The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 194: what you’re looking at

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183. ‘Prourimont. Oh ! our’sindesd are biood- —atrocious—-and sangtinary laws; and they necessarily render ajl their odoahinareter® agents, and myrmidons crue] and heartless likewise. “There, ladies,” said Mr. Soper, “you see the pats the vimen; and that’s the you see : oos vy—morals afore everything, In this here round pew,” he continued, pointing to the enclosure which we have already noticed, “the gallows’ birds aits. On them Sundays when there's a condeniued sermon, the place is quite crowded with all your fine lords and ladies from the Vest End, and with the families of the City authorities.. Lord bless ye, ma‘am,” he added, turning towards Mrs. Brace, “ it’s as good as a play to the fashionable folk; but I often thinks to | house—the myself, thinks I, ‘ What a precieus cruel and heart- to be eure /’” The milliner made no reply: but she doubtless thought that the man was not far wrong ;—otherwise she would perhaps have taken the trouble to express her dissent from his observation. “Now we'll wisit the vimen's room,” ssid Mr. Soper; and he accordingly led the way into the wing tenanted by the female prisoners. The moment the door of that compartment was thrown open, the ears of Mra. Brace and Harriet were saluted by licentious songs, obacene jests, and terrible imprecations; and they drew back, shuddering from head to foot “ Lord, this is nothing, I can assure ye, ladies,” ex- claimed the man: then raising his voice to the highest pitch of its gruff intonatién, he vociferated, “ Now, then, you vimen, hold your jaw, will’ee f—or else rl tell the guv’ner and stop your meat at dinner-time to-day.” The fomaiée held their peace for e short interval : but it was not through respect for Mr. Soper’s com- mand, nor in dread of his menace. Their curiosity was suddenly excited by the arrival of visitors. And now what a revolting spectacle met the eyes of Mra. Brace and the lady’s-maid! In a layge apartment, along one side of which the beds were arranged like shelves, three deep, and reminding one of the berths in a ship's cabin, a number of hideous- looking women were assembled, The air was hot and fetid: the beds were all in disorder, dirty, and raiserable. Seme of the fecnalen wese evidently ina libidinous songs, obscene jests, and horrid oaths as thoy entered the second ward; and again were those roice: extinguished for a few minutes by the presence of the milliner and’ her abigail. The occupants of this room were not so uniformly revolting as those in the former ;—and yet they were .@ worse class of criminals,.so far as the sliudes of ini- quity are defined. But the misdemeanants were chiefly drunken wretches who had committed savage asspults—brothel-keepers—the lowest description of prostitutes—and old charwomen and washerwomen who had been committed for illegally pawning: whereas the female felons consisted of the dashing woman of the.town who had perpetrated a robbery— the fue servant who had stolen in. her master’s dwelling- young creature who had murdered her illegitimate child—the well-dreased shop-lifter—the poor. seamstress who had disposed of the materials given her to make up—the lady who had robbed her furnished lodgings—the starving mother who had thieved a loaf for her famishing of children—the receiver of stolen goods—the female swindler—and the. old bawd in whose house some iniquitous deed had been committed. For in Newgate, up to this very hour, no attempt at classification—beyond the mere divi- sion of the misdemeanants and the felons—has ever been made ;—and thus the novice in crime herds with those who have grown gray in iniquity! Is not this infamous ?f—is it not shocking in the extreme? And then the Legislature affects to wone der that crime should be upon the increase! How can it be otherwise? What effort is made to reform the offender !—what wholesome schemajs adopted to re- claim and restore him to society? None—none;— and nine-tenths of the wretched beings who crowd the felons’ gaols, the hulks, and the penal settlements, and who ascend the accursed scaffold, are not so much the victims of their own misdeeds, as of that atrocious apathy and abominable negleet which are exhibited by those who have the power of reforming and ameliorating the condition of prison discipline. The poor and the ignorant in this wretched enslaved country are made poor and hepé ignorant by the ras- cally and detestable oligarchy ;—and when John Bull boasts of the freedom and excellence of his institu- tions, he is a prejudiced, bigotted, narrow-minded, and besotted fool. Oh! my heart bleeds when I think of the wrengs whiel: the millions endure at the hands of the few; and there are times when I feel | ashamed, degraded and humiliated at having been ee to God that I was e citisen.of Americn ! For ot tiie moment true trenton eniats ‘only in looks | the United: States ;—andib ies loathecme mockery, phe # etien arnt artnet ohmlitenat-p some: of the most daring of these wretuee ‘Tevolting comscness ;—armi Soper con- ducted’ Mrs. Brace and the maid into am adjoining ward. “Them’s the misdemeanant-vimen that you've just scen,”” he observed, as he closed the huge door of the fret ent. “Now youre guing to wisit the fo- nale ing ribald jests, wrestling, or sparring. The ward was | Aczin were the eats of the visitors saluted with in the utmost disorder, end filthy to. degree, The a Soul He, and « burning shame to yaunt even ihe enjoyment of a shadow of liberty on bebalf uf the musewsof England ! Again in the female felons’ ward' was. Mrs. Brace’s puree opened ;—end, having dispensed some money ‘amongst society's poor outcasts there, she followed ‘Soper, who led the way to the quadrangie occupied keeping clove behind her Inthe minilonenrmnh? apetnens, 5 ont spectacle of Traman.demoralisation and avasement met the cyes of the visitors. Old ley men—and were wasting their time in gaming, singing flash cone relating anecdotes of villany or debauchery, exsharye by the males,—Harriet “mistress, COMIC OO© co