his Sentence was that, prior to Execution, he
was to undergo the Question Ordinary and Extraordinary; and so at the
Conciergerie, in the presence of Presidents, Counsellors of the
Parliament, Great Noblemen of the Court, and other Dignitaries, the Poor
Thing was put into the _Brodequins_, or Boots, and wedge after wedge
driven in between his Legs--already raw and inflamed with the Devilries
of the President Michault--and the Iron Incasement. He rent the air with
his Screams, until the Surgeons declared that he could hold out no
longer. But he confessed nothing; for what had he to confess?

Then came the last awful Day, when all this Agony was to end. I saw it
all. The Greve was densely packed; and although the space is not a third
so large as Tower Hill, there seemed to be Thousands more persons
present than at the beheading of my Lord Lovat. A sorrier Sight was it
to see the windows of the Hotel de Ville thronged with Great Ladies of
the Court, many of them Young and Beautiful, and all bravely Dressed,
who laughed and chattered and ate Sweetmeats while the Terrible Show was
going on. The Sentence ran that the Assassin's Hand, holding the Knife
which he had used, should be Burnt in a Slow-fire of Sulphur. Then that
his Flesh should be torn on the Breast, Arms, Stomach, Thighs, and
Calves of the Legs with Pincers; and then that into the gaping Wounds
there should be poured Melted Lead, Rosin, Pitch, Wax, and Boiling Oil.
And finally, that by the Four Extremities he should be attached to Four
Horses, and rent Asunder; his Body then to be Burnt, and his Ashes
scattered to the Winds. There was nothing said about the Lord having
mercy upon his Soul; but careful injunction was made that he was to be
condemned in the Costs of the Prosecution.

All this was done, although I sicken to record it; but in the most
Blundering Butcherly manner. The Chief-Executioner of the Parliament was
Sick, and so the task was deputed to his Nephew, Gabriel Sanson, who
being, notwithstanding his Sanguinary Office (which is hereditary), a
Humane kind of Young Man, was all in a Shiver at what he had to perform,
and quite lost his Head. Both his Valets, or Under-Hangmen, were Drunk.
They had forgotten the Pitch, Oil, Rosin, and other things; and at the
last moment they had to be sent for to the neighbouring Grocers'. But
these Shopkeepers declared, out of humanity, that they had them not;
whereupon Guards and Exempts were sent, who searched their Sto