The Press.
London, England, 1854-09-16 00:00:00

PinuopicAL LITERATURE.

THE Irish Quarterly for September contains, among
other subjects, a vast amount of statistical informa-
tion upon prisons, prison discipline, and reformatory
schools. The solitary and silent systems have
failed, and a higher object than the mere punish-
ment of the prisoner for the violation of the law ought
to be held in view; but, in the attainment of that
object, the reformation of the felon, we must not en-
tirely overlook the due intlicticn of the penalty
awarded to the offence. This is exactly the point
that the pure reformatists always appear to ignore.
We read here that
" the prisoner ought to be provided with everything ne-
cessary for comfort, cleanliness, and health during the day,
and for repose during the night ; with sufficient food of
wholesome quality, he is to be allowed fresh air and exer-
cise whenever he requires them, and any mental discom-
fort that he may suffer from is to be immediately alleviated
by the governor or chaplain of the gaol."
Really, under such circumstances, a prison would be
a remarkably comfortable residence during a severe
winter, when provisions are dear and coals rising;
and at any time a desirable place for an indolent
man, without friends to feel ashamed of his position.
We must protest against such principles as these.
No doubt the reformation of the prisoner is one great
object to be obtained, but we cannot see how that
point is to be gained by "alleviating his discomforts,"
and excluding punishment for indulgence. We are
rather of opinion, and here we have the great autho-
rity of Mr. Recorder Hill, that criminals, when con-
demned to prison, ought at once to take leave of every
indulgence, and "no quarter ought to be given to
" their prevailing vice—indolence." Instead of
having every comfort given to them the moment they
come into prison, they ought to be subjected to the
most rigorous fare and accommodation, consistent with
decency and support of life, and they should be daily
employed upon a task which would stimulate exer-
tion, in the hope that by good conduct they might
acquire indulgences, which at any time they should
be liable to lose by bad behaviour. "To effect the
" moral cure of a prisoner, the application," says Mr.
Recorder Hill, " of any amount of pain, absolutely
" necessary to the object in view, ought not to be
" neglected." The article upon reformatory schools
opens one of the great social questions of the day.
The bill which passed last session for the. Better
Care and Reformation of Youthful Offenders" isun-
doubtedly a step in the right direction, although the
main benefit desired by the philanthropic projectors
of the bill has been comparatively neutralised by
clause 11, which directs that the child, when con•
victed of any crime, is first to undergo the punish-
ment awarded to the offence, and than to be sent to
the reformatory school. Surely the very object of
the establishment, of a reformatory school is to abo-
lish the picking-oakum and weekly-whipping system.
And it is difficult to discern the advantage obtained
in sending a child to the preparatory penitentiary for
a few months, and then handing him over to the
milder and more humane influence of the reforma-
tory school. If we are to have these latter institu-
tions, we shall not want gaols, at least for children;
and it is in this respect that we hope to save the vast
annual expense of juvenile crime, to get rid of com-
mittals and recommittals, prosecutions and cost of
maintenance, and half the paraphernalia of gaols and
gaolers, penitentiaries and houses of correction, with
their moral advantages of oakum-picking and gypsum-
pounding. We believe that a child, even when
criminal, should yet be treated as a child, and should
be sent direct to the reformatory school, instead of
being subjected to the hardening, if not vicious, in-
fluence of a gaol. Surely the worse use one can put
a child to is to send him to gaol. We trust that this
obnoxious part of clause 11 will be repealed, inclu-
ding, as it does, a point so directly opposed to the
principles of reformatory schools. We are, neverthe-
less, glad to see that the necessity of "parental re-
sponsibility" is now recognised by the Government,
and that henceforth all parents of convicted children
will be compelled, if proved able to do so, to defray
the cost of the child's maintenance to an amount not
exceeding ss. weekly. A very interesting article upon
" English Bongs and English Music" contains some
curious information upon the real authorship of
many of our old ballads and songs ; and there are
other clever papers in the number.

Matrimonial Shipwreel ; or, Mere Human Nature.
By Annette Marie MaiPard. London : Routledge
and Co.
IT is not often that we meet a novel with so very dis-
mal a title as " Matrimonial Shipwrecks." Which of
us would care to contemplate for amusement the
vanishing of bright hopes and gradual breaking of
generous hearts? When we take up a fiction, we
like to be cheated out of the cold and formal realities
of monotonous existence, and we do not care to be
introduced to " mere human nature" as it ordinarily
exists, uninspired by high designs or unadorned by
noble qualities. Mrs. ?laniard aims stpainting"mer4'

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