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

SATURDAY,

I almost wish it were my trust
To teach how shocking that is;
I wish 1 had not, as I must,
To quit this tempting lattice.
Sure aim takes Cupid, fluttering foe,
Across a street so narrow •
A thread of silk to string his bow,
A needle for his arrow !
This will perhaps induce the reader to give
this attractive little book a trial, and then ho
will be able to see Mr. Allingham in other
moods. We are much mistaken if he does not
thank us for the introduction.

A Place of Repentance ; or, an Account of the
London Colonial Training Institution for the
Reformation of Adult Male Criminals. By
Samuel Martin, Minister of Westminster
Chapel. London :.Nisbet and Co.
WE heartily recommend this unpretending
volume to the notice of our readers. It gives
a plain and unexaggerated account of an expe-
riment the most remarkable recorded in the
annals of legislation or philanthropy, and of
results the most contradictory to the calcula
tions of the worldly philosopher.
What would the historian of Jonathan Wild
the experienced police magistrate, the cynical
anatomist of the human heart, have said of a
proposal to establish a house of reformation
for the professed thief, where, unrestrained by
bolts and locks, of his ocn free will, he should
submit to a rule of life compounded of the
workshop, the school, and the prison, change
every previous habit, forego every vicious in-
dulgence, abandon all his former associates,
and this with no other inducement than the
hope of escaping from the misery of a life of
crime, and winning back his way to the society
and esteem of honest men?
Yet all this, and much more, is true, and the
reader when he pleases may verify it with his
own eyes. At No. 9, Great Smith-street, West-
minster, he will find a plain building, in the
inside of which not an inch of available space
is Wasted, ndr on the outside a shilling spent
on superfluous decoration. He may enter and
see for himself' the cleanliness and good order
of the premises, the steady activity and sober
demeanour of its inmates.
At the door of this retreat the thief who is
weary of the dangers and hardships of his
guilty trade, stricken in conscience and wounded
in spirit, may knock for admittance :
He sees (says our author), by the very existence of
such an institution, that there are men in the world who
do not despair of him, and this hope in them arouses the
same feeling in himself; so that be begins to look forward
to the day when reformation of character, followed by res-
toration to society, shall be his happy lot.
But, to test the sincerity and strength of his
resolution, he is required before he is admitted
to undergo a severe probation. For fourteen
days he must submit to a bread-and-water
diet and a solitary life—we must not say con-
finement—for if his courage fails him he is
free to open the door and go where he pleases.
The following is the first rule of the institu-
tion:-
1. Every applicant must undergo a strict examination as
to his past life, and if found to be a suitable candidate he
will be admitted into the receiving-room on probation for a
fortnight. During that time he will receive secular and
religious instruction, bat will not be allowed to mix with
the inmates ; and his sincerity will be tested by his being
required to live upon, during the period of his probation, a
pound of bread a day. Having submitted to that ordeal,
he will be fully admitted to the benefit of the institution.
It is, therefore, useless for any to apply but those who are
truly tired of the miserable life they are leading, and are
also willing to work and make themselves generally useful.
—page St:4.
When once admitted to membership he is
expected to assist in doing the work of the
house, to practise a trade or to learn one, to
partake of the secular and religious instruction
provided for him, and in all points to sub-
mit to the regulations, which are too long
to extract, but which we recommend to the
reader's attentive perusal.—p. 89. The dietary
is little, if at all, better than that of the Peni-
tentiary. Punishment, in the proper sense of
the word, of course there can be none, except
that of expulsion, which is rigorously inflicted
for gross violations of discipline; but so much
is it dreaded that minor penalties, such as the
stoppage of rations and such like privations,
are cheerfully endured, in 'cyder to expiate
minor offences.