itions in England or on
the Continent.

XII.

VISITS TO THE CONTINENT.

It was not till 1838, the year after the accession of Queen Victoria,
that Mrs. Fry paid her first visit to France. She saw most of the
prisons of Paris, and she had most pleasant interviews with King Louis
Philippe, the Queen, and the Duchess of Orleans. The Queen was much
pleased with the "Text Book," prepared some years before, and said she
would keep it in her pocket and use it daily. Rouen, Caen, Havre, as
well as Paris, were visited. A second journey in France, in 1839, began
at Boulogne, and thence by Abbeville to Paris. Here she again took
interest in the prisons, obtaining from the Prefect of Police leave for
Protestant ladies to visit the Protestant prisoners. Avignon, Lyons,
Nismes, Marseilles were visited, and the Protestants of the south of
France were much gratified by the meetings held at various places. With
the brothers Courtois of Toulouse they had much agreeable intercourse.
At Montauban they saw the chief "school of the prophets," where the
Protestant pastors are educated, They also went to Switzerland, enjoying
the scenery, and also the intercourse with the Duke de Broglie's
family, then at the house of the Baroness de Stael. Above a hundred
persons were invited to meet her, at the house of Colonel Trouchin, near
the Lake of Geneva. Several places were visited, and they returned by
Frankfort, Ostend, and Dover.

[Illustration: Elizabeth Fry]

In February, 1839, she was called to pay a visit to the young Queen
Victoria at Buckingham Palace. She went, accompanied by William Allen,
Lord Normanby, the Home Secretary, presenting them. The Queen asked
where they had been on the Continent. She also asked about the Chelsea
Refuge for Lads, for which she had lately sent L50. This gave
opportunity for Mrs. Fry thanking Her Majesty for her kindness, and the
short interview ended by an assurance that it was their prayer that the
blessing of God might rest on the Queen and her relatives.

In the autumn of that year she went to the Continent, with several
companions, her brother Samuel Gurney managing the travelling. They saw
Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, and the great prison of Vilvorde; Rotterdam,
Amsterdam, Pyrmont, and Hameln, where there were about four hundred
prisoners, all heavily chained. The prisons in Hanover at that time were
in deplorable condition, about which, at an interview with the Queen,
Mrs. Fry took occasion to s