uncertain; so that if so be that this man is guiltless, that book which
we hold in our hands shall [in revolving] follow the ordinary course of
the sun; but that if he be guilty that book shall move backwards."

There were other forms of procedure, in some of which, as in the trial
of the cross and the touching of the bier, the supposed criminal was
confronted with his victim. Ordeals were abolished in England in the
year 1219; but the tradition did not die, and in the time of the
Commonwealth, Hopkins, the notorious witchfinder, ridiculed in
"Hudibras," employed the cold-water ordeal for the conviction of
witches. "The suspected person," says Sir Walter Scott, "was wrapped in
a sheet, having the great toes and thumbs tied together, and so dragged
through a pond or river. If she sank, it was received in favour of the
accused; but if the body floated (which must have occurred ten times for
once, if it was placed with care on the surface of the water) the
accused was condemned."

That the issue of the ordeal might be arranged appears to have been
recognized even in the Middle Ages. Thus, fifty Englishmen, it is said,
having been ordered by William Rufus to be tried by the hot iron, every
one of them escaped unhurt. Thereupon the King announced that he would
try them again by the judgment of his court and not abide by the
so-called judgment of God, "which was made favourable or unfavourable at
any man's pleasure." By the Assize of Northampton (1176) suspected
persons, who had been acquitted by the water ordeal, were liable to
banishment, though again acquitted by the "judgment of God."

Trial by battle, though obviously based on the same principle, was
technically distinguished from the ordeal or judgment. The former
appears to have arisen in the countries of the North, where it was known
as the _holmgang_, the combats taking place on islands. Among the
English this mode of settling differences was not much in favour either
before or after the Norman Conquest; and the statutes of William I.
contain provisions whereby the natives were permitted to substitute the
more familiar ordeal for the trial by battle.

"It was also decreed there that if a Frenchman summon an Englishman for
perjury or murder, theft, homicide, or 'ran'--as the English call
evident rape, which cannot be denied--the Englishman shall defend
himself as he prefers, either through the ordeal of iron or through
wager of battle. But if the Englishman be in