_Irish Law in the Eighteenth Century._--I send, for the information of the
readers of "N. & Q.," the following extract from Reilly's _Dublin News
Letter_, Aug. 9, 1740:
"Last week, at the assizes of Kilkenny, a fellow who was to be tried
for robbery not pleading, a jury was appointed to try whether he was
wilfully mute, or by the hands of God; and they giving a verdict that
he was wilfully mute, he was condemned to be pressed to death. He
accordingly suffered on Wednesday, pursuant to his sentence, which was
as follows: that the criminal shall be confined in some low dark room,
where he shall be laid on his back, with no covering except round his
loins, and shall have as much weight laid upon him as he can bear, and
more; that he shall have nothing to live upon but the worst bread and
water; and the day that he eats, he shall not drink; and the day that
he drinks, he shall not eat; and so shall continue till he dies."
Is it to be believed that, so late as the 1740, such barbarity (to call it
nothing worse) was practised according to law within the limits of Great
Britain and Ireland? I would be glad to hear from some correspondent upon
the subject.