The Express.
London, England, 1847-10-27 00:00:00

a'nzatute..

DEBTORS TREATED AS FELONS.—At the Michael-
mas sessions for this county, Mr. Smith said he had a sub-
ject to bring before the court with reference to the treatment
of persons committed for non-payroent of orders made in the
new county courts. In visiting the Marlborough Bridewell,
he had seen that some of the persons had been cropped by
the gaoler, just in the same manner as if they had been
felons. This he thought by no means right, and he there-
fore requested the gaoler to write to the Home Secretary for
directions as to the manner in which these prisoner. ought
to be treated. He had done so, and a letter was received,
directing him to apply to the visiting justices for orders. He
(Mr. Smith) thought he had bettter lay it before the court
to know the opinion of the magistrates. The clerk
said that he had a copy of the regulations for the
treatment of persons committed under the small
debts act. They were to be treated in the same
manner as ',emus committed under the bankruptcy
and insolvent laws, similar to those convicted of
fraudulent or dishonest conduct, under the previous acts.
They were to be kept separate from criminal prisoners, they
were not to maintain themselves, but were to be restricted
to the prison dietary, they were not to receive spirituous
liquors or tobacco, and were made subject to the various
other restrictions placed upon the class of prisoners.—Mr.
Smith : Then it's no use to send them to Marlborough, for
we have no means here of putting them into separate confine.
ment. We have had six committed, and there is one here
now. That which called my attention, was seeing their hair
cropped off. In bringing it forward, I am not at all blaming
the governor, only I wish to know if it is right they should
be sent out of the prison, as if they had been common &lona.
In Salisbury it had not been done so ; I do not know bow it
is at Devizes. Mr. Haywood said they were treated there
just the same as untried prisoners—their hair not being cut
nor the prison dress put upon them. They never cut the hair
of untried prisoners, except it was found absolutely ne-
necessary for purposes of cleanliness. Lord Radnor read the
act, directing them to be placed in different confinement.
—Mr. Smith : Then it is no use sending them to Marl.
borough.—Lord Radnor The act says they must be kept
apart, " so far as the cis/let-ruction of the prison will allow."
—Mr. Smith said he did not read the act in the same way as
Lord Radnor. He read it that they could not put them with
common prisoners at all.—Mr. Sotheron : Then an order
rate be matte itst they shall not be sent to Marlborough.—
Mr. Jacob said the same difficulty existed in Salisbury ;
they had there no means of keeping them apart.—Mr. Smith :
There will be no difficulty in requesting the judgce to
send them to certain places, and not to send them to
others. I do not see that they can be put with the
other prisoners.—The Chairman said he looked upon it in
the same way. His opinion was, that the practice of cutting
the hair was not in conformity with the rules laid down for
their treatment. Although he considered them as fraudu-
lent, and therefore, to some extent, criminal, yet that was
provided for by a certain amount of punishment to meet the
justice of the case. Beyond that he did not think they had
any right to go.—Mr. Goddard : If these men are not to have
their hair cropped, why should it be done to a man who is
committed for an assault?—Mr. Smith I think no person
ought to be treated as a felon, when his offence is such as
can be satisfied by paying a certain pecuniary amount.—
' Lord Radnor expressed a strong objection which he enter-

Mined towards " cropping," under any circumstances what-
ever.—The matter was then ordered to be referred to the
ommittee fur conferring on the dieters. question.
GLOUCF.STEItsIi I lib.

.......
A SPECIAL MEETING OF .TILE BRISTOL TOWN
COUNCIL was held yesterday, for the purpose of considering
the report of s committee specially appointed by the house
to confer with the council of the -Free Port Association in
reference to the adoption of a scheme for transferring the
management of the docks from a private company, coiled the
Dock Company, to the corporation ; and for the reduction of
the dues upon shipping and merchandise to the lowest pos-
sible points consistent with the maintenance of the works.
The report recommended thut the city should take possession
of the docks, guaranteeing to the shareholders 21. 12s. 6d.
per cent. upon their shares, and the noteholders 5 per cent-
(the amount at present guaranteed) upon their notes, the
council to have the option of purchasing the shares at 25
years' purchsse, that the sinking fund should be abolished,
and that a rate not exceeding 41, in the pound should be
levied throughout the borough, so as to es able the corpora-
tion to reduce the tonnage dues upon some descriptions of
foreign ships from 31. to Is. per ton, upon others from 2s, to
Is. per ton, and soon in proporion. After an animated dis-
cussion the council conhemed the report by 42 to 4, and
directions were given to the law officers to take the neces-
sary steps for going to parliament with a bill to carry out
the agreement.

Fine era.
NEW STATUE IN Sr. PAUL'S —Mr. Behnes has just
erected in the wrath transept of St. Paul's a statue of Major-
General Sir John Thomas Jones, of the Royal Engineers, a
distinguished otticer in the Peninsular War, and known to
civilians as well as military men by his valuable wo:k on the
" Sieges in Spain." The statue is a standing one, and emy
enou4h in attitude—the left hand resting on the hip, while
the right is holding or rather dangling the hat and feather
of the corps. The head is not deficient in intellectual vigour.
and the buttons and orders and trousers ripe. are manager&
with considerable skill. Of its kind the statue is meritorious,
and perhaps as good in the Chantrey style of statuary as Mr.
Gibson's newly-emu.' statue of Huskuson is to the style of
the ancients, as revived by the elder Bacon in his admirable
statue of Dr. Johnson in St. Paul's.

THE NEW ART-UNION PRINTS.—We have received
several letters on the subject of the new Art-Union prints.
Our correspondents complain that the prints, in point of ex-
cellence, aro not what they expected. Fur our own parts,
we are free to confess that they are exactly what we had
been led to expect from the character of the committee, and
the general tameness of every print which the society has
giveu to its subscribers. The following letter, one of many,
deserves in,ertion :
Sir,—l presume that the copies of the Art-Union prints for-
wanled to your office acre o specimen " copies. The copies
which I have received to-day are in a state which would
be utterly disgraceful to any printaeller —indeed, is which
no rmpectahle tradesman would issue a print. They are corn-
Idetely worn out—mat in the condition in which tiny would be
oaf end for sixpence in a low print-shop. If you will tell me when to
send them I should like to give you an opportunity of jutting how far
the orgies you receive are • sample of the society's ordinary Witte.—
A T 2110.“..

Our correspondent is right. The prints we praised so
sparingly were proofs. We hare seen the common impres-
sions since, and they indeed are poor enough.

Vbe Drama.

HAYNIA Taming ‘• samtng of the Shrew" Ina
" revived "at this theatre last evening. The comedy has
been rarely produced on the modern stage in its entire state.
The scenes which contain the principal plot were separated
about a century ago from the rest of the play, and performed
under the title of " Katharine and retruchie," and we are
not sure, after all, that this is not the best thing that can be
done ; for, while these scenes arc most lively and entertain-
in,g,the others, whatever maybe their merit in some respects,
excite little interest or amusement on the stage. None of
Shakspeare's playa have given rise to greater contrariety of
opinion among his editors and commentators than " The
laming of the Shrew." Some regard it (or, at least, a
large portion of it) u spurious. Others estimate
its merits at a very low rate, and place it among his
earliest works ; while others, again, speak of it in
terms of high praise. The two latest editors, Mr. Collier
and Mr. Kni,elst, are quite at variance, both with regard to
the history and character of the play. Without admiring
it so highly as Mr. Knight teems to do, we conceive that
the hand of the great master is visible in every scene;
though there is no doubt that it is only a rifacimento of
an older play under the same title, from which Skakspeare
borrowed not only the subject, the double plot, and most of
the incidents, but also the march of the scenes and a good
deal of the language; re-writing, however, the greater part
of the piece, and enriching every scene from the inexhaust-
ible treasures of his own genius. The "induction," espe-
cially, n almost entirely taken from the older play, though
the character of the drunken beggar, Christopher Sly, is
heightened by many admirable strokes of humour. Gruntio
is entirely a Shskspearian creation ; and the characters bath
of e'etrudeio and 'Catharine, derive from him the features
which render them attractive. The second plot, which
occupies more than half of the play—the contentiou of the
rival suitors for the band of nausea—has been praised for its
ingenious junctiou with the principal plot ; but beyond this
it has little merit, for the lady is a nobody, and the lovers
are a set of uninteresting personages. The trick of Lucentio,
moreover, who passes off an old man whom he finds in the
street for his own father, on the father of his mistress, is
absurdly extravagant. Nothing could present a greater
contrast, during last night's performance, than the gaiety
ar.d spirit of the scenes of l'etrashio and 'Catharine, and
their exhilarating effect on the audience, on the one hand,
and the heavy movement of the remaining scenes, and the
dreary silence with which they were received. To be aura
the acting of Webster as Petruchia. of Mrs. Nisbett ss Katha-
rine, and of Keeley as Ornmio, was capital, while that of the
other characters was very indifferent ; but no acting could
infuse vitality into such characters. The perform-nee of the
induction did not, to our feeling, heighten the effect of the
piece. The mystification of the drunken mendicant, whe,
surrounded with all the appliances of luxury, is at length
convinced that he is really a lord, and not Christopher Sly,
is amusing in itself, but it was badly acted, and went poorly
off ; and then the beggar and his party sitting, as audience,
at ore side and close to the front of the stage, and looking as
dull and inanimate as a set of wax figures, became perfect
eyesores, and it was quite a relief when Mr. Sty was carried
off at the end of the fourth act. A party of spectators
sitting on the stage was well enough in Shskapeare'a
time. Fashionable spectators, in that day, were as much
in the habit of sitting on stools on the stage, as they are of
sitting in the stalls now; and such things did not annoy the
general audience. Besides, dramatic pi rformanoes were a
common entertainment in the houses of the nobility. But
we are not accustomed to such things ; and the sight of per-
sans on the stage, who are not engaged in the play, confuses
and disturbs the action in a very unpleasant way. There
were other attempts at imitating the antique mode of stage
representation. There were no changes of scene ; the differ-
ent scenes being indicated by the primitive expedient of
exhibiting a placard ; the actors made their exits and their
entrances by withdrawing a curtain at the back of the stage ;
and the " act-tunes " consisted of quaint aad pretty melodies
of the sixteenth century, which had a very pleasing effect.