"Jacob!" muttered the prostrate intruder, "Jacob!"
"Silence!" cried the Earl. "You are in the grasp of a desperate man," he added in a menacing tone; "but if you mean no harm, you will receive no injury."
Scarcely were these words uttered, when Jacob Smith, having hastily relighted the lamp, entered the laboratory, closing the door behind him—for he fully comprehended the Earl's motive in dragging the man, whoever he might be, away in the dark from the chamber where Rainford was lying.
But hardly had the light of the lamp fallen upon the countenance of the individual who was now half-lying—half-sitting on the floor, restrained by the vigorous grasp of Lord Ellingham, who bent over him,—when Jacob uttered a cry of mingled horror and alarm, exclaiming, as he staggered back, "'Tis Old Death!"
The lamp fell from his hand, and was instantly extinguished.
[26]. Mr. Brandon, in his admirable preface to Mr. Miles's work on Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime, places on record the ensuing observations:—
"It is a generally-admitted axiom that among the uneducated, the human mind is more prone to evil than virtue; how greatly, then, must vice be disseminated, and the evil propensities encouraged, by persons of all descriptions, from the hardened murderer to the truant-playing apprentice, mingling and without one admonitory antidote to check them, all unemployed, all uneducated in the proper school of morality. The idlers, tyros in crime, or petty misdemeanants, be they boys or adults, will listen with eager curiosity to the gossiping of the old and hardened offenders, while relating to each other the exploits they had achieved, or when giving instruction how to escape detection in certain situations, which from their own experience they have been led to conceive the best, and to hear them plot fresh depredations to be committed as soon as they shall have finished the term of their captivity, or be set at large upon a verdict of 'not guilty;' what but evil can arise from such a state of congregating? the mind cannot fail to become contaminated in some degree, even in the best disposed among them; whilst others, incited by the picture of pleasure they have described in the event of a successful enterprise, and from the encouragement given to the growing desires by the hardened wretches, enter recklessly into the path of vice as soon as they have turned their backs on the prison door; future accomplices and companions of the 'gaol bird,' who had been their tutor; commencing their career perhaps by a robbery planned whilst in prison. Minds, not over strong nor sufficiently guarded by moral education, are easily led astray, and the very punishment they are enduring as a requital for faults committed, will be used as the rudder by which they are steered to crime, in persuading them that they are aggrieved victims instead of criminals paying the penalty due to offended justice. This is the certain effect of the present system, and to expect any thing like repentance or thorough reform in a criminal, would be ridiculous.
"In a work published some time since, which is generally considered authentic, 'The Autobiography of James Hardy Vaux,' a notorious thief, is the following anecdote, which, as it corroborates and is illustrative of the facts above stated, namely, that vice is taught in prison, is here inserted:—
"He (Vaux) had in a most systematic manner robbed jewellers' shops, and, as he conceived, every one of note had fallen under his lash. He was at length taken up for stealing a gold snuff-box, and committed to Newgate, where he made acquaintance with two brothers, both of the same profession as his own, and committed for a similar offence; they were very communicative to each other, and Vaux discovered that there were some of his favourite shops which had escaped his notice. 'They pointed out,' says the text, 'about half a dozen shops which it appeared I had omitted to visit, arising either from their making no display of their goods, or from their being situated in private streets where I had no idea of finding such trades. Although I had little hopes of acquittal, it was agreed that in the event of my being so fortunate that I should visit these tradesmen I had overlooked, and I promised, in case I was successful, to make them a pecuniary acknowledgment in return for their information.' He was further instructed in what manner to proceed, and what sort of goods to order, and a Mr. Belger, a first-rate jeweller in Piccadilly, was particularly recommended to his notice as a good fiat. He succeeded in getting acquitted, and in robbing the shops pointed out to his notice, when, like a 'man of honour,' he did not fail to perform his promise to the two brothers—his associates in Newgate. The good fiat he robbed more than once, and once too often, for Vaux was discovered by him at last, and through his instrumentality convicted."