The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-09-28 00:00:00

MUSICAL VARIETIES.

Jenry Lind has created a furore as great among the
sober folk of Edinburgh and Glasgow as she has caused
among the less phlegmatic lieges of the south. The critics
seem to have run especially wild. One rabid rhapsodist
attributes to her voice the wonderful faculty of harmony,
or that of producing two or more sounds at once. Thus
he raves :—" No silver bell ever possessed a sweeter into-
nation ; and the style in which it is modulated, the pure
gush of varied harmonies it can and does produce, are
magic—neither more nor less. Nightingale ! a choir of
nightingales might approach the beauty and the brilliancy,
if anything save ' the human face divine' could accomplish
the masterly modulations of her ornaments." it another
mparter'a phraseology could be relied on, Jenny Lind's
audience at Glasgow expressed their delight amongst them-
selves in a manner only indulged in by persons in the last
extremity of affectionate rapture. " The City Hall," he
says, " was crowded during the evening by an audience
embracing many of the nobility and gentry of the neigh-
bourhood, in addition to many of the most respectable
citizens." Such is the power of song over the musical
" critics" of the north !
GLOUCESTER MUSICAL FESTIVAL.—This Festival took
place last week, and it must be admitted that the stewards
have not been niggardly in providing musical attractions.
In the first instance there was Mdlle; Alboni. Then there
were Herr Staudigl, Madame Caradori Allen, and Miss
Dolby • the Misses Williams, Mr. Williams, Mr. and
Mrs. Weiss, Mr. Lockey, and John Parry. A splendid
band and chorus, numbering upwards of three hundred
performers, was selected with the greatest care by the
conductor, (Mr. Arnott) from the Choirs of Gloucester,
Worcester, Hereford, Birmingham, Liverpool and Exeter
Hall. The performances have gone off with great eclat,
and the general arangements have given the highest satis-
faction ; the attendance has never been surpassed. " Last,
but not least," the collections have been satisfactory, in
so far as they have exceeded those at the last festival by
about £l5O. There were two balls during the week, one
after the Tuesday evenings concert, and the rand fancy
dress ball on Friday night, for which Adam's band was
engaged ; and as leader for which Mr. John Goodall of
Liverpool was specially retained, and whose services on
the occasion were rewarded by a very gratifying testimo-
nial from Professor Adams, Mons. Prospeir, Signor Caso-
lani, the Messrs. Smithies, Mons. Baumoum, T. Harper,
and other members of the Festival band, expressive of
their great satisfaction with Mr. Goodall's performances,
and stating that they " considered him qualified to lead
any orchestra where he may be engaged."

CONGRESS FOR PENAL REFORM.
The second session of the Congres Penitentiaire has
been held at Brussels lats week, and was well attended,
there being present many influential and official persons
connected with the administration of justice and prison -
discipline in England, France, and the various continental
States. Interesting facts were stated with respect to the
effect of different kinds of punishment upon criminals,
And the principal discussion was as to the propriety of the
separate system being applied rigidly or with modifica-
tions to juvenile offenders. The general opinion of the
Congress was in favour of the system being applied with
modifications, and that the plan of employing young per-
, sons in agricultural colonies or houses of refuge should
be adopted.
1 We append a report of the address of Lieut-Colonel
1 Jebb, the Inspector of Prisons in England :
After thanking the Congress for the indulgence shown
him, he said he was instructed by the Secretary of State
' for the Home Department, to lay before the Congress the
fullest information as to the !present state of the question
in England. He then stated the number of prisons that
had been erected on the model of the Penitentiary at
Pentonville, and in which the separate system would pro-
bably be enforced—one at Wakefield to receive 800 pri-
soners; a House of Detention in Middlesex for prisoners
before trial, for 280 ; in Perth, for 400 ; in Belfast, for
320 ; in Leeds, for 300 ; in Stafford, for 290 ; in Ayles-
bury, for 280 ; in Reading, for 236 ; in Northampton, for
200 ; in Leicester for 190 ; and others, amounting in all
to 40 prisons, calculated to receive 5,500 prisoners.
Prisons of the same kind were in progress at Liverpool,
Kirkdale, Manchester, Birmingham, in Warwick, a Go-
vernment prison in Dublin, a new county prison at Win-
chester, at Springfield, at Knutsford, and other places,
making twelve prisons to receive 4,280 persons, which
would most probably be finished in the course of the next
year. Others were under consideration for Bedford
(county), Plymouth, Exeter, Survey, Canterbury, and
Maidstone. These when completed would contain about
3,000 prisoners; and in three years from the present time
it might be expected that there would be prisons enough
in England on the improved system to hold from 12,000
to 13,000 prisoners. He had no doubt that separate con-
finement would in future form the basis of prison disci-
pline in England. Magistrates who at first were opposed
to the system, now approved it. There had been no for-
mal recognition of the system, either by the magistracy-
or the Legislature, but it was generally approved, and
they were in a position to carry it into effect whenever it
should be formally sanctioned. During the past session
the question of transportation had been before the Le-
gislature, and, in the form in which the punishment had
hitherto existed, the. Government had determined to
abolish it.. No final determination had been come to on
the subject, but he believed the system to be adopted
would resolve itself into this :—all criminals now under
sentence of transportation would undergo a separate con-
finement, then a period of laborious discipline; having
completed that, they would be sent as exiles to an English..
colony—probably Australia. In pursuance of this ar-
rangements it had been proposed to locate 1,200 convicts
in the Isle of Portland, to be employed in the erection of
a breakwater. The buildings in which they would be
placed were moveable; the convicts would be separated
during the night, but associated in their labour during the
day. The preparations would be completed by the spring.
This, he said, was about the whole eater olft..e progress
Which the question had made in Engtat 4• V' tA .
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