The Project Gutenberg eBook, Bygone Punishments, by William Andrews
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Bygone Punishments
Author: William Andrews
Release Date: June 14, 2009 [eBook #29117]
Language: English
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BYGONE PUNISHMENTS***
E-text prepared by Eric Hutton, Stephen Blundell, and the Project
Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
file which includes the original illustrations.
See 29117-h.htm or 29117-h.zip:
(http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29117/29117-h/29117-h.htm)
or
(http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29117/29117-h.zip)
Transcriber's note:
Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
Significant changes have been listed at the end of the text.
Archaic, dialect, variant and quoted spellings remain as printed.
Inconsistent hyphenation has been made consistent except when
used for emphasis or within quotations.
Non-standard characters are represented as follows:
[***] represents an inverted asterism (a down-pointing
triangle of 3 asterisks).
[oe] represents an oe ligature.
A carat character (^) indicates the following character(s)
is/are superscripted.
BYGONE PUNISHMENTS.
* * * * *
Works by William Andrews.
Mr. Andrews' books are always interesting.--_Church Bells._
No student of Mr. Andrews' books can be a dull after-dinner speaker,
for his writings are full of curious out-of-the-way information and
good stories.--_Birmingham Daily Gazette._
England in the Days of Old.
A most delightful work.--_Leeds Mercury._
A valuable contribution to archæological lore.--_Chester Courant._
It is of much value as a book of reference, and it should find its
way into the library of every student of history and
folk-lore.--_Norfolk Chronicle._
Mr. Andrews has the true art of narration, and contrives to give us
the results of his learning with considerable freshness of style,
whilst his subjects are always interesting and
picturesque.--_Manchester Courier._
Literary Byways.
An interesting volume.--_Church Bells._
A readable volume about authors and books.... Like Mr. Andrews'
other works, the book shews wide, out-of-the-way reading.--_Glasgow
Herald._
Turn where you will, there is entertainment and information in this
book.--_Birmingham Daily Gazette._
An entertaining volume.... No matter where the book is opened the
reader will find some amusing and instructive matter.--_Dundee
Advertiser._
The Church Treasury of History, Custom, Folk-Lore, etc.
It is a work that will prove interesting to the clergy and churchmen
generally, and to all others who have an antiquarian turn of mind,
or like to be regaled occasionally by reading old-world customs and
anecdotes.--_Church Family Newspaper._
Mr. Andrews has given us some excellent volumes of Church lore, but
none quite so good as this. The subjects are well chosen. They are
treated brightly, and with considerable detail, and they are well
illustrated. The volume is full of information, well and pleasantly
put.--_London Quarterly Review._
Those who seek information regarding curious and quaint relics or
customs will find much to interest them in this book. The
illustrations are good.--_Publishers' Circular._
Curious Church Customs.
A thoroughly excellent volume.--_Publishers' Circular._
We are indebted to Mr. Andrews for an invaluable addition to our
library of folk-lore and we do not think that many who take it up
will slip a single page.--_Dundee Advertiser._
Very interesting.--_To-Day._
Mr. Andrews is too practised an historian not to have made the most
of his subject.--_Review of Reviews._
A handsomely got up and interesting volume.--_The Fireside._
* * * * *
[Illustration: TITUS OATES IN THE PILLORY.
(_From a Contemporary Print._)]
BYGONE PUNISHMENTS.
by
WILLIAM ANDREWS....
[Decoration]
London:
William Andrews & Co., 5, Farringdon Avenue, E.C.
1899.
[Device: WILLIAM ANDREWS & CO.
THE HULL PRESS]
Contents.
PAGE
HANGING 1
HANGING IN CHAINS 39
HANGING, DRAWING, AND QUARTERING 79
PRESSING TO DEATH 87
DROWNING 95
BURNING TO DEATH 98
BOILING TO DEATH 106
BEHEADING 108
THE HALIFAX GIBBET 118
THE SCOTTISH MAIDEN 128
MUTILATION 134
BRANDING 138
THE PILLORY 143
PUNISHING AUTHORS AND BURNING BOOKS 159
FINGER PILLORY 171
THE JOUGS 176
THE STOCKS 186
THE DRUNKARD'S CLOAK 201
WHIPPING AND WHIPPING-POSTS 209
PUBLIC PENANCE 227
THE REPENTANCE STOOL 239
THE DUCKING-STOOL 243
THE BRANK, OR SCOLD'S BRIDLE 276
RIDING THE STANG 299
INDEX 307
Preface.
About twenty-five years ago I commenced investigating the history of
obsolete punishments, and the result of my studies first appeared in the
newspapers and magazines. In 1881 was issued "Punishments in the Olden
Time," and in 1890 was published "Old Time Punishments": both works were
well received by the press and the public, quickly passing out of print,
and are not now easily obtainable. I contributed in 1894 to the Rev.
Canon Erskine Clarke's popular monthly, the _Parish Magazine_, a series
of papers entitled "Public Punishments of the Past." The foregoing have
been made the foundation of the present volume; in nearly every instance
I have re-written the articles, and provided additional chapters. This
work is given to the public as my final production on this subject, and
I trust it may receive a welcome similar to that accorded to my other
books, and throw fresh light on some of the lesser known byways of
history.
WILLIAM ANDREWS.
THE HULL PRESS,
_August 11th, 1898._
Bygone Punishments.
Hanging.
The usual mode of capital punishment in England for many centuries has
been, and still is, hanging. Other means of execution have been
exercised, but none have been so general as death at the hands of the
hangman. In the Middle Ages every town, abbey, and nearly all the more
important manorial lords had the right of hanging, and the gallows was
to be seen almost everywhere.
Representatives of the church often possessed rights in respect to the
gallows and its victims. William the Conqueror invested the Abbot of
Battle Abbey with authority to save the life of any malefactor he might
find about to be executed, and whose life he wished to spare. In the
days of Edward I. the Abbot of Peterborough set up a gallows at
Collingham, Nottinghamshire, and hanged thereon a thief. This proceeding
came under the notice of the Bishop of Lincoln, who, with considerable
warmth of temper, declared the Abbot had usurped his rights, since he
held from the king's predecessors the liberty of the Wapentake of
Collingham and the right of executing criminals. The Abbot declared that
Henry III. had given him and his successors "Infangthefe and Utfangthefe
in all his hundreds and demesnes." After investigation it was decided
that the Abbot was in the wrong, and he was directed to take down the
gallows he had erected. One, and perhaps the chief reason of the prelate
being so particular to retain his privileges was on account of its
entitling him to the chattels of the condemned man.
Little regard was paid for human life in the reign of Edward I. In the
year 1279, not fewer than two hundred and eighty Jews were hanged for
clipping coin, a crime which has brought many to the gallows. The
following historic story shows how slight an offence led to death in
this monarch's time. In 1285, at the solicitation of Quivil, the Bishop
of Exeter, Edward I. visited Exeter to enquire into the circumstances
relating to the assassination of Walter Lichdale, a precentor of the
cathedral, who had been killed one day when returning from matins. The
murderer made his escape during the night and could not be found. The
Mayor, Alfred Dunport, who had held the office on eight occasions, and
the porter of the Southgate, were both tried and found guilty of a
neglect of duty in omitting to fasten the town gate, by which means the
murderer escaped from the hands of justice. Both men were condemned to
death, and afterwards executed. The unfortunate mayor and porter had not
anything to do with the death of the precentor, their only crime being
that of not closing the city gate at night, a truly hard fate for
neglect of duty.
A hanging reign was that of Henry VIII. It extended over thirty-seven
years, and during that period it is recorded by Stow that 72,000
criminals were executed.
In bygone times were observed some curious ordinances for the conduct of
the Court of Admiralty of the Humber. Enumerated are the various
offences of a maritime character, and their punishment. In view of the
character of the court, the punishment was generally to be inflicted at
low-water mark, so as to be within the proper jurisdiction of the
Admiralty, the chief officer of which, the Admiral of the Humber, being
from the year 1451, the Mayor of Hull. The court being met, and
consisting of "masters, merchants, and mariners, with all others that do
enjoy the King's stream with hook, net, or any engine," were addressed
as follows: "You masters of the quest, if you, or any of you, discover
or disclose anything of the King's secret counsel, or of the counsel of
your fellows (for the present you are admitted to be the King's
Counsellors), you are to be, and shall be, had down to the low-water
mark, where must be made three times, O Yes! for the King, and then and
there this punishment, by the law prescribed, shall be executed upon
them; that is, their hands and feet bound, their throats cut, their
tongues pulled out, and their bodies thrown into the sea." The
ordinances which they were bound to observe, include the following: "You
shall inquire, whether any man in port or creek have stolen any ropes,
nets, cords, etc., amounting to the value of ninepence; if he have, he
must be hanged for the said crimes, at low-water mark." "If any person
has removed the anchor of any ships, without licence of the master or
mariners, or both, or if anyone cuts the cable of a ship at anchor, or
removes or cuts away a buoy; for any of the said offences, he shall be
hanged at low-water mark." "All breakers open of chests, or pickers of
locks, coffers, or chests, etc., on shipboard, if under the value of one
and twenty pence, they shall suffer forty days' imprisonment; but, if
above, they must be hanged as aforesaid." "If any loderman takes upon
himself the rule of any ship, and she perishes through his carelessness
and negligence, if he comes to land alive with two of his company, they
two may chop off his head without any further suit with the King or his
Admiralty." The sailor element of the population of the olden days was
undeniably rude and refractory, the above rules showing that the
authorities needed stern and swift measures to repress evildoers of that
class.
A curious Derbyshire story is told, taking us back to Tudor times,
illustrating the strange superstitions and the power exercised by the
nobility in that era. Some three hundred years ago the Peak of
Derbyshire was ruled by the iron hand of Sir George Vernon, who, from
the boundless magnificence of his hospitality at the famous Hall of
Haddon, was known throughout the country round as the "King of the
Peak." His "kingly" character was further supported by the stern
severity with which he dealt with all cases of dispute or crime that
came before him, even when human life was concerned; though it must be
added, that if strict, he was also just. The following is an instance of
his arbitrary and decisive manner of dealing with the lives of those who
came beneath his control, and shows his fondness for the exercise of the
summary processes of lynch-law. A wandering pedlar was one morning found
dead in an unfrequented part, evidently murdered. He had been hawking
his goods about the neighbourhood the previous day, and was in the
evening observed to enter a certain cottage, and after that was not
again seen alive. No sooner had Sir George Vernon become acquainted with
these facts than he caused the body to be conveyed to the hall, where it
was laid. The man occupying the cottage where the pedlar had last been
seen alive was then summoned to attend at the hall immediately, and on
arriving was met by the question, what had become of the pedlar who had
gone into his cottage on the previous evening? The fellow repudiated any
knowledge of him whatever, when the "King of the Peak" turned round,
drew off the sheet which had been placed over the dead body, and
ordered that everyone present should successively approach and touch it,
declaring at the same time each his innocence of the foul murder. The
cottar, who had retained his effrontery until now, shrank from the
ordeal, and declined to touch the body, running at once out of the hall,
through Bakewell village, in the direction of Ashford. Sir George,
coming, as he well might, to the conclusion that the suspicions which
had pointed to this man had been well founded, ordered his men to take
horse and pursue the murderer, and, overtaking him, to hang him on the
spot. They did so; he was caught in a field opposite to where the
toll-bar of Ashford stood, and there instantly hanged. The field is
still called "Galley Acre," or "Gallows Acre," on this account. It is
stated that for this exercise of his powers in summary justice Sir
George was called upon to appear at London and answer for the act. When
he appeared in court he was the first and second time summoned to
surrender as the "King of the Peak," but not replying to these, the
third time he was called by his proper title of Sir George Vernon, upon
which he acknowledged his presence, stepping forward and crying "Here am
I." The indictment having been made out against him under the title of
"King of the Peak" it was of no effect, and the worst consequence to Sir
George was that he received an admonition. He died in 1567, the
possessor of thirty Derbyshire manors, and was buried in Bakewell
Church, where his altar tomb remains to this day.
Out of the beaten track of the tourist are the gallows at Melton Ross,
Lincolnshire, with their romantic history going back to the time when
might and not right ruled the land. According to a legend current among
the country folk in the locality long, long ago, some lads were playing
at hanging, and trying who could hang the longest. One of the boys had
suspended himself from a tree when the attention of his mates was
attracted by the appearance on the scene of a three-legged hare (the
devil), which came limping past. The lads tried to catch him, and in
their eager pursuit forgot the critical position of their companion, and
on their return found him dead. The gallows is believed by many to have
been erected in remembrance of this event.
The story has no foundation in fact. A hare crossing is regarded not
only in Lincolnshire, and other parts of England, but in many countries
of the world, as indicating trouble to follow.
[Illustration: THE GALLOWS AT MELTON ROSS.]
In the days of old two notable men held lands in the district, Robert
Tyrwhitt of Kettleby and Sir William Ross of Melton, and between them
was a deadly feud, the outcome, in 1411, of a slight and obscure
question on manorial rights. It was alleged that John Rate, steward of
Sir William Ross, had trespassed on lands at Wrawby belonging to Robert
Tyrwhitt, digged and taken away turves for firing, felled trees, and
cut down brushwood. The dispute was tried by Sir William Gascoigne, but
it would appear that this did not altogether meet the requirements of
Tyrwhitt. He assembled his men in large numbers and a fight took place
with the retainers of Sir William Ross. An action of this kind could not
be tolerated even in a lawless age, and the matter was brought before
parliament. After long and careful consideration, it was decided that
Tyrwhitt was in the wrong, and in the most abject manner he had to beg
the pardon of Sir William Ross, but we are told it was merely "lip
service."
The hatred of the two families was transmitted from sire to son until
the reign of James I., and then it broke out in open warfare. A battle
was fought at Melton Ross between the followers of Tyrwhitt and those of
the Earl of Rutland, the representative of the Ross family. In the
struggle several servants were slain, and the king adopted stringent
measures to prevent future bloodshed. He directed, so says tradition,
that a gallows be erected at Melton Ross, and kept up for ever, and that
if any more deaths should result from the old feud it should be regarded
as murder, and those by whom the deadly deed was committed were to be
executed on the gallows.
We hear nothing more of the feud after the gallows had been erected, the
action of the king being the means of settling a strife which had lasted
long and kept the district in turmoil.
The gallows is on the estate of the Earl of Yarborough, and it has been
renewed by him, and according to popular belief he is obliged to prevent
it falling into decay.
Gallows Customs.
When criminals were carried to Tyburn for execution, it was customary
for the mournful procession to stop at the Hospital of St. Giles in the
Fields, and there the malefactors were presented with a glass of ale.
After the hospital was dissolved the custom was continued at a
public-house in the neighbourhood, and seldom did a cart pass on the way
to the gallows without the culprits being refreshed with a parting
draught. Parton, in his "History of the Parish," published in 1822,
makes mention of a public-house bearing the sign of "The Bowl," which
stood between the end of St. Giles's High Street, and Hog Lane.
Particulars are given by Pennant and other writers of a similar custom
being maintained at York. It gave rise to the saying, that "The saddler
of Bawtry was hanged for leaving his liquor": had he stopped, as was
usual with other criminals, to drink his bowl of ale, his reprieve,
which was actually on its way, would have arrived in time to save his
life.
Robert Dowe, a worthy citizen of London, gave to the vicar and
churchwardens of St. Sepulchre's Church, London, fifty pounds, on the
understanding that through all futurity they should cause to be tolled
the big bell the night before the execution of the condemned criminals
in the prison of Newgate. After tolling the bell, the sexton came at
midnight, and after ringing a hand-bell, repeated the following lines:--
"All you that in the condemned hold do lie,
Prepare you, for to-morrow you shall die:
Watch all and pray; the hour is drawing near
That you before the Almighty must appear;
Examine well yourselves: in time repent,
That you may not to eternal flames be sent;
And when St. Sepulchre's bell to-morrow tolls,
The Lord above have mercy on your souls!"
Next morning, when the sad procession passed the church on its way to
Tyburn, a brief pause was made at the gate of St. Sepulchre's Church,
and the clergyman said prayers for the unfortunate criminals, and at the
same time the passing-bell tolled its mournful notes.
According to a notice in a recent book by the Rev. A. G. B. Atkinson,
Robert Dowe was a merchant tailor, and a benefactor; he assisted John
Stow and others. Dowe was born 1522, and died 1612.[1]
Not a few of the highwaymen who ended their careers at the gallows
appear to have been dandies. Swift gives us a picture of one in "Clever
Tom Clinch." He says:--
"... While the rabble was bawling,
Rode stately through Holborn to die of his calling;
He stopped at the George for a bottle of sack,
And promised to pay for it--when he came back.
His waistcoat and stockings and breeches were white,
His cap had a new cherry ribbon to tie't:
And the maids at doors and the balconies ran
And cried 'Lack-a-day! he's a proper young man!'"
On January 21st, 1670, was hanged Claude Duval, a great favourite with
the ladies. It is said that ladies of quality, in masks and with tears,
witnessed his execution and that he lay in more than royal state at
Tangier Tavern, St. Giles's. His epitaph in the centre aisle of St.
Paul's, Covent Garden, may be regarded as a model for highwaymen:--
"Here lies Du Vall: reader, if male thou art,
Look to thy purse; if female to thy heart."
Sixteen-string Jack, hanged on November 30th, 1774, was dressed in a
"bright pea-green coat, and displayed an immense nosegay."
Frequently rioting occurred at executions, and unpopular criminals would
be pelted with missiles, and meet with other indications of disfavour,
but usually the sympathies of the populace were with the culprit.
Attempts at rescuing criminals would sometimes be made, and soldiers had
to be present to ensure order. On the 19th August, 1763, it is stated in
"The Annual Register," "A terrible storm made such an impression on the
ignorant populace assembled to see a criminal executed on Kennington
Common, that the sheriff was obliged to apply to the secretaries of
state for a military force to prevent a rescue, and it was near eight
o'clock in the evening before he suffered."
Another practice appears to have been to carry the body of an executed
criminal to the doors of those who had been the chief cause of the
criminal being brought to justice. We read in "The Annual Register,"
for 1763. "As soon as the execution of several criminals, condemned at
last sessions of the Old Bailey, was over at Tyburn, the body of
Cornelius Sanders, executed for stealing about fifty pounds out of the
house of Mrs. White, in Lamb Street, Spitalfields, was carried and laid
before her door, where great numbers of people assembling, they at last
grew so outrageous that a guard of soldiers was sent for to stop their
proceedings; notwithstanding which, they forced open the door, pitched
out all the salmon-tubs, most of the household furniture, piled them on
a heap, and set fire to them, and, to prevent the guards from
extinguishing the flames, pelted them off with stones, and would not
disperse till the whole was consumed." In the same work for the
following year another instance is given. "The criminal," says the
record, "condemned for returning from transportation at the sessions,
and afterwards executed, addressed himself to the populace at Tyburn,
and told them he could wish they would carry his body and lay it at the
door of Mr. Parker, a butcher in the Minories, who, it seems, was the
principal evidence against him; which, being accordingly done, the mob
behaved so riotously before the man's house, that it was no easy matter
to disperse them."
Curiosities of the Gallows.
Instances are not wanting of criminals being driven in their own
carriages to the place of execution. The story of William Andrew Horne,
a Derbyshire squire, as given in the "Nottingham Date Book," is one of
the most revolting records of villainy that has come under our notice.
His long career of crime closed on his seventy-fourth birthday, in 1759,
at the gallows, Nottingham. He had committed more than one murder, but
was tried for the death of an illegitimate child of which he was the
father. His brother laid the information which at last brought him to
justice. This brother requested him to give him a small sum of money so
that he might leave the country, but he refused to comply. He then said
he should make known his crime, but that did not frighten Horne. He
replied, "I'll chance it," and this gave rise to a well-known saying in
the Midlands, "I'll chance it as Horne did his neck." He was hanged at
Gallows-Hill, Nottingham, and was driven in his carriage by his own
coachman. We are told as the gloomy procession ascended the Mansfield
Road the white locks of the hoary sinner streamed mournfully in the
wind, his head being uncovered and the vehicle open, and the day very
tempestuous. He met his doom with a considerable degree of fortitude, in
the presence of an immense crowd of spectators, including hundreds of
his Derbyshire neighbours and tenantry.[2]
A year later Earl Ferrers was hanged for the shooting of his own
steward. On May 5th, 1760, he was driven from the Tower to Tyburn in a
landau drawn by six horses. His lordship was attired in his wedding
clothes, which were of a light colour and richly embroidered in silver.
He was hanged with a silken rope, and instead of being swung into
eternity from a common cart, a scaffold was erected under the gallows,
which we think may be regarded as the precursor of the drop. Mr. T.
Broadbent Trowsdale contributed to "Bygone Leicestershire" an informing
paper on "Laurence Ferrers: the Murderer-Earl."[3] We reproduce an
illustration of the execution from a print of the period.
Some interesting details occur in _Notes and Queries_ for May 28th,
1898, respecting "The Colleen Bawn." It is stated that when John
Scanlan had been found guilty of the murder of Ellen Hanley, the gentry
of the county of Limerick petitioned for a reprieve, which was refused.
They next requested that Scanlan be hanged with a silken cord, though
whether for its greater dignity or because it offered a possibility of
more rapid strangulation in short drop, we cannot tell. The Lord
Lieutenant thought hemp would serve the purpose. According to Haydn's
"Dictionary of Dates," Scanlan was executed 14th March, 1820.
[Illustration: EXECUTION OF EARL FERRERS AT TYBURN.
(_From a print of the period._)]
Mr. Gordon Fraser, of Wigtown, has collected much interesting local lore
respecting the town, which was made a royal burgh in 1341. In bygone
times it had the distinction of having its own public executioner.
According to traditional accounts he held office on somewhat peculiar
conditions. The law was, we are told, that this functionary was himself
to be a criminal under sentence of death, but whose doom was to be
deferred until the advance of age prevented a continuance of his
usefulness, and then he was to be hanged forthwith. If, it was said, the
town permitted the executioner to die by the ordinary decay of nature,
and not by the process of the cord, it would lose for ever the
distinguished honour of possessing a public hangman. The story of the
last official who held the tenure of his life upon being able to
efficiently despatch his fellows is sufficiently interesting. He was
taken ill, and it was seriously contemplated to make sure of having a
public hangman in the future by seizing the sick man and hanging him.
His friends, hearing of this intention, propped the dying Ketch up in
bed, and he, being by trade a shoemaker, had the tools and materials of
his trade placed before him. He made a pretence of plying his avocation,
and the townsmen, thinking his lease of life was in no danger of a
natural termination, allowed him to lie in peace. He then speedily
passed away quietly in his bed, and the outwitted burghers found
themselves without a hangman, and without hope of a successor.
A good story is told by Mr. Fraser of the last man hanged at Wigtown.
His name was Patrick Clanachan, and he was tried and found guilty of
horse-stealing. His doom was thus pronounced:--"That he be taken on the
31st August, 1709, between the hours of twelve and two in the afternoon,
to the gyppet at Wigtown, and there to hang till he was dead." Clanachan
was carried from the prison to the gallows on a hurdle, and, as the
people were hurrying on past him to witness his execution, he is said to
have remarked, "Tak' yer time, boys, there'll be nae fun till I gang."
We have heard a similar anecdote respecting a criminal in London.
At Wicklow, in the year 1738, a man named George Manley was hanged for
murder, and just before his execution he delivered an address to the
crowd, as follows: "My friends, you assemble to see--what? A man leap
into the abyss of death! Look, and you will see me go with as much
courage as Curtius, when he leaped into the gulf to save his country
from destruction. What will you say of me? You say that no man, without
virtue, can be courageous! You see what I am--I'm a little fellow. What
is the difference between running into a poor man's debt, and by the
power of gold, or any other privilege, prevent him from obtaining his
right, and clapping a pistol to a man's breast, and taking from him his
purse? Yet the one shall thereby obtain a coach, and honour, and titles;
the other, what?--a cart and a rope. Don't imagine from all this that I
am hardened. I acknowledge the just judgment of God has overtaken me. My
Redeemer knows that murder was far from my heart, and what I did was
through rage and passion, being provoked by the deceased. Take warning,
my comrades; think what would I now give that I had lived another life.
Courageous? You'll say I've killed a man. Marlborough killed his
thousands, and Alexander his millions. Marlborough and Alexander, and
many others, who have done the like, are famous in history for great
men. Aye--that's the case--one solitary man. I'm a little murderer and
must be hanged. Marlborough and Alexander plundered countries; they were
great men. I ran in debt with the ale-wife. I must be hanged. How many
men were lost in Italy, and upon the Rhine, during the last war for
settling a king in Poland. Both sides could not be in the right! They
are great men; but I killed a solitary man."
It will be seen from the following account, that in the olden time the
cost and trouble attending an execution was a serious matter:--
To the Right Honourable the Lord Commissioners of His Majesty's
Treasury.
The humble petition of Ralph Griffin, Esq., High Sheriff of the
County of Flint, for the present year, 1769, concerning the
execution of Edward Edwards, for burglary:--
_Sheweth._
That your petitioner was at great difficulty and expense by himself,
his clerks, and other messengers and agents he employed in journeys
to Liverpool and Shrewsbury, to hire an executioner; the convict
being of Wales it was almost impossible to procure any of that
country to undertake the execution.
£ s. d.
Travelling and other expenses on that occasion 15 10 0
A man at Salop engaged to do this business. Gave him
in part 5 5 0
Two men for conducting him, and for their search of
him on his deserting from them on the road, and
charges on inquiring for another executioner 4 10 0
After much trouble and expense, John Babington, a
convict in the same prison with Edwards, was by
means of his wife prevailed on to execute his
fellow-prisoner. Gave to the wife 6 6 0
And to Babington 6 6 0
Paid for erecting a gallows, materials, and labour:
a business very difficult to be done in this
country 4 12 0
For the hire of a cart to convey the body, a coffin,
and for the burial 2 10 0
And for other expenses, trouble, and petty expenses,
on the occasion at least 5 0 0
----------
Total £49 19 0
==========
Which humbly hope your lordships will please to allow your
petitioner, who, etc.
Feasting at funerals in past time was by no means uncommon in Great
Britain, and perhaps still lingers in some of the remoter parts of the
country. In Scotland until the commencement of the present century
before or after executions, civic feasts were often held. After every
execution, at Paisley, says the Rev. Charles Rogers, LL.D., the
authorities had a municipal dinner. Thomas Potts was hanged at Paisley,
1797, at a cost to the town of £33 5s. 3-1/2d., of which the sum of £13
8s. 10d. was expended on a civic feast, and £1 14s. 3d. on the
entertainment of the executioner and his assistants. At Edinburgh, the
evening prior to an execution, the magistrates met at Paxton's Tavern,
in the Exchange, and made their arrangements over liquor. These
gatherings were known as "splicing the rope."[4]
During the distress which, owing to the scanty harvests of the later
years of the last century, prevailed throughout the country, but more
especially in the north, attention was drawn to an extremely curious
privilege claimed by the public executioner of Dumfries. From old times
a considerable portion of the remuneration for his hanging services was
in kind, and levied in the following manner. When the farmers and others
had set out in the public market their produce of meal, potatoes, and
similar provender, the hangman, walking along the row of sacks, thrust
into each a large iron ladle, and put the result of each "dip" into his
own sack. This tax, from the odious occupation of the collector, was
regarded by the farmers and factors with particular abhorrence, and
numerous attempts were made at different periods to put a stop to the
grievous exaction, but the progress of public opinion was so little
advanced, and the regard for the ancient trammels of feudal
arbitrariness so deep-seated, that not until 1781 was any serious
resistance made. In that year a person named Johnston stood upon what he
considered his rights, and would allow no acquaintance to be made
between his meal and the iron ladle of the Dumfries hangman. The latter,
seeing in this the subversion of every fundamental principle of social
order, to say nothing of the loss threatened to his means of
subsistence, carried his complaint to the magistrates. Consequently the
Dumfries Hampden was forthwith haled to prison. He was not, however,
long detained there, as his judges were made aware by his threats of
action for false imprisonment that they were unaware of the position in
which they and the impost stood in the eyes of the law. To remedy this
ignorance, and be fore-armed for other cases of resistance, which it was
not unlikely to suppose would follow, the Corporation of Dumfries, in
the year we have mentioned, had recourse to legal advice. That they
obtained was of the highest standing, as they applied to no less a
personage than Andrew Crosbie, the eminent advocate, who has been
immortalised in the Pleydell of "Guy Mannering." It will be interesting
to quote from the document laid before him on this occasion, containing
as it does several particulars about the hangman of the town. One part
describes the office, duties, and pay of the hangman, "who executes not
only the sentences pronounced by the magistrates of the burgh, and of
the King's judges on their circuits, but also the sentences of the
sheriff, and of the justices of the peace at their quarter sessions. The
town has been in use to pay his house rent, and a salary over and above.
Roger Wilson, the present executioner, has, since he was admitted,
received from the town £6 of salary, and £1 13s. 4d. for a house rent.
Over and above this salary and rent, he and his predecessors have been
in use of levying and receiving weekly (to wit each market day, being
Wednesday,) the full of an iron ladle out of each sack of meal, pease,
beans, and potatoes, and the same as to flounders." The history of the
impost is next very briefly dealt with, the gist of the information on
the subject being that the tax had been levied from a period beyond the
memory of the "oldest people" without quarrel or dispute. That the
resistance of Johnston was not an isolated instance we likewise learn
from this statement of the case, for it says "there appears a fixed
resolution and conspiracy to resist and forcibly obstruct the levy of
this usual custom," and as the result of the tax according to the
executioner's own version amounted to more than £13 annually, it was of
sufficient moment to make sound advice desirable. The opinion of Crosbie
was that rights obtained by virtue of office, and exercised from time
out of mind, were legal, and might very justly be enforced. While
commending the imprisonment of the dealer Johnston, he suggested that
the process of collection should be made more formal than appears to
have been the case in this instance. Officers should assist Jack Ketch
in his _rôle_ of tax-gatherer, and all preventers should be formally
tried by the magistrates. The tax continued to be levied. The farmers
either gave up their meal grudgingly, or, refusing, were sent to gaol.
In 1796, when the towns-people were in the utmost need of food, riots
and tumults arose in Dumfries, and as one means of allaying the popular
frenzy it was proposed by the leading member of the Corporation,
Provost Haig, that the ladle's harvest should be abolished, and his
recommendation was immediately put into effect. The hangman of Dumfries
was then one Joseph Tate, who was the last of the officers of the noose
connected officially with Dumfries; for the loss of his perquisite he
was allowed the sum of £2 yearly. It is satisfactory to learn that the
ladle itself, the only substantial relic of this curious custom, is, in
all probability preserved at the present time. A footnote in W.
McDowall's valuable "History of Dumfries," says: "The Dumfries hangman's
ladle is still to be seen we believe among other 'auld nick-nackets' at
Abbotsford." It was for many years lost sight of, till in 1818, Mr.
Joseph Train, the zealous antiquary, hunted it out, and, all rusty as it
was, sent it as a present to Sir Walter Scott.[5]
Horrors of the Gallows.
From the following paragraph, drawn from the _Derby Mercury_ of April
6th, 1738, we have a striking example of how deplorable was the conduct
of the hangman in the olden time. It is by no means a solitary instance
of it being mainly caused through drinking too freely:--
"Hereford, March 25. This day Will Summers and Tipping were executed
here for house-breaking. At the tree, the hangman was intoxicated
with liquor, and supposing that there were three for execution, was
going to put one of the ropes round the parson's neck, as he stood
in the cart, and was with much difficulty prevented by the gaoler
from so doing."
In bygone times, capital punishment formed an important feature in the
every-day life, and was resorted to much more than it now is, for in
those "good old times" little regard was paid for human life. People
were executed for slight offences. The painful story related by Charles
Dickens, in the preface to "Barnaby Rudge," is an example of many which
might be mentioned. It appears that the husband of a young woman had
been taken from her by the press-gang, and that she, in a time of sore
distress, with a babe at her breast, was caught stealing a shilling's
worth of lace from a shop in Ludgate Hill, London. The poor woman was
tried, found guilty of the offence, and suffered death on the gallows.
We have copied from a memorial in the ancient burial ground of St.
Mary's Church, Bury St. Edmunds, the following inscription which tells a
sad story of the low value placed on human life at the close of the
eighteenth century:--
READER,
Pause at this humble stone it records
The fall of unguarded youth by the allurements of
vice and the treacherous snares of seduction.
SARAH LLOYD.
On the 23rd April, 1800, in the 22nd year of her age,
Suffered a just and ignominious death.
For admitting her abandoned seducer in the
dwelling-house of her mistress, on the 3rd of
October, 1799, and becoming the instrument in
his hands of the crime of robbery and
housebreaking.
These were her last words:
"May my example be a warning to thousands."
Hanging persons was almost a daily occurrence in the earlier years of
the present century, for forging notes, passing forged notes, and other
crimes which we now almost regard with indifference. George Cruikshank
claimed with the aid of his artistic skill to have been the means of
putting an end to hanging for minor offences. Cruikshank, in a letter to
his friend, Mr. Whitaker, furnishes full details bearing on the subject.
"About the year 1817 or 1818," wrote Cruikshank, "there were one-pound
Bank of England notes in circulation, and unfortunately there were
forged one-pound bank notes in circulation also; and the punishment for
passing these forged notes was in some cases transportation for life,
and in others DEATH.
[Illustration: Mr. G. Cruikshank.]
"At that time, I resided in Dorset Street, Salisbury Square, Fleet
Street, and had occasion to go early one morning to a house near the
Bank of England; and in returning home between eight or nine o'clock,
down Ludgate Hill, and seeing a number of persons looking up the Old
Bailey, I looked that way myself, and saw several human beings hanging
on the gibbet, opposite Newgate prison, and, to my horror, two of them
were women; and upon enquiring what the women had been hung for, was
informed that it was for passing forged one-pound notes. The fact that a
poor woman could be put to death for such a minor offence had a great
effect upon me, and I at once determined, if possible, to put a stop to
this shocking destruction of life for merely obtaining a few shillings
by fraud; and well knowing the habits of the low class of society in
London, I felt quite sure that in very many cases the rascals who had
forged the notes induced these poor ignorant women to go into the
gin-shops to get 'something to drink,' and thus _pass_ the notes, and
hand them the change.
[Illustration: BANK RESTRICTION NOTE
Specimen of a Bank Note--not to be imitated.
_Submitted to the Consideration of the Bank Directors and the inspection
of the Public._]
"My residence was a short distance from Ludgate Hill (Dorset Street);
and after witnessing the tragic-scene, I went home, and in ten minutes
designed and made a sketch of this '_Bank-note not to be imitated_.'
About half-an-hour after this was done, William Hone came into my room,
and saw the sketch lying on my table; he was much struck with it, and
said, 'What are you going to do with this, George?'
"'To publish it,' I replied. Then he said, 'Will you let me have it?' To
his request I consented, made an etching of it, and it was published.
Mr. Hone then resided on Ludgate Hill, not many yards from the spot
where I had seen the people hanging on the gibbet; and when it appeared
in his shop windows, it caused a great sensation, and the people
gathered round his house in such numbers that the Lord Mayor had to send
the City police (of that day) to disperse the CROWD. The Bank directors
held a meeting immediately upon the subject, and AFTER THAT they issued
_no more_ one-pound notes, and so there was _no more hanging for
passing FORGED one-pound notes_; not only that, but ultimately no
hanging even for forgery. AFTER THIS Sir Robert Peel got a bill passed
in Parliament for the 'Resumption of cash payments.' AFTER THIS he
revised the Penal Code, and AFTER THAT _there was not any more hanging
or punishment of DEATH for minor offences_." We are enabled, by the
courtesy of Mr. Walter Hamilton, the author of a favourably-known life
of Cruikshank, to reproduce a picture of the "Bank-note not to be
imitated." In concluding his letter to Mr. Whitaker, Cruikshank said: "I
consider it the most important design and etching that I have ever made
in my life; for it has saved the life of thousands of my
fellow-creatures; and for having been able to do this Christian act, I
am, indeed, most sincerely thankful."
At Nottingham in the olden time the culprits were usually taken to St.
Mary's Church, where the officiating clergyman preached their funeral
sermon. Next they would inspect their graves, and sometimes even test
their capabilities by seeing if they were large enough to hold their
remains. Frequently they would put on their shrouds, and in various ways
try to show that they were indifferent to their impending fate. Then
they would be conveyed on a cart also containing their coffin to the
place of execution some distance from the prison.[6] Similar usages
prevailed in other places.
* * * * *
THE
BANK RESTRICTION BAROMETER;
OR, SCALE OF EFFECTS ON SOCIETY OF THE
Bank Note System, and Payments in Gold.
BY ABRAHAM FRANKLIN.
[Illustration]
[***] _To be read from the words_ "BANK RESTRICTION," _in the
middle, upwards or downwards._
NATIONAL PROSPERITY PROMOTED.
10. The Number of useless Public Executions diminished.
9. The Amelioration of the Criminal Code facilitated.
8. The Forgery of Bank Notes at an end.
7. Manufacturers and Journeymen obtain Necessaries and Comforts for
their Wages.
6. The Means of Persons with small Incomes enlarged.
5. A Fall of Rents and Prices.
4. The Circulating Medium diminished.
3. Fictitious Capital and False Credit destroyed.
2. Exchanges equalized, and the Gold Coin preserved, if allowed to
be freely exported.
1. The Gold Currency restored.
_Consequences, if taken off, will be as above:--viz._
THE BANK RESTRICTION.
_Consequences of its Operation are as follows:--viz._
1. Disappearance of the legal Gold Coin.
2. The Issues of Bank of England Notes and Country Bank Notes
extended.
3. Paper Accommodation, creating False Credit, Fictitious Capital,
Mischievous Speculation.
4. The Circulating Medium enormously enlarged.
5. Rents and Prices of Articles of the first Necessity doubled and
trebled.
6. The Income and Wages of small Annuitants, and Artizans and
Labourers, insufficient to purchase Necessaries for their Support.
7. Industry reduced to Indigence, broken-spirited, and in the
Workhouse: or, endeavouring to preserve independence, lingering in
despair, committing suicide, or dying broken-hearted.
8. The Temptation to forge Bank of England Notes increased and
facilitated.
9. New and sanguinary Laws against Forgery ineffectually enacted.
10. Frequent and useless inflictions of the barbarous Punishment of
Death.
GENERAL DISTRESS INCREASED.
* * * * *
Public executions always brought together a large gathering of men and
women, not always of the lowest order, indeed many wealthy people
attended. "The last person publicly executed at Northampton," says Mr.
Christopher A. Markham, F.S.A., "was Elizabeth Pinckhard, who was found
guilty of murdering her mother-in-law, and who was sentenced to death by
Sir John Jervis, on the 27th February, 1852. As a rule all executions
had taken place on a Monday, so a rumour was spread that the execution
would take place on Monday, the 15th of March; accordingly the people
came together in their thousands. They were, however, all disappointed;
some of them said they wished they had the under-sheriff and they would
let him know what it was to keep honest people in suspense; and one old
lady said seriously that she should claim her expenses from the sheriff.
However, on Tuesday, the 16th March, Mrs. Pinckhard was executed before
an immense number of persons, estimated at ten thousand, the day fixed
having by some means or other got known."[7] The conduct of the crowds
which gathered before Newgate and other prisons was long a blot on the
boasted civilisation of this country, and there can be little doubt that
public executions had a baneful influence on the public.
It will not be without historical interest to state that the last
execution for attempted murder was Martin Doyle, hanged at Chester,
August 27th, 1861. By the Criminal Law Consolidation Act, passed 1861,
death was confined to treason and wilful murder. The Act was passed
before Doyle was put on trial, but (unfortunately for him) did not take
effect until November 1st, 1861. Michael Barrett, author of the Fenian
explosion at Clerkenwell, hanged at Newgate, May 26th, 1868, was the
last person publicly executed in England. Thomas Wells (murderer of Mr.
Walsh, station-master at Dover), hanged at Maidstone, August 13th, 1868,
was the first person to be executed within a prison.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "St. Botolph, Aldgate: the Story of a City Parish," 1898.
[2] "The Nottingham Date Book," 1880.
[3] Andrews's "Bygone Leicestershire," 1892.
[4] Rogers's "Social Life in Scotland," 1884.
[5] McDowall's "History of Dumfries."
[6] Stevenson's "Bygone Nottinghamshire," 1893.
[7] Markham's "History of Ancient Punishments in Northamptonshire,"
1886.
Hanging in Chains.
The time is not so far distant when the gibbet and gallows were common
objects in this country. In old road books, prepared for the guidance of
travellers, they are frequently referred to as road marks. Several
editions of Ogilby's "Itinirarium Angliæ" were published between 1673
and 1717, and a few passages drawn from this work relating to various
parts of England show how frequently these gruesome instruments of death
occur:--
"By the Gallows and Three Windmills enter the suburbs of York."
"Leaving the forementioned suburbs [Durham], a small ascent passing
between the gallows and Crokehill."
"You pass through Hare Street, etc., and at 13'4 part of Epping
Forest, with a gallows to the left."
"You pass Pen-meris Hall, and at 250'4 Hilldraught Mill, both on the
left, and ascend a small hill with a gibbet on the right."
"At the end of the city [Wells] you cross a brook, and pass by the
gallows."
"You leave Frampton, Wilberton, and Sherbeck, all on the right, and
by a gibbet on the left, over a stone bridge."
"Leaving Nottingham you ascend a hill, and pass by a gallows."
Pictures found a prominent place in Ogilby's pages, and we reproduce one
of Nottingham.
[Illustration: NOTTINGHAM (_from Ogilby's "Book of Roads."_)]
It will be noticed that the gallows is shown a short distance from the
town.
It is twenty-six miles from London to East Grinstead, and in that short
distance were three of these hideous instruments of death on the
highway, in addition to gibbets erected in lonely bylanes and secluded
spots where crimes had been committed. "Hangman's Lanes" were by no
means uncommon. He was a brave man who ventured alone at night on the
highways and byways when the country was beset with highwaymen, and the
gruesome gibbets were frequently in sight.
Hanging was the usual mode of capital punishment with the Anglo-Saxons.
We give a representation of a gallows (_gala_) of this period taken from
the illuminations to Alfric's version of Genesis. It is highly probable
that in some instances the bodies would remain _in terrorem_ upon the
gibbet. Robert of Gloucester, _circa_ 1280, referring to his own times,
writes:--
"In gibet hii were an honge."
[Illustration: ANGLO-SAXON GALLOWS.]
"The habit of gibbeting or hanging in chains the body of the executed
criminal near the site of the crime," says Dr. Cox, "with the intention
of thereby deterring others from capital offences, was a coarse custom
very generally prevalent in mediæval England. Some early assize rolls of
the fourteenth century pertaining to Derbyshire that we have consulted
give abundant proof of its being a usual habit in the county at that
period. In 1341 the bodies of three men were hung in chains just
outside Chapel-en-le-Frith, who had been executed for robbery with
violence. In the same year a woman and two men were gibbeted on Ashover
Moor for murdering one of the King's purveyors."[8]
An early record of hanging in chains is given in Chauncy's "History of
Hertfordshire." It states, "Soon after the King came to Easthampstead,
to recreate himself with hunting, where he heard that the bodies hanged
here were taken down from the gallowes, and removed a great way from the
same; this so incensed the King that he sent a writ, tested the 3rd day
of August, Anno 1381, to the bailiffs of this borough, commanding them
upon sight thereof, to cause chains to be made, and to hang the bodies
in them upon the same gallowes, there to remain so long as one piece
might stick to another, according to the judgment; but the townsmen, not
daring to disobey the King's command, hanged the dead bodies of their
neighbours again to their great shame and reproach, when they could not
get any other for any wages to come near the stinking carcases, but they
themselves were compelled to do so vile an office." Gower, a
contemporary poet, writes as follows:--
"And so after by the Lawe
He was unto the gibbet drawe,
Where he above all other hongeth,
As to a traitor it belongeth."
Sir Robert Constable was gibbeted above the Beverley-gate, Hull, in
1537, for high treason. "On Fridaye," wrote the Duke of Norfolk, "beying
market daye at Hull, suffered and dothe hange above the highest gate of
the toune so trymmed in cheynes that I thinke his boones woll hang there
this hundrethe yere."
According to Lord Dreghorn, writing in 1774:--"The first instance of
hanging in chains is in March, 1637, in the case of Macgregor, for
theft, robbery, and slaughter; he was sentenced to be hanged in a
chenzie on the gallow-tree till his corpse rot."[9]
Philip Stanfield, in 1688, was hung in chains between Leith and
Edinburgh for the murder of his father, Sir James Stanfield. In books
relating to Scotland, Stanfield's sad story has often been told, and it
is detailed at some length in Chambers's "Domestic Annals of Scotland."
Hanging in chains was by no means rare from an early period in the
annals of England, but according to Blackstone this was no part of the
legal judgment. It was not until 1752, by an Act of 25 George II., that
gibbeting was legally recognised. After execution by this statute,
bodies were to be given to the surgeons to be dissected and anatomized,
and not to be buried without this being done. The judge might direct the
body to be hung in chains by giving a special order to the sheriff. This
Act made matters clear, and was the means of gibbeting rapidly
increasing in this country.
A gravestone in the churchyard of Merrington, in the county of Durham,
states:--
Here lies the bodies of
John, Jane, and Elizabeth, children of John and Margaret Brass,
Who were murdered the 28th day of January, 1683,
By Andrew Mills, their father's servant,
For which he was executed and hung in chains.
Reader, remember, sleeping
We were slain:
And here we sleep till we must
Rise again.
"Whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed."
"Thou shalt do no murder."
Restored by subscription in 1789.
The parents of the murdered children were away from home when the awful
crime was committed by their farm servant, a young man aged about
nineteen, inoffensive, but of somewhat deficient intellect. It is quite
clear from the facts which have come down to us that he was insane, for
in his confession he stated the devil suggested the deed to his mind,
saying, "Kill all, kill all, kill all." The eldest of the family, a
daughter, struggled with him for some time, and he was not able to
murder her until after her arm was broken. She had placed it as a bolt
to a door to secure the safety of the younger members of the family who
were sleeping in an inner room. The full particulars of the horrible
crime may be found in the pages of Dodd's "History of Spennymoor,"
published in 1897, and are too painful to give in detail. Some troopers
marching from Darlington to Durham seized the culprit, and conveyed him
with them. He was tried at Durham, and condemned to be gibbeted near the
scene of the murders. Many stories which are related in the district
are, we doubt not without foundation in fact. It is asserted that the
wretch was gibbeted alive, that he lived for several days, and that his
sweetheart kept him alive with milk. Another tale is to the effect that
a loaf of bread was placed just within his reach, but fixed on an iron
spike that would enter his throat if he attempted to relieve the pangs
of hunger with it.
His cries of pain were terrible, and might be heard for miles. The
country folk left their homes until after his death. "It is to be
hoped," says Mr. Dodd, the local historian, "that the statement about
the man being gibbeted alive is a fiction." Some years ago, a local
playwright dramatised the story for the Spennymoor theatre, where it
drew large audiences.
Long after the body had been removed, a portion of the gibbet remained,
and was known as "Andrew Mills's Stob," but it was taken away bit by bit
as it was regarded a charm for curing toothache.
Robert and William Bolas were gibbeted on Uckington Heath, near
Shrewsbury, in 1723. They had murdered Walter Matthews and William
Whitcomb, who had resisted their entering a barn to steal wheat. A
popular saying in Shropshire is "Cold and chilly like old Bolas." Its
origin is referred back to the time the body of Robert Bolas was hanging
in chains. At a public-house not far distant from the place one dark
night a bet was made that one of the party assembled dare not proceed
alone to the gibbet and ask after the state of Bolas's health. The
wager was accepted, and we are told the man undertaking it at once made
his way to the spot. Immediately upon this, another of the company, by a
short cut, proceeded to the gibbet, and placed himself behind it, and a
third, carrying a number of chains, concealed himself in a hedge
adjoining the road. Upon arriving at the gibbet, the person undertaking
to make the enquiry, screwed up his courage, and timidly said in a low
voice, "Well, Bolas, how are you?" Immediately, in a shaky voice, as
from a tomb, came the response from the person behind the gibbet, "Cold
and chilly, thank you." This unlooked-for reply completely upset the
valour of the enquirer, and turning tail he fled for the inn with all
possible speed. Upon passing the place where the person with the chains
was lying, he was followed with a loud rattling and reached his comrades
in a most exhausted and frightened condition. Tradition has it that the
event terminated in the bold adventurer becoming, and continuing ever
afterwards, a lunatic.
When Robert Bolas was awaiting his trial he believed that it would
result in an acquittal, and that he would thus be permitted to go home
for the corn harvest and get his barley. He was a man of immense
strength, and a great source of amusement to his fellow prisoners
awaiting trial, before whom, although loaded with heavy chains, he would
sing and dance with the most perfect ease. It was upon one of these
occasions, when he was in a particularly happy and hopeful mood, that he
is reported to have made use of the saying, which is known even to the
present day, "I would that these troublesome times were over as I want
to go home and get my barley."
A curious story is told to the effect that the corpse of Bolas was taken
down from the gibbet by some of his companions and thrown into the river
Tern, but that it would not sink. Weights were then tied to it, but
still it floated upon the top of the water, and subsequently was again
placed upon the gibbet. The part of the river into which it was thrown
is still called "Bolas's hole."
[Illustration: BREEDS'S GIBBET-IRONS, RYE.]
In the Town Hall, Rye, Sussex, is preserved the ironwork used in 1742
for gibbeting John Breeds, a butcher, who murdered Allen Grebble, the
Mayor of Rye. It appears that Breeds had a dispute about some property
with Thomas Lamb, and learning that he was about to see a friend off by
a ship sailing to France on the night of March 17th planned his murder.
Mr. Lamb, for reasons not stated, changed his mind, and induced his
neighbour Mr. Grebble to take his place. On returning home and passing
the churchyard, Breeds rushed upon him and mortally wounded him with a
knife. The unfortunate man was able to walk home, but shortly expired
while seated in his chair. His servant was suspected of murdering him,
but Breeds's strange conduct soon brought the crime home to him. He was
tried, found guilty, and condemned to death, and to be hung in chains.
The gibbet was set up on a marsh situated at the west end of the town,
now known as "Gibbet Marsh." Here it stood for many years; but when all
the mortal remains had dropped away from the ironwork with the exception
of the upper part of the skull, the Corporation took possession of it,
and it is now in their custody.
Mr. Lewis Evans, has given, in his article on "Witchcraft in
Hertfordshire," an account of the murder of John and Ruth Osborn,
suspected of witchcraft. Notice had been given at various market towns
in the neighbourhood of Tring that on a certain day the man and his wife
would be ducked at Long Marston, in Tring Parish. On the appointed day,
April 22nd, 1757, says Mr. Evans, Ruth Osborn, and her husband John,
sought sanctuary in the church, but the "bigotted and superstitious
rioters," who had assembled in crowds from the whole district round, not
finding their victims, smashed the workhouse windows and half destroyed
it, caught its governor, and threatened to burn both him and the town,
and searched the whole premises, even to the "salt box," for the reputed
witches in vain. However, they were found at last, dragged from the
vestry, and their thumbs and toes having been tied together, they were
wrapped in sheets, and dragged by ropes through a pond; the woman was
tried first, and as she did not sink, Thomas Colley, a chimney sweep,
turned her over and over with a stick. John Osborn, the husband, was
then tested in the same way, and the trial was made three times on each
of them, with such success, that the woman died on the spot, and the
man a few days later. When the experiment was over, Colley went round
and collected money from the crowd for his trouble in shewing them such
sport.
The coroner's verdict, however, declared that the Osborns had been
murdered, and Colley was tried at Hertford Assizes, before Sir William
Lee, and having been found guilty of murder, was sent back to the scene
of the crime under a large escort of one hundred and eight men, seven
officers, and two trumpeters, and was hung on August 24th, 1751, at
Gubblecote Cross, where his body swung in chains for many years.[10]
A Salford woolcomber named John Grinrod (or Grinret), poisoned his wife
and two children in September, 1758, and in the following March was
hanged and gibbeted for committing the crime. The gibbet stood on
Pendleton Moor. It was a popular belief in the neighbourhood:--
"That the wretch in his chains, each night took the pains,
To come down from the gibbet--and walk."
As can be easily surmised, such a story frightened many of the simple
country folk. It was told to a traveller staying at an hostelry
situated not far distant from where the murderer's remains hung in
chains. He laughed to scorn the strange stories which alarmed the
countryside, and laid a wager with the publican that he would visit at
midnight the gibbet. The traveller said:--
"To the gibbet I'll go, and this I will do,
As sure as I stand in my shoes;
Some address I'll devise, and if Grinny replies,
My wager of course, I shall lose."
We are next told how, in the dark and dismal night, the traveller
proceeded without dismay to the gibbet, and stood under it. Says
Ainsworth, the Lancashire novelist and poet, from whom we are quoting:--
"Though dark as could be, yet he thought he could see
The skeleton hanging on high;
The gibbet it creaked; and the rusty chains squeaked;
And a screech-owl flew solemnly by.
"The heavy rain pattered, the hollow bones clattered,
The traveller's teeth chattered--with cold--not with fright;
The wind it blew hastily, piercingly, gustily;
Certainly not an agreeable night!
"'Ho! Grindrod, old fellow,' thus loudly did bellow,
The traveller mellow--'How are ye, my blade?'--
'I'm cold and I'm dreary; I'm wet and I'm weary;
But soon I'll be near ye!' the skeleton said.
"The grisly bones rattled, and with the chains battled,
The gibbet appallingly shook;
On the ground something stirr'd, but no more the man heard,
To his heels, on the instant, he took.
"Over moorland he dashed, and through quagmire he plashed,
His pace never daring to slack;
Till the hostel he neared, for greatly he feared
Old Grindrod would leap on his back.
"His wager he lost, and a trifle it cost;
But that which annoyed him the most,
Was to find out too late, that certain as fate
The landlord had acted the Ghost."
The tragic story of Eugene Aram has received attention at the hands of
the historian, poet, and novelist, and his name is the most notable in
the annals of crime in the North of England. In the winter of 1744-5 a
shoemaker, named Daniel Clarke, who had recently married, and was
possessed of money and other valuables, as it subsequently transpired
not obtained in an honourable manner, was suddenly missing, and two of
his associates, Richard Houseman and Eugene Aram, were suspected of
knowing about his disappearance, and even at their hands foul play was
suspected, but it could not be brought home to them. Aram left the town,
and in various places followed his calling--that of a school teacher.
The mystery of Daniel Clarke remained for some years unsolved, but in
1758 a labourer found at Knaresborough some human bones, and it was
suspected that they were Clarke's, and were shown to Houseman, who was
supposed to have a knowledge of the missing man, and in an unguarded
moment said that they were not those of Clarke. His manner aroused
suspicion, and on being pressed he confessed that Clarke was murdered
and buried in St. Robert's Cave, and that Aram and himself were
responsible for his death. The cave was explored, and the skeleton of
the murdered man was found. Aram was arrested at Lynn, where he was an
usher in a school, and was esteemed alike by pupils and parents. He
stoutly protested his innocence, and undertook his own defence. He read
it in court, and it was regarded as a masterpiece of reasoning. It was,
however, made clear from the statements of Houseman, who was admitted as
king's evidence, that Aram had murdered Clarke for gain when he was in
indigent circumstances. The jury returned a verdict of guilty against
Aram, and he was condemned to death, and his body to be afterwards hung
in chains.
It appears quite clear from a careful consideration of the case that
Aram was guilty of the crime.
He attempted, after his trial, to commit suicide by cutting his arm
with a razor in two places, but when discovered, with proper remedies,
his failing strength was restored. On the table was found a document
giving his reasons for attempting to end his own life. On the morning of
his execution he stated that he awoke about three o'clock, and then
wrote the following lines:--
"Come, pleasing rest, eternal slumber fall,
Seal mine, that once must seal the eyes of all;
Calm and composed, my soul her journey takes,
No guilt that troubles, and no heart that aches;
Adieu! thou sun, all bright like her arise;
Adieu! fair friends, and all that's good and wise."
On August 6th, 1759, he was hanged at York, and afterwards his body was
conveyed to Knaresborough Forest, where it was gibbeted.
Hornsea people are sometimes called "Hornsea Pennels," after a notorious
pirate and smuggler, named Pennel, who murdered his captain and sunk his
ship near to the place. He was tried and executed in London for the
crimes, and his body, bound round with iron hoops, was sent to Hornsea,
in a case marked "glass." The corpse, in 1770, was hung in chains on the
north cliff. Long ago the cliff with its gibbet has been washed away by
the sea.
On the night of June 8th, 1773, a man named Corbet, a rat-catcher and
chimney-sweep, living at Tring, entered down the chimney the house of
Richard Holt, of Bierton, Buckinghamshire, and murdered him in his
bed-chamber. For this crime Corbet was hanged and gibbeted in a field
not far distant from the house where the murder was committed. The
gibbet served as a gallows. A correspondent of the _Bucks Herald_ says
in 1795 he visited Bierton Feast, and at that period the gibbet was
standing, with the skull of the murderer attached to the irons. Some
years later the irons were worn away by the action of the swivel from
which they were suspended, fell, and were thrown into the ditch, and
lost sight of. Francis Neale, of Aylesbury, blacksmith, made the gibbet,
or as he calls it in his account the gib, and his bill included entries
as follow:--
£ s. d.
"July 23, A.D. 1773. To 6lb. Spikes 0 2 3
" " Iron for Gib-post 0 16 4
" " Nails for the Gib 0 4 0
" " 3 hund'd tenter Hooks 0 3 0
" " The Gib 5 0 0"
These figures were copied from the original accounts by the late Robert
Gibbs, the painstaking local chronicler of Aylesbury. This is
understood to have been the last gibbet erected in Buckinghamshire.[11]
Terror and indignation were felt by the inhabitants of the quiet midland
town of Derby on Christmas day, in the year 1775, as the news spread
through the place that on the previous evening an aged lady had been
murdered and her house plundered. An Irishman named Matthew Cocklain
disappeared from the town, and he was suspected of committing the foul
deed. He was tracked to his native country, arrested, and brought back
to Derby. At the following March Assizes, he was tried and found guilty
of the crime, sentenced to be hanged, and afterwards gibbeted. His body
was for some time suspended in the summer sun and winter cold, an object
of fright to the people in the district.
Christmas eve had come round once more, and at a tavern, near the
gibbet, a few friends were enjoying a pipe and glass around the cheerful
burning yule-log, when the conversation turned to the murderer, and a
wager was made that a certain member of the company dare not venture
near the grim gibbet at that late hour of night. A man agreed to go, and
take with him a basin of broth and offer it to Matthew Cocklain. He
proceeded without delay, carrying on his shoulder a ladder, and in his
hand a bowl of hot broth. On arriving at the foot of the gibbet, he
mounted the ladder, and put to Cocklain's mouth the basin, saying, "Sup,
Matthew," but to his great astonishment, a hollow voice replied, "It's
hot." He was taken by surprise; but, equal to the occasion, and at once
said, "Blow it, blow it," subsequently throwing the liquid into the face
of the suspended body.
He returned to the cosy room of the hostelry to receive the bet he had
won. His mate, who had been hid behind the gibbet-post, and had tried to
frighten him with his sepulchral speech, admitted that the winner was a
man of nerve, and richly entitled to the wager.
It has been asserted by more than one local chronicler that John
Whitfield, of Coathill, a notorious north country highwayman, about
1777, was gibbeted alive on Barrock, a hill a few miles from Wetherell,
near Carlisle. He kept the countryside in a state of terror, and few
would venture out after nightfall for fear of encountering him. He shot
a man on horseback in open daylight; a boy saw him commit the crime, and
was the means of his identification and conviction. It is the belief in
the district that Whitfield was gibbeted alive, and that he hung for
several days in agony, and that his cries were heartrending, until a
mail-coachman passing that way put him out of his misery by shooting
him.
On the night of July 3rd, 1779, John Spencer murdered William Yeadon,
keeper of the Scrooby toll-bar, and his mother, Mary Yeadon. The brutal
crime was committed with a heavy hedge-stake. The culprit was soon
caught, and tried at Nottingham. It transpired that the prisoner was
pressed for money, and that the murders were committed to obtain it. He
was found guilty, and condemned to be executed at Nottingham, and then
his body was to be hung in chains near Scrooby toll-bar. In his hand was
placed the hedge-stake with which he had committed the murders. After
the body had been suspended a few weeks the body was shot through by the
sergeant of a band of soldiers passing that way with a deserter. For the
offence he was followed and reported, tried by court-martial, and
reduced to the ranks. This disturbance of the body caused its rapid
decomposition, and the odour blown over the neighbouring village was
most offensive.[12]
Several instances of persons being gibbeted for robbing the mails have
come under our notice. In the columns of the _Salisbury Journal_ for
August 18th, 1783, it is stated:--"The sentence of William Peare for
robbing the mail near Chippenham stands unreversed.... He will be
executed at Fisherton gallows, on Tuesday morning, about 11 o'clock, and
his body will then be inclosed in a suit of chains, ingeniously made by
Mr. Wansborough and conveyed to Chippenham, and affixed to a gibbet
erected near the spot where the robbery was committed." The allusion to
"unreversed" has reference to the common practice of condemning people
to death, and shortly afterwards granting a pardon. The issue of the
paper for the following week records that: "On Tuesday morning Peare was
executed at Fisherton gallows.... The remaining part of the sentence was
completed on Wednesday, by hanging the body in Green Lane, near
Chippenham, where it now is; a dreadful memento to youth, how they
swerve from the paths of rectitude, and transgress the laws of their
country." The body of Peare was not permitted to remain long on the
gibbet. We see it is stated in a paragraph in the same newspaper under
date of November 10th, 1783, that on the 30th of October at night, the
corpse was taken away, and it was supposed that this was done by some of
his Cricklade friends.
Near the Devil's Punch Bowl, at Hind Head, an upright stone records the
murder of a sailor, and the inscription it bears is as under:--
ERECTED
IN DETESTATION OF A BARBAROUS MURDER
committed here on an unknown sailor,
On September 24th, 1786,
BY EDWD. LONEGON, MICHL. CASEY, AND JAS. MARSHALL,
WHO WERE TAKEN THE SAME DAY,
AND HUNG IN CHAINS NEAR THIS PLACE.
"_Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed_."
--Gen. chap. 9, ver. 6.
And on the back:--
THIS STONE WAS ERECTED BY ORDER AND AT
THE COST OF
JAMES STILWELL, ESQ., OF COSFORD, 1786.
CURSED BE THE MAN WHO INJURETH OR REMOVETH
THIS STONE.
The stone was removed from its original position on the old Portsmouth
road, which ran at a higher level, and placed where it now stands some
years since.
The three men who committed the crime were arrested at Rake, near
Petersfield, and in their possession was found the clothing of the
unfortunate sailor. They were tried at Kingston, and found guilty of
murder, and condemned to be hanged and gibbeted near where they had
committed the foul deed. On April 7th, 1787, the sentence was carried
into effect. The gibbet remained for three years, and was then blown
down in a gale. The hill is still known as Gibbet Hill.
The murdered man was buried in Thursley churchyard, and over his remains
was erected a gravestone, bearing a carving representing three men
killing the sailor, and an inscription as follows:--
In Memory of
A generous, but unfortunate Sailor,
Who was barbarously murder'd on Hindhead,
On September 24th, 1786,
By three Villains,
After he had liberally treated them,
And promised them his further Assistance,
On the Road to Portsmouth.
When pitying Eyes to see my Grave shall come,
And with a generous Tear bedew my tomb;
Here shall they read my melancholy fate--
With Murder and Barbarity complete.
In perfect Health, and in the Flower of Age,
I fell a Victim to three Ruffians' Rage;
On bended Knees, I mercy strove t'obtain
Their Thirst of Blood made all Entreaties Vain,
No dear Relations, or still dearer Friend,
Weeps my hard lot or miserable End.
Yet o'er my sad remains (my name unknown)
A generous public have inscribed this Stone.
On February 2nd, 1787, two dissolute young men named Abraham Tull and
William Hawkins, aged respectively nineteen and seventeen, waylaid and
murdered William Billimore, an aged labourer. They stole his silver
watch, but were too frightened to continue their search for money which
they expected to find, and made a hasty retreat; but they were soon
overtaken, and were subsequently, at Reading Assizes, tried and
condemned to be gibbeted on Ufton Common within sight of their homes.
For many years their ghastly remains were suspended to gibbet posts,
much to the terror and annoyance of the people in the district. No
attempt was made to remove the bodies, on account of it being regarded
as unlawful, until Mrs. Brocas, of Beaurepaire, then residing at
Wokefield Park, gave private orders for them to be taken down in the
night and buried, which was accordingly done. During her daily drives
she passed the gibbeted men and the sight greatly distressed her, and
caused her to have them taken down.[13] The ironwork of the gibbets are
in the Reading Museum.
William Lewin, in 1788, robbed the post-boy carrying the letters from
Warrington to Northwich, between Stretton and Whitley. He managed to
elude the agents of the law for three years, but was eventually
captured, tried at Chester, and found guilty of committing the then
capital offence of robbing the mail. He was hanged at Chester. Says a
contemporary account:--"His body is hung in chains on the most elevated
part of Helsby Tor, about eight miles from Chester; from whence it may
be conspicuously seen, and, by means of glasses, is visible to the whole
county, most parts of Lancashire, Flintshire, Denbighshire, Shropshire,
Derbyshire, etc., etc."[14] About this period there were three gibbets
along the road between Warrington and Chester.[15]
Only five months after William Lewin had been gibbeted for robbing the
mails, almost in the same locality Edward Miles robbed and murdered the
post-boy carrying the Liverpool mail-bag to Manchester on September
15th, 1791. For this crime he was hanged, and suspended in chains on
the Manchester Road, near "The Twysters," where the murder had been
committed. In 1845 the irons in which the body had been encased were dug
up near the site of the gibbet, and may now be seen in the Warrington
Museum. Our illustration is reproduced from a drawing in Mr. Madeley's
work, "Some Obsolete Modes of Punishment." It will be observed the irons
which enclosed the head are wanting.
[Illustration: MILES'S GIBBET IRONS, WARRINGTON MUSEUM.]
Spence Broughton was tried at York, in 1792, for robbing the mail
running between Sheffield and Rotherham. He was found guilty, and
condemned to be executed at York, and his body to be hung in chains near
the place where the robbery had been committed. The gibbet-post (which
was the last put up in Yorkshire), with the irons, the skull, and a few
other bones and rags, was standing in 1827-28, when it was taken
down.[16]
We learn from "The Norfolk and Norwich Remembrancer" (1822), that on May
2nd, 1804, the gibbet on which Payne, the pirate, was hung about 23
years previously, upon Yarmouth North Denes, was taken down by order of
the Corporation.
Lincolnshire history supplies some curious details respecting the
gibbeting of a man named Tom Otter, in the year 1806. We are told that
he was compelled by the old poor law regulations to wed a girl he had
injured. He lured her into a secluded spot the day after their marriage,
and deliberately murdered her. According to the prevalent custom, Tom
Otter's corpse was hung in chains. The day selected for that purpose
inaugurated a week of merry-making of the most unseemly character.
Booths were pitched near the gibbet, and great numbers of the people
came to see the wretch suspended. It is reported that some years later,
when the jaw bones had become sufficiently bare to leave a cavity
between them, a bird built its nest in this unique position. The
discovery of nine young ones therein gave rise to the following triplet
still quoted in the neighbourhood:--
"There were nine tongues within the head,
The tenth went out to seek some bread,
To feed the living in the dead."
The gibbet was standing until the year 1850, when it was blown down.
At the Derby March Assizes, 1815, a young man named Anthony Lingard was
tried and convicted for murdering Hannah Oliver, a widow, who kept the
turnpike-gate at Wardlow Miers, in the parish of Tideswell. The
following account of the crime is from the _Derby Mercury_, for March
13th, 1815:--
"On Saturday morning, Anthony Lingard, the younger, aged 21, was put
to the bar, charged with the murder (by strangulation) of Hannah
Oliver, a widow woman, aged 48 years, who kept the turnpike gate at
Wardlow Miers, in the parish of Tideswell, in this county.
"It appeared in evidence that the prisoner committed the robbery and
murder in the night of Sunday the 15th of January last; that he took
from the house several pounds in cash and notes, and a pair of new
woman's shoes; that immediately after the deed was perpetrated, he
went to a young woman in the neighbourhood, who was pregnant by him,
and offered to give her some money with a view to induce her to
father the child upon some other person; that he gave her the shoes,
and also some money; but it being rumoured that Hannah Oliver had
been murdered, and that a pair of shoes had been taken from her, the
young woman returned the shoes to the prisoner, who said she had no
occasion to be afraid, for that he had had them of a person in
exchange for a pair of stockings. The shoes, however, were returned
to him; and the evidence adduced in respect to them, as well as in
respect to a great variety of circumstances connected with the
horrid transaction, was given in such a very minute detail of
corroborative and satisfactory proofs, as to leave no doubt in the
minds of everyone that the prisoner was the person who had committed
the murder, independent of his own confession, which was taken
before the magistrates, previous to his committal.
"The trial on the part of the prosecution being closed, and the
prisoner not having any witness to call, the learned judge carefully
summed up the evidence to the jury, who after a few minutes returned
a verdict of guilty.
"His Lordship then passed the awful sentence of the law upon the
prisoner, which was done by the learned judge in the most solemn and
impressive manner, entreating him to make the best use of his time,
and to prepare himself during the short period he had to live, for
the great change he was about to undergo.
"Since his condemnation he conducted himself with greater sobriety
than he had manifested before his trial; but his temper was
obstinate, and his mind lamentably ignorant: and being totally
unacquainted with religious considerations, he exhibited very
imperfect signs of real penitence, and but little anxiety respecting
his future state. He acknowledged the crime for which he was about
to suffer the sentence of the law, but was reluctantly induced to
pronounce his forgiveness of the young woman who was the principal
evidence against him.
"At 12 o'clock yesterday he was brought upon the drop in front of
the County gaol, and after a short time occupied in prayer with the
chaplain (who had previously attended him with the most unremitting
and tender assiduity), he was launched into eternity. He met his
fate with a firmness which would deserve the praise of fortitude if
it was not the result of insensibility. He appeared but little
agitated or dejected by his dreadful situation.
"Let the hope be encouraged that his example may operate as a
warning to those among the multitude of spectators, who might not
before feel all the horror with which vice ought to be regarded.
When wickedness is thus seen not in its allurements, but in its
consequences, its true nature is evidenced. It is always the
offspring of ignorance and folly, and the parent of long enduring
misery.
"Before the Judge left the town, he directed that the body of
Lingard should be hung in chains in the most convenient place near
the spot where the murder was committed, instead of being dissected
and anatomized."
The treasurer's accounts for Derbyshire, for 1815-16, show, says Dr.
Cox, that the punishment of gibbeting involved a serious inroad on the
county finances. The expenses for apprehending Anthony Lingard amounted
to £31 5s. 5d., but the expenses incurred in the gibbeting reached a
total of £85 4s. 1d., and this in addition to ten guineas charged by the
gaoler for conveying the body from Derby to Wardlow.[17]
A paragraph in Rhodes's "Peak Scenery," first published in 1818, is
worth reproducing:--"As we passed along the road to Tideswell," writes
the author, "the villages of Wardlow and Litton lay on our left....
Here, at a little distance on the left of the road, we observed a man
suspended on a gibbet, which was but newly erected. The vanity of the
absurd idea of our forefathers, in thinking that a repulsive object of
this kind would act as a deterrent of crime, was strikingly shown in the
case of this Wardlow gibbet." It is related of Hannah Pecking, of
Litton, who was hung on March 22nd, 1819, at the early age of sixteen,
for poisoning Jane Grant, a young woman of the same village, that she
"gave the poison in a sweet cake to her companion, as they were going to
fetch some cattle out of a field, near to which stood the gibbet-post of
Anthony Lingard."
The gibbet was taken down on April 10th, 1826, by order of the
magistrates, and the remains of Lingard buried on the spot. We give a
drawing of Lingard's gibbet-cap, which is now in the museum at Belle
Vue, Manchester.
The Rev. Dr. Cox contributed to the columns of _The Antiquary_, for
November, 1890, some important notes on this theme. "It was usual," says
Dr. Cox, "to saturate the body with tar before it was hung in chains, in
order that it might last the longer. This was done with the bodies of
three highwaymen about the middle of last century, gibbeted on the top
of the Chevin, near Belper, in Derbyshire. They had robbed the North
Coach when it was changing horses at the inn at Hazelwood, just below
the summit of the Chevin. After the bodies had been hanging there for a
few weeks, one of the friends of the criminals set fire at night time to
the big gibbet that bore all three. The father of our aged informant,
and two or three others of the cottagers near by, seeing a glare of
light, went up the hill, and there they saw the sickening spectacle of
the three bodies blazing away in the darkness. So thoroughly did the tar
aid this cremation that the next morning only the links of the iron
remained on the site of the gibbet."
[Illustration: LINGARD'S GIBBET-CAP.]
On the high road near Brigg, in 1827, a murder was committed by a
chimney-sweep. At the Lincoln Assizes he was condemned to be hanged, and
hung in chains on the spot where the tragedy occurred. The inhabitants
of Brigg petitioned against the gibbeting, as it was so near the town,
and consequently that part of the sentence was remitted.
A strike occurred at Jarrow Colliery, in 1832, and Mr. Nicholas Fairles,
one of the owners, was a magistrate for the county of Durham, the only
one in the district, and he took an active part in preserving peace
during the troublesome time. He was seventy-one years of age, and
greatly esteemed for his kindly disposition and high moral character. On
June 11th he had been transacting some business at the Colliery, and was
riding home to South Shields on his pony. When he had reached a lonely
place, two men attacked him, dragging him from his horse, because he
refused to give them money. They then felled him to the ground with a
bludgeon, and as he lay helpless on the ground, heavy stones were used
to end his life.
He was left for dead, but on being found and carried to a neighbouring
house, it was discovered that he was alive, and after a few hours he
recovered consciousness, and was able to give the names of the two men
who had attempted to murder him, whom he knew, and who were Jarrow
colliers, William Jobling and Ralph Armstrong. After lingering a few
days, Mr. Fairles died. Jobling was soon caught, but Armstrong escaped,
and was never brought to justice. Jobling was tried at Durham Assizes,
and condemned to be hanged and gibbeted. On August 3rd he was executed
at Durham, and his body was subsequently escorted by fifty soldiers and
others to Jarrow Slake, and set up on a gibbet 21 feet high. The post
was fixed into a stone, weighing about thirty hundredweight, and sunk
into the water a hundred yards from the high-water mark, and opposite
the scene of the tragedy. The gruesome spectacle was not permitted to
remain, for on the night of the 31st of the same month it was erected it
was taken down, it is supposed, by some of his fellow workmen, and the
body was quietly buried in the south-west corner of Jarrow churchyard.
It only remains to be added that during the construction of the Tyne
Dock, the iron framework in which Jobling's body was suspended was
found, and was in 1888 presented by the directors of the North Eastern
Railway Company to the Newcastle Society of Antiquaries. On 14th April,
1891, passed away at the advanced age of 96, Jobling's widow, and it has
been stated, with her death the last personal link with the gibbet was
severed.
The last man gibbeted in this country was James Cook, a bookbinder, at
Leicester. He was executed for the murder of John Paas, a London
tradesman, with whom he did business. Cook's body was suspended on a
gibbet thirty-three feet high, on Saturday, August 11th, 1832, in
Saffron Lane, Aylestone, near Leicester. The body was soon taken down,
and buried on the spot where the gibbet stood, by order of the
Secretary of State, to put a stop to the disturbances caused by the
crowds of people visiting the place on a Sunday.[18]
Some little time before the execution of a criminal who was also
condemned to be hung in chains, it was customary for the blacksmith to
visit the prison and measure the victim for the ironwork in which he was
to be suspended.
Hanging Alive in Chains.
Nearly every district in England has its thrilling tale of a man hanging
alive in chains. Some writers affirm the truth of the story, while
others regard it as merely fiction. We are not in a position to settle
the disputed question. Blackstone, in his "Commentaries," published in
1769, clearly states that a criminal was suspended in chains after
execution. Holinshed, who died about the year 1580, in his famous
"Chronicle of England," a work which supplied Shakespeare with materials
for historical dramas, states:--"In wilful murder done upon pretended
(premeditated) malice, or in anie notable robbery, the criminal is
either hanged alive in chains near the place where the act was
committed, or else, upon compassion taken, first strangled with a rope,
and so continueth till his bones come to nothing. Where wilful
manslaughter is perpetrated, besides hanging, the offender hath his
right hand commonly stricken off."
We glean an important item from "England's Mourning Garment," written by
Henry Chettle, a poet and dramatist, born about the year 1540, and who
died in 1604. He lived in the days of Queen Elizabeth. "But for
herselfe," wrote Chettle, "she was alwayes so inclined to equitie that
if she left Justice in any part, it was in shewing pittie; as in one
generall punishment of murder it appeared; where-as before time there
was extraordinary torture, as hanging wilfull murderers alive in chains;
she having compassion like a true Shepheardesse of their soules, though
they were often erring and utterly infected flock, said their death
satisfied for death; and life for life was all that could be demanded;
and affirming more, that much torture distracted a dying man." This
subject is fully discussed in _Notes and Queries_, 4th series, volumes
X. and XI. A work entitled "Hanging in Chains," by Albert Hartshorne,
F.S.A., (London, 1891), contains much out-of-the-way information on this
theme.
Bewick, the famous artist and naturalist, in his pictures of English
scenery introduced the gibbet "as one of the characteristics of the
picturesque."
The old custom of hanging the bodies of criminals in chains was
abolished by statute on July 25th, 1834, and thus ends a strange chapter
in the history of Old England.
[Illustration: THE GIBBET (_from Bewick's "British Birds_.")]
FOOTNOTES:
[8] Cox's "Three Centuries of Derbyshire Annals," 1888.
[9] M'Lauria (Lord Dreghorn) "Arguments and Decisions," etc., Edinburgh,
1774.
[10] Andrews's "Bygone Hertfordshire," 1898.
[11] Sheahan's "History of Buckinghamshire," 1862.
[12] Stevenson's "Bygone Nottinghamshire," 1893.
[13] Sharp's "History of Ufton Court," 1892.
[14] Trial of William Lewin, 1791, Chester, n.d.
[15] Madeley's "Some Obsolete Modes of Punishment," Warrington, 1887.
[16] "Criminal Chronology of York Castle," 1867.
[17] Cox's "Three Centuries of Derbyshire Annals," 1888.
[18] See "Bygone Leicestershire," edited by William Andrews, 1892.
Hanging, Drawing, and Quartering.
Hanging, drawing, and quartering, with their attendant horrors, have
been termed "godly butchery," on account of the divine authority which
was adduced to support their continuance. Lord Coke finds in the Bible a
countenance for each of the horrid details of the punishment. We see
that the texts supposed to bear upon the subject are raked from all
parts of the Scriptures with great ingenuity, but with, in our modern
eyes, not much of either humanity or probability of there being anything
more than a forced reference. The sentence on traitors was pronounced as
follows: "That the traitor is to be taken from the prison and laid upon
a sledge or hurdle [in earlier days he was to be dragged along the
surface of the ground, tied to the tail of a horse], and drawn to the
gallows or place of execution, and then hanged by the neck until he be
half dead, and then cut down; and his entrails to be cut out of his body
and burnt by the executioner; then his head is to be cut off, his body
to be divided into quarters, and afterwards his head and quarters to be
set up in some open places directed." The headsman, or hangman, commonly
sliced open the chest and cut thence the heart, plucking it forth and
holding it up to the populace, saying, "Behold the heart of a traitor."
The members were disposed on the gates of the cities, and in London on
London Bridge, or upon Westminster Hall.
It is asserted that this mode of capital punishment was first inflicted
in 1241, on William Marise, pirate, and the son of a nobleman.
For a long period this disgusting punishment was the penalty for high
treason. A late instance, and the last in the provinces, occurred at
Derby in 1817. At this period distress prevailed to an alarming extent
in many parts of the country, but no where was it more keenly felt than
in the Midland counties. At the instigation of paid government spies,
the poor, suffering people were urged to overthrow the Parliament. The
plot was planned in a public house called the White Horse, at Pentrich,
Derbyshire. A few half-starved labouring men took part in the rising,
being assured by the perjured spies that it would simultaneously occur
throughout the breadth and length of the land, and that success must
crown their efforts. The deluded men had not advanced far before they
were scattered by the Yeomanry, and the chief movers taken prisoners. It
was the object of the government to terrify the public and cripple all
attempts at obtaining reform. Four judges were sent to Derby to try the
poor peasants for rebellion, and commenced their duties on the 15th and
ended them on October 25th. Three of the ringleaders, Jeremiah
Brandreth, William Turner, and Isaac Ludlam, were found guilty of high
treason, and the capital sentence passed upon them; the greater part of
the other prisoners were condemned to transportation. Little time was
lost in carrying out the sentence; the death warrant for the execution
was signed on November 1st by the Prince Regent, and it remitted only
quartering, and directed that the three men be hung, drawn, and
beheaded. It appears that the High Sheriff, after consultation with the
surgeon of the prison and other officials, proposed taking off the heads
of the unfortunate men with a knife, and the operation to be performed
by a person skilled in anatomy. On this being brought under the notice
of the authorities in London, it was, however, decided that the
execution should be carried out according to old usage with the axe.
Bamford, a blacksmith, of Derby, was entrusted with an order for two
axes, to be made similar to the one used at the Tower. They measured
eight and a half inches across the edge and were one foot long. On the
morning of November 7th, before execution, the three men received
Sacrament. The town blacksmith knocked off the irons by which they were
loaded, and substituted others that were fitted with locks, so that they
might easily be removed. A simply made hurdle was then brought in the
prison-yard, and on it they were pulled by a horse to the gallows. It
was so roughly constructed that the poor fellows had to be held to keep
them on it. "On mounting the scaffold in front of the gaol," says Dr.
Cox, to whom we are indebted for many details in this chapter,
"Brandreth exclaimed, 'It is all Oliver and Castlereagh;' Turner,
following him, also called out, 'This is all Oliver and the Government;
the Lord have mercy on my soul.' They hung from the gallows for
half-an-hour. On the platform, in front of the gallows, was placed the
block and two sacks of sawdust, and on a bench two axes, two sharp
knives, and a basket. The block was a long piece of timber supported at
each end by pieces a foot high, and having a small batten nailed across
the upper end for the neck to rest upon. The body of Brandreth was first
taken down from the gallows, and placed face downwards on the block. The
executioner, a muscular Derbyshire coal miner, selected by the sheriff
for his proficiency in wielding the pick, was masked, and his name kept
a profound secret. Brandreth's neck received only one stroke, but it was
not clean done, and the assistant (also masked) finished it off with a
knife. Then the executioner laid hold of the head by the hair, and
holding it at arm's length, to the left, to the right, and in front of
the scaffold, called out three times--'Behold the head of the traitor,
Jeremiah Brandreth.' The other two were served in like manner. Turner's
neck received one blow and the knife had to be applied, but Ludlam's
head fell at once. The scaffold was surrounded by a great force of
cavalry with drawn swords, and several companies of infantry were also
present. The space in front of the gaol was densely packed with
spectators."[19] "When the first stroke of the axe was heard," says an
eye-witness, "there was a burst of horror from the crowd, and the
instant the head was exhibited, there was a terrifying shriek set up,
and the multitude ran violently in all directions, as if under the
influence of a sudden frenzy."[20]
The poet Shelley is said to have witnessed the painful spectacle. On the
previous day had passed away in childbirth the Princess Charlotte. The
two circumstances formed the subject of an able pamphlet, drawing a
contrast between the deaths, and furnishing a description of the scene
within and without the prison at Derby. "When Edward Turner (one of
those transported)," says Shelley, "saw his brother dragged along upon
the hurdle, he shrieked horribly, and fell in a fit, and was carried
away like a corpse by two men. How fearful must have been their agony
sitting in solitude that day when the tempestuous voice of horror from
the crowd told them that the head so dear to them was severed from the
body! Yes, they listened to the maddening shriek which burst from the
multitude; they heard the rush of ten thousand terror-stricken feet, the
groans and hootings which told them that the mangled and distorted head
was then lifted in the air." The title of Shelley's pamphlet is "We pity
the Plumage, but forget the Dying Bird. An Address to the People on the
Death of the Princess Charlotte. By the Hermit of Marlow."
On the same night the three executed men were buried without any
religious service in one grave in the churchyard of St. Werburgh, Derby.
When Dr. Cox was preparing for the press his "Three Centuries of
Derbyshire Annals," he saw the block on which these men were beheaded
and supplies a description of it as follows: "It consists of two two and
a half inch planks fastened together; it is six feet six inches long by
two feet wide. Six inches from one end a piece of wood is nailed across
three inches high. The whole is tarred over, but the old warder drew our
attention to the fact that, though the cell where it is kept is very
dry, the wood is still in places damp. It is a gaol tradition that the
blood of these unhappy men shed in 1817 has never and will never dry."
On May 1st, 1820, the Cato Street Conspirators were, after death by
hanging, beheaded. This is the latest instance of the ancient custom
being maintained in this country. In connection with this subject we may
perhaps be permitted to draw attention to a chapter by us in "England in
the Days of Old" (1897), entitled "Rebel Heads on City Gates;" it
includes much curious information bearing on this theme.
We must not omit to state that the great agitator against the
continuance of the barbarities of hanging, drawing and quartering was
Sir Samuel Romilly, who in the reign of George III., brought upon
himself the odium of the law-officers of the Crown, who declared he was
"breaking down the bulwarks of the constitution." By his earnest
exertions, however, the punishment was carried out in a manner more
amenable to the dictates of mercy and humanity.
FOOTNOTES:
[19] Cox's "Three Centuries of Derbyshire Annals," 1888.
[20] The Examiner.
Pressing to Death.
One of the most barbarous and cruel of the punishments of our English
statutes was that distinguished by the name of _Peine forte et dure_, or
pressing to death with every aggravation of torture. It was adopted as a
manner of punishment suitable to cases where the accused refused to
plead, and was commuted about the year 1406 from the older method of
merely starving the prisoner to death. At that time the alteration was
considered to be decidedly according to the dictates of humanity and
mercy, as the sooner relieving the accused from his sufferings. Such was
the small value set upon human life in those dark days of British
justice.
The manner in which this exceedingly great torture was inflicted was as
follows: "That the prisoner shall be remanded to the place from whence
he came, and put in some low, dark room, and there laid on his back,
without any manner of covering except a cloth round his middle; and that
as many weights shall be laid upon him as he can bear, _and more_; and
that he shall have no more sustenance but of the worst bread and water,
and that he shall not eat the same day on which he drinks, nor drink the
same day on which he eats; and he shall so continue till he die." At a
later period, the form of sentence was altered to the following: "That
the prisoner shall be remanded to the place from whence he came, and put
in some low, dark room; that he shall lie without any litter or anything
under him, and that one arm shall be drawn to one quarter of the room
with a cord, and the other to another, and that his feet shall be used
in the same manner, and that as many weights shall be laid on him as he
can bear, and more. That he shall have three morsels of barley bread a
day, and that he shall have the water next the prison, so that it be not
current, and that he shall not eat," etc. The object of this protracted
punishment was to allow the victim, at almost every stage of the
torture, to plead, and thus allow the law to take its ordinary course.
The object of the persons who have refused to plead was, that any person
who died under the _Peine forte et dure_ could transmit his estates to
his children, or will them as he desired; whereas, if he were found
guilty, they would be forfeited to the Crown. In connection with this,
it may be mentioned that when the practice of pressing to death had
become nearly extinct, prisoners who declined to plead were tortured, in
order to compel them to do so, by twisting and screwing their thumbs
with whipcord.
In 1721, a woman named Mary Andrews was subjected to this punishment.
After bearing with fortitude the first three whipcords, which broke from
the violence of the twisting, she submitted to plead at the fourth.
Baron Carter, at the Cambridge Assizes, in 1741, ordered a prisoner, who
refused to plead, to have his thumbs twisted with cords, and when that
was without avail, inflicted the higher penalty of pressing. Baron
Thompson, about the same time, at the Sussex Assizes, treated a prisoner
in a precisely similar manner.
A like method was pursued in 1721, with Nathaniel Hawes, a prisoner who
refused to plead; when the cord proved inefficacious, a weight of 250
pounds was laid upon him, after which he decided to plead. The same year
seems prolific of cases of this character, there being particulars of an
instance in the _Nottingham Mercury_ of January 19th, 1721. They are
included in the London news, and are as follow: "Yesterday the sessions
began at the Old Bailey, where several persons were brought to the bar
for highway robbery, etc. Among them were the highwaymen lately taken at
Westminster, two of whom, namely, Thomas Green, _alias_ Phillips, and
Thomas Spiggot, refusing to plead, the court proceeded to pass the
following sentence upon them: 'that the prisoner shall be,' etc. [the
usual form, as given above]. The former, on sight of the terrible
machine, desired to be carried back to the sessions house, where he
pleaded not guilty. But the other, who behaved himself very insolently
to the ordinary who was ordered to attend him, seemingly resolved to
undergo the torture. Accordingly, when they brought cords, as usual, to
tie him, he broke them three several times like a twine-thread, and told
them if they brought cables he would serve them after the same manner.
But, however, they found means to tie him to the ground, having his
limbs extended; but after, enduring the punishment for an hour, and
having three or four hundredweight put on him, he at last submitted to
plead, and was carried back, when he pleaded not guilty."
The Rev. Mr. Willette, the ordinary of the prison, in 1776, published
the "Annals of Newgate," and from these we learn further particulars of
the torture of the highwayman, Thomas Spiggot. "The chaplain found him
lying in the vault upon the bare ground, with 350 pounds weight upon his
breast, and then prayed with him, and at several times asked him why he
should hazard his soul by such obstinate kind of self-murder. But all
the answer that he made was, 'Pray for me; pray for me.' He sometimes
lay silent under the pressure as if insensible to the pain, and then
again would fetch his breath very quick and short. Several times he
complained that they had laid a cruel weight upon his face, though it
was covered with nothing but a thin cloth, which was afterwards removed
and laid more light and hollow; yet he still complained of the
prodigious weight upon his face, which might be caused by the blood
being forced up thither and pressing the veins so violently as if the
force had been externally on his face. When he had remained for
half-an-hour under this load, and fifty pounds weight more laid on,
being in all four hundred, he told those who attended him he would
plead. The weights were at once taken off, the cords cut asunder; he was
raised up by two men, some brandy put into his mouth to revive him, and
he was carried to take his trial." The practice of _Peine forte et dure_
gave the name of "Press-yard" to a part of Newgate, and the terrible
machine above referred to was probably in the form of a rack.
We require to go further back to find instances of a fatal termination
to the punishment. Such a case occurred in 1676. One Major Strangeways
and his sister held in joint possession a farm, but the lady becoming
intimate with a lawyer named Fussell, to whom the Major took a strong
dislike, he threatened that if she married the lawyer he would, in his
office or elsewhere, be the death of him. Surely, Fussell was one day
found shot dead in his London apartments, and suspicion at once fell
upon the officer, and he was arrested. At first he was willing to be
subjected to the ordeal of touch, but when placed upon trial, resolved
not to allow any chance of his being found guilty, and so refused to
plead, in order that his estates might go to whom he willed. Glynn was
the Lord Chief Justice on this occasion, and in passing the usual
sentence for _Peine forte et dure_, used instead of the word "weights,"
as above, the words "as much iron and stone as he can bear," doubtless
to suit the prison convenience, and make the sentence perfectly legal.
He was to have three morsels of barley bread every alternate day, and
three draughts of "the water in the next channel to the prison door, but
of no spring or fountain water," the sentence concluding, "and this
shall be his punishment till he die." This was probably on the Saturday,
for on the Monday morning following, it is stated, the condemned was
draped in white garments, and also wore a mourning cloak, as though in
mourning for his own forthcoming death. It is curious to notice that his
friends were present at his death, which was so much modified from the
lengthy process that his sentence conveys as to be in fact an execution,
in which these same friends assisted. They stood "at the corner of the
press," and when he gave them to understand that he was ready, they
forthwith proceeded to pile stone and iron upon him. The amount of
weight was insufficient to kill him, for although he gasped, "Lord
Jesus, receive my soul," he still continued alive until his friends, to
hasten his departure, stood upon the weights, a course which in about
ten minutes placed him beyond the reach of the human barbarity which
imposed upon friendship so horrible a task.
In 1827, an Act was passed which directs the court to enter a plea of
"not guilty," when a prisoner refuses to plead. It is surprising that
the inhuman practice of pressing to death should have lingered so long.
In this chapter we have only given particulars of a few of the many
cases which have come under our notice in the legal byways of old
England.
Drowning.
Among the nations of antiquity, drowning was a very common mode of
execution. Four-and-a-half centuries before the birth of Christ, the
Britons inflicted death by drowning in a quagmire. In Anglo-Saxon times
women found guilty of theft were drowned. For a long period in the
Middle Ages, the barons and others who had the power of administering
laws in their respective districts possessed a drowning pit and a
gallows.
Drowning was a punishment of King Richard of the Lion Heart, who
ordained by a decree that it should be the doom of any soldier of his
army who killed a fellow-crusader during the passage to the Holy Land.
The owner of Baynard's Castle, London, in the reign of John, had the
power of trying criminals, and his descendants long afterwards claimed
the privilege, the most valued of which was the right of drowning, in
the Thames, traitors taken within the limits of his territory.[21]
Bearing on this subject the annals of Sandwich supply some important
information. It is recorded, that in the year 1313, "a presentment was
made before the itinerant Justices at Canterbury, that the prior of
Christ Church had, for nine years, obstructed the high road leading from
Dover Castle to Sandwich by the sea-shore by a water-mill, and the
diversion of a stream called the Gestlyng, where felons condemned to
death within the hundred should be drowned, but could not be executed
that way for want of water. Further, that he raised a certain gutter
four feet, and the water that passed that way to the gutter ran to the
place where the convicts were drowned, and from whence their bodies were
floated to the river, and that after the gutter was raised the drowned
bodies could not be carried into the river by the stream, as they used
to be, for want of water."[22]
Drowning was not infrequently awarded as a matter of leniency, and as a
commutation of what were considered more severe forms of death. We have
an instance of such a case in Scotland in 1556, when a man who had been
found guilty of theft and sacrilege was ordered to be put to death by
drowning "by the Queen's special grace." At Edinburgh, in 1611, a man
was drowned for stealing a lamb; and in 1623 eleven gipsey women were
condemned to be drowned at Edinburgh in the Nor' Loch. On the 11th May,
1685, Margaret M'Lachlan, aged sixty-three years, and Margaret Wilson, a
girl of eighteen years, were drowned in the waters of Blednoch, for
denying that James VII. of Scotland was entitled to rule the Church
according to his pleasure. Six years prior to this, namely, on the 25th
August, 1679, a woman called Janet Grant was tried for theft, in the
baronial court of Sir Robert Gordon, of Gordonston, held at Drainie, and
pleaded guilty. She was sentenced to be drowned next day in the Loch of
Spynie.
In France, drowning was a capital punishment as late as 1793, but in
Scotland we do not trace it later than 1685, and in England it was
discontinued about the commencement of the seventeenth century.
FOOTNOTES:
[21] Pike's "History of Crime in England," 1873.
[22] Boys's "History of Sandwich."
Burning to Death.
Burning to death was a frequent method of punishment in the barbarous
days of many nations. In our own country it was used by the Anglo-Saxons
as the penalty of certain crimes, and, as the ordinary punishment of
witchcraft, it was maintained throughout the Middle Ages.
Burning alive was from early times the recognised method of uprooting
heretical notions of religious belief of every class. The first to
suffer from this cause in England was Alban, who died at the stake in
the year A.D. 304. Since his day, thousands have suffered death on
account of their religious belief, through intolerance; but that is not
a subject we intend dealing with at the present time.
We desire to direct attention to some of the cases of the burning alive
of women for civil offences. This practice was considered by the framers
of the law as a commutation of the sentence of hanging, and a concession
made to the sex of the offenders. "For as the decency due to the sex,"
says Blackstone, "forbids the exposing and publicly mangling their
bodies, their sentence (which is to the full as terrible to sensation as
the other) is, to be drawn to the gallows, and there to be burnt alive;"
and he adds: "the humanity of the English nation has authorised, by a
tacit consent, an almost general mitigation of such part of these
judgments as savours of torture and cruelty, a sledge or hurdle being
usually allowed to such traitors as are condemned to be drawn, and there
being very few instances (and those accidental and by negligence) of any
persons being disemboweled or burnt till previously deprived of
sensation by strangling."
We gather from the annals of King's Lynn that, in the year 1515, a woman
was burnt in the market-place for the murder of her husband. Twenty
years later, a Dutchman was burnt for reputed heresy. In the same town,
in 1590, Margaret Read was burnt for witchcraft. Eight years later, a
woman was executed for witchcraft, and in the year 1616, another woman
suffered death for the same crime. In 1791, at King's Lynn, the landlady
of a public-house was murdered by a man let into the house at the dead
of night by a servant girl. The man was hanged for committing the
crime, and the girl was burnt at the stake for assisting the murderer to
enter the dwelling.
There is an account of a burning at Lincoln, in 1722. Eleanor Elsom was
condemned to death for the murder of her husband, and was ordered to be
burnt at the stake. She was clothed in a cloth, "made like a shift,"
saturated with tar, and her limbs were also smeared with the same
inflammable substance, while a tarred bonnet had been placed on her
head. She was brought out of the prison barefoot, and, being put on a
hurdle, was drawn on a sledge to the place of execution near the
gallows. Upon arrival, some time was passed in prayer, after which the
executioner placed her on a tar barrel, a height of three feet, against
the stake. A rope ran through a pulley in the stake, and was placed
around her neck, she herself fixing it with her hands. Three irons also
held her body to the stake, and the rope being pulled tight, the tar
barrel was taken aside and the fire lighted. The details in the "Lincoln
Date Book" state that she was probably quite dead before the fire
reached her, as the executioner pulled upon the rope several times
whilst the irons were being fixed. The body was seen amid the flames
for nearly half-an-hour, though, through the dryness of the wood and the
quantity of tar, the fire was exceedingly fierce.
An instance in which the negligence of the executioner caused death to
be unnecessarily prolonged is found in the case of Catherine Hayes, who
was executed at Tyburn, November 3rd, 1726, for the murder of her
husband. She was being strangled in the accustomed manner, but the fire
scorching the hands of the executioner, he relaxed the rope before she
had become unconscious, and in spite of the efforts at once made to
hasten combustion, she suffered for a considerable time the greatest
agonies.
Two paragraphs, dealing with such cases, are in the _London Magazine_
for July, 1735, and are as follow: "At the assizes, at Northampton, Mary
Fawson was condemned to be burnt for poisoning her husband, and
Elizabeth Wilson to be hanged for picking a farmer's pocket of thirty
shillings."
"Among the persons capitally convicted at the assizes, at Chelmsford,
are Herbert Hayns, one of Gregory's gang, who is to be hung in chains,
and a woman, for poisoning her husband, is to be burnt."
In the next number of the same magazine, the first-mentioned criminal is
again spoken of: "Mrs. Fawson was burnt at Northampton for poisoning her
husband. Her behaviour in prison was with the utmost signs of
contrition. She would not, to satisfy people's curiosity, be unveiled to
anyone. She confessed the justice of her sentence, and died with great
composure of mind." And also: "Margaret Onion was burnt at a stake at
Chelmsford, for poisoning her husband. She was a poor, ignorant
creature, and confessed the fact."
We obtain from Mr. John Glyde, jun., particulars of another case of
burning for husband murder (styled petty treason). In April, 1763,
Margery Beddingfield, and a farm servant, named Richard Ringe, her
paramour, had murdered John Beddingfield, of Sternfield. The latter
criminal was the actual murderer, his wife being considered an
accomplice. He was condemned to be hanged and she burnt, at the same
time and place, and her sentence was that she should "be taken from
hence to the place from whence you came, and thence to the place of
execution, on Saturday next, where you are to be burnt until you be
dead: and the Lord have mercy on your soul." Accordingly, on the day
appointed, she was taken to Rushmere Heath, near Ipswich, and there
strangled and burnt.[23]
Coining was, until a late period, an offence which met with capital
punishment. In May, 1777, a girl of little more than fourteen years of
age had, at her master's command, concealed a number of whitewashed
farthings to represent shillings, for which she was found guilty of
treason, and sentenced to be burnt. Her master was already hanged, and
the fagots but awaiting the application of the match to blaze in fury
around her, when Lord Weymouth, who happened to be passing that way,
humanely interfered. Said a writer in the _Quarterly Review_, "a mere
accident saved the nation from this crime and this national disgrace."
In Harrison's _Derby and Nottingham Journal_, for September 23rd, 1779,
is an account of two persons who were several days previously tried and
convicted for high treason, the indictment being for coining shillings
in Cold Bath Field, and for coining shillings in Nag's Head Yard,
Bishopsgate Street. The culprit in the latter case was a man named John
Fields, and in the former a woman called Isabella Condon. They were
sentenced to be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution, the man to
be hanged and the woman burnt.
Ph[oe]be Harris, in 1786, was burnt in front of Newgate. The _Chelmsford
Chronicle_ of June 23rd, 1786, gives an account of her execution. After
furnishing particulars of six men being hanged for various crimes, the
report says:
"About a quarter of an hour after the platform had dropped, the female
convicted" (Ph[oe]be Harris, convicted of counterfeiting the coin called
shillings) "was led by two officers of justice from Newgate to a stake
fixed in the ground about midway between the scaffold and the pump. The
stake was about eleven feet high, and, near the top of it was inserted a
curved piece of iron, to which the end of the halter was tied. The
prisoner stood on a low stool, which, after the ordinary had prayed with
her a short time, being taken away, she was suspended by the neck (her
feet being scarcely more than twelve or fourteen inches from the
pavement). Soon after the signs of life had ceased, two cart-loads of
fagots were placed round her and set on fire; the flames presently
burning the halter, the convict fell a few inches, and was then
sustained by an iron chain passed over her chest and affixed to the
stake. Some scattered remains of the body were perceptible in the fire
at half-past ten o'clock. The fire had not completely burnt out at
twelve o'clock."
The latest instance on record is that of Christian Murphy, _alias_
Bowman, who was burnt on March 18th, 1789, for coining.
The barbarous laws which permitted such repugnant exhibitions were
repealed by the 30th George III., cap. 48, which provided that, after
the 5th of June, 1790, women were to suffer hanging, as in the case of
men.
FOOTNOTES:
[23] Glyde's "New Suffolk Garland," 1866.
Boiling to Death.
In the year 1531, when Henry VIII. was king, an act was passed for
boiling poisoners to death. The preamble of the statute states that one
Richard Roose or Coke, a cook, by putting poison in some food intended
for the household of the Bishop of Rochester, and for the poor of the
parish in which his lordship's palace was situated in Lambeth Marsh,
occasioned the death of a man and a woman, and the serious illness of
several others. He was found guilty of treason, and sentenced to be
boiled to death, without benefit of clergy, that is, that no abatement
of the sentence was to be made on account of his ecclesiastical
connection, nor to be allowed any indemnity such as was commonly the
privilege of clerical offenders. He was publicly boiled to death at
Smithfield, and the act ordained that all manner of poisoners should
meet with the same doom henceforth.
A maid-servant, for poisoning her mistress, was, in 1531, boiled to
death in the market-place of King's Lynn. Another instance of a servant
poisoning the persons with whom she lived was Margaret Davy, who
perished at Smithfield, in 1542.
This cruel law did not remain long on the Statute Books; shortly after
the death of Henry VIII., and in the reign of the next king, Edward VI.,
it was, in 1547 repealed. The punishment of boiling alive was by no
means uncommon before the enactment of Henry VIII., both in England and
on the Continent.
Beheading.
Beheading, as a mode of punishment, had an early origin. Amongst the
Romans it was regarded as a most honourable death. It is asserted that
it was introduced into England from Normandy by William the Conqueror,
and intended for the putting to death of criminals belonging to the
higher grades of society. The first person to suffer beheading was
Waltheof, Earl of Huntingdon, Northampton, and Northumberland, in 1076.
Since the days of the first Norman king down to the time of George the
Second in 1747, two monarchs, and not a few of the most notable of the
nobility of Great Britain, at the Tower, Whitehall, near the historic
Tolbooth of Edinburgh, and other places have closed their noble, and in
some instances ignoble, careers at the hands of the headsman.
Charles I. is perhaps the most famous of kings that have been beheaded.
On January 30th, 1649, on a scaffold raised before the Banqueting House
at Whitehall, he was executed. Within the Banqueting Hall of the Castle
of Fotheringay, on February 8th, 1587, the executioner from the Tower,
after three blows from an axe, severed the head from the body of Mary,
Queen of Scots. Her earlier years opened in the gay court of France, and
was full of sunshine, but shadows gathered, and she was--
"A sad prisoner, passing weary years,
In many castles, till at Fotheringay,
The joyless life was ended."
Henry VIII. was a great king, but his cruel attitude towards his queens
will ever diminish his glory; two of them were executed at his
instigation at the Tower, namely, Anne Boleyn, on May 19th, 1536, and
Katherine Howard, on February 13th, 1542. In the death at the block of
Lady Jane Grey, "the nine days' queen," the scene is more pathetic and
picturesque. On February 12th, 1553-4, she and her young husband, Lord
Guildford Dudley, were executed at the Tower, the former on the Green
within the ancient stronghold, and the latter on Tower Hill. The story
of her unhappy fate is one of the most familiar pages of English
history. Fuller said of this noble woman: "She had the innocency of
childhood, the beauty of youth, the solidity of middle, the gravity of
old age, and all at eighteen; the birth of a princess, the learning of a
clerk, the life of a saint, and the death of a malefactor for her
parents' offences."
[Illustration: THE TOWER OF LONDON, SHOWING THE SITE OF THE SCAFFOLD.]
Amongst the notable men who have suffered at the Tower, we must mention
John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, beheaded on Tower Hill, June 23rd,
1535. He had nearly reached the age of four score years. The Pope, to
spite Henry VIII., had sent the prelate a cardinal's hat, but the aged
bishop had suffered death before it reached this country. Sir Thomas
More was executed on July 6th, 1535. Like his friend Fisher, he refused
submission to the Statute of Succession and to the King's Supremacy. The
devotion of Margaret Roper to her father, Sir Thomas More, forms an
attractive feature in the life story of this truly great man. After
execution his head was spiked on London Bridge, and she bribed a man to
move it, and drop it into a boat where she sat. She kept the sacred
relic for many years, and at her death it was buried with her in a vault
under St. Dunstan's Church, Canterbury.
George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, was beheaded on May 17th, 1536, two
days before the execution of his sister, Queen Anne Boleyn; and his
wife, Jane, Viscountess Rochford, was beheaded at Tower Hill, with
Katherine Howard, on February 13th, 1542, on the charge of having been
an accomplice in the queen's treason. On July 28th, 1540, Thomas
Cromwell, Earl of Essex, was executed. Margaret Plantagenet, Countess
of Salisbury, opposed the king and his government, and she was condemned
for high treason. On May 27th, 1541, her earthly career closed. "The
haughty old countess," it is recorded, "refused to lay her head upon the
block, and the headsman had to follow her about the scaffold, and to
'fetch-off' her grey head 'slovenly' as he could."[24] She was nearly
seventy years old.
The following are included in the list of notable men beheaded, and in
most instances we are only able to give their names and dates of
execution, but the story of their careers will be found in the pages of
English history. Henry, Earl of Surrey, beheaded January 19th, 1546-7;
Thomas, Lord Seymour of Sudeley, March 27th, 1548-9; Edward Seymour,
Duke of Somerset, January 22nd, 1551-2; Sir Thomas Arundel, February
26th, 1551-2; John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, August 22nd, 1553.
Next comes Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, executed February 22nd, 1553-4.
He was the father of Lady Jane Grey. Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk,
suffered death June 2nd, 1572. On February 25th, 1600-1, Robert
Devereux, Earl of Essex, was beheaded.
Sir Walter Raleigh was a many-sided man, the discoverer of North
Carolina, the defender of his country, an author, a court favourite, and
a man of undaunted courage. In the Tower he was long a prisoner, and
there wrote some notable books, and the following hymn:--
"Rise, O my soul, with thy desires to heav'n,
And with divinest contemplations use
Thy time, where time's eternity is given,
And let vain thoughts no more thy mind abuse;
But down in darkness let them lie;
So live thy better, let thy worse thoughts die.
"And thou, my soul, inspired with holy flame
View and review, with most regardful eye,
That holy cross, whence thy salvation came,
On which thy Saviour and thy sin did die;
For in that sacred object is much pleasure,
And in that Saviour, is my life, my treasure.
"To Thee, O Jesu, I direct my eye;
To Thee my hands, to Thee my humble knees,
To Thee my heart shall offer sacrifice,--
To Thee my thoughts, who my thoughts only sees;
To Thee myself, myself and all, I give;
To Thee I die, to Thee I only live."
On October 29th, 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh was executed at Whitehall
under a sentence which had hung over his head for fifteen years.
[Illustration: AXE, BLOCK, AND EXECUTIONER'S MASK AT THE TOWER OF
LONDON.]
On May 12th, 1641, was executed Wentworth, Earl of Strafford; and on
January 10th, 1644-5, was beheaded Archbishop Laud. William Howard,
Viscount Stafford, a victim of Oates's perjury, was executed on December
29th, 1680. "Having embraced and taken leave of his friends," says Bell,
"he knelt down and placed his head on the block: the executioner raised
the axe high in the air, but then checking himself suddenly lowered it.
Stafford raised his head and asked the reason of the delay. The
executioner said he waited the signal. 'I shall make no sign,' he
answered, 'take your own time.' The executioner asked his forgiveness.
'I do forgive you,' replied Stafford, and placing his head again in
position, at one blow it was severed from his body."[25]
A noted name in history comes next, the Duke of Monmouth. He was
beheaded July 15th, 1685. "Here are six guineas for you," he said to the
executioner, "and do not hack me as you did my Lord Russell. I have
heard that you struck him three or four times. My servant will give you
more gold if you do your work well." Then he undressed, felt the edge of
the axe, and laid his head on the block. The executioner was unnerved,
he raised his axe, but his arm trembled as it fell, and only a slight
wound was inflicted. Several blows were given before the neck was
severed.
[Illustration: LORD LOVAT (_from a drawing by Hogarth_).]
We are now nearing the end of executions at the Tower, and only three
more names occur. The cause of Prince Charlie was supported by not a few
of the best blood of Scotland, but the battle of Culloden ended all
hopes for the Pretender, and brought misery to many of his brave
followers. William, Earl of Kilmarnock, and Arthur, Lord Balmerino, on
August 18th, 1746, were beheaded for their devotion to the Jacobite
cause. Simon, Lord Fraser of Lovat, had passed a shameless life, and
little can be said in his favour. In 1715, he fought against Prince
Charles Edward, but subsequently joined the Jacobites, and took part in
the battle of Culloden. He managed to escape from the field after the
engagement, and it was not until April 9th, 1747, that he was beheaded
on Tower Hill. On reaching the scaffold, he asked for the executioner,
and presented him with a purse containing ten guineas. He then asked to
see the axe, felt its edge, and said he thought it would do. Next he
looked at his coffin, on which was inscribed:--
SIMON, DOMINUS FRASER DE LOVAT,
Decollat April 9, 1747,
Ætat suae 80.
After repeating some lines from Horace, and next from Ovid, he prayed,
then bade adieu to his solicitor and agent in Scotland; finally the
executioner completed his work, the head falling from the body. Lord
Lovat was the last person beheaded in this country.
FOOTNOTES:
[24] Wilson's "The Tower and the Scaffold," 1879.
[25] D. C. Bell's "Chapel of the Tower," 1877.
The Halifax Gibbet.
The mention of the Halifax gibbet suggests a popular Yorkshire saying:
"From Hell, Hull and Halifax, good Lord, deliver us." Fuller says the
foregoing is part of the "Beggars' and Vagrants' Litany," and goes on to
state: "Of these three frightful things unto them, it is to be feared
that they least fear the first, conceiving it the farthest from them.
Hull is terrible to them as a town of good government, where beggars
meet with punitive charity; and, it is to be feared, are oftener
corrected than amended. Halifax is formidable for the law thereof,
whereby thieves, taken in the very act of stealing cloth, are instantly
beheaded with an engine, without any further legal proceedings.
Doubtless, the coincidence of the initial letters of these three words
helped much the setting on foot of the proverb." The Halifax gibbet law
has been traced back to a remote period. It has been suggested that it
was imported into the country by some of the Norman barons. Holinshed's
"Chronicle" (edition published in 1587) contains an interesting note
bearing on this subject. "There is, and has been, of ancient time," says
Holinshed, "a law or rather custom, at Halifax, that whosoever doth
commit any felony, and is taken with the same, or confesses the fact
upon examination, if it be valued by four constables to amount to the
sum of thirteenpence-halfpenny, he is forthwith beheaded upon one of the
next market-days (which fall usually upon the Tuesdays, Thursdays, and
Saturdays), or else upon the same day that he is convicted, if market be
holden. The engine wherewith the execution is done is a square block of
wood, of the length of four feet and a half, which doth ride up and down
in a slot, rabet, or regall, between two pieces of timber that are
framed and set up right, of five yards in height. In the nether end of a
sliding block is an axe, keyed or fastened with an iron into the wood,
which, being drawn up to the top of the frame, is there fastened by a
wooden pin (with a notch made in the same, after the manner of a
Samson's post), unto the middest of which pin also there is a long rope
fastened, that cometh down among the people; so that when the offender
hath made his confession, and hath laid his neck over the nethermost
block, every man there present doth either take hold of the rope (or
putteth forth his arm so near to the same as he can get, in token that
he is willing to see justice executed), and pulling out the pin in this
manner, the head-block wherein the axe is fastened doth fall down with
such a violence, that if the neck of the transgressor were so big as
that of a bull, it should be cut in sunder at a stroke, and roll from
the body by a huge distance. If it be so that the offender be
apprehended for an ox, sheep, kine, horse, or any such cattle, the self
beast or other of its kind shall have the end of the rope tied somewhere
unto them, so that they, being driven, do draw out the pin, whereby the
offender is executed."
In the illustration we give, which is a reproduction of an old picture,
it will be observed that a horse is drawing the rope to loosen the pin,
and to allow the axe to fall and cut off the head of the victim. The
doomed man had doubtless stolen the horse. Near the gibbet are assembled
the jurymen, and the parish priest is engaged in prayer.
[Illustration: HALIFAX GIBBET.]
Before a felon was condemned to suffer, the proof of certain facts
appears to have been essentially necessary. In the first place, he
was to be taken in the liberty of the forest of Hardwick, and if he
escaped out of it, even after condemnation, he could not be brought back
to be executed; but if he ever returned into the liberty again, and was
taken, he was sure to suffer. It is recorded that a man named Lacy
escaped, and resided seven years out of the forest, but returning, was
beheaded on the former verdict. This person was not so wise as one
Dinnis, who, having been condemned to die, escaped out of the liberty on
the day fixed for his execution (which might be done by running in one
direction about five hundred yards), and never returned. Meeting several
people that asked if Dinnis was not to be beheaded on that day, his
answer was, "I trow not," which, having some humour in it, became a
proverbial saying in the district, and is used to this day--"'I trow
not,' quoth Dinnis." In the next place, the fact was to be proved in the
clearest manner. The offender had to be taken either hand-habend or
back-berand, that is, having the stolen goods in his hand, or bearing
them on his back, or, lastly, confessing that he took them.
The value of the goods stolen had to be worth at least
thirteenpence-halfpenny, or more. Taylor, the water-poet, refers to the
subject as follows:--
"At Halifax the law so sharpe doth deale,
That whoso more than thirteenpence doth steale,
They have a jyn that wondrous quick and well
Sends thieves all headless into heaven or hell."
A further condition of the Halifax gibbet law is scarcely so clear as
the preceding. The accused was, after three market or meeting days,
within the town of Halifax, next after his apprehension and being
condemned, taken to the gibbet. This probably means that after he was
delivered to the bailiff, no time further than was necessary was to
elapse before proceeding to the trial, and that the bailiff was to send
speedy summons to those who were to try him, which might be done in two
or three days. If he were found guilty, the day of his execution
depended upon that of his sentence, for he was to be beheaded on no
other day than Saturday, which was the great meeting. Thus, if condemned
on Monday, he would be kept three market days; but if condemned on
Saturday, as some assert, he would be conducted straightway to the
gibbet. The two last persons who suffered death by this engine were
condemned and executed on the same day.
The final ordinance of the law directs that on being led to the gibbet
the malefactor is to have his head cut off from his body. That the
machine was fully capable of this is evident both from Holinshed's
remarks and from the following anecdote given by Wright, the historian
of Halifax, as an extract from "A Tour through the Whole Island of Great
Britain." A country woman, who was riding by the gibbet at the time of
the execution of a criminal, had hampers at her sides, and the head,
bounding to a considerable distance from the force of the descending
axe, "jumped into one of the hampers, or, as others say, seized her
apron with its teeth, and there stuck for some time."
The parish register at Halifax contains a list of forty-nine persons who
suffered by the gibbet, commencing on the 20th day of March, 1541, the
earliest date of which there is a recorded execution, and terminating on
the 30th day of April, 1650. After which latter execution the bailiff of
the town received an intimation that should another case occur, he would
be called to public account. The number of beheadals in each of the
reigns comprised in the above dates are: five in the last six years of
the reign of Henry VIII.; twenty-five in the reign of Elizabeth; seven
in the reign of James I.; ten in the reign of Charles I.; two during
the Commonwealth.
[Illustration: HALIFAX GIBBET, BY HOYLE.]
In the year 1650, John Hoyle made a drawing of the Halifax gibbet, which
is regarded as a faithful representation of it. On the crown of the hill
will be noticed a sketch of the ancient beacon.
An account of the last occasion upon which the services of the Halifax
gibbet were called into requisition is interesting; it is contained in a
rare book: "Halifax and its Gibbet Law placed in a True Light." It was
written by Dr. Samuel Midgley, during an imprisonment for debt, and was
published in 1708. "About the latter end of April, A.D. 1650, Abraham
Wilkinson, John Wilkinson, and Anthony Mitchel were apprehended within
the Manor of Wakefield and the liberties of Halifax, for divers
felonious practices, and brought or caused to be brought into the
custody of the chief bailiff of Halifax, in order to have their trials
for acquittal or condemnation, according to the custom of the Forest of
Hardwick, at the complaint and prosecution of Samuel Colbeck of Wardley,
within the liberty of Halifax; John Fielden of Stansfield, within the
said liberty; and John Cusforth of Durker, in the parish of Sandall,
within the Manor of Wakefield." The Bailiff, according to the ancient
custom, issued a summons to the "several constables of Halifax, Sowerby,
Warley, and Skircoat," charging them to appear at his house on the 27th
day of April, 1650, each accompanied by four men, "the most ancient,
intelligent, and of the best ability" within his constabulary, to
determine the cases. The constables were merely the law officers, the
jurors being the sixteen "most ancient men," and whose names are given
at length. They were empanelled in a convenient room at the Bailiff's
house, where the accused and their prosecutors were brought "face to
face" before them, as also the stolen goods, to be by them viewed,
examined, and appraised. The court was opened by the following address
from the Bailiff: "Neighbours and friends,--You are summoned hither and
empanelled according to the ancient custom of the Forest of Hardwick,
and by virtue you are required to make diligent search and inquiry into
such complaints as are brought against the felons, concerning the goods
that are set before you, and to make such just, equitable, and faithful
determination betwixt party and party, as you will answer between God
and your own conscience." He then addressed them on the separate charges
against the prisoners. From Samuel Colbeck, of Warley, they were alleged
to have stolen sixteen yards of russet-coloured kersey, which the jury
valued at 1s. per yard. Two of the prisoners were alleged to have stolen
from Durker Green, two colts, which were produced in court, one of which
was appraised at £3, and the other at 48s. Also, Abraham Wilkinson was
charged by John Fielden with stealing six yards of cinnamon-coloured
kersey, and eight yards of white "frized, for blankets." After some
debate concerning certain evidence against the above, and "after some
mature consideration, the jury, as is customary in such cases,"
adjourned to the 30th day of April. Upon this day they met, and after
further full examination gave their verdict in writing, and directed
that the prisoners Abraham Wilkinson and Anthony Mitchel, "by ancient
custom, and liberty of Halifax, whereof the memory of man is not to the
contrary, the said Abraham Wilkinson and Anthony Mitchel are to suffer
death by having their heads severed and cut off from their bodies at the
Halifax gibbet, unto which verdict we subscribe our names." The felons
were executed upon the same day.
The stone scaffold or pedestal upon which the gibbet was erected was
discovered by the Town Trustees in 1840, in attempting to reduce what
was known as Gibbet Hill to the level of the neighbouring ground; and
except some decay of the top and one of the steps, it is in a perfect
state. It is carefully fenced round, and an inscription affixed, which
was done at the cost of Samuel Waterhouse, Mayor, in 1852. The gibbet
axe, formerly in the possession of the Lord of the Manor of Wakefield,
is now preserved at the Rolls Office of that town. It weighs seven
pounds twelve ounces; its length is ten inches and a half; it is seven
inches broad at the top, and nearly nine at the bottom, and at the
centre about seven and a half.
The Scottish Maiden.
[Illustration: THE TOLBOOTH, EDINBURGH.]
Towards the middle of the sixteenth century, the Earl of Morton, Regent
of Scotland, during a visit to England, witnessed an execution by the
Halifax gibbet. He appears to have been impressed in a favourable manner
with the ingenuity of the machine, and gave directions for a model of it
to be made, and on his return home, in the year 1565, he had a similar
gibbet constructed. On account of remaining so long before it was used,
so runs the popular story, it was known as "The Maiden." Dr. Charles
Rogers says that its appellation is from the Celtic _mod-dun_,
originally signifying the place where justice was administered.[26] It
is generally believed that the first victim beheaded at the Maiden was
the Earl of Morton himself, but such was not the case, for he did not
suffer death by it until June 2nd, 1581. He ruled Scotland for ten
years, winning the approbation of Queen Elizabeth, but finally he fell a
victim to the court faction. It has been said that probably it could not
have availed against him but for his own greed and cruelty. In trying
to picture the scene of Morton's execution, says a painstaking author,
it must have been a striking sight when the proud, stern, resolute face,
which had frowned so many better men down, came to speak from the
scaffold, protesting his innocence of the crime for which he had been
condemned, but owning sins enough to justify God for his fate.[27] He
died by the side of the City Cross, in the High Street, Edinburgh, and
for the next twelve months his head garnished a pinnacle on the
neighbouring Tolbooth.
[Illustration: THE SCOTTISH MAIDEN.]
It is agreed by authorities that the first time the Maiden was used was
at the execution of the inferior agents in the assassination of Rizzio,
which occurred at Holyrood Palace, on the 9th of March, 1566.
The list of those who have suffered death at the Maiden extends to at
least one hundred and twenty names, not a few of whom Scotland delights
to honour, including Sir John Gordon, of Haddo; President Spottiswood,
the Marquis and the Earl of Argyle.
[Illustration: EXECUTION OF THE EARL OF ARGYLE.]
The unfortunate Earl of Argyle met his doom with firmness; when laying
his head on the grim instrument of death, he said it was "a sweet
Maiden, whose embrace would waft his soul into heaven." The tragic story
of the Earl of Argyle has been ably told by Mr. David Maxwell, C.E., and
his iniquitous death is one of many dark passages in the life of James
II.[28]
In 1710, the use of the Maiden was discontinued. It now finds a place
and attracts much attention in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries
of Scotland, at Edinburgh.
FOOTNOTES:
[26] Rogers's "Social Life in Scotland," 1884.
[27] Chambers's "Book of Days," Vol. I., page 728.
[28] David Maxwell's "Bygone Scotland," 1894.
Mutilation.
In the earlier laws of England, mutilation or dismembering was by no
means an uncommon punishment, more especially amongst the poor. Men,
says Pike, branded on the forehead, without hands, without feet, without
tongues, lived as an example of the danger which attended the commission
of petty crimes, and as a warning to all men who had the misfortune of
holding no higher position than that of a churl.[29] Wealthy people
might do wrong with impunity. It has been clearly shown that there was
one law for the rich, and another for the poor, in England during the
four centuries which preceded the Norman Conquest.
According to Pike, under the Danes, mutilation was practised with
perhaps greater severity than under the rule of the Saxons. Amongst the
horrors of the Danish conquest were eyes plucked out; the nose, ears,
and the upper lip were cut off; the scalp was torn away, and sometimes
even, there is reason to believe, the whole body was flayed alive.
Under the first two Norman kings mutilation of offenders was largely
employed to preserve game in their forests. They, however, only appear
to have enforced earlier laws. The earliest forest laws of which we have
any knowledge are those which were promulgated about 1016 by Canute, the
Dane, and probably much the same as had existed for a long period
previously. The principal points of their tyrannical laws were, that if
a freedman offered violence to a keeper of the King's deer, he was
liable to lose his freedom and property; if a serf did the same, he lost
his right hand; if the offence was repeated, he paid the penalty with
his life. For killing a deer, either the eyes of the offender were put
out, or he was killed; if anyone ran down a deer so that it panted, he
was to pay at least ten shillings in the money of the day. Such was the
law under the Saxon and the Danish Kings. The laws protected the private
estate owner, and it was not until the Conqueror came that all the
forest land was considered the property of the King.
In the reign of Henry I. coiners of false money were brought to
Winchester and suffered there in one day the loss of their right hands
and of their manhood. Under the Kings of the West Saxon dynasty the
loss of the right hand was a common sentence for makers of base coin.
Several curious instances of mutilation are mentioned in "The Obsolete
Punishments of Shropshire," by S. Meeson Morris. A case occurring in the
reign of King John provides some interesting particulars. "In 1203,"
says Mr. Morris, "at the Salop Assizes, Alice Crithecreche and others
were accused of murdering a woman at Lilleshall. Alice immediately,
after the murder, had fled into Staffordshire with certain chattels of
the murdered woman in her possession, and had been there arrested, and
brought back into Shropshire. Her defence before the _Curia Comitatûs_
of Salop was at least ingenious:--She alleged that on hearing a noise at
night in the murdered woman's house she went and peeped through a chink
in the door; that she saw four men within, who presently coming out,
seized, and threatened to murder her if she made any alarm, but on her
keeping silence, gave her the stolen goods found upon her when arrested.
On being brought before the Justices-in-Eyre at the above Assizes, Alice
Crithecreche no longer adhered to this defence, and she was adjudged to
deserve death, but the penalty was commuted for one hardly less
terrible. It was ordered that both her eyes should be plucked out."
At a meeting of the Suffolk Institute of Archæology, held February 26th,
1889, Mr. George E. Crisp, of Playford Hall, near Ipswich, exhibited
instruments used in the time of Henry VIII. for cutting off the ears, as
a penalty for not attending Church.
In our chapter on the Pillory will be found particulars of cases of
mutilation of the ears. The punishment of mutilation, except to the ears
of the offender, was not common for centuries before the reign of Henry
VIII., but by statute 33 Henry VIII., c. 12, the penalty for striking in
the King's court or house was declared to be the loss of the right
hand.[30]
FOOTNOTES:
[29] Pike's "History of Crime in England," 1873.
[30] Morris's "Obsolete Punishments of Shropshire."
Branding.
This mode of punishment was discontinued in the reign of George III.,
and finally abolished in 1829. Old laws contain many allusions to the
subject. In the reign of Edward VI. was passed the famous Statute of
Vagabonds, authorising the branding with hot iron the letter V on the
breast of a runaway slave. If, on being sold, he afterwards ran away, he
might be branded on the cheek or forehead with the letter S, and thus
the fact made known to those who saw him that he was a slave. Church
brawlers in this reign were liable to be branded on the cheek with the
letter F, meaning a fraymaker.
Gipsies were punished with branding. At Haddington, in 1636, some
gipsies were severely dealt with, the men being condemned to be hanged,
the women drowned, with the exception of those having children, and they
were to be scourged through the burgh and burnt on their cheeks.
James Nayler, the Mad Quaker, who claimed to be the Messiah, as part of
his punishment for blasphemy, was condemned to have his tongue bored
through and his forehead branded with a hot iron with the letter B,
signifying that he was a blasphemer.[31]
Persons found guilty of petty offences and claiming benefit of clergy
were burnt on the hand. Dr. Cox gives particulars of a case occurring at
the Derbyshire Sessions in 1696. A butcher named Palmer, from
Wirksworth, had been found guilty of stealing a sheep. He claimed
benefit of clergy, which the court granted, and he read. The court gave
judgment that he be burnt in his left hand, which was executed. His
troubles did not end with the branding, for we find he had to "remaine
in Gaole till hee finde Sufficient Suretyes for his Good behaviour to
bee approved of and taken by Recoign by Mr. Justice Pole and Mr. Justice
Borrowes, and for his appearance att next Sessions, and then to abide
further Order of this Court."[32]
We reproduce from a carefully written work entitled, "In and Around
Morecambe and Its Bay," issued by Mr. T. A. J. Waddington, York, an
old-time picture of a branding scene. In the Lancaster Criminal Court is
still preserved a branding iron. "This iron," we are told, "is attached
to the back part of the dock; it consists of a long bolt with a wooden
handle at one end, and the letter M at the other. In close proximity are
two iron loops designed for securing firmly the hand of the prisoner
whilst the long piece of iron was heated red hot, so that the letter
denoting 'Malefactor' could be impressed. The brander, after doing his
fiery task, examined the hand, and on a good impression being made on
the brawny part running from the thumb, would turn to the judge and
exclaim--'A fair mark, my Lord!'"
[Illustration: "A FAIR MARK, MY LORD."]
At the Assizes held at Northampton, in 1720, before Mr. Justice Powis,
the following prisoners were adjudged to be branded:--"Silvester Green,
found guilty of sheep-stealing, burnt in the Hand. And James Corby, the
Pig Merchant, had the Honour of the Brand confer'd on him likewise: Jane
Clarke, William and John Green, convicted of several Petty Thefts and
Larcenies, are to travel for 7 years after the proper Officer has kiss'd
their Hand with a Red Hot Iron."
The foregoing list is drawn from the reports in the _Northampton
Mercury_, and in the same paper for August 1st, 1721, it is stated "The
following Persons were try'd at The Assizes held for The Town and County
of Northampton, on Tuesday, the 26th of this Instant. Isabella Chapman
and John Field were convicted of several Thefts and Larcenies. To be
burnt in The Hand and whipt; and afterwards to be transported for 7
years. Fielding's crime was stealing 12 sheep.... Isaac Emmerton, who
was committed on the 21st May last ... was burnt in The Hand."[33]
Branding in some instances appears to have been a mere farce. "When
Charles Moritz, a young German, visited England in 1782, he was much
surprised at this custom, and in his Diary he mentions that a clergyman
had fought a duel with another in Hyde Park, and killed the man; he was
found guilty of manslaughter, and was burnt in the hand, if that could
be called burning which was done with a cold iron."[33] Such cases as
this prepared the way for abolishing the custom, as cold irons for one
class, and hot irons for another, could not be tolerated.
It was customary to command criminals in the courts in the past century
to hold up their hands to prove if previous convictions had been passed
upon them.
FOOTNOTES:
[31] Andrews's "Literary Byways," 1898.
[32] Cox's "Three Centuries of Derbyshire Annals," 1888.
[33] Markham's "Ancient Punishments of Northamptonshire," 1886.
The Pillory.
In the history of our own and other European countries, the pillory may
be traced back to remote times, and its origin is almost lost in the
mists of antiquity. Its story is one of tragedy and comedy, and full of
historic interest and importance. In England, in bygone ages, the
pillory was a familiar object, and perhaps no engine of punishment was
more generally employed. Where there was a market, the pillory might be
seen, for if the local authorities neglected to have it ready for
immediate use, should occasion require it, they ran the risk of
forfeiting the right of holding a market, which was a most serious
matter in the olden time. Lords of Manors, in addition to having the
right of a pillory, usually had a ducking-stool and gallows. Thomas de
Chaworth, in the reign of Edward III., made a claim of a park, and the
right of free warren, at Alfreton, with the privilege of having a
gallows, tumbrel, and pillory.
[Illustration: PILLORY, WHIPPING-POST, AND STOCKS, WALLINGFORD.]
In the middle ages frequently a pillory, whipping-post, and stocks were
combined, and we give a picture of a good example from Wallingford,
Berkshire. It will be observed that they are planned to hold four
delinquents, namely, one in the pillory, one at the whipping-post, and
two in the stocks. They stood near the town hall, in the market-place,
down to about the year 1830, when the pillory and whipping-post were
taken down. The stocks remained for a few years longer to remind the
tippler of his fate, if he overstepped the bounds of temperance and was
caught drunk. In course of time they fell into disuse, and were finally
presented by the Corporation to Mr. J. Kirby Hedges, of Wallingford
Castle, the historian of the ancient town. He informs us that there was
a pillory at Wallingford in 1231, and probably earlier.
[Illustration: OCKAM IN THE PILLORY.]
A good representation of the pillory formerly much used is furnished in
a cut of Robert Ockam, undergoing part of his sentence for perjury, in
the reign of Henry VIII. In the year 1543, Ockam, with two other
criminals mounted on horseback, with papers on their heads, and their
faces towards the tails of the horses, had to ride about Windsor,
Newbury, and Reading, and stand in the pillory of each of the three
towns.
We give a view of an ancient pillory which formerly stood in the
market-place of the village of Paulmy, in Touraine. It is copied from a
picture of the Castle of Paulmy in _Cosmographie Universelle_, 1575. It
will be observed that it is planned for holding a number of offenders at
the same time. This form of pillory was not generally used. It was
usually much simpler in construction, and frequently was not a permanent
structure.
[Illustration: PILLORY FOR A NUMBER OF PERSONS.]
Stow, in his "Survey of London," supplies a description of the Cornhill
pillory, and gives particulars of the crimes for which it was brought
into requisition. After adverting to the making of a strong prison of
timber, called a cage, and fixing upon it a pair of stocks for
night-walkers, he next tells us: "On the top of the cage was placed a
pillory, for the punishment of bakers offending in the assize of bread;
for millers stealing of corn at the mill; for bawds, scolds, and other
offenders." In the year 1468, the seventh of Edward IV., divers persons,
being common jurors, such as at assizes, were forsworn for rewards or
favour of parties, and judged to ride from Newgate to the pillory of
Cornhill, with mitres of paper on their heads, there to stand, and from
thence again to Newgate; and this judgment was given by the Mayor of
London. In the year 1509, the first of Henry VIII., Darby, Smith, and
Simson, ringleaders of false inquests in London, rode about the city
with their faces to horses' tails, and papers on their heads, and were
set on the pillory in Cornhill, and afterwards brought again to Newgate,
where they died for very shame, saith Robert Fabian.
A curious note, relating to this topic, appears in the "Journal of Henry
Machyn, Citizen of London," published by the Camden Society. It is
stated that, on the 1st July, 1552, there were a man and woman on the
pillory in Cheapside; the man sold pots of strawberries, the which were
not half full, but filled with fern. On the 30th May, 1554, two persons
were set on the pillory, a man and woman; but the woman had her ears
nailed to the pillory for speaking lies and uttering false rumours. The
man was punished for seditious and slanderous words.
An instance of great severity is recorded in 1621, when Edward Floyde
was convicted of having used slighting expressions concerning the king's
son-in-law, the Elector Palatine, and his wife. The sentence was given
as follows: (1) Not to bear arms as a gentleman, nor be a competent
witness in any Court of Justice. (2) To ride with his face to a horse's
tail, to stand in the pillory, and have his ears nailed, etc. (3) To be
whipped at the cart's tail. (4) To be fined £5,000. (5) To be
perpetually imprisoned in Newgate. It was questioned whether Floyde,
being a gentleman, should be whipped, and have his ears nailed. It was
agreed by a majority that he should be subject to the former, but not to
the latter. He stood two hours in the pillory, and had his forehead
branded.
Pepys, writing in his diary under date of March 26th, 1664, relates that
he had been informed by Sir W. Batten that "some 'prentices, being put
in the pillory to-day for beating of their masters, or such-like things,
in Cheapside, a company of 'prentices came and rescued them, and pulled
down the pillory; and they being set up again, did the like again." We
may infer, from the foregoing and other facts that have come down to us
respecting the London apprentices, that they were a power in bygone
times, doing very much as they pleased.
We are enabled, by the courtesy of Messrs. W. & R. Chambers, to
reproduce from their "Book of Days" an excellent illustration of Oates
in the pillory (from a contemporary print). "Found guilty," says the
writer in the "Book of Days," "of perjury on two separate indictments,
the inventor of the Popish Plot was condemned, in 1685, to public
exposure on three consecutive days. The first day's punishment, in
Palace Yard, nearly cost the criminal his life; but his partisans
mustered in such force in the city, on the succeeding day, that they
were able to upset the pillory, and nearly succeeded in rescuing their
idol from the hands of the authorities. According to his sentence, Oates
was to stand every year of his life in the pillory, on five different
days: before the gate of Westminster Hall, on the 9th August; at Charing
Cross on the 10th; at the Temple on the 11th; at the Royal Exchange on
the 2nd September; and at Tyburn on the 24th April; but, fortunately for
the infamous creature, the Revolution deprived his determined enemies of
power, and turned the criminal into a pensioner of Government."
It was formerly a common custom to put persons in the pillory during the
time of public market. We may name, as an example, a case occurring at
Canterbury, in 1524. A man was set up in the pillory, which was in the
Market Place, and bearing on his head a paper inscribed, "This is a
false, perjured, and forsworn man." He was confined in the pillory until
the market was over, and then led to Westgate and thrust out of the
town, still wearing the paper. "If he be proud," says an old writer, "he
may go home and shew himself among his neighbours."
The Corporation accounts of Newcastle-on-Tyne contain, among other
curious items, the following:
1561.--Paid to the Gawyng Aydon, for squrgyn a boye about the
town, and for settying a man in the pallerye, two days 16d.
1562.--Paid for a tre to the pillyre 5s.
1574.--Paid to Charles Shawe, for charges in carryinge the man
to Durham that stode in the pillarye, and was
skrougide aboute the town at Mr. Maior's commandment 3s.
1593.--Paide for a Papist which studd in the pillerie for
abusing Our Majestie by slanderous woordes 14d.
1594.--Paid for 4 papers to 4 folke which was sett on the
pillorie 16d.
Paid Ro. Musgrave for takinge paines to sett them upp 8d.
The "papers" above mentioned were for the purpose of proclaiming to the
world at large the nature of the bearer's offence.
At Hull, in the year 1556, the town ordinances were revised and
proclaimed "in the Market Place, in the market-time, according to the
yearly custom." The twenty-third rule runs as follows: "That no person
whomsoever presume to take down and carry away, any brick or stones off
or from the town's walls, upon pain for every default to be set upon the
pillory, and to pay, for a fine, to the town's chamber, forty
shillings." We may infer, from the foregoing, that the town's walls,
both the original stone portion of Edward I., and the later addition of
brick, were in a state of demolition. In 1559, the aldermen of Hull were
directed to take account of "all vagabonds, idle persons, sharpers,
beggars, and such like;" and, doubtless, not a few of the persons
included under these wide definitions would come to the pillory, for the
aldermen were ordered to "punish them severely;" and, as the punishments
of Hull were largely in fines, Mr. Wildridge, author of "Old and New
Hull," suggests that the moneyless classes of persons above-named would
be most economically and severely dealt with by pillorying. About 1813,
a man, for keeping a disreputable house, was placed in the pillory
erected in the Market Place.
At Preston, Lancashire, in 1814, a man about sixty years of age was
pilloried for a similar offence, and it is said that he was the last
person punished in this manner in the town.
The pillory at Driffield was movable, and when in use stood in the
Market Place, near the Cross Keys Hotel. The last occupants, a man and a
woman, were pilloried together about 1810, for fortune-telling. At
Bridlington the pillory stood in the Market Place, opposite the Corn
Exchange. It was taken down about 1835, and lay some time in Well Lane,
but it finally disappeared, and was probably chopped up for firewood.
Before its removal there was affixed to it a bell, which was rung to
regulate the market hours. Mischievous youths, however, often rang it,
so it was taken down in 1810, and kept at a house down a court, known as
Pillory Bell Yard.
[Illustration: MANCHESTER PILLORY.]
Mr. W. E. A. Axon, the well known Lancashire author and antiquary,
kindly furnishes us with particulars of the Manchester pillory. "The
earliest notice of the pillory in Manchester," says Mr. Axon, "is in the
Court Leet Records, April 8th, 1624, when the jury referred the erection
of 'a gibbett' to the discretion of the Steward and the Boroughreeve.
Some delay must have occurred, for on April 8th, 1625, 'the jurye doth
order that the constables of this yeare, att the charges of the
inhabitants, shall cause to bee erected and sett vp a sufficient gibbett
or pilorye for the vse of this towne, in some convenient place about the
Markett Crosse, and to take to them the advice of Mr. Stewart and the
Bororeve. This to be done before the xxiiijth day of August next,
subpena xx^s.' This threat of a penalty was effective, and the careful
scribe notes _factum est_. The convenient place was in the market-place,
close to the stocks. The pillory remained, more or less in use, until
1816, when it was removed. Barritt, the antiquary, made a drawing of it,
which has been engraved. It was jocularly styled the 'tea table,' and
was used as a whipping place also. In the present century, it was not a
permanent fixture, but a movable structure, set up when required. One
pilloried individual, grimly jesting at his own sorrows, told an
inquiring friend that he was celebrating his nuptials with Miss Wood,
and that his neighbour, whom the beadle was whipping, had come to dance
at the wedding. During the Civil War, there was a pillory for the
special benefit of the soldiers, and it was removed from the Corn Market
in 1651."
The Rye pillory is still kept in the Town Hall, and we give a picture of
it from a photograph. The last time it was used was in 1813, when a
publican was put in it for aiding the escape of General Phillippon, a
French prisoner of war, who had been brought to this old Sussex town.
The pillory was erected on the beach, and the face of the culprit
turned to the coast of France. Mr. Holloway, the local historian,
supplied the late Mr. Llewellyn Jewitt with some particulars respecting
this example. "It measures," says Mr. Holloway, "about six feet in
height, by four in width. It consists of two up-posts affixed to a
platform, and has two transverse rails, the upper one of which is
divided horizontally, and has a hinge to admit of the higher portion
being lifted, so as to allow of the introduction of the culprit's head
and hands. Through the platform and the lower rail there are round
perforations, into which, when the instrument was in requisition, an
upright bar, probably of iron, was introduced, so as to allow the
pillory, with its unfortunate tenant, to be turned bodily round at
pleasure."
[Illustration: PILLORY AT RYE.]
The famous Lord Thurlow was eloquent for the preservation of the
pillory, which he called "the restraint against licentiousness, provided
by the wisdom of past ages." This was in a case against the Rev. Horne
Tooke, who, escaped with a fine of £200. Of others, who have spoken for
and against it, may be mentioned Lord Macclesfield, who, in 1719,
condemned it as a punishment for State criminals. In 1791, Pitt claimed
to have dissuaded the Government from its too frequent use, as had
Burke. Lord Ellenborough, in 1812, sentenced a blasphemer to the pillory
for two hours once a month, for eighteen months. Again, in 1814, he
ordered Lord Cochrane, the famous sea-fighter of Brasque Roads fame, to
be pilloried for conspiring with others to spread false news. But his
colleague, Sir Francis Burdett, declared that he would stand by his side
in the pillory regardless of consequences. In the then state of public
opinion, the Government declined to undertake the responsibility, and
this punishment was waived.
It was no uncommon circumstance for the offenders to be killed on the
pillory, by the pelting to which they were subjected by the fury of the
crowd. In 1731, a professional witness, _i.e._, one who, for the reward
offered for the conviction of criminals, would swear falsely against
them, was sentenced to the pillory of Seven Dials, where so bitter were
the populace against him that they pelted him to death. The coroner's
jury returned a verdict of "wilful murder by persons unknown." In 1756,
the drovers of Smithfield pelted two perjured thief-catchers so
violently that one died; in 1763, a man died from a like cause, at
Southwark; in 1780, a coachman died from injuries before his time had
expired.
An amusing anecdote is related, bearing upon a pillory accident. "A man
being condemned to the pillory in or about Elizabeth's time, the
foot-board on which he was placed proved to be rotten, and down it fell,
leaving him hanging by the neck, in danger of his life. On being
liberated, he brought an action against the town for the insufficiency
of its pillory, and recovered damages."[34]
In the year 1816, the pillory ceased to be employed for punishing
persons, except in cases of perjury, and for this crime a man was put in
the pillory in 1830. The pillory, in the year 1837, was abolished by Act
of Parliament.
At the present time in China, the Cang, or Cangue is employed for
punishing petty offenders. From a picture we give from an original
sketch recently made, it will be seen that it consists of a large wooden
collar fitting close round the neck. The size and weight of the board
varies, but it is not to be removed until the completion of the
sentence, which may vary in length from a couple of weeks to three
months. The name of the prisoner and the nature of his crime are written
on the cang in large letters. He is left to public charity for support,
and frequently suffers from the pangs of hunger.
[Illustration: THE CANG, CHINA.]
FOOTNOTES:
[34] Chambers's "Book of Days."
Punishing Authors and Burning Books.
Literary annals contain many records of the punishments of authors. The
Greeks and Romans frequently brought writers into contempt by publicly
burning their books. In England, in years agone, it was a common
practice to place in the pillory authors who presumed to write against
the reigning monarch, or on political and religious subjects which were
not in accord with the opinions of those in power. The public hangman
was often directed to make bonfires of the works of offending authors.
At Athens, the common crier was instructed to burn all the prohibited
works of Pythagoras which could be found. It is well known that Numa
Pompilius did much to build up the glory of Rome. It was he who gave to
his countrymen the ceremonial laws of religion, and it was under his
rule that they enjoyed the blessings of peace. His death was keenly felt
by a grateful people, and he was honoured with a grand and costly
funeral. In his grave were found some of his writings, which were
contrary to his religious teaching; and the fact being made known to
the Senate, an order was made directing the manuscripts to be consumed
by fire. In the days of Augustus, no fewer than twenty thousand volumes
were consigned on one occasion to the flames. The works of Labienus were
amongst those which were burnt. It was a terrible blow to the author and
some of his friends. Cassius Severus, when he heard the sentence
pronounced, exclaimed in a loud voice that they must burn him also, for
he had learnt all the books by heart. It was the death-blow to Labienus;
he repaired to the tomb of his forefathers, refused food, and pined
away. It is asserted that he was buried alive. At Constantinople, Leo I.
caused two hundred thousand books to be consumed by fire.
The Bible did not escape the flames. It is stated by Eusebius that, by
the direction of Diocletian, the Scriptures were burnt. According to
Foxe, the well-known writer on the martyrs, on May, 1531, Bishop
Stokesley "caused all the New Testament of Tindal's translation, and
many other books which he had bought, to be openly burnt in St. Paul's
churchyard." It was there that the Bishop of Rochester in a sermon
denounced Martin Luther and all his works. He spoke of all who kept his
books as accursed. Not a few of the condemned works were publicly burnt
during the delivery of the sermon.
A man named Stubbs, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, lost his hand for
writing a pamphlet of Radical tendencies.
Collingbourne wrote the following couplet respecting Catesby, Ratcliff,
and Lovel giving their advice to Richard III., whose crest, it will be
remembered, was a white boar:
"The cat, the rat, and Lovel the dog,
Rule all England under a hog."
For writing the foregoing couplet, Collingbourne was executed on Tower
Hill. After "having been hanged," it is recorded, "he was cut down
immediately, and his entrails were then extracted and thrown into the
fire; and all this was so speedily performed that," Stow says, "when the
executioner pulled out his heart, he spoke, and said, 'Jesus, Jesus.'"
It is generally understood that Christopher Marlowe translated, as a
college exercise, "Amores of Ovid." It was a work of unusual ability;
but did not, however, meet with the approval of Archbishop Whitgift and
Bishop Bancroft. In consequence, in June, 1599, all copies were ordered
to be burnt. A few escaped the fire, and are now very valuable. Milton's
books were burnt by the common hangman, on August 27th, 1659.
In 1630, Dr. Leighton, a clergyman, and father of the celebrated
archbishop of that name, was tried and found guilty of printing a work
entitled, "Zion's Plea against Prelacy," in which he called bishops men
of blood, ravens, and magpies, and pronounced the institution of
Episcopacy to be satanical; he called the Queen a daughter of Heth, and
even commanded the murder of Buckingham. His sentence was a hard one,
and consisted of a fine of £10,000. He was also degraded from the
ministry, pilloried, branded, and whipped; an ear was cropped off, and
his nostrils slit. After enduring these punishments, he was sent to the
Fleet prison. At the end of the week, he underwent a second course of
cruelty, and was consigned to prison for life. After eleven weary years
passed in prison, Leighton was liberated, the House of Commons having
reversed his sentence. He was told that his mutilation and imprisonment
had been illegal! At that period in our history, a book or pamphlet
could not be printed without a license from the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the Bishop of London, or the authorities of the two
universities. Only authorised printers were permitted to set up printing
presses in the city of London. Any one printing without the necessary
authority subjected himself to the risk of being placed in the pillory
and whipped through the City.
Lilburne and Warton disregarded the foregoing order, and printed and
published libellous and seditious works. They refused to appear before
the court where such offences were tried. The authorities found them
guilty, and fined each man £500, and ordered them to be whipped from
Fleet Prison to the pillory at Westminster. The sentence was carried out
on April the 18th, 1638. Lilburne appears to have been a man of
dauntless courage, and when in the pillory, he gave away copies of his
obnoxious works to the crowd, and addressed them on the tyranny of his
persecutors. He was gagged to stop his speech.
William Prynne lost his ears for writing "Histrio-Mastix: the Player's
Scourge, or Actor's Tragedie" (1633.) His pillory experiences were of
the most painful character.
According to an entry in the annals of Hull, in the year 1645, all the
books of Common Prayer were burned by the Parliamentary soldiers, in
the market-place.
One of the late Mr. C. H. Spurgeon's predecessors, named Benjamin Keach,
a Baptist Minister, of Winslow, in the County of Bucks, issued a work
entitled, "The Child's Instructor; or, a New and Easy Primmer." The book
was regarded as seditious, and the authorities had him tried for writing
and publishing it, at the Aylesbury Assizes, on the 8th October, 1664.
The judge passed on him the following sentence:
"Benjamin Keach, you are here convicted of writing and publishing a
seditious and scandalous Book, for which the Court's judgment is
this, and the Court doth award, That you shall go to gaol for a
fortnight, without bail or mainprise; and the next Saturday to stand
upon the pillory at Ailsbury for the space of two hours, from eleven
o'clock to one, with a Paper upon your head with this inscription,
_For writing, printing and publishing a schismatical book, entitled,
The Child's Instructor, or a new and easy Primmer._ And the next
Thursday so stand in the same manner and for the same time in the
market of Winslow; and there your book shall be openly burnt before
your face by the common hangman, in disgrace to you and your
doctrine. And you shall forfeit to the King's Majesty the sum of £20
and shall remain in gaol until you find sureties for your good
behaviour and appearance at the next assizes, there to renounce your
doctrine, and to make such public submission as shall be enjoined
you."
We are told that Keach was kept a close prisoner until the following
Saturday, and on that day was carried to the pillory at Aylesbury, where
he stood two hours without being permitted to speak to the spectators.
It is recorded that his hands as well as his head were carefully kept in
the pillory the whole time. The next Thursday he stood in the same
manner and length of time at Winslow, the town where he lived, and his
book was burnt before him. "After this," we learn from Howell's "State
Trials," "upon paying his fine, and giving sufficient security for his
good behaviour, he was set at liberty; but was never brought to make
recantation."
[Illustration: BENJAMIN KEACH IN THE PILLORY.]
Defoe wrote much and well. He was by birth and education a Dissenter,
and with much ability asserted the rights of Nonconformists. At a time
when Churchmen were trying to obtain hard measures against the
Dissenters, he directed against the Church party a severe satire, under
the title of "The Shortest Way with the Dissenters." It exasperated the
members of the Government, and a reward of fifty pounds was offered for
his apprehension. The advertisement respecting him is a literary
curiosity, and appeared in _The London Gazette_. It reads as follows:
"Whereas Daniel De Foe, _alias_ De Fooe, is charged with writing a
scandalous and seditious pamphlet, entitled, 'The Shortest Way with
the Dissenters.' He is a middle-sized, spare man, about forty years
old, of a brown complexion, and dark brown coloured hair, but wears
a wig, a hooked nose, a sharp chin, grey eyes, and a large mole near
his mouth; was born in London, and for many years was a hose factor,
in Truman's-yard, in Cornhill, and now is owner of a brick and
pantile works near Tilbury-fort, in Essex. Whoever shall discover
the said Daniel De Foe to any of her Majesty's principal Secretaries
of State, or any of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace, so as he
may be apprehended, shall have a reward of fifty pounds, which Her
Majesty has ordered immediately to be paid upon such discovery."
He managed to keep out of the way of the authorities, but on hearing
that the printer and publisher of the pamphlet were put into prison, he
gave himself up, and they were set at liberty. Defoe was tried at the
Old Bailey, in July, 1704, and pleaded guilty. It is said that he put in
this plea on the promise of pardon secretly given to him. He did not,
however, escape punishment; he was fined two hundred marks, and ordered
to appear three times in the pillory, and remain in prison during the
Queen's pleasure.
During his imprisonment before being placed in the pillory, he wrote the
famous "Hymn to the Pillory," which was speedily put into type and sung
by the crowd at the time Defoe was in the machine. Here are some lines
from it:
Hail hieroglyphic State machine,
Contrived to punish fancy in:
Men that are men in thee can feel no pain,
And all thy insignificants disdain;
Contempt, that false new word for shame,
Is, without crime, an empty name;
A shadow to amuse mankind,
But ne'er to fright the wise or well-fixed mind.
Virtue despises human scorn!
· · ·
Even learned Selden saw
A prospect of thee through the law.
He had thy lofty pinnacles in view,
But so much honour never was thy due.
The first intent of laws
Was to correct the effect, and check the cause,
And all the ends of punishment
Were only future mischiefs to prevent.
But justice is interverted when
Those engines of the law,
Instead of pinching vicious men,
Keep honest ones in awe.
· · ·
Tell them the men that placed him there
Are friends unto the times;
But at a loss to find his guilt,
And can't commit his crimes.
Defoe fared well in the pillory. He was not pelted with rotten eggs, but
with flowers; and beautiful garlands were suspended from the pillory. In
a modest manner, he gave an account of the affair. "The people," he
wrote, "were expected to treat me very ill, but it was not so. On the
contrary, they were with me--wished those who had set me there were
placed in my room, and expressed their affections by loud thanks and
acclamations when I was taken down."
There is not the least truth in Pope's well-known, and we may say
disgraceful line:
Earless, on high stood unabash'd De Foe.
After Defoe had spent about a year in prison, the Queen sent to his wife
money to pay the fine.
A work was issued in 1704, entitled, "The Superiority and Dominion of
the Crown of England over the Crown of Scotland," by William Attwood.
The Scottish Parliament had the publication under consideration, and
pronounced it scurrilous and full of falsehoods, and finally commanded
the public hangman of Edinburgh to burn the book.
Williams, the bookseller, was put in the pillory in the year 1765, for
republishing the _North Briton_ in forty-five volumes. "The coach," says
_The Gentleman's Magazine_, "that carried him from the King's Bench
Prison to the pillory was No. 45. He was received with the acclamations
of a prodigious concourse of people. Opposite to the pillory were
erected two ladders, with cords running from each other, on which were
hung a jack-boot, an axe, and a Scotch bonnet. The latter, after
remaining some time, was burnt, and the top-boot chopped off. During his
standing, also, a purple purse, ornamented with ribbands of an orange
colour, was produced by a gentleman, who began a collection in favour of
the culprit by putting a guinea into it himself, after which, the purse
being carried round, many contributed, to the amount in the whole, as
supposed, of about two hundred guineas." The spectators loudly cheered
Mr. Williams on getting into and out of the pillory. He held a sprig of
laurel in his hand during the time he was confined in the pillory.
Alexander Wilson, the famous ornithologist and poet, in the year 1793,
was tried for publishing some satirical poems concerning certain Paisley
manufacturers. The pieces were regarded as libellous, and he was fined
£12 13s. 6d., and condemned to burn in a public manner his poems at the
Market Cross at Paisley. The poet was unable to pay the fine, and had to
go to prison for a short time. The circumstance was the chief cause of
Wilson leaving Scotland for America.
Finger Pillory.
Finger pillories, or stocks, in past ages, were probably frequently
employed in the old manorial halls of England; but at the present period
only traces of a few are to be found. The most interesting example is
one in the parish church of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, which has
been frequently described and illustrated. An account of it appears in
_Notes and Queries_ of October 25th, 1851. It is described as "fastened
at its right hand extremity into a wall, and consists of two pieces of
oak; the bottom and fixed piece is three feet eight inches long; the
width of the whole is four-and-a-half inches, and when closed, it is
five inches deep: the left hand extremity is supported by a leg of the
same width as the top, and two feet six inches in length; the upper
piece is joined to the lower by a hinge, and in this lower and fixed
horizontal part are a number of holes, varying in size; the largest are
towards the right hand: these holes are sufficiently deep to admit the
finger to the second joint, and a slight hollow is made to admit the
third one, which lies flat; there is, of course, a corresponding hollow
at the top of the moveable part, which, when shut down, encloses the
whole finger." Thomas Wright, F.S.A., in his "Archæological Album,"
gives an illustration of the Ashby-de-la-Zouch example, and we reproduce
a copy. It shows the manner in which the finger was confined, and it
will easily be seen that it could not be withdrawn until the pillory was
opened. If the offender were held long in this posture, the punishment
must have been extremely painful.
[Illustration: FINGER-PILLORY, ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH.]
Amongst the old-time relics at Littlecote Hall, an ancient Wiltshire
mansion, may still be seen a finger-pillory. It is made of oak. We give
an illustration of it from a drawing executed expressly for this work.
At Littlecote Hall it is spoken of as an instrument of domestic
punishment.
Plot, in his "History of Staffordshire," published in 1686, gives an
illustration of one of these old-time finger-pillories. "I cannot
forget," writes Plot, "a piece of art that I found in the Hall of the
Right Honourable William Lord Paget, at Beaudesart, made for the
punishment of disorders that sometimes attend feasting, in Christmas
time, etc., called the finger-stocks, into which the Lord of Misrule
used to put the fingers of all such persons as committed misdemeanours,
or broke such rules as, by consent, were agreed on for the time of
keeping Christmas among the servants and others of promiscuous quality;
these being divided in like manner as the stocks of the legs, and
having holes of different sizes to fit for scantlings of all fingers, as
represented in the table." We reproduce a sketch of Plot's picture.
[Illustration: FINGER-PILLORY, LITTLECOTE HALL.]
In an account of the Customs of the Manor of Ashton-under-Lyne, in the
fifteenth century, it is stated at the manorial festivals, "in order to
preserve as much as possible the degree of decorum that was necessary,
there were frequently introduced a diminutive pair of stone stocks of
about eighteen inches in length, for confining within them the fingers
of the unruly."
[Illustration: FINGER-PILLORY, BEAUDESART.]
In connection with this chapter may be fitly included a picture of a
finger-pillory in the possession of Mr. England Howlett,
Kirton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire. Our illustration is half the size of
the original implement represented, which is from a Welsh village. This
ingenious contrivance was used until the early part of this century. It
was kept on the dame's desk, and when the children went up to say their
lessons they had to place their hands behind them, putting their fingers
into the holes of the pillory, and bringing their hands back to back.
When properly fixed, the hands were quite fast and the shoulders held
well back. This kind of finger-pillory was frequently used as a means of
punishment in schools.
[Illustration: FINGER-PILLORY FROM AN OLD DAME'S SCHOOL.]
The Jougs.
This old-time instrument of punishment was more generally used in North
Britain than in England. It was employed in Holland, and most likely in
other countries. In Scotland, its history may be traced back to the
sixteenth century, and from that period down to about a hundred years
ago, it was a popular means of enforcing ecclesiastical discipline, and
was also brought into requisition for punishing persons guilty of the
lesser civil offences. In Scotland the jougs were usually fastened to a
church door, a tree in a churchyard, the post of a church gate, a market
cross, or a market tron, or weighing-post, and not infrequently to
prison doors.
The jougs are simple in form, consisting of an iron ring or collar, with
a joint or hinge at the back to permit its being opened and closed, and
in the front are loops for the affixing of a padlock to secure it round
the neck of the culprit.
The "Diary of Henry Machyn, Citizen and Merchant-Taylor of London, from
A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1563" (published by the Camden Society in 1848),
contains the following note on the use of the jougs: "The 30th day of
June, 1553," it is stated, "was set a post hard by the Standard in
Cheap, and a young fellow tied to the post with a collar of iron about
his neck, and another to the post with a chain, and two men with two
whips whipping them about the post, for pretended visions and
opprobrious and seditious words." We have modernised the spelling of
Machyn.
Disregarding parental authority in Scotland was frequently the cause of
young folk being punished by the jougs, and in other ways. Harsh rules
of life were by no means confined to North Britain. In Tudor England
manners were severe and formal, parents exacting abject deference from
their offspring. A child did not presume to speak or sit down without
leave in presence of its parents. A little leniency was extended to
girls, for when tired they might kneel on cushions at the far end of the
room; but boys were expected to stand with their heads uncovered. It is
to be feared that true domestic bliss was almost unknown in olden times.
Teachers were equally tyrannical, and it is a matter of history that
Roger Ascham, the tutor of Queen Elizabeth, used to "pinch, nip, and
bob [slap] the princess when she displeased him."
Some very curious facts relating to this subject appear in the old
Kirk-Session records. "David Leyes, who struck his father," was, by a
Kirk-Session of St. Andrews, in 1574, sentenced to appear before the
congregation "bairheddit and beirfuttit, upon the highest degree of the
penitent stuool, with a hammer in the ane hand and ane stane in the
uther hand, as the twa instruments he mannesit his father,--with ane
papir writin in great letteris about his heid with these wordis, 'Behold
the onnaturall Son, punished for putting hand on his father, and
dishonouring of God in him.'" Nor was this deemed sufficient
humiliation, for the offender was afterwards made to stand at the market
cross two hours "in the jaggs, and thereafter cartit through the haill
toun." It was also resolved that "if ever he offended father or mother
heireafter, the member of his body quhairby he offendit sal be cuttit
off from him, be it tung, hand or futt without mercy, as examples to
utheris to abstein fra the lyke." At Glasgow, in the year 1598, the
Presbytery carefully considered the conduct of a youth who had passed
his father "without lifting his bonnet."
A servant in Wigtown, in 1649, was brought before the magistrates for
raising her hand and abusing her mistress, and was ordered to stand a
full hour with the jougs round her neck.
At Rothesay, a woman gave the members of the Kirk-Session a great deal
of trouble through departing from the path of sobriety. Persuasion and
rebuke were tried without avail. At last, in the year 1661, the Session
warned her that "if hereafter she should be found drunk, she would be
put in the jouggs and have her dittay written on her face."[35]
Mr. James S. Thomson read a paper before the Dumfries Antiquarian
Society, supplying some interesting glimpses of bygone times, furnished
by the Kirk-Session Records of Dumfries. Not the least important
information was that relating to punishments of the past. It will not be
without interest to notice a few of the cases. In the year 1637, a man
named Thomas Meik had been found guilty of slandering Agnes Fleming, and
he was sentenced to stand for a certain time in the jougs at the tron,
and subsequently on his bare knees at the market cross to ask her
pardon.
The case of Bessie Black was investigated, and it was proved that for
the third time she had been found guilty of leaving the path of virtue,
and for her transgressions she was directed for six Sabbaths to stand at
the Cross in the jougs. In another case it was proved that two servants
had been found guilty of scolding each other, and sentence was given
that they were "to be put into the jougs presently." A curious sentence
was passed in the year 1644. A man and his wife were ordered to stand at
the Kirk-style with the branks in their mouths.
[Illustration: THE JOUGS, PRIORY CHURCH, BRIDLINGTON.]
Exposure of persons to the contempt of the public was formerly a common
form of punishment in Scotland. Curious information bearing on the
subject may be gleaned from the old newspapers. We gather from the
columns of the _Aberdeen Journal_, for the year 1759, particulars of
three women, named Janet Shinney, Margaret Barrack, and Mary Duncan, who
suffered by being exposed in public. "Upon trial," it is reported, "they
were convicted, by their own confessions, of being in the practice, for
some time past, of stealing and resetting tea and sugar, and several
other kinds of merchant's goods, from a merchant in the town. And the
Magistrates have sentenced them to be carried to the Market Cross of
Aberdeen, on Thursday the 31st [May, 1759], at twelve o'clock at noon,
and to be tied to a stake bareheaded for one hour by the executioner,
with a rope about each of their necks, and a paper on their breasts
denoting their crime; to be removed to prison, and taken down again on
Friday the 1st June at twelve o'clock, and to stand an hour at the
Market Cross in the manner above mentioned; and thereafter to be
transported through the whole streets of the town in a cart bareheaded
(for the greater ignominy), with the executioner and tuck of drum, and
to be banished the burgh and liberties in all time coming." In bygone
ages, it was a common custom to banish persons from towns for immoral
conduct. A woman at Dumfries, for example, was for a fourth lapse from
virtue sentenced "to be carted from the toun."
At a meeting of the Kirk-Session at Lesmahagow, held in June, 1697, the
case of a shepherd who had shorn his sheep on the Parish Fast was
seriously discussed, with a view to severely punishing him for the
offence. A minute as follows was passed: "The Session, considering that
there are several scandals of this nature breaking forth, recommends to
the bailie of the bailerie of Lesmahagow to fix a pair of jougs at the
kirk door, that he may cause punish corporally those who are not able to
pay fines, and that according to law."
A common word in Ayrshire for the jougs was "bregan." In the accounts of
the parish of Mauchline is an entry as under:
1681. For a lock to the bregan and mending it £1 16 0
In Jamieson's "Dictionary" it is spelled "braidyeane." Persons
neglecting to attend church on the Sunday were frequently put into the
jougs. Several cases of this kind might be cited, but perhaps
particulars of one will be sufficient. A man named John Persene was
brought before the Kirk-Session of Galston, in 1651. He admitted he had
not been to church for the space of five weeks. For thus neglecting to
attend to the ordinances, he was "injoyned to apier in the public place
of repentence, and there to be publicly rebuked, with certificatione
that if he be found to be two Sabbaths together absent from the church
he shall be put in the breggan."
In "Prehistoric Annals of Scotland," by Daniel Wilson, LL.D. (London,
1863), there is a drawing of a fine old pair of jougs, "found," says
Wilson, "imbedded in a venerable ash tree, recently blown down, at the
churchyard gate, Applegirth, Dumfriesshire. The tree, which was of great
girth, is believed to have been upwards of three hundred years old, and
the jougs were completely imbedded in its trunk, while the chain and
staple hung down within the decayed and hollow core." The jougs
belonging to the parish of Galashiels are preserved at Abbotsford. At
Merton, Berwickshire, the jougs may be seen at the church. The Fenwick
jougs are still fastened to the church wall, and the old Session Records
of the parish contain references to cases where persons were ordered to
"stand in the jougs from eight till ten, and thence go to the place of
repentence within ye kirk." At the village of Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, the
jougs are attached to the old Tolbooth, at the town of Kinross are
fastened to the market cross, and at Sanquhar they are in front of the
town hall.
[Illustration: JOUGS FROM THE OLD CHURCH OF CLOVA, FORFARSHIRE.]
We give three illustrations of the jougs. One represents a very fine
example, which may be seen in the Priory Church of Bridlington,
Yorkshire. We believe that this is the first picture which has been
published of this interesting old-times relic. It is referred to in the
local guide book, but no information is given as to when last used.
It is stated in the "History of Wakefield Cathedral," by John W. Walker,
F.S.A., that "an old chain, leaded into the wall at the junction of the
north aisle with the tower in the interior of the church, is said to
have been used for the purpose of fastening up persons who disturbed the
service." This may be safely assumed that formerly the jougs were
affixed at the end of the chain.
[Illustration: THE JOUGS AT DUDDINGSTON.]
In the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Edinburgh, may
be seen the jougs of the old parish church of Clova, Forfarshire. About
a mile from Edinburgh is the charming hamlet of Duddingston, and at the
churchyard gate are the jougs, which form a curious link between the
ruder customs of bygone ages and the more refined life of modern times.
FOOTNOTES:
[35] Rogers's "Scotland, Social and Domestic."
The Stocks.
Stocks were used, at an early period, as a means of punishing breakers
of the law. The precise date when they were first employed in this
country is not known, but we may infer from early mediæval illustrations
that the stocks were in general use amongst the Anglo-Saxons, for they
often figure in drawings of their public places. The picture we here
give is from the Harleian MSS., No. 65. The stocks were usually placed
by the side of the public road, at the entrance of a town. It will be
observed that two offenders are fastened to the columns of a public
building by means of a rope or chain. It has been suggested that it is a
court-house.
[Illustration: ANGLO-SAXON PUNISHMENTS.]
The "Cambridge Trinity College Psalter"--an illuminated
manuscript--presents some curious illustrations of the manners of the
earlier half of the twelfth century. We give a reproduction of one of
its quaint pictures. Two men are in the stocks; one, it will be seen, is
held by one leg only, and the other by both, and a couple of persons are
taunting them in their time of trouble.
[Illustration: TAUNTING PERSONS IN THE STOCKS.]
Stocks were not only used as a mode of punishment, but as means of
securing offenders. In bygone times, every vill of common right was
compelled to erect a pair of stocks at its own expense. The constable by
common law might place persons in the stocks to keep them in hold, but
not by way of punishment.
We gather from an Act passed during the reign of Edward III., in the
year 1351, and known as the Second Statute of Labourers, that if
artificers were unruly they were liable to be placed in the stocks. Some
years later, namely, in 1376, the Commons prayed that the stocks might
be established in every village. In 1405, an Act was passed for every
town and village to be provided with a pair of stocks, so that a place
which had not this instrument of punishment and detention was regarded
as a hamlet. No village was considered to be complete, or even worthy of
the name of village, without its stocks, so essential to due order and
government were they deemed to be. A Shropshire historian, speaking of a
hamlet called Hulston, in the township of Middle, in order, apparently,
to prove that in calling the place a hamlet and not a village he was
speaking correctly, remarks in proof of his assertion, that Hulston did
not then, or ever before, possess a constable, a pound, or stocks.[36]
Wynkyn de Worde, who, in company with Richard Pynsent, succeeded to
Caxton's printing business, in the year 1491, issued from his press the
play of "Hick Scorner," and in one of the scenes the stocks are
introduced. The works of Shakespeare include numerous allusions to this
subject. Launce, in "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" (IV. 4), says: "I have
sat in the stocks for puddings he hath stolen." In "All's Well that Ends
Well" (IV. 3), Bertram says: "Come, bring forth this counterfeit module
has deceived me, like a double-meaning prophesier." Whereupon one of
the French lords adds: "Bring him forth; has sat i' stocks all night,
poor gallant knave." Volumnia says of Coriolanus (V. 3):
"There's no man in the world
More bound to's mother; yet here let me prate
Like one i' the stocks."
Again, in the "Comedy of Errors" (III. 1), Luce speaks of "a pair of
stocks in the town," and in "King Lear" (II. 2), Cornwall, referring to
Kent, says:
"Fetch forth the stocks!
You stubborn ancient knave."
It would seem that formerly, in great houses, as in some colleges, there
were movable stocks for the correction of the servants.[37]
In Butler's "Hudibras" are allusions to the stocks. Says the poet:
"An old dull sot, who toll'd the clock
For many years at Bridewell-dock;
· · ·
Engaged the constable to seize
All those that would not break the peace;
Let out the stocks and whipping-post,
And cage, to those that gave him most."
We are enabled, by the kindness of Mr. Austin Dobson, author of "Thomas
Bewick and his Pupils," to reproduce from that work a picture of the
stocks, engraved by Charlton Nesbit for Butler's "Hudibras," 1811.
[Illustration: IN THE STOCKS, BY NESBIT.]
Scottish history contains allusions to the stocks; but in North Britain
they do not appear to have been so generally used as in England. On the
24th August, 1623, a case occupied the attention of the members of the
Kirk-Session of Kinghorn. It was proved that a man named William Allan
had been guilty of abusing his wife on the Sabbath, and for the offence
was condemned to be placed twenty-four hours in the stocks, and
subsequently to stand in the jougs two hours on a market day. It was
further intimated to him that if he again abused his wife, he would be
banished from the town. We give a picture of the stocks formerly in the
Canongate Tolbooth, Edinburgh, and now in the Scottish Antiquarian
Museum.
[Illustration: STOCKS FROM THE CANONGATE TOLBOOTH.]
It was enacted, in the year 1605, that every person convicted of
drunkenness should be fined five shillings or spend six hours in the
stocks, and James I., in the year 1623, confirmed the Act. Stocks were
usually employed for punishing drunkards, but drunkenness was by no
means the only offence for which they were brought into requisition.
Wood-stealers, or, as they were styled, "hedge-tearers," were, about
1584, set in the stocks two days in the open street, with the stolen
wood before them, as a punishment for a second offence.[38] Vagrants
were in former times often put in the stocks, and Canning's "Needy
Knife-Grinder" was taken for one, and punished.
In a valuable work mainly dealing with Devonshire, by A. H. A.
Hamilton, entitled, "Quarter Sessions from Queen Elizabeth to Queen
Anne," there is an important note on this subject. "A favourite
punishment," says Hamilton, "for small offences, such as resisting a
constable, was the stocks. The offender had to come into the church at
morning prayer, and say publicly that he was sorry, and was then set in
the stocks until the end of the evening prayer. The punishment was
generally repeated on the next market day."
Tippling on a Sunday during public divine service was in years agone a
violation of the laws, and frequently was the means of offenders being
placed in the stocks. In Sheffield, from a record dated February 12th,
1790, we find that for drinking in a public-house, during the time of
service in the church, nine men were locked in the stocks. "Two boys,"
we find it is stated in the same work, "were made to do penance in the
church for playing at trip during divine service, by standing in the
midst of the church with their trip sticks erect."
Not far distant from Sheffield is the village of Whiston, and here
remain the old parish stocks near to the church, and bear the date of
1786.
Perhaps the most notable person ever placed in the stocks for drinking
freely, but not wisely, was Cardinal Wolsey. He was, about the year
1500, the incumbent at Lymington, near Yeovil, and at the village feast
had overstepped the bounds of moderation, and his condition being made
known to Sir Amias Poulett, J.P., a strict moralist, he was, by his
instructions, humiliated by being placed in the stocks. It was the
general practice in bygone days, not very far remote, for churchwardens
to visit the various public-houses during the time of church service and
see that no persons were drinking. At Beverley, about 1853, the
representatives of the church, while on their rounds, met in the streets
a well-known local character called Jim Brigham, staggering along the
street. The poor fellow was taken into custody, and next day brought
before the Mayor, and after being severely spoken to about the sin of
Sunday tippling, he was sentenced to the stocks for two hours. An
eye-witness to Jim's punishment says: "While he was in the stocks, one
of the Corporation officials placed in Jim's hat a sheet of paper,
stating the cause of his punishment and its extent. A young man who had
been articled to a lawyer, but who was not practising, stepped forward,
and taking the paper out, tore it into shreds, remarking it was no part
of Jim's sentence to be subjected to that additional disgrace. The act
was applauded by the onlookers. One working-man who sympathised with
him, filled and lit a tobacco pipe, and placed it in Jim's mouth; but it
was instantly removed by one of the constables, who considered it was a
most flagrant act, and one calling for prompt interference on the part
of the guardians of the law." Brigham was the last person punished in
the stocks at Beverley. The stocks, which bear the date 1789, were
movable, and fitted into sockets near the Market Cross. They are still
preserved in a chamber at St. Mary's in that town. The Minster,
Beverley, had also its stocks, which are still preserved in the roof of
that splendid edifice.
The stocks were last used at Market Drayton about sixty years ago. "It
is related," says Mr. Morris, "that some men, for imbibing too freely
and speaking unseemly language to parishioners, as they were going to
church on a Sunday morning, were, on the following day, duly charged
with the offence and fined, the alternative being confinement for four
hours in the stocks. Two of the men refused to pay the fine, and were
consequently put therein. The people flocked around them, and, while
some regaled them with an ample supply of beer, others expressed their
sympathy in a more practical way by giving them money, so that, when
released, their heads and their pockets were considerably heavier than
they had been on the previous Sunday." At Ellesmere, the stocks,
whipping-post, and pillory were a combination of engines of punishment.
The former were frequently in use for the correction of drunkards. A
regular customer, we read, was "honoured by a local poet with some
impromptu verses not unworthy of reproduction:
"'A tailor here! confined in stocks,
A prison made of wood--a--,
Weeping and wailing to get out,
But couldna' for his blood--a--
"'The pillory, it hung o'er his head,
The whipping-post so near--a--
A crowd of people round about
Did at William laugh and jeer--a--'"
"The style was," it is said, "a sarcastic imitation of 'William's'
peculiar manner of speaking when tipsy."
According to Mr. Christopher A. Markham, in his notices of Gretton
stocks, they "still stand on the village green; they were made to
secure three men, and have shackles on the post for whipping; they are
in a good state of repair. Joshua Pollard, of Gretton, was placed in
them, in the year 1857, for six hours, in default of paying five
shillings and costs for drunkenness." In the following year a man was
put in the stocks for a similar offence. It is asserted that a man was
placed in the Aynhoe stocks in 1846 for using bad language.
Card-sharpers and the like often suffered in the stocks. It appears from
the _Shrewsbury Chronicle_ of May 1st, 1829, that the punishment of the
stocks was inflicted "at Shrewsbury on three Birmingham youths for
imposing on 'the flats' of the town with the games of 'thimble and pea'
and 'prick the garter.'"
A very late instance of a man being placed in the stocks for gambling
was recorded in the _Leeds Mercury_, under date of April 14th, 1860. "A
notorious character," it is stated, "named John Gambles, of Stanningley,
having been convicted some months ago for Sunday gambling, and sentenced
to sit in the stocks for six hours, left the locality, returned lately,
and suffered his punishment by sitting in the stocks from two till
eight o'clock on Tuesday last." Several writers on this old form of
punishment regard the foregoing as the latest instance of a person being
confined in the stocks; it is, however, not the case, for one Mark Tuck,
of Newbury, Berkshire, in 1872, was placed in them. The following
particulars are furnished in _Notes and Queries_, 4th series, vol. x.,
p. 6:--"A novel scene was presented in the Butter and Poultry Market, at
Newbury, on Tuesday (June 11th, 1872) afternoon. Mark Tuck, a rag and
bone dealer, who for several years had been well known in the town as a
man of intemperate habits, and upon whom imprisonment in Reading gaol
had failed to produce any beneficial effect, was fixed in the stocks for
drunkenness and disorderly conduct in the Parish Church on Monday
evening. Twenty-six years had elapsed since the stocks were last used,
and their reappearance created no little sensation and amusement,
several hundreds of persons being attracted to the spot where they were
fixed. Tuck was seated upon a stool, and his legs were secured in the
stocks at a few minutes past one o'clock, and as the church clock,
immediately facing him, chimed each quarter, he uttered expressions of
thankfulness, and seemed anything but pleased at the laughter and
derision of the crowd. Four hours having passed, Tuck was released, and
by a little stratagem on the part of the police, he escaped without
being interfered with by the crowd."
Attendance and repairing stocks formed quite important items in old
parish accounts. A few entries drawn from the township account-books of
Skipton, may be reproduced as examples:--
s. d.
April 16th, 1763.--For taking up a man and setting in ye stocks 2 0
March 27th, 1739.--For mending stocks--wood and iron work 9 6
July 12th, 1756.--For pillory and stocks renewing 3 6
March 25th, 1776.--Paid John Lambert for repairing the stocks 5 6
March 25th, 1776.--Paid Christ. Brown for repairing the stocks 4 6
During their later years, the Skipton stocks were used almost solely on
Sundays. A practice prevailed at Skipton similar to the one we have
described at Beverley. "At a certain stage in the morning service at the
church," writes Mr. Dawson, the local historian, "the churchwardens of
the town and country parishes withdrew, and headed by the old beadle
walked through the streets of the town. If a person was found drunk in
the streets, or even drinking in one of the inns, he was promptly
escorted to the stocks, and impounded for the remainder of the morning.
An imposing personage was the beadle. He wore a cocked hat, trimmed, as
was his official coat, with gold, and he carried about with him in
majestic style a trident staff. 'A terror to evildoers' he certainly
was--at any rate, to those of tender years."[39] The churchwardens not
infrequently partook of a slight refreshment during their Sunday morning
rounds, and we remember seeing in the police reports of a Yorkshire town
that some highly respectable representatives of the Church had been
fined for drinking at an inn during their tour of inspection.
[Illustration: _From a Photo by A. Whitford Anderson, Esq., Watford._
STOCKS AND WHIPPING-POST, ALDBURY.]
"At Bramhall, Cheshire," says Mr. Alfred Burton, to whom we are indebted
for several illustrations and many valuable notes in this book, "the
stocks were perfect till 1887, when the leg-stones were unfortunately
taken away, and cannot now be found. Thomas Leah, about 1849, was the
last person put into them. He went to the constable and asked to be
placed in the stocks, a request that was granted, and he remained there
all night. On the 9th August, 1822, two women were incarcerated in the
stocks in the market place at Stockport, for three hours, one for
getting drunk, the other for gross and deliberate scandal."
We give an illustration from a recent photograph by Mr. A. Whitford
Anderson, of Watford, of the stocks and whipping-post at Aldbury,
Hertfordshire. It presents one of the best pictures of these old-time
relics which has come under our notice. We have no desire for the stocks
and lash to be revived, but we hope these obsolete engines of
punishments will long remain linking the past with the present.
[Illustration]
In closing this chapter we must not omit to state that in the olden time
persons refusing to assist in getting in the corn or hay harvest were
liable to be imprisoned in the stocks. At the Northamptonshire Quarter
Sessions held in 1688, the time was fixed at two days and one night.
FOOTNOTES:
[36] Morris's "Obsolete Punishments of Shropshire."
[37] Dyer's "Folk-Lore of Shakespeare."
[38] Roberts's "Social History of the Southern Counties of England,"
1856.
[39] W. H. Dawson's "History of Skipton," 1882.
The Drunkard's Cloak.
Several historians, dealing with the social life of England in bygone
times, have described the wearing of a barrel after the manner of a
cloak as a general mode of punishing drunkards, in force during the
Commonwealth. There appears to be little foundation for the statement,
and, after careful consideration, we have come to the conclusion that
this mode of punishment was, as regards this country, confined to
Newcastle-on-Tyne.
In the year 1655 was printed in London a work entitled, "England's
Grievance Discovered in Relation to the Coal Trade," by Ralph Gardner,
of Chirton, in the county of Northumberland, Gent. The book is dedicated
to "Oliver, Lord Protector." Gardner not only gave a list of grievances,
but suggested measures to reform them. It will be gathered from the
following proposed remedy that he was not any advocate of half measures
in punishing persons guilty of offences. He suggested that a law be
created for death to those who should commit perjury, forgery, or
bribery.
More than one writer has said that Gardner was executed in 1661, at
York, for coining, but there is not any truth in the statement. We have
proof that he was conducting his business after the year in which it is
stated that he suffered death at the hands of the public executioner.
Gardner, in his work, gave depositions of witnesses to support his
charges against "the tyrannical oppression of the magistrates of
Newcastle-on-Tyne." "John Willis, of Ipswich," he writes, "upon his oath
said, that he, and this deponent, was in Newcastle six months ago, and
there he saw one Ann Bridlestone drove through the streets by an officer
of the same corporation, holding a rope in his hand, the other end
fastened to an engine called the branks, which is like a crown, it being
of iron, which was musled over the head and face, with a great gag or
tongue of iron forced into her mouth, which forced the blood out; and
that is the punishment which the magistrates do inflict upon chiding and
scoulding women; and he hath often seen the like done to others."
"He, this deponent, further affirms, that he hath seen men drove up and
down the streets, with a great tub or barrel opened in the sides, with a
hole in one end to put through their heads, and so cover their shoulders
and bodies, down to the small of their legs, and then close the same,
called the new-fashioned cloak, and so make them march to the view of
all beholders; and this is their punishment for drunkards and the like."
[Illustration: BRANK AND DRUNKARD'S CLOAK, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE.]
Several other forms of punishment are mentioned by Gardner. Drunkards,
we gather, for the first offence were fined five shillings, to be given
to the poor, or in default of payment within a week, were set in the
stocks for six hours. For the second offence they had to be bound for
good behaviour. Scolds had to be ducked over head and ears in a
ducking-stool.
"I was certainly informed," wrote Gardner, "by persons of worth, that
the punishments above are but gentle admonitions to what they knew was
acted by two magistrates of Newcastle: one for killing a poor workman of
his own, and being questioned for it, and condemned, compounded with
King James for it, paying to a Scotch lord his weight in gold and
silver, every seven years or thereabouts, etc. The other magistrate
found a poor man cutting a few horse sticks in his wood, for which
offence he bound him to a tree, and whipt him to death."
The Rev. John Brand, in 1789, published his "History of
Newcastle-on-Tyne," and reproduced in it Gardner's notice of the
drunkard's cloak. Brand gives a picture of the cloak, and Mr. J. R.
Boyle, F.S.A., a leading authority on North Country bibliography, tells
us that he believes it to be the first pictorial representation of the
cloak. Our illustration is from Richardson's "Local Historian's Table
Book." Mr. Walter Scott, publisher, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, has kindly
lent us the block.
Dr. T. N. Brushfield, to whom we are under an obligation for several of
the facts included in this chapter, read before the British
Archæological Association, February 15th, 1888, a paper on this theme.
"It is rather remarkable," said Dr. Brushfield, "that no allusion to
this punishment is to be found in the Newcastle Corporation accounts or
other local documents." We have reproduced from Gardner's volume the
only testimony we possess of the administration of the punishment in
England. There are many traces of this kind of cloak on the continent.
It is noticed in "Travels in Holland," by Sir William Brereton, under
date of May 29th, 1634, as seen at Delft. John Evelyn visited Delft, on
August 17th, 1641, and writes that in the Senate House "hangs a weighty
vessel of wood, not unlike a butter-churn, which the adventurous woman
that hath two husbands at one time is to wear on her shoulders, her head
peeping out at the top only, and so led about the town, as a penance for
her incontinence." Samuel Pepys has an entry in his diary respecting
seeing a similar barrel at the Hague, in the year 1660. We have traces
of this mode of punishment in Germany. John Howard, in his work entitled
"The State of Prisons in England and Wales," 1784, thus writes:
"Denmark.--Some (criminals) of the lower sort, as watchmen, coachmen,
etc., are punished by being led through the city in what is called 'The
Spanish Mantle.' This is a kind of heavy vest, something like a tub,
with an aperture for the head, and irons to enclose the neck. I measured
one at Berlin, 1ft. 8in. in diameter at the top, 2ft. 11in. at the
bottom, and 2ft. 11in. high.... This mode of punishment is particularly
dreaded, and is one cause that night robberies are never heard of in
Copenhagen."
We may safely conclude that the drunkard's cloak was introduced into
Newcastle from the Continent. The author of a paper published in 1862,
under the title of "A Look at the Federal Army," after speaking of
crossing the Susquehanna, has some remarks about punishments. "I was,"
says the writer, "extremely amused to see a 'rare' specimen of Yankee
invention, in the shape of an original method of punishment drill. One
wretched delinquent was gratuitously framed in oak, his head being
thrust through a hole cut in one end of a barrel, the other end of which
had been removed; and the poor fellow 'loafed' about in the most
disconsolate manner, looking for all the world like a half-hatched
chicken. Another defaulter had heavy weights fastened to his wrists,
his hands and feet being chained together." In conclusion, we are told
that the punishments were as various as the crimes, but the man in the
pillory-like barrel was deemed the most ludicrous.
[Illustration: PUNISHMENT OF A DRUNKARD.]
The early English settlers in America introduced many English customs
into the country. The pillory, stocks, ducking-stool, etc., were
frequently employed. Drunkards were punished in various ways; sometimes
they had to wear a large "D" in red, which was painted on a board or
card, and suspended by a string round the neck.
At Haddon, Derbyshire, is a curious relic of bygone times, consisting of
an iron handcuff or ring, fastened to some woodwork in the banqueting
hall. If a person refused to drink the liquor assigned to him, or
committed an offence against the convivial customs at the festive
gatherings for which this ancient mansion was so famous, his wrist was
locked in an upright position in the iron ring, and the liquor he had
declined, or a quantity of cold water, was poured down the sleeve of his
doublet.
Whipping and Whipping-Posts.
The Anglo-Saxons whipped prisoners with a whip of three cords, knotted
at the end. It was not an uncommon practice for mistresses to whip, or
have their servants whipped, to death. William of Malmesbury relates a
story to the effect that when King Ethelred was a child, he on one
occasion displeased his mother, and she, not having a whip at hand,
flogged him with some candles until he was nearly insensible with pain.
"On this account," so runs the story, "he dreaded candles during the
rest of his life to such a degree that he would never suffer the light
of them to be introduced in his presence." During the Saxon epoch,
flogging was generally adopted as means of punishing persons guilty of
offences, whether slight or serious.
For a long time in our history, payments for using the lash formed
important items in the municipal accounts of towns or parish accounts of
villages.
Before the monasteries were dissolved, the poor were relieved at them.
No sooner had they passed away than the vagrants became a nuisance, and
steps were taken to put a stop to begging; indeed, prior to this period
attempts had been made to check wandering vagrants. They were referred
to in the "Statute of Labourers," passed in the year 1349. Not a few
enactments were made to keep down vagrancy. In the reign of Edward VI.,
in 1547, an Act was passed, from which it appears "that any person who
had offered them work which they refused, was authorised to brand them
on the breast with a V, hold them in slavery for two years, feed them
during that period on bread and water, and hire them out to others." The
Act failed on account of its severity, and was repealed in 1549.
It was in the reign of Henry VIII., and in the year 1530, that the
famous Whipping Act was instituted, directing that vagrants were to be
carried to some market town or other place, "and there tied to the end
of a cart naked, and beaten with whips throughout such market town, or
other place, till the body shall be bloody by reason of such whipping."
Vagrants, after being whipped, had to take an oath that they would
return to their native places, or where they had last dwelt for three
years. Various temporary modifications were made in this Act, but it
remained in force until the thirty-ninth year of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, when some important alterations were made. Persons were not
to be publicly whipped naked, as previously, but from the middle
upwards, and whipped until the body should be bloody. It was at this
time that the whipping-post was substituted for the cart. Whipping-posts
soon became plentiful. John Taylor, "the water poet," in one of his
works, published in 1630, adverts to them as follows:
"In London, and within a mile, I ween,
There are jails or prisons full eighteen,
And sixty whipping-posts and stocks and cages."
We give an illustration of the Waltham Abbey Whipping-Post and Stocks,
as they appeared when they stood within the old wooden market-house,
which was pulled down in 1853. The post bears on it the date 1598, and
is 5 feet 9 inches high; it is strongly made of oak, with iron clasps
for the hands when employed as a whipping-post, and for the feet when
used as the stocks. It is rather more elaborate than others which have
come under our notice. It will be observed the seat for the culprits
placed in the stocks was beside one of the immense oak pillars of the
market-house. They are now placed with the remains of the Pillory at the
entrance of the schoolroom, on the south-west side of the church.
[Illustration: WALTHAM ABBEY WHIPPING-POST AND STOCKS.]
Some of the authorities regarded with greater favour the punishment at
the whipping-post than at the cart tail. An old writer deals at some
length with the benefit of the former. Says he: "If to put in execution
the laws of the land be of any service to the nation, which few, I
think, will deny, the benefits of the whipping-post must be very
apparent, as being a necessary instrument to such an execution. Indeed,
the service it does to a country is inconceivable. I, myself, know a man
who had proceeded to lay his hand upon a silver spoon with a design to
make it his own, but on looking round, and seeing the whipping-post in
his way, he desisted from the theft. Whether he suspected that the post
would impeach him or not, I will not pretend to determine; some folks
were of opinion that he was afraid of _habeas corpus_. It is likewise an
infallible remedy for all lewd and disorderly behaviour, which the
chairman at sessions generally employs to restrain; nor is it less
beneficial to the honest part of mankind than the dishonest, for
though it lies immediately in the high road to the gallows, it has
stopped many an adventurous young man in his progress thither." The
records of the Worcester Corporation contain many references to old-time
punishments. In the year 1656 was made in the bye-law book a note of the
fact that for some years past a want has been felt "for certain
instruments for applying to the execution of justice upon offenders,
namely, the pillory, whipping-post, and gum-stoole." The Chamberlain was
directed to obtain the same. We gather from the proceedings of the
Doncaster Town Council that on the 5th of May, 1713, an order was made
for the erection of a whipping-post, to be set up at the Stocks,
Butcher-Cross, for punishing vagrants and sturdy beggars.
Notices of whipping sometimes appear in old church books. At
Kingston-on-Thames, under date of September 8th, 1572, it is recorded in
the parish register as follows: "This day in this towne was kept the
sessions of Gayle Delyverye, and ther was hanged vj. persons, and xvj.
taken for roges and vagabonds, and whypped aboyt the market-place, and
brent in the ears."
At the Quarter Sessions in Devonshire, held at Easter, 1598, it was
ordered that the mothers of illegitimate children be whipped. The
reputed fathers had to undergo a like punishment. A very strange order
was made in the same county during the Commonwealth, and it was to the
effect that every woman who had been the mother of an illegitimate
child, and had not been previously punished, be committed for trial. Mr.
Hamilton, in his work on the "Quarter Sessions from Queen Elizabeth to
Queen Anne," has many curious notes on the subject. The Scotch pedlars
and others who wended their way to push their trade in the West of
England, ran a great risk of being whipped. At the Midsummer Sessions,
in the year 1684, information was given to the court showing that
certain Scotch pedlars, or other petty chapmen, were in the habit of
selling their goods to the "greate damage and hindrance of shopp
keepers." The Court passed measures for the protection of the local
tradesmen, and directed the petty constables to apprehend the strangers,
and without further ceremony to strip them naked, and whip them, or
cause them to be openly flogged, and sent away.
The churchwardens' accounts of Barnsley contain references to the
practice of whipping. Charges as follow occur:
1622. William Roggers, for going with six wanderers to Ardsley ijd.
Mr. Garnett, for makinge them a pass iijd.
Richard White, for whippeinge them accordinge to law ijd.
The constable's accounts of the same town, from 1632 to 1636, include
items similar to the following:
To Edward Wood, for whiping of three wanderers sent to their
dwelling-place by Sir George Plint and Mr. Rockley iiijd.
It appears from the Corporation accounts of Congleton, Cheshire, that
persons were whipped at the cart tail. We find it stated:
1637. paid to boy for whippinge John ffoxe 0 2 0
paid for a carte to tye the said ffoxe unto when he
was whipped 0 2 0
The notorious Judge Jeffreys, on one occasion, in sentencing a woman to
be whipped, said: "Hangman, I charge you to pay particular attention to
this lady. Scourge her soundly, man; scourge her till her blood runs
down! It is Christmas, a cold time for madam to strip. See that you warm
her shoulders thoroughly!"
At Worcester, in 1697, a new whipping-post was erected in the Corn
Market, at a cost of 8s. "Men and women," says a local historian, "were
whipped here promiscuously in public till the close of the last century,
if not later. Fourpence was the old charge for whipping male and female
rogues."
The next note on whipping is drawn from the church register of Burnham,
Bucks, and is one of several similar entries: "Benjamin Smat, and his
wife and three children, vagrant beggars; he of middle stature, but one
eye, was this 28th day of September, 1699, with his wife and children,
openly whipped at Boveney, in the parish of Burnham, in the county of
Bucks, according to ye laws. And they are assigned to pass forthwith
from parish to parish by ye officers thereof the next direct way to the
parish of St. [Se]pulchers, Lond., where they say they last inhabited
three years. And they are limited to be at St. [Se]pulch within ten days
next ensuing. Given under our hands and seals, Will. Glover, Vicar of
Burnham, and John Hunt, Constable of Boveney." In some instances we
gather from the entries in the parish registers, after punishing the
vagrants in their own parish, the authorities recommended them to the
tender mercy of other persons in whose hands they might fall.
At Durham, in the year 1690, a married woman named Eleanor Wilson, was
publicly whipped in the market-place, between the hours of eleven and
twelve o'clock, for being drunk on Sunday, April 20th.
Insane persons did not escape the lash. In the constable's accounts of
Great Staughtan, Huntingdonshire, is an item:
1690-1. Pd. in charges taking up a distracted woman,
watching her, and whipping her next day 0 8 6
A still more remarkable charge is the following in the same accounts:
1710-1. Pd. Thomas Hawkins for whipping 2 people yt
had small-pox 0 0 8
In 1764, we gather from the _Public Ledger_ that a woman, who is
described as "an old offender," was conveyed in a cart from Clerkenwell
Bridewell to Enfield, and publicly whipped at the cart's tail by the
common hangman, for cutting down and destroying wood in Enfield Chase.
She had to undergo the punishment three times.
Persons obtaining goods under false pretences were frequently flogged.
In 1769, at Nottingham, a young woman, aged nineteen, was found guilty
of this crime, and was, by order of the Court of Quarter Sessions,
stripped to the waist and publicly whipped on market-day in the
market-place. In the following year, a female found guilty of stealing a
handkerchief from a draper's shop, was tied to the tail of a cart and
whipped from Weekday-Cross to the Malt-Cross. It was at Nottingham, a
few years prior to this time, that a soldier was severely punished for
drinking the Pretender's health. The particulars are briefly told as
follows in _Adams's Weekly Courant_ for Wednesday, July 20th, to
Wednesday, July 27th, 1737: "Friday last, a dragoon, belonging to Lord
Cadogan's Regiment, at Nottingham, received 300 lashes, and was to
receive 300 more at Derby, and to be drum'd out of the Regiment with
halter about his neck, for drinking the Pretender's health."
Whipping at Wakefield appears to have been a common punishment. Payments
like the following frequently occur in the constable's accounts:
1787, May 15, Assistance at Whiping 3 men 0 3 0
July 6, " " 3 " 0 3 0
Aug. 17, " " 2 " 0 2 0
Sept. 7, " " 3 " 0 3 0
A fire occurred at Olney in 1783, and during the confusion a man stole
some ironwork. The crime was detected, and the man was tried and
sentenced to be whipped at the cart's tail. Cowper, the poet, was an
eye-witness to the carrying out of the sentence, and in a letter to the
Rev. John Newton gives an amusing account of it. "The fellow," wrote
Cowper, "seemed to show great fortitude; but it was all an imposition.
The beadle who whipped him had his left hand filled with red ochre,
through which, after every stroke, he drew the lash of the whip, leaving
the appearance of a wound upon the skin, but in reality not hurting him
at all. This being perceived by the constable, who followed the beadle
to see that he did his duty, he (the constable) applied the cane,
without any such management or precaution, to the shoulders of the
beadle. The scene now became interesting and exciting. The beadle could
by no means be induced to strike the thief hard, which provoked the
constable to strike harder; and so the double flogging continued, until
a lass of Silver End, pitying the pityful beadle, thus suffering under
the hands of the pityless constable, joined the procession, and placing
herself immediately behind the constable, seized him by his capillary
club, and pulling him backward by the same, slapped his face with
Amazonian fury. This concentration of events has taken up more of my
paper than I intended, but I could not forbear to inform you how the
beadle thrashed the thief, the constable the beadle, and the lady the
constable, and how the thief was the only person who suffered nothing."
It will be gathered from the foregoing letter that the severity of the
whipping depended greatly on the caprice of the man who administered it.
A statute, in 1791, expressly forbade the whipping of female vagrants.
This was certainly a much needed reform.
Mr. Samuel Carter Hall, born in the year 1800, in his interesting book
entitled "Retrospect of a Long Life" (1883), relates that more than once
he saw the cruel punishment inflicted.
On the 8th of May, 1822, a man was whipped through the streets of
Glasgow by the hangman for taking part in a riot. He was the last person
to undergo public whipping at the cart's tail in Glasgow.
At Coleshill are standing a whipping-post, pillory and stocks, and as
might be expected they attract a good deal of attention from the
visitors to this quiet Midland town. Several writers have stated that
this is the only whipping-post remaining in this country; this is,
however, a mistake, as we have shown in the present chapter. We have not
been able to discover when last used. Our illustration is from a
carefully executed drawing made some years ago.
[Illustration: COLESHILL PILLORY, WHIPPING-POST, AND STOCKS.]
The old town of Kirton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire, in bygone times was a
place of importance, and amongst the names of those who have held its
manor is that of Piers Gaveston, the favourite of Edward II. Near the
modern police station is a post on which are irons, enabling it to be
used as a whipping-post and stocks. No references relating to it can be
found in the local old-time accounts or other documents. Old folk say
that in years agone people were detained at the post by means of the
irons, but no instances are remembered of a whip being employed.
It was formerly the custom in London and other places, at the time of
executions, for parents to whip their children, so as to impress upon
their minds the awful lessons of the gallows. Executions were very often
occurring, for people were hanged for trifling offences. Down to the
year 1808, the crime of stealing from the person above the value of a
shilling was punishable with death. Children must have had a hard time
of it, and been frequently flogged.
[Illustration: WHIPPING-POST, KIRTON-IN-LINDSEY.]
Whipping servants was a common practice in the olden time. Pepys and
other old writers make note of it.
The well-known "Diary of a Lady of Quality" contains some interesting
glimpses of old days and ways. Under date of January 30th, 1760, Lady
Francis Pennoyer, of Bullingham Court, Herefordshire, refers to one of
her maids speaking in the housekeeper's room about a matter that was
not to the credit of the family. My lady felt that there was truth in
what the girl said, but it was not in her place to speak, and her
ladyship resolved to make her know and keep her place. "She hath a
pretty face," says the diarist, "and should not be too ready to speak
ill of those above her in station. I should be very sorry to turn her
adrift upon the world, and she hath but a poor home. Sent for her to my
room, and gave her choice, either to be well whipped, or to leave the
house instantly. She chose wisely, I think, and, with many tears, said I
might do what I liked. I bade her attend my chamber to-morrow at
twelve." Next day her ladyship writes in her diary: "Dearlove, my maid,
came to my room, as I bade her. I bade her fetch the rod from what was
my mother-in-law's rod-closet, and kneel and ask pardon, which she did
with tears. I made her prepare, and I whipped her well. The girl's flesh
is plump and firm, and she is a cleanly person--such a one, not
excepting my own daughters, who are thin, and one of them, Charlotte,
rather sallow, as I have not whipped for a long time. She hath never
been whipped before, she says, since she was a child (what can her
mother and late lady have been about, I wonder?), and she cried out a
great deal." Children and servants appear to have been frequently
flogged at Bullingham Court, both by its lord and lady. In other homes
similar practices prevailed.
[Illustration: "The Tutor's Assistant"
(_By George Cruikshank_)]
Public Penance.
Church discipline in the olden days caused the highest and lowest in the
land to perform penance in public. A notable instance of a king
subjecting himself to this humiliating form of punishment is that of
Henry II. The story of the King's quarrels with Becket, and of his
unfortunate expression which led four knights to enact a tragic deed in
Canterbury Cathedral, is familiar to the reader of history. After the
foul murder of Becket had been committed, the King was in great
distress, and resolved to do penance at the grave of the murdered
Archbishop. Mounted on his horse, he rode to Canterbury, and on coming
in sight of the Cathedral, he dismounted, and walked barefooted to
Becket's shrine. He spent the day in prayer and fasting, and at night
watched the relics of the saint. He next, in presence of the monks,
disrobed himself, and presented his bare shoulders for them to lash.
At Canossa, in the winter of 1077, was performed a most degrading act of
penance by Emperor Henry IV. of Germany. He had been excommunicated by
Pope Gregory VII., and had suffered much on that account. He resolved to
see the Pope, and, if possible, obtain absolution. The Emperor made a
long and toilsome journey in the cold, in company with his loving wife
Bertha, his infant son, and only one knight. The Pope refused to see the
Emperor until he had humbled himself at the gates of the castle. "On a
dreary winter morning," say Baring-Gould and Gilman, in their "History
of Germany," "with the ground deep in snow, the King, the heir of a line
of emperors, was forced to lay aside every mark of royalty, was clad in
the thin white dress of the penitent, and there fasting, he awaited the
pleasure of the Pope in the castle yard. But the gates did not unclose.
A second day he stood, cold, hungry, and mocked by vain hope." On the
close of the third day, we are told that he was received and pardoned by
the Pope.
The romantic story of Eleanor Cobham, first mistress and afterwards wife
of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, is one of considerable interest in
illustrating the strange beliefs of the olden times. The Duchess was
tried in the year 1441, for treason and witchcraft. It transpired that
two of her accomplices had made, by her direction, a waxen image of the
reigning monarch, Henry VI. They had placed it before a slow fire,
believing that the King's life would waste away as the figure did. In
the event of Henry's death, the Duke of Gloucester, as the nearest heir
to the house of Lancaster, would have been crowned king. On the 9th
November, sentence was pronounced upon the Duchess: it was to the effect
that she perform public penance in three open places in London, and end
her days in prison in the Isle of Man. The manner of her doing penance
was as follows: "On Monday, the 13th, she came by water from
Westminster, and landing at Temple Bridge, walked at noon-day through
Fleet Street, bearing a waxen taper of two pounds weight, to St. Paul's,
where she offered it at the high altar. On the Wednesday following, she
landed at the Old Swan, and passed through Bride Street, Gracechurch
Street, and to Leadenhall, and at Cree Church, near Aldgate, made her
second offering. On the ensuing Friday she was put on shore at
Queenhithe, whence she proceeded to St. Michael's Church, Cornhill, and
so completed her penance. In each of these processions her head was
covered only by a kerchief; her feet were bare; scrolls, containing a
narrative of her crime, were affixed to her white dress; and she was
received and attended by the Mayor, Sheriff, and Companies of London."
The historian, biographer, poet, playwright, and story-teller have all
related details of the career of Jane Shore. A sad tale it is, but one
which has always been popular both with gentle and simple. It is not
necessary to relate here at length the story of her life. She was born
in London, was a woman of considerable personal charms, and could do
what few ladies of her time were able to accomplish--namely, read well
and write. When some sixteen or seventeen years of age, she married
William Shore, a goldsmith and banker, of Lombard Street. She lived with
her husband seven years, but about 1470, left him to become one of the
mistresses of Edward IV. Her beauty, wit, and pleasant behaviour
rendered her popular at Court. The King died in 1483, and within two
months she was charged by Richard III. with sorcery and witchcraft, but
the charges could not be sustained. Her property, equal to about £20,000
at the present time, was taken from her by the King. He afterwards
caused her to be brought before the Ecclesiastical Court and tried for
incontinence, and for the crime she had to do penance in the streets of
London. Perhaps we cannot do better than quote Rowe's drama to relate
this part of her story:
Submissive, sad, and lonely was her look;
A burning taper in her hand she bore;
And on her shoulders, carelessly confused,
With loose neglect her lovely tresses hung;
Upon her cheek a faintish flush was spread;
Feeble she seemed, and sorely smit with pain;
While, barefoot as she trod the flinty pavement,
Her footsteps all along were marked with blood.
Yet silent still she passed, and unrepining;
Her streaming eyes bent ever on the earth,
Except when, in some bitter pang of sorrow,
To heaven, she seemed, in fervent zeal to raise,
And beg that mercy man denied her here.
We need not go into details respecting her life from this time, but
briefly state that it is a popular error to suppose that she was starved
in a ditch, and that the circumstance gave rise to the name of a part of
London known as Shoreditch. The black-letter ballad in the Pepys
collection, which makes Jane Shore die of hunger after doing penance,
and a man suffer death on the gallows for giving her bread, is without
foundation. She died about 1533 or 1534, when she was upwards of eighty
years of age. It is asserted that she strewed flowers at the funeral of
Henry VII.
A curious act of penance was performed in Hull, in the year 1534, by the
Vicar of North Cave. He appears to have made a study of the works of the
Reformers who had settled in Antwerp, and sent over their books to
England. In a sermon preached in the Holy Trinity Church, Hull, he
advocated their teaching, and for this he was tried for heresy and
convicted. He recanted, and, as an act of penance, one Sunday walked
round the church barefooted, with only his shirt on, and carrying a
large faggot in his hand to represent the punishment he deserved. On the
next market-day, in a similar manner, he walked round the market-place
of the town.
In the year 1602, a man named Cuthbert Pearson Foster, residing in the
parish of St. Nicholas, Durham, was brought before the Ecclesiastical
Court, charged with "playing at nine-holes upon the Sabbath day in time
of divine service," and was condemned to stand once in the parish church
during service, clad in a white sheet. In the following year, the four
churchwardens--Rowland Swinburn, William Harp, Richard Surtees, and
Cuthbert Dixon, men esteemed in Durham, and holding good
positions--were found guilty and admonished for a serious breach of
duty, "for not searching who was absent from the church on the Sabbath
and festive days, for it is credibly reported that drinking, banqueting,
and playing at cards, and other lawless games, are used in their parish
in alehouses, and they never made search thereof."
Of persons in the humble ranks of life who have performed public penance
in white sheets in churches, for unchastity, there are numerous entries
in parish registers. For immorality, prior to marriage, man and wife
were sometimes obliged to do penance. The Rev. Dr. J. Charles Cox found
particulars of a case of this kind recorded in the Wooley MSS., in the
British Museum, where a married couple, in the reign of James I.,
performed penance in Wirksworth Church.
In parish registers are records like the following, drawn from the Roxby
(Lincolnshire) parish register: "Memorandum.--Michael Kirby and Dixon,
Wid. had 2 Bastard Children, one in 1725, ye other in 1727, for which
they did publick pennance in our P'ish Church." "Michael Kirby and Anne
Dixon, both together did publick penance in our Parish Churche, Feb. ye
25th, 1727, for adultery."
A memorandum in the parish register of North Aston, Oxfordshire, states:
"That Mr. Cooper sent in a form of penance by Mr. Wakefield, of
Deddington, that Catherine King should do penance in ye parish church of
North Aston, ye sixth day of March, 1740, and accordingly she did.
Witness, Will Vaughan, Charles May, John Baillis, Churchwardens." We
learn from the same records that another person, who had become a mother
before she was made a wife, left the parish to avoid doing public
penance.
In the old churchwardens' accounts of Wakefield, are several items
bearing on this subject, and amongst the number are the following:
£ s. d.
1679.--To Jos. Green for black bess penanc sheet 00 05 06
1709.--Allowed the Parish Churchwardens for goeing to Leeds
with ye man and woman to doe penance 0 5 0
1725.--June 13. Paid Jno. Briggs for the Lent of 3 sheets
for 3 persons to do pennance 00 01 6
1731.--Nov. 6. Paid for the loan of two white Sheets 6
1732.--Oct. 8. Pd. for the loan of 7 sheets for penances 1 9
1735.--Nov. 1. Pd. for a sheet that ---- had to do penance
in 1 0
1736.--Sep. 27. Pd. for two sheets ye women did penans in 8
1736.--Oct. 10. Pd. for a sheet for Stringer to do penance
in 4
1737.--June 23. Pd. for a sheet for Eliza Redhead penance 4
1750.--Dec. 26. To Priestly for a sheet & attending a
woman's penance 5 0
"On February 27th, 1815," says Mr. John W. Walker, "William Hepworth, a
shoemaker, did penance in the Parish Church for defaming the character
of an old woman named Elizabeth Blacketer. They both lived in Cock and
Swan Yard, Westgate, and the suit was carried on by one George Robinson,
an attorney, out of spite to the cobbler."
"On Sunday, August 25th, 1850, a penance was performed in the Parish
Church, by sentence of the Ecclesiastical Court, on a person who had
defamed the character of a lady in Wakefield. A recantation was repeated
by the penitent after the Vicar, and then signed by the interested
parties."[40]
The historian of Cleveland, Mr. George Markham Tweddell, furnishes us
with a copy of a document enjoining penance to be performed in 1766, by
James Beadnell, of Stokesley, in the diocese of York, tailor: "The said
James Beadnell shall be present in the Parish Church of Stokesley,
aforesaid, upon Sunday, being the fifth, twelfth, and nineteenth day of
January instant, in the time of Divine service, between the hours of ten
and eleven in the forenoon of the same day, in the presence of the whole
congregation then assembled, being barehead, barefoot, and barelegged,
having a white sheet wrapped about him from the shoulder to the feet,
and a white wand in his hand, where, immediately after the reading of
the Gospel, he shall stand upon some form or seat, before the pulpit or
place where the minister readeth prayers, and say after him as
forthwith: 'Whereas, I, good people, forgetting my duty to Almighty God,
have committed the detestable sin of adultery with Ann Andrewes, and
thereby have provoked the heavy wrath of God against me to the great
danger of my soul and evil example of others. I do earnestly repent, and
am heartily sorry for the same, desiring Almighty God, for the merits of
Jesus Christ, to forgive me both this and all other my offences, and
also ever hereafter so to assist me with His Holy Spirit, that I never
fall into the like offence again; and for that end and purpose, I
desire you all here present to pray for me, saying, "Our Father, which
art in heaven," and so forth.'"
Towards the close of the last century, it was the practice of women
doing penance at Poulton Church, Lancashire, to pass along the aisles
barefooted, clothed in a white sheet, and having in each hand a lighted
candle. The last time the ceremony was performed, we are told, the cries
of the poor girl melted the heart of the people, and the well-disposed
raised a clamour against it, and caused the practice to be discontinued.
The Rev. Thomas Jackson, the popular Wesleyan minister, was born at
Sancton, a village on the Yorkshire Wolds, in 1783. Writing of his
earlier years spent in his native village, he describes two cases of
public penance which he witnessed. "A farmer's son," says Mr. Jackson,
"the father of an illegitimate child, came into church at the time of
divine service, on the Lord's day, covered with a sheet, having a white
wand in his hand; he walked barefoot up the aisle, stood over against
the desk where the prayers were read, and then repeated a confession at
the dictation of the clergyman; after which he walked out of the
church. The other case was that of a young woman,
'Who bore unhusbanded a mother's name.'
She also came into the church barefoot, covered with a sheet, bearing a
white wand, and went through the same ceremony. She had one advantage
which the young man had not. Her long hair so completely covered her
face that not a feature could be seen. In a large town, few persons
would have known who she was, but in a small village every one is known,
and no public delinquent can escape observation, and the censure of busy
tongues. These appear to have been the last cases of the kind that
occurred at Sancton. The sin was perpetuated, but the penalty ceased; my
father observed that the rich offenders evaded the law, and then the
authorities could not for shame continue to inflict its penalty upon the
labouring classes."[41]
In the month of April, 1849, penance was performed at Ditton Church,
Cambridgeshire.
The Church of East Clevedon, Somersetshire, on July 30th, 1882, was the
scene of a man performing penance in public, and the act attracted much
attention in the newspapers of the time.
FOOTNOTES:
[40] Walker's "History of Wakefield Cathedral."
[41] Rev. Thomas Jackson's "Recollections of my own Life and Times,"
1873.
The Repentance Stool.
The records of church-life in Scotland, in bygone times, contain many
allusions to the repentance stool. A very good specimen of this old-time
relic may be seen in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries, at
Edinburgh. It is from the church of Old Greyfriars, of Edinburgh. In the
same museum is a sackcloth, or gown of repentance, formerly used at the
parish church of West Calder.
Persons guilty of adultery were frequently placed on the repentance
stool, and rebuked before the congregation assembled for public worship.
The ordeal was a most trying one. Severe laws have been passed in
Scotland to check adultery. "In the First Book of Discipline," says the
Rev. Charles Rogers, LL.D., "the Reformers demanded that adulterers
should be put to death. Their desire was not fully complied with, but in
1563 Parliament enacted that 'notour adulterers'--meaning those of whose
illicit connection a child had been born--should be executed." Dr.
Rogers and other authorities assert that the penalty was occasionally
inflicted.
[Illustration: REPENTANCE STOOL, FROM OLD GREYFRIARS, EDINBURGH.]
Paul Methven, minister at Jedburgh, in the year 1563, admitted that he
had been guilty of adultery. The General Assembly conferred with the
Lords of the Council respecting his conduct. Three years later, we are
told, that he was "permitted to prostrate himself on the floor of the
Assembly, and with weeping and howling to entreat for pardon." His
sentence was as follows: "That in Edinburgh, as the capital, in Dundee,
as his native town, and in Jedburgh, the scene of his ministrations, he
should stand in sackcloth at the church door, also on the repentance
stool, and for two Sundays in each place."
A man, on his own confession, was tried for adultery at the Presbytery
of Paisley, on November 16th, 1626, and directed to "stand and abyde six
Sabbaths barefooted and barelegged at the kirk-door of Paisley between
the second and third bell-ringing, and thereafter to goe to the place of
public repentance during the said space of six Sabbaths."
At Stow, in 1627, for a similar crime, a man was condemned to "sittin'
eighteen dyetts" upon the stool of repentance. Particulars of many cases
similar to the foregoing may be found in the pages of "Social Life in
Scotland," by the Rev. Charles Rogers, in "Old Church Life in Scotland,"
by the Rev. Andrew Edgar, and in other works.
Notes bearing on this subject sometimes find their way into the
newspapers, and a couple of paragraphs from the _Liverpool Mercury_ may
be quoted. On November 18th, 1876, it was stated that "in a church in
the Black Isle, Ross-shire, on a recent Sunday, a woman who had been
guilty of transgressing the seventh commandment was condemned to the
'cutty-stool,' and sat during the whole service with a black shawl
thrown over her head." A note in the issue for 22nd February, 1884, says
that "one of the ringleaders in the Sabbatarian riots at Strome Ferry,
in June last, was recently publicly rebuked and admonished on the
'cutty-stool,' in the Free Church, Lochcarron, for an offence against
the moral code, which, according to Free Church discipline in the
Highlands, could not be expiated in any other way."
The Ducking-Stool.
Scolding women in the olden times were treated as offenders against the
public peace, and for their transgressions were subjected to several
cruel modes of punishment. The Corporations of towns during the Middle
Ages made their own regulations for punishing persons guilty of crimes
which were not rendered penal by the laws of the land. The punishments
for correcting scolds differed greatly in various parts of the country.
It is clear, from a careful study of the history of mediæval times, that
virtue and amiability amongst the middle and lower classes, generally
speaking, did not prevail. The free use of the tongue gave rise to riots
and feuds to an extent which it is difficult for us to realise at the
present day. A strong feeling against scolding women came down to a late
period. Readers of Boswell's "Life of Johnson" will remember how the
Doctor, in reply to a remark made by a celebrated Quaker lady, Mrs.
Knowles, observed: "Madam, we have different modes of restraining
evil--stocks for men, a ducking-stool for women, and a pound for
beasts."
The cucking-stool in the early history of England must not be confounded
with the ducking-stool. They were two distinct machines. It appears,
from a record in the "Domesday Book," that as far back as the days of
Edward the Confessor, any man or woman detected giving false measure in
the city of Chester was fined four shillings; and for brewing bad ale,
was placed in the _cathedra stercoris_. It was a degrading mode of
chastisement, the culprits being seated in the chair at their own doors
or in some public place. At Leicester, in 1467, the local authorities
directed "scolds to be punished by the mayor on a cuck-stool before
their own doors, and then carried to the four gates of the town."
According to Borlase's "Natural History of Cornwall," in that part of
the country the cucking-stool was used "as a seat of infamy, where
strumpets and scolds, with bare feet and head, were condemned to abide
the derision of those that passed by, for such time as the bailiffs of
the manors, which had the privilege of such jurisdiction, did approve."
Ale-wives in Scotland in bygone times who sold bad ale were placed in
the cucking-stool. In the year 1555, we learn from Thomas Wright that
"it was enacted by the queen-regent of Scotland that itinerant singing
women should be put on the cuck-stoles of every burgh or town; and the
first 'Homily against Contention,' part 3, published in 1562, sets forth
that 'in all well-ordered cities common brawlers and scolders be
punished with a notable kind of paine, as to be _set on_ the
cucking-stole, pillory, or such-like.' By the statute of 3 Henry VIII.,
carders and spinners of wool who were convicted of fraudulent practices
were to be _sett upon_ the pillory or the cukkyng-stole, man or woman,
as the case shall require." We agree with Mr. Wright when he observes
that the preceding passages are worded in such a manner as not to lead
us to suppose that the offenders were ducked. In the course of time the
terms cucking and ducking stools became synonymous, and implied the
machines for the ducking of scolds in water.
In some places the term thewe was used for a cucking-stool. This was the
case at Hedon, and it occurs in pleadings at Chester before the
itinerant justices and Henry VII., when George Grey, Earl of Kent,
claims the right in his manor of Bushton and Ayton of punishing
brawlers by the thewe.[42] Other instances of its use might be cited.
An intelligent Frenchman, named Misson, visited England about 1700, and
has left on record one of the best descriptions of a ducking-stool that
has been written. It occurs in a work entitled "Travels in England."
"The way of punishing scolding women," he writes, "is pleasant enough.
They fasten an arm chair to the end of two beams, twelve or fifteen feet
long, and parallel to each other, so that these two pieces of wood, with
their two ends, embrace the chair, which hangs between them upon a sort
of axle, by which means it plays freely, and always remains in the
natural horizontal position in which the chair should be, that a person
may sit conveniently in it, whether you raise it or let it down. They
set up a post on the bank of a pond or river, and over this post they
lay, almost in equilibrio, the two pieces of wood, at one end of which
the chair hangs just over the water. They place the woman in this chair,
and so plunge her into the water, as often as the sentence directs, in
order to cool her immoderate heat." In some instances the ducking was
carried to such an extent as to cause death. An old chap-book, without
date, is entitled, "Strange and Wonderful Relation of the Old Woman who
was Drowned at Ratcliff Highway a fortnight ago." It appears from this
work that the poor woman was dipped too often, for at the conclusion of
the operation she was found to be dead. We reproduce from this quaint
chap-book a picture of the ducking-stool. It will be observed that it is
not a stationary machine, but one which can be wheeled to and from the
water. Similar ducking-stools were usually kept in some convenient
building, and ready to be brought out for immediate use, but in many
places the ducking-stools were permanent fixtures.
[Illustration: DUCKING-STOOL FROM A CHAP-BOOK.]
Old municipal accounts and records contain many references to this
subject. Cole, a Cambridge antiquary, collected numerous curious items
connected with this theme. In some extracts made from the proceedings of
the Vice-Chancellor's Court, in the reign of Elizabeth, it is stated:
"Jane Johnson, adjudged to the ducking-stool for scolding, and commuted
her penance." The next person does not appear to have been so fortunate
as Jane Johnson, who avoided punishment by paying a fine of about five
shillings. It is recorded: "Katherine Saunders, accused by the
churchwardens of Saint Andrews for a common scold and slanderer of her
neighbours, was adjudged to the ducking-stool."
We find in one of Cole's manuscript volumes, preserved in the British
Museum, a graphic sketch of this ancient mode of punishment. He says:
"In my time, when I was a boy, I lived with my grandmother in the great
corner house at the foot, 'neath the Magdalen College, Cambridge, and
rebuilt since by my uncle, Joseph Cook. I remember to have seen a woman
ducked for scolding. The chair was hung by a pulley fastened to a beam
about the middle of the bridge, in which [he means the chair, of course,
not the bridge] the woman was confined, and let down three times, and
then taken out. The bridge was then of timber, before the present stone
bridge of one arch was built. The ducking-stool was constantly hanging
in its place, and on the back of it were engraved devils laying hold of
scolds, etc. Some time afterwards a new chair was erected in the place
of the old one, having the same devices carved upon it, and well painted
and ornamented. When the new bridge of stone was erected, in 1754, this
chair was taken away, and I lately saw the carved and gilt back of it
nailed up by the shop of one Mr. Jackson, a whitesmith, in the Butcher's
Row, behind the Town Hall, who offered it to me, but I did not know what
to do with it. In October, 1776, I saw in the old Town Hall a third
ducking-stool, of plain oak, with an iron bar in front of it, to confine
the person in the seat, but I made no inquiries about it. I mention
these things as the practice of ducking scolds in the river seems now to
be totally laid aside." Mr. Cole died in 1782, so did not long survive
the writing of the foregoing curious notes.
The Sandwich ducking-stool was embellished with men and women scolding.
On the cross-bar were carved the following words:
"Of members ye tonge is worst or best,--an
Yll tonge oft doeth breede unrest."
Boys, in his "Collections for the History of Sandwich," published in
1792, remarks that the ducking-stool was preserved in the second storey
of the Town Hall, along with the arms, offensive and defensive, of the
Trained Bands. Boys's book includes some important information on
old-time punishments. In the year 1534, it is recorded that two women
were banished from Sandwich for immorality. To deter them from coming
back to the town, it was decided that "if they return, one of them is to
suffer the pain of sitting over the coqueen-stool, and the other is to
be set three days in the stocks, with an allowance of only bread and
water, and afterwards to be placed in the coqueen-stool and dipped to
the chin." A woman, in the year 1568, was "carted and banished." At
Sandwich, Ipswich, and some other places, as a punishment for scolding
and other offences it was not an uncommon thing to compel the
transgressors to carry a wooden mortar round the town.
[Illustration: SANDWICH DUCKING-STOOL.]
Respecting the cost of erecting a ducking-stool, we find a curious and
detailed account in the parish books of Southam, Warwickshire, for the
year 1718. In the first place, a man was sent from Southam to Daventry
to make a drawing of the ducking-stool of that town, at a cost of three
shillings and twopence. The sum of one pound one shilling and eightpence
is charged for labour and material in making and fixing the engine of
punishment. An entry of ten shillings is made for painting it, which
appears a rather heavy amount when we observe that the carpenter only
charged a little over a pound for labour and timber. Perhaps, like the
good folk of Sandwich, the authorities of Southam had their chair
ornamented with artistic portraits and enriched with poetic quotations.
The blacksmith had to furnish ironwork, etc., at a cost of four
shillings and sixpence. For carrying the stool to its proper place
half-a-crown was paid. Lastly, nine shillings and sixpence had to be
expended to make the pond deeper, so that the ducking-stool might work
in a satisfactory manner. The total amount reached £2 11s. 4d. At
Coventry, in the same county, we find traces of two ducking-stools, and
respecting them Mr. W. G. Fretton, F.S.A., supplies us with some curious
details. The following notes are drawn from the Leet Book, under date of
October 11th, 1597: "Whereas there are divers and sundrie disordered
persons (women) within this citie that be scolds, brawlers, disturbers,
and disquieters of theire neighbors, to the great offence of Almightie
God and the breach of Her Majestie's peace: for the reformation of such
abuses, it is ordered and enacted at this leet, that if any disordered
and disquiet persons of this citie do from henceforth scold or brawle
with their neighbo'rs or others, upon complaint thereof to the Alderman
of the ward made, or to the Maior for the time being, they shall be
committed to the cooke-stoole lately appointed for the punishment of
such offenders, and thereupon be punished for their deserts, except they
or everie of them, do presentlie paie iijs iijd for their redemption
from that punishment to the use of the poore of this citie." The old
accounts of the City of Coventry contain numerous items bearing on the
ducking-stool.
In a volume of "Miscellaneous Poems," by Benjamin West, of Weedon Beck,
Northamptonshire, published in 1780, we find some lines entitled, "The
Ducking-Stool," which run:
"There stands, my friend, in yonder pool,
An engine called the ducking-stool,
By legal pow'r commanded down,
The joy and terror of the town,
If jarring females kindle strife,
Give language foul or lug the coif;
If noisy dames should once begin
To drive the house with horrid din,
Away, you cry, you'll grace the stool,
We'll teach you how your tongue to rule.
The fair offender fills the seat,
In sullen pomp, profoundly great.
Down in the deep the stool descends,
But here, at first, we miss our ends;
She mounts again, and rages more
Than ever vixen did before.
So, throwing water on the fire
Will make it but burn up the higher;
If so, my friend, pray let her take
A second turn into the lake,
And, rather than your patience lose,
Thrice and again repeat the dose.
No brawling wives, no furious wenches,
No fire so hot, but water quenches.
In Prior's skilful lines we see
For these another recipe:
A certain lady, we are told
(A lady, too, and yet a scold),
Was very much reliev'd, you'll say
By water, yet a different way;
A mouthful of the same she'd take,
Sure not to scold, if not to speak."
A footnote to the poem states: "To the honour of the fair sex in the
neighbourhood of R----y, this machine has been taken down (as useless)
several years." Most probably, says Mr. Jewitt, the foregoing refers to
Rugby. In the old accounts of that town several items occur, as for
example:
1721. June 5. Paid for a lock for ye ducking-stool, and
spent in towne business 1s. 2d.
1739. Sept. 25. Ducking-stool repaired. And Dec. 21,
1741. A chain for ducking-stool 2s. 4d.
Mr. Petty, F.S.A., in a note to Mr. Jewitt, which is inserted in _The
Reliquary_ for January, 1861, states that the Rugby ducking-stool "was
placed on the west side of the horsepool, near the footpath leading from
the Clifton Road towards the new churchyard. Part of the posts to which
it was affixed were visible until very lately, and the National School
is now erected on its site. The last person who underwent the punishment
was a man for beating his wife about forty years since; but although the
ducking-stool has been long removed, the ceremony of immersion in the
horse-pond was recently inflicted on an inhabitant for brutality
towards his wife." The Rugby ducking-stool was of the trebuchet form,
somewhat similar to one which was in use at Broadwater, near Worthing,
and which has been frequently engraved. We reproduce an illustration of
the latter from the _Wiltshire Archæological Magazine_, which represents
it as it appeared in the year 1776. It was in existence at a much later
period. Its construction was very simple, consisting of a short post let
into the ground at the edge of a pond, bearing on the top a transverse
beam, one end of which carried the stool, while the other end was
secured by a rude chair. We are told, in an old description of this
ducking-stool, that the beam could be moved horizontally, so as to bring
the seat to the edge of the pond, and that when the beam was moved back,
so as to place the seat and the person in it over the pond, the beam
was worked up and down like a see-saw, and so the person in the seat was
ducked. When the machine was not in use, the end of the beam which came
on land was secured to a stump in the ground by a padlock, to prevent
the village children from ducking each other.
[Illustration: DUCKING-STOOL, BROADWATER, NEAR WORTHING.]
Mr. T. Tindall Wildridge, author of several important local historical
works, says that the great profligacy of Hull frequently gave rise in
olden times to very stringent exercise of the magisterial authority. Not
infrequently this was at the direct instigation and sometimes command of
the Archbishop of York. Occasionally the cognisance of offences was
retrospective. Thus, in November, 1620, it was resolved by the Bench of
Magistrates, then composed of the Aldermen of the town, that such as had
been "faltie for bastardes" should be carted about the town and
afterwards "ducked in the water for their faults, for which they have
hitherto escaped punishment." At a little later period, in England, in
the days of the Commonwealth, it was enacted on May 14th, 1650, that
adultery should be punished with death, but there is not any record of
the law taking effect. The Act was repealed at the Restoration. About a
century before this period, namely, in 1563, in the Scottish Parliament,
this crime was made a capital offence. In New England, in the year 1662,
several men and women suffered for this crime.
Resuming our notes on the Hull ducking-stool, we find, according to
Hadley, the historian, that in the year 1731 Mr. Beilby, who held the
office of town's husband, was ordered to take care that a ducking-stool
should be provided at the South-end for the benefit of scolds and
unquiet women. Six years later, John Hilbert published a view of the
town of Hull, in which there is a representation of the ducking-stool.
Mr. Wildridge has found traces of another local ducking-stool. He states
that in some accounts belonging to the eighteenth century there is a
charge for tarring a ducking-stool situated on the Haven-side, on the
east side of the town.
At the neighbouring town of Beverley are traces of this old mode of
punishment, and in the town records are several notes bearing on the
subject. Brewers of bad beer and bakers of bad bread, as well as
scolding women, were placed in the ducking-stool.
The Leeds ducking-stool was at Quarry Hill, near the Spa. At the Court
of Quarter Sessions, held in the town in July, 1694, it was "ordered
that Anne, the wife of Phillip Saul, a person of lewd behaviour, be
ducked for daily making strife and discord amongst her neighbours." A
similar order was made against Jane Milner and Elizabeth Wooler.
We find in the Session records of Wakefield, for 1602, the following:
"Punishm^t of Hall and Robinson, scolds: fforasmuch as Katherine
Hall and M'garet Robinson, of Wakefield, are great disturbers and
disquieters of their neighbours w'thin the toune of Wakefield, by
reason of their daily scolding and chydering, the one w'th the
other, for reformacon whereof ytt it is ordered that if they doe
hereafter continue their former course of life in scolding and
brawling, that then John Mawde, the high constable there, shall
cause them to be soundlye ducked or cucked on the cuckstool at
Wakefield for said misdemeanour."
In the records of Wakefield Sessions, under date of October 5th, 1671,
the following appears:
"Forasmuch as Jane, the wife of William Farrett of Selby, shoemaker,
stands indicted at this sessions for a common scold, to the great
annoyance and disturbance of her neighbours, and breach of His
Majesty's peace. It is therefore ordered that the said Jane Farrett,
for the said offence be openly ducked, and ducked three times over
the head and ears by the constables of Selby aforesaid, for which
this shall be their warrant."
At Bradford, the ducking-stool was formerly at the Beck, near to the
Parish Church, and on the formation of the canal it was removed, but
only a short distance from its original position. Still lingering in the
West Riding of Yorkshire, we find in the parish accounts of East
Ardsley, a village near to Wakefield, the following item:
1683-4. Paid John Crookes for repairing stool 1s. 8d.
Norrisson Scatcherd, in his "History of Morley," and William Smith, in
his "Morley Ancient and Modern," give interesting details of the
ducking-stool at Morley.
Not far distant from Morley is Calverley, and in the Constable's
accounts of the village it is stated:
1728. Paid Jeremy Booth for powl for ducking-stool 2s.
Mr. Joseph Wilkinson, the historian of Worsborough, near Barnsley,
mentions two ducking-ponds in the township--one in the village of
Worsborough, another near to the Birdwell toll-bar; and, judging from
the frequency with which ducking-stools were repaired by the township,
it would seem they were often brought into requisition. The following
extracts are drawn from the parish accounts:
1703. For mending ye cuck-stool £0 0 6
1721. Ducking-stool mending 0 1 8
1725. For mending and hanging ye cuck-stool 0 1 0
1730. Pd. Thos. Moorhouse for mending ye stocks and
cuck-stool 0 1 0
" Pd. Jno. South for 2 staples for ye cucking-stool 0 0 4
1731. Thos. Moorhouse for mending ye ducking-stool 0 1 0
1734-5. To ye ducking-stool mending 0 0 6
1736. For mending ye ducking-stool 0 10 0
1737. John Ellot, for ye ducking-stool and sheep-fold door 0 14 6
Mr. W. H. Dawson, the historian of Skipton, has devoted considerable
attention to the old-time punishments of the town, and the first
reference he was able to discover amongst the old accounts of the
township is the following:
1734. October 2nd. To Wm. Bell, for ducking-stool making
and wood 8s. 6d.
"This must," says Mr. Dawson, "surely mean that the chair was changed,
for the amount is too small for the entire apparatus. In this case a
ducking-stool must have existed before 1734, which is very likely." In
the same Skipton township account-book is an entry as follows:
1743. October. Ben Smith for ducking-stool 4s. 6d.
Twenty-five years later we find a payment as follows:
1768. October 17th. Paid John Brown for new
ducking-stool £1 0s. 11-1/2d.
Mr. Dawson has not been able to discover the exact date when the
ducking-stool fell into disuse, but has good reason for believing that
it was about 1770. We gather from a note sent to us by Mr. Dawson that:
"A ducking-pond existed at Kirkby, although it had not been used within
the memory of any living person. Scolds of both sexes were punished by
being ducked; indeed, in the last observance of the custom, a tailor and
his wife were ducked together, in view of a large gathering of people.
The husband had applied for his wife to undergo the punishment on
account of her quarrelsome nature, but the magistrate decided that one
was not better than the other, and he ordered a joint punishment! Back
to back, therefore, husband and wife were chaired and dipped into the
cold water of the pond! Whether it was in remembrance of this old
observance or not cannot be definitely said, but it is nevertheless a
fact that in East Lancashire, in 1880, a man who had committed some
violation of morals was forcibly taken by a mob, and dragged several
times through a pond until he had expressed penitence for his act."
We have found several allusions to the Derby ducking-stool. Wooley,
writing in 1772, states that "over against the steeple [All Saint's] is
St. Mary's Gate, which leads down to the brook near the west side of St.
Werburgh's Church, over which there is a bridge to Mr. Osborne's mill,
over the pool of which stands the ducking-stool. A joiner named Thomas
Timmins repaired it in 1729, and charged as follows:
"To ye Cuckstool, the stoop 0 01 0
2 Foot and 1/2 of Ioyce for a Rayle 0 00 5
Ja. Ford, junr., 1/2 day at Cuckstool 0 00 7"
The Chesterfield ducking-stool was pulled down towards the close of the
last century. It is stated that in the latter part of its existence it
was chiefly used for punishing refractory paupers.
The Scarborough ducking-stool was formerly placed on the old pier, and
was last used about the year 1795, when a Mrs. Gamble was ducked. The
chair is preserved in the Museum of the Scarborough Philosophical
Society. We are indebted to Dr. T. N. Brushfield for an excellent
drawing of it.
[Illustration: SCARBOROUGH DUCKING-STOOL.]
An object which attracts much attention from visitors to the interesting
museum at Ipswich is the ducking-stool of the town. We give a carefully
executed drawing of it. It is described as a strong-backed arm-chair,
with a wrought-iron rod, about an inch in diameter, fastened to each arm
in front, meeting in a segment of a circle above; there is also another
iron rod affixed to the back, which curves over the head of the person
seated in the chair, and is connected with the other at the top, to the
centre of which is fastened an iron ring for the purpose of slinging the
machine into the river. It is plain and substantial, and has more the
appearance of solidity than antiquity in its construction. We are told
by the local historian that in the Chamberlain's books are various
entries for money paid to porters for taking down the ducking-stool and
assisting in the operation of cooling, by its means, the inflammable
passions of some of the female inhabitants of Ipswich.
We give a spirited sketch of the Ipswich ducking-stool, from the pencil
of Campion, a local artist. It is worthy of the pencil of Hogarth,
Gilray, or Cruikshank; indeed, it is often said to be the production of
the last-named artist, but though after his style it is not his work.
[Illustration: IPSWICH DUCKING-STOOL.]
There are traces in the Court-Book of St. George's Gild of the use of
the ducking-stool at Norwich. Amongst other entries is one to the effect
that in 1597 a scold was ducked three times.
The ducking-stool at Nottingham, in addition to being employed for
correcting scolds, was used for the exposure of females of bad repute.
"It consisted," says Mr. J. Potter Briscoe, F.R.H.S., "of a hollow box,
which was sufficiently large to admit of two persons being exposed at
the same time. Through holes in the side the heads of the culprits were
placed. In fact, the Nottingham cuck-stool was similar to a pillory. The
last time this ancient instrument of punishment was brought into
requisition was in 1731, when the Mayor (Thomas Trigge) caused a female
to be placed in it for immorality, and left her to the mercy of the mob,
who ducked her so severely that her death ensued shortly afterwards. The
Mayor, in consequence, was prosecuted, and the Nottingham cuck-stool was
ordered to be destroyed." In the Nottinghamshire records are traces of
the ducking-stool at Southwell and Retford. The example of the latter
town is traced back to an unusually early period.
[Illustration: IPSWICH DUCKING-STOOL.]
The old ducking-stool of King's Lynn, Norfolk, may now be seen in the
Museum of that town. The annals of the borough contain numerous
allusions to the punishment of women. In the year 1587, it is stated
that for immoral conduct, John Wanker's wife and widow Parker were both
carted. It is recorded that, in 1754, "one Elizabeth Neivel stood in the
pillory, and that one Hannah Clark was ducked for scolding." There is
mention of a woman named Howard standing in the pillory in 1782, but no
particulars are given of her crime.
[Illustration: DUCKING-STOOL, KING'S LYNN.]
In a note written for us in 1881, by Mr. R. N. Worth, the historian of
Plymouth, we are told that in Devon and Cornwall the ducking-stool was
the usual means employed for inflicting punishment on scolding women. At
Plymouth, the ducking-stool was erected at the Barbican, a site full of
historic interest. From here Sir Walter Raleigh was conducted to his
long imprisonment, followed by death on the scaffold. It was here that
the Pilgrim Fathers bade adieu to the shores of their native land to
establish a New England across the Atlantic. As might be expected, the
old municipal accounts of Plymouth contain many curious and interesting
items bearing on the punishment of women. Mr. W. H. K. Wright, editor of
the _Western Antiquary_, tells us that as recently as the year 1808 the
last person was ducked. At Plymouth, at the present time, are preserved
two ducking-chairs, one in the Athenæum and the other in the office of
the Borough Surveyor. Mr. Wright has kindly supplied illustrations of
both. It will be observed that the chairs are made of iron.
[Illustration: PLYMOUTH DUCKING-STOOL.]
The last time the Bristol ducking-stool was used was, it is said, in the
year 1718. The Mayor gave instructions for the ducking of scolds, and
the immersions took place at the weir.
[Illustration: PLYMOUTH DUCKING-STOOL.]
We have numerous accounts of this engine of punishment in Lancashire. In
the "Manchester Historical Recorder" we find it stated, in the year
1775: "Manchester ducking-stool in use. It was an open-bottomed chair of
wood, placed upon a long pole balanced on a pivot, and suspended over
the collection of water called the Pool House and Pool Fold. It was
afterwards suspended over the Daubholes (Infirmary pond) and was used
for the purpose of punishing scolds and prostitutes." We find, on
examination of an old print, that it was similar to the example at
Broadwater, of which we give a sketch. According to Mr. Richard Brooke's
"Liverpool from 1775 to 1800," the ducking-stool was in use in 1779, by
the authority of the magistrates. We have details of the ducking-stool
at Preston, Kirkham, Burnley and other Lancashire towns.
At Wootton Bassett there was a tumbrel, which, until within the last
few years, was perfect. The chair is still preserved by the corporation
of that town. We give a drawing of it from the _Wiltshire Archæological
and Natural History Magazine_. It will be seen from the picture that the
machine, when complete, consisted of a chair, a pair of wheels, two long
poles forming shafts, and a rope attached to each shaft, at about a foot
from the end. The person to be ducked was tied in the chair, and the
machine pushed into a pond called the Weirpond, and the shafts being let
go, the scold was lifted backwards into the water, the shafts flying up,
and being recovered again by means of the ropes attached to them. The
chair is of oak, and bears the date of 1686 on the back. In some places,
millers, if detected stealing corn, were placed in the tumbrel.
[Illustration: TUMBREL AT WOOTTON BASSETT.]
The wheels of a tumbrel are preserved in the old church of St. Mary's,
Warwick, and the chair, it is said, is still in the possession of an
inhabitant of the town.
At Kingston-upon-Thames ducking was not infrequent. The Chamberlain's
accounts include many items relating to the subject. We are disposed to
believe, from the mention of three wheels, in a payment made in 1572,
that here the engine of punishment was a tumbrel. The following amounts
were paid in 1572:
The making of the cucking-stool 8s. 0d.
Iron work for the same 3s. 0d.
Timber for the same 7s. 6d.
Three brasses for the same, and three wheels 4s. 10d.
------------
£1 3s. 4d.
In the _London Evening Post_, April 27th to 30th, 1745, it is stated:
"Last week a woman who keeps the Queen's Head alehouse, at Kingston, in
Surrey, was ordered by the court to be ducked for scolding, and was
accordingly placed in the chair and ducked in the river Thames, under
Kingston Bridge, in the presence of 2000 to 3000 people."
We have previously mentioned the fact that at Leicester the
cucking-stool was in use as early as 1467, and from some valuable
information brought together by Mr. William Kelly, F.S.A., and included
in his important local works, we learn that the last entry he has traced
in the old accounts of the town is the following:
1768-9. Paid Mr. Elliott for a Cuckstool by order of Hall £2 0s. 0d.
Mr. Kelly refers to the scolding cart at Leicester, and describes the
culprit as seated upon it, and being drawn through the town. He found in
the old accounts in 1629 an item:
Paid to Frauncis Pallmer for making two wheels and one barr for
the Scolding Cart ijs.
Scolding Cart is another name for the tumbrel.
The latest example of Leicester cucking-stool is preserved in the local
museum, and was placed there at the suggestion of Mr. Kelly.
[Illustration: LEOMINSTER DUCKING-STOOL.]
The Leominster ducking-stool is one of the few examples still preserved.
It was formerly kept in the parish church. We have an excellent drawing
of it in that building from the pencil of the genial author of "Verdant
Green," Cuthbert Bede. The Rev. Geo. Fyler Townsend, M.A., the erudite
historian of Leominster, furnishes us with some important information on
this interesting relic of the olden time. He says that it is a machine
of the simplest construction, "It consists merely of a strong narrow
under framework, placed on four wheels, of solid wood, about four inches
in thickness, and eighteen in diameter. At one end of this framework two
upright posts, about three feet in height, strongly embedded in the
platform, carry a long movable beam. Each of the arms of this beam are
of equal length (13 feet), and balance perfectly from the top of the
post. The culprit placed in the seat naturally weighs down that one end
into the water, while the other is lifted up in the air; men, however,
with ropes, caused the uplifted end to rise or fall, and thus obtain a
perfect see-saw. The purchase of the machine is such that the culprit
can be launched forth some 16 to 18 feet into the pond or stream, while
the administrators of the ducking stand on dry land. This instrument was
mentioned in the ancient documents of the borough by various names, as
the cucking-stoole or timbrill, or gumstole."
The latest recorded instance of the ducking-stool being used in England
occurred at Leominster. In 1809, says Mr. Townsend, a woman, Jenny
Pipes, alias Jane Corran, was paraded through the town on the
ducking-stool, and actually ducked in the water near Kenwater Bridge, by
order of the magistrates. An eye witness gave his testimony to the
desert of the punishment inflicted on this occasion, in the fact that
the first words of the culprit on being unfastened from the chair were
oaths and curses on the magistrates. In 1817, a woman named Sarah Leeke
was wheeled round the town in the chair, but not ducked, as the water
was too low. Since this time, the use of the chair has been laid aside,
and it is an object of curiosity, rather than of fear, to any of the
spectators. During the recent restoration of Leominster Church, the
ducking-stool was removed, repaired, and renovated by Mr. John
Hungerford Arkwright, and is now kept at the borough gaol of the
historically interesting town of Leominster.
The early English settlers in the United States introduced many of the
manners and customs of their native land. The ducking-stool was soon
brought into use. Mr. Henry M. Brooks, in his carefully written work,
called "Strange and Curious Punishments," published in 1886, by Ticknor
& Co., of Boston, gives many important details respecting punishing
scolds. At the present time, in some parts of America, scolding females
are liable to be punished by means of the ducking-stool. We gather from
a newspaper report that in 1889, the grand jury of Jersey City--across
the Hudson River from New York--caused a sensation by indicting Mrs.
Mary Brady as a "common scold." Astonished lawyers hunted up their old
books, and discovered that scolding is still an indictable offence in
New Jersey, and that the ducking-stool is still available as a
punishment for it, not having been specifically abolished when the
revised statutes were adopted. In Delaware, the State next to the south
of New Jersey, the whipping-post is an institution, and prisoners are
sentenced to suffer at it every week. The Common Scold Law was brought
from England to Connecticut by the Puritans and settlers, and from
Connecticut they carried it with them into New Jersey, which is
incorrectly considered a Dutch state. In closing this chapter, we may
state that a Dalziel telegram from Ottawa, published in the London
newspapers of August 8th, 1890, says that Miss Annie Pope was yesterday
charged before a police magistrate, under the provisions of an
antiquated statute, for being a "common scold." She was committed for
trial at the assizes, as the magistrate had no ducking-stool.
FOOTNOTES:
[42] Boyle's "Hedon," 1895.
The Brank, or Scold's Bridle.
[Illustration]
The brank was an instrument employed by our forefathers for punishing
scolds. It is also sometimes called the gossip's bridle, and in the
Macclesfield town records it is designated "a brydle for a curste
queane." In the term "queane" we have the old English synonym for a
woman; now the chief woman, the Queen. The brank is not of such great
antiquity as the ducking-stool, for the earliest mention of it we have
been able to find in this country is in the Corporation records of
Macclesfield, of the year 1623. At an earlier period, we have traces of
it in Scotland. In Glasgow burgh records, it is stated that in 1574 two
scolds were condemned to be "branket." The Kirk-session records of
Stirling for 1600 mention the "brankes" as a punishment for the shrew.
It is generally believed that the punishment is of Continental origin.
The brank may be described simply as an iron framework which was placed
on the head, enclosing it in a kind of cage; it had in front a plate of
iron, which, either sharpened or covered with spikes, was so situated as
to be placed in the mouth of the victim, and if she attempted to move
her tongue in any way whatever, it was certain to be shockingly injured.
With a brank on her head she was conducted through the streets, led by a
chain, held by one of the town's officials, an object of contempt, and
subjected to the jeers of the crowd and often left to their mercy. In
some towns it was the custom to chain the culprit to the pillory,
whipping-post, or market-cross. She thus suffered for telling her mind
to some petty tyrant in office, or speaking plainly to a wrong-doer, or
for taking to task a lazy, and perhaps a drunken husband.
[Illustration: BRANK IN LEEDS PHILOSOPHICAL MUSEUM.]
In Yorkshire, we have only seen two branks. We give a sketch of one
formerly in possession of the late Norrisson Scatcherd, F.S.A., the
historian of Morley. It is now in the Leeds Philosophical Museum, where
it attracts considerable attention. It is one of the most simple and
harmless examples that has come under our notice. Amongst the relics of
the olden time in the Museum of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society,
York, is another specimen, equally simple in its construction. It was
presented by Lady Thornton to the Society in 1880, and near it may be
seen thumb-screws from York Castle; leg bar, waist girdle, and wrist
shackles, worn by the notorious highwayman, Dick Turpin, executed April
17th, 1739; and a leg bar, worn by another notorious highwayman, named
Nevison, who suffered death on the gallows, May 4th, 1684.
The brank which has received the greatest attention is the one preserved
in the vestry of Walton-on-Thames Parish Church. It bears the date of
1632, and the following couplet:--
"Chester presents Walton with a bridle
To curb women's tongues that talk too idle."
It is traditionally said that this brank was given to Walton Parish by a
person named Chester, who had, through a gossiping and lying woman of
his acquaintance, lost an estate he expected to inherit from a rich
relative. We are enabled to give an illustration of the Walton brank.
[Illustration: BRANK AT WALTON-ON-THAMES.]
Dr. T. N. Brushfield described in an exhaustive manner all the Cheshire
branks, in an able paper read before the Architectural, Archæological,
and Historic Society of Chester, and published in 1858. We are unable to
direct attention to all the branks noticed by Dr. Brushfield, but cannot
refrain from presenting the following account of the one at Congleton,
which is preserved in the Town Hall of that ancient borough. "It was,"
we are informed, "formerly in the hands of the town jailor, whose
services were not infrequently called into requisition. In the
old-fashioned, half-timbered houses in the borough, there was generally
fixed on one side of the large open fire-places a hook, so that, when a
man's wife indulged her scolding propensities, the husband sent for the
town jailor to bring the bridle, and had her bridled and chained to the
hook until she promised to behave herself better for the future. I have
seen one of these hooks, and have often heard husbands say to their
wives: 'If you don't rest with your tongue I'll send for the bridle and
hook you up.' The Mayor and Justices frequently brought the instrument
into use; for when women were brought before them charged with
street-brawling, and insulting the constables and others while in the
discharge of their duty, they have ordered them to be bridled and led
through the borough by the jailor. The last time this bridle was
publicly used was in 1824, when a woman was brought before the Mayor
(Bulkeley Johnson, Esq.) one Monday, charged with scolding and using
harsh language to the churchwardens and constables as they went, on the
Sunday morning, round the town to see that all the public-houses were
empty and closed during divine service. On examination, a Mr. Richard
Edwards stated on oath that on going round the town with the
churchwardens on the previous day, they met the woman (Ann Runcorn) in
a place near 'The Cockshoot,' and that immediately seeing them she
commenced a sally of abuse, calling them all the scoundrels and rogues
she could lay her tongue to; and telling them 'it would look better of
them if they would look after their own houses rather than go looking
after other folk's, which were far better than their own.' After other
abuse of a like character, they thought it only right to apprehend her,
and so brought her before the Bench on the following day. The Mayor then
delivered the following sentence: 'That it is the unanimous decision of
the Mayor and Justices that the prisoner (Ann Runcorn) there and then
have the town's bridle for scolding women put upon her, and that she be
led by the magistrate's clerk's clerk through every street in the town,
as an example to all scolding women; and that the Mayor and magistrates
were much obliged to the churchwardens for bringing the case before
them.'" "In this case," Mr. Warrington, who furnished Dr. Brushfield
with the foregoing information, adds: "I both heard the evidence and saw
the decision carried out. The bridle was put on the woman, and she was
then led through the town by one Prosper Haslam, the town clerk's
clerk, accompanied by hundreds of the inhabitants; and on her return to
the Town Hall the bridle was taken off in the presence of the Mayor,
magistrates, constables, churchwardens, and assembled inhabitants."
[Illustration: BRANK AT STOCKPORT.]
In Cheshire, at the present time, there are traces of thirteen branks,
and at Stockport is the most brutal example of the English branks. "It
will be observed," says the local historian, Dr. Henry Heginbotham,
J.P., "that the special characteristic of this brank is the peculiar
construction of the tongue-plate or gag. It is about two inches long,
having at the end, as may be seen in the engraving, a ball, into which
is inserted a number of sharp iron pins, three on the upper surface,
three on the lower, and two pointing backwards. These could not fail to
pin the tongue, and effectually silence the noisiest brawler. At the
fore part of the collar, there is an iron chain, with a leathern thong
attached, by which the offender was led for public gaze through the
market-place." It was formerly on market days exhibited in front of the
house of the person who had charge of it, as a warning to scolding or
swearing women. Dr. Heginbotham states that: "There is no evidence of
its having been actually used for many years, but there is testimony to
the fact, that within the last forty years the brank was brought to a
termagant market woman, who was effectually silenced by its threatened
application."
We are indebted to Mr. Alfred Burton for a drawing of the Macclesfield
brank. Dr. Brushfield describes this as "a respectable-looking brank."
He tells us that "the gag is plain, and the end of it is turned down;
there is only one band which passes over the head, and is hinged to the
hoops; a temporary joint exists at the upper part, and ample provision
is made for readily adjusting it to any description of head. The chain
still remains attached to the hoop. About the year 1858, Mr. Swinnerton
informed Dr. Brushfield that he had never seen it used, but that at the
petty sessions it had often been produced _in terrorem_, to stay the
volubility of a woman's tongue; and that a threat by a magistrate to
order its appliance had always proved sufficient to abate the garrulity
of the most determined scold."
[Illustration: BRANK AT MACCLESFIELD.]
Towards the close of the first quarter of the present century, the brank
was last used at Altrincham. A virago, who caused her neighbours great
trouble, was frequently cautioned in vain respecting her conduct, and as
a last resource she was condemned to walk through the town wearing the
brank. She refused to move, and it was finally decided to wheel her in
a barrow through the principal streets of the town, round the
market-place, and to her own home. The punishment had the desired
effect, and for the remainder of her life she kept a quiet tongue.
There are many traces of the brank in Lancashire. Mr. W. E. A. Axon
informs us that his father remembers the brank being used at Manchester
at the commencement of the present century. Kirkham had its brank for
scolds, in addition to a ducking-stool. We find, in the same county,
traces of the brank at Holme, in the Forest of Rossendale. In the
accounts of the Greave for the Forest of Rossendale for 1691-2 is an
entry of the true antiquarian cast:
Item, for a Bridle for scouldinge women, 2s. 6d.
In "Some Obsolete Peculiarities of English Law," by William Beamont, the
author gives particulars respecting the Warrington brank. "Hanging up in
our museum," says Mr. Beamont, "may be seen a representation of a
withered female face wearing the brank or scold's bridle; one of which
instruments, as inflexible as iron and ingenuity can make it, for
keeping an unruly tongue quiet by mechanical means, hangs up beside it;
and almost within the time of living memory, Cicily Pewsill, an inmate
of the workhouse, and a notorious scold, was seen wearing this
disagreeable head-gear in the streets of Warrington for half-an-hour or
more.... Cicily Pewsill's case still lingers in tradition, as the last
occasion of its application in Warrington, and it will soon pass into
history."
The Rev. J. Clay told Mr. William Dobson that since his connection with
Preston House of Correction the brank was put on a woman there, but the
matter coming to the knowledge of the Home Secretary, its further use
was prohibited, and to make sure of the barbarous practice being
discontinued the brank itself was ordered to be sent to London. A second
brank was kept in the prison, principally formed of leather, but with an
iron tongue-piece.[43]
[Illustration: BRANK AT THE MANOR HOUSE, HAMSTALL RIDWARE.]
At the north country town of Morpeth a brank is still preserved. The
following is a record of its use: "Dec. 3, 1741, Elizabeth, wife of
George Holborn, was punished with the branks for two hours, at the
Market Cross, Morpeth, by order of Mr. Thomas Gait and Mr. George
Nicholls, then bailiffs, for scandalous and opprobrious language to
several persons in the town, as well as to the said bailiffs."
[Illustration: BRANK AT LICHFIELD.]
Staffordshire supplies several notable examples of the brank. They were
formerly kept at Hamstall Ridware, Beaudesart, Lichfield, Walsall, and
at Newcastle-under-Lyme. The branks in the two towns last named are
alluded to by the celebrated Dr. Plot, the old historian of the county,
in an amusing manner. "We come to the arts that respect mankind," says
Plot, "amongst which, as elsewhere, the civility of precedence must be
allowed to the woman, and that as well in punishments as favours. For
the former, whereof they have such a peculiar artifice at Newcastle
[under Lyme] and Walsall for correcting of scolds, which it does, too,
so effectually and so very safely, that I look upon it as much to be
preferred to the cucking-stool, which not only endangers the health of
the party, but also gives her tongue liberty 'twixt every dip, to
neither of which is this at all liable, it being such a bridle for the
tongue as not only quite deprives them of speech, but brings shame for
the transgression, and humility thereupon, before 'tis taken off. Which,
being an instrument scarce heard of, much less seen, I have here
presented it to the reader's view [here follows a reference to a plate]
as it was taken from the original one, made of iron, at
Newcastle-under-Lyme, wherein the letter _a_ shows the jointed collar
that comes round the neck; _b_, _c_, the loops and staples to let it out
and in, according to the bigness and slenderness of the neck; _d_, the
jointed semicircle that comes over the head, made forked at one end to
let through the nose, and _e_, the plate-iron that is put into the
mouth and keeps down the tongue. Which, being put upon the offender by
order of the magistrate, and fastened with a padlock behind, she is led
through the town by an officer, to her shame, nor is it taken off until
after the party begins to show all external signs imaginable of
humiliation and amendment." This brank afterwards passed into the hands
of Mr. Joseph Mayer, F.S.A. founder of the Museum at Liverpool.
[Illustration: CHESTERFIELD BRANK.]
It is pleasing to record the fact that there is only trace of one brank
belonging to Derbyshire--a circumstance which speaks well for its men
and women. The latter have for a long period borne exemplary characters.
Philip Kinder, in the preface of his projected "History of Derbyshire,"
written about the middle of the seventeenth century, alludes to them.
"The country-women here," says Kinder, "are chaste and sober, and very
diligent in their housewifery; they hate idleness, love and obey their
husbands; only in some of the great towns many of the seeming
sanctificators used to follow the Presbyterian gang, and on a lecture
day put on their best rayment, and doo hereby take occasion to goo a
gossipping. Your merry wives of Bentley will sometimes look in ye
glass, chirpe a cupp merrily, yet not indecently. In the Peak they are
much given to dance after the bagpipes--almost every towne hath a
bagpipe in it." "The Chesterfield brank," says Mr. Llewellyn Jewitt, "is
a remarkably good example, and has the additional interest of bearing a
date. It is nine inches in height, and six inches and three-quarters
across the hoop. It consists of a hoop of iron, hinged on either side
and fastening behind, and a band, also of iron, passing over the head
from back to front, and opening in front to admit the nose of the woman
whose misfortune it was to wear it. The mode of putting it on would be
thus: the brank would be opened by throwing back the sides of the hoop,
and the hinder part of the band by means of the hinges, C, F, F. The
constable, or other official, would then stand in front of his victim,
and force the knife, or plate, A, into her mouth, the divided band
passing on either side of the nose, which would protrude through the
opening, B. The hoop would then be closed behind, the band brought down
from the top to the back of the head, and fastened down upon it, at E,
and thus the cage would at once be firmly and immovably fixed so long as
her tormentors might think fit. On the left side is a chain, D, one end
of which is attached to the hoop, and at the other end is a ring, by
which the victim was led, or by which she was, at pleasure, attached to
a post or wall. On front of the brank are the initials 'T.C.,' and the
date '1688'--the year of the 'Glorious Revolution'--the year of all
years memorable in the annals of Chesterfield and the little village of
Whittington, closely adjoining, in which the Revolution was planned.
Strange that an instrument of brutal and tyrannical torture should be
made and used at Chesterfield at the same moment that the people should
be plotting for freedom at the same place. The brank was formerly in the
old poor-house at Chesterfield, and came into the hands of Mr. Weale,
the assistant Poor-law Commissioner, who presented it to Lady Walsham.
It is (August, 1860) still in the hands of Sir John Walsham, Bart.,
and the drawing from which the accompanying woodcut is executed was
kindly made and furnished to me by Miss Dulcy Bell, Sir John's
sister-in-law."[44]
The Leicester brank is similar to the one at Chesterfield. At the back
of the hoop is a chain about twelve inches long. It was formerly kept in
the Leicester borough gaol.
[Illustration: LEICESTER BRANK.]
In the year 1821, Judge Richardson gave orders for a brank to be
destroyed which was kept ready and most probably frequently used at the
County Hall, Nottingham. We gather from a note furnished by Mr. J.
Potter Briscoe a curious circumstance in connection with this
brank--that it was used to subdue the unruly tongues of the sterner sex,
as well as those of noisy females. James Brodie, a blind beggar who was
executed on the 15th July, 1799, for the murder of his boy-guide, in the
Nottingham Forest, was the last person punished with the brank. During
his imprisonment, prior to execution, he was so noisy that the brank
was called into requisition, to do what he refused to do himself,
namely, to hold his tongue.
[Illustration: BRANK FORMERLY IN THE POSSESSION OF MR. CARRINGTON.]
Here is a picture of a brank formerly in the possession of the late Mr.
F. A. Carrington, the well-known antiquary. It is supposed to belong to
the period of William III. Mr. Carrington could not give any history of
this curious relic of the olden time.
[Illustration: BRANK AT DODDINGTON PARK.]
At Doddington Park, Lincolnshire, a brank is preserved, and is of a
decidedly foreign appearance. It will be noticed that it bears some
resemblance to the peculiar long-snouted visor of the bascinets,
occasionally worn in the reign of Richard II. No historical particulars
are known respecting this grotesque brank.
[Illustration: BRANK IN THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM.]
In the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, a curious brank may be seen. It is
not recorded in the catalogue of the collection by whom it was
presented, or where it was previously used; it is described as "a gag
or brank, formerly used with the ducking-stool, as a punishment for
scolds." It will be noticed that a chain is attached to the front of
this brank, so that the poor unfortunate woman, in addition to being
gagged, had the mortification of being led by the nose through the
town. The gag is marked _a_, and _b_ is the aperture for the nose.
[Illustration: ENGINE OF TORTURE IN THE LUDLOW MUSEUM.]
A curious engine of torture may be seen in the Ludlow Museum, and we
give an illustration of it. It belongs to a class of engines far more
formidable than branks. A description of this head-piece appears in the
_Archæological Journal_ for September, 1856, from the pen of Mr. W. J.
Bernard Smith. "The powerful screwing apparatus," says Mr. Smith, "seems
calculated to force the iron mask with torturing effect upon the brow of
the victim; there are no eye-holes, but concavities in their places, as
though to allow for the starting of the eye-balls under violent
pressure. There is a strong bar with a square hole, evidently intended
to fasten the criminal against a wall, or perhaps to the pillory; and I
have heard it said that these instruments were used to keep the head
steady during the infliction of branding." A curious instrument of
punishment, belonging to the same class as that at Ludlow, is described
at some length, with an illustration, in "Worcester in Olden Times," by
John Noake (London, 1849). The picture and description have been
frequently reproduced.
[Illustration: SHREWSBURY BRANK.]
Several Shropshire branks remain at the present time. The one at
Shrewsbury does not appear to be of any great antiquity. Its form is
simple and its character harmless. This bridle was at one time in
constant use in Shrewsbury, and there are those yet living whose
memories are sufficiently good to carry them back to the days when the
effects of the application of the brank in question were to be seen,
rather than, as now, imagined. The year cannot be ascertained when this
brank was first worn, but it is known to have been last used in
1846.[45]
At Oswestry are two branks, one belonging to the Corporation, and the
other is in the store-room of the Workhouse. The Rector of Whitchurch
has in his possession a brank, which was formerly used by the town and
union authorities. At Market Drayton are two branks: one is the property
of the Lord of the Manor, and the other formerly belonged to the Dodcot
Union. The Market Drayton brank, and also the one at Whitchurch, have on
each a revolving wheel at the end of the gag or tongue-plate. In bygone
times, the brank was frequently used for correcting unmanageable
paupers.
At Edinburgh, in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,
is a brank said to be from a town in East Fifeshire, having a
rowel-shaped gag. In the year 1560, it was decided by the Town Council
of Edinburgh, that all persons found guilty of blasphemy should be
punished by the iron brank. In North Britain, it appears to have been
used for punishing persons guilty of immorality. On the 7th October, the
Kirk-Session of Canongate sentenced David Persoun, convicted of this
offence, to be "brankit for four hours," while his associate in guilt,
Isobel Mountray, was "banisit the gait," that is, expelled from the
parish. Only a week previously, the same Kirk-Session had issued a
proclamation that all women found guilty of this lawlessness "be brankit
six houris at the croce."
We close this chapter by directing attention to the Bishop's brank, kept
at St. Andrews, respecting which a singular story is told. A woman in a
humble walk of life, named Isabel Lindsay, stood up in the parish church
of St. Andrews, during the time of divine service, when Archbishop Sharp
was preaching, and declared that when he was a college student he was
guilty of an illicit amour with her. She was arrested for this
statement, and brought before the Kirk-Sessions, and by its members
sentenced "to appear for a succession of Sundays on the repentance
stool, wearing the brank."
FOOTNOTES:
[43] Dobson's "Preston in the Olden Time," 1857.
[44] "The Reliquary," October, 1860.
[45] Morris's "Obsolete Punishments of Shropshire."
Riding the Stang.
The ancient custom of riding the stang still lingers in some remote
parts of the country. Holding delinquents up to ridicule was a favourite
mode of punishment practised by our forefathers, and riding the stang
was the means generally employed for punishing husbands who beat their
wives, or allowed themselves to be henpecked, or were profligate in
their conduct. There are various designations for the custom. In
Yorkshire, riding the stang is the name used; in Scotland the same term
is applied; in the South of England skimmington-riding is the title
generally employed, and on the Continent it is known by other
appellations.
[Illustration: RIDING THE STANG.]
The mode of carrying out the ceremony is as follows: A man having beaten
his wife, the young men of the village assume the attitude of public
censors, and arrangements are made for riding the stang three nights in
succession. A trumpeter blows his horn loud and long as day gives way
to night, and the villagers are brought together. A pole or a ladder is
procured, and the most witty man in the village is placed thereon,
mounted shoulder-high, and carried in great state through the streets.
In one hand he has a large key or stick, and in the other a
dripping-pan, and leads the music of the crowd. Men, women, and children
join in the fun, and beat kettles, pans, pots, or anything else that
will make a noise; tin whistles, horns, and trumpets are blown, the
noise produced being better imagined than described. As soon as all is
ready, a start is made, and about every fifty yards the procession
stops, and the mounted man proclaims at the top of his voice a rhyme
suited to the nature of the offence, somewhat as follows:
"Ran, tan, tan; ran, tan, tan,
To the sound of this pan;
This is to give notice that Tom Trotter
Has beaten his good woman!
For what, and for why?
Because she ate when she was hungry,
And drank when she was dry.
Ran, tan, ran, tan, tan;
Hurrah--hurrah! for this good wo-man!
He beat her, he beat her, he beat her indeed,
For spending a penny when she had need.
He beat her black, he beat her blue;
When Old Nick gets him, he'll give him his due;
Ran, tan, tan; ran, tan, tan;
We'll send him there in this old frying-pan;
Hurrah--hurrah! for his good wo-man!"
We have an example noted at Sutton, near Hull, in August, 1877. It was
given with great spirit by a youth, mounted after the customary manner
on a ladder, to the evident enjoyment of a large gathering of the
inhabitants, who were enraged at the brutal treatment of a woman by her
husband:
"Here we come with a ran, dan, dang:
It's not for you, nor for me, we ride this stang;
But for ----, whose wife he did bang.
He banged her, he banged her, he banged her indeed:
He banged her, poor creature, before she stood need.
He took up neither tipstaff nor stower,
But with his fist he knocked her backwards ower;
He kicked her, he punched her, till he made her cry,
And to finish all, he gave her a black eye.
Now, all you good people that live in this row,
We would have you take warning, for this is our law:
If any of you, your wives you do bang,
We're sure, we're sure, to ride you the stang."
"Last night," says the _Sunderland Daily Post_ of March 1st, 1887, "some
excitement was caused in Northallerton by the celebration of the old
custom of 'riding the stang,' which is to expose some one guilty of
gross immoral practices, and of a breach of sacred matrimonial rights.
Some hundreds of people followed the conveyance, in which two effigies
were erected and exhibited through the principal streets. At intervals,
a person in the conveyance shouted out in rhyme their object, and said
they fully intended to make a complete celebration of the custom, which
is to 'ride the stang' three nights in succession, and on the last night
to burn the effigies on the green near the church."
The stang was ridden at the ancient town of Hedon, 18th, 19th, and 20th
February, 1889.
The house of the culprit is visited several times each night, and the
proceedings kept up three nights in succession, and a circuit of the
church is also made, as it is believed that those taking part in the
ceremony will not be amenable to the law, if they do not omit this part
of the custom. If the offence is a very serious one, the offender is
burnt in effigy before his own door. In the olden days, the offender
himself was often compelled to ride the stang.
Several of the old poets refer to this ancient usage. Allan Ramsay, in
one of his poems, published in 1721, says:
"They frae a barn a kaber raught
And mounted wi' a bang,
Betwisht twa's shoulders, and sat straught,
Upon't and _rade the stang
On her_ that day."
Mr. Geo. Roberts, of Lyme Regis, forwarded to Sir Walter Scott some
interesting notes on skimmington-riding. He informed Sir Walter that in
the South of England: "About dusk two individuals, one armed with a
skimmer and the other with a ladle, came out of some obscure street
attended by a crowd, whose laughter, huzzas, etc., emulate the
well-known _charivari_ of the French. The two performers are sometimes
in a cart, at other times on a donkey; one personating the wife, the
other the husband. They beat each other furiously with the culinary
weapons above described, and, warmed by the applause and presence of so
many spectators (for all turn out to see a skimmington), their dialogue
attains a freedom, except using surnames, only comparable with their
gestures. On arriving at the house of the parties represented in the
moving drama, animation is at its height: the crowd usually stay at the
spot some minutes, and then traverse the town. The performers are
remunerated by the spectators: the parties who parade the streets with
the performers sweep with brooms the doors of those who are likely to
require a similar visitation."
Dr. King, in his "Miscellany," thus refers to the subject:
"When the young people ride the skimmington,
There is a general trembling in the town;
Not only he for whom the party rides
Suffers, but they sweep other doors besides;
And by the hieroglyphic does appear
That the good woman is the master there."
According to Douce, _skimmington_ is derived from _skimming-ladle_, used
in the ceremony.
In Butler's "Hudibras," considerable attention is paid to the custom. A
few of the lines are as follow:
"And now the cause of all their fear,
By slow degrees approached so near,
Of horns, and pans, and dogs, and boys,
And kettle-drums whose sullen dub,
Sounds like the hooping of a tub;
· · ·
And followed with a world of tall lads,
That merry ditties troll'd and ballads.
· · ·
Next pans and kettles of all keys,
From trebles down to double base:
· · ·
And at fit periods the whole rout
Set up their throat with clamorous shout."
A notice of an old Welsh ceremony appeared in the _Liverpool Mercury_ on
March 15th, 1887, and it will not be without interest to reproduce it.
"That ancient Welsh custom," says the writer, "now nearly obsolete,
known as riding the ceffyl pren--_Anglicé_, 'wooden-horse'--and intended
to operate as a wholesome warning to faithless wives and husbands, was
revived on Saturday night in an Anglesey village some three miles from
Llangefni. The individual who had drawn upon himself the odium of his
neighbours had parted from his wife, and was alleged to be persistent in
his attentions to another female. On Saturday night a large party
surrounded the house, and compelled him to get astride a ladder,
carrying him shoulder-high through the village, stopping at certain
points to allow the womankind to wreak their vengeance upon him. This
amusement was kept up for some time until the opportune arrival of a
sergeant of police from Llangefni, who rescued the unlucky wight."
[Illustration: Ye Ende]
Index.
Aberdeen, jougs at, 180
Abusing a mistress, 179
Admiralty of the Humber, Court of the, 3-5
Adultery, 232-241
Alban, burnt to death, 98
Aldbury stocks, 200
Alfreton, 143
Alive, gibbeted, 58, 76-77
Altrincham, 284
American punishments, 206-207, 274-275
Anglo-Saxon punishments, 41, 186
Applegirth, jougs at, 183
Aram, Eugene, 53-55
Argyle, Earl of, 132
Ascham, R., 177
Ashby-de-la-Zouch, finger pillory at, 171-172
Ashton-under-Lyne, 174
Athens, books burnt at, 159
Attempted murder, last execution for, 38
Attwood, Wm., 169
Balmerino, Lord, 115
Banishing women, 250
Bank note not to be imitated, 33
Bank Restriction Barometer, 35
Barnsley, whipping at, 216-217
Barrock, gibbet at, 58
Battle Abbey, abbot of, 1
Bawtry, saddler of, 12
Baynard's Castle, 95
Beaudesart, finger-pillory at, 173
Becket, murder of, 227
Beggars' Litany, 118
Beheading, 4, 108-117
Bellman at Newgate, 12
Benefit of Clergy, 139
Beverley stocks, 193
Bewick's gibbets, 78
Bible burnt, 160
Bierton, gibbet at, 55
Black Isle, penance at, 241
Blasphemer in the pillory, 156
Boiling to death, 106-107
Bolas, Robert and William, 46-48
Boleyn, Anne, 109, 111
Boleyn, George, 111
Bowl, St. Giles's, 11
Bradford ducking-stool, 259
Bramhall stocks, 199
Branding, 138-142
Brandreth, Turner, and Ludlam, execution of, 81-85
Brank, or scold's bridle, 276-298
Bridlington jougs, 181, 184;
pillory, 152
Brigg, inhabitants of, petitioning against a gibbet, 73
Broadwater ducking-stool, 255
Broughton, Spence, gibbeted, 67
Bullingham Court, 225
Burnham, 218
Burning books, 159-175
Burning to death, 98-105
Bury St. Edmunds, curious epitaph at, 31;
execution at, for robbery, 31
Cambridge, ducking-stool, 247;
trials at, 89
Candles, flogging with, 209
Canterbury, More's head buried at, 111;
pillory, 150
Cart tail, whipping at, 210, 219, 221, 222
Carted out of the town, 182
Cato Street conspirators, 85
Charles I. beheaded, 108
Cheapside pillory, 147, 148
Chelmsford, gibbeting at, 101
Cheshire branks, 279
Chester cucking-stool, 244;
thewe, 245
Chesterfield brank, 290;
ducking-stool, 262
Chevin, near Belper, gibbets on, 72;
set on fire, 72
Children, whipping, at executions, 224
China, Cang in, 157-158
Chippenham, gibbet at, 60
Clever Tom Clinch, 13
Clipping coin, hanged for, 2
Clova, jougs at, 184-185
Cobham, Eleanor, penance of, 228-230
Coffins conveyed with criminals to the gallows, 37
Coleshill whipping-post, 222-223
Colleen Bawn, 17-18
Collingbourne, 161
Collingham, gallows at, 1-2
Congleton brank, 279
Constable, gibbeted at Hull, 43
Cook, James, last man gibbeted, 75
Cornhill pillory, 146
Cornwall, 244
Cost of an Execution, 23-24
Coventry ducking-stool, 252
Cromwell, Thomas, 111
Cruikshank on executions, 31-34
Crusaders punished by drowning, 95
Cucking-Stool, 244
Dame's school finger pillory, 174-175
Danes, mutilation under the, 135
Daventry ducking-stool, 251
Defoe, Daniel, 166-168
Deplorable conduct of hangman, 29
Derby, trial for high treason at, 80-85;
curious story, 58;
ducking-stool, 262;
gibbet, 57-58
Derbyshire, gibbets in, 42;
women, 289
Devil's punch bowl, 61
Devonshire, 215
Diary of a lady of quality, 224-226
Dinners after executions, 25
Ditton, penance at, 238
Doddington Park, brank at, 293
Doncaster whipping-post, 115
Dowe, Robert, 12
Driffield, pillory at, 152
Driven in own carriage to execution, 16
Drowning, 95-97
Drummed out of a town, 181
Drunkard's cloak, 201-208
Drunkards put in stocks, 191-198
Ducking-Stool, 243-275
Duddingston, jougs at, 185
Dudley, Lord, 109
Dumfries, hangman's dues, 25-29;
jougs at, 179
Dundee, 240
Durham, penance at, 232
Duval, Claude, 13
East Ardsley ducking-stool, 259
East Clevedon, penance at, 238
Edinburgh branks, 297;
penance at, 240
Essex, Earl of, 113
Executed for leaving open a gate, 2-3
Exeter, executions at, 2-3
Farewell address, strange, 22-23
Feasting at funerals, 24
Fenwick, jougs at, 183
Ferrers, Earl, 17
Finger-Pillory, 171-175
First Book of Discipline, 239
First instance of hanging, drawing and quartering, 80
First private execution, 38
Fisher, John, 111
Floyde, Edward, 148
Forest laws, 135
Galashiels, jougs at, 183
Galston, 182
Gardner, Ralph, 202
Gaveston, Piers, 223
Germany, drunkard's cloak in, 205
Gibbeted alive, 58, 76-77
Gibbet and gallows in Ogilby's book, 39
Gibbet, cost of, 56
Gipsies, 138
Glasgow brank, 276
Gloucester, Duke of, 228
Godly butchery, 79
Gretton stocks, 195
Grey, Lady Jane, 109
Grinrod's ghost, 51-53
Haddon Hall, curious relic at, 208
Halifax gibbet, 118-127
Hanging, 1-38
Hanging, drawing, and quartering, 79-86
Hanging in chains, 39-78
Hangman's dues, 25-29
Hardwick, forest of, 118-127
Harris, Ph[oe]be, 104
Harvest workmen and stocks, 200
Hayes, Catherine, 101
Hedon, riding stang at, 303;
thewe at, 245
Helsby Tor, gibbet on, 64
Henry II., penance of, 226
Henry IV. of Germany, 228
Henry VIII., hanging reign, 3
Hereford, executions at, 30
Hertfordshire, gibbets in, 42, 50
Hind Head, gibbet at, 61-63
Holinshed's Chronicle, 118-119
Holland, drunkard's cloak in, 205
Horne, W. A., 16
Hornsea pennels, 55
Howard, Katherine, 109, 111
Hoyle's drawing of Halifax gibbet, 124
Hull ducking-stool, 256;
gibbet, 43;
Mayor, 4;
penance, 232;
pillory, 151;
Prayer Book burnt, 163
Humber, Admiral of, 4
Insufficiency of pillory, action for, 157
Ipswich ducking-stool, 262-264, 265
Jarrow, gibbet at, 73-75
Jedburgh, 240
Jeffreys, Judge, 217
Jews hanged, 2
Johnson, Dr. S., 243
Jougs, the, 176-185
Keach, Benjamin, 164-166
Killed in the pillory, 156
Kilmarnock, Earl of, 115
Kilmaurs, jougs at, 183
King of the Peak, 5
King's Lynn, boiling to death, 106-107;
burning to death, 99;
ducking-stool, 266
Kingston-upon-Thames ducking-stool, 270
Kirkby ducking-stool, 261
Kirkham brank, 285
Kirton-in-Lindsey whipping-post, 223-224
Knaresborough Forest, Aram gibbeted at, 55
Labienus, 160
Lancaster Castle, 140
Last person burnt, 104
Last public execution, 38
Laud, Archbishop, 114
Leeds ducking-stool, 257
Legend of the hare, 8
Leicester brank, 292;
cucking-stool, 244;
ducking-stool, 271;
gibbet, 75
Leighton, Dr., 162
Leominster ducking-stool, 271
Lesmahagow, jougs at, 182
Lichfield brank, 287
Lilburne, 163
Lincoln, burning to death at, 100
Lingard, Anthony, gibbeted, 68-71
Littlecote Hall, finger-pillory at, 172
Liverpool ducking-stool, 268
Lochcarron, penance at, 242
London, jougs at, 177
Lovat, Lord, 116-117
Ludlow brank, 295
Lynch law, 5
Macclesfield brank, 276, 282, 284
Mails, gibbeted for robbing, 60, 64, 70, 72
Manchester brank, 285;
ducking-stool, 268;
pillory, 152
Maritime laws, 3-5
Marlowe, Christopher, 161
Market Drayton brank, 297;
stocks, 194
Mary Queen of Scots, execution of, 109
Melton Ross, gallows at, 8-11
Merrington, gibbet at, 44
Merton, jougs at, 183
Methven, Paul, 240
Midgley, Dr. S., 124
Miles's gibbet, 64-67
Milton's books burnt, 162
Misson on the ducking-stool, 246
Monasteries and the poor, 209
Monmouth, Duke of, 115
More, Sir Thomas, 111
Morley brank, 277;
ducking-stool, 259
Morpeth brank, 286
Morton, Earl of, 128-131
Murphy, last person burnt, 105
Mutilation, 134-137
Nayler, Jas., 138-139
Neglecting to attend church, 183
Nevison, 278
Newbury stocks, 197
Newcastle-on-Tyne, brank at, 202;
cruel magistrates, 204;
drunkard's cloak at, 201-205;
pillory, 150
Newcastle-under-Lyme brank, 287-288
Norfolk, Duke of, 112
North Aston, penance at, 234
North Briton, the, 169
North Cave, penance of Vicar, 232
Northallerton, riding stang at, 302
Northampton, branding, 141;
hanging, 37;
woman burnt to death, 101
Northumberland, Duke of, 112
Norwich ducking-stool, 264
Not raising his bonnet, 178
Nottingham brank, 292;
ducking-stool, 265;
funeral sermons, 34;
hanging, 16;
whipping, 219
Numa Pompilius, 159
Oates, Titus, 149
Ockam in the pillory, 145
Old Greyfriars, Edinburgh, 239
Ordeal of touch, 7
Oswestry brank, 296
Oxford brank, 294
Paisley, books burnt, 170;
execution, 25;
penance at, 241;
Parish registers at Halifax, 125
Paulmy, pillory at, 145-146
Peine forte et dure, 87-94
Pendleton Moor, gibbet at, 51-53
Pentrich, plot planned at, 80
Pepys, S., 148
Pillory, the, 143-158
Pirate gibbeted at Hornsea, 55
Plymouth ducking-stools, 266-268
Popish plot, 149
Prayer Book burnt, 163
Prayers at St. Sepulchre's Church, 13
Pressing to death, 87-94
Preston brank, 286;
pillory, 152
Prynne, W., 163
Public executions, 38
Public penance, 227-238
Punishing Authors and Burning Books, 159-170
Pythagoras, 159
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 113
Ratcliff Highway, 247
Refusing to plead, 87-94
Repentance stool, 239-242
Riddle, a grim, 58
Riding the stang, 299-306
Ridware Beaudesart brank, 287
Rioting at executions, 14-16
Rizzio, murder of, 131
Rochester, Bishop of, 106-111
Rochford, Viscountess, 111
Rome, books burnt at, 159
Romilly, Sir Samuel, advocates humane reforms, 86
Roose boiled to death, 106
Ross, Sir William, 9
Rothesay, 179
Roxby, penance at, 233
Rugby ducking-stool, 254
Rushmere Heath, burning to death on, 103
Rye, gibbeting at, 48;
pillory 154
Sabbath-breaking, 190
Sack-cloth, 239
Saddler of Bawtry, 12
Salisbury, Countess of, 112
Sancton, penance at, 237
Sandwich, drowning at, 96;
ducking-stool, 248
Scarborough ducking-stool, 262-263
Scotch pedlars whipped, 216
Scotland, drowning, 96;
gibbeting, 43;
stocks in, 190
Scottish Maiden, 128-133
Scrooby, gibbet at, 59
Second statute of labourers, 187
Selby ducking-stool, 258
Servants, whipping, 224-226
Seymour, Lord, 112
Shakespeare and the stocks, 188-189
Shelley on an execution, 84
Shooting at a gibbeted man, 59
Shore, Jane, penance of, 230-232
Shrewsbury brank, 296
Shropshire Assizes, 136;
gibbet, 46
Shrouds of condemned criminals, 34
Silken rope, 17-18
Sixteen-string Jack, 14
Skimmington-riding, 303
Skipton ducking-stool, 260;
stocks, 198
Slaves branded, 138
Slight offences, executions for, 30
Somerset, Duke of, 112
Southam ducking-stool, 251
Splicing the rope, 25
St. Andrews, boy punished, 178;
brank, 298
St. Paul's Churchyard, books burnt in, 160
St. Giles's bowl, 11
Stafford, Viscount, 114
Staffordshire branks, 287
Stanfield, Philip, 43
Stanningley stocks, 196
Stockport brank, 282;
stocks, 200
Stocks, the, 186-200
Stokesley, penance at, 235-237
Stow, penance at, 241
Strafford, Earl of, 114
Strangeways, Major, 92-93
Stubbs, 161
Suffolk, Duke of, 112
Surrey, Earl of, 112
Sutton, riding stang at, 301
Swimming a witch, 50
Taylor on Halifax law, 122;
on whipping-posts, 211
Thewe, 245
Thurlow, Lord, on the pillory, 155
Tolbooth, Edinburgh, 129
Tower of London, 110
Tring, gibbet at, 50-51
Tudor manners, 177
Tumbrel, 268
Tutor's Assistant, drawing by Cruikshank, 226
Tyburn, 11
Tyrwhitt, Robert, 9
Uckington Heath, gibbet on, 46
Upton Common, gibbet, 63
Vagrancy, 210
Vernon, Sir George, 5
Wakefield ducking-stool, 258;
jougs, 184;
penance, 234;
whipping, 220
Wallingford pillory, 244
Walsall brank, 287, 288
Waltham Abbey whipping-post, pillory and stocks, 211-214
Walton-on-Thames, brank at, 278
Wardlow, gibbet at, 71
Warrington brank, 285;
museum, 67
Warton, 165
Warwick, tumbrel at, 270
Wedding clothes, executed in, 17
Welsh customs, 305
West Calder, 239
Whip-cord, torturing with, 89
Whipping Act, 210
Whipping and Whipping-Posts, 209-226
Whiston stocks, 192
Whitchurch brank, 297
Whitfield, notorious highwayman, 58
Wigtown, hangman at, 18;
last execution at, 21;
jougs, 179
William the Conqueror introduces beheading, 108
Williams, bookseller, 169-170
Wilson, Alexander, 170
Winchester, coiners punished at, 135
Wirksworth, penance at, 233
Witchcraft, 50;
burning to death for, 99
Wolsey, Cardinal, in the stocks, 193
Women drowned, 95;
whipped, 218
Wootton Bassett, tumbrel at, 268-269
Worcester, 115, 217-218, 296
Worsborough ducking-stool, 259
Yarmouth, pirate gibbeted at, 67
"Mr. Andrews' books are always interesting."--_Church Bells._
"No student of Mr. Andrews' books can be a dull after-dinner
speaker, for his writings are full of curious out-of-the-way
information and good stories."--_Birmingham Daily Gazette._
* * * * *
England in the Days of Old.
BY WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.,
_Demy 8vo., 7s. 6d. Numerous Illustrations._
This volume is one of unusual interest and value to the lover of olden
days and ways, and can hardly fail to interest and instruct the reader.
It recalls many forgotten episodes, scenes, characters, manners,
customs, etc., in the social and domestic life of England.
CONTENTS:--When Wigs were Worn--Powdering the Hair--Men Wearing
Muffs--Concerning Corporation Customs--Bribes for the Palate--Rebel
Heads on City Gates--Burial at Cross Roads--Detaining the Dead for
Debt--A Nobleman's Household in Tudor Times--Bread and Baking in Bygone
Days--Arise, Mistress, Arise!--The Turnspit--A Gossip about the
Goose--Bells as Time-Tellers--The Age of Snuffing--State
Lotteries--Bear-Baiting--Morris Dancers--The Folk-Lore of Midsummer
Eve--Harvest Home--Curious Charities--An Old-Time Chronicler.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS:--The House of Commons in the time of Sir Robert
Walpole--Egyptian Wig--The Earl of Albemarle--Campaign Wig--Periwig
with Tail--Ramillie-Wig--Pig-tail Wig--Bag-Wig--Archbishop
Tilotson--Heart-Breakers--A Barber's Shop in the time of Queen
Elizabeth--With and Without a Wig--Stealing a Wig--Man with Muff,
1693--Burying the Mace at Nottingham--The Lord Mayor of York escorting
Princess Margaret--The Mayor of Wycombe going to the Guildhall--Woman
wearing a Scold's Bridle--The Brank--Andrew Marvell--Old London Bridge,
shewing heads of rebels on the gate--Axe, Block, and Executioner's
Mask--Margaret Roper taking leave of her father, Sir Thomas More--Rebel
Heads, from a print published in 1746--Temple Bar in Dr. Johnson's
time--Micklegate Bar, York--Clock, Hampton Court Palace--Drawing a
Lottery in the Guildhall, 1751--Advertising the Last State
Lottery--Partaking of the Pungent Pinch--Morris Dance, from a painted
window at Betley--Morris Dance, temp. James I.--A Whitsun Morris
Dance--Bear Garden, or Hope Theatre, 1647--The Globe Theatre, temp.
Elizabeth--Plan of Bankside early in the Seventeenth Century--John
Stow's Monument.
A carefully prepared Index enables the reader to refer to the varied and
interesting contents of the book.
"A very attractive and informing book."--_Birmingham Daily Gazette._
"Mr. Andrews has the true art of narration, and contrives to give us
the results of his learning with considerable freshness of style,
whilst his subjects are always interesting and
picturesque."--_Manchester Courier._
"The book is of unusual interest."--_Eastern Morning News._
"Of the many clever books which Mr. Andrews has written none does
him greater credit than 'England in the Days of Old,' and none will
be read with greater profit."--_Northern Gazette._
"Valuable and interesting."--_The Times._
"Readable as well as instructive."--_The Globe._
"A valuable addition to any library."--_Derbyshire Times._
* * * * *
The Bygone Series.
In this series the following volumes are included, and issued at 7s. 6d.
each. Demy 8vo., cloth gilt.
These books have been favourably reviewed in the leading critical
journals of England and America.
Carefully written articles by recognised authorities are included on
history, castles, abbeys, biography, romantic episodes, legendary lore,
traditional stories, curious customs, folk-lore, etc., etc.
The works are illustrated by eminent artists, and by the reproduction of
quaint pictures of the olden time.
BYGONE BERKSHIRE, edited by Rev. P. H. Ditchfield, M.A., F.S.A.
BYGONE CHESHIRE, edited by William Andrews.
BYGONE DEVONSHIRE, by the Rev. Hilderic Friend.
BYGONE DURHAM, edited by William Andrews.
BYGONE GLOUCESTERSHIRE, edited by William Andrews.
BYGONE HERTFORDSHIRE, edited by William Andrews.
BYGONE LEICESTERSHIRE, edited by William Andrews.
BYGONE LINCOLNSHIRE (2 vols), edited by William Andrews.
BYGONE MIDDLESEX, edited by William Andrews.
BYGONE NORFOLK, edited by William Andrews.
BYGONE NORTHUMBERLAND, edited by William Andrews.
BYGONE NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, by William Stevenson.
BYGONE SCOTLAND, by David Maxwell, C.E.
BYGONE SOMERSETSHIRE, edited by Cuming Walters.
BYGONE SOUTHWARK, by Mrs. E. Boger.
BYGONE SUFFOLK, edited by Cuming Walters.
BYGONE SURREY, edited by George Clinch and S. W. Kershaw, F.S.A.
BYGONE SUSSEX, by W. E. A. Axon.
BYGONE WARWICKSHIRE, edited by William Andrews.
BYGONE YORKSHIRE, edited by William Andrews.
* * * * *
Literary Byways.
BY WILLIAM ANDREWS.
_Demy 8vo., cloth gilt, 7s. 6d._
CONTENTS:--Authors at Work--The Earnings of Authors--"Declined with
Thanks"--Epigrams on Authors--Poetical Graces--Poetry on Panes--English
Folk Rhymes--The Poetry of Toast Lists and Menu Cards--Toasts and
Toasting--Curious American Old Time Gleanings--The Earliest American
Poetess: Anne Bradstreet--A Playful Poet: Miss Catherine Fanshawe--A
Popular Song Writer: Mrs. John Hunter--A Poet of the Poor: Mary
Pyper--The Poet of the Fisher-Folk: Mrs. Susan K. Phillips--A Poet and
Novelist of the People: Thomas Miller--The Cottage Countess--The
Compiler of "Old Moore's Almanack": Henry Andrews--James Nayler, the Mad
Quaker, who claimed to be the Messiah--A Biographical Romance: Swan's
Strange Story--Short Letters--Index.
"An interesting volume."--_Church Bells._
"Turn where you will, there is information and entertainment in this
book."--_Birmingham Daily Gazette._
"The volume is most enjoyable."--_Perthshire Advertiser._
"The volume consists of entertaining chapters written in a chatty
style."--_Daily Advertiser._
"A readable volume about authors and books.... Like Mr. Andrews's
other works, the book shows wide out-of-the-way reading."--_Glasgow
Herald._
"Dull after-dinner speakers should be compelled to peruse this
volume, and ornament their orations and per-orations with its
gems."--_Sunday Times._
"An entertaining volume.... No matter where the book is opened, the
reader will find some amusing and instructive matter."--_Dundee
Advertiser._
"Readable and entertaining."--_Notes and Queries._
"Mr. Andrews delights in the production of the pleasant, gossipy
order of books. He is well qualified, indeed, to do so, for he is
painstaking in the collection of interesting literary facts,
methodical in setting them forth, and he loves books with genuine
ardour."--_Aberdeen Free Press._
"We heartily commend this volume to the attention of readers who are
in any way interested in literature."--_Scots Pictorial._
* * * * *
The Church Treasury of History, Custom, Folk-Lore, etc.
EDITED BY WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.
_Demy 8vo., 7s. 6d. Numerous Illustrations._
CONTENTS:--Stave-Kirks--Curious Churches of Cornwall--Holy
Wells--Hermits and Hermit Cells--Church Wakes--Fortified
Church Towers--The Knight Templars: their Churches and their
Privileges--English Mediæval Pilgrimages--Pilgrims' Signs--Human Skin on
Church Doors--Animals of the Church in Wood, Stone, and Bronze--Queries
in Stones--Pictures in Churches--Flowers and the Rites of the
Church--Ghost Layers and Ghost Laying--Church Walks--Westminster
Wax-Works--Index. Numerous Illustrations.
"It is a work that will prove interesting to the clergy and
churchmen generally, and to all others who have an antiquarian turn
of mind, or like to be regaled occasionally by reading old-world
customs and anecdotes."--_Church Family Newspaper._
"Mr. Andrews has given us some excellent volumes of Church lore, but
none quite so good as this. The subjects are well chosen. They are
treated brightly and with considerable detail, and they are well
illustrated.... Mr. Andrews is himself responsible for some of the
most interesting papers, but all his helpers have caught his own
spirit, and the result is a volume full of information well and
pleasantly put."--_London Quarterly Review._
"Those who seek information regarding curious and quaint relics or
customs will find much to interest them in this book. The
illustrations are good."--_Publishers' Circular._
"An excellent and entertaining book."--_Newcastle Daily Leader._
"The book will be welcome to every lover of archæological
lore."--_Liverpool Daily Post._
"The volume is of a most informing and suggestive character,
abounding in facts not easy of access to the ordinary reader, and
enhanced with illustrations of a high order of merit, and extremely
numerous."--_Birmingham Daily Gazette._
"The contents of the volume are very good."--_Leeds Mercury._
"The volume is sure to meet with a cordial reception."--_Manchester
Courier._
"A fascinating book."--_Stockport Advertiser._
"Mr. Andrews has brought together much curious matter."--_Manchester
Guardian._
"The book is a very readable one, and will receive a hearty
welcome."--_Herts. Advertiser._
"Mr. William Andrews has been able to give us a very acceptable and
useful addition to the books which deal with the curiosities of
Church lore, and for this deserves our hearty thanks. The manner in
which the book is printed and illustrated also commands our
admiration."--_Norfolk Chronicle._
* * * * *
A Book About Bells.
BY THE REV. GEO. S. TYACK, B.A.,
Author of the "Historic Dress of the Clergy," etc.
_Crown, cloth extra, 6s._
CONTENTS:--Invention of Bells--Bell Founding and Bell Founders--Dates
and Names of Bells--The Decoration of Bells--Some Noteworthy Bells--The
Loss of Old Bells--Towers and Campaniles--Bell-Ringing and
Bell-Ringers--The Church-Going Bell--Bells at Christian Festivals and
Fasts--The Epochs of Man's Life Marked by the Bells--The Blessings and
the Cursings of the Bells--Bells as Time-Markers--Secular Uses of Church
and other Bells--Small Bells, Secular and Sacred--Carillons--Belfry
Rhymes and Legends--Index of Subjects, Index of Places.
THIRTEEN FULL-PAGE PLATES.
"A most useful and interesting book.... All who are interested in
bells will, we feel confident, read it with pleasure and
profit."--_Church Family Newspaper._
"A pleasing, graceful, and scholarly book.... A handsome volume
which will be prized by the antiquary, and can be perused with
delight and advantage by the general reader."--_Notes and Queries._
"'A Book About Bells' can be heartily commended."--_Pall Mall
Gazette._
"An excellent and entertaining book, which we commend to the
attention not only of those who are specially interested in the
subject of bells, but to all lovers of quaint archæological
lore."--_Glasgow Herald._
"The book is well printed and artistic in form."--_Manchester
Courier._
"'A Book About Bells' is destined to be the work of reference on the
subject, and it ought to find a home on the shelves of every
library."--_Northern Gazette._
"The task Mr. Tyack has set himself, he has carried out admirably,
and throughout care and patient research are apparent."--_Lynn
News._
"We heartily recommend our readers to procure this volume."--_The
Churchwoman._
"An entertaining work."--_Yorkshire Post._
"'A Book About Bells' will interest almost everyone. Antiquaries
will find in it an immense store of information: but the general
reader will equally feel that it is a book well worth reading from
beginning to end."--_The News_, Edited by the Rev. Charles Bullock,
B.D.
"An excellent work."--_Stockton Herald._
"It is a well-written work, and it is sure to be popular."--_Hull
Christian Voice._
"Covers the whole field of bell-lore."--_Scotsman._
"Most interesting and finely illustrated."--_Birmingham Daily
Gazette._
* * * * *
Historic Dress of the Clergy.
BY THE REV. GEO. S. TYACK, B.A.,
Author of "The Cross in Ritual, Architecture, and Art."
_Crown, cloth extra, 3s. 6d._
The work contains thirty-three illustrations from ancient monuments,
rare manuscripts, and other sources.
"A very painstaking and very valuable volume on a subject which is
just now attracting much attention. Mr. Tyack has collected a large
amount of information from sources not available to the unlearned,
and has put together his materials in an attractive way. The book
deserves and is sure to meet with a wide circulation."--_Daily
Chronicle._
"This book is written with great care, and with an evident knowledge
of history. It is well worth the study of all who wish to be better
informed upon a subject which the author states in his preface gives
evident signs of a lively and growing interest."--_Manchester
Courier._
"Those who are interested in the Dress of the Clergy will find full
information gathered together here, and set forth in a lucid and
scholarly way."--_Glasgow Herald._
"We are glad to welcome yet another volume from the author of 'The
Cross in Ritual, Architecture, and Art.' His subject, chosen widely
and carried out comprehensively, makes this a valuable book of
reference for all classes. It is only the antiquary and the
ecclesiologist who can devote time and talents to research of this
kind, and Mr. Tyack has done a real and lasting service to the
Church of England by collecting so much useful and reliable
information upon the dress of the clergy in all ages, and offering
it to the public in such a popular form. We do not hesitate to
recommend this volume as the most reliable and the most
comprehensive illustrated guide to the history and origin of the
canonical vestments and other dress worn by the clergy, whether
ecclesiastical, academical, or general, while the excellent work in
typography and binding make it a beautiful gift-book."--_Church
Bells._
"A very lucid history of ecclesiastical vestments from Levitical
times to the present day."--_Pall Mall Gazette._
"The book can be recommended to the undoubtedly large class of
persons who are seeking information on this and kindred
subjects."--_The Times._
"The work may be read either as pastime or for instruction, and is
worthy of a place in the permanent section of any library. The
numerous illustrations, extensive contents table and index, and
beautiful workmanship, both in typography and binding, are all
features of attraction and utility."--_Dundee Advertiser._
* * * * *
The Miracle Play in England,
An Account of the Early Religious Drama.
BY SIDNEY W. CLARKE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW.
_Crown 8vo., 3s. 6d. Illustrated._
In bygone times the Miracle Play formed an important feature in the
religious life of England. To those taking an interest in the history of
the Church of England, this volume will prove useful. The author has
given long and careful study to this subject, and produced a reliable
and readable book, which can hardly fail to interest and instruct the
reader. It is a volume for general reading, and for a permanent place in
the reference library.
CONTENTS:--The Origin of Drama--The Beginnings of English Drama--The
York Plays--The Wakefield Plays--The Chester Plays--The Coventry
Plays--Other English Miracle Plays--The Production of a Miracle
Play--The Scenery, Properties, and Dresses--Appendix--The Order of the
York Plays--Extract from City Register of York, 1426--The Order of the
Wakefield Plays--The Order of the Chester Plays--The Order of the Grey
Friars' Plays at Coventry--A Miracle Play in a Puppet Show--Index.
"Mr. Clarke has chosen a most interesting subject, one that is
attractive alike to the student, the historian, and the general
reader.... A most interesting volume, and a number of quaint
illustrations add to its value."--_Birmingham Daily Gazette._
"The book should be useful to many."--_Manchester Guardian._
"An admirable work."--_Eastern Morning News._
"Mr. Sidney Clarke's concise monograph in 'The Miracle Play in
England' is another of the long and interesting series of
antiquarian volumes for popular reading issued by the same
publishing house. The author briefly sketches the rise and growth of
the 'Miracle' or 'Mystery' play in Europe and in England; and gives
an account of the series or cycle of these curious religious
dramas--the forerunners of the modern secular play--performed at
York, Wakefield, Chester, Coventry, and other towns in the middle
ages. But his chief efforts are devoted to giving a sketch of the
manner of production, and the scenery, properties, and dresses of
the old miracle play, as drawn from the minute account books of the
craft and trade guilds and other authentic records of the period.
Mr. Clarke has gone to the best sources for his information, and the
volume, illustrated by quaint cuts, is an excellent compendium of
information on a curious byeway of literature and art."--_The
Scotsman._
* * * * *
Legal Lore: Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.
EDITED BY WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S.
_Demy 8vo., Cloth extra, 7s. 6d._
CONTENTS:--Bible Law--Sanctuaries--Trials in Superstitious Ages--On
Symbols--Law Under the Feudal System--The Manor and Manor Law--Ancient
Tenures--Laws of the Forest--Trial by Jury in Old Times--Barbarous
Punishments--Trials of Animals--Devices of the Sixteenth Century
Debtors--Laws Relating to the Gipsies--Commonwealth Law and
Lawyers--Cock-Fighting in Scotland--Cockieleerie Law--Fatal
Links--Post-Mortem Trials--Island Laws--The Little Inns of
Court--Obiter.
"There are some very amusing and curious facts concerning law and
lawyers. We have read with much interest the articles on
Sanctuaries, Trials in Superstitious Ages, Ancient Tenures, Trials
by Jury in Old Times, Barbarous Punishments, and Trials of Animals,
and can heartily recommend the volume to those who wish for a few
hours' profitable diversion in the study of what may be called the
light literature of the law."--_Daily Mail._
"Most amusing and instructive reading."--_The Scotsman._
"The contents of the volume are extremely entertaining, and convey
not a little information on ancient ideas and habits of life. While
members of the legal profession will turn to the work for incidents
with which to illustrate an argument or point a joke, laymen will
enjoy its vivid descriptions of old-fashioned proceedings and often
semi-barbaric ideas to obligation and rectitude."--_Dundee
Advertiser._
"The subjects chosen are extremely interesting, and contain a
quantity of out-of-the-way and not easily accessible information....
Very tastefully printed and bound."--_Birmingham Daily Gazette._
"The book is handsomely got up; the style throughout is popular and
clear, and the variety of its contents, and the individuality of the
writers gave an added charm to the work."--_Daily Free Press._
"The book is interesting both to the general reader and the
student."--_Cheshire Notes and Queries._
"Those who care only to be amused will find plenty of entertainment
in this volume, while those who regard it as a work of reference
will rejoice at the variety of material, and appreciate the careful
indexing."--_Dundee Courier._
"Very interesting subjects, lucidly and charmingly written. The
versatility of the work assures for it a wide
popularity."--_Northern Gazette._
"A happy and useful addition to current literature."--_Norfolk
Chronicle._
"The book is a very fascinating one, and it is specially interesting
to students of history as showing the vast changes which, by gradual
course of development have been brought about both in the principles
and practice of the law."--_The Evening Gazette._
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Corrections to the Index have been made without note.
Significant changes to the text are listed below.
p. 21, 'Frazer' changed to _Fraser_.
p. 35, 'detroyed' changed to _destroyed_, 'Fictitious Capital and
False Credit destroyed.'
p. 37, '12th' changed to _15th_, 'Monday, the 15th of March.'
p. 85, 'On same night ...' changed to _On the same night ..._
p. 125, 'empanneled' changed to _empanelled_ (twice).
p. 155, 'Mr. Llewellynn Jewitt' changed to _Mr. Llewellyn Jewitt_.
p. 160, 'Dioletian' changed to _Diocletian_.
p. 271, 'Scolding-car' changed to _Scolding Cart_, 'Scolding
Cart is another name ...'
p. 294, 'described as a "a gag or brank ..."' changed to
_described as "a gag or brank ..."_
***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BYGONE PUNISHMENTS***
******* This file should be named 29117-8.txt or 29117-8.zip *******
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/9/1/1/29117
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.
*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
http://www.gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that
- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License. You must require such a user to return or
destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
Project Gutenberg-tm works.
- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
of receipt of the work.
- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
[email protected]. Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
For additional contact information:
Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director
[email protected]
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
To donate, please visit:
http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.
Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
http://www.gutenberg.org
This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
