A Strange
Appearance Was The Apparent Annihilation Of The Neck.
The head was
taken off so close, that it seemed as if the knife had narrowly
escaped crushing the jaw, or shaving off the ear; and the body
looked as if there were nothing left above the shoulder.
Nobody cared, or was at all affected. There was no manifestation
of disgust, or pity, or indignation, or sorrow. My empty pockets
were tried, several times, in the crowd immediately below the
scaffold, as the corpse was being put into its coffin. It was an
ugly, filthy, careless, sickening spectacle; meaning nothing but
butchery beyond the momentary interest, to the one wretched actor.
Yes! Such a sight has one meaning and one warning. Let me not
forget it. The speculators in the lottery, station themselves at
favourable points for counting the gouts of blood that spirt out,
here or there; and buy that number. It is pretty sure to have a
run upon it.
The body was carted away in due time, the knife cleansed, the
scaffold taken down, and all the hideous apparatus removed. The
executioner: an outlaw ex officio (what a satire on the
Punishment!) who dare not, for his life, cross the Bridge of St.
Angelo but to do his work: retreated to his lair, and the show was
over.
At the head of the collections in the palaces of Rome, the Vatican,
of course, with its treasures of art, its enormous galleries, and
staircases, and suites upon suites of immense chambers, ranks
highest and stands foremost.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 203 of 268
Words from 55648 to 55905
of 73541
