t to trial. Public curiosity was on the stretch.
Nothing else was talked of, and the court on the day of trial was crowded
to suffocation. The _State Trials_ report, that Lord Chief Justice Coke
"laid open to the jury the baseness and cowardliness of poisoners, who
attempt that secretly against which there is no means of preservation or
defence for a man's life; and how rare it was to hear of any poisoning in
England, so detestable it was to our nation. But the devil had taught
divers to be cunning in it, so that they can poison in what distance of
space they please, by consuming the _nativum calidum_, or _humidum
radicale_, in one month, two or three, or more, as they list, which they
four manner of ways do execute, viz. _haustu_, _gustu_, _odore_, and
_contactu_."

[Illustration: LORD COKE.]

When the indictment was read over, Weston made no other reply than "Lord
have mercy upon me! Lord have mercy upon me!" On being asked how he would
be tried, he refused to throw himself upon a jury of his country, and
declared that he would be tried by God alone. In this he persisted for
some time. The fear of the dreadful punishment for contumacy[38] induced
him at length to plead "Not guilty," and take his trial in due course of
law.

[38] The punishment for the contumacious was expressed by the
words _onere, frigore, et fame_. By the first was meant, that
the culprit should be extended on his back on the ground, and
weights placed over his body, gradually increased, until he
expired. Sometimes the punishment was not extended to this
length, and the victim being allowed to recover, underwent
the second portion, the _frigore_, which consisted in his
standing naked in the open air, for a certain space, in the
sight of all the people. The third, or _fame_, was more
dreadful, the statute saying, "That he was to be preserved
with the coarsest bread that could be got, and water out of
the next sink, or puddle, to the place of execution; and that
day he had water he should have no bread, and that day he had
bread he should have no water;" and in this torment he was to
linger as long as nature would hold out.

All the circumstances against him were fully proved, and he was found
guilty and executed at Tyburn. Mrs. Turner, Franklin, and Sir Jervis Elwes
were also brought to trial, found guilty, and execute