Some materials for a comparison of the condition of England with that of France towards the end of the seventeenth century, are to be found in the 'Mémoires de Fléchier sur les

Pp. 249, 250. State of France.

Grands Jours d'Auvergne en 1665.'

Pp. 250, 251. On the Plague.

Defoe's account of the Plague in London, and of its hardening effects upon some natures during the height of the danger, may, perhaps, be more picturesque than accurate in details. He was, it is true, but an infant in 1665, and wrote not as an eye-witness, but from the descriptions of others. There is, however, no reason to suppose that he deliberately invented the blasphemies, the robberies, the callousness, and the despair, or the occasional tenderness and self-sacrifice, which he describes.

CHAPTER X.

Pp. 252-255.

ting to the sanctuaries.

By the statute 8 & 9 Will. III., c. 27, the act of opposing execution of any legal process in places of 'pretended' privilege was made penal; and the names of the sanctuaries are mentioned in it. Some facts and authorities relating to the early history of sanctuaries Acts &c, relawill be found in vol. i. of the present work, pp. 232-233, 235, 472, 473. By stat. 26 Hen. VIII., c. 13, s. 2, the privilege of sanctuary was denied to traitors; in 27 Hen. VIII., c. 19, is the regulation that sanctuary men are to wear badges, with various rules for the governors of sanctuaries; and in 32 Hen. VIII., c. 12, by which the privilege of sanctuary is taken away from the greater criminals, the names of the permanent sanctuaries are mentioned, and various other details are given. The stat. 21 James I., c. 28, nominally abolishes the privilege of sanctuary, after which follow the statute of Will. III., already noticed, 9 Geo., I. c. 28 ('Suffolk Place, or The Mint'), and 11 Geo. I., c. 22 ( Wapping, Stepney,' &c.)

The account of the clandestine marriages in the sanctuaries and prisons is from a broadside now in Lincoln's Inn Library, and entitled 'Reasons for Passing the Bill to prevent Clandestine Marriages.' Leave to bring in this Bill was given in 1718, as appears by Commons' Journals, xix., 88, but it did not become an Act.

An account of the trial of Jonathan Wild appears in the 'Select Trials at the Session House at the Old Bailey' (published in 1742, and giving the executions, as well as trials of convicts), vol. ii., pp. 212- Pp. 255-259. 218; and there are incidental notices of him in other trials Jonathan Wild. in the same volume.

Pp. 259,260.

The evidence relating to forcible entries,

There is evidence of the diminution of the offence of forcible entry about the year 1700 in the Controlment Roll, King's Bench, Crown Side, 12 Will. III., the entries upon which have been carefully studied. The similar roll for the year 23 & 24 Geo. II. has been compared with it, and the practical. extinction of forcible entry in the interval established by the comparison. The remarks upon riots, routs, &c., are founded upon the same records, upon which (sometimes at length, sometimes in abstract) appears the whole of the business of the Court of King's

affrays, &c.

Bench in each year. Some cases appear more fully upon the 'Coram Rege,' or Crown Roll, with which, in a great number of instances, I have compared the Controlment Roll, but there are matters on the Controlment Roll which do not appear on the Crown Roll at all. Neither the Crown Rolls nor the Controlment Rolls suffice to give the total of accusations throughout the country, because much of the criminal business of the judges was transacted on circuit. The records of the circuits, after the reign of Henry VI., are not, like those of the Court of King's Bench, at the Public Record Office, but under the custody of the respective Clerks of Assise. They are in various repositories, difficult of access, and incomplete. To discover what was the total of crime in England from the fifteenth century to the eighteenth is therefore more difficult than to discover what it was in the fourteenth, and is indeed impossible. The criminal business of the Court of King's Bench, however, gives a fair sample of the graver offences throughout the country; and, as the records of the Court are continuous from year to year, they afford very trustworthy standards of comparison.

P. 260.

The silk-weavers' riot against the East India Company is narrated in Luttrell's Brief Relation of State Affairs,' January 21 and January 26, 1696-97.

Pp. 261-269. Touching the pirates of the eighteenth century.

The general view of the temptations to enter upon the life of a pirate has been suggested by Captain Charles Johnson's History of the Pirates (1724). Among the attempts to suppress piracy may be mentioned the statutes II Will. III., c. 7, 6 Anne, c. 34, 6 Geo. I., c. 19, 8 Geo. I., c. 24, and 18 Geo. II., c. 30. Whatever good might have been otherwise done by these Acts, their effects were continually neutralised by proclamations of pardon to the offenders under them.

For the affair of Captain Kidd, and the Company of which Somers was a leading member, see the Journals of the House of Commons, December 4, 1699, 11 Will. III. (vol. xiii., pp. 11-36), where are printed the numerous documents relating to this matter which were laid on the table of the House; and for the rest of the proceedings in relation to Kidd and his associates, see the State Tracts, vol. iii., p. 230 et seq.

The account of Captain Bartholomew Roberts is from Johnson's History of the Pirates. See, for the earlier portion, the Life of 'Captain' England and his Crew, and of 'Captain' Howel Davis and his Crew. The regulations for the Crusaders appear in Rog. Hoved. vol. iii., p. 36 (Ed. Stubbs). See also vol. i., p. 168, of the present work. The similar rules for the pirates are given in Johnson's History (p. 170 et seq.), and the other incidents relating to Roberts are from

the same source. Johnson was a contemporary, and professes to have obtained his information from the pirates themselves. He also quotes some of the colonial indictments, which are apparently genuine. For the career of Gow, and his terror of the press, see the description of him by the Ordinary of Newgate in 'Accounts of the Convicts,' vol. ii., p. 254, etc. Pardons' and 'Acts of Grace' to pirates are frequently mentioned in Johnson's History. See also Narcissus Luttrell's' Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs,' May 13, 1693.

6

Wrecks had been defined and provision made for salvage by the Statute of Westminster the First, 3 Ed. I., c. 4; also by 27 Ed. III., st. 2, C. 13. The statute of Anne's reign is known as Pp. 269-271. 12 Anne, session 2, c. 18. Among contemporaries who Wrecking. deplored the continuance of wrecking was Adam Anderson, whose 'Historical and Chronological Deduction of Trade and Commerce' was the basis of Macpherson's Annals of Commerce. For the passage mentioned in the text, see the latter work, vol. iii., p. 41.

Evidence of the legality of impressment, so far as prescription is synonymous with legality, is abundant. The case in which workmen were impressed to serve in the Durham mines is recorded

&c.

Pp. 271-273.

on the second roll of Bishop Hatfield, in the Durham Impressment Cursitor's Series, m. 5 dors. The statutes in which the custom of impressing landsmen to serve at sea is implied are 2 Richard II., c. 4, 2 & 3 Philip and Mary, c. 16, s. 1, 5 Eliz., c. 5, s. 26, & 8 Will. III., c. 21, s. 13, and others of later date.

7

For various cases of highway robbery, see innumerable entries in Narcissus Luttrell's 'Relation,' 1678-1714, and for that of Horton or Norton, who robbed the Bristol mail, the 'Select Trials,' First Series, vol. ii., p. 217 et seq. The Act 4 Will. and

Pp. 274-277.

Evidence of the

highway rob

beries of the

period.

Mar., c. 8, appears to be the first passed 'for encouraging the apprehending of highwaymen' by rewards. Streets were to be deemed highways within the meaning of this Act, according to 6 Geo. I., c. 28, s. 8. It was an indication of progress that so much attention was now given to the subject.

In order to verify the remarks upon the Diaries of Evelyn and Luttrell, no further reference than is given in the text seems necessary. The particular passages can be found in any edition by means of the date. It should, however, be observed that the month described as January, 1693, in the text is to be found in the Diaries for 1692-93, as the legal year then began on March 25. For the case of Parsons, see the Old Bailey Sessions Papers for the year 1750, No. 142 &c.

9

The Act commonly known as the Waltham Black Act is Geo. I., c. 22, continued by 12 Geo. I., c. 30, &c. This is one of the class of statutes (not altogether unknown in more modern times), which are

Pp. 277, 278. Note on the

Act &c.

sometimes passed in a panic. A more striking illustration of emotional legislation occurred a few years earlier, when an attack upon Harley (afterwards Earl of Oxford), caused the passing of a statute Waltham Black (9 Anne, c. 16) by which it was made felony to assault a Privy Councillor in the execution of his office. The lesson to be learnt is that the actual condition of society is not to be ascertained from the Statute Book alone, which does not distinguish between Acts passed because a crime is of common occurrence, and Acts passed to prevent the repetition of an offence only once committed. Particulars of the case of Mary Young alias Jenny Diver are given in the 'Select Trials,' First Series, vol. iv.,

P. 279.

P. 335 et seq.

The statute of 1698 for branding in the cheek is generally known as 10 William III., c. 23. In the Statutes of the Realm, however, it appears as c. 12, s. 6. The repealing statute (in which also Touching benefit are the other provisions respecting benefit of clergy mentioned in the text) is generally known as 5 or 5 and 6 Anne, c. 6. In the Statutes of the Realm it is given as 6 Anne, c. 9.

Pp. 280-283.

of clergy.

Particulars of the case of Fielding and the Duchess of Cleveland are reprinted in the 'State Trials,' vol. xiv., col. 1327 et seq. The Act in virtue of which he could claim benefit of clergy as a bigamist is 1 Ed. VI., c. 12, s. 16.

Burnworth's indictment at Kingston Assises, and the application of the press to him after the thumb-tying process, are related in the 'Select Trials,' vol. ii., p. 345.

Pp. 283-285. Standing mute:

note on torture.

Cases in which the whipcord torture was applied to persons standing mute are mentioned in Keeling's Reports; and that of Durant appears in full in the Old Bailey Sessions Papers for the year 1734, P. 75. It is often asserted in legal and historical works that torture to extort confession was practised in England as late as the reign of William III. The foundation for the opinion is no better than a statement by Sir Walter Scott in his edition of the Somers' Tracts, vol. i., p. 209. The statement is true as affecting Scotland, to which probably it refers. A warrant for the infliction of torture in England as late as 1620 is printed in the Archæologia, vol. x. The Act for the abolition of torture in Scotland is 7 Anne, c. 21.

For the case of William Fuller, see his own narrative, and the various documents printed in the 'State Trials,' vol. xiv., p. 517 et seq., and for that of Parson Young, Luttrell's 'Brief Relation,' February

Pp. 285-289. the stake.

The pillory and 7 and 14, 1692-93, etc. Kinnersly's case is related in 'Select Trials,' First Series, vol. iii., p. 106 (January, 1728-29). The first entry with respect to Mrs. Merryweather in Luttrell's Brief Relation' occurs on January 19, 1692-93. Between that and the final