dying, while those of Lyons hung a lifeless mass be changed, and (as impostors pretended and the moment the rope was strained by their weight, dupes believed) to be changed for the better, the learned from the executioner the trick of trade reforming mania extended to the execution of which spared his victims a struggle. In flinging criminals, and Dr. Guillotin, a weak, vain coxthem from the ladder he steadied with one hand the head, and with the other imparted to the body a rotatory movement which gave a wrench to the neck. The veritable Jack Ketch of the reign of James II., who has transmitted his name to all the inheritors of his office, may be conjectured from a story current at the time to have been in the secret, for it was the boast of his wife that, though the assistant could manage to get through the business, her husband alone was possessed of

comb, who revived with improvements an old machine, had the honor of giving his name to an adopted child whose operations have ensured himself from oblivion. The head, he assured the tender-hearted legislature, would fly off in the twinkling of an eye, and its owner suffer nothing. It has since been maintained that, far from feeling nothing, he suffers at the time, and for ten minutes afterwards that the trunkless head thinks as usual, and is master of its movements

we know that the pain is already past. No one frequently appears to die harder when the face is uncovered than the man that is hanged, and yet

the art to make a culprit " die sweetly." Where that the ear hears, the eye sees, and the lips the fall is great, or the person corpulent, disloca- essay to speak. M. Sue, the father of the novtion might take place without further interference, elist, whose theories of human physiology have a but, with an occasional exception, those who are thorough family resemblance to his son's reprehanged perish simply by suffocation. There is sentations of human nature, went so far as to connothing in that circumstance to occasion special tend that "the body felt as a body and the head regret. An immense number of persons recov- as a head." The experience of the living sets the ered from insensibility have recorded their sensa- first of these assertions at rest. When a nerve tions, and agree in their report that an easier end of sensation is severed from its communication could not be desired. An acquaintance of Lord with the brain, the part below the lesion ceases Bacon, who meant to hang himself partially, lost to feel. The muscular power often continues, his footing, and was cut down at the last extrem- but sensibility there is none. The head is not ity, having nearly paid for his curiosity with his disposed of so readily, for since it is the centre of life. He declared that he felt no pain, and his feeling, it is impossible in decapitation to infer the only sensation was of fire before his eyes, which torpor of the brain from the callousness of the changed first to black and then to sky-blue. These body. But it would require the strongest evicolors are even a source of pleasure. A Captain dence to prove that sensation survives the shock; Montagnac, who was hanged in France during and the evidence, on the contrary, is exceedingly the religious wars, and rescued from the gibbet weak. The alleged manifestations of feeling are at the intercession of Viscount Turenne, com- only what occur in many kinds of death where plained that, having lost all pain in an instant, he had been taken from a light of which the charm defied description. Another criminal, who escaped by the breaking of the cord, said that, after a sec- all the time there is horror on his countenance, ond of suffering, a fire appeared, and across it the within he is either calm or unconscious.* If most beautiful avenue of trees. Henry IV. of those who stood by the guillotine had been equally France sent his physician to question him, and when mention was made of a pardon, the man answered coldly that it was not worth the asking. The uniformity of the description renders it useless to multiply instances. They fill pages in every book of medical jurisprudence. All agree that the uneasiness is quite momentary, that a pleasurable feeling immediately succeeds, that colors of various hue start up before the sight, and that these having been gazed on for a trivial space, the rest is oblivion. The mind, averted from the reality of the situation, is engaged in scenes the most remote from that which fills the eye of the spectator-the vile rabble, the hideous gallows, and the struggling form that swings in the wind. Formerly in England the friends of the criminal, in the natural belief that while there was life there

was

pain, threw themselves upon his legs as the cart drove away, that the addition of their weight might shorten his pangs. A more sad satisfaction for all the parties concerned could not well be conceived.

In the frenzy of innovation which accompanied the French revolution, when everything was to

curious about other modes of dying, they would

* The face after hanging is sometimes natural, but more commonly distorted. Shakspeare has given a vivid and exact description of the change in the speech where Warwick points to the indications of violence which prove that the Duke of Gloster had been murdered :

But see, his face is black and full of of blood;
His eyeballs further out than when he lived,
Staring full ghastly like a strangled man;
His hair upreared, his nostrils stretched with struggling;
His hands abroad displayed, as one that grasped
And tugged for life, and was by strength subdued.

The great poets beat the philosophers out of the field. They have the two-fold faculty essential to description-the eye which discriminates the characteristic circumstances, and the words which bring them up like pictures before the mind. By "his hands abroad displayed" must be understood that they were thrust to a distance from the body, which is an impulse with persons who are stifled by force. That the hands themselves should be wide open is inconsistent with the fact, and with the idea of "grasping." They are sometimes clenched with such violence that the nails penetrate the flesh of the

we

palms-another instance among many, after what know of the sensations in hanging, how little the convulsive movements of the dying are connected with pain. The circumstance is not surprising, now that the splendid investigations of Sir Charles Bell, which may challenge comparison with anything that has ever been done in

physiology, have demonstrated that the nerves of motion are distinct from the nerves of feeling, and that they are capable of acting independently of one another.

have known that the peculiarity was not in the turned, and had it refitted to the parent stock. On signs, but in the interpretations they put upon the following day it had begun to unite, and on them. The lips move convulsively-the head, the fourth the old nose was again incorporated say they, is striving to speak the eyes are wide with the old face. The Polish doctors may have

open, and are therefore watching the scene before them; as if it was not common in violent death for lips to quiver when the mind was laid to rest, and for eyes to stare when their sense was shut. It is affirmed, however, that the eyes are sometimes fixed upon cherished objects. But were the anguish, as is asserted, "full fine, perfect," the head, instead of employing itself in the contemplation of friends, would be absorbed in its own intolerable torments. The illusion is probably produced by the relatives themselves, who look in the direction of the eyes, which then appear to return the gaze. But it is neither necessary nor safe to find a solution for every marvel. Few have had the opportunity, and fewer still the capacity, for correct observation. The imagina

founded their hopes on some examples of the kind. But they overlooked that time was an element in the cure, and that life must be sustained while adhesion was going on. They seem to have imagined that the neck and head would unite together upon the first application, with the same celerity that they had flown asunder at the stroke of the executioner. With the exception of these sages of Poland, nobody, until the guillotine had been busy in France, appears to have dreamt that after head and body had parted company life or feeling could subsist. Decapitation, as the most honorable, was the most coveted kind of death, and Lord Russell scarcely exaggerated the general opinion when he said, shortly before his fatal moment, that the pain of losing a head was less than

tion of the spectator is powerfully excited, and a the pain of drawing a tooth. Hatred to the guilslight perversion suffices to convert a mechanical lotine has had a large influence upon later judgmovement into an emotion of feeling or an effort ments. The instrument for the punishment of the of the will. There are not many of the ordinary guilty became the instrument of guilt, and there is statements which rest upon the testimony of com- an inclination to extend to the machine a part of petent observers; and most of the extraordinary, the opprobrium which attaches to those who put it such as the blushing of Charlotte Corday when in motion. And unquestionably there are moral her cheek was struck by the villain who held up associations, independent of every physical considher head, are not attested by any witness whatso- eration, which will always render it the most ever. Though everybody repeats them, no one loathsome and sickening of all the contrivances can tell from whence they came. It is a point by which felons are made to pay the penalty of upon which M. Sue and his school have not been crime. exacting. One of the number mentions a man, The punishment of the wheel was among the or to speak more correctly, the head of a man, deaths exploded by the guillotine, and out of a who turned his eyes whichever way they called spirit of hostility to everything which preceded him; and having thus digested the camel without the Revolution, the barbarities that attended it have been grossly exaggerated. The criminal fastened to a St. Andrew's cross had his limbs fractured with an iron bar. Though each blow might be conjectured to be a death in itself, the notorious Mandrin laughed on receiving the second stroke, and when the confessor reproved his levity, replied that he was laughing at his own folly in supposing that sensibility could survive the first concussion. The demeanor of a culprit is uncertain evidence of the pain he endures. The timid shriek with apprehension-the brave by the energy of self-control can continue calm in the extremest torture. Mandrin was of that class of men whose minds are not to be penetrated by the iron which enters the flesh, and his indifference perhaps was partly assumed. But such blows have certainly a stunning effect, and render the punishment far less dreadful than we are accus

difficulty, he grows scrupulous about the gnat, and cannot be confident whether the name of the person was Tillier or De Tillier. It is an epitome of the plan upon which many of the papers on the subject are penned. The authors take care of the pence and leave the pounds to take care of themselves. For our own part, we believe that the crashing of an axe through the neck must completely paralyze the sensation of the brain, and that the worst is over when the head is in the basket.

The section of physiologists who would hardly refuse credit to the unpunctuated averment that King Charles walked and talked half an hour after his head was cut off, are left behind by some Polish physicians, who were persuaded that by bringing into contact the newly severed parts they could make them reünite. They had sufficient

faith in their folly to petition that the head when tomed to picture it. From the cross the mangled it had grown to the shoulders might be suffered to body was transferred to the wheel-the back remain, and obtained a promise that their work curved over the upper circumference, and the feet should be respected, and the revivified criminal and head depending downwards. Here it was spared a second execution. Among the authenti- common, according to some who have written cated curiosities of surgery is the case of a soldier, since, for the unhappy wretches to linger for who had his nose bitten off in a street riot, and hours-writhing with agony, and often uttering thrown into the gutter. He picked up the frag- blasphemies in their torment. Happen now and ment, deposited it in the house of a neighboring then it did, but common it was not. Of those surgeon, and, having pursued the aggressor, re-condemned to the wheel, all except the worst description of criminals were strangled beforehand.monly supposed to have belonged to the punishOf those who were broken alive, none were de- ment. The weight of the body was borne by a nied the coup-de-grace for the final stroke. This ledge which projected from the middle of the upwas a blow on the pit of the stomach, with the intention, seldom defeated, of putting an end to the tortures of the victim. Rarely after the blow of grace did he continue to breathe-more rarely to feel. Yet upon the ground of this feature in the punishment of the wheel Mr. Alison declares he is tempted to forget all the cruelties of the Revolu

right beam, and not by the hands and feet, which were probably found unequal to the strain. The frailty of man's frame comes at last to be its own defence; but enough remained to preserve the preeminence of torture to the cross. The process of nailing was exquisite torment, and yet worse in what ensued than in the actual infliction.

tion, and exclaim with Byron, "Arise, ye Goths, The spikes rankled, the wounds inflamed, the loand glut your ire!" But assuming the truth of cal injury produced a general fever, the fever a the misstatements which he has adopted from a most intolerable thirst; but the misery of miseries writer of French memoirs, was it because ruffians to the sufferer was, while raeked with agony, to who had inflicted greater suffering than they en- be fastened in a position which did not permit him dured were put to death by methods repudiated in even to writhe. Every attempt to relieve the a humaner age, or, if he pleases, though it was muscles, every instinctive movement of anguish, not the case, repudiated at the time by the aveng- only served to drag the lacerated flesh, and wake ers, whom events proved to be more sanguinary up new and acuter pangs; and this torture, which than the laws-was it on this account that kings must have been continually aggravated, until adand nobles should be brought to the scaffold, inno- vancing death began to lay it to sleep, lasted on cent men, women, and children butchered by thou- an average two or three days.

sands, the church be overthrown, property confiscated-that massacre, war, havoc, and ruin should desolate the land? Feelings find vent in exaggerated language, and we should not be critical upon an expression of sympathy, though extravagant in sentiment and offensive in form, unless these outbursts of spurious indignation had pervaded the whole of Mr. Alison's account of the French Revolution. There are, it is true, abundance of passages of an opposite description, for the jarring elements of hot and cold are poured out indiscriminately, and left to mingle as they may.

Worse than the halter, axe, or wheel, was the fire which, as typical of the flames of hell, was employed in the blindness of theological fury to consume the foremost of the pilgrims to heaven. The legs of Bishop Hooper were charred, and his body scorched, before he was fully enveloped in the fire, which a wind blew aside, nor was it till the pile had been twice replenished that he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. A similar misfortune attended Ridley. An excess of fagots hindered the flames ascending, and his extremities

Several punishments allied to crucifixion, but which differed in the method of fastening the body, were once common, and are not entirely obsolete. Whether men are nailed to a cross, hung up with hooks, or fixed upon stakes, there is a strong resemblance in the suffering produced; and any differential circumstance which adds to the torture, also curtails it. Maundrell has given from hearsay an account of impalement as practised at Tripoli, which would throw its rivals into the shade. A post the size of a man's leg, sharpened at the top, was placed in the ground, and when the point had been inserted between the legs of the victim, he was drawn on, as a joint of meat upon a spit, until the stake came through at the shoulders. In this condition he would sometimes sit for a day and a night, and by smoking, drinking, and talking, endeavor to beguile the weary time. Maundrell is a trustworthy traveller, but on this occasion he was certainly deceived, or the anatomy of man has degenerated since. A race of beings who could endure a post the size of a leg to traverse their vitals, and be alive at the close-who,

were in ashes when his body was unsinged. Rid-yet more, could sit for four-and-twenty hours, enley yielded slightly to the dictates of nature, and gaged in festive occupations, no matter with how struggled at the height of his protracted anguish. slight a relish, while pierced from end to end with Hooper remained immovable as the stake to which a staff more clumsy than that of Goliath's spearhe was chained. For three quarters of an hour a race of beings so tenacious of life, and insensible

his patience was proof against the fury of the flames, and he died at length as quietly as a child in its bed. But the pain of burning is of fearful intensity, and the meek endurance of these heroes at the stake was the triumph of mind over the tortures of the flesh.

to pain, would require punishments to be heightened to meet the callousness of their structure; but with our delicate organization, too rough a usage breaks the golden cord. Nature has set bounds to the cruelty of man, for torture carried beyond a certain point defeats itself. Sorrow occupies a larger space in our minds than it does

The Head, the Hope, the Supporter of those who gave their bodies to be burnt, drank himself in our existence. Time, who in our happier hours of a bitterer cup. Of all the devices of cruel imag- put on wings and flew like the wind, in our misery ination, crucifixion is the masterpiece. Other toils heavily with leaden feet; but though he may pains are sharper for a time, but none are at once lag he cannot stop, and, when every other alleviaso agonizing and so long. One aggravation, how-tion is gone, this will always remain to sustain ever, was wanting which, owing to the want of patience under aggravated torments-that there knowledge in painters, is still, we believe, com- must be a speedy abatement or a speedy release.

CHAPTER XVI. THE GOVERNOR'S SOIRÉE.

When one has been riding for several hours, whether in a carriage or on horseback, it is often agreeable to take a stroll on foot, especially through the streets of a strange town, where everything one sees is new. This opinion I shared in common with the Dalmatian and the Milanese; so, having ordered a late dinner, which might as well have been called supper, we sallied forth to see the lions of Nove.

All travellers have celebrated the beauty of an Italian evening. The air you breathe seems to be an intoxicating fluid, which induces some degree of soft languor, while it excites and exhilarates. It is difficult to explain the feeling. There is a sort of perfume floating about you, which is neither that of groves nor gardens, nor yet of artificial composition. It appears to descend from above, and to impregnate every particle of the atmosphere; which, at the same time, is radiant with golden light, and put into a gentle, undulating motion by the breeze.

mit, whose child that was in the cradle. She replied it was her own; and then, uncovering its face a little more, asked me if I did not think it like her.

"Very," I replied, "for it is as beautiful as an angel."

Without noticing the compliment to herself, which, however, was not meant to be a compliment, since it was the simple truth, she exclaimed :

"You say true, sir-it is like an angel; and when you came up I was singing a hymn to the Virgin as a thanksgiving for the blessing. I do so twenty times a day-I am so happy!" "And where is its father?" I inquired.

"He has just gone down into the town," she answered, " to buy something for me; he is so good. You must stay till he comes back-he will be here presently."

Just at that moment I made the discovery that my companions had disappeared. But it did not signify. I was determined to wait till the husband came back, provided he did not make a very long stay; and proceeded with the conversation.

It is delicious, when certain trains of thought come over you, to slip away from company, and be alone; but it is best when accident effects the purpose for you. As we walked along, I could hear through the open windows the rocking of I take the bambino into the fields." cradles, and the sweetest lullabies sung over halfsleeping infants. No sound in nature is so sweet

"Do many strangers pass through Nove?” said I.

as a mother's voice, when she is hushing the child of her love to rest. There is something seraphic in it. All the charities, and loves, and happiness of our earliest years rise up from the depth of the past, as we listen. We fancy that Heaven is listening with us, and pouring abundant blessings on the scene. Oh, how sacred a thing a mother is! What religion is in her love! How she prays, and yearns, and watches over the cradle, looking forward and backward through time, weaving bright destinies for her child, or dreaming of moments when her own soul was first steeped in the Elysium of delight, and the baby she is now gazing on began to be.

Turning a corner, we entered a street, down which the sun was throwing a flood of glory, sheathing the walls and eaves with gold, and glittering with dazzling brightness on the casements. At the entrance of a lofty porte cochére, sat a young woman, with a cradle by her side, which she rocked occasionally with her right foot, keeping time with the other on the ground. She was gathering up a rent in a white lace veil, which hung in graceful folds over her dark dress, and added greatly to the interest of her figure. In a low, sweet voice, she murmured, rather than sung, a hymn to the Virgin. I stood still to look at the picture. At first her various avocations prevented her from noticing me; but when she did, pointing to an empty chair on the other side of the cradle, she politely invited me to sit down. I did not wait for a second invitation, but immediately taking the proffered chair, began the conversation by inquiring, very superfluously, I ad

"I don't know; I seldom go out, except when

"And how long have you been married?"

"Just a year and five weeks last Tuesday; and yet it already seems an age, I have enjoyed so much happiness in it."

"Then you have not heard the Spanish proverb, that 'a year of pleasure passes like a fleeting dream, while a moment of misfortune seems an age of pain."

"I don't know what misfortune means. I have never lost a person I loved. My father and mother are living, with all my brothers and sisters, all younger than I, and all at home."

"And so you think," said I, "that happiness lengthens time?"

"Oh, very much," she replied; "for though, as you see, I am young, still I almost fancy I have lived forever. I can't tell when I began to think-when I began to feel-when I began to be happy. I have always been happy! Did you ever look on the water at sunset, and observe how the sun's wake stretches away into the distance, till you don't know where it ends; but it is all golden and glittering, and, though every wavelet seems like the other, they are all bright-all alive with pleasure? It has been exactly so with my life-nothing but one endless streak of sunshine. But look," cried she, "there is my husband. Ah! see how he smiles as he comes along ; he is so glad to come back to me. Dear Giuseppe," said she as he approached, "here is a strange gentleman who has been admiring our child, and to whom I have been saying I don't know what."

Gieuseppe was a fine fellow, and seemed to be quite as proud as his wife of the little boy who constituted so large a portion of their happiness.