Effects of Solemnity in those oj England. 275 



had to every measure which by possibility can 

 tend to establish this confidence in the minds 

 of the people, and raise it in the public estima- 

 tion. 



As an example of the effect which circum- 

 stances apparently trivial produce on the mind, 

 may be cited the preparative ceremony of an 

 English judge to his passing sentence of death. 

 He takes from his bag a small black cap, which 

 he deliberately unfolds and places on his head ; 

 this signal announces the impending fate of the 

 criminal. Those who have never witnessed it 

 might suppose that this formality is calculated 

 rather to destroy than promote the awfulness of 

 the occasion ; but the reverse of this conjecture 

 is the fact : the solemn silence which precedes 

 the lew minutes in which the judge is thus 

 occupied has a powerful operation on the 

 audience. A general sympathy of feeling is 

 created by the anticipation of the dreadful 

 denunciation a fellow-creature is doomed to 

 receive. The ear and the heart are attuned to 

 the melancholy occasion, and every word which 

 falls from the judge becomes doubly impressive 

 from a union of sentiment. 



Hie humanity with which the criminal Jaw is 

 executed is a bright part of our constitution : 



T a 



