CXXXll 
LIFE OF WILSON. 
with symptoms of eager and inquisitive curiosity. After fixing my 
quarters, disposing of my arms, and burnishing myself a little, I 
walked out to have a more particular view of the place. 
This little metropolis of the western country is nearly as large 
as Lancaster in Pennsylvania. In the centre of the town is a pub- 
lic square partly occupied by the courthouse and market place, and 
distinguished by the additional ornament of the pillory and stocks. 
The former of these is so constructed as to serve well enough, if 
need be, occasionally for a gallows, which is not a bad thought; 
for as nothing contributes more to make hardened villains than the 
pillory, so nothing so effectually rids society of them as the gal- 
lows ; and every knave may here exclaim 
“ My bane and antidote are both before me.’^ 
I peeped into the courthouse as I passed, and though it was court 
day I was struck with the appearance its interior exhibited ; for, 
though only a plain square brick building, it has all the gloom of 
the Gothic, so much admired of late, by our modern architects. 
The exterior walls, having, on experiment, been found too feeble 
for the superincumbent honours of the roof and steeple, it was found 
necessary to erect, from the floor, a number of large, circular, and 
unplastered brick pillars, in a new order of architecture, (the thick 
end uppermost,) which, while they serve to impress the spectators 
with the perpetual dread that they will tumble about their ears, 
contribute also, by their number and bulk, to shut out the light, 
and to spread around a reverential gloom, producing a melancholy 
and chilling effect; a very good disposition of mind, certainly, for 
a man to enter a court of justice in. One or two solitary individu- 
als stole along the damp and silent floor ; and I covdd just descry, 
elevated at the opposite extremity of the building, the judges sitting, 
like spiders in a window corner, dimly distinguishable through the 
intermediate gloom. The market place, which stands a little to 
