=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]
"He'll be hang'd yet,
Though every drop of water swear against it,
And gape at wid'st to glut him."
=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,--
"Since laws were made for every degree,
To curb vice in others as well as in me,
I wonder we ha'n't better company
Upon Tyburn tree."
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
"Sport
To see the engineer hoist by his own petard;"
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]