Manchester, April 4, 1854.
Blackstone (book iv. chap. 25.) speaks of the cases in which punishment of
"peine forte et dure" was inflicted according to the ancient law. It would
occupy too great space to quote what he says on this point, and, therefore
I must refer your correspondent to his work itself, where he will also find
an inquiry into its origin. The punishment is described almost in the words
of your correspondent's quotation; thus:
"That the prisoner be remanded to the prison from whence he came, and
be put into a low, dark chamber; and there be laid on his back, on the
bare floor, naked, unless where decency forbids, that there be placed
upon his body as great a weight of iron as he could bear, and more;
that he have no sustenance, save only, on the first day, three morsels
of the worst bread, and, on the second day, three draughts of standing
water, that should be nearest to the prison door; and in this situation
this should be alternately his daily diet, _till he died_, or (as
anciently the judgment ran) till he answered."
Blackstone farther intimates that this punishment was abolished by statute
12 Geo. III. c. 20., which shows, of course, that it continued to be
according to law for more than thirty years after the date mentioned by
ABHBA.