第 10 节
作者:敏儿不觉      更新:2021-02-24 22:58      字数:9322
  believed     royal    clemency      would    be   shown     to  her;  and    that  this  belief
  appears in the use of these unwonted phrases。
  However that may be; Jean's conduct seems to have been heroic and
  unfaltering。      She prayed; and one of her relations or friends brought ‘‘a
  clean   cloath''   to   tie   over   her   eyes。  Jean   herself   had   prepared   for   this
  operation; for she took a pin out of her mouth and gave it into the friend's
  hand     to   help   the   fastening。     The     minister…memorialist;        having     taken
  farewell of her for the last time; could not bear the prospect of what was
  about to happen。        He descended from the scaffold and went away。                    ‘‘But
  she;'' he says;
  as a constant saint of God; humbled herself on her knees; and offered
  her neck to the axe; laying her neck; sweetly and graciously; in the place
  appointed;   moving   to   and   fro;   till   she   got   a   rest   for   her   neck   to   lay   in。
  When her head was now made fast to ‘‘the Maiden'' the executioner came
  behind her   and   pulled   out her   feet;  that   her   neck   might   be stretched out
  longer; and so made more meet for the stroke of the axe; but she; as it was
  reported to me by him who saw it and held her by the hands at this time;
  drew   her   legs   twice   to   her   again;   labouring   to   sit   on   her   knees;   till   she
  should give up her spirit to the Lord!              During this time; which was long;
  for the axe was but slowly loosed; and fell not down hastily; after laying of
  her head; her tongue was not idle; but she continued crying to the Lord;
  and    uttered    with   a  loud   voice    those   her   wonted     words;    ‘‘Lord    Jesus;
  receive my spirit!        O Lamb of God; that taketh away the sins of the world;
  have     mercy     upon    me!    Into    thy   hand;    Lord;    I  commend       my    soul!''
  When she came to the middle of this last sentence; and had said; ‘‘Into thy
  hand; Lord;''  at the  pronouncing of the  word ‘‘Lord''  the axe  fell;   which
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  was diligently marked by one of her friends; who still held her by the hand;
  and reported this to me。
  % IV
  On   the   26th   of   June;   1604;   Robert   Weir;   ‘‘sumtyme   servande   to   the
  Laird of Dynniepace;'' was brought to knowledge of an assize。                      He was
  ‘‘Dilaitit    of  airt  and   pairt  of   the  crewall    Murthour     of   umqle    Johnne
  Kincaid of Wariestoune; committit the first of Julij; 1600 yeiris。''
  Verdict。    The   Assyse;   all   in   ane   voce;   be   the   mouth   of   the   said
  Thomas   Galloway;   chanceller;   chosen   be   thame;   ffand;   pronouncet   and
  declairit   the   said   Robert   Weir   to   be   ffylit;   culpable   and   convict   of   the
  crymes above specifiet; mentionat in the said Dittay; and that in respect of
  his Confessioun maid thairof; in Judgement。
  Sentence。      The said Justice…depute; be the mouth of James   Sterling;
  dempster   of   the   Court;   decernit   and   ordainit   the   said   Robert   Weir   to   be
  tane to ane skaffold to be fixt beside the Croce of Edinburgh; and there to
  be brokin upoune ane Row;'6' quhill he be deid; and to ly thairat; during
  the space of   xxiiij   houris。     And   thaireftir;   his   body  to   be   tane upon   the
  said Row; and set up; in ane publict place; betwix the place of Wariestoune
  and the toun of Leyth; and to remain thairupoune; ay and quhill command
  be gevin for the buriall thairof。        Quhilk was pronouncet for dome。
  '6' A  ‘row'   is   a   wheel。   This   is   one   of   the   very   few   instances   on
  which   the terrible   and vicious   punishment   of   ‘breaking   on   a   wheel'   was
  employed in Scotland。          Jean Livingstone's accomplice was; according to
  Birrell's Diary; broken on a cartwheel; with the coulter of a plough in the
  hand     of   the   hangman。       The     exotic    method     of   execution     suggests
  experiment by King Jamie。
  % V
  The    Memorial      before    mentioned      is;  in  the  original;   a  manuscript
  belonging to the Advocates' Library of Edinburgh。                   A printed copy was
  made in 1828; under the editorship of J。 Sharpe; in the same city。                     This
  edition     contains;    among     other    more    relative   matter;    a  reprint    of  a
  newspaper account of an execution by strangling and burning at the stake。
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  SHE STANDS ACCUSED
  The woman concerned was not the last victim in Britain of this form of
  execution。      The honour; I believe; belongs to one Anne Cruttenden。                    The
  account is full of gruesome and graphic detail; but the observer preserves
  quite an air of detachment:
  IVELCHESTER:            9th   May;    1765。    Yesterday   Mary   Norwood;           for
  poisoning      her   husband;     Joseph    Norwood;      of   Axbridge;     in  this  county
  'Somerset';   was   burnt   here   pursuant   to   her   sentence。       She   was   brought
  out of   the   prison about three o'clock in   the   afternoon; barefoot; she   was
  covered with a tarred cloth; made like a shift; and a tarred bonnet over her
  head; and her legs; feet; and arms had likewise tar on them; the heat of the
  weather melting the tar; it ran over her face; so that she made a shocking
  appearance。       She was put on a hurdle; and drawn on a sledge to the place
  of   execution;   which   was   very   near   the   gallows。        After   spending   some
  time   in   prayer;   and   singing   a   hymn;   the   executioner  placed   her  on   a   tar
  barrel;  about   three   feet   high;   a   rope   (which   was   in   a   pulley  through   the
  stake) was fixed about her neck; she placing it properly with her   hands;
  this rope being drawn extremely tight with the pulley; the tar barrel was
  then pushed away; and three irons were then fastened around her body; to
  confine it to the stake; that it might not drop when the rope should be burnt。
  As   soon   as   this   was   done   the   fire   was   immediately   kindled;   but   in   all
  probability      she   was    quite   dead    before     the  fire   reached     her;  as   the
  executioner   pulled   her   body   several   times   whilst   the   irons   were   fixing;
  which was about five minutes。              There being a good quantity of tar; and
  the   wood   in   the   pile   being   quite   dry;   the   fire   burnt   with   amazing   fury;
  notwithstanding which great part of her could be discerned for near half an
  hour。     Nothing could be more affecting than to behold; after her bowels
  fell out; the fire flaming between her ribs; issuing out of her ears; mouth;
  eyeholes;   etc。     In   short;   it   was  so  terrible   a   sight   that   great  numbers
  turned their backs and screamed out; not being able to look at it。
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  III: THE COUNTESS AND THE
  COZENER
  It is hardly likely when that comely but penniless young Scot Robert
  Carr; of Ferniehurst; fell from his horse and broke his leg that any of the
  spectators   of   the   accident   foresaw   how   far…reaching   it   would   be   in   its
  consequences。        It   was   an   accident;   none   the   less;   which   in   its   ultimate
  results   was   to   put   several   of   the   necks   craned   to   see   it   in   peril   of   the
  hangman's noose。
  That   divinely   appointed   monarch   King   James   the   Sixth   of   Scotland
  and   First   of   England   had   an   eye   for   manly   beauty。  Though   he   could
  contrive the direst of cruelties to be committed out of his sight; the actual
  spectacle of physical suffering in the human made him squeamish。                      Add
  the two facts of the King's nature together and it may be understood how
  Robert Carr; in falling from his horse that September day in the tilt…yard of
  Whitehall;   fell   straight   into   his   Majesty's   favour。  King   James   himself
  gave orders for the disposition of the sufferer; found lodgings for him; sent
  his   own    surgeon;    and   was   constant    in  his  visits  to  the  convalescent。
  Thereafter the   rise   of   Robert   Carr   was   meteoric。    Knighted;  he   became
  Viscount Rochester; a member of the Privy Council; then Earl of Somerset;
  Knight of the Garter; all in a very few years。             It was in 1607 that he fell
  from his horse; under the King's nose。           In 1613 he was at the