Mason at the Theatre of Tyburn

[Joseph Tracy]

real interesting information, sorta wondered about this, so glad to have some confirm of my own suspicions. Every High school teacher ahas seen this phenomenon, the heroism of the rebel.

What happens in the sequence on one level is Mason, presumptively upper class and presumptively somewhat reclusive as an astronomer trying to connect to the country fellow Dixon around criminals "riding the air". But while Dixon may not appear or act or profess as pious quaker, he is still clearly appalled by this savoring of violence, so appalled he thinks Mason may be joking. 
On Jan 13, 2015, at 10:05 PM, alice malice wrote:

> Fielding in his Enquiry into the Causes of the late Increase of
> Robbers (1751) recognized that public hangings provided the theatrical
> stage upon which the criminal could play his most heroic part. If
> public shame and humiliation were the original intention of holding
> executions in public, the effect was just the opposite. ‘The day
> appointed by law for the thief’s shame is the day of glory in his own
> opinion. His procession to Tyburn, and his last moments there, are all
> triumphant; attended with the compassion of the meek and
> tender-hearted, and with the applause, admiration, and envy of all the
> bold and hardened.’ The frequency of public hangings encouraged
> solidarity among the working classes and the criminal underworld, and
> provided criminals with models to follow when their turn came to mount
> the gallows.
> 
> http://rictornorton.co.uk/gu17.htm
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list

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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l