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Hamburgh Tuesday Octr 19th 1779.
1
Here am I still and I begin to think I shall never
get away. No summons yet from Lubec: but
people say the Vessel must sail on Saturday.
We have had fair winds for this week past and
if should turn contrary I must go by land at
last which will be terrible. Am I to be thus
always out of luck in water carriage conveyance?
I sent you a letter last post I believe without a date,
it was Fryday 15th.
2
I gave you a list of some law books in my last,
they were what Norrmann and Dr Matson particularly
recommended. There were 2 or 3 which I omitted.
De singularibus quibusdem & antiquis in Germania
Juribus & observatis.
Der Staadt Hamburgh gerichts ordnung und
statuta. 1603.
Statuta und Stadt recht der stadt Lubeck. 1600.
The last 2 come under the description of the books
which were noted in my "Aquirenda": but as there
were many which I was doubtfull whether you would
wish to have or not I have not (I think) ordered
them for you. The books I shall send you
by the first opportunity will be chiefly such only by
which you may determine what others you would
wish to have.
3
A direction given to the Judge in the Schwaben-
Spiegel is that "he shall sit in his chair with a
countenance like a fierce lion, and his legs across".
4.
I dont know whether I told you in any of my
letters from Amsterdam, how much I admired
the very great parade & ceremony with which the
executions of criminals were said to be conducted.
The different chambers for pronouncing and repeating
the sentence ornamented all of them with sculpture
and designs emblamatical expressive of the use each chamber of them is put
alotted to. The very public & elevated situation
of the Scaffold which is put up before the Stadthouse
and taken down again at each execution. The
obligation which all theose who have had any
part in the Judgement are under to attend at the window
of one of the Chambers to see the execution. In short
the greatest pains appeared to be taken to produce the
greatest effect possible in the way of deterrment.
5
Regulations Circus a good deal similar and perhaps not at
all inferiour to what I heard of at Amsterdam
I have had an opportunity of being an eyewitness of
here myself. I saw a woman executed here
yesterday for the Murder of 2 young Children.
She was beheaded: for hanging here is the Punishment
for theft only. The place of execution is a little
mount seemingly artificially of the form
of a
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Identifier: | JB/538/396/001"JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 538. |
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1779-10-19 |
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538 |
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396 |
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001 |
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Correspondence |
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Samuel Bentham |
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