[13] Of justice, in that earth should be returned to earth, and dust to dust, for what could be more just than to restore to mother earth her children, ... that she might at last receive them again into her bosom, and afford them lodging till the resurrection? The ancients also thought it an act of mercy to hide the dead in the earth, that the organs of such divine souls might not be torn and devoured by wild beasts, birds, &c. T. Greenhill, “???????????,” p. 33.
[14] Dryden’s “Translation”—Æneid, lib. ix. v. 901.
Nullum in coede nefas nec sic ad proelia veni Nec tecum meus hÆc pepigit mihi foedera Lausus Unum hoc, per, si qua est victis venia hostibus oro; Corpus humo patiare tegi: scio acerba meorum Circumstare odia: hunc, oro, defende furorem, Et me consortem nati concede sepulchro.
[15] Dryden’s “Translation”—Æneid, lib. xii. v. 935.
Et me, seu corpus spoliatum lumine mavis, Redde meis.
Non lethum timeo, genus aut miserabile lethi: Demite naufragium; mors mihi munus erit. Est aliquid fatove suo, ferrore cadentem In solida moriens, ponere corpus humo: Est mandata suis aliquid sperare sepulchra, Et non Æquoreis piscibus esse cibum.
[22] Chauncy, “History of Hertfordshire,” vol. ii. p. 274.
[23] F. A. Gasquet, “Henry VIII. and the Monasteries,” vol. ii. p. 164.
[24] The Chancellor’s Roll states that the cost of Wallace’s execution, and transmitting the quarters to Scotland, was 61s. 10d. “He was take and broute onto London, hanged, and drawn, and quartered; his hed sette on London brigge; his body dyvyded in iiij quarteres and sent to foure tounes in Scotland” (Capgrave’s “Chronicles”). Wallace was hung, cut down alive, opened, his bowels, &c., burnt, beheaded, and finally quartered. Newcastle had his brave right arm, the left went to Berwick, Perth received the right leg, and Aberdeen the left. Thus the patriot was broken up.
[25] “Enormiter, pertitiose, et crudeliter, sine judicio et responsione, suspensus, distractus, et in quatuor partes divisus fuit; et in nostra ecclesia diu postea sepultus” (Tewkesbury Register).
[26] The battle of Shrewsbury was fought July 21, 1403, and the four quarters of Hotspur were divided between London, Shrewsbury, Chester, and Newcastle. York had the head. Four months later, namely, November 3rd., a writ was directed to the mayor and sheriffs of York, as follows:—
“The King to the Mayor and Sheriffs of the city of York, greeting.—Whereas of our special grace we have granted to our Cousin Elizabeth, who was the wife of Henry de Percy, Chivalier, the head and quarters of the same Henry to be buried: We command you that the head aforesaid, placed by our command upon the gate of the city aforesaid, you deliver to the same Elizabeth, to be buried according to our grant aforesaid. Witness the king at Cirencester, this 3rd day of November.”
By writ of Privy Seal:—
“The King to the Mayor and Sheriff of the town of Newcastle-on-Tyne, greeting.—Whereas (&c., &c., as above) you deliver to the said Elizabeth a certain quarter of the said Henry placed upon the gate” (&c., &c., as above).
Similar writs were directed to the Mayor and Bailiffs of Chester, and to the authorities at Shrewsbury for other several quarters of the same Henry, and to the Abbot of Shrewsbury a writ was addressed directing him to bury the body of Hotspur, thus again brought together, in his church of St. Peter at Shrewsbury. The fourth quarter, that sent to distant London, does not appear to have been forthcoming, for reasons which will be apparent. See Rev. C. H. Hartshorne’s “Feudal and Military Antiquities of Northumberland and the Scottish Borders,” p. 296.
[28] The total number arraigned was 382; by lot this was reduced to 127, the total number condemned to death being 86. Lords Balmerino and Kilmarnock were beheaded for “the —45,” August 18, 1746. They behaved with much dignity and fortitude. The former expressed his wish to Lord Kilmarnock, just before the execution, that he wished he could suffer for them both; noblesse oblige, even on the scaffold. By their particular request their heads were not severally held up and exposed by the executioner with the usual formula—“This is the head of a traitor.” But the sheriffs directed that everybody on the scaffold should kneel down, so that the people might see the execution itself performed—a ceremony never practised before. (“Account of the Behaviour,” &c., by T. Forde, a gentleman then present, 1746.)
[29] De la Croix, “Jersey, Ses AntiquitÉs, Ses Institutions, Son Histoire,” vol. iii. pp. 342, 343.
[43] “Quand l’Empereur Charles y fit son entrÉe; les gens de cette ville-lÀ lui voulurent faire tout l’honneur qu’ils purent. Et faisant de belle faÇons d’arcades, chapeaux de triomphes, poiteaux et telles magnificences, ils s’aviserent d’un pendu qui Était À la porte de la ville et principale entrÉe. Ils ÔtÈrent À ce pendu sa chemise sale, et lui en mirent une blanche pour faire honneur À Monsieur l’Empereur” (Le Moyen de Parvenir: contenant la raison de tout ce qui a ÉtÉ, est et sera. Nulle Part., 1000700504, vol. ii. p. 249).
[45] Witch-Finder General, under a commission from Parliament in the reign of Charles I. He hung threescore suspected witches in one year in Suffolk under most wicked and degrading circumstances.
[46] Rev. S. Baring-Gould, “Yorkshire Oddities,” vol. i. p. 56.
[47] “Notes and Queries,” 1874, vol. i. p. 35. Fifth Series.
[48] It may be recalled that Defoe published, anonymously, in 1725, a most interesting and vivid account of the conduct, proceedings, and capture of the pirate Gow and his buccaneer crew.
[49] J. L. Cherry, “Stafford” in Olden Times, p. 80.
“Mute The camel labours with the heaviest load, And the wolf dies in silence. Not bestowed In vain should such examples be: if they, Things of ignoble or of savage mood, Endure and shrink not, we, of nobler clay, May temper it to bear.”
“Childe Harold,” iv. 21.
[51] High Treason, as defined by the Statute of 25 Edward III. (1351), is divided by Blackstone into seven distinct branches. The first is “compassing or imagining the death of the King, the Queen, or their eldest son and heir.” 2. “Violating the King’s companion, or the King’s eldest daughter unmarried, or the wife of the King’s eldest son and heir.” 3. “Levying war against the King in his realm.” 4. “Adhering to the King’s enemies in his realm, or elsewhere.” 5. “Counterfeiting the King’s great or privy seal.” 6. “Counterfeiting the King’s money.” 7. “Slaying the chancellor, treasurer, or any of the King’s justices, being in their places, doing their offices.” (Blackstone’s, Comm. vol. iv. p. 76).
Petit Treason is aggravated murder, according to the same Statute; and may happen in three ways: 1. “By a servant killing his master.” 2. “By a wife killing her husband.” 3. “By an ecclesiastic killing his superior.” (Blackstone, ib. p. 202).
[52] A Regency of Lords Justices administered the government during the numerous absences of the King in Hanover.
[53] “Sussex ArchÆological Collections,” vol. xxiii. p. 215.
“Ale makes many a man reel over the fallows; Ale makes many a man to swear by God and All-Hallows; Ale makes many a man to hang upon the gallows— With dole.”
“Songs and Carols.” Edited by Thomas Wright. Percy Society, 1847.
[80] In consequence of the rarity of representations of gibbets, it may be desirable to mention other examples in the works of Thomas Bewick, “British Birds,” Edit. 1832, vol. i. In a tailpiece to the account of the Alpine Vulture, p. 53, a gibbet is shown in the distance. Tailpiece to the Introduction to the Shrike, p. 74—a moonlight scene, with a gibbet in the distance; in the foreground a scared old man is terrified by trees and rocks whose forms assume hob-goblin shapes. Tailpiece to the account of the Chatterer, p. 105—Satan sits upon a rock, smoking a pipe, a gibbet in the distance. Tailpiece to the account of the Whitethroat, p. 261—a gibbet in the distance. “Quadrupeds,” first Edit., 1790. Tailpiece to the account of the Arctic Fox, p. 274—a gibbet in the distance; in the foreground two boys hanging a dog. Tailpiece to the account of the Opossum, p. 375—a gibbet in the distance; in the foreground two boys belabouring a donkey.
[81] “Notes and Queries,” 1872, vol. x. p. 332. Fourth Series.
“There is a dungeon, in whose dim, drear light What do I gaze on?... An old man and a female young and fair, Fresh as a nursing mother, in whose vein The blood is nectar. Here youth offers to old age the food, The milk of his own gift.... It is her sire To whom she renders back the debt of blood.... Drink, drink and live, old man; heaven’s realm holds no such tide.”
“Childe Harold,” iv. st. 148.
[84] There is a very circumstantial story of one Ambrose Gwinnett, who, according to his own statement, was hung, and hung in chains at Deal in 1709, and came to life again, and escaped to Florida. But, what is more extraordinary still, he fell in with the very man he was supposed to have murdered, survived him for many years, and long swept the way at Charing Cross. The whole thing is in print, and many people are apt to think that what is “in print” must be true. See “The Life and Strange Voyages and Uncommon Adventures of Ambrose Gwinnett.” London, 1771.
[88] Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Report., App. 158, quoted in “Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries,” p. 260, by F. A. Gasquet.
[89] “I saw also that he looked this way and that way, as if he would run; yet he stood still, because (as I perceived) he could not tell which way to go.” (“The Pilgrim’s Progress,” chap. i.)
[93] “Notes and Queries,” 1873, vol. x. p. 125. Fourth Series.
[94]See “Proceedings, Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-on-Tyne,” iii. pp. 263, 308. Sykes’s “Local Records,” ii. pp. 365, 388.—Information from Mr. R. Blair.
