh d,
on 'em does,' said Sam, 'but the prettier they is, the
worse they are. llnt look here-it's no use calling •
peeler. L-t's feller her, and au where she goes to;
perhaps she may still have your father's watch.' The
pietty young lady, happening to throw a coquettish
glance over the way sac them. That dee recognised
Tommy was evident; she quickened her pace, and the
pretty pink stockings moved at such • rate that all the
languid swells and seedy sharpers turned round to look
after her." 'The Balmorals and pinks," we are told,
went through Soho, and finally stopped at the door of
a hott,e down a wide atone court near Leioester•aquare
- " SAM still followed. The lady looked at him over
her shoulder ;her bright foie and sparkling eyes touched
Tommy's heart. Sam was not so iinpasaionate ; he hal
been a longer time in London, and had seen more
Balmoral boots and pink str eking' than Tommy had
ever dreamed of. ' Look here,' he said abruptly, 'you've
collared this cove's watch.' The young lady gave
Tommy a most bewitching ' I have it upstairs,'
she said, 'I found it on the pavement that evening after
you left me. Will you come up for it She held out
her hand to Tommy and Tommy took it. They went
into the parsige and Sam followed them. They went
upstairs ; Sane had not got beyond the firstefioor, when
the lady said suddenly. ' I asy, Bill.' • What', op r
asked a gruff voice. 'There's a fellow coming upstairs
for • ticker he says I took. Just chuck him out.'
'Don't be frightened,' she whispered to Tommy, 'I
am very fond of you, and we'll have tea together.' She
led the unsuspecting Tommy into her room, and Bill, a
big, flashilyderessed fellow, went to meet Sam. • Now,
then,' he said, 'what do you want?" Tommy and the
watch,' wan Sam's reply. Bill swore an oath, and
raised his foot to administer a kick. • Don't yer m•ke
no mistake,' said Sam, catching him by the leg. 'flat's
• luso& for you, and now Igo for a peeler.' And
with a strong jerk he sent Bill rolling downstairs,
doubled him up on the mat, gave him • kick, hit him
a hot 'un on the nose, and then went for a policeman
Enough of "The Wild Boys of London." Some are
even worse. There is ono story of its kind (we do not
name it) which hu been reprinted over and over again
for nearly twenty years • by this time it must have had
ai ninny readers as any of Mr.Dickena's stories; and it is
one of the most abominable publications that ever came
from the prem. Nor is it by any means destitute of
literary skilLais perhaps might be inferred from it. long,
constant, and enormou sale. Thu particular story is
evidently written for a female public ; it sporta with
adultery, and is meant to solace the labour, of work.
women, idle wives, and factory girls. In it. time it
must have done enormous mischief.