der; he was
raised up by two men, some brandy put into his mouth to revive him, and
he was carried to take his trial." The practice of _Peine forte et dure_
gave the name of "Press-yard" to a part of Newgate, and the terrible
machine above referred to was probably in the form of a rack.

We require to go further back to find instances of a fatal termination
to the punishment. Such a case occurred in 1676. One Major Strangeways
and his sister held in joint possession a farm, but the lady becoming
intimate with a lawyer named Fussell, to whom the Major took a strong
dislike, he threatened that if she married the lawyer he would, in his
office or elsewhere, be the death of him. Surely, Fussell was one day
found shot dead in his London apartments, and suspicion at once fell
upon the officer, and he was arrested. At first he was willing to be
subjected to the ordeal of touch, but when placed upon trial, resolved
not to allow any chance of his being found guilty, and so refused to
plead, in order that his estates might go to whom he willed. Glynn was
the Lord Chief Justice on this occasion, and in passing the usual
sentence for _Peine forte et dure_, used instead of the word "weights,"
as above, the words "as much iron and stone as he can bear," doubtless
to suit the prison convenience, and make the sentence perfectly legal.
He was to have three morsels of barley bread every alternate day, and
three draughts of "the water in the next channel to the prison door, but
of no spring or fountain water," the sentence concluding, "and this
shall be his punishment till he die." This was probably on the Saturday,
for on the Monday morning following, it is stated, the condemned was
draped in white garments, and also wore a mourning cloak, as though in
mourning for his own forthcoming death. It is curious to notice that his
friends were present at his death, which was so much modified from the
lengthy process that his sentence conveys as to be in fact an execution,
in which these same friends assisted. They stood "at the corner of the
press," and when he gave them to understand that he was ready, they
forthwith proceeded to pile stone and iron upon him. The amount of
weight was insufficient to kill him, for although he gasped, "Lord
Jesus, receive my soul," he still continued alive until his friends, to
hasten his departure, stood upon the weights, a course which in about
ten minutes placed him beyond the reach of the human barbarity whic