Repeated visits to Ireland, to Scotland, and to different parts of
England, Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Plymouth, and the Channel
Islands, were made at different times in her latter years; forming
Prison Associations and fulfilling various engagements. In 1825 she
wrote: "My occupations are just now multitudinous. I am sensible of
being at times pressed beyond my strength of body and mind. But the day
is short, and I know not how to reject the work that comes to hand to
do." To enumerate all the good works which she originated or supported,
would require more space than a brief memoir could allow. Societies for
visiting prisons, libraries for the Coastguard men, reformatory schools
for juvenile offenders, were among the many institutions which she
established. An excellent institution at Hackney, bearing the name of
the Elizabeth Fry Refuge, for the reception of discharged female
prisoners, will long perpetuate the memory of her useful work.
In the summer of 1829, the family removed to a small but convenient
house in Upton Lane, adjoining the Ham House grounds, the residence of
her brother Samuel Gurney. In this place she passed most of her later
years, and from it she went out on her many expeditions 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 Staël. 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]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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