But though these hapless beings may be identified, and though the causes that have urged them to enter on such a horrible career are not such as to destroy the hope of their amendment, it may be supposed that the circumstances of their life,—the constant indulgence in vice,-the continued presence in scenes of profligacy, the actions witnessed, and the language heard-may so indurate the feelings, that there are no elements left in the head or heart, on which the process of reformation can be brought to operate. Were we to form our estimate indeed from what is seen and heard in the streets, we should at once conclude that the wretches are thoroughly depraved, and that all human means must fail to convince them of their guilt, or turn them from the iniquity of their proceedings. But it is in the solitude of the prison, and the sufferings of the hospital, that their real character must be studied, when compassion unlocks the secret stores of hidden thought and smothered emotion. It was in these haunts of misery that Duchatelet examined the character of this unfortunate class, and collected the information most essential to effecting any amelioration in their condition and conduct.

They are conscious of their degradation, and are a subject of horror even to themselves; it would almost appear that their contempt and loathing for their abject state is more intense than what is shown to them by the innocent and the virtuous. They suffer the punishment which Persius declares to be the most appropriate for the worst of criminals

"The haunts of virtue meet their anxious sight
In all their glow of loveliness and light;
Madly they feel no home for them is there,
And turn away in anguish and despair."

We shall extract a few anecdotes illustrating this important fact:

"Whilst I was employed in these researches, a nurse, a respectable matron, was engaged in the gaol; this woman became in some degree familiar with the imprisoned girls of the town, and used to converse with them in the yards; but she soon incurred their contempt. What,' they exclaimed, she treats us as if we were honest women; it is quite abominable!' Being one day in a ward of the hospital, unperceived by its inmates, I heard an unfortunate girl exclaim, as she looked upon the clear blue sky, 'How good is God, to send such lovely weather to us! He treats us better than we deserve.' And all in the ward exclaimed with one voice, 'That is very true!' Mere reflection on their degraded condition has driven many of these unfortunate beings to insanity. Some time ago M. Pariset directed my attention to one in such a state at l'Hospice de la Salpêtrière; this girl never speaks in public, but when she believes herself alone, she incessantly repeats, 'How wretched am I to have forsaken the paths of virtue!

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How can I bear universal contempt? How can I live in this state of humiliation?' In general there is nothing that these unfortunate beings dread more than a meeting with those who have known them before their degradation. I saw several in the hospital, whose sickness was occasioned by the sudden oppression of the heart, which these interviews produced. I shall hereafter refer to the case of one who became insane from the impression produced on her mind by the accidental sight of one of her countrymen.

The records of the lunatic asylums in this country confirm the assertion, that remorse in these unfortunate beings frequently produces mental alienation; an intelligent physician connected with one of those institutions, assured us that they formed more than one-half of the female cases in the asylum over which he presided. He added an observation, which we do not find in Duchatelet, that, in a very large proportion of instances, he found that this class of lunatics had a strong tendency towards suicide. Every person that has searched the records of the Bureau des Mœurs, and those of the prefecture of police at Paris, has noticed the frequency of the observations "faiblesse de tête" and "l'état voisin de l'aliénation mentale," in the registers of unfortunate women. The researches of Esquirol and Cullerier, published in the 32d vol. of the Dictionnaire des Sciences Médicales, confirm the frequency of this tendency to insanity in the class of prostitutes, and also the fact that it is owing to moral rather than medical causes. We have been informed by several superintendents of police, that they are constantly struck by "the childishness" of the unfortunate girls brought to the station-house, and they declare that in many cases it almost amounts to idiocy. Pride is not destroyed by feelings of self-degradation; on the contrary, it becomes intensely anxious and jealous. An insult is never forgiven by one of this class; respectful tenderness is rarely forgotten. Mrs. Fry's experience in Newgate showed that it was through their self-love that depraved women were most susceptible of beneficial impressions; and Duchatelet mentions a physician who restored order to one of the most troublesome hospitals in Paris, by simply touching his hat, as a salute to the inmates, whenever he entered a ward.

Both in England and France, all who have inquired into this subject agree that these degraded beings are almost utterly ignorant of religion. Several anecdotes are related to show the wondrous extent of this ignorance, but perhaps that which we are about to relate is one of the most striking. Some short time ago, a girl of the town was seized with consumption, and, as she approached the last stages of the disease, she became anxious to procure some information on religious subjects. She

sent to the circulating library to which she had been for years a constant customer, to procure a religious book, and obtained an imperfect copy of the Pilgrim's Progress. She could make nothing of this sublime allegory, and at length sent for the clergyman from whom we had the anecdote. Her letter was a very creditable production, both in style and composition; it proved that she possessed considerable powers of mind. The benevolent clergyman, one of those who do good in secret, who never turn away from any opportunity of exercising true Christian benevolence, obeyed the summons, and found that she had mistaken John Bunyan's work for one of the Gospels, and regarded it as an authentic history.

But, though ignorant of religion, these unfortunates frequently display great fanaticism and superstition. It is a very old remark, that in catholic countries they form the most bigoted portion of the population, and were always remarkable for their steady attendance at an auto-da-fé; a similar remark was made during the No-popery riots in London, and the Church and King disturbances at Birmingham; these wretches were the loudest in proclaiming their attachment to a creed of which they knew nothing but the name. Duchatelet declares that they are remarkable for outward observances in Paris, making the sign of the cross whenever they meet a funeral, and struggling to secure a portion of the branches distributed on Palm Sunday. We have heard the same observation made by a catholic priest in Dublin; he added, that they generally seek out monks and friars to prescribe their penance, and sedulously avoid coming in contact with the secular clergy; from the same authority we learned that a crucifix forms frequently part of the furniture of a brothel, and that its inhabitants desire to sleep under the protection of holy

water.

Duchatelet declares that the instances in which all feelings of delicacy disappear are exceedingly rare, and his observations are confirmed by the inspectors of our prisons and hospitals. It has been also remarked, that ostentatious vice is on the decline; indeed, there are few denizens of London who are not aware of the great improvement in outward decency that has resulted from the institution of the new police. A reference to the reports of the superintendents has convinced us that the real improvement is of much greater amount than is usually suspected, and that it is steadily progressive; though, for reasons sufficiently obvious, the proofs cannot be exhibited in a statistical form. But it is an encouragement to those who hope to devise measures of repression and reformation, that there is a vicissitude in the forms of

vice, and that no specific crime is sufficiently obstinate to resist a general improvement in the morals of the population.

M. Duchatelet investigates the manner in which these unfortunate beings employ their leisure time, and comes to the conclusion that nine-tenths of them do absolutely nothing. A few work with the needle or read romances, and still fewer practise music. All, he says, are very fond of dancing, and they have balls in different parts of Paris, which are crowded every evening. On this subject it would be difficult to gain precise information in London, but an inspector of police declares that he has remarked the abundance of small circulating libraries in suspicious localities, and he had the kindness to furnish some particulars respecting the class of literature most in demand in these places. Tragic romances of the wildest and most improbable kind are the greatest favourites-one called the Onehanded Monk was always sought for with avidity; fashionable novels were rare, and the entire Waverley school out of favour; strong passion and violent excitement were the qualities most popular. But what may appear singular is a remark made also by Duchatelet, that obscene and licentious books seem to be studiously avoided. They are the instruments of corruption, and probably are therefore shunned by those who are the victims of their pernicious influences.

The observation that loose women are negligent of cleanliness is old and common; indeed, the most difficult_regulations to enforce are those that have been devised by the Parisian police for a compulsory attention to neatness. It is even said that those who are most luxurious in the outer dress, and most ostentatious in the display of ornament, are the most negligent in the more important cases. There is more truth in the common aphorism, "Cleanliness is next to godliness," than is usually imagined. Gluttony is also a frequent vice, and drunkenness is still more common. Duchatelet declares that, in almost every instance within his knowledge, strong liquors were sought as a means of stifling reflection; but the habit of indulgence increases with frightful rapidity, and proves to be the most serious obstacle to reformation. The sin of lying is carried to such an extent, that, even in matters of indifference, falsehood is systematically preferred to truth; and this is one of the difficulties that has most frequently tried the patience and perseverance of the humane. Violent bursts of anger, and an uncontrolled fury of language, are of ordinary occurrence, but these seem to result more from a childish weakness of intellect than from natural depravity. We must add, from the criminal records of England, a special evil that Duchatelet has left unnoticed, the tendency of

prostitution to generate an enmity to all social law, and to place the wretched individuals in the position of patronesses of crime. Excluded from the pale of society themselves, they feel naturally attached to those who are banished from other causes, and seem disposed to form a federative union against the system from which they are exiled. The superintendents of police have averred that they are forced to keep a strict watch over many of these women, who would not on any account join in a theft, because they are always ready to afford shelter and protection to the shoplifter and the pickpocket.

It is probably to the same feeling of exclusion from society that we must attribute the mutual charity and benevolence for which the class of prostitutes is especially remarkable. The French and English accounts agree that this is one of the most marked features in their character; instances have been known, in some of our prisons, of wretches almost depriving themselves of necessaries to aid in clothing one of the sisterhood, who, when the period of her liberation arrived, found herself nearly in a state of nudity. Duchatelet declares that their benevolence is by no means confined to their own class :

"My attention has been directed to several of these girls, who in seasons of distress allowed the aged, the infirm, or large families in their neighbourhood, a loaf per week, and sometimes per day. I have already mentioned instances of girls, who, unable to support their aged parents by their daily labour, had recourse to the wages of prostitution to supply the deficiency; I have been assured that the number of these unfortunates is very considerable, but I have no means of estimating the amount.” Our author maintains that these unhappy women are distinguished by the strength of their maternal feelings

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"I have met with several who were disconsolate at not having children; they declared, with extraordinary energy, that the attentions which these little beings would require, would afford them pleasure sufficient to drown the memory and the pain of their degradation. One of them, with tears in her eyes, said to me, that the dignity of a mother would elevate her in her own estimation above the abject state into which she had fallen, and that she felt herself capable of acquiring the respect of those who should witness the zeal with which she would fulfil the duties imposed upon women by the laws of nature..

"It follows from this, that there are no better nurses than prostitutes, whether we look to the care or the attachment they show to their own children and those entrusted to their charge. One of them, having lost a boy, about a month old, would have gone mad with grief had she not been engaged to suckle a foundling. Another, a lodger in a small room, having been committed for some delinquency to La Force, felt her separation from her child so keenly, that she pined away from day to day, and, in order to save her life, it became necessary that she should be liberated before the term of her imprisonment expired.”