cellor's chamber; and the door being barricadoed with such things as were in the room, they first discharged their pistols into the window, with which they hurt some of the servants, and Monsieur Le Fonde, who with his sword kept them from entering in at the window with great courage, until he was shot with a brace of bullets in the head, with which he fell and then, another of the servants being hurt, they entered in at the window, and opened the door for the rest of their company, which quickly filled the chamber.

6

"The Chancellor was in his gown, sitting up on the bed, being not able to stand, upon which they all came with their swords drawn: and one of them gave him a blow with a great broadsword upon the head, which, if it had fallen upon the edge, must have cleft his head; but it turned in his hand, and so struck him with the flat, with which he fell backwards on the bed. They gave him many ill words, calling him Traitor,' and swore, Before he should get out of their hands, he should lay down all their arrears of pay.' They differed amongst themselves what they should do with him, some crying That they would kill him,' others, That they would carry him into England:' some had their hands in his pockets, and pillaged him of his money and some other things of value ; others broke open his trunks and plundered his goods. When himself

recovered out of the trance in which he was stunned by the blow, they took him by the hand who spake of carrying him to England, and told him it was the wisest thing they could do to carry him thither, where they would be well rewarded' another swore, that they should be better rewarded for killing him there.' And in this confusion, the room being full and all speaking together, the fellow who had given him the blow, whose name was Howard, a very lusty strong man, took him by the hand, and swore,

that they should hurt one another if they killed him there; and therefore they would take him into the court, and dispatch him where there was most room.' And therefore others laid their hands upon him and pulled him to the ground, and then dragged him into the court, being in the same instant ready to run their swords into him together: when, in the moment, their Ensign, and some of the magistrates with a guard, came into the court, the gate being broken; and so he was rescued out of their bloody hands, and carried back to his chamber.

"Howard and many of the others, some whereof had been hurt with swords as they entered at the window, were taken and carried to prison, and the rest dispersed, vowing revenge when they should get the rest of the company together and it cannot be expressed with how much fear the

:

magistrates and the poor guard that attended them, apprehended their coming upon them together again.

"The Chancellor himself had the hurt before mentioned in his head, which was a contusion, and already swollen to a great bigness; Monsieur Le Fonde was shot in the head with a brace of bullets, and bled much, but seemed not to think himself in danger; two of the Chancellor's servants were hurt with swords, and lost much blood. So that they all desired to be in some secure place, that physicians and surgeons might visit them. And by this time many persons of quality of the town, both men and women, filled the little chamber, bitterly inveighing against the villainy of the attempt, but renewing the dispute of their jurisdiction. And the Provost, who out of the city was the greater officer, would provide an accommodation for them in his own house in the city, and appoint a guard for them; which the magistrates of the city would not consent to, nor he to the expedient proposed by them. And this dispute, with animosity and very ill words, continued in the chamber till twelve of the clock at night; the hurt persons being in the mean time without any remedy or ease: so that the magistrates, though they were not so dangerous, were as troublesome as the seamen, against whom they were not yet secure from a second attempt.

"In the end, Monsieur le Fonde was forced to raise his voice louder than was agreeable to the state he was in, to threaten to complain of them to the King, for their neglect before and after the mischief was done; by which they were much moved, and presently sent to the governor of the duke of Bouillon's Castle, (which is a good and noble house in the town,) That he would receive the Chancellor and Monsieur Le Fonde, with such servants as were necessary for their attendance;' which he did with great courtesy, and gave them such accommodation as in an unfurnished house could on the sudden be expected. And so physicians and surgeons visited their wounds, and applied such remedies as were necessary, till upon some repose they might make a better judgment.

"The same night there were expresses dispatched to the court to give advertisement of the outrage; and to Roan, to inform the intendant in whose province it was committed and he, the next day, with a good guard of horse, arrived at Eureux. After he had visited. the Chancellor, with the just sense of the insolence he had undergone, and of the indignity that the King and his government had sustained, he proceeded in the Court of Justice to examine the whole proceedings, and much blamed the magistrates on all sides for their negligence and remissness. Upon the whole examination, there appeared no cause

to believe that there was any formed design in which any others had concurred, than they who appeared in the execution, who defended themselves by being drunk, which did not appear in any other thing than in the barbarity of the action. Yet it was confessed, that upon their first arrival at Dieppe, and whilst they were quartered there, the Chancellor then passing by, between Roan and Calais, they had a resolution to have robbed or killed him, if they had not been prevented by his getting the gates opened, and so going away before the usual hour." (Clarendon's Life, v. 3.

p. 896.)

ON THE USE OF TORTURE IN JUDICIAL

PROCEEDINGS.

"Fuller informs us, that one Hawkins suffered this punishment in the reign of Henry the VIth, in order to extort evidence from him ; and Sir Edward Coke, in the case of Lady Shrewsbury, says, that "the nobility of England are not subject to torture in crimine læsæ majestatis;” which seems to admit, that in other crimes they were liable to it; or otherwise, affords a strong inference, that persons of a lower rank might, in treason, be subject to this sentence. King James, in his works, mentions, that the rack was shewn to Guy Fawkes, during his examination; and yet this attempt of procuring evidence is not taken