Excerpt from www.thisdayinquotes.com:
September 18, 2009
SEPTEMBER 19 - Hanging: it concentrates the mind wonderfully
British lawyer and diarist James Boswell recorded many witticisms by Samuel Johnson in his journal. They ended up in Boswell’s noted biography of the great lexicographer and author, Life of Johnson (1791).One of the most quoted Johnson quips is in Boswell’s entry for September 19, 1777. It was this bit of gallows humor:
"When a man knows he is to be hanged...it concentrates his mind wonderfully."
Johnson said this about an Anglican clergyman named William Dodd, who was executed by hanging at England’s Tyburn prison on June 27, 1777.
Dodd’s crime was a loan scam.
He had asked a money lender for a sizeable loan that he claimed was for his former student, the 5th Earl of Chesterfield. That young gent was son of the 4th Earl of Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, known for those famous letters to his son that included platitudes like: “Take care of the minutes: for the hours will take care of themselves.”
Dodd pocketed the loan money and, when it wasn’t repaid, his scam was revealed. He was tried and sentenced to death. But some people, including Samuel Johnson, thought that seemed a bit harsh.
So, Johnson tried to help by penning an eloquent, Bible-quoting plea for mercy that was released publicly – under Dodd’s name – in an effort to persuade the court to let him live.
It didn’t work. Dodd was hung anyway, alongside another criminal named Joseph Harris.
But the entreaty Johnson had ghost written was soon published with the title The Convict’s Address to His Unhappy Brethren. It was initially credited to Dodd and it became quite popular.
In his journal entry for September 19, 1777, Boswell noted that a friend of Johnson’s told the great man he suspected Dodd didn’t write the piece himself, because it was so good.“Why should you think so?” responded Johnson. “Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”
Johnson’s authorship was eventually revealed and The Convict’s Address is now generally – and properly – credited to him. [more from source]
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I wonder if the above mentioned "Dodd" is related to Connecticut US Senator Chris Dodd on the banking committee who has taken bribes from banksters and is still regulating banks! If there was justice in America, Dodd would have been tried for treason and would be swinging from a Charter Oak type tree. This blogger's thoughts on Dodd:
Text with video:
MrSlappyCard — March 18, 2010 — More info: http://starkravingviking.blogspot.com...
Millions are being paid out to bank regulators in bonuses. So, who isnt being bribed that isnt responsible for the worldwide banking crisis? Why are the Foxes in charge of guarding the Hen-house?
Connecticut US Senator Chris Dodd has been caught taking maybe a million dollars, or more, from those hes supposed to be regulating as ranking member of the Banking Committee.
I am no New World Order conspiracy theorist, but Dodd is known to be a Bilderberg member.
Dodds legacy is that he made himself and his friends rich. He did so at the expense of average people worldwide.
On his way out, Dodd might do the most damage he can to the worldwide economy. Dodd proposes that 500 billion of taxpayer dollars be used to start a brand new all powerful financial regulating agency. It has no oversight, and there is no control of the agency by the Senate, Congress, or the US President. In other words, the people, in black and white, have no representation for their taxation. If trends continue those getting the regulator jobs will have paid the largest bribes and are, or have been, the biggest perpetrators in worldwide corporate and banking fraud.
Connecticut is the Wild West of obeying any laws and doing any kind of honest investigations. Just look into Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthals dirty deals and awarding millions to former law partners in no-bid contracts. Many of the richest banksters, Big Pharma executives, Bio-Weapons company owners, war corporation, insurance, and other corporate complete assholes live in Connecticut.
Has Chris Dodd done more financial damage to the world than the aftermath of 9-11 or any serial killer? If a citizen who steals a candy bar more than once can get prison, why shouldnt Dodd get prison for allowing banksters to steal trillions? Dodd took bribes from Bank of America, Countrywide Home Loan, and others. Why is Dodd still on the Banking Committee? If a clerk at a candy store allows merchandise from the store, and profits from it to be stole, he, or she, is fired, arrested, handcuffed, processed, wrapped in chains and leg irons, locked up to await trial. Dodd has done something more than one million times more serious, why is he not in prison instead of getting a cushy retirement AND a huge pay out from organized corporate banking criminals?
If you love liberty and honest government anywhere in the world, DEMAND THAT DODD BE ARRESTED, HANDCUFFED, AND MADE TO STAND TRIAL.
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CT Judicial Branch Insider and Backroom Deals?
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This blogger's email: stevengerickson@yahoo.com