cipline among us, which have in view the reforma- tion of the offender. A young lady, who seemed to be an active assistant in her plan of benevolence, presented me at Newgate with a book detailing the progress of these efforts in behalf of female prisoners. It seems that the first visit of Mrs. Fry to Newgate was in 1813, and that she then found, in an area of less than two hundred square yards, three hundred incarcerated females. Such were their ferocious manners and abandoned conduct, that it was not thought safe to go in among them. The Governor, perceiving that she had determined to venture, deemed it expedient to request that she would leave her watch behind her, acknowledging that even his presence might be insufficient to prevent its being violently torn from her. Almost every discouragement seemed to oppose the outset of the benevolent effort of Mrs. Fry. It was felt necessary to have a guard of soldiers in the prison to prevent outrage; order and discipline were utterly set at defiance. But her presence, and the kind interest she manifested in them, made a great impression. At her second visit, she was, by her own desire, admitted into the wards, unaccompanied by any turnkey. She then proposed to them a school for the children and younger prisoners. This was accepted, even by the most hardened, with gratitude and tears of joy. A separate cell was procured, and the school prosperously established. Soon the older prisoners came with entreaties to be taught and employed.
