Walter K. Kelly

He that is born to be hanged will never be drowned.

The water will ne'er waur the woodie.—Scotch.

That is, the water will never defraud the gallows of its due. Gonzago, in The Tempest, says of the boatswain, "I have great comfort from this fellow; methinks he hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good fate, to his hanging! Make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage. If he be not born to be hanged our case is miserable."

The Danes say, "He that is to be hanged will never be drowned, unless the water goes over the gallows."[695] Such punctilious accuracy in fixing the limits of the proposition considerably enhances its grim humour. There is a fine touch of ghastly horror in its Dutch equivalent, "What belongs to the raven does not drown."[696] The platform on which criminals were executed and gibbeted was called, in the picturesque language of the middle ages, the "ravenstone." "He that is to die by the gallows may dance on the river" (Italian).[697]

Give a thief rope enough and he'll hang himself.

Every fox must pay his own skin to the flayer.

Air day or late day, the tod's [fox's] hide finds aye the flaying knife.—Scotch.

In spite of all his cunning the rogue will soon or late come to a bad end. "Foxes find themselves at last at the furrier's" (French).[698] "No mad dog runs seven years" (Dutch).[699]

Hanging goes by hap.

If a man is hanged it is a sign that he was pre-destined to that end. "The gallows was made for the unlucky" (Spanish).[700] It is not always a man's fault so much as his misfortune that he dies of a hempen fever. As Captain Macheath sings,—

But "Money does not get hanged" (German).[701] It sits on the judgment-seat, and sends poor rogues to the hulks or to Jack Ketch. As it was in the days of Diogenes the cynic, so it is now: "Great thieves hang petty thieves" (French);[702] and, whilst "Petty thieves are hanged, people take off their hats to great ones" (German).[703]

First hang and draw,

Then hear the cause by Lidford law.

Ray informs us that "Lidford is a little and poor but ancient corporation in Devonshire, with very large privileges, where a Court of Stannaries was formerly kept." The same sort of expeditious justice was practised in Scotland and in Spain, as testified by proverbs of both countries. At Peralvillo the Holy Brotherhood used to execute in this manner robbers taken in the fact, or "red-hand," as the Scotch forcibly expressed it. Hence the Spanish saying, "Peralvillo justice: after the man is hanged try him."[704] The Scotch equivalent for this figures with dramatic effect in that scene of The Fair Maid of Perth where Black Douglas has just discovered the murder of the Prince of Rothsay, and exclaims,—

"'Away with the murderers! hang them over the battlements!'

"'But, my lord, some trial may be fitting,' answered Balveny.

"'To what purpose?' answered Douglas. 'I have taken them red-hand; my authority will stretch to instant execution. Yet stay: have we not some Jedwood men in our troop?'

"'Plenty of Turnbulls, Rutherfords, Ainslies, and so forth,' said Balveny.

"'Call me an inquest of these together; they are all good men and true, save a little shifting for their living. Do you see to the execution of these felons, while I hold a court in the great hall, and we'll try whether the jury or the provost-martial shall do their work first: we will have

Jedwood justice—hang in haste, and try at leisure.'"

He that invented the "maiden" first hanselled it.—Scotch.

This was the Regent Morton, who was the first man beheaded by an instrument of his own invention, called the "maiden." His enemies thought it was

and even those who pitied him felt that "no law was juster than that the artificers of death should perish by their own art."[705]

If he has no gear to tine, he has shins to pine.—Scotch.

That is, if he has not wealth to lose, or means to pay a fine, he must be clapped in the stocks or in fetters. "He that has no money must pay with his skin" (German).[706] "Where there is no money there is no forgiveness of sins" (German).[707]