"Would you take a piece of bread out of this box that did not belong to you ?" said I to the children one day.

"No, sir," replied a little girl of four years old.

"Why not ?" "Because," said the child, "it would be thieving." "Well, but suppose no one saw you ?" Before I could speak another word, a number of the children answered, "God can see everything that we do." "Yes," added another little boy, "if you steal a cherry, or a piece of pencil, it is wicked." "To be sure," added another, "it is wicked to steal any thing." I cannot do better than introduce in this place the opinion of Judge Bosanquet, on the subject of the education of the infant poor; and some valuable hints will likewise be found in his remarks on prison discipline.

It is an extract from a charge to the jury delivered at the Gloucester assizes for April, 1823.

"Gentlemen, I have reason to believe, that the offences for trial on this occasion, are rather less than usual at this season, and, to whatever the diminution of crime may be ascribed, I cannot forbear earnestly to press upon your attention, a constant perseverance in two things, _which, above all others, are calculated to diminish crime_,--the first is an unremitted attention to the education of the children of the poor, and of all classes of society, in the principles of true morality and sound religion; the next is the constant and regular employment of such persons as may be sentenced to imprisonment, in such labour as may be adapted to their respective ages and conditions.