A second
entered. This was a middle-aged man. Reflection seemed with him to have
well performed its duty. Calm and undismayed, he advanced to the anvil,
apparently unconscious of the presence of a single spectator, and wholly
occupied with meditations on eternity. Having already witnessed that part
of the preparatory ceremony which he was then to undergo, I withdrew from
the circle to observe the other sufferer. He had now been joined by the
ordinary, and was standing near a table, on which several ropes were
lying. He was directed to place his hands together, and he was then
pinioned. Here, again, I felt a disposition to criticise the conduct of
the officers, like that which I had previously experienced while
witnessing the labours of the smith. The adroitness and merciful despatch
which I noticed, I could hardly help regarding as meriting censure for the
insensibility which they marked. Those who have to perform a severe duty
cannot often properly fulfil their task, and at the same time conciliate
the admiration of the pitying spectator. Lest what I have said should be
misunderstood, it is right distinctly to say, no want of consideration for
the feelings of the criminals was evinced. The officers who pinioned them,
when their work was done, shook each by the hand with an appearance of
sincere commiseration. The matter-of-course way in which they acquitted
themselves offended me, but I had no right to expect that in performing
what to them were but common-place labours, they should study my
fastidious notions of fitness and effect.
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