e against their
accomplices or witnesses. Was it for the head of law itself, as Coke
was, to extol the _mercy_ of the sovereign for not violating the laws,
for not punishing the subject by an illegal act? The truth is, lawyers
are rarely philosophers; the history of the heart, read only in statutes
and law cases, presents the worst side of human nature: they are apt to
consider men as wild beasts; and they have never spoken with any great
abhorrence of what they so erroneously considered a means of obtaining
confession. Long after these times, Sir George Mackenzie, a great lawyer
in the reign of James the Second, used torture in Scotland. We have seen
how the manly spirit of Felton, and the scruples of the Commons,
wrenched the hidden law from judges who had hitherto been too silent;
and produced that unexpected avowal, which condemned all their former
practices. But it was reserved for better times, when philosophy
combining with law, enabled the genius of Blackstone to quote with
admiration the exquisite ridicule of torture by Beccaria.

On a rumour that Felton was condemned to suffer torture, an effusion of
poetry, the ardent breathings of a pure and youthful spirit, was
addressed to the supposed political martyr, by Zouch Townley,[257] of
the ancient family of the Townleys in Lancashire, to whose last
descendant the nation owes the first public collection of ancient
art.[258]

The poem I transcribe from a MS. copy of the time; it appears only to
have circulated in that secret form, for the writer being summoned to
the Star-chamber, and not willing to have any such poem addressed to
himself, escaped to the Hague.

TO HIS CONFINED FRIEND, MR. JO. FELTON.

Enjoy thy bondage, make thy prison know
Thou hast a liberty, thou canst not owe
To those base punishments; keep't entire, since
Nothing but guilt shackles the conscience.
I dare not tempt thy valiant blood to whey,
Enfeebling it to pity; nor dare pray
Thy act may mercy finde, least thy great story
Lose somewhat of its miracle and glory.
I wish thy merit, laboured cruelty;
Stout vengeance best befits thy memory.
For I would have posterity to hear,
He that can bravely do, can bravely bear.
Tortures may seem great in a coward's eye;
It's no great thing to suffer, less to die.
Should all the clouds fall out, and in that strife,
Lightning and thunder send to take my life,
I would applaud the