(_For the Mirror_.)
Impoysonments, so ordinarily in Italy, are so abominable amongst English,
as 21 Henry VIII. it was made high treason, though since repealed; after
which the punishment for it was to be put alive into a caldron of water,
and then boiled to death; at present it is felony without benefit of
clergy.
If a criminal indicted of petit treason, or felony, refuseth to answer or
to put himself upon a legal tryal, then for such standing mute and
contumacy, he is presently to undergo that horrible punishment called
_Peine forte et dure_; that is, to be sent back to the prison from whence
he came, and there laid in some low, dark room, upon the bare ground, on
his back, all naked, his arms and legs drawn with cords, fastened to the
several corners of the room; then shall be laid upon his body, iron and
stone, so much as he may bear, or more; the next day he shall have three
morsels of barley bread without drink, and the third day shall have drink
of the water next to the prison door, except it be running water, without
bread; and this shall be his diet till he die. Which grievous kind of
death some stout fellows have sometimes chosen, that so not being tryed
and convicted of their crimes, their estates may not be forfeited to the
king, but descend to their children, nor their blood stained.
Perjury, by bearing false witness upon oath, is punished with the pillory,
called _Callistrigium_, burnt in the forehead with a P, his trees growing
upon his ground to be rooted up, and his goods confiscated.