"5. The regularity of their lives almost secures them against disease. A physician, however, is appointed to attend the prison, a room is appropriated for the reception of the sick or hurt, and nurses to attend them. The effect of the new system has been seen in no particular more evidently than in the diminution of disease among the convicts. "6. Religious instruction was one of the original remedies prescribed for the great moral disease, which the present penal system is calculated to cure. Divine service is generally performed every Sunday, in a large room appropriated solely for the purpose. Some clergyman or pious layman volunteers his services, and discourses are delivered, suited to the situation and capacities of the audience. The prisoners in the cells are denied this indulgence; good books are likewise distributed among them.

"7. Corporal punishments are strictly prohibited, whatever offence may have been committed. The keepers carry no weapons, not even a stick. The solitary cells and low diet have on all occasions been found amply sufficient to bring down the most determined spirit, to tame the most hardened villain that ever entered them. Of the truth of this there are striking cases on record. Some veterans in vice, with whom it was necessary to be severe, have declared their preference of death by the gallows, to a further continuance in that place of torment. In the cells, the construction of which renders conversation among those confined in them difficult, the miserable man is left to the greatest of all possible punishments, his own reflections. His food, which consists of only half a pound of bread per day, is given him in the morning; in the course of a few days or weeks the very nature of the being is changed, and there is no instance of any one having given occasion for the infliction of this punishment a second time. Such is the impression which the reports of its effects have left among the convicts, that the very dread of it is sufficient to prevent the frequent commission of those crimes, for which it is the known punishment, as swearing, impudence, rudeness, quarrelling, indolence repeated, or wilful injury to the tools, or to articles of manufacture.

"The fear of the cells is also increased from other causes. The convicts are well acquainted with the general principles of the system pursued; and hearing the grating of the stone saw, or the noise of the nail hammer, they naturally reflect, that while they themselves are idle, their comparatively happy fellow convicts are working out their daily expenses and laying up a sum for themselves, when their period of servitude shall arrive; and that their own confinement in prison must either be prolonged, or that they must redouble their industry after liberation from the cells, to make up for lost time: and above all, that the hopes of pardon, or of a diminished time of service, are cut off by thus incurring the displeasure of the inspectors. Whatever additional reflections occur to them, these alone are sufficiently powerful to prevent a repetition of offences.

"Formerly, all revenue arising from the work of the city and county convicts, was paid to the keeper of the prison, the deficiency for its support being advanced by the commissioners of the county of Phila

delphia, who collected the monies for the support of the convicts, from the different counties; but by a law passed February 1809, the amount of the work is to be paid to the treasurer of the inspectors, who are also authorised to choose, by the same act, a president and secretary from their own body. All monies are to be paid by the treasurer, upon the orders of the board, signed by the president, and attested by the secretary: his accounts are to be settled every two weeks. He is authorised, in the name of the president of the board, to sue for, and recover all monies due from individuals to the institution. The accounts of the inspectors are settled by three persons, appointed annually, in March, by the court of quarter sessions.

"There are fourteen inspectors, three of whom are elected by the select and common councils in joint meeting, in May and November; two by the commissioners of the Northern Liberties, and two by the commissioners of Southwark, at the same time."-(Mease, p. 165-170.)

The beneficial effects derived from the adoption of this system, and from the abolition of public and severe punishments, have been decidedly manifested in the state of Pennsylvania at large, and especially in the city of Philadelphia; and as the investigation of our prisons, and the system of management adopted in them, have of late years much engaged the attention of benevolent individuals as well as the legislature, we think our readers will be gratified by an outline of the means employed in the abovementioned city, for the prevention of crime and the reformation of criminals.

"The great causes of vice are idleness, intemperance and evil connections, and as the system pursued admits of none of these, but proceeds upon the principles of industry, sobriety, good example, and other co-operating measures, it must follow from the very constitution of human nature, that unless in the case of hardened and old offenders, and such fortunately are all disposed of, that salutary effects must be produced by the operation of the measures adopted. The criminal knows, and must be convinced, however unwilling to acknowledge the fact, that his sentence is justly inflicted; the nature of this sentence moreover, assures him, that his improvement in morals is the sole object in view, and that vengeance, which some modern European statesmen still think "is the primary object of consideration, the foundation of the penal law," is no part of its intention; hence those angry passions, which the laceration of the body by stripes, cropping ears, and pilloring, invariably excite, are restrained, and the whole discipline of the prison is eminently calculated to produce the same conviction, to conduct to the same result. Intercourse between the sexes, that extensive cause of moral contamination, is strictly prohibited; the diet, a powerful agent on the human passions, is moderate and wholesome. Ardent spirits, the great source of his present punishment, are strictly denied him; idleness, the parent of vice, is substituted by regular, constant

labour, except during the short time appropriated to meals and during' the hours of sleep: and silence, which naturally produces reflection and attention to duty, is strictly enjoined and enforced. The mild, but firm conduct of the keepers, who never carry weapons, banishes the irritating idea usually attached to such characters, and transforms them into employers superintending their workmen; and lastly the religious counsel which is given on the sabbath, seals the whole, and proves to them that neither the law nor the officers appointed in pursuance of it, have any other object in view than their reformation. The criminal, therefore, makes his calculation, to conduct himself so as to command the good will of the keepers and inspectors, and merit recommendation for a diminution of his time of servitude. This calculation, which all the convicts make, and the justness of which they occasionally see exemplified by the enviable reward being conferred upon the meritorious*, is one of the most powerful motives to good behaviour that could be held out and if it be doubted whether gratitude for mild and kind treatment, has not some effect in causing obedience to command, and attention to work; facts enough have occurred to show that they are not insensible to the influence of this quality of the mind. On one occasion, an inspector states, that when roused by the harshness of one keeper to make a desperate attempt to escape, they were prevented in part from succeeding, by another whom they respected throwing himself in the way of the door, and whose life would have been sacrificed if they had persisted +."-(Mease, p. 182-184.)

Of the beneficial operation of this system, Dr. Mease has related some very interesting instances, which further tend to show that' the persons so confined are not insensible even to the principles of honour and humanity. These, however, our limits will not admit of our inserting. On some future occasion we hope to present to our readers an account of the state of public morals and religion in the United States;-a country, where human nature is exhibited under circumstances widely differing from those we have been accustomed to contemplate, as contributing to form the character of a people,-and which, some centuries hence, may perhaps be destined to be the seat of a most powerful empire. Whatever may be its destiny, it is below the dignity of

* Petitions for pardon, or even for shortening the time of servitude of a criminal, are made with extreme caution by the inspectors.

+ An accidental visit to the prison by a humane man, formerly a keeper, has occasioned universal joy among the convicts, who came forward to welcome him. In the fever of 1793, as mary convicts offered as were wanted to attend the sick at the city hospital. A man committed for burglary for seven years solicited, and was appointed deputy steward of the hospital: a robber drove the provision cart, during the whole epidemic, and behaved well. They were both pardoned. The women convicts gave up their bedsteads for the use of the sick, and even offered their bedding. See Turnbull's Visit to the Prison.

our own country to view its progress with an eye of jealousy. That national prosperity must be morbid and fugitive which trembles at the prosperity of other States, and calculates its own advancement by a ratio inverse to the moral order of the world. The safe and honourable dependence of this kingdom is on its own internal vigour; and national vigour expresses only the visible results of public and private virtue.

ART. XIX.-An Essay on the Character and Practical Writings of St. Paul. By Hannah More. In 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 290 and 348. London. Cadell and Davies. 1815.

Ir has frequently been observed, that the dispensation of the

Gospel was committed, in the first instance, to men of no rank or reputation in the world. A few persons were selected from the walks of humble life to be the followers of Jesus Christ; and to them principally was delegated the sacred office of bearing witness to the history of his life, and promulgating the doctrines of salvation. Such was the will of Him, who devised the plan of redemption: such was the determination of infinite Wisdom: as if to prove, beyond the semblance of a doubt, that the power which gave effect to the preaching of the Gospel was the power of God, the foolish things of this world were chosen to confound the wise, and the weak to overturn the mighty.

Yet was not this rule so universally observed as to remain without exception, even in the first ages of the Church. Within two or three years after the ascension of our Lord, there was found in the college of the apostles, a young man of splendid talents and of uncommon attainments. He was ordained to be a special instrument of heaven in extending, far beyond the limits of Judea, the doctrines of the Cross, and in bringing the Gentiles to the fold of Christ.

When we reflect upon the manner in which he was commissioned, and the great end for which he was made a minister of the truth, we must naturally conclude that St. Paul would present a character of singular interest to the members of the Church, in every future period of the world. So intimately is the early history of our religion interwoven with the life and labours of this Apostle of the Gentiles, and so eminent a situation did he hold among those, who were the pillars of the Christian Temple, that an indifference to his name and character would seem to imply a disregard of religion itself. The records of antiquity

furnish many proofs of the marked respect, which in those times was paid to his memory. In addition to the minute history of his labours, which for a certain period is to be found in the New Testament, many particulars have been transmitted to us, which, if not absolutely certain, have a measure of probability; and if they prove nothing else, may at least be admitted to prove the interest excited by his life and doctrines. He is represented as a man of low stature, and inclining to stoop, of a grave countenance and a fair complexion: his eyes are said to have possessed a certain suavity of expression, his nose to have been gracefully aquiline, his forehead nearly bald, his beard thick, and, as he advanced in life, like the hair on his head, somewhat silvered by age.

He is derided by Lucian as the high-nosed, bald-pated Galilean. Notwithstanding the abundance of his labours, his constitution is thought to have been infirm, and he is mentioned by Jerome, as much afflicted with the head-ache. Some writers have imagined that he had a defect in his eyes, and that, when speaking, he was apt to fail either in the command of words, or the power of articulation; but these are at the best only vague conjectures. The passages cited from the epistles in support of them are far from conclusive. His bodily presence is, indeed, said to have been weak, and his speech contemptible; but the charge is of little value, as it came from his enemies: it might possibly be true: it might easily be false. That he had some personal infirmity, which was visible to others, and which exposed him to many trials, may be inferred from the epistle to the Galatians: Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh, I preached the Gospel unto you at the first; and my temptation, which was in the flesh, ye despised not nor rejected: but received me as an Angel of God, even as Christ Jesus." He doubtless alludes in this place to that thorn in the flesh mentioned in the 2d epistle to the Corinthians. Of its nature we can know nothing, for nothing is revealed; and the conjectures of the ancients are of little more account than those of the moderns. The passage, which follows the verses just cited, "I bear you record that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me," sufficiently attests the love of the Galatians, but it proves nothing more.

Whatever were the infirmities of this Apostle, he possessed qualities which fitted him for the first station in the Church of Christ, and he was favoured with the peculiar notice and blessing of God. This man of three cubits in height, as Chrysostom tells us, was tall enough to touch the heavens: his conversation was there, and thence he derived those pure lessons of religion and

* Ο τρίπηχυς άνθρωπος καὶ των έρανων απτόμενος. In Petr. et Paul Serine.