Saturday, January 4, 2003
To Lizbie Browne Comments
Rating: ★3.8
I
Dear Lizbie Browne,
Where are you now?
...
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Thomas Hardy
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7/28/2025 7:48:03 PM # 1.0.0
Elizabeth Martha Brown was the name of the last woman to be publicly executed at Dorchester Jail, in 1856. The 16-year-old Hardy was in the crowd - much later in life, he recalled this experience, with horror and also with shame. His great heroine, Tess, suffered the same fate, though not in public.
Howard, do you think Hardy was alluding to the public execution of Elizabeth Martha Brown here, or simply his infatuation with an 'unknown' girl. It seems unlikely that Hardy would romanticise her death into a poem... Let me know what you think.