tion at Perth are still unaltered. I should like it, if I could give satisfaction to my employers. I am, however, in some respects, an unfavourably constituted animal. To seek employment, or thrust myself upon the notice of others, are things which I could scarcely ever do; and unless you were to allow me to show your letter to Mr. M'Lean,* or to favour me with a few lines as an introduction, I fear I should appear before him with a very bad grace.

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"At the "Report," with which you have favoured me, I have as yet had only time merely to glance ; but most sincerely do I add my amen to what Mr. Hill says, (page four, near the bottom of the page,) concerning Prison Officers. From the little which I saw, during my short residence at Glasgow, I feel quite confident that there are among them individuals who, in the estimation of their superiors, pass for efficient men, "good hands," "smart lads," and all that sort of thing, who are at bottom coldhearted, selfish, tyrannising sinners. It is quite a different thing to see an individual for a few minutes, going through a routine of duties in the presence of his employers, or of one he wishes to please, and showing off his dexterity to the best advantage-and to watch him in moments when he supposes himself unwatched, and see all the cracks and flaws of his character coming out-his littlemindedness, insolence, and vanity manifesting them

selves in a number of ways which those who have never seen such scenes would not have dreamed of. Hugh Miller, in his work on Geology, mentions "the advantages of a wandering profession ;" and, I think, I could almost point out a counterpart to these, and which I would call, "the advantages of being born to a lot so humble, as to be utterly below the notice and consideration of the world;" at least, to this circumstance I am certain that I owe a sort of acquaintance with people's real characters which I should have despaired of obtaining from the most classical education. And now, if I might venture to state my own sentiments, I would say, that the out-and-out, hackneyed, professional turnkey will, in general, be found a person with very little true benevolence-how much of the affected quality he may have, it were difficult to say -such a share of cautiousness as to enable him to conceal his own faults and delinquencies, and a large measure of self-esteem; together with a consciousness-forced upon him, perhaps, reluctantly, by previous circumstances that his own attainments, and the range of his intellectual faculties are not such as to command much attention from his fellow-creatures in ordinary circumstances. natural consequence of his self-esteem, in connexion with the above-mentioned consciousness, must be a wish for opportunities to exact submission and respect from others, in such a way as that they must, of necessity, yield to his desires

The

with the further conviction, that this combination of circumstances is only to be met with in a prison, where men are not free agents. Hence his attachment to a profession which, to a truly humane individual, with a proper sense of the dignity of his own nature, would not be very agreeable—that is, unless a wish to be the means of reforming others, (which, after all, is a thing of rather rare occurrence,) made it so. The foregoing is something of the same sort as the intended Essay on Turnkeyism, to which I alluded in a former letter. It is, I readily acknowledge, a dark picture; but still, I think, in some instances, a pretty correct one. I have not, however, drawn it for the purpose of throwing suspicion over the whole of the profession-far less those who endeavour conscientiously to do their duty; but simply to corroborate Mr. Hill's opinion, that the greatest care should be exercised in choosing Prison officers. I do think, also, that in every instance where "prisoners complain," it should be deemed a subject for the strictest investigation; and that whenever a turnkey shrinks from such investigation, or "wonders" why his superiors "should receive, as deserving of any credit, the declarations of any of the prisoners," he should be regarded with suspicion, and sharply looked after. Let a turnkey only take care to tell a prisoner, mildly and firmly, but, at the same time, clearly, and in such a manner as that he may comprehend it, the rules of the place;

TURNKEYS.

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and then, should he continue refractory, let him address him in some such manner as the following: John," or James,' -as the case may be " I'm sorry for you-sorry to think that you cannot regulate your conduct so as to avoid punishment; but you already know the discipline of the Prison: I cannot shield you from it; and, if I could, it would Let him then bring a

not be my duty to do so." fair and impartial statement of the whole before the Governor; meeting everything the prisoner may have to say in his own defence in a candid and straightforward manner, and there will scarcely be such a thing as complaints from prisoners. A. B.'

CHAPTER VIII.

PUBLICATION OF THE SECOND EDITION OF THE LIFE AND POEMS OF JOHN BETHUNE'-INTEREST EXCITED IN REGARD TO MR. BETHUNE IN TWO LADIES, MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS-CORRESPONDENCE WITH THESE MR. BETHUNE'S KINDNESS TO A FRIEND IN ILL HEALTH-LETTERS-MARKS OF INTEREST IN MR. BETHUNE ON THE PART OF DR. ANDREW COMBE AND MR. GEORGE COMBE.

In the early part of 1841, a second edition of 'The Life and Poems of John Bethune' was published by John Wright & Co. Bristol.* It was at first intended to extend the work to two volumes, but from this the publishers were dissuaded by James Montgomery, to whom they applied for an introductory essay. Mr. Montgomery, however, declined attempting this in a letter, the greater part of which has been prefixed to the second edition, and which imbodies a very just estimate of the character of the Bethunes. The publication of the work in England, brought it under the notice of not a

* This edition is inscribed to Mr. Dalgleish, who had taken such an interest in, and done so much to promote the success of, the first.