One old man in the convalescent ward, suffering from rheumatism and asthma, who was supplied with dainties he could never have heard of before, confessed to me that he should have preferred six to the three months’ imprisonment he was undergoing. Another old vagrant (a City man) told me that he always made it a rule to sleep on a doorstep a day or so before Christmas Day to insure the Christmas meal of a loaf of bread, beef, pudding, and a pint of ale, stood by the Lord Mayor to every prisoner in Newgate. He was bewailing the loss of that charming residence, and telling me how, having foolishly omitted to make himself acquainted with the change of system, had subsisted last Christmas Day in “Coldbath” on dry bread and stirabout. Foreigners of every description find their way into Coldbath, though the majority consists of Germans, mostly Jews. There is an advantage in belonging to this faith, as I was led to understand by a gourmand. It consists in receiving meat on Mondays in lieu of the usual bacon and beans. Circumstances, however, render the temporary embracing of this faith more difficult than they do that of Romanism, which is much in vogue; and as certain punishment would follow the certain detection, Judaism has not as many followers as the Australian meat would otherwise command. Flogging is usually administered for insubordination and malingering. For less serious offences the punishment cells and short commons usually have the desired effect. There are two descriptions of corporal punishment—the cat and the birch, usually reserved for youths. In the former case the culprit is lashed to a triangle; in the latter he is hoisted on what is euphoniously called a donkey. As a punishment, the cat, as applied in prisons, is not to be compared to its defunct namesake in the army or navy. It is sufficiently severe, however, to necessitate certain after-treatment—an item in the programme regulated rather by the “system” than humanity. A soldier was invariably admitted into hospital after undergoing corporal punishment; a prisoner is, however, flogged and then conducted to his cell. These floggings are usually administered in the forenoon in presence of a surgeon, and before evening a zinc plaster—perhaps two—is applied to the recipient’s back. The performance takes place in a room off the main passage, and is not unattended with a certain amount of ceremony. The traffic is stopped, and no particulars transpire but the howls of the victim, which can be heard all over the building. Since the abolition of Newgate, Coldbath has risen in retributive importance, and garrotters sentenced to the lash here receive their punishment.