"SUPPER TO CONVICTED FELONS.--On Tuesday evening a supper was
given to one hundred and fifty convicted felons by NED WRIGHT,
the well-known converted burglar, at the Mission Hall, Hales
Street, High Street, Deptford. The candidates for tickets of
admission were compelled to attend the night before the supper
and give an account of themselves to prove that they really were
convicted felons, and by the sharp and close questioning of MR.
WRIGHT, about fifty were refused tickets as impostors."
The fifty impostors who were fain to palm themselves off as convicts for
the sake of a supper, must have been poor knaves indeed. These
supernumeraries, for whom there was no seat at the table of Society,
constitute a spectacle on the stage of life which it may be painful to
some people and pleasant to others to contemplate from the dress circle.
It is too probable that this Capital contains very many more of these
Esaus, as they might be called if they had anything of a character so
valuable as a birthright to dispose of on ESAU'S terms, with the small
extras undermentioned:--
"The recipients of this Charity were a very motley crew, and
ranged in years from six up to fifty. They were each served with
a quantity of soup and a bag containing bread and a bun, after
which MR. WRIGHT addressed them in his own peculiar manner,
being listened to with marked attention."
MR. WRIGHT, we may suppose, took care to preach in a "tongue
understanded of the people" who constituted his hearers, and accordingly
delivered a considerable portion of his discourse in the language which
our great-grandfathers called thieves' Latin. A sermon in slang,
however, would, perhaps, be more curious than edifying. Let us hope that
MR. WRIGHT'S may possibly have had the effect of converting the guests
who would once have been his pals from the error of their ways, formerly
his own. Such, at least, appears to have been his laudable intention:--
"A large number of ladies and gentlemen interested in such work
attended and gave the benefit of their advice and co-operation.
In the course of the evening MR. WRIGHT announced his intention
of taking under his patronage a number of the boys then present,
who might be desirous of earning an honest livelihood, and
furnishing them with money and clothes to make a fair start in
life."
It would rejoice both ourselves and our benevolent readers to know that
the acceptance of this offer by a considerable number of MR. WRIGHT'S
young friends may be the commencement of a career of good living,
wherein they will very soon attain to better fare than a quantity of
soup, a bag of bread, and a bun, quite good enough as that is for
convicted felons, besides being peculiarly suitable as precluding any
necessity for knives and forks chained to the table.
* * * * *
=Lawyers and Lunatics.=
HOW hardly will Judges, for the most part, admit the plea of insanity in
exculpation from a charge of murder! How readily are they wont to
entertain it as a reason for setting aside a will! How right they are in
either instance! Suppose a maniac is hanged as a man of sound mind, his
execution serves just as well, for the purpose of example, as it would
if he were. But my Luds would make a mistake on the wrong side by
misdirecting Jurors to determine insanity to have been sanity in a case
wherein a lunatic might possibly have misdisposed of property.
* * * * *
=Serious Affair.=
A MOST determined act of self-inflicted torture has recently
caused a considerable sensation in a fashionable quarter of Town.
A lady, young, lovely, and accomplished, with troops of friends,
and all that makes life enjoyable at her command, was detected
deliberately "screwing up" her face!
* * * * *