feat_summary_path: finished_summaries/cliffnotes/Far from the Madding Crowd/section_54_part_0.txt
feat_book_id: Far from the Madding Crowd.chapter 55
feat_summary_id: chapter 55
feat_summary: {"name": "Chapter 55", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20201101052914/https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/f/far-from-the-madding-crowd/summary-and-analysis/chapter-55", "summary": "On a bleak day three months later, a number of people gathered on Yalbury Hill. The high sheriff waited in a carriage. Another carriage arrived carrying the judge of the circuit court; he switched carriages, trumpets flourished, and a procession went into town. Bathsheba's men discussed their hopes that the judge would be merciful to Boldwood. Much had been learned of Boldwood's behavior. No one had guessed the extent of his derangement. The closets in his home were found to contain an expensive and elegant collection of ladies' clothes, muffs, and jewelry, all wrapped, labeled \"Bathsheba Boldwood,\" and dated six years ahead. Boldwood had bought the things in Bath and elsewhere and had brought them to his home. The group which gathered at the malthouse thoroughly discussed the question of Boldwood's odd behavior. Once the suggestion had been raised, it was simple to find examples of the farmer's oddity. \"The conviction that Boldwood had not been morally responsible for his later acts now became general.\" But Gabriel arrived to announce the verdict: \"Boldwood, as every one supposed he would do, had pleaded guilty, and had been sentenced to death.\" A petition was sent to the home secretary, asking for reconsideration of the verdict because of Boldwood's state of mind. But not too many inhabitants of Casterbridge signed it. Shopkeepers resented Boldwood's patronage of other towns to purchase the finery for Bathsheba. A few merciful men prodded others into signing. The reply to the petition had not arrived by the Friday preceding the day set for the execution. Coming from the jail where he had bidden farewell to Boldwood, Gabriel saw the scaffold being erected. Bathsheba was in bed, wasting away. She constantly asked whether the messenger had arrived with an answer to the petition. Gabriel too was worried. His \"anxiety was great that Boldwood might be saved, even though in his conscience he felt that he ought to die; for there had been qualities in the farmer which Oak loved.\" At last, late that night, a rider brought the answer they awaited. The sentence had been commuted to \"confinement during Her Majesty's pleasure.\" \"'Hurrah!' said Coggan, with a swelling heart. 'God's above the devil yet!\"'", "analysis": "In this chapter we learn most of the news through hearsay and the expression of the views of the townsfolk. Liddy, for example, tells us that Bathsheba's \"sufferings have been dreadful\", and that she fears for her mistress' sanity if Boldwood is executed. Oak, as always, remains steadfast"}
text: THE MARCH FOLLOWING--"BATHSHEBA BOLDWOOD"
  
  
  We pass rapidly on into the month of March, to a breezy day without
  sunshine, frost, or dew.  On Yalbury Hill, about midway between
  Weatherbury and Casterbridge, where the turnpike road passes over
  the crest, a numerous concourse of people had gathered, the eyes of
  the greater number being frequently stretched afar in a northerly
  direction.  The groups consisted of a throng of idlers, a party of
  javelin-men, and two trumpeters, and in the midst were carriages, one
  of which contained the high sheriff.  With the idlers, many of whom
  had mounted to the top of a cutting formed for the road, were several
  Weatherbury men and boys--among others Poorgrass, Coggan, and Cain
  Ball.
  
  At the end of half-an-hour a faint dust was seen in the expected
  quarter, and shortly after a travelling-carriage, bringing one of the
  two judges on the Western Circuit, came up the hill and halted on the
  top.  The judge changed carriages whilst a flourish was blown by the
  big-cheeked trumpeters, and a procession being formed of the vehicles
  and javelin-men, they all proceeded towards the town, excepting the
  Weatherbury men, who as soon as they had seen the judge move off
  returned home again to their work.
  
  "Joseph, I seed you squeezing close to the carriage," said Coggan, as
  they walked.  "Did ye notice my lord judge's face?"
  
  "I did," said Poorgrass.  "I looked hard at en, as if I would read
  his very soul; and there was mercy in his eyes--or to speak with the
  exact truth required of us at this solemn time, in the eye that was
  towards me."
  
  "Well, I hope for the best," said Coggan, "though bad that must be.
  However, I shan't go to the trial, and I'd advise the rest of ye
  that bain't wanted to bide away.  'Twill disturb his mind more than
  anything to see us there staring at him as if he were a show."
  
  "The very thing I said this morning," observed Joseph, "'Justice is
  come to weigh him in the balances,' I said in my reflectious way,
  'and if he's found wanting, so be it unto him,' and a bystander said
  'Hear, hear!  A man who can talk like that ought to be heard.' But I
  don't like dwelling upon it, for my few words are my few words, and
  not much; though the speech of some men is rumoured abroad as though
  by nature formed for such."
  
  "So 'tis, Joseph.  And now, neighbours, as I said, every man bide at
  home."
  
  The resolution was adhered to; and all waited anxiously for the news
  next day.  Their suspense was diverted, however, by a discovery which
  was made in the afternoon, throwing more light on Boldwood's conduct
  and condition than any details which had preceded it.
  
  That he had been from the time of Greenhill Fair until the fatal
  Christmas Eve in excited and unusual moods was known to those who had
  been intimate with him; but nobody imagined that there had shown in
  him unequivocal symptoms of the mental derangement which Bathsheba
  and Oak, alone of all others and at different times, had momentarily
  suspected.  In a locked closet was now discovered an extraordinary
  collection of articles.  There were several sets of ladies' dresses
  in the piece, of sundry expensive materials; silks and satins,
  poplins and velvets, all of colours which from Bathsheba's style of
  dress might have been judged to be her favourites.  There were two
  muffs, sable and ermine.  Above all there was a case of jewellery,
  containing four heavy gold bracelets and several lockets and rings,
  all of fine quality and manufacture.  These things had been bought in
  Bath and other towns from time to time, and brought home by stealth.
  They were all carefully packed in paper, and each package was
  labelled "Bathsheba Boldwood," a date being subjoined six years in
  advance in every instance.
  
  These somewhat pathetic evidences of a mind crazed with care and love
  were the subject of discourse in Warren's malt-house when Oak entered
  from Casterbridge with tidings of sentence. He came in the afternoon,
  and his face, as the kiln glow shone upon it, told the tale
  sufficiently well.  Boldwood, as every one supposed he would do, had
  pleaded guilty, and had been sentenced to death.
  
  The conviction that Boldwood had not been morally responsible for his
  later acts now became general.  Facts elicited previous to the trial
  had pointed strongly in the same direction, but they had not been of
  sufficient weight to lead to an order for an examination into the
  state of Boldwood's mind.  It was astonishing, now that a presumption
  of insanity was raised, how many collateral circumstances were
  remembered to which a condition of mental disease seemed to afford
  the only explanation--among others, the unprecedented neglect of his
  corn stacks in the previous summer.
  
  A petition was addressed to the Home Secretary, advancing
  the circumstances which appeared to justify a request for a
  reconsideration of the sentence.  It was not "numerously signed"
  by the inhabitants of Casterbridge, as is usual in such cases, for
  Boldwood had never made many friends over the counter.  The shops
  thought it very natural that a man who, by importing direct from
  the producer, had daringly set aside the first great principle of
  provincial existence, namely that God made country villages to supply
  customers to county towns, should have confused ideas about the
  Decalogue.  The prompters were a few merciful men who had perhaps too
  feelingly considered the facts latterly unearthed, and the result was
  that evidence was taken which it was hoped might remove the crime in
  a moral point of view, out of the category of wilful murder, and lead
  it to be regarded as a sheer outcome of madness.
  
  The upshot of the petition was waited for in Weatherbury with
  solicitous interest.  The execution had been fixed for eight o'clock
  on a Saturday morning about a fortnight after the sentence was
  passed, and up to Friday afternoon no answer had been received.  At
  that time Gabriel came from Casterbridge Gaol, whither he had been
  to wish Boldwood good-bye, and turned down a by-street to avoid the
  town.  When past the last house he heard a hammering, and lifting
  his bowed head he looked back for a moment.  Over the chimneys he
  could see the upper part of the gaol entrance, rich and glowing
  in the afternoon sun, and some moving figures were there.  They
  were carpenters lifting a post into a vertical position within the
  parapet.  He withdrew his eyes quickly, and hastened on.
  
  It was dark when he reached home, and half the village was out to
  meet him.
  
  "No tidings," Gabriel said, wearily.  "And I'm afraid there's no
  hope.  I've been with him more than two hours."
  
  "Do ye think he REALLY was out of his mind when he did it?" said
  Smallbury.
  
  "I can't honestly say that I do," Oak replied.  "However, that we can
  talk of another time.  Has there been any change in mistress this
  afternoon?"
  
  "None at all."
  
  "Is she downstairs?"
  
  "No.  And getting on so nicely as she was too.  She's but very little
  better now again than she was at Christmas.  She keeps on asking
  if you be come, and if there's news, till one's wearied out wi'
  answering her.  Shall I go and say you've come?"
  
  "No," said Oak.  "There's a chance yet; but I couldn't stay in town
  any longer--after seeing him too.  So Laban--Laban is here, isn't
  he?"
  
  "Yes," said Tall.
  
  "What I've arranged is, that you shall ride to town the last thing
  to-night; leave here about nine, and wait a while there, getting home
  about twelve.  If nothing has been received by eleven to-night, they
  say there's no chance at all."
  
  "I do so hope his life will be spared," said Liddy.  "If it is not,
  she'll go out of her mind too.  Poor thing; her sufferings have been
  dreadful; she deserves anybody's pity."
  
  "Is she altered much?" said Coggan.
  
  "If you haven't seen poor mistress since Christmas, you wouldn't know
  her," said Liddy.  "Her eyes are so miserable that she's not the same
  woman.  Only two years ago she was a romping girl, and now she's
  this!"
  
  Laban departed as directed, and at eleven o'clock that night several
  of the villagers strolled along the road to Casterbridge and awaited
  his arrival--among them Oak, and nearly all the rest of Bathsheba's
  men.  Gabriel's anxiety was great that Boldwood might be saved, even
  though in his conscience he felt that he ought to die; for there had
  been qualities in the farmer which Oak loved.  At last, when they all
  were weary the tramp of a horse was heard in the distance--
  
  
       First dead, as if on turf it trode,
       Then, clattering on the village road
       In other pace than forth he yode.
  
  
  "We shall soon know now, one way or other." said Coggan, and they all
  stepped down from the bank on which they had been standing into the
  road, and the rider pranced into the midst of them.
  
  "Is that you, Laban?" said Gabriel.
  
  "Yes--'tis come.  He's not to die.  'Tis confinement during Her
  Majesty's pleasure."
  
  "Hurrah!" said Coggan, with a swelling heart.  "God's above the devil
  yet!"
  
  
  
  
feat_summary_name: Chapter 55
target: On a bleak day three months later, a number of people gathered on Yalbury Hill. The high sheriff waited in a carriage. Another carriage arrived carrying the judge of the circuit court; he switched carriages, trumpets flourished, and a procession went into town. Bathsheba's men discussed their hopes that the judge would be merciful to Boldwood. Much had been learned of Boldwood's behavior. No one had guessed the extent of his derangement. The closets in his home were found to contain an expensive and elegant collection of ladies' clothes, muffs, and jewelry, all wrapped, labeled "Bathsheba Boldwood," and dated six years ahead. Boldwood had bought the things in Bath and elsewhere and had brought them to his home. The group which gathered at the malthouse thoroughly discussed the question of Boldwood's odd behavior. Once the suggestion had been raised, it was simple to find examples of the farmer's oddity. "The conviction that Boldwood had not been morally responsible for his later acts now became general." But Gabriel arrived to announce the verdict: "Boldwood, as every one supposed he would do, had pleaded guilty, and had been sentenced to death." A petition was sent to the home secretary, asking for reconsideration of the verdict because of Boldwood's state of mind. But not too many inhabitants of Casterbridge signed it. Shopkeepers resented Boldwood's patronage of other towns to purchase the finery for Bathsheba. A few merciful men prodded others into signing. The reply to the petition had not arrived by the Friday preceding the day set for the execution. Coming from the jail where he had bidden farewell to Boldwood, Gabriel saw the scaffold being erected. Bathsheba was in bed, wasting away. She constantly asked whether the messenger had arrived with an answer to the petition. Gabriel too was worried. His "anxiety was great that Boldwood might be saved, even though in his conscience he felt that he ought to die; for there had been qualities in the farmer which Oak loved." At last, late that night, a rider brought the answer they awaited. The sentence had been commuted to "confinement during Her Majesty's pleasure." "'Hurrah!' said Coggan, with a swelling heart. 'God's above the devil yet!"'
feat_summary_analysis: In this chapter we learn most of the news through hearsay and the expression of the views of the townsfolk. Liddy, for example, tells us that Bathsheba's "sufferings have been dreadful", and that she fears for her mistress' sanity if Boldwood is executed. Oak, as always, remains steadfast