Towards the year 1808 a man named Thomas Otter, _alias_ “Tom Temporal,”
was hung at Lincoln for the murder of a woman with whom he cohabited
there. It appears that she had followed him when returning into
Nottinghamshire where his wife lived. At the junction of the two
counties he turned on her, like a wild beast, and slew her--in a
lane near Saxilby, still called “Gibbet Lane”--and flung the body
into a drain dividing the two counties. Not exactly knowing which
way to go at the moment,[89] the bewildered miscreant fled back as
quickly as he could to Lincoln, was captured, and nearly proved an
_alibi_ at the trial. But he was convicted and executed, and hung in
chains on the fatal spot. This custom had then, fortunately, fallen
somewhat into disuse; but even desuetude had its drawbacks, for crowds
came to see the spectacle,--just as all Sheffield and Rotherham
flocked to the gibbet of that famous highwayman, Spence Broughton,
on Attercliffe Common in 1792, and a stall with that curious cloying
refreshment--gingerbread--was set up, after the English rural fashion.
Subsequently some inquiring tomtits were attracted, and made their
nest, and hatched seven young ones, in the upper part of the iron frame
where the head was fixed; and a local poet, in the fulness of his
heart, produced the following riddle:--
“10 tongues in one head,
9 living and one dead,
I flew forth to fetch some bread,
To feed the living in the dead.”
(Answer) “The tomtit that built in Tommy Otter’s head.”
Years after, our informant,[90] riding in Gibbet Lane, came to the
gibbet and saw bones and rags of clothing lying upon the ground, and
the skull remaining in the iron headpiece. Parts of these irons are now
preserved at Doddington Hall, near Lincoln.
Another courteous correspondent[91] informs us that nearly seventy
years ago, in Malta, on the occasion of a public festival, the body
of one of two brothers, between whom a feud had long existed, was
found murdered. Circumstantial evidence pointed so strongly to the
survivor as the assassin that he was tried, condemned, and executed. In
accordance with the Code Rohan, the right hand was separated from the
body, and gibbeted in an iron cage. Some years had passed by when a man
dying in the Civil Hospital confessed himself to be the murderer; he
earnestly begged that something might be done to remove the stain from
the memory of the blameless brother, and presently passed away. The
gibbeted hand was now lowered and followed to a grave by an impulsive
multitude in sobs and tears, uttering prayers and entreaties for the
repose of the soul of the innocent victim, and trusting that the
ordeal of martyrdom through which he had passed in this world might
prove to him a crown of glory in the next.
The same correspondent vividly recalls the bodies of pirates hung in
chains on the walls of the fort of Ricasoli, at the entrance to the
harbour of the island of Malta, as seen by him in 1822.
“A Lady Pioneer” describes an ancient rusty cage, here illustrated,
seen hanging from a tree by a friend in Eastern Bengal. This was said
to have been used as a punishment for dacoits, the tradition being that
they were hung up alive.[92] The shape and careful manufacture almost
seem to bear this out. In the Asiatic Society’s Museum at Calcutta an
iron apparatus for the same purpose is preserved. Another exists in
Jamaica, and to both the same legend is attached.[93]
[Illustration: IRON CAGE IN EASTERN BENGAL.
(_From an engraving in “The Indian Alps.”_)]
In the year 1827 a chimney-sweep committed a murder on the high
road near Brigg, and was tried at Lincoln. It so happened that the
new Assize Courts were then being erected, and the Dean and Chapter
lent their majestic Chapter House for the trial. This building was
temporarily fitted up as a criminal court, the trial took place in it,
and lasted all day, and in the deepening gloom, under the shadow of St.
Hugh’s great minster, Judge Best sentenced the prisoner to death, and
ordered the body to be hung in chains on the spot where the crime was
committed. It is well remembered, by a gentleman who was present, what
a strange, solemn, and striking scene it was. The inhabitants of Brigg
petitioned against the gibbeting, on account of the scene of the murder
being so very near the town, and this horror was accordingly remitted.
In 1832, on the occasion of a pitmen’s strike at Shields, Mr. Nicholas
Fairles was the only resident magistrate, and, as such, had to take
active steps to preserve the peace. On June 11th he was riding to
Jarrow Colliery when he was attacked and pulled from his horse by
two men, and so ill-treated that he died on the 21st. One of the men
escaped, the other, William Jobling, was taken, tried at Durham, and
hung on August 3rd. The body was escorted by soldiers to Jarrow Slake,
stripped, covered with pitch, and reclothed. It was then carefully
encased in a framework of iron,--the face being wrapped in a white
cloth,--and hung on a gibbet twenty-one feet high and bound with iron
bands. The post was fixed into a stone of one and a half tons’ weight
which was sunk into the Slake about a hundred yards within high-water
mark, and nearly opposite the spot where the murder was committed.
Jobling’s gibbet was covered for about five feet up by the high tide.
During the dark night of August 31st the body was stolen away, and is
said to have been buried in the south-west corner of Jarrow churchyard.
It is a curious coincidence that while these pages have been passing
through the press Jobling’s widow has died (April 14, 1891) at the
great age of ninety-six. Thus the last personal link with the Gibbet
has been severed.[94]
The last example of hanging in chains:--
“Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,”[95]
is that of a man named Cook, a bookbinder, who murdered Mr. Paas, with
the iron handle of his press, at Leicester, in 1834. He was sentenced
to death, and the body ordered to be gibbeted. This was done in Saffron
Lane, outside the town, and the disgraceful scene around the gibbet, as
described by an eye-witness, was like a fair. A Dissenter mounted upon
a barrel and preached to the people, who only ridiculed him, and the
general rioting soon led to an order for the removal of the body.[96]
In the same year (4 William IV.) Hanging in Chains was abolished by
statute. The irons which proved so strong a magnet are now preserved in
Leicester Gaol.
Finally, an accomplished Northamptonshire antiquary[97] informs us
that many years ago he came to a lone hill at Elsdon, near Morpeth, in
Northumberland, and found a gibbet with a wooden head hanging from it;
this still exists. It seems that the murderer, whose crime it recorded,
William Winter, who slew Margaret Crozier, in 1791, sat down to his
lunch in a sheep-fold, and a curious shepherd-boy abstractedly counted
the nails in his boots, and noticed his peculiar knife, and this led to
his apprehension. The wooden head is a memorial of the savage past, a
relic of “the good old times,” which we may truly rejoice to think have
passed away for ever.
We have now dealt with some of the changeless passions in what the
immortal Castaway calls “that strange chequer-work of Providence,
the life of man.” We have traversed the gory path of dishonour from
end to end, at times with wide steps, a way often obscure, and ever
slippery with blood. It has not been necessary to go to mendacious
chroniclers, or scandalous diaries, for this story of man’s high nature
in some of its degradations, for we have, verily, as in the “Visions
of Mirza,”[98] essayed to cross the bridge over the Vale of Misery; we
have “unloaded all the gibbets, and pressed the dead bodies.”[99]
It has been impossible to treat of such a ghastly subject--of which
the horrors seem to burn themselves into the mind--without a certain
amount of ghastliness; indeed, without the plea of attempting to throw
a ray of light into some of these dark corners of history, we should
almost have flinched from bringing forward these melancholy topics,
making sensibility shudder, and which our readers may, perchance, find
it a pleasure to forget. And in imagination we already hear the cry--
“Vex not his ghost: O, let him pass! he hates him
That would upon the rack of this tough world
Stretch him out longer.”[100]
THE END.
NOTE.--Any notice of Gibbets in England would be incomplete without a
reference to the _Halifax Gibbet_. This instrument of speedy but rough
justice resembles the _Guillotine_. It remained in use until 1650, and
records exist showing how numerous were the sufferers under its swift
blade. The Earl of Morton, passing through Halifax about the middle
of the sixteenth century, witnessed an execution, and is said to have
been so much pleased with it that he had a similar machine made for
Scotland, where he was Regent. It long remained unused under the name
of “The Maiden.” But on June 3, 1587, the Regent was himself executed
by it. Thus, as we have it in Hudibras, he “made a rod for his own
breech.” The Maiden is now preserved in the Museum of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland, at Edinburgh.--_See_ “Halifax and its Gibbet
Law,” &c., 1756.
_INDEX._
Achæus, his end, 9.
Alfric, Archbishop, Vocabulary of, 13.
Amasa, fate of, 5.
Anastatius, Saint, martyrdom of, 12.
Anglo-Saxons, the; use of gallows with, 13.
Azariah, burial of, 1.
Baker, the Chief, fate of, 4.
Bewick, his woodcuts, 87;
his representations of the gibbet, 89, 91.
Boiling and quartering, example of, 100.
Brunne, Robert, 14.
Chains--_see_ Hanging in.
Chettle, on hanging alive in chains, 97.
Coligny, hung on gibbet of Montfaucon, 40.
Colman, Saint, martyrdom of, 12.
Constable, Sir Robert, 16.
Cross, the, the gibbet, 6, 9;
the Christian emblem, 11.
David, burial in city of, 1.
Despencers, the, execution and quartering of, 19;
burial of their remains, _ib._
Douai, gibbet at, 51.
Dreghorn, Lord, on hanging in chains in Scotland, 29.
Egyptians, the, their treatment of the bodies of criminals, 4.
Etruscans, their gibbeting on a cross, 9.
Ferreolus, Saint, martyrdom of, 12.
_Fourches Patibulaires_, 31.
Furca (Gibbet), use of, with the Romans, 11.
Galga (Gallows), use of, with the Anglo-Saxons, 13.
Gallows and Gibbet, difference between, in England, 25;
in France, _ib._
Gallows, the, in England, 14;
in Scotland, 29, 30;
in France,--_fourches patibulaires_,--31;
their monumental character, 32;
in Spain, 42;
in Holland, 46;
at Douai, 51.
Germans, the, punishments with, 26.
Gibbet of Montfaucon, description of, 33;
mode of operation, 35;
ancient poetry concerning it, 38;
of Montigny, 39;
in England, 74;
effect on travellers and traffic, _ib._;
of Halifax, 114.
Gibbet riddle, 104.
Gibbeting of animals, in France, 40;
in Holland, 45.
Gloucester, Robert of, 14.
Gower, John, 16.
Halifax, gibbet of, 114.
Hand gibbeted in Malta, 105.
Hanging in chains:--At Easthampstead, 15;
at Hull, 16;
at York, _ib._;
in Jersey, 22;
in England, 1631--the usual custom, 27;
in Scotland, 1637, 29;
near Edinburgh, 1688, 30;
noticed in the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” 49;
at Bourne, Cambridgeshire, 53;
at Hampstead, 54;
near Rugby, _ib._;
at Cawood, near York, 55;
near London, 58;
in the Orkneys, 61;
by petition, 64;
at Rye, 66;
at Carlisle, _ib._;
at Rake, Sussex, 67;
at Long Marston, Buckinghamshire, 69;
first legally recognized, 70;
terror evoked at prospect of, 72;
preparation of the body for, 73;
Thames Pirates, 75, 78;
in Epping Forest, _ib._;
near Penrith, 80;
at Tring, 81;
near Wetheral, Cumberland, _ib._;
on Brandon Sands, double gibbet, 82;
near Belper, triple gibbet, 83;
near Chester, 84;
near Warrington, 85;
near Chester, double gibbet, _ib._;
near Midhurst, 86;
examples illustrated by Bewick, 90, 91;
near East Dereham, 93;
near Durham, 95;
at Deal, 96;
near Lincoln, 103;
near Sheffield, _ib._;
in Malta, 106;
in Bengal, _ib._;
at Calcutta, 107;
in Jamaica, _ib._;
ordered near Brigg, but remitted, 108;
on Jarrow Slake, _ib._;
near Leicester, last example of, 110;
abolition of, by Statute, _ib._;
wooden head in memoriam, near Morpeth, 111.
Hanging alive in chains, fable of, 94;
statements of Hollingshed and Chettle, 97;
the fiction examined, and set aside, 99.
Hector, his desire for burial, 8.
High Treason:--Punishment for, 16;
description of, 18;
Statute of 1351, _ib._;
first example of, 1241, _ib._;
Wallace, _ib._;
the Despencers, 19;
Hotspur, _ib._;
executions for “the --45,” 21;
pardon of five gentlemen for, 1447, 22;
definition of, 63;
Jemmy Dawson, 79.
Hollingshed, on hanging alive in chains, 97.
Hotspur, execution and quartering of, 19;
the remains again brought together, _ib._
Jehoiakim, denunciation of, 3.
Jeremiah, prophecy of, 3.
Jersey, hangings in chains in, 22.
Jews, the, treatment of their dead, 4.
Jotham, burial of, 1.
Justice, La, La Grande, 32.
Kerrich, Mr., his sketches, 82.
Leoninus, Albertus, on suicide with the Romans, 10.
Lincoln, the Chapter House at, a criminal court, 107.
Malta, a hand gibbeted, 105;
pirates at, 106.
Marise, William, a pirate, 1241, 18.
Medecis, Catherine de, views Coligny on the gibbet of Montfaucon, 40.
Mezentius, his desire for burial, 7.
Montfaucon, gibbet of, 33.
Montigny, gibbet of, 39.
Norfolk, Duke of, 16.
Northern Rising, 1536, 16.
Northampton, behaviour at, 76.
Our Saviour, gibbeted, 11.
Peine forte et dure, 61, 62.
“Pilgrim’s Progress,” the, hangings in chains in, 49.
Piracy in the Orkneys, 60.
Pirates gibbeted, in Jersey, 22;
on the Thames, 75, 78;
in Malta, 106.
Preacher, the, on lack of burial, 4.
Quartering:--At Carlisle in 1536, 16;
of a pirate, in 1241, 18;
of Wallace, _ib._;
the Despencers, 19;
Hotspur, _ib._;
for “the --45,” 21.
Rack, the, 62.
Rizpah, watches of, 5, 6.
Rhodez, Count of, his seizing of justice, 31.
Robbing the mail, 83, 85, 86.
Romans, the, their dread of exposure, 9;
their use of the furca, or gibbet, 11;
their laws as to gibbeting, 72.
Saints, gibbeted, 12.
Smugglers, gibbeted, 67.
Standing Mute, 61, 62.
Statute of Westminster the First, 1277, 14;
of treason, of Edward III., 1351, 18;
of George II., 1752, 70, 72;
of William IV., 1834, 110.
Tarquinius Priscus, orders gibbeting on a cross, 9.
Thames Pirates, 75;
chains of, _ib._
Villon (Corbeuil), his poetry on the gibbet of Montfaucon, 38.
Vincent, Saint, martyrdom of, 12.
Voltaire, his gallows at Ferney, 31.
Wallace, execution and quartering of, 18.
Weever, on punishment for treason, murder, &c., 27;
on hanging in chains, _ib._
Witchcraft, 68.
Women, punishment of, in England, 52;
in France, 53.
UNWIN BROTHERS, PRINTERS, CHILWORTH AND LONDON.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Psa. cxxvii. 2.
[2] Deut. xxi. 22, 23.
[3] Jer. xxii. 19.
[4] Jer. xix. 7.
[5] Deut. xxviii. 26.
[6] Jer. viii. 2.
[7] Jer. xxxvi. 30.
[8] Eccles. vi. 3.
[9] Gen. xl. 19.
[10] 2 Sam. xxi. 10.
[11] 2 Sam. xx. 12.
[12] Smith’s “Dict. of the Bible,” s.v. Rizpah.
[13] Of justice, in that earth should be returned to earth, and dust
to dust, for what could be more just than to restore to mother earth
her children, ... that she might at last receive them again into her
bosom, and afford them lodging till the resurrection? The ancients
also thought it an act of mercy to hide the dead in the earth, that
the organs of such divine souls might not be torn and devoured by wild
beasts, birds, &c. T. Greenhill, “ΝΕΚΡΟΚΗΔΕΙΑ,” p. 33.
[14] Dryden’s “Translation”--Æneid, lib. ix. v. 901.
Nullum in cœde nefas nec sic ad prœlia veni
Nec tecum meus hæc pepigit mihi fœdera Lausus
Unum hoc, per, si qua est victis venia hostibus oro;
Corpus humo patiare tegi: scio acerba meorum
Circumstare odia: hunc, oro, defende furorem,
Et me consortem nati concede sepulchro.
[15] Dryden’s “Translation”--Æneid, lib. xii. v. 935.
Et me, seu corpus spoliatum lumine mavis,
Redde meis.
[16]
Τὸν δ' ὀλιγοδρανέων προσέφη κορυθαίολος Ἕκτωρ·
Λίσσομ' ὑπὲρ ψυχῆς, καὶ γούνων, σῶν τε τοκήων,
Μή με ἔα παρὰ νηυσὶ κύνας καταδάψαι Ἀχαιῶν·
Ἀλλὰ σὺ μὲν χαλκόν τε ἅλις χρυσόν τε δέδεξο,
Δῶρα, τά τοι δώσουσι πατὴρ καὶ πότνια μήτηρ·
Σῶμα δὲ οἴκαδ' ἐμὸν δόμεναι πάλιν, ὄφρα πυρός με
Τρῶες καὶ Τρώων ἄλοχοι λελάχωσι θανόντα.
--Hom. Il. xxii. 337-343.
[17] Lib. 36, cap. 15.
[18]
Non lethum timeo, genus aut miserabile lethi:
Demite naufragium; mors mihi munus erit.
Est aliquid fatove suo, ferrore cadentem
In solida moriens, ponere corpus humo:
Est mandata suis aliquid sperare sepulchra,
Et non æquoreis piscibus esse cibum.
[19] Lew Leew, “Process. Criminal.”
[20] _King Henry IV._, Act i. sc. 1.
[21] Husenbeth, “Emblems of Saints,” edit. 1882.
[22] Chauncy, “History of Hertfordshire,” vol. ii. p. 274.
[23] F. A. Gasquet, “Henry VIII. and the Monasteries,” vol. ii. p. 164.
[24] The Chancellor’s Roll states that the cost of Wallace’s execution,
and transmitting the quarters to Scotland, was 61s. 10d. “He was take
and broute onto London, hanged, and drawn, and quartered; his hed
sette on London brigge; his body dyvyded in iiij quarteres and sent to
foure tounes in Scotland” (Capgrave’s “Chronicles”). Wallace was hung,
cut down alive, opened, his bowels, &c., burnt, beheaded, and finally
quartered. Newcastle had his brave right arm, the left went to Berwick,
Perth received the right leg, and Aberdeen the left. Thus the patriot
was broken up.
[25] “Enormiter, pertitiose, et crudeliter, sine judicio et responsione,
suspensus, distractus, et in quatuor partes divisus fuit; et in nostra
ecclesia diu postea sepultus” (Tewkesbury _Register_).
[26] The battle of Shrewsbury was fought July 21, 1403, and the four
quarters of Hotspur were divided between London, Shrewsbury, Chester,
and Newcastle. York had the head. Four months later, namely, November
3rd., a writ was directed to the mayor and sheriffs of York, as
follows:--
“The King to the Mayor and Sheriffs of the city of York,
greeting.--Whereas of our special grace we have granted to our Cousin
Elizabeth, who was the wife of Henry de Percy, Chivalier, the head and
quarters of the same Henry to be buried: We command you that the head
aforesaid, placed by our command upon the gate of the city aforesaid,
you deliver to the same Elizabeth, to be buried according to our grant
aforesaid. Witness the king at Cirencester, this 3rd day of November.”
By writ of Privy Seal:--
“The King to the Mayor and Sheriff of the town of Newcastle-on-Tyne,
greeting.--Whereas (&c., &c., as above) you deliver to the said
Elizabeth a certain quarter of the said Henry placed upon the gate”
(&c., &c., as above).
Similar writs were directed to the Mayor and Bailiffs of Chester, and
to the authorities at Shrewsbury for other several quarters of the same
Henry, and to the Abbot of Shrewsbury a writ was addressed directing
him to bury the body of Hotspur, thus again brought together, in his
church of St. Peter at Shrewsbury. The fourth quarter, that sent to
distant London, does not appear to have been forthcoming, for reasons
which will be apparent. See Rev. C. H. Hartshorne’s “Feudal and
Military Antiquities of Northumberland and the Scottish Borders,” p.
296.
[27] “History of Penrith,” 1858, p. 95.
[28] The total number arraigned was 382; by lot this was reduced to
127, the total number condemned to death being 86. Lords Balmerino
and Kilmarnock were beheaded for “the --45,” August 18, 1746. They
behaved with much dignity and fortitude. The former expressed his
wish to Lord Kilmarnock, just before the execution, that he wished he
could suffer for them both; _noblesse oblige_, even on the scaffold.
By their particular request their heads were not severally held up
and exposed by the executioner with the usual formula--“This is the
head of a traitor.” But the sheriffs directed that everybody on the
scaffold should kneel down, so that the people might see the execution
itself performed--a ceremony never practised before. (“Account of the
Behaviour,” &c., by T. Forde, a gentleman then present, 1746.)
[29] De la Croix, “Jersey, Ses Antiquités, Ses Institutions, Son
Histoire,” vol. iii. pp. 342, 343.
[30] Hakluyt, “Voyages,” vol. iii. p. 336.
[31] Weever, “Ancient Funeral Monuments,” p. 22, edit. 1631.
[32] M’Laurin (Lord Dreghorn), “Arguments and Decisions,” &c.,
Edinburgh, 1774.
[33] See “Trial of Philip Standsfield,” &c., Edinburgh, 1688.
[34] See p. 15.
[35] Viollet le Duc, “Dictionnaire raisonné,” tome v. p. 553, s.v.
_Fourches patibulaires_.
[36] “Comptes et Ordinaires de la prévôté de Paris.”
[37] Lacroix, “Mœurs, Usages, et Costumes au Moyen Age,” &c.,
“Pénalité,” p. 455.
[38] “La Repeue faicte auprès de Montfaulcon.” Poetry attributed to
Villon. Edit. Jannet, p. 292. 1854.
[39] “Anciens Fourches Patibulaires,” p. 38.
[40] “Le suicide est une mort furtive et honteuse, c’est un vol fait au
genre humain.”--J. J. ROUSSEAU.
[41] Lithgow’s “Nineteen Years’ Travels,” London, 1682.
[42] Communicated by Mr. F. H. M. Van Lilaar.
[43] “Quand l’Empereur Charles y fit son entrée; les gens de cette
ville-là lui voulurent faire tout l’honneur qu’ils purent. Et faisant
de belle façons d’arcades, chapeaux de triomphes, poiteaux et telles
magnificences, ils s’aviserent d’un pendu qui était à la porte de la
ville et principale entrée. Ils ôtèrent à ce pendu sa chemise sale, et
lui en mirent une blanche pour faire honneur à Monsieur l’Empereur” (Le
Moyen de Parvenir: contenant la raison de tout ce qui a été, est et
sera. Nulle Part., 1000700504, vol. ii. p. 249).
[44] Information from the late Mr. M. H. Bloxam.
[45] Witch-Finder General, under a commission from Parliament in the
reign of Charles I. He hung threescore suspected witches in one year in
Suffolk under most wicked and degrading circumstances.
[46] Rev. S. Baring-Gould, “Yorkshire Oddities,” vol. i. p. 56.
[47] “Notes and Queries,” 1874, vol. i. p. 35. Fifth Series.
[48] It may be recalled that Defoe published, anonymously, in 1725, a
most interesting and vivid account of the conduct, proceedings, and
capture of the pirate Gow and his buccaneer crew.
[49] J. L. Cherry, “Stafford” in Olden Times, p. 80.
[50]
“Mute
The camel labours with the heaviest load,
And the wolf dies in silence. Not bestowed
In vain should such examples be: if they,
Things of ignoble or of savage mood,
Endure and shrink not, we, of nobler clay,
May temper it to bear.”
“Childe Harold,” iv. 21.
[51] High Treason, as defined by the Statute of 25 Edward III. (1351),
is divided by Blackstone into seven distinct branches. The first is
“compassing or imagining the death of the King, the Queen, or their
eldest son and heir.” 2. “Violating the King’s companion, or the King’s
eldest daughter unmarried, or the wife of the King’s eldest son and
heir.” 3. “Levying war against the King in his realm.” 4. “Adhering
to the King’s enemies in his realm, or elsewhere.” 5. “Counterfeiting
the King’s great or privy seal.” 6. “Counterfeiting the King’s money.”
7. “Slaying the chancellor, treasurer, or any of the King’s justices,
being in their places, doing their offices.” (Blackstone’s, Comm. vol.
iv. p. 76).
Petit Treason is aggravated murder, according to the same Statute; and
may happen in three ways: 1. “By a servant killing his master.” 2.
“By a wife killing her husband.” 3. “By an ecclesiastic killing his
superior.” (Blackstone, _ib._ p. 202).
[52] A Regency of Lords Justices administered the government during the
numerous absences of the King in Hanover.
[53] “Sussex Archæological Collections,” vol. xxiii. p. 215.
[54] “Gentleman’s Magazine,” 1751, p. 186.
[55] Blackstone, “Comm.” vol. iv. p. 202.
[56] Blackstone, “Comm.” vol. iv. p. 202.
[57] Blackstone, “Comm.” vol. iv. p. 202.
[58] Blackstone, “Comm.” vol. iv. p. 202.
[59] Ff. 48, 19, 28, § 15.
[60] _Othello_, Act i. sc. 3.
[61] _King Henry VI._, Part ii. Act iv. sc. 1.
[62] Two sets of pirates’ chains from the Thames are in the collection
of the Rev. J. W. Tottenham.
[63] “Notes and Queries,” 1874, vol. i. p. 35. Fifth Series.
[64] C. A. Markham, “Ancient Punishments in Northamptonshire,” p. 16.
[65] Ibid.
[66] Percy. “Reliques of Ancient English Poetry,” vol. i. p. 306.
[67]
“Ale makes many a man reel over the fallows;
Ale makes many a man to swear by God and All-Hallows;
Ale makes many a man to hang upon the gallows--
With dole.”
“Songs and Carols.” Edited by Thomas Wright. Percy Society, 1847.
[68] “History of Penrith,” _ut sup._
[69] “Records of Buckinghamshire,” paper by the Rev. J. C. Wharton,
vol. ii. p. 159.
[70] “Notes and Queries,” 1873, vol. xi. pp. 83, 125. Fourth Series.
[71] “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” chap. iv., Fate of Simple, Sloth, and
Presumption.
[72] “The Antiquary,” Nov., 1890.
[73] C. Madeley, “Obsolete Punishments,” p. 35.
[74] “Rizpah,” _Tennyson_.
[75] Communicated by Mr. C. Madeley.
[76] “Sussex Archæological Collections,” vol. xxiii. pp. 214-5.
[77] _See_ W. Howitt, “The Rural Life of England,” 1838, vol. ii.
[78] _See_ W. Howitt, _ut. sup._
[79] “British Birds,” v. p. 84.
[80] In consequence of the rarity of representations of gibbets, it may
be desirable to mention other examples in the works of Thomas Bewick,
“British Birds,” Edit. 1832, vol. i. In a tailpiece to the account of
the Alpine Vulture, p. 53, a gibbet is shown in the distance. Tailpiece
to the Introduction to the Shrike, p. 74--a moonlight scene, with a
gibbet in the distance; in the foreground a scared old man is terrified
by trees and rocks whose forms assume hob-goblin shapes. Tailpiece
to the account of the Chatterer, p. 105--Satan sits upon a rock,
smoking a pipe, a gibbet in the distance. Tailpiece to the account
of the Whitethroat, p. 261--a gibbet in the distance. “Quadrupeds,”
first Edit., 1790. Tailpiece to the account of the Arctic Fox, p.
274--a gibbet in the distance; in the foreground two boys hanging a
dog. Tailpiece to the account of the Opossum, p. 375--a gibbet in the
distance; in the foreground two boys belabouring a donkey.
[81] “Notes and Queries,” 1872, vol. x. p. 332. Fourth Series.
[82] Ibid., p. 459.
[83]
“There is a dungeon, in whose dim, drear light
What do I gaze on?...
An old man and a female young and fair,
Fresh as a nursing mother, in whose vein
The blood is nectar.
Here youth offers to old age the food,
The milk of his own gift.... It is her sire
To whom she renders back the debt of
blood....
Drink, drink and live, old man; heaven’s
realm holds no such tide.”
“Childe Harold,” iv. st. 148.
[84] There is a very circumstantial story of one Ambrose Gwinnett, who,
according to his own statement, was hung, and hung in chains at Deal in
1709, and came to life again, and escaped to Florida. But, what is more
extraordinary still, he fell in with the very man he was supposed to
have murdered, survived him for many years, and long swept the way at
Charing Cross. The whole thing is in print, and many people are apt to
think that what is “in print” must be true. _See_ “The Life and Strange
Voyages and Uncommon Adventures of Ambrose Gwinnett.” London, 1771.
[85] Pp. 184-5.
[86] C. 4 vers.
[87] The hill called Dane John, near Canterbury.
[88] Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Report., App. 158, quoted in “Henry VIII. and
the English Monasteries,” p. 260, by F. A. Gasquet.
[89] “I saw also that he looked this way and that way, as if he would
run; yet he stood still, because (as I perceived) he could not tell
which way to go.” (“The Pilgrim’s Progress,” chap. i.)
[90] Sir C. H. J. Anderson, Bt.
[91] Dr. Donnet.
[92] “The Indian Alps,” by A Lady Pioneer, p. 32.
[93] “Notes and Queries,” 1873, vol. x. p. 125. Fourth Series.
[94] _See_ “Proceedings, Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-on-Tyne,”
iii. pp. 263, 308. Sykes’s “Local Records,” ii. pp. 365,
388.--Information from Mr. R. Blair.
[95] _As You Like It_, Act. ii. sc. 7.
[96] “Notes and Queries,” 1883, vol. viii. p. 394. Sixth Series.
[97] Sir H. E. L. Dryden, Bt.
[98] _Spectator_, No. 159, Sept. 1, 1711.
[99] _King Henry IV._, Part i. Act iv. sc. 2.
[100] _King Lear_, Act v. sc. 3.