Such then being the number of sufferers, we must feel some surprise, when we read in Hume's history, that "the severity of death was sparingly "exercised against the priests in the reign of queen "Elizabeth;" or your eulogizing account of her tolerating principles and proceedings.

It is observable, that the punishment of treason, by the law of England, is, that the offender should be drawn to the gallows, hanged by the neck, cut down alive, his entrails taken out while he is yet alive, and his head then cut off. Against the atrocious circumstances attending this punishment, the humanity of the nation has so far interfered, that the offender has been generally permitted to remain hanging till he is dead; but this mercy was often denied to the catholics, who suffered under thèse laws often they were cut down alive; in that state ripped open, and their entrails torn out..

Besides the sufferers whom we have noticed, mention is made in the same work of ninety catholic priests or laymen, who died in prison during the same reign; and of one hundred and five others who were sent into perpetual banishment. “I say "nothing," continues the writer, "of many more, "who were whipped, fined, (the fine for recusancy:

was twenty pounds), or stripped of their property, "to the utter ruin of their families. In one night

fifty catholic gentlemen, in the county of Lan"caster, were suddenly seized and committed to "prison, on account of their non-attendance at "church. About the same time, I find an equal "number of Yorkshire gentlemen lying prisoners

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"in York Castle, on the same account; most of "them perished there. These were, every week "for a twelvemonth together, dragged by main "force to hear the established service performed in "the castle chapel."

Incredible as it may appear to an English reader, it is unquestionably true, that several of those who suffered death, and several also who did not suffer capitally, were, previously to their trials, inhumanly tortured,-by the common rack, by which their limbs were stretched with levers, to a length too shocking to mention, beyond the natural measure of their frame ;-or, the hoop, called the scavenger's daughter, within which they were placed, and their bodies bent until the head and feet met ;-or, by confinement in the Little-ease, a hole so small, that a person could neither stand, sit, or lie straight in it;-or, the iron gauntlet, a screw that squeezed the hands until the bones were crushed ;-by needles thrust under the nails of the sufferers;-or, by a long deprivation of sus

tenance.

It adds to the atrocity of these inflictions, that, in several instances, when the sufferers were put to trial, there was no legal proof established; and, in some, not even any legal evidence offered to substantiate the offence of which the parties were accused. "It may be almost asserted," says the late lord Auckland*, "that, so late as the whole six"teenth century, the first and most essential prin

* Principles of Penal Law.

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ciples of evidence were either unknown or totally disregarded. Depositions of witnesses, forth“coming if called, but not permitted to be con"fronted with the prisoner; written examinations "of accomplices living and amenable; confessions "of convicts lately hanged for the same offence; "hearsays of those convicts, repeated at second"hand from others; all these formed so many "classes of competent evidence, and were received as such, in the most solemn trials, by very learned judges. It was a common and very lucrative practice of the sheriffs, to return juries so prejudiced and partial, that, as cardinal Wolsey "observed, they would find Abel guilty of the "murder of Cain. The judge held his office and "income at the pleasure of the prosecutor; and

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was often actuated by an intemperate zeal for the support of the charge, as if his indignation of "the offence had stifled all tenderness towards the supposed offender.

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"Thus ignorant of the forms and language of "the whole process, unassisted by council, unsup"ported by witnesses, discountenanced by the court, "and baited by the crown lawyers, the poor bewil"dered prisoners found an eligible refuge in the "dreadful moment of conviction."

Recourse was had to tortures, in order to supply this want of legal evidence to convict the accused; and, at the same time, to furnish proofs against others. At the end of " Cecil's Execution "of Justice," is usually printed, "A Declaration

"

"missioners, appointed for the examination of cer"tayne traiterers, and of tortures unjustly reported "to be done upon them for matters of religion.' It first appeared in print in 1583, in black letter, and was comprised in six pages quarto. It admits the use of torture in these cases, and states the grounds on which it was defended, It is inserted in the second volume of the Harleian Miscellany, printed in 1808.

As a fair specimen of the manner in which the laws, which I have mentioned, were executed against the roman-catholics, I shall insert an account of the apprehension, trial and execution of father Campian.

The best account of it is to be found in "Doctor "Challoner's Memoirs of Missionary Priests, as "well secular as regular, and of other catholics, of "both sexes, that have suffered Death in England "on religious accounts, from the year of our Lord "1577 to 1684," two volumes 8vo. first printed in 1741, and since often reprinted. A new edition of this work is now in the press of Mr. Ambrose Cuddon, Carthusian-street Charter-house-square : it contains several engravings, showing the manner in which the tortures were inflicted; these, it is impossible to behold without shuddering *. Mr. Cuddon has inserted in this edition, a translation

"The sight of the instruments of torture produced in "Gordon of Earlston, instant madness, by his horror and despair."-Laing's History of Scotland, vol. 4, p. 141.— Does the Book of the Church" contain one word that reprobates the use of them on the poor innocent priests?

from the Latin of a diary kept by the reverend Mr. Rushton, a prisoner in the Tower from 1580 to 1585, in which he gives a description of the various modes of torture inflicted on the catholic prisoners during these four years; and mentions the names of the persons upon whom they were inflicted. It was first published in Latin at the end of "Sanderus "de Schismate Anglicano, Coloniæ Agrippinæ, "1678, 800 *."

On the 15th July 1581, father Campian was apprehended in a secret room in the house of a catholic gentleman. After remaining two days in the custody of the sheriff of Berkshire, he was conveyed by slow journies to London, on horseback; his legs fastened under the horse, his arms tied behind him, and a paper placed on his hat, on which were written the words "Campian the seditious Jesuit," in large capital letters. On the 25th, he was delivered to the lieutenant of the Tower. He was frequently examined before the lord chancellor, or other members of the council, and by commissioners appointed by them. He was required to divulge what houses he had frequented; by whom he had been relieved; whom he had reconciled,-when, which way, for what purpose, and by what commission he had come into the realm ;

*See also "Doctor Bridgewater's Concertatio," already noticed in the text, and "the Arraignment of Edmund Cam"pian, Sherwin, Bosgrave, Cottam, Bristow, Kimber, and "others, for high treason, 24 Elizabeth;" first published in the "Phoenix Britannicus," and recently in "Cobbett's complete Collection of State Trials," vol. 1, p. 1050. See also Strype's Annals," vol. 2, c. 3, 4. p. 645, 646.