called when he was at Brockhampton and remembers one morning that a man was to be hanged that day at Dorchester. He used a big brass telescope belonging to his family and moved to a hill near his house from where he could see the town:
The sun behind his back shone straight on the white stone facade of the gaol, and the form of the murderer in white fustian, the executioner and officials in dark clothing and the crowd below being invisible at this distance of nearly three miles. At the moment of his placing the glass to his eye the white figure dropped downwards, and the faint note of the town clock struck eight (Carpenter 19).
Hardy recalled this incident after many years, showing that it was important to him. Even as he did so, however, he denied that it had any relevance to his life, though Carpenter only partly agrees:
From an ordinary, practical, common-sense point
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