Lo! in that house of misery
A lady with a lamp I see
Pass through the glimmering gloom,
And flit from room to room.
And slow, as in a dream of bliss,
The speechless sufferer turns to kiss
Her shadow, as it falls
Upon the darkening walls.
The Queen followed the course of the war with painful interest. "This
is a terrible season of mourning and sorrow," she wrote; "how many
mothers, wives, sisters, and children are bereaved at this moment.
Alas! It is that awful accompaniment of war, disease, which is
so much more to be dreaded than the fighting itself." And again, after
a visit to Chatham: "Four hundred and fifty of my dear, brave, noble
heroes I saw, and, thank God, upon the whole, all in a very
satisfactory state of recovery. Such patience and resignation,
courage, and anxiety to return to their service. Such fine men!"
Many acts had been passed in previous reigns to improve the
disgraceful state of the prisons in this country, but it was left
to a band of workers, mostly Quakers, led by Elizabeth Fry, to bring
about any real improvement. Any one who wishes to read what dens of
filth and hotbeds of infection prisons were at this time need only
read the account of the Fleet prison in the _Pickwick Papers_ and
of the Marshalsea in _Little Dorrit_.
Reform proved at first to be a very slow and difficult matter. New
laws passed in 1823 and 1824 insisted upon cleanliness and regular
labour for all prisoners; chaplains and matrons for female prisoners
were appointed.
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