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 L10,000. 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 L500, 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 L20
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
L12 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 "Archaeological 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."