I recently read A Tale of Two Cities, which is Dickens' other historical novel, after Barnaby Rudge. Again, another petrifying depiction of mob violence, particularly in the street lynching of a heartless aristo:

Once, he went aloft, and the rope broke, and they caught him shrieking; twice, he went aloft, and the rope broke, and they caught him shrieking; then, the rope was merciful, and held him, and his head was soon upon a pike ...

I don't know much about Dickens' background, but this has...