Tower are spiral with a right-hand turn all the way up This gives great advantage to the defender who might be driven up step by step; for he would fight with his right hand free, whilst the assailant had only his left

hand free.

TOWER GREEN AND THE SCAFFOLD

On this Green, close to the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, is the site of the block "within the Tower." Here only the privileged few were executed, whilst the majority of executions took place outside in full publicity on Tower Hill, on a site now paved and railed in, and included in Trinity Garden. According to ancient prints the people of London exercised their privilege to the full, and grand-stands, such as we see at the Derby or at Ascot, were packed with spectators, whilst thousands stood around. Inside in the comparative seclusion of the Tower only six executions are known to have taken place, and these on the spot where the site of the block is marked. These were Queen Anne Boleyn, the Countess of Salisbury,1 Queen Katherine Howard, Viscountess Rochford, Lady Jane Grey, and Devereux Earl of Essex, in the order named. No women are recorded as having been beheaded outside on Tower Hill, which accounts perhaps for the presence of Lady Rochford in such distinguished company. The Countess of Salisbury was a Plantagenet of royal blood. The Earl of Essex was granted this favour by his good friend Queen Elizabeth.

The scaffold on the Green is only a few yards distant from the Lieutenant's Lodgings and the Bloody Tower, whilst on the right hand stands the White Tower, and on the left the Beauchamp Tower and the Yeoman Gaoler's quarters. From the windows of all these could the curious gaze on the painful scene. Still is pointed out the window from which Lady Jane Grey saw the lifeless body of her husband carried back from

1 The Countess of Salisbury, though 71 years of age, somewhat upset the usual decorum on such occasions by refusing to submit to the axe. She was pursued and hewn down by the executioner on the scaffold.

execution on Tower Hill, before she in her turn faced the ordeal on the Green. From a window in the White Tower Sir Thomas Wyat saw the same sad lady meet her end; whilst perchance from this same window Sir Walter Raleigh gazed on the death scene of his enemy the Earl of Essex. The scaffold was a temporary erection usually about five feet high, so as to be in full view of those who stood around, and was removed after each execution. It was made of rough planks with a railing round draped in black, and was littered with straw. Some wooden steps gave access at one end. On the scaffold was the block, and by it a basket half filled with sawdust into which the head was to drop.

The executioner, generally dressed in some tightfitting black costume, and with a mask to disguise his features, stood at one side leaning on his axe, whilst an assistant stood opposite. On to the scaffold, besides the priest, two or three near friends were generally allowed to accompany the doomed person. It was open to the Sheriffs or others responsible for the execution to have the prisoner bound, but in all historical cases, except that of the Countess of Salisbury, there was no necessity for this procedure, the prisoner being perfectly resigned and obeying at once any instructions given. In many cases the signal for the descent of the axe was given by the prisoner, either by stretching out his hands or otherwise. A handkerchief was usually bound over the eyes, though this too was omitted, at their own request, by some who had to suffer. After the execution this hand.. kerchief was at once torn off by the executioner, and the head held up for all to see, generally with the words "Behold the head of a traitor."

A skilled executioner with a sharp axe would perform his duty with one blow, in which case death must have been instantaneous, and practically painless. Sometimes, however, from nervousness, or want of skill, the blows had to be repeated, causing undoubted anguish, as in the case of the Duke of Monmouth.1 After the

1 See p. 187.

execution the body and head were usually placed in one chest, and buried hurriedly in St. Peter's ad Vincula. These graves were sometimes only two feet deep. The heads of "traitors " so called were, however, not uncommonly placed on the spikes of the gate on London Bridge as a warning to all; but those executed on the Green seem to have escaped this indignity.

Round and about the site of the ancient scaffold, or sitting silent on a bench near by, may be seen the historic 1avens of the Tower. No doubt when forests grew close up to the moat the turrets of the old Tower made an ideal place in which ravens could build their nests, and rear future generations of Tower ravens. But as the city grew around and the forests receded, and with them fields for forage, the ravens would no longer nest or breed in their old haunts. They have therefore since then from time to time had to be replaced by new blood from outside. The present birds were given to the Tower by Lord Dunraven, and one of them is now of considerable age.

It would be of historic interest if those whose ancestors have suffered at the Tower would send from their homes successors to the old ravens, as they die off, and thus maintain a very old tradition in a manner well in keeping.

To the south of the Green are the Lieutenant's Lodgings of historic fame, about which a whole history might be written, and which is dealt with more in detail later.1

The Yeoman Gaoler's quarters, which are on Tower Green nearly facing the block, have also many historic associations, for here were often imprisoned those for whom accommodation could not be found in the Lieutenant's Lodgings. Of these the most celebrated was Lady Jane Grey, and amongst others of note are Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex, in 1683. He is said to have occupied the room to the left of the doorway as you * See p. 157. See p. 214.

1 See p. 73.