the system. It is supposed that we are called upon to support the idle and able-bodied, who might work for their living, and this belief has brought in the suspicion that all are involved in the same contamination and degradation. And for the management of such persons officials of any sort are thought to be good enough; none, indeed, but those of a lower order would be connected with the work. The system is, therefore, carried out by Boards of Guardians (who, generally speaking, are chosen from the lower class of tradesmen in towns, and of farmers in the country) and by relieving officers; and for the internal management of large and difficult establishments, masters and matrons also of the lower middle class are selected.* Under these circum

sight, when aged couples drag out their dreary existence under the same roof, but are unable to meet or hold any communication.

* The facts that are continually being brought to light about masters of workhouses must have enlightened the public by this time as to the character of many of them. Bad ones are passed on from one Board of Guardians to another, just as servants frequently go from one family to another, their true character, concealed by their masters, who are glad to get rid of them. A very general horror is entertained by the poor of burial by "the parish." It seems to be a lingering spirit of reverence for the dead which, though often unreasonable in individual instances, we are unwilling to blame. For who can wonder at it when revelations are occasionally made like those which have recently appeared in the newspapers, of the master of a workhouse trafficking with the bodies of the dead, and changing them at the hospitals, so that friends and relations cannot be sure who it is they are following to the grave? It is a very general belief,

stances it is hardly possible that the system can be otherwise than a harsh and unfeeling one. The total want of sympathy between the relievers and the relieved can produce no other result. The power and authority of masters and matrons may be considered almost unlimited; for, in some cases, they are the sole channels of communication between the poor and the guardians, and have, therefore, the power of giving their own version of everything that happens. How grossly this power is often abused will be gathered from some of the letters in metropolitan workhouses. It will hardly be believed, that in one instance the matron never spoke to one poor bedridden woman for two years, in revenge for an offence committed by her in simply answering a question of one of the guardians which was supposed to involve the matron in blame. Yet such a woman was thought to be capable of governing several hundred persons, and of inspiring respect at least, if not love.

We may remind our readers of the various and numerous classes of persons who come under the personal control of these officials; and we may here give a description of the first workhouse of London, the aim and intention of which was very much what it is, or rather, perhaps, should be, at the present day. "Bridewell Hospital was founded prior to, and in consequence of the want of, a national provision for the poor. It was intended as a

or at least suspicion, amongst the poor that the bodies of paupers are placed in their coffins without clothing of any kind. We know that this was done a few years ago, but we cannot speak with certainty of the present time. There may well be a prejudice against pauper funerals.

provision for certain and specified classes of the poor, as a house of correction for vagrants and other suspected persons, and as an establishment for the training of children, when of proper age, in good occupation or science profitable to the commonwealth. It was, in fact, the first workhouse, the first house of correction, and the first reformatory in the kingdom; and it was intended as a relief, not only for the city of London, but for the suburbs of the same, and for the whole county of Middlesex." For an undertaking of such magnitude as is here described, some very efficient management is surely demanded. In many respects a supervision superior to that of hospitals is required, for there we have but one class of persons to deal with, viz. the bodily sick; here a variety of minds and characters as great as the different classes who are admitted, and all requiring judicious moral treatment.

The chief aim of those who have considered the subject of workhouse reform is to suggest a remedy for the present state of things, in providing other influences that may impart some feeling of sympathy into the system. It is not an alteration of the system itself that is demanded, but rather the introduction of the law of love into it.

The publications we have named, excepting one, are written by women, and though they are of small dimensions, they may be taken as strong indications of a growing interest in the subject of which they treat. Women, therefore, may be said to have first enlisted public sympathy in behalf of the better management of our workhouses, as they have already done for the better management of our hospitals. And in matters connected

with the poor, the sick, and the aged, it would seem to be especially the mission of women to work a reformation. In so doing, they will not only be blessed themselves, but become the means of blessing to countless numbers.

The object of Mrs. Jameson's book is to show the necessity of men and women working together in the "communion of labour," and the truth of this principle is proved by the success of those institutions in which that law is obeyed. It can scarcely be said to be the case in our English workhouses, where the one matron and the pauper nurses are the sole representatives of the feminine influence so especially needed in every institution for the poor. If the theory is a true one, our disregard of it sufficiently accounts for all the failures and abuses in our institutions for the poor established by law. Poor Law Commissioners did not take this element into consideration in framing their new system of laws. Ladies have hitherto been told triumphantly by masters of workhouses that it is against the law that they should be admitted as visitors. Boards of Guardians certainly neither contemplated nor desired the help of women in their ungracious task. They would be too tender-hearted, too sympathizing, or too meddling and interfering with that which belonged to men only. These, and such like fears, have haunted the minds of officials, and will continue to haunt them, for some time to come, to the exclusion of women from a large portion of what may be considered their proper sphere of work. The following remarks are made by Mrs. Jameson, in the preface to her first lecture on Sisters of Charity," and her wide experience of charitable institutions abroad enables her to write with confidence on the subject. Speaking of the

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numerous letters she has received on the subject of workhouses, she goes on to say :

Surely it is worth considering whether the administration of these institutions might not be improved by the aid of kindly and intelligent women sharing with the overseers the task of supervision. Can any one doubt that the element of power, disunited from the element of Christian love, must in the long run become a hard, cold, cruel machine; and that this must of necessity be the result where the masculine energy acts independent of the feminine sympathies? Since it is allowed on all hands that we want institutions for the training of efficient 'sisters of charity' for all offices connected with the sick, the indigent, the fallen, and the ignorant among us, wh should not our parish workhouses be made available for the purpose? In such an application of means and funds already at hand, it appears to me that there would be both good sense and economy; therefore it ought to recommend itself to our so-called practical men."

The only step hitherto made in this direction has been the appointment of committees of lady visitors in two or three instances, and this, though apparently a small measure in itself, is in fact the introduction of an entirely new principle, which may in time be developed into much good. But "what is wanted," says Mrs. Jameson, “is a domestic, permanent, and ever-present influence, not occasional inspection." Then it may be asked, where are we to find the women trained for such works as these, for we are far from saying that every woman is fitted for them? Even those most anxious to devote themselves thus require a training before they can enter upon such duties, and this is not easily attainable in England. It