Fry, Elizabeth Gurney, 1780-1845; Prison reformers -- Biography
The testimonies to her success not only came in from official quarters,
but from the prisoners themselves. This chronicle would scarcely be
complete without a specimen or two of the many communications she
received from prisoners at home and from convicts abroad. True, on one
or two occasions the women at Newgate had behaved in a somewhat
refractory manner, for their poor degraded human nature could not
conceive of pure disinterested Christian love working for their good
without fee or reward; but even at these times their better nature very
soon reasserted itself, and penitence and tears took the place of
insubordination. To those who had sinned against and had been forgiven
by her, Mrs. Fry's memory was something almost too holy for earth. No
orthodoxly canonized saint of the Catholic Church ever received truer
reverence, or performed such miracles of moral healing.
The following communication reached her from some of the prisoners at
Newgate:--
HONORED MADAM,--Influenced by gratitude to our general benefactress
and friend, we humbly venture to address you. It is with sorrow we
say that we had not the pleasure of seeing you at the accustomed
time, which we have always been taught to look for--we mean Friday
last. We are fearful that your health was the cause of our being
deprived of that heartfelt joy which your presence always diffuses
through the prison; but we hope, through the mercies of God, we
shall be able personally to return you the grateful acknowledgments
of our hearts, before we leave our country forever, for all the
past and present favors so benevolently bestowed upon what has been
termed the "most unfortunate of society," until cheered by your
benevolence, kindness and charity: and hoping that your health,
which is so dear to such a number of unfortunates, will be fully
re-established before we go, so that after our departure from our
native land, those who are so unfortunate as to fall into our
situation may enjoy the same blessing, both temporally and
spiritually, that we have done before them. And may our minds be
impressed with a due sense of the many comforts we have enjoyed
whilst under your kind protection. Honored and worthy Madam, we
hope we shall be pardoned for our presumption in addressing you at
this time, but our fears of not seeing you before the time of our
departure induce us to entreat your acceptance of our prayers for
your restoration to your family; and may the prayers and
supplications of the unfortunate prisoners ascend to Heaven for the
prolonging of that life which is so dear to the most wretched of
the English nation. Honored Madam, we beg leave to subscribe
ourselves, with humble respect, your most grateful and devoted,
THE PRISONERS OF NEWGATE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account