or
burnt in the Hand, what are such workings of justice compared with the
Waste of Life that was used to be practised under the two last monarchs?
At home 'twas all pressing to death those who would not plead, hanging,
drawing, and quartering (how often have I sickened to see the
pitch-seethed members of my Fellow-creatures on the spikes of Temple Bar
and London Bridge!), taking out the entrails of those convict of Treason
(as witness Colonel Towneley, Mr. Dawson, and many more unfortunate
gentlemen on Kennington Common), to say nothing of the burning alive of
women for petty treason,--and to kill a husband or coin a groat were
alike Treasonable,--the Scourging of the same wretched creatures in
Public till the blood ran from their shoulders and soaked the knots of
the Beadle's lash; the cartings, brandings, and dolorous Imprisonments
which were then inflicted for the slightest of offences. Why, I have
seen a man stand in the Pillory in the Seven Dials (to be certain, he
was a secure scoundrel), and the Mob, not satisfied, must take him out,
strip him to the buff, stone him, cast him down, root up the pillory,
and trample him under foot, till, being Rescued by the constables, he
has been taken back to Newgate, and has died in the Hackney Coach
conveying him thither. Oh, 'tis woe to think of the Horrors that were
then done in the name of the Law and Justice, not only in this country
but in Foreign Parts,--with their Breakings on the Wheel, Questions
Ordinary and Extraordinary, Bastinadoes, Carcans, Wooden horses, Burning
alive too (for vending of Irreligious Books), and the like Barbarities.
Let me tell you likewise, that, for all the evil name gotten by the
Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions,--for which I entertain, as a
Protestant, due Detestation and Abhorrence,--the darkest deeds ever done
by the so called Holy Office in their Torture Chambers were not half so
cruel as those performed with the full cognisance and approbation of
authority, in open places, and in pursuance of the sentence of the Civil
Judges. But a term has come to these wickednesses. The admirable Mr.
Howard before named (whom I have often met in my travels, as he, good
man, with nothing but a Biscuit and a few Raisins in his pocket, went up
and down Europe Doing Good, smiling at Fever and tapping Pestilence on
the cheek),--this Blessed Worthy has lightened the captive's fetters,
and cleansed his dungeon, and given him Light and Air. Then I hear at
th