Trusler, John; Hogarth, J.; Nichols, John; Hogarth, J. [Oth.]; Nichols, John [Oth.]; Hogarth, William [Ill.]: The Works Of William Hogarth In A Series Of Engravings: With Descriptions And A Cmment On Their Moral Tendency (London: Published By Jones And Co., 1833)

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HOGARTH'S WORKS.

in a bog, and two boys laughing at him, are well imagined. Here we see one almost
squeezed to death among the horses ; there, another trampled on by the mob. In one
part is a girl tearing the face of a boy for oversetting her barrow; in another, a woman
beating a fellow for throwing down her child. Here we see a man flinging a dog
among the crowd by the tail; there a woman crying the dying speech of Thomas Idle,
printed the day before his execution ; and many other things too minute to be pointed
out: two, however, we must not omit taking notice of, one of which is the letting off
a pigeon, bred at the gaol, fly from the gallery, which hastes directly home; an old
custom, to give an early notice to the keeper and others, of the turning off or death of
the criminal; and that of the executioner smoking his pipe at the top of the gallows,
whose position of indifference betrays an unconcern that nothing can reconcile with the
shocking spectacle, but that of use having rendered his wretched office familiar to him ;
whilst it declares a truth, which every character in this plate seems to confirm, that a
sad and distressful object loses its power of affecting by being frequently seen.