ness and indulgence. The criminal should
excite our compassion, and we should do our utmost to alleviate his
sense of the punishment which society makes it necessary to inflict. I
would, on his arrival, ascertain, delicately of course, what had been
his previous habits and tastes. If he could read, which I would discover
by some little stratagem (such as placing a letter in his hand and
asking him what _he_ made of the address, as it puzzled _me_, or some
other gentle device), I would cause amusing books to be placed, during
the night, in his cell, and secretly changed, so as not to put him under
obligation. If he could not read, poor fellow, I, or my wife, or my
daughter, should read to him whenever he chose to ring for us, and I
would accord him the indulgence of a pipe, if he wished it. To civilise
and lead him to the Beautiful, fresh flowers should be placed in his
cell--we would, in naming it to him, call it his grot--every morning,
and I would recommend the hanging his apartment with engravings from the
best masters, avoiding of course any subject likely to remind him
painfully of his incarceration. Music should be supplied, and I have a
plan for bringing all the Italian organists where I believe most people
wish they were, namely, within the walls of our gaols, to soothe the
minds of our captives. The bath should be recommended to, but not forced
upon him, and if he preferred a warm bath in his cell, with Eau de
Cologne in the water, I should naturally order it. For his health's
sake, I should advise his adhering to the regular hours of meals, but if
he desired a glass of sherry and a sponge cake, or an ice and wafers, or
oysters and stout, between meals it would be inhuman to refuse it. The
bill of fare should be brought to him each morning, and any reasonable
suggestions he might make for its alteration he should see were attended
to. If, which I do not anticipate, he should, despite this treatment, be
insubordinate, I would, after long, patient, and humble entreaty had
been exhausted, threaten to withhold his ice, or withdraw his flowers,
or, in a very bad case, I might refuse him Eau de Cologne to his bath.

_Q. 3493._ If a prisoner were very rebellious, would you whip him?

[_The Witness fainted, and was removed._

LIEUTENANT SKINNUM'S _Examination_.

_Q. 3494._ _Chairman._ You have had considerable experience in the
treatment of felons and other prisoners, and have made prison discipline
the object o