Henry Fielding

“ The great Cause of this Evil is the Frequency of Executions: The Knowledge of Human Nature will prove this from Reason; and the different Effects which Executions produce in the Minds of the Spectators in the Country where they are rare, and in London where they are common, will convince us by Experience. The Thief who is hanged to Day hath learnt his Intrepidity from the Example of his hanged Predecessors, as others are now taught to despise Death, and to bear it hereafter with Boldness from what they see to Day. ”

“ Indeed that it is not always certainly false, is a sufficient Scandal to our Polity; for what can be more shocking than to see an industrious poor Creature, who is able and willing to labour, forced by mere Want into Dishonesty, and that in a Nation of such Trade and Opulence. ”

“ Foreigners have found fault with the Cruelty of the English Drama, in representing frequent Murders upon the Stage. In fact, this is not only cruel, but highly injudicious: A Murder behind the Scenes, if the Poet knows how to manage it, will affect the Audience with greater Terror than if it was acted before their Eyes. ”

“ It is not the Essence of the Thing itself, but the Dress and Apparatus of it, which make an Impression on the Mind, especially on the Minds of the Multitude to whom Beauty in Rags is never a desirable, nor Deformity in Embroidery a disagreeable Object. ”

“ Montagne, who, of all Men, except only Aristotle, seems best to have understood Human Nature, enquiring into the Causes why Death appears more terrible to the better Sort of People than to the meaner, expresses himself thus: 'I do verily believe, that it is those terrible Ceremonies and Preparations wherewith we set it out, that more terrify us than the Thing itself ”

“ Those of Egypt in particular, where the sacred Mysteries were first devised, well knew the Use of hiding from the Eyes of the Vulgar, what they intended should inspire them with the greatest Awe and Dread. The Mind of Man is so much more capable of magnifying than his Eye, that I question whether every Object is not lessened by being looked upon ”

“ To effect this, it seems that the Execution should be as soon as possible after the Commission and Conviction of the Crime; for if this be of an atrocious Kind, the Resentment of Mankind being warm, would pursue the Criminal to his last End, and all Pity for the Offender would be lost in Detestation of the Offence. Whereas, when Executions are delayed so long as they sometimes are, the Punishment and not the Crime is considered ”

“ If Executions therefore were so contrived, that few could be present at them, they would be much more shocking and terrible to the Crowd without Doors than at present, as well much more dreadful to the Criminals themselves, who would thus die in the Presence only of their Enemies ”