house of Denure, where for a season he was honourably treated,
(if a prisoner can think any entertainment pleasing;) but after that
certain days were spent, and that the Earl could not obtain the feus of
Crossraguel according to his own appetite, he determined to prove if a
collation could work that which neither dinner nor supper could do for
a long time. And so the said Mr Allan was carried to a secret chamber:
with him passed the honourable Earl, his worshipful brother, and such as
were appointed to be servants at that banquet. In the chamber there was
a grit iron chimlay, under it a fire; other grit provision was not seen.
The first course was,--'My Lord Abbot,' (said the Earl,) 'it will please
you confess here, that with your own consent you remain in my company,
because ye durst not commit yourself to the hands of others.' The Abbot
answered, 'Would you, my lord, that I should make a manifest lie for
your pleasure? The truth is, my lord, it is against my will that I am
here; neither yet have I any pleasure in your company.' 'But ye shall
remain with me, nevertheless, at this time,' said the Earl. 'I am not
able to resist your will and pleasure,' said the Abbot, 'in this place.'
'Ye must then obey me,' said the Earl,--and with that were presented
unto him certain letters to subscribe, amongst which there was a five
years' tack, and a nineteen years' tack, and a charter of feu of all the
lands (of Crossraguel), with all the clauses necessary for the Earl to
haste him to hell. For if adultery, sacrilege, oppression, barbarous
cruelty, and theft heaped upon theft, deserve hell, the great King
of Carrick can no more escape hell for ever, than the imprudent Abbot
escaped the fire for a season as follows.

"After that the Earl spied repugnance, and saw that he could not come
to his purpose by fair means, he commanded his cooks to prepare the
banquet: and so first they flayed the sheep, that is, they took off
the Abbot's cloathes even to his skin, and next they bound him to the
chimney--his legs to the one end, and his arms to the other; and so they
began to beet [i.e. feed] the fire sometimes to his buttocks, sometimes
to his legs, sometimes to his shoulders and arms; and that the roast
might not burn, but that it might rest in soppe, they spared not
flambing with oil, (basting as a cook bastes roasted meat); Lord, look
thou to sic cruelty! And that the crying of the miserable man should not
be heard, they dosed his mouth