(Vol. ii., pp. 182. 316.)
Your correspondent S. R. will find that in Ireland, as well as in
England, the custom prevailed, during the reign of Elizabeth, of
inflicting a punishment for various crimes, by the public exposure of
the delinquents with papers about their heads. The following "sentence"
for adultery, which has been transcribed from the _Book of the
Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Causes_ (deposited amongst the records
of the Court of Exchequer in Ireland, 1570-1574, p. 22.), goes so fully
into detail, that it may supply to S. R. the graphic account which he
requires:--
"First, that he (Henry Hunchcliffe) shall not come into, nor kepe,
nor use the company of Constance Kyng hereafter, and shalbe bounde
to the same effecte in a bond of recognizance of a 100_l._,
otherwise to be committed to prison; there to be kept in such sort
that neyther he to hir, nor she to him, shall have access in
anywise. Secondlie, that upon Saterdaie next enseweing at ix of
the clocke in the mornyng, he, the said Eyland, _alias_
Hunchcliffe, shall come unto the crosse in the highe strete of
Dublin, having on a white shete from his sholders downe to the
ground, rounde aboute him, and a paper about his head whereupon
shalbe written _for adultery leavyng his wife in England alyve and
marryeng w'th an other here_, and a white wande in his hand, and
then and there goe up unto the highest staire of the crosse, and
there sitte duryng all the time of the markette untill yt be
ended; and furder decreed that Constance Kyng shall not hereafter
in anywise resort or have accesse unto him, or kepe him company,
and to performe the same they toke hir othe w'ch she gave upon the
holie evangelists; and furder, after y't Hunchcliffe hath done his
penance as above they decreed he shold goe to prison againe, there
to remayne and abide untill y't shall please the commissioners to
take furder order in this cause."
The book contains other entries of a similar kind.