'The prison diet was bread, gruel, and potatoes. On two days in each week boiled rice was substituted for potatoes; and after I had been in prison nine weeks I was, by the rules, allowed a small portion of salt beef on Thursdays and Sundays. As this fare is deemed in Gloucestershire a famous specific for the cure of atheism, it may not be out of place to explain its virtues. The gruel was little remarkable for its delicate flavour and little celebrated for its nutritious qualities, and known by the luxurious cognomen of "skilly." The rice had a blue cast, a saline taste, and a slimy look. The beef I could not often taste, seldom chew, and never digest--I should say it was rather _leather_ mode than _a la mode_. The whole of the food could only be taken by a ploughman's appetite, and only be digested by a navigator's stomach. 'The indirect occasion of my prosecution was the editorship of the _Oracle_. When Mr. Southwell was apprehended no Social Missionary came forward to continue his paper, although many of them were better qualified to do so than myself. Socialism had always attached great importance to freedom of expression, and Socialism's advocates had been styled "apostles of freethought." Knowing this, I felt that it would be a dishonourable reflection should any one refuse personally to support what he was known publicly to approve. Had Mr. Fleming been placed in Mr. Southwell's situation, and had he been of opinion that I could have defended his violated liberty by taking his place, I should have edited the _New Moral World_ as cheerfully as I did the _Oracle of Reason_. When I speak of "freedom of speech" and "liberty for all," I know of no distinction between myself and those who differ from me--I see with an equal eye the Atheist and the Christian, the violent and the gentle, the dogmatic and the modest.