d of seeing criminals and hangmen. He
was frequently present at executions. In his "Life of Johnson" he
records, under date of June 23rd, 1784, "I visited Johnson in the
morning, after having been present at the shocking sight of fifteen men
executed before Newgate." He once persuaded Sir Joshua Reynolds to
accompany him, and they recognised among the sufferers a former servant
of Mrs. Thrale's. He describes Mr. Akerman, the Keeper of Newgate, as
his esteemed friend. According to Mr. Croker, he defended his taste in a
paper he wrote for the "London Magazine," "as a natural and irresistible
impulse."--ED.]

[Footnote 93: So far as I have been able to ascertain, this passage,
this great blot on Paoli and the Corsican patriots, excited no attention
in England. But the Inquisition was still at its hateful work in many
countries, and men's minds were used to cruelties. Torture was still
employed in capital cases to force confession even in Holland and
France.--ED.]

The hangman of Corsica was a great curiosity. Being held in the utmost
detestation, he durst not live like another inhabitant of the island. He
was obliged to take refuge in the castle, and there he was kept in a
little corner turret, where he had just room for a miserable bed, and a
little bit of fire to dress such victuals for himself as were sufficient
to keep him alive, for nobody would have any intercourse with him, but
all turned their backs upon him. I went up and looked at him. And a more
dirty rueful spectacle I never beheld. He seemed sensible of his
situation, and held down his head like an abhorred outcast.

It was a long time before they could get a hangman in Corsica, so that
the punishment of the gallows was hardly known, all their criminals
being shot.[94] At last this creature whom I saw, who is a Sicilian,
came with a message to Paoli. The General who has a wonderful talent for
physiognomy, on seeing the man, said immediately to some of the people
about him, "Ecco il boia. Behold our hangman." He gave orders to ask the
man if he would accept of the office, and his answer was, "My
grandfather was a hangman, my father was a hangman. I have been a
hangman myself, and am willing to continue so." He was therefore
immediately put into office, and the ignominious death dispensed by his
hands, had more effect than twenty executions by fire arms.

[Footnote 94: "Their dignities, and a' that," are, it seems, to be found
even among executioners. The ma