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Rh

thee now, my good friend, here is a piece of money for thee—very good money too; thou may'st look o' both sides of it an' thou wilt: it has been wrapped up in the foot of my old holiday stockings since last Michaelmas twelvemonth, and neither sun nor wind has blown upon it. Take it, man, thou art heartily welcome to it if thou canst put me into a good place near the scaffold, or a place where I may see him upon the scaffold; for I am five and thirty years old next Shrove-Tuesday, when the time comes round, and I have never yet seen in all my born days so much as a thief set i' the stocks.

Poor man! thou hast lived in most deplorable ignorance indeed. But stand aside a little, here is the famous executioner of Olmutz a-coming, who has been sent for expressly to do the job; for our own is but a titulary hangman; he has all the honours of the office, but little experience in the duties of it.