; 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.

G.K.

* * * * *

PORTRAIT OF CHRIST.

(_For the Mirror_.)

The following extract is from a manuscript in the possession of the family
of Kelly, now in Lord Kelly's library, which was taken from the original
letter of Publius Lentulus at Rome.

It being the usual custom of the Roman governors to advertise the senate
and people of Rome of such material things as happened in their provinces,
in the days of the Emperor Tiberius Caesar, Publius Lentulus, President of
Judaea, wrote the following epistle to the senate, respecting Our Saviour
Jesus Christ.

"There appeared in these our days, a man of great virtue, named Jesus
Christ, who is yet living amongst us, and of the Gentiles he is accepted
as a Prophet of Truth; but his disciples call him the Son of God. He
raiseth the dead, and cureth all manner of diseases: a man of stature
somewhat tall and comely, with very reverend countenance, such as
beholders may both love and fear: his hair is of the colour of the
chestnut, full ripe, plain to his ears, whence downward it is more orient,