Part 55 (1/2)
”The clerical process being thus abolished, it was thought proper, at the same time, to empower the temporal judges to inflict a further punishment where they should regard it as proper. The eighteenth Elizabeth, c. vii.
empowered them, therefore, to direct the convict to be imprisoned for a year or any shorter period. But the law on this subject was still in many respects imperfect. Females were still liable to the punishment of death, without any exemption, in all cases of simple felony; because, being never eligible to the clerical office, they were not included in any of the extensions of the _Benefit of Clergy_. No other proof need be adduced to shew the absurdity of the very foundations of the system. At length it was enacted that women convicted of simple larcenies under the value 10s.
should be punished with burning in the hand and whipping, exposure in the stocks, or imprisonment for any period less than a year. And in the reign of William and Mary they were admitted to all the privileges of men, in clergiable felonies, on praying the benefit of the statute; though they can only once be allowed this means of escaping. In the same reign, the punishment of burning in the hand was changed for a more visible stigma on the cheek, but was soon afterwards brought back to the original practice.
”Hitherto all laymen except peers, who, on their conviction, were found unable to read, were liable to suffer death for every clergiable felony.
But it was at length discovered, that ignorance, instead of an aggravation, was an excuse for guilt, and that the ability to read was no extenuation of crime; and, therefore, by fifth Ann, c. vi. the idle ceremony of reading was abolished, and all those who were before ent.i.tled to clergy on reading, were now to be admitted without any such form to its benefits. At the same time it was sensibly felt that the branding, which had dwindled into a mere form, and the year's imprisonment which the judges were empowered to inflict, were very inadequate punishments for many clergiable offences; and, therefore, the court were authorized to commit the offenders to the house of correction for any time not less than six months nor exceeding two years, and to double it in case of escaping.
”Further alterations have since been made in the penalties consequent upon clergy. The fourth Geo. I. c. xi. and sixth Geo. I. c. xxiii. provide, that the court, on the allowance of this benefit for any larceny whether grand or petty, or other felonious theft not excluded from the statutable indulgence, may, instead of judgment of burning in case of men, and whipping in that of females, direct the offender to be transported for seven years to America, which has been since altered to any part of his majesty's colonies. To return within the period, was, at the same time, made felony without _Benefit of Clergy_. And by several subsequent provisions, many wise alterations have been made respecting transportation, and the mode of treating offenders while under its sentence.
”At length the burning in the hand was entirely done away, and the judges were empowered to sentence the criminal, in its room, and in addition to the former penalties, to a pecuniary fine, or, except in the case of manslaughter, to private whipping, not more than thrice to be inflicted, in the presence of three witnesses. Provisions were at the same time made for the employment of this description of convicts in penitentiary houses, where a system of reformation might be adopted, and an experiment made how far punishment might become conducive to its n.o.blest and most legitimate use--the reformation and benefit of the offender. But this regulation, though applauded by Blackstone and other humane writers, after having been continued by several subsequent acts, was recently suffered to expire. It appears from these several modern regulations, that, as observed by Mr.
Justice Foster, we now consider _Benefit of Clergy_, or rather the benefit of the statutes, as a relaxation of the rigour of the law, a condescension to the infirmities of the human frame, exempting offending individuals in some cases from the punishment of death, and subjecting them to milder punishment; and therefore, in the case of clergiable felonies, we now profess to measure the degree of punishment by the real enormity of the offence, and not, as the ignorance and superst.i.tion of former times suggested, by a blind respect for sacred persons or sacred functions, nor by an absurd distinction between subject and subject, originally owing to impudent pretension on one hand, and to mere fanaticism on the other.”
CURIOUS TENURES.--A farm at Broadhouse, in Langsett, in the parish of p.e.n.i.ston, and county of York, pays yearly to G.o.dfrey Bosville, Esq. 'a snow-ball at Midsummer, and a red rose at Christmas.'
William de Albermarle holds the manor of Loston, 'by the service of finding, for our lord the king, two arrows, and one loaf of oat bread, when he should hunt in the forest of Eartmoor.'
Solomon Attefield held land at Repland and Atterton, in the county of Kent, upon condition 'that as often as our lord the king would cross the sea, the said Solomon and his heirs ought to go along with him, to hold his head on the sea, if it was needful.'
John Compes had the manor of Finchfield given him by Edward III. for the service of 'turning the spit at his coronation.'
Geoffrey Frumbrand held sixty acres of land in Wingfield, in the county of Suffolk, by the service of paying yearly to our lord the king two white doves. John de Roches holds the manor of Winterslew, in Wilts.h.i.+re, by the service that when the king should abide at Clarendon, he should go into the butlery of the king's palace there, and draw, out of whatever vessel be chose, as much wine as should be needful for making a pitcher of claret, which he should make at the king's expense, and that he should serve the king with a cup, and should have the vessel whence he took the wine, with all the wine then in it, together with the cup whence the king should drink the claret.
The town of Yarmouth is, by charter, bound to send the sheriffs of Norwich a hundred herrings, which are to be baked in twenty-four pies or patties, and delivered to the lord of the manor of East Carlton, who is to convey them to the king.
At the coronation of James II. the lord of the manor of Heyden, in Ess.e.x, claimed to hold the basin and ewer to the king by virtue of one moiety, and the towel by virtue of the other moiety of the manor, whenever the king washed before dinner; but the claim was allowed only as to the towel.
The privileges of the great officers of the ancient British court, were particularly striking. Each was annually presented by the king and queen with a piece of linen and woollen cloth, besides some old clothes from the royal wardrobe. The king's riding-coat was three times a year given to the master of the mews; his caps, saddles, bits, and spurs, became the perquisite of the master of the horse; and the chamberlain appropriated to himself his old clothes and bed-quilts.
The third in rank, in the court of the Anglo-Saxon kings, was, the steward, who had a variety of perquisites, of which the following were the most remarkable:--'As much of every cask of plain ale, and as much of every cask of ale with spiceries, as he could reach with the second joint of the middle finger; and as much of every cask of mead, as he could reach with the first joint of the same finger.'
Our next article is on THE ORIGIN OF MAY POLES AND GARLANDS.--It was a custom among the ancient Britons, before they were converted to Christianity, to erect May-poles, adorned with flowers, in honour of the G.o.ddess Flora; and the dancing of milkmaids on the first of May before garlands, ornamented with flowers, is only a corruption of the ancient custom, in compliance with other rustic amus.e.m.e.nts.
The leisure days after seed-time had been chosen by our Saxon ancestors for folk-motes, or conventions of the people. It was not till after the Norman conquest that the Pagan festival of Whitsuntide fully melted into the Christian holiday of Pentecost. Its original name is Whittentide, the time of choosing the wits or wis.e.m.e.n to the wittenagemotte. It was consecrated to Hertha, the G.o.ddess of peace and fertility; and no quarrels might be maintained, no blood shed, during this truce of the G.o.ddess. Each village, in the absence of the baron at the a.s.sembly of the nations, enjoyed a kind of saturnalia. The va.s.sals met upon the common green around the May-poles, where they erected a village lord, or king, as he was called, who chose his queen. He wore an oaken, and she a hawthorn wreath; and together they gave laws to the rustic sports during these sweet days of freedom. The Maypole, then, was the English tree of liberty. How are these times of village simplicity and merriment vanished!
CURIOUS CUSTOM AT OAKHAM.--Oakham is remarkable for the following curious custom. Every peer of the realm, the first time he comes within the precincts, forfeits a shoe from his horse to the lord of the manor and castle, unless he agrees to redeem it with money; in which case a shoe is made according to his direction, ornamented in proportion to the sum given by way of fine, and nailed on the castle hall door. Some shoes are of curious workmans.h.i.+p, and stamped with the names of the donors: some are made very large, and some gilt. An ancient poet says of this county,
”Small s.h.i.+re that can produce to thy proportion good, One vale of special name, one forest, and one flood.”
A CURIOUS PRACTICE IN NORTH HOLLAND.--To every house, of whatever quality, there is an artificial door, elevated near three feet above the level of the ground, and never opened but upon two occasions. When any part of the family marries, the bride and bridegroom enter the house by this door; and when either of the parties die, the corpse is carried out by the same door. Immediately after the due ceremonies are performed in either of these cases, this door is fastened up, never to turn on its hinges again, till some new event of a similar nature demands its services.
CHAP. LXIII.
CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE CUSTOMS OF MANKIND.--(_Continued._)