Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/367

Rh thousands still flocked to watch the spectacle, to "gloat over the sufferings of a dying fellow-creature"; the bodies of criminals were left hanging on the gallows in public view, and it was not till 1868 that this publicity was stopped. The old barbarous punishments were disappearing. Hanging in chains was abolished in 1834, the pillory followed a few years later, stocks were superseded by the treadmill, and the ducking-stool was no longer used. Still reform moved slowly, and it was only thanks to philanthropic individuals that it moved at all. Prisoners of both sexes, innocent children and the vilest offenders, were locked up together awaiting trial. Overcrowding was so great that often the unhappy inmates had not room to lay down their weary bodies. For the first time now in our country's history it occurred to Englishmen that even the criminal had rights, and in 1824 new Gaol Acts were passed, by which every prisoner had a cot to himself; cleanliness was insisted on, and chaplains, matrons, and schoolmasters were appointed. Pentonville Prison was built with its tiers of cells, and the horrors of Newgate, so often graphically depicted, were at an end. Transportation to Australia was still at its height, and