1830J The Half-Drowned Englishman. 49 



eluded my grasp. I lost all consciousness of material existence ; I passed 

 into a state of repose, of placid slumber, visited by a blissful trance 

 one of those fairy dreams too bright to last, too fleeting to be remem- 

 bered. When I awoke, I found myself in a peasant's farm-house. The 

 shades of evening already darkened the hills, the oxen lowed mourn- 

 fully in an adjoining stable, and the rustic family were anxiously col- 

 lected around me, whilst my head was supported by one of those comely 

 and sturdy boatmen that are usually to be found on the banks of the 

 Rhone. 



" Such was my momentary exit : a rapturous dream, nothing more. 

 I perfectly coincide in opinion with the Italian and the Mahometan that 

 death in its various shapes ought not to be regarded as an evil. The 

 penal execution of Italy, the despotic butchery of the east, the systema- 

 tic suicide of the west, are all alike devoid of terror. Since the day 

 that afforded me a glimpse of the grisly monarch's dominions, I have 

 been a convert to the doctrine of the philosopher who wisely contended 

 that life and death were the same thing ; and I can only add, that since 

 I was once fairly and soundly asleep, they who took the trouble to 

 awaken me performed a most ill-natured office." 



So great had been the interest excited by the Englishman's strange 

 confession, that even for some minutes after he had ceased speaking, the 

 general attention continued unabated. When at length a renewed buzz 

 announced the recommencement of the discussion on capital punishment, 

 the question was argued as hotly as ever. The opponents of the mea- 

 sure, however, were hard-pushed. I repeat that nothing silences a tough 

 disputant so effectually as a good story seasonably introduced. It is a 

 knock-down argument. The partisans of legal execution returned with 

 vigour to the charge. Proofs and illustrations were multiplied without 

 end. Death was pronounced a mere bugbear. More than two-thirds of 

 the company, by their own account, had at least once in their existence 

 visited that supposed " undiscovered country from whose bourne no tra- 

 veller returns " and yet, by way of belying the bard, were at that iden- 

 tical moment alive and merry, and ready for another trip. One gentle- 

 man perfectly recollected having been run through the body, and assured 

 us that the introduction of cold iron into the regions of the diaphragm 

 produced rather an agreeable sensation a cool, refreshing titillation. 

 Another had received " a bullet in the thorax," and had ever since been 

 extremely partial to that species of aperient pill. A third had fractured 

 his skull in several places with considerable advantage to its interior con- 

 tents, as he had ever afterwards been remarkable for the liveliness of his 

 fancy, and the pungency of his wit. A tertian ague was a mere baga- 

 telle ; and could any thing be compared to the pleasurable excitement, 

 the delightful delirium, produced by fevers of every denomination, ty- 

 phus, cerebral, or intermittent ? As to hanging, my Italian brigand had 

 settled that point, having proved beyond the possibility of a doubt that 

 nothing could be more delicious than to swing into the other world on a 

 windy day. It was soon decided by a large majority, that the numerous 

 and estimable members of the Jack Ketch family, dispersed over various 

 parts of the world, were really entitled to public gratitude, and, for their 

 efforts to check the redundancy of population, merited the civic wreath 

 which the ancient Romans in their ignorance adjudged to the ill-advised 

 citizen who had warded the stroke of death from a member of society. 



At this stage of the discussion, a fat abbe, " of fair round belly, with 



M. M. New Series. VOL. X. No. 55. G 



