The Prince and the Pauper
repealed which extended the crime of treason beyond the statute of the
twenty-fifth of Edward III.; all laws enacted during the late reign
extending the crime of felony; all the former laws against Lollardy or
heresy, together with the statute of the Six Articles. None were to be
accused for words, but within a month after they were spoken. By
these repeals several of the most rigorous laws that ever had passed
in England were annulled; and some dawn, both of civil and religious
liberty, began to appear to the people. A repeal also passed of that
law, the destruction of all laws, by which the King’s proclamation was
made of equal force with a statute.--Ibid. vol. iii. p. 339.
Boiling to Death.
In the reign of Henry VIII. poisoners were, by Act of Parliament,
condemned to be _boiled to death_. This Act was repealed in the
following reign.
In Germany, even in the seventeenth century, this horrible punishment
was inflicted on coiners and counterfeiters. Taylor, the Water Poet,
describes an execution he witnessed in Hamburg in 1616. The judgment
pronounced against a coiner of false money was that he should ‘_be
boiled to death in oil_; not thrown into the vessel at once, but with
a pulley or rope to be hanged under the armpits, and then let down into
the oil _by degrees_; first the feet, and next the legs, and so to boil
his flesh from his bones alive.’--Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull’s Blue Laws,
True and False, p. 13.
The Famous Stocking Case.
A woman and her daughter, _nine years old_, were hanged in Huntingdon
for selling their souls to the devil, and raising a storm by pulling off
their stockings!--Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull’s Blue Laws, True and False,
p. 20.
NOTE 10, Chapter XVII. Enslaving.
So young a King and so ignorant a peasant were likely to make mistakes;
and this is an instance in point. This peasant was suffering from this
law _by anticipation_; the King was venting his indignation against a
law which was not yet in existence; for this hideous statute was to
have birth in this little King’s _own reign_. However, we know, from the
humanity of his character, that it could never have been suggested by
him.
NOTES to Chapter XXIII. Death for Trifling Larcenies.
When Connecticut and New Haven were framing their first codes, larceny
above the value of twelve pence was a capital crime in England--as it
had been since the time of Henry I.--Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull’s Blue
Laws, True and False, p. 17.
The curious old book called The English Rogue makes the limit thirteen
pence ha’penny: death being the portion of any who steal a thing ‘above
the value of thirteen pence ha’penny.’
NOTES to Chapter XXVII.
From many descriptions of larceny the law expressly took away the
benefit of clergy: to steal a horse, or a _hawk_, or woollen cloth from
the weaver, was a hanging matter. So it was to kill a deer from the
King’s forest, or to export sheep from the kingdom.--Dr. J. Hammond
Trumbull’s Blue Laws, True and False, p.13.
William Prynne, a learned barrister, was sentenced (long after Edward
VI.’s time) to lose both his ears in the pillory, to degradation from
the bar, a fine of 3,000 pounds, and imprisonment for life. Three years
afterwards he gave new offence to Laud by publishing a pamphlet against
the hierarchy. He was again prosecuted, and was sentenced to lose _what
remained of his ears_, to pay a fine of 5,000 pounds, to be _branded on
both his cheeks_ with the letters S. L. (for Seditious Libeller), and to
remain in prison for life. The severity of this sentence was equalled
by the savage rigour of its execution.--Ibid. p. 12.
NOTES to Chapter XXXIII.
Christ’s Hospital, or Bluecoat School, ’the noblest institution in the
world.’
The ground on which the Priory of the Grey Friars stood was conferred
by Henry VIII. on the Corporation of London (who caused the institution
there of a home for poor boys and girls). Subsequently, Edward VI.
caused the old Priory to be properly repaired, and founded within
it that noble establishment called the Bluecoat School, or Christ’s
Hospital, for the _education_ and maintenance of orphans and the
children of indigent persons . . . Edward would not let him (Bishop
Ridley) depart till the letter was written (to the Lord Mayor), and then
charged him to deliver it himself, and signify his special request and
commandment that no time might be lost in proposing what was convenient,
and apprising him of the proceedings. The work was zealously
undertaken, Ridley himself engaging in it; and the result was the
founding of Christ’s Hospital for the education of poor children. (The
King endowed several other charities at the same time.) “Lord God,” said
he, “I yield Thee most hearty thanks that Thou hast given me life thus
long to finish this work to the glory of Thy name!” That innocent and
most exemplary life was drawing rapidly to its close, and in a few days
he rendered up his spirit to his Creator, praying God to defend the
realm from Papistry.--J. Heneage Jesse’s London: its Celebrated
Characters and Places.
In the Great Hall hangs a large picture of King Edward VI. seated on his
throne, in a scarlet and ermined robe, holding the sceptre in his left
hand, and presenting with the other the Charter to the kneeling Lord
Mayor. By his side stands the Chancellor, holding the seals, and next
to him are other officers of state. Bishop Ridley kneels before him
with uplifted hands, as if supplicating a blessing on the event; whilst
the Aldermen, etc., with the Lord Mayor, kneel on both sides, occupying
the middle ground of the picture; and lastly, in front, are a double row
of boys on one side and girls on the other, from the master and matron
down to the boy and girl who have stepped forward from their respective
rows, and kneel with raised hands before the King.--Timbs’ Curiosities
of London, p. 98.
Christ’s Hospital, by ancient custom, possesses the privilege of
addressing the Sovereign on the occasion of his or her coming into the
City to partake of the hospitality of the Corporation of London.--Ibid.
The Dining Hall, with its lobby and organ-gallery, occupies the entire
storey, which is 187 feet long, 51 feet wide, and 47 feet high; it is
lit by nine large windows, filled with stained glass on the south side;
and is, next to Westminster Hall, the noblest room in the metropolis.
Here the boys, now about 800 in number, dine; and here are held the
‘Suppings in Public,’ to which visitors are admitted by tickets issued
by the Treasurer and by the Governors of Christ’s Hospital. The tables
are laid with cheese in wooden bowls, beer in wooden piggins, poured
from leathern jacks, and bread brought in large baskets. The official
company enter; the Lord Mayor, or President, takes his seat in a state
chair made of oak from St. Catherine’s Church, by the Tower; a hymn
is sung, accompanied by the organ; a ‘Grecian,’ or head boy, reads the
prayers from the pulpit, silence being enforced by three drops of a
wooden hammer. After prayer the supper commences, and the visitors walk
between the tables. At its close the ’trade-boys’ take up the baskets,
bowls, jacks, piggins, and candlesticks, and pass in procession, the
bowing to the Governors being curiously formal. This spectacle was
witnessed by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1845.
Among the more eminent Bluecoat boys are Joshua Barnes, editor
of Anacreon and Euripides; Jeremiah Markland, the eminent critic,
particularly in Greek Literature; Camden, the antiquary; Bishop
Stillingfleet; Samuel Richardson, the novelist; Thomas Mitchell, the
translator of Aristophanes; Thomas Barnes, many years editor of the
London Times; Coleridge, Charles Lamb, and Leigh Hunt.
No boy is admitted before he is seven years old, or after he is nine;
and no boy can remain in the school after he is fifteen, King’s boys and
‘Grecians’ alone excepted. There are about 500 Governors, at the head
of whom are the Sovereign and the Prince of Wales. The qualification
for a Governor is payment of 500 pounds.--Ibid.
GENERAL NOTE.
One hears much about the ‘hideous Blue Laws of Connecticut,’ and is
accustomed to shudder piously when they are mentioned. There are people
in America--and even in England!--who imagine that they were a very
monument of malignity, pitilessness, and inhumanity; whereas in reality
they were about the first _sweeping departure from judicial atrocity_
which the ‘civilised’ world had seen. This humane and kindly Blue Law
Code, of two hundred and forty years ago, stands all by itself,
with ages of bloody law on the further side of it, and a century and
three-quarters of bloody English law on _this_ side of it.
There has never been a time--under the Blue Laws or any other--when
above _fourteen_ crimes were punishable by death in Connecticut. But in
England, within the memory of men who are still hale in body and mind,
_two hundred and twenty-three_ crimes were punishable by death! {10}
These facts are worth knowing--and worth thinking about, too.