304 NAKRATIVE OF A JOURNEY 



in front of the custom-house. I saw, by the countenances of the 

 condemned men, that bodily fear or apprehension had not pro- 

 duced the iUness under which they were laboring ; it could be 

 accounted for only by their rigid confinement, unwholesome 

 living, and constant sea-sickness. They conversed with the 

 cowled and shaven priests who occupied the carts with them in 

 a calm, and even cheerful tone. 



Poor fellows ! they probably enjoyed the pure air and glorious 

 canopy of heaven, for which, even though they heralded their 

 way to an ignominious and violent death, they were glad to ex- 

 change the gloomy horrors of their prison-house on the sea. 



After many delays, which always occur at such times, the 

 carts moved off, preceded and followed by a file of soldiers. The 

 streets were crowded with the populace of all ages, sexes, and 

 conditions, and T, of course, was borne on in the throng towards 

 the place of execution. 



I never felt so oppressed with conflicting emotions in my life. 

 Pity and commiseration for the wretched beings who were about 

 to launch out upon the untried ocean of eternity, admiration for 

 the calm and manly resolution which they had shown in this 

 most trying hour, anticipation of the sufferings they were to en- 

 dure in undergoing the dreadful sentence, and a doubt, a strong 

 and irrepressible doubt of the right of poor fallible mortals to 

 assume a power over the lives of their fellows, which should be- 

 long only to the good and righteous Judge of all. Under the in- 

 fluence of the last conclusion, (for such it had become,) I was 

 several times on the point of returning to my lodgings, so as not 

 to sanction by my presence, an act which I could not approve, 

 but I had left with the intention of seeing the end of the tragedy, 

 and as my presence or absence would not affect the event, I fol- 

 lowed with the rest. 



In the course of an hour, the carts arrived at the place of exe- 

 cution, which was a large square, fronting on the sea, at the lower 



