A WORD AT PARTING. 95 



AN event of almost national grief, which occurred at the 

 moment when the Third Edition of this little work was 

 preparing for the press, may be permitted to furnish a not 

 unapt appendage to the words in the text, words which had 

 met the eye, and received the earnest acquiescence, of the dis- 

 tinguished man and truly regarded friend who is the subject 

 of the following notice : 



' Stafford, March 13. Mr. Justice Talfourd presided in the 

 Crown Court. He had reviewed the calendar, and was direct- 

 ing the attention of the Grand Jury to the number of serious 

 offences it contained ' 



' These crimes/ he remarked, ' come, I will not say exclu- 

 sively, but in the great majority of cases, from those districts 

 which are the richest in mineral treasures, where wages are 

 high, and where no temptation of want can for a moment be set 

 up as an excuse or palliation for them : on the contrary, I have 

 observed, in the long experience I have had of the calendars of 

 prisoners tried at these assizes, that in times of comparative 

 privation crime diminishes; and that when wages are high, and 

 are earned by a less degree of work, there is a strong tempta- 

 tion to spend them in vicious indulgences, and that crime has 

 increased almost in proportion to the state of prosperity by 

 which the criminals have been surrounded. 



' This consideration should awaken in all our minds, and 



