DOI issue:
January to June, 1849
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16548#0124
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
117
THE CLEEGYMAN IN NEWGATE.
Ms. Davis—Ordinary of Newgate—has made his Annual Report of
the moral condition of his infected flock. Very tender indeed should
be the bowels of our Old Bailey shepherd. The West-end pastor, who
bandies the sins of miserable sinners m fine array, and closetted in many
pews, may—and always does—denounce iniquity and peccadillo with a
righteous and affecting vehemence. He turns fashionables inside out,
and shows the rough side of the tapestry. He thunders among the por-
celain of human clay till he makes it ring and reverberate. But it is
different with him when he approaches the wickedness of ignorance—
the crime of unawakened human nature. He looks around this Newgate
flock, and his heart is touched with the knowledge, that of his hundred
infected sheep, there may not be ten who ever knew the care of a shep-
herd. They nave been suffered to go astray, and in their wandering to
contract all kinds of diseases. Never have they realised the picture of
the Rydal sage—
" a young lamb's heart amid the full-grown flocks."
And with this conviction, tender indeed is the heart of the pastor
towards his fore-doomed charge. We are fain to hope that, under such
benign influence, Mr. Davis cogitated his Annual Report. Let us see.
" In 1843, [reports Mr. Davis] when persons sentenced to transportation were
ordered to be sent abroad, there were 727 transports; in 1844, 527; in 1845, 456; in
1846, 448; but as soon as it became known that transports were detained in England,
they rose in 1847 to 521, and in 1848 to 590."
The comfort of board and lodging in the Houses of Correction, with
instruction in trades, infers Mr. Davis, caused the greater number,
the increase being 521 and 590 on the previous 448. Thus, the laudable
desire to learn a trade, may have added somewhat to the apparent
number of thieves.
More than 50 men and boys are received in Newgate for one woman.
"Women," says the clergyman, "are generally rendered corrupt, in the
first instance, by those of their own sex, and not by men, as it is
generally imagined." A truth not commonly allowed. It is well
known in camps and barracks, that if Molly leave her village for the
fascinations of the scarlet, Molly is never at rest untd she has induced
her former acquaintance, Peggy, to become her sister in misery. The
fallen crave for companionship.
" There has been a remarkable diminution in the number of boys committed of late.
From September, 1847, to September, 1848, the total number was 284, and 50 of these
were sentenced to be whipped. Mr. Davis ascribes this decrease to the wlwlesome effect
Of flogging and to the increase ok kaoqed schools."
A satisfactory proof this, that the schoolmaster is the best antagonist
of Jack Ketch, and that flogging, however wholesome, is scarcely so
salutary as teaching. The greater the employment of the primer, the
less the need of the cat.
" Wo less than six prisoners have been under sentence of death for murder in the
year, and three were executed. The mental sufferings of all these arose not so much
from the dread of death as from their own recollection of the act of murder, all of them
describing their act as being vividly and perpetually present to their imaginations.
Surely, conscience—that terrible Nemesis—is herein the best
avenger. The murderer is continually tortured by the mental repetition
of his atrocity. He writhes in the hell of his remorse. Might he not—
■his personal slavery being secured, to society—might he not be wisely
left to the hourly horror of his existence ? Nevertheless, we hire the
hangman to preach to the world the sacredness of human life, by putting
to death a human creature !
" Mr. Davis describes the capital sentence as being held in extreme dread, [not " ex-
treme;" see above], and expresses his conviction, that if it were abolished there would
be far less security to human Ufe, many savage and vindictive animosities being held in
check by the fear of death alone."
No doubt Mr. Davis is sincere in his belief; as other excellent men,
before him, have held the like* sincerity. Worthy graziers believed there
would be far less security for their flocks, were men not hanged for
sheep-stealing ; townsfolk believed there would be far less security for
their purses and watches, were men not hanged for every kind of filching
and stealing:—
" The thirteen convicts ordered for execution were conveyed to Tyburn in five carts,
and executed according to their sentence ; most of them were boys, the eldest not above
twenty-two; some were greatly affected, others so hardened, that they ridiculed the
punishment of death, and laughed at their companions for being afraid of it."
The above will be found in the Annual Register of 1770, April 24. And
in this way were men hung up like dogs for the security of property
tliat is now doubly secure, though thirteen of our fellow-creatures are
not, at one swing, sacrificed at the shrine erected to chattels—the
Tyburn gallows of a Monday morning.
My Bonny Bark.—Those interesting Writings which appear in the
public prints under the head of " Markets," apprise us that there is
an enormous rise in the price of English Bark. It is evident from
this gratifying fact, that whatever may be the prospects of trade in
general, the trade in Bark is not likely to go—where we might expect
tl to find its way to—need we add—the dogs ?
LEGAL INTELLIGENCE.
R. Drtjmmond is going to bring m a Bill
by which Property will be more easily
transferable than it has been. For our
parts, we find our property only too
easily transferable as it is, and the effect
of our baker's and butcher's bills, intro-
duced last Christmas, has been to
render the duties of our purse-bearer
considerably lighter than before.
As for personal property, if anybody
really wishes to get rid of it, we recom-
mend him to purchase a Llama Paletot,
and having put his silk handkerchief
in one of the pockets behind, to walk
through St. Giles's, leaning on the arms of two talkative friends.
The plan of this Bill for the Conveyance of Property has been sug-
gested by the Parcels Delivery Company, which now conveys all kinds
of property in the most economical manner every day
We have glanced at this new Bill, and find that all the complicated
indentures will be exploded, and as to the formalities necessary to the
execution of any instrument, it will only be requisite to say,
■-" i've done the deed,
Didst thou not hear a noise 1" •>
We subjoin a few of the Concise Precedents which will take the placa
of the present cumbrous conveyances — just as express-trains liava
superseded stage-coaches.
1. Will of Jeremiah Snooks.
This is Hie last Will and Testament of Me, Jeremiah Snooks.—I
give all my things to my relations, to be divided among them, the best
wav they can.
N.B. If anybody grumbles about his share, or kicks up any row about
it, he isn't to have anything.
P.S. Codicil.—My nephew Ptolemy mustn't have that bay cob of mine
unless he gets two stone lighter before he rides her.
his
Jeremiah x Snooks.
mark.
2. Sale of B'lackaere.
Whereas Solomon Joshua Levy wants to buy my house and furni-
ture for £200. Now, this Indenture Witnesseth, "that if he comes down
with the rhino on Tuesday next at the "Black Boy and Trumpeter,"
Holborn, he may have it.
Mem.—I stood him a go of brandy byway of earnest. Jim Blunt.
3. Marriage Settlement.
Amelia Screw is going to marry Me, John Thomas. I '11 pay her
bills like a gentleman, and leave her pretty well off if I die before her.
Provided that she is never to give me cold meat for dinner, except
once a week.
N.B. If my mother-in-law as is to be stays in our house more than ten
days at a time, I may go to Heme Bay. John Thomas.
Amelia Screw.
4. Mortgage.
My name is Horatio Fastman, I'm desperately hard up for tin, and
I '11 moi-fi'i re my dog-cart and carpet-bag for £50 to Abraham Moses.
If I don't stump up the flimsy before next Derby day, of course A. M.
must have them altogether.
PUNCH WRONG FOR ONCE IN HIS LIFE.
It is seldom that Punch commits the smallest error, even by the
merest accident, but he pleads guilty of a misrepresentation in one of
his tableaux of last week, in which some individuals were shown as in
the act of smoking clay pipes at the Cider Cellars. The proprietor has
pointed out, in a polite note, the mistake of the artist, who naturally
thought that where there was so much singing, there would also be
some piping; but not being an habitue, his ideas on the subject were
less clear than they usually are upon things in general. We hasten to
correct this mistake, for it seems that the smoke arising from a clay
pipe is considered less respectable than the fumes emanating from a
cigar, and we would not, on any account, be instrumental to throwing
a cloud over an establishment on false or mistaken grounds^ and we
therefore give the Cider Cellars the fuli benefit of the exemption from
the evils of common clay which the proprietor repudiates.
a corporate engine.
We are informed by the Gateshead Observer, that on the Sedgbill
Railway there has been started a new engine, called " The Alderman."
We wonder if they ''stoke" the Alderman with turtle and venison.
117
THE CLEEGYMAN IN NEWGATE.
Ms. Davis—Ordinary of Newgate—has made his Annual Report of
the moral condition of his infected flock. Very tender indeed should
be the bowels of our Old Bailey shepherd. The West-end pastor, who
bandies the sins of miserable sinners m fine array, and closetted in many
pews, may—and always does—denounce iniquity and peccadillo with a
righteous and affecting vehemence. He turns fashionables inside out,
and shows the rough side of the tapestry. He thunders among the por-
celain of human clay till he makes it ring and reverberate. But it is
different with him when he approaches the wickedness of ignorance—
the crime of unawakened human nature. He looks around this Newgate
flock, and his heart is touched with the knowledge, that of his hundred
infected sheep, there may not be ten who ever knew the care of a shep-
herd. They nave been suffered to go astray, and in their wandering to
contract all kinds of diseases. Never have they realised the picture of
the Rydal sage—
" a young lamb's heart amid the full-grown flocks."
And with this conviction, tender indeed is the heart of the pastor
towards his fore-doomed charge. We are fain to hope that, under such
benign influence, Mr. Davis cogitated his Annual Report. Let us see.
" In 1843, [reports Mr. Davis] when persons sentenced to transportation were
ordered to be sent abroad, there were 727 transports; in 1844, 527; in 1845, 456; in
1846, 448; but as soon as it became known that transports were detained in England,
they rose in 1847 to 521, and in 1848 to 590."
The comfort of board and lodging in the Houses of Correction, with
instruction in trades, infers Mr. Davis, caused the greater number,
the increase being 521 and 590 on the previous 448. Thus, the laudable
desire to learn a trade, may have added somewhat to the apparent
number of thieves.
More than 50 men and boys are received in Newgate for one woman.
"Women," says the clergyman, "are generally rendered corrupt, in the
first instance, by those of their own sex, and not by men, as it is
generally imagined." A truth not commonly allowed. It is well
known in camps and barracks, that if Molly leave her village for the
fascinations of the scarlet, Molly is never at rest untd she has induced
her former acquaintance, Peggy, to become her sister in misery. The
fallen crave for companionship.
" There has been a remarkable diminution in the number of boys committed of late.
From September, 1847, to September, 1848, the total number was 284, and 50 of these
were sentenced to be whipped. Mr. Davis ascribes this decrease to the wlwlesome effect
Of flogging and to the increase ok kaoqed schools."
A satisfactory proof this, that the schoolmaster is the best antagonist
of Jack Ketch, and that flogging, however wholesome, is scarcely so
salutary as teaching. The greater the employment of the primer, the
less the need of the cat.
" Wo less than six prisoners have been under sentence of death for murder in the
year, and three were executed. The mental sufferings of all these arose not so much
from the dread of death as from their own recollection of the act of murder, all of them
describing their act as being vividly and perpetually present to their imaginations.
Surely, conscience—that terrible Nemesis—is herein the best
avenger. The murderer is continually tortured by the mental repetition
of his atrocity. He writhes in the hell of his remorse. Might he not—
■his personal slavery being secured, to society—might he not be wisely
left to the hourly horror of his existence ? Nevertheless, we hire the
hangman to preach to the world the sacredness of human life, by putting
to death a human creature !
" Mr. Davis describes the capital sentence as being held in extreme dread, [not " ex-
treme;" see above], and expresses his conviction, that if it were abolished there would
be far less security to human Ufe, many savage and vindictive animosities being held in
check by the fear of death alone."
No doubt Mr. Davis is sincere in his belief; as other excellent men,
before him, have held the like* sincerity. Worthy graziers believed there
would be far less security for their flocks, were men not hanged for
sheep-stealing ; townsfolk believed there would be far less security for
their purses and watches, were men not hanged for every kind of filching
and stealing:—
" The thirteen convicts ordered for execution were conveyed to Tyburn in five carts,
and executed according to their sentence ; most of them were boys, the eldest not above
twenty-two; some were greatly affected, others so hardened, that they ridiculed the
punishment of death, and laughed at their companions for being afraid of it."
The above will be found in the Annual Register of 1770, April 24. And
in this way were men hung up like dogs for the security of property
tliat is now doubly secure, though thirteen of our fellow-creatures are
not, at one swing, sacrificed at the shrine erected to chattels—the
Tyburn gallows of a Monday morning.
My Bonny Bark.—Those interesting Writings which appear in the
public prints under the head of " Markets," apprise us that there is
an enormous rise in the price of English Bark. It is evident from
this gratifying fact, that whatever may be the prospects of trade in
general, the trade in Bark is not likely to go—where we might expect
tl to find its way to—need we add—the dogs ?
LEGAL INTELLIGENCE.
R. Drtjmmond is going to bring m a Bill
by which Property will be more easily
transferable than it has been. For our
parts, we find our property only too
easily transferable as it is, and the effect
of our baker's and butcher's bills, intro-
duced last Christmas, has been to
render the duties of our purse-bearer
considerably lighter than before.
As for personal property, if anybody
really wishes to get rid of it, we recom-
mend him to purchase a Llama Paletot,
and having put his silk handkerchief
in one of the pockets behind, to walk
through St. Giles's, leaning on the arms of two talkative friends.
The plan of this Bill for the Conveyance of Property has been sug-
gested by the Parcels Delivery Company, which now conveys all kinds
of property in the most economical manner every day
We have glanced at this new Bill, and find that all the complicated
indentures will be exploded, and as to the formalities necessary to the
execution of any instrument, it will only be requisite to say,
■-" i've done the deed,
Didst thou not hear a noise 1" •>
We subjoin a few of the Concise Precedents which will take the placa
of the present cumbrous conveyances — just as express-trains liava
superseded stage-coaches.
1. Will of Jeremiah Snooks.
This is Hie last Will and Testament of Me, Jeremiah Snooks.—I
give all my things to my relations, to be divided among them, the best
wav they can.
N.B. If anybody grumbles about his share, or kicks up any row about
it, he isn't to have anything.
P.S. Codicil.—My nephew Ptolemy mustn't have that bay cob of mine
unless he gets two stone lighter before he rides her.
his
Jeremiah x Snooks.
mark.
2. Sale of B'lackaere.
Whereas Solomon Joshua Levy wants to buy my house and furni-
ture for £200. Now, this Indenture Witnesseth, "that if he comes down
with the rhino on Tuesday next at the "Black Boy and Trumpeter,"
Holborn, he may have it.
Mem.—I stood him a go of brandy byway of earnest. Jim Blunt.
3. Marriage Settlement.
Amelia Screw is going to marry Me, John Thomas. I '11 pay her
bills like a gentleman, and leave her pretty well off if I die before her.
Provided that she is never to give me cold meat for dinner, except
once a week.
N.B. If my mother-in-law as is to be stays in our house more than ten
days at a time, I may go to Heme Bay. John Thomas.
Amelia Screw.
4. Mortgage.
My name is Horatio Fastman, I'm desperately hard up for tin, and
I '11 moi-fi'i re my dog-cart and carpet-bag for £50 to Abraham Moses.
If I don't stump up the flimsy before next Derby day, of course A. M.
must have them altogether.
PUNCH WRONG FOR ONCE IN HIS LIFE.
It is seldom that Punch commits the smallest error, even by the
merest accident, but he pleads guilty of a misrepresentation in one of
his tableaux of last week, in which some individuals were shown as in
the act of smoking clay pipes at the Cider Cellars. The proprietor has
pointed out, in a polite note, the mistake of the artist, who naturally
thought that where there was so much singing, there would also be
some piping; but not being an habitue, his ideas on the subject were
less clear than they usually are upon things in general. We hasten to
correct this mistake, for it seems that the smoke arising from a clay
pipe is considered less respectable than the fumes emanating from a
cigar, and we would not, on any account, be instrumental to throwing
a cloud over an establishment on false or mistaken grounds^ and we
therefore give the Cider Cellars the fuli benefit of the exemption from
the evils of common clay which the proprietor repudiates.
a corporate engine.
We are informed by the Gateshead Observer, that on the Sedgbill
Railway there has been started a new engine, called " The Alderman."
We wonder if they ''stoke" the Alderman with turtle and venison.