found, connected with this arrangement. All
those who are victualled by this worthy man
are allowed to leave their cells and to go into
the corridor where he serves out prison luxuries.
Then for a minute or two rapid conversation
could take place among us; but, if it
were protracted half a minute beyond the
time sufficient for the drawing of our allotted
portions, the stern voice of the jailor waiting
to lock up again made us run like rats into
our holes.

It being the first day of my residence in
Newgate, I received a visit from the doctor,
who made diligent inquiry on the subject of
my health. Soon afterwards I was sent
down, with all the others who had come in
on the previous day, to see the Ordinary in
the vestry. Through an intricate stone
labyrinth, by aid of numerous directions shouted
out by the warden, we found our way into the
comfortably furnished chamber at the foot of
the chapel stairs. The Ordinary sat in a
large easy chair at a table covered with
papers, and he was backed by a large book-
case, on the top of which were proper
Newgate ornaments, consisting of casts of the
features of men who had been hanged. I
found him kind and gentle. He
interrogated me as to the charge which was
entered in a book before him; conversed
with and advised me for a few minutes
in a considerate and humane way, and sent
me back with a pamphlet which he
considered suitable to my condition. It was
entitled A Warning of Advice to Young Men in
the Metropolis.

In the exercise yard I found all the
remanded prisoners turning out for chapel
parade. There was a gentlemanly young
man who possessed a clothes brush which
all — down to the most ragged — were
solicitous to borrow. The desire was for some
thing to do, and there were great brushings.
That young man had been in the remand
department for three months or more, on
suspicion of having been implicated in a bank
robbery. He went out at last with a clear
character, the police having in his case been
on a false scent, for even police sometimes err.
There was a showy foreigner anxious that I
should tell him — as I was a newcomer — what
the public thought about his chances of
acquittal. There were some boys accused of
larcenies, perverting the light-heartedness of
childhood into a play of wretched mockeries
and jokes, not checked by the authoritative
"Keep quiet you there, won't you;" but
greatly promoted by the smile into which
now and then the jailor was betrayed.

The part of Newgate chapel set aside for
the congregation differs of course in its
planning from any church or chapel used by
people who have liberty to come and go.
There are only four pews, separate and far
apart. One is for the governor, one for the
head warden or deputy governor, and the
other two, one in each gallery, for the

sheriffs or City authorities who came at special
times: on condemned sermon Sundays for
example. We were marched across the
chapel to the cage set apart for remands;
which is in close contact with the governor's
pew, and I observed that the jailor so
formed the line of our procession every
morning that the well-dressed men of our
party were placed nearest to the dignitary.
A black veil from the ceiling hung before the
gallery above us and concealed the female
prisoners. The locks of our cage having been
fastened, and our jailor having seated
himself so as to command a full view of all who
were in his charge, the convicts in their grey
suits were marshalled into a cage opposite to
ours. When they had been locked up, some
other prisoners were brought into the body
of the chapel and ranged upon forms. There
came a fine-looking old man who walked
with an air of great consequence to a seat at
the communion rails. He proved to have
been a prisoner for some years past, a
collector of taxes who had pocketed the public
money. We were all so well classified in
chapel that remands before committal,
committals awaiting trial, convicted and sentenced
prisoners could at a glance be
distinguished from each other by the governor or
chaplain.

Chaplain and clerk being in their places,
the governor entered his pew; a prison bird
sitting behind me, wanted to know whether
he had his boots on? Yes, he had. " Then,"
said the whisperer, " he'll visit us after this.
When he is not going over jail till afternoon
and keeps to himself all morning, he always
comes to chapel in his slippers. I've not
been here a dozen times for nothing. I can
tell you." After prayers and psalms we had
a sermon on the lesson of the day, in which
we were not specially addressed as sinners,
but as dear brethren who were to avoid sin.
I was struck by the force which the whole
body of prisoners threw into hymn singing;
the jailors led, and there was scarcely a
prisoner who did not take the opportunity
to use his lungs. The hymns were really
well sung, but my experience among the
denizens of Newgate made me feel vexed at
the hollowness of adoration so expressed. And
yet, what would one have? Even such
shows may lead the way to something more
substantial.

After chapel service, we were marched
back to our wards: I, with the new arrivals,
being first taken to the governor's office and
paraded there before the door, near the great
entrance gate. We were called in one by
one, and found the governor sitting on the
table, having a warder before him with
writing materials, and a book in which he
wrote what was dictated to him. Looking
stedfastly at me, the great authority over
us rapidly dictated the description of my
person: "Light — grey—small — short — no
distinguishing:" the words, I suppose,