264 The Executioner of Paris. [Sept. 



fashion to assist* (as the term is) on the scafFold at the last hour of the 

 condemned, as they did on the stage at theatrical performances. The 

 crowd upon that occasion was great, and the space limited, the arm 

 of the executioner was jostled, at the moment the sabre was balanced 

 above his head, the blow was diverted from the neck of the unhappy 

 victim, and a common cutlass was resorted to, by one of the execu- 

 tioner's assistants, to end the agonies of the sufferer. A notch in the 

 blade of the sabre is exactly of the size and in the form of a human 



tooth. 



I have said that Sanson, during the conversation, gave proofs ot no 

 ordinary humanity. He summons up his resolution to the dreadful task 

 he has to perform, and his firmness fails him not at the moment of 

 duty. Yet, as soon as he receives the fatal order of the Procureur- 

 generale, he has always a visible and violent struggle with his feelings 

 ere he brings himself to obey. He at length proceeds to prepare, with 

 apparent coolness, the machine of destruction and all the apparatus of 

 death, but as soon as his sad work is finished his countenance becomes 

 pale and death-hke— he returns to his solitary home and shuts himself 

 in his chamber, where he long refuses nourishment or conversation, and 

 tears start from his eyes when induced to advert to the circumstances 

 of an execution. 



The man had impressed me with feelings decidedly distinct from 

 those which I anticipated as the result of my communication with him, 

 and as I took leave of him (I know not whether from forgetfulness or 

 otherwise) I held out my hand. His countenance suddenly changed 

 as he drew back several steps from me ; it expressed astonishment and 

 confusion— all his ease of manner had fled at once, and I was again re- 

 minded of " la Main Sanglanle." 



To save the subject of this paper from a charge of vulgarity, by the 

 world in general, let it be remembered that, during the Irish rebellion, 

 a gentleman of name, family, and fortune, and the high sheriff of a 

 county, had, if I recollect, the thanks of both houses of Parliament 

 voted to him for acting as executioner, when no other could be found, 

 to a formidable criminal ; that in the year 1790, on the proposition of 

 Maton Delavarenne, seconded by Mirabeau himself, it was especially 

 decreed, by the French legislature, that the public executioner should 

 be comprehended in the number of citizens, and that, formerly, in the 

 state of Wurtemburg, after having exercised his profession a certain 

 number of years, the headsman was honoured, by having conferred 

 upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. 



• This extraordinary tasti was much indulged in at the time. The celebrated 

 Georo-e Selw3'n travelled from London to Paris, day and night, to be present at 

 the execution of Damiens. He was repulsed, at first, by the guards who sur- 

 rounded the scattbld, until he stated that he had come from London expressly to 

 witness the ceremony. " Make room for the gentleman, he is an Englishman 

 and an amateur," was the bitter observation of a geu-d'arme as he civilly made 

 way for the stranger. 



