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1816.]

Dramatic Register-Covent-garden.

have been an improvement to the shape of Mrs Brereton.

The Oratorio season commenced at this theatre on Friday, March 1, under the most flattering auspices; the theatre being crowded at an early hour with one of those respectable audiences usual ou such occasions. The first performance was a selection from the Messiah of Handel, Beethoven's Mount of Olives, and a miscellaneous act, with Beethoven's Sinfonia of the Battle of Vittoria as a finale; under the superintendance of Sir Geo. Smart as conductor, and Mr. H. Snart as leader.-Two new singers made their debut on this occasion: Miss Goodall, a pupil of Sir Geo. Smart, and Mr. Wülfingh, from Germany, a bass singer and musician of no common order. The lady possesses a sweet and manageable voice, and does great credit to her master: she was encored in her first song from the Messiah, and gave the beautiful hymn of Eve, "How cheerful along the gay mead," twice, with sweetness and effect. Mr. Wülfingh is evidently an accomplished musician, but his voice wants power as a solo singer in so large a theatre; his execution is clear, and articulation distinct. Miss Burrell's extraordinary and deep-toned voice was employed to much advantage, particularly in the duct of "Prendero quel Brunettino" with Mrs. Dickons. Mrs. Salmon gratified and delighted the audience with her chaste and brilliant execution of two fine songs; in the last of which, "Sventura van mi lagno," she was accompanied on the flute by Mr. Nicholson, in such a style of excellence as is rarely heard. His introductory movement was rapturously applauded.

These performances have continued on alternate nights with Covent-garden with undiminished effect, and reflect great credit on Sir Geo. Smart.

This theatre bas in preparation a new tragedy and a new farce, and has announced the revival of the musical afterpiece of The Two Misers. A new tragic heroine, of whom green-room report speaks in terms of unusual panegyric, is also about to be brought forward.

COVENT GARDEN.

At this theatre Miss O'Neil has added to the list of her performances, the character of Calista in the Fair Penitent, without any diminution of her already established fame. The proprietors of this theatre have disgraced themselves, as patentees of a theatre-royal, by suffering the exhibitions (extraordinary

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enough we allow) of a female ropedancer or walker, of the name of Madame Sachi (at an expence we understand of 40l. per night), who ascends from the stage to the gallery and returns, wheels a barrow on the rope, &c. to the astonishment of the whole house. While the proprietors of this theatreroyal thus rob Astley's, the Circus, Sadler's Wells, and the Olympic Pavilion, of a fair part of their exhibitions, and where alone it could have been in character, they should in return allow these restricted establishments the use of tra gedy, comedy, and opera, in fair rivalry. Happy are we to hear that the Drurylane managers have wisely refused the offers of a Mons. Ducrow, who would have done all these marvellous things, and many other equally astonishing into the bargain.

March 12th, a new musical play called Guy Mannering, from the pen of Mr. Terry, of this theatre, after the celebrated novel of that name, was performed for the first time. The plot follows the novel so closely, that we shall not take up our columns, nor our readers' time, in detailing it. It was well acted, and met with a favourable reception. The music, by Bishop, Atwood, Davy, Whitaker, and T. Cooke, is throughout excellent; and one of the songs, the words of which are attributed to Joanna Baillie, is superior to any thing we remember in an English opera for years. It is still performed with undiminished success, and is likely to be a favourite.

On Saturday, March 18, Miss O'Neil made her first attempt in comedy in England; a line of acting in which she often indulged when in Ireland. She chose for her debut Lady Teazle in the School for Scandal. Her success in this part, and the reception she met with, will, we hope, lead her to similar efforts in other comedies.

The Oratorios at this theatre commenced on Friday, March 8, with a graud selection from the works of the best ancient and modern composers, under the direction of Mr. C.J. ASHLEY. Miss Stephens saug "Angels over bright and fair," with all her usual sweetness and feeling, and accompanied Braham in the beautiful duet of "Together let us range the fields." Madame Marconi sang a polacca in the Italian language, with considerable power and execution. In the course of the evening, Mons. Drouet, from Paris, performed a con certo on the german flute, with wonderful powers of execution; but we much

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Report on the State of the King's Bench Prison.

doubt whether, in the more genuine character of the instrument, he possesses greater abilities than our countrymen Ash and Nicholson.

[April 1,

The Oratorios have been repeated on the alternate nights with Drury-lane, and with deserved and undiminished success.

REPORT

Of the COMMITTEEE of the HOUSE of COMMONS appointed to enquire into the State of the KING'S BENCH, FLEET, and MARSHALSEA PRISONS, 1815. KING'S BENCH PRISON. Your Committee find the Marshalsea of the King's Bench to be under the jurisdiction of the Court of King's Bench, and that it is a national and not a county prison. Persons arrested for debt, or confined under the sentence or for contempt of Court, are imprisoned therein.

The Marshal is, at the recommendation of the Chief Justice of the King's Bench, appointed by the King, either by sign pianual or by letters patent. William Jones, esq. the present Marshal, was nominated by sign manual on the 19th of March, 1791, and he holds his office, according to the terms of the warrant, "for so long time as he shall behave himself well, and shall be resident within the walls or rules of the prison, and no longer".

There is no salary attached to the of fice of Marshal of the King's Bench; his income is derived from fees on commitmeats and discharges, and from other sources, such as the rent of rooms in the prison, profits on the sale of porter, ale, and wine, the rent of the coffee-house, &c. &c.; but his principal emoluments arise from granting the rules, or the liberty of living without the walls of the prison, within a certain area. The average gross amount of revenue derived from these sources, may be estimated annually, for the last three years, at 5,000l. 15s. 8d. according to an account delivered in by the Marshal; the expenses and outgoings, including the payment of clerks, turnkeys, watchmen, taxes, &c. &c. are 1,730l. 98. 6d. leaving a net income to the Marshal of 3,270l. 6s. 2d. To this must be added the fees taken on bails and judgments, which are calculated at 320l. per annum; making on the whole a sum of not less than 3,5901. Amongst these emoluments, that on beer sold in the prison amounts to 8721. and that on the rules to 2,8231. per annum.

The officers of the prison are all in the appointment of the Marshal, and consist as follow:

The Deputy Marshal is Mr. Josiah Boydell. This gentleman has nothing to do with the management of the prison, and has no salary, but his emoluments arise from fecs taken under the rules and

orders of the Court, dated 1759, antl which amount from 350l. to 400l. per annum, and would, it is stated, be considerably increased, if the fees were not voluntarily relinquished in all cases of poverty and distress. The duties of this officer are to attend the Chief Justice in court, and to accompany him to the Royal levees.

The situation of Clerk of the Papers was held by a nephew of Mr. Jones, whp is dead. No new appointment has taken place, but the Marshal receives the profits of the office, which, arising from fees, may be estimated at from 600l. to 700!. per annum.

The office of Clerk of the Rules is held by the Marshal himself; who pays also three clerks fixed salaries.-There are in addition, three Turnkeys and four Watchmen, whose incomes are derived partly from salaries and partly from fees and emoluments arising out of the prison.

The Chaplain is the Rev. William Evans, who is appointed by the Marshal: he has no salary, but he receives a fee on the commitment of each prisoner, which is paid to the Clerks of the Judges at their chambers.

The prison contains within the walls about 200 rooms, eight of which are called state rooms, and are let for 2s. 6d. each per week, unfurnished; the remaining 192 are (or ought to be) occupied by the prisoners, who are compelled to pay weekly 1s. for a single room, also unfurnished: if two persons live in the same room 6d. each, if three 4d. But the Marshal states, that he never demands any rent from those who are unable to pay. On a prisoner's arrival at the gate, he is called upon to pay his commitment fees, which amount to 10s. 2d. Your Committee have been assured that, whether the fees be paid or not, he receives on demand a chum ticket (as it is called) which is a ticket of admission to some room in the prison. The principle upon which this chummage takes place may be thus explained: Supposing the 192 rooms in the prison are occupied by one pri soner each, and there is an arrival of fresh persons, which in term time often occurs to the number of 20 or 80 of a night,

1816.]

Report on the State of the King's Bench Prison.

and chum tickets are demanded from the chum-master; if the prisoner so requiring a ticket is of decent appearance and has the air of good circumstances, one is given him upon a room already occupied by a person of his station in life; but if the applicant be poor, he receives his ticket upon a room held by one who is enabled to pay him out, that is to say, to give him so much per week, which generally amounts to 5s. whereby he yields to the existing occupier the whole right to his room, and pays for his lodgings with persons of his own class and situation: so that it is not uncommon to find six or eight persons of the poorer classes sleeping two in a bed, or on the floor, in rooms of the dimensions of 16 feet by 13; some also of these sleep at the tap on benches and tables, and as many as 48 have slept there at one time.

No care seems to be taken to acquaint the prisoners, on their first entrance of the prison, that a chum ticket is to be obtained on application. Some have been several days within the walls paying a heavy rent for their lodgings, before they learned from their fellow prisoners that they had a legal right to a share of a room. The ordinary procceding is for one of the turnkeys to take the prisoner on his arrival to the coffee-house, the master of which provides a room at the cost of about 3s. a night, or a lodging is engaged from some one of that numerous class of persons who, having been long in the prison, gain their livelihoods by letting out their own rooms, or their share of a room, to new comers. Eight and ten shillings a night have been given for a bed; but the usual price is from fourteen shillings to one guinea per week.

Great abuses prevail in the whole system, and the orders and regulations of the Marshal are nugatory. Of the 192 rooms in the prison, though there were 440 pri30ners within the walls, 80 were occupied singly; many of the other rooms were occupied by six persons, or more, of the poorer classes. Mr. Burnet, a prisoner, and by profession a surgeon, and who gratuitously attends the sick, informed your committee, that such was the crowded state of some of the rooms, and the consequent offensive smell, that, if he had not been used to an hospital, he could not have borne it; and that a corpulent patient under his care was getting into a bad way, from the crowded state of his apartment.

In some of the rooms, when your committee visited them, there were five or six persons; not including women and chil

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dren, of whom there were within the walls, on the 13th of March, 180.

Besides the 440 persons confined within the walls of the prison, there were 220, on the 13th of March, who enjoyed the benefit of the rules; these rules extend in circumference about two miles and a half. But it is ordered by a rule of the court of King's Bench, of the 35th Geo. III. that all taverns, alehouses, and places licensed for public entertainment, should be excluded out of and deemed no part of the said rules. With these exceptions, and with the permission of the Marshal, any prisoner for debt may live in any house within the precincts of the abovementioned district. The Marshal, on an application for this permission, takes security from the applicants by way of indemnity for the debt with which they stand charged; and the purchase is inade on the following terms:-If the prisoner takes the rules for a debt of 100. or more, eight guineas is demanded for the bond, stamp, and other fees, and four guineas for every succeeding 100%.; if the sum be large, and the security good, a fee is sometimes taken in a smaller proportion; if the debt be under 100l. six or five guineas are demande. But in many instances the rules are given without expense: and some persons are now within the rules, who have paid no thing for that permission: the Marshal indeed grants these rules as a mode of clearing the prison, and in 1813, a great number of persons were admitted to them by a public notice circulated in the pri son, which gave that liberty upon the claimant finding proper security, and paying only for the stamp. The profits arising from the rules are very considerable: Mr. Jones states, that he once received 3001, from one person for granting them; and that the annual average value of this source of his emoluments amounts to 2,600l.

There are also day-rules, which any prisoner can obtain during term time, by permission of the Marshal, upon sending a petition to the clerk of the day-rules, which petition is presented to the court of King's Bench, and the liberty is so granted; the fee paid on this by cach prisoner, is 4s. 2d. which is divided in the manner set forth in the table of fees. The safe return of the prisoners within the rules, is considered as sufficiently secured by their recognizances, and those within the walls, give a bond to the tipstaff, renewable every term, the expense of which is three guineas. When the sum for which a prisoner is detained is

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Report on the State of the King's Bench Prison.

small, and under 6001. the tipstaff can of his own authority, and at his own risk, consent to his applying for a day-rule; when the debt amounts to a larger sum, a special application must be inade to Mr. Jones, who requires security before he will consent to the rule; but in case of a prisoner not being able to find such security, he may avail himself of a dayrule, by giving the tipstaff one guinea, who furnishes a man to take care that the person does not escape, on whom the expense of maintaining this guard falls; the prisoner may be out of the prison from nine in the morning to nine at night. The profits to the Marshal from the dayrules, amount to 2231. per annum.

Besides these, there is a manner by which a prisoner has been permitted to go out of the prison, which is known by the name of a run on the key." It is a liberty granted by some of the officers of the prison to any of the prisoners, to go into the rules for the day.

The receipt of money on the part of the turnkeys opens a wide field for every species of abuse; and the mere circumstance, of their considering themselves as liable to the payment of the debt, neither lessens the impropriety of disobedience to the commands of a superior, nor changes the real nature of the transaction, which is neither more nor less than the taking of a bribe to commit a breach of their duty.

There is no allowance in the King's Bench, for coals, nor bedding, nor even blankets, except from the occasional charity of individuals.

There is no infirmary within the walls of the prison, and no medical attendance whatever,

Mr. Burnet has been a prisoner for four or five months. He informed your committee, that he gratuitously attends the sick, and that he has occasionally furnished money to purchase medicines for those who required them. On the 16th of March, there were under his own attendance about 30 sick prisoners. He adds also, that within his own knowledge the distresses are very great, for want of medical relief; and that it is his opinion, that the dirt and filth suffered to accumulate at the back of the prison are greatly prejudicial to the health of the prisoners.

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The number of deaths within the prison, smount, in 10 years, to 96.

In respect of the morals of the prison, drunkenness is most common, and there is a constant sale of spirituous liquors. Mr. Jones says, he has information of ten

[April 1,

places where they are sold; and another witness states, that on the staircase where he resides, there is a sort of public-house kept, where spirits are not only sold to be carried away, but that people assemble there of an evening to drink them; that he is disturbed by the riotous intoxication in his vicinity, and that, from the strong smell of gin, if the officers visit d the room, they must discover the prac

tice.

Of the extent to which gambling is carried, the committee have not learnt; for they observe, that though complaints are readily made on matters where the rules or want of rules of the prison affect the comfort of the prisoners; yet where their own indulgencies are concerned, they are

not so communicative.

They do not complain of extravagance of living, or criminal dissipation, or those habits of self-indulgence.by which creditors are defrauded, property dissipated, and morals tainted. There is, however, a practice, which, though it would he injudicious altogether to prevent, might still be put under regulation. The practice alluded to arises out of the racketgrounds. For a long period, a portion of the court has been divided into four racket-grounds, which are held by six masters; the successor to each ground pays something to the first occupant, on his quitting the prison, partly for the purchase of the rackets, and partly for the good-will.

Your committee observe, that though the Rev. Mr. Evans be Chaplain to the prison, yet, from his age and infirmities, he hardly ever attends; and the weekly service is not always performed by the same individual. Any other duty, besides reading the service and preaching once every Sunday, does not seem to be considered as within the province of the Chaplain or his deputy. The attendance in chapel is small, and neither the Marshal nor the officers of the prison think it their duty to be present. Under these circumstances, where no example is set by those who are in authority, your committee are not surprised at the neglect with which the sabbath day is treated within the walls of the King's Bench.

Your committee see, by a rule of court in 1781, that the Marshal is ordered not to suffer the wives and children of any of the prisoners to lodge in the prison, under any pretence whatsoever. On the 13th of March, 1815, there were 180 women and children, not prisoners, residing within the walls of the King's Bench. Independent of the bad consequences

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thus arising from the over-crowding of the prison, the result of this indiscriminate admission of women and children of all ages and descriptions, there are moral evils connected with the subject that strongly weigh on the minds of your committee. It is in evidence, in the report of a former committee of the house, that a system of early prostitution was the effect of the introduction of female children within the walls, thus exposing them to the contaminating manners of a prison. The inquiries of your committee have satisfied them, that, as it is at present administered, the King's Bench exhibits scenes of vice and debauchery, the contemplation of which must aggravate these evils. Women of all descriptions are here freely and without inquiry admitted; and men, women, and children, sleep in discriminately in the same room.

The King's Bench prison cannot conveniently hold more than 400 persons: Mr. Jones indeed says it is capable of containing 500; but, considering the size of the rooms, and the necessity of having some single apartments for the accommodation of persons under sentence of the courts of justice, your committee conceive that two prisoners in each room are as many as ought to be so placed: some further accommodation is therefore wanting, as, during the last year, nearly 600 persons have at one time been confined within the walls of the prison.

It is the decided opinion of your committee, that the mode of remuneration arising out of fees paid by the prisoner, and by emoluments made at the expense

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of those who are confided to his charge, is the most objectionable means by which a salary is given to the keeper of a prison.

The Marshal, Mr. Jones, from all that appeared to your committee, is not disposed to press upon the poverty of the class of persons whom he has under his charge; the evidence before them, however, warrants your committee in stating it to be their opinion, that he is little acquainted with what occurs in his prison; he avows, himself, that he seldom or ever enters within its walls; and the numerous contradictions given to his evidence by others, who are in the constant habit of seeing and hearing what is really going on, would have left no doubt of that being the case, even if he had not acknowledged it. A keeper of a prison, receiving from it a net annual income of 3,5901. and not daily inspecting and visiting the prison, and not being personally acquainted with all that is transacted therein, seems to your committee to prove the existence of a state of things that ought not to be suf fered to continue.

It appears therefore on the whole to your committee most advisable, that in case the judges of the King's Bench should not have time to enter into a minute investigation upon the subject, that a commission should issue from the crown, to form rules and regulations for the better government of the prison of the King's Bench; that the plan should be submitted to parliament, and that some legislative enactment sholud take place upon the subject.

(To be concluded in our next.)

NEW ACTS,

PASSED IN THE THIRD CESSION OF THE FIFTH PARLIAMENT OF THE UNITED

KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.-55 GEO. III. (1815.) [The figure which follows the date of each Act, denotes the number of sheets of which it consists: each sheet is sold for THREE-PENCE.]

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CXXVIII. An Act to enable his Majesty to acquire Ground necessary for Signal and Telegraph Stations. June 29.-1.

The Admiralty may authorize persons to survey and mark out lands for signal or telegraph stations. If the holders refuse to sell

or accept the consideration offered, two persons may put his majesty's officer in pos session, and a jury be summoned, who shall find the compensation to be made In cases where lands are taken for any term of years, all erections for the public service shall be removed, on delivering up the lands to the owners. Appeal to be made to the Court of Exchequer, if in England or Ireland, and to the Court of Session if in Scotland.

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