tice; we know that in France, at least, the last sentences of the law were executed by knightly hands. The archives of the corporation of Aurillac, in Upper Auvergne, preserve the record of a tedious contest for jurisdiction between that town and a neighbouring abbey in the year 1280. Among the witnesses whose evidence was written down appears Sir Salvaric Moisset, knight, who makes no scruple to say that when a malefactor was to be put to death, or was to lose an ear, or to be whipped through the village, he the said Sir Salvaric executed the sen→ tence, as the abbot's officer; and so did his father. Being pressed to go into details, he answered, that about forty years ago, or thereabouts, at the command of his father he hanged two men and a woman; that some eight and twenty years ago he saw his said father cut off the foot of a bastard who had committed sacrilege; that no more than eighteen years ago he himself hewed off the foot of one Fivas; and that Fivas being an obstinate thief (and lame), was again caught in the act, when he burned him in the cheek with a hot iron. He added, that on another occasion, by orders of his father, he cropped the ears of Peter Deffage, a penitent cow-stealer, and scourged him through the village. Another witness, Sir Raymund de Messac, saw a robber led to the gallows by the valet of Sir Astorg d'Aurillac, knight, and there hanged by the said Sir Astorg with his own proper hand. It was proved that Sir Raymund himself had done as much. Stephen Deons made oath and said, that he saw Sir Raymund lead one Austin, who had stabbed his neighbour, to the gallows, and would have hanged him if a compassionate damsel had not stepped forward to ask him in marriage. This saved his life; but Sir Raymund was not always so balked. Old Stephen de Bon-enfant deposed that he saw Sir Raymund lead a malefactor forth of the town, and there pull or pluck out his eyes.1 This example may help to vindicate the gouging of Kentucky from the charge of being low. LIII. LADIES' OATHS. A FASHION, which every one must applaud, has banished oaths not only from the lips but from the ears of the fair sex. Among the Romans there was a nicety on this point. As Butler writes, 66 They would not suffer the stoutest dame "In no writer of character," says Aulus Gellius, "will you find a woman swearing Mehercle, or a 1 Mém. de la S. R. des Antiq. de France, t. ix. p. 216-221. 2 Hudibras, Part I. cant. ii, 1. 385. man Mecastor. But Aedepol, or by the Temple of Pollux, was used indifferently by ladies or gentlemen." Chaucer recommends the modest impreca tions of his gentle Prioress, "That of her smiling was full simple and coy, I dare not transcribe the oaths of Queen Elizabeth; her majesty was notorious in this matter, as we may learn from the cotemporary ballad of the Rising of the North: "Her grace she turned her round about, I know not of any collection of the oaths of Queens; but a late edition of Rabelais furnishes Jurons de Plusieurs Rois de France: Louis VII. swore, Par les saincts de Bethleem; Saint Louis, Par les saincts de ceans; Philippe III., Par Dieu qui me feit; Louis XI., Pasques Dieu; Charles VIII., Par le jour Dieu; Louis XII., Le diable memport; Francis I., Foi de gentilhomme; Charles IX., Par le sang Dieu; and Henry IV., Ventre sainct gris.a 1 Aul. Gell. Noct. Attic. lib. i. c. 6. 2 Prol. to Canterb. Tales. 3 Percy's Reliques, vol. ii. p. 88. Oeuvres de Rabelais, p. 670. M LIV. POISON IN THE EUCHARIST. "No: Sacraments have been no Sanctuarie Memorials of Mortalitie; written in Tablets or Quatrains. "I hope it is not true," says Sir Thomas Browne, "and some, indeed, have strongly denyed, what is recorded of the monke that poysoned Henry the Emperour, in a draught of the holy Eucharist. "Twas a scandalous wound unto Christian Religion, and I hope all Pagans will forgive it, when they shall reade that a Christian was poysoned in a cup of Christ, and received his bane in a draught of his salvation. Had I believed transubstantiation, I should have doubted the effect; and surely the sinne itselfe received an aggravation in that opinion. It much commendeth the innocency of our forefathers, and the simplicity of those times, whose laws could never dreame so high a crime as parricide: whereas this at the least may seeme to outreach that fact, and to exceed the regular distinctions of murder. I will not say what sinne it was to act it; yet may it seeme a kinde of martyredome to suffer by it: For, although unknowingly, he dyed for Christ His sake, and lost his life in the ordained testimony of His death. Certainely, had they knowne it, some noble zeales would scarcely have refused it, rather adventuring their owne death, than refusing the memoriall of His." The learned knight could hardly have seen the Scotish chronicler, who relates, that about the year 1153, an English prelate embraced death in this confiding spirit. “This William Cumyn, archbishop of York,” says Fordun, "was poisoned at mass in St Peter's Church, by the ministers of the altar. He perceived the poison in the eucharist, yet full of faith, he hesitated not to drink it, and speedily died."2 Lord Hailes remarks, that a more extraordinary example of impiety, on the one hand, and of misguided devotion on the other, is not to be found in the history of mankind.3 LV. MELCHISEDEC. THAT John the Evangelist should not die, was a belief which obtained even in the days of the apostles. "Peter saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall 1 Vulgar Errors, b. vii. c. xix. 2 Forduni Scotichronicon, lib. v. c. xliv. |