The Press.
London, England, 1856-09-13 00:00:00

PULPHLETS.

Descriptive Geography. Gilbert—English History. Gil.
'fit—St's Almanac fur Toro Thousand Years. Long-
k)xns—Correspondence relative to Neutral Rights.

THE PRESS.

WOMEN AS MANAGERS OF PRISONS.

A ralsom governed chiefly by women—and the
women as well as the men who directed it responsi•
ble only to the Government, and not merely subor-
dinate like the female officers in our prisone--.IIM a
singular spectacle ; and I hope it will be distinctly
understood that in describing what I have seen, it
is not with any idea that these arrangements could
be, or ought to be, exactly imitated among us. I
only suggest the facts as illustrative of the principle
I advocate, and as worthy of the consideration of
humane and philosophic thinkers.
This prison at Neudorf is an experiment which as
yet has only had a three years' trial, but it has so
completely succeeded up to this time that they are
preparing to organise eleven other prisons on the
same plan. From a conversation I had with one of
the Government officers, I could understand that the
economy of the administration is a strong recom-
mendation, as well as the moral success. Its origin
is worth mentioning. It began by the efforts made
by two humane ladies to find a refuge for those
wretched creatures of their own sex who, after un-
dergoing their term of punishment, were cast cut of
the prisons. These ladies, not finding at hand any
persons prepared to carry out their views, sent to
France for two women of a religious order which
was founded for the reformation of lost and depraved
women ; and two of the sisters were sent from Angers
accordingly. After a while this small institution
attracted the notice of the Government. It was
taken in hand officially, enlarged, and organised as
a prison as well as a penitentiary; the original plan
being strictly adhered to, and the same management
retained.

At the time that I visited it, this prison consisted
of several different buildings and a large garden
inclosed by high walls. The inmates were divided
into tbree classes completely separated. The first
were the criminals, the most desperate characters,
brought there from the prisons at Vienna, and the
very refuse of those prisons. They had been
brought there six or eight at a time, fettered hand
and foot, and guarded by soldiers and policemen.
The second class, drafted from the first, were
called the penitents; they were allowed to assist in
the house, to cook, and to wash, and to work in the
garden, which last was a great boon. There were
more than fifty of this clam.
The third class were the voluntaries, those who,
when their term of punishment and penitence had
expired, preferred remaining in the house, and were
allowed to do so. They were employed in work of
which a part of the profit was retained for their
benefit. There were about twelve or fourteen of
this class. The whole number of criminals then in
the prison exceeded two hundred, and they expected
more the next day. _ _

To manage these unhappy, disordered, perverted
creatures, there were twelve women, assisted by three
chaplains, a surgeon, and a physician : none of the
men resided in the house, hut visited it every day.
The soldiers and police officers, who had been sent
in the first instance as guards and gaolers, had been
dismissed. The dignity, good sense, patience, and
tenderness of this female board of management were
extraordinary. The ventilation and the cleanliness
were perfect; while the food, beds, and furniture,
were of the very coarsest kind. The medical super-
vision was important, whero there was as much dis-
ease—of frightful, physical disease—as there was of
moral disease, crime, and misery. There was a sur-
geon and physician, who visited daily. There was a
dispensary, under the care of two sisters, who acted
as chief nurses and apothecaries. One of these was
busy with the sick, the other went round with me.
She was a little active woman, not more than two or
three and thirty, with a most cheerful face, and
bright, kind, dark eyes. She bad been two years in
the prison, and had previously received a careful
training of five years—three years in the general
duties of her vocation, and two years of medical
training. She spoke with great intelligence of the
differences of individual temperament, requiring a
different medical and moral treatment.

The sister who superintended the care of the cri-
minals was the oldest I saw, and she was bright-
looking also. The superior, who presided over the
whole establishment, had a serious look, and a pale,
careworn, but perfectly mild and dignified face.

The difference between the countenances of those
criminals who had lately arrived, and those who had
been admitted into the class of penitents, was extra-
ordinary. The first were either stupid, gross, and
vacant, or absolutely frightful from the predominance
of evil propensities. The latter were at least
humanised.

When I expressed my astonishment that so small
a number of women could manage such a set of wild
and wicked creatures, the answer was, " If we want
assistance we shall have it; but it is as easy with our
system to manage two hundred or three hundred as
one hundred or fifty." She then adde3 devoutly,
" The power is not in ourselves, it is granted from
above." It was plainithat she had the most perfect

883

faith in that power, and in the text which declared
all things possible to faith.
We must bear in mind that here ales and women
were acting together ; that in all the regulations, re-
ligious and sanitary, there was mutual aid, mutual
respect, an interchange of experience ; but the
women were subordinate only to the east civil sad
ecclesiastical authority; the internal administration
rested with them.—Mrs. Jameanes Commaisson Of
Labour.

Ilusir.

GLOUCESTER MUSICAL FESTIVAL.

THERE is one reason why the annual festivals of the
three choirs of Gloucester, Worcester, and Hereford
—the 132nd meeting of which has been given this
week in the ancient and interesting city of Glouces-
ter—are likely to maintain a permanent popularity,
and that is the strong feeling entertained by a lane
body of conscientious churchmen that oratorios ought
only to be performed within consecrated walls. It
cannot be disguised that there are many devoted
amateurs of music who consider that the sacred
subjects treated by its greatest masters, in a school
of composition which is of the most elevated order,
should be heard, not in profane edifices, in which
political and social questions are discussed, but in
our churches and cathedrals. Anyone who has care-
fully watched the effect of an oratorio under a
secular roof, and has also seen the profound reverence
exhibited at the same work under the massive gran-
deur of the " arch'd and pond'rons roof," will
never miss the opportunity of being present at a
gathering of the three choirs. There are indescrib-
able sensations experienced by the auditory, who sit,
as it were, amidst the dead as well as living. The
architectural beauties of Gloucester Cathedral, ex-
quisitely fine and grand as they are, become more
refined, more elevating, more moving and soul-
stirring, as the masses of glorious sounds penetrate
through every portion of the magnificent building.
And as the colossal nave, some of the mornings in
the past week, even with a raised gallery at one
extremity, was not sufficiently large to contain the
influx of visitors, it waif not a little curious to see
those festival seekers, who were thus excluded,
taking refuge in the embellished gothic choir, rather
than miss the opportunity of hearing the sacred
performances. It is many years since the atten-
dances have been so large, a result which may partly
be ascribed to the unusual number of stewards on
this occasion—thirty-six in all—those spirited gen-
tlemen, be it gratefully remembered, who take upon
themselves the financial responsibilities of the festival,
having no higher rewards generally than the privilege
of contributing their quota towards any deficiency, the
honour of wearing rosettes at their button-holes for
the week, and the pleasure of banding the fair
artistes in and out of the orchestra. Perhaps the
dignity may also assist the stewards in the pick of
partners for the two balls, held on Tuesday and
Friday (last night). It was confidently affirmed in
Gloucester, however, that this time "surplus" is to
be the exceptional word in the winding-up act of the
committee ; and if this novel, and almost unpre-
cedented, event be realised, the noble funds in aid of
the widows and orphans of clergymen of the three
dioceses, in which the benefices, alas, are so small
for the hard-working parochial pastors, will be in-
creased, independently of the collections made daily
at the cathedral doors, hitherto the chief resource for
the charity. The new Bishop of Glouosstea and
Bristol, in his Tuesday's sermon, ably advocated
the claims of his labouring brothers, taking for his
text 2 Samuel v. 7 :—" The Lord maketh poor and
rich; He bringeth low, and lifteth up." The Bishop
laid chief stress on the great increase of district
churches, and of the addition thereby to the list of
necessitous clergymen, whose stipends left them
living but a bare existence, and dying with them,
threw on the world their widows and orphans. The
sermon was brief, and the point practical if not elo-
quent.
The execution of the works at these festivals has
not kept pace altogether with musical advancement
in other places. It is true that The Messiah and
Elijah were better performed than on previous oeea-
sions, but on the whole, with the materials et princi-
Pals, chcrns, and band, engaged for the tom morn-
ing performances in the Cathedral and the theist,
evening concerts in the Shire-hall, greater preci-
sion, more delicacy, and a finer ensemble ougbk to
have been secured. Where the deficiency lies is
patent to everybody. So long as the conductor's
baton at these festivals remains in the hands of thi in-
experienced local organist, so long must there be mis-
haps, mistakes, and contrarieties. It is not reasonable
to expect that once in three years a provincial pro..
fessor, however respectable his talents may be, eau
bring together a mixed body of choralista and in*
strumentalista, and a cosmopolitan phalanx of lead-

ing singers, and with one rehearsal insure a steady
and finished interpretation of most intricate orato-
rios, and of selections from the music of operatic
masters and concert composers of every school. It
is given out that the festivals must stand or fall, in
conjunction with the local organists, as the. deans
and chapters will not consent to have any other con-
ductors. With all due submission, these authorities
might just as well call on them to play the trombone,
the double drum, or the ophecleide, as to expect
that they can be efficient conductors. It is pretended
that the patrons of the meetings are quite satisfied
with the general style of execution, and that
no improvement would be appreciated. Be it so,
but critics have also their duties to per-
form ; they bold a trust, self imposed as
it may be, for the protection of the public,
and for the promotion of art progress, and
they are bound to point out Bradford, Norwich,
and Birmingham, to say nothing of the metropolis,
as examples to the managers of the three ohoir
gatherings. One glaring mistake pervaded the ren-
dering of the sacred music this week at Gloucester.
Owing to some misty and musty notion as to the
" tradition " in the execution of the Handelian ora-
torios, it is gravely promulgated that Vie times of the
pieces, to be truly devotional, must be taken slowly,
as if religions feeling can be reduced to the measure
of the metronome. The consequence of this "tm
dition " was the general tendency of Mr. Amott to
drag the time from first to last. But if "tradition"
has been carried down accurately quoad the Han-
delian scores, what becomes of the theory as re-
gards Meodelssohn ? We have his times from his
own bands ; and it is a little too much for the con-
ductors of the three choirs to change the beat on the
devotional " dodge." Is not the slowness to be at.
tribute.). to other causes ? Does it arise from inde-
cision, timidity, inexperience, or incompetency, or
from all or either of them? Flow is it, that when
the orchestra, with Sainton and Blagrove as leaders,
and conductors too, thought proper to ran away from
the " traditional " beat, the overtures and symphonies
went so briskly, as in the Zauberflote, Anacreon, and
Der Preischutz, and in Haydon's sparkling No. 8
Symphony ? But when the baton of the conductor
and the bow of the chef d'attaque came into collision,
as in the accompaniments to many of the vocal pieces,
what a "confusion worse confounded" ensued! As
instances, let Mendelssohn's Lorely finale, and
Beethoven's " Crown ye the altars," from the Ruins
of Athens, be cited. What a " Odds " were the ac-
companiments to " Casta Diva," sung by Viardot,
and "Il segreto," sung by Alboni. What must
foreign amateurs have thought of these exhibitions
at a great English musical festival—a time.
honoured institution fast approaching to an existence
of a century and a half ?
The selection day was on Thursday. It comprised
the first part of Haydn's Creation; Mozart's Requiem,
with the Latin words, in its entirety, musical and
doctrinal; some gleanings from Mendelssohn's Paul;
the " Morning Prayer " of Samuel ; the trio and un-
accompanied quartet from Costa's Eli; and con-
cluding with a singular mixture from Handel, Spohr,
Haydn, Rossini, Graun, and Beethoven. The
" Heavens are telling" was awfully dragged. There
is not even the negative excuse of the "tradition" to
be found for the mistake, as in Vienna the time is
taken as fast again. Mendelssohn's sublime chorus,
"Arise, shine," and colossal choral, "Sleepers,
awake," were the best executed pieces in the selec
Lion. Mme. Novello's singing of the air, "Jeru-
salem," and Mme. Viardot's that of "But the Lord,"
were gems. The latter, in the "Morning Prayer "
of Samuel, created a profound sensation in her audi-
tory. But it was not in good taste to select these
isolated pieces from Eli. The committee ought
either to have presented the entire oratorio or to
have left it unmutilated. The Requiem was not
done justice to by the conductor. His indecisive
beat lead to wavering on the part of the choral forces.
The fugues were not attacked with sharpness and
vigour, and the reading generally was tame and
coarse.

There was some excellent, and in some cases
great, solo singing at the meeting. Mme. Viardot's
bravura display in the air from Graun's Britannicus,
as at Bradford, excited a furore—so much so, that
the unusual honour of being called upon to repeat it
at two successive concerts was paid to her, the an-
nouncement having been made in a set speech from
one of the stewards, Mr. Turner, one of the most
polite of the body, and whose triennial display of
oratory appertains to the stock programme, the
auditory being hilarious at the anxiety o Mr. urner
to rush off with his prima donna immediately after
an " adagio," not giving her time to commence the
cabalettal Mme. Novello's " Deh vieni," of Mozart,
was a bonne boucle, and so was Alboni's classic ren-
dering of the " Deh ! per questo estante," from Mozart's
Clemenza di Tito. There was a debutante at
the festival, iu a daughter of Mr. Amott, the con-
ductor, Mrs. Clara Hepworth. She possesses a
sweet soprano voioe of moderate power and compass,
and has a future before her as a concert singer; but