ABSTRACT
The trial and execution of Dr. William Dodd for the crime of forgery was one of the most sensational episodes of the second half of the eighteenth century. Dodd was a popular preacher, a prolific author, and a leading promoter of humanitarian causes. In each capacity he appealed to and enacted the emotions associated with the new culture of sensibility. Yet while Dodd enjoyed considerable success, he was also a polarising figure. His performances attracted sharp criticism as well as praise. Those who doubted Dodd’s sincerity appeared vindicated when the Doctor was caught forging a bond. There was every reason to expect that his trial would expose the shallowness of the emotional regime he promoted. Dodd, however, sought to present himself as the sentimental martyr, the suffering victim, a man who deserved the sympathy of all feeling people. Letters to the press took up this issue, debating about the place of the emotions associated with the ‘sentimental revolution’ in the courtroom. The Dodd case presents us with an opportunity to observe the contest between competing ‘scripts’ governing the expression of emotions in eighteenth-century justice.
