The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-29 00:00:00

MAGDALEN-STREET PREACHERS.

A peculiar feature of Sunday life in our large cities, and
one which never fails to excite the bewildered interest of
foreigners, is the open-air preaching, which, though less
common now than a few years ago, is still prevalent
enough to suggest a puzzling train of thought to those
unused to our national ways and manners. Thus
an Austrian journalist, who has been recounting
his recent experiences of England In a Viennese news-
paper, dwells with grave perplexity upon a street sermon
he heard in a locality which we take to be Shoreditch.
The preacher was a woman, middle-aged and respectable-
looking. She stopped suddenly in a small street leading
out of a crowded thoroughfare, took a prayer-book from
her pocket, and began to read aloud, whilst people
clustered round her by twos and threes until there was a
dense ring. After a quarter of an hour's reading she shut
up the book, and in a quiet, methodical tone com-
menced a history of her past life, such as, remarks the
Austrian, one would rather have expected to find in secret
memoirs sold under the rose than in an open street in the
face of wondering young girls and grinning boys. Evidently
the woman meant well. If talked to she would probably
have answered, in that mystic language which itinerant
apostles seems so particularly to relish, that she had
a mission to perform, and that in publicly humiliating
herself on Sunday evenings for the behoof of the
inhabitants of Shoreditch she was doing her beet to ream*
a misspent life. But a question suggests itself to the
Austrian—and will also suggest itself to the Englishman
who will look at the case from the German point
of view—as to what moral end is really served
by the spectacle of repentant Magdalene heaping
ashes on their heads, shaming themselves in
tame imitation of the penitents in times gone by ?
These exhibitions do nothing but mischief. If we allude
to this subject, it is that Magdalen preacheresses are to be
found elsewhere than in Shoreditch. On Sunday after-
noons and evenings one or more of them may be heard
discoursing
in well nigh all the crowded districts a
London.—Pall Mall Garette. • '

A Dublin correspondent telegraphs that Cardinal
Cullen has been received with great enthusiasm at Wexford.
In replying to an address from the inhabitants, he said that
by founding their demands on justice, and not interfering
with the legitimate rights of any class, the tenant would yot
enjoy the honest earnings of his labour, and the Catholio
child receive the teaching of his own Church, without the
danger of imbibing pernicious principles in model schools
or Queen's Colleges.

A painful excitement has been produced in Ar-
broath by the non-appearance of one of the fishing boats
belonging to the place. The boat, with a crew of three
men, had gone out to the white-fishing off the
Bell Rock early on Saturday morning but has not
since turned up, and no htpo is entertained by tho
fishermen of her safety. The weather was gusty cn Satur-
day morning, and it came on a gale in the forenoon. It is
supposed that the unfortunate crew, detained in looking
after their lines, had been overtaken by the gale, and so
perished. Their names were Thos. Smith, Thos. Beattie
and Francis Bremner. They were all married.
The Pall Mall Gazette is authorised to state that
Earl Russell in no way counselled the destruction of Lord
Byron's memoir, which step was decided on at a meet-
ing hold at Mr. Murray's house, and carried out by
Mr. Wilmot Horton and Colonel Doyle under the
circumstances set forth in the Diary of Moore edited
by Earl Russell (vol. iv. page 191), from which it will be
seen that Mr. Moore repaid to Mr. Murray the sum of 2,000
guineas he had received from that gentleman on account of
the memoir, and also paid the interest which bad accrued in
,1449 megltiPAo 944484 a till's Advanced.