M&D Deep Duck Ch. 3: Innocent merriment

[Mark Wright]

He sees his own drop: a latent suicide steeling his nerve.

On Monday, January 12, 2015, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:

> 15.10: "Mason explains, though without his precise reason for it, that,
> for the past Year or more, it has been his practice to attend the Friday
> Hangings at that melancholy place ..." (Tyburn)
>
> Anybody care to venture a "precise reason"? This first meeting is in 1760
> or 1761, so his habit might date to his wife Rebekah's death in 1759
> (although later we'll get reasons to think he had tended to the
>  Melancholick well before that). And yes, the Tyburn hangings were an
> acknowledged Sight of London.
>
> Is that enough to explain it? Mason is rather gentle, neither sadistic nor
> vindictive; I for one don't see an obvious or direct connection between
> mouning and a desire to watch excutions.
>
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