7. hou he ressaued those woundes in his breste 9. hou came he in percies seruice by quhat meanes, 10. quhat tyme uas this house hyred by his maister II. and hou soone after the possessing of it did he beginne to his deuillishe preparations 12. quhen and quhaire lernid he to speake frenshe 13. quhat gentle womans lettir it uas that uas founde upon him 14. and quhairfor doth she giue him an other name in it then he giues to him selfe 15. If he uas euer a papiste and if so quho brocht him up in it 16. ... he uolde also be asked in quhat company and shippe he went out of Englande and the porte he shipped at, and the like questions wolde be asked anent the forme of his retourne, as for these tromperie waires found on upon him the signification and use of euerie one of thaime wolde be knowin . . . . . if he will not other wayes confesse, the gentler tortours are to be first usid unto him et sic per gradus ad ima tenditur, and so god spede youre goode James R." worke Having deciphered this document the Commission set to work, and failing to elicit by questioning the evidence they required to get out of Guy Fawkes, they on the second day proceeded with their victim to the torture chamber in the White Tower. There he was first threatened with the rack, and shown other modes of torture, but remaining obdurate was subjected to the torture. Being laid on the rack, and the strain taken, he was further questioned, but again without avail. Turn by turn the rack was stretched, till after thirty minutes of agony the wretched prisoner gasped out faintly that he would tell all he knew. He confessed a certain amount, and then on further pressure he said, that if the Earl of Salisbury were sent for, he would privily make a clean breast of all he knew to him. A messenger was immediately despatched by Sir William Waad, the Lieutenant of the Tower, who was superintending the torture, and in response the Earl of Salisbury arrived, as fast as his horse could carry him, from his residence in the Strand. The examination then continued, and at the end the prisoner was ordered to sign his confession, but so shaken was he by torture that he could only scrawl the one word “Guido.” Guy Fawkes was eventually hanged, drawn, and quartered in Palace Yard at Westminster, without undergoing further torture. It is often recorded regarding the execution of a prisoner on Tower Hill, or at Tyburn, that he was to be 'hanged in chains." Such was the fate amongst others of Sir Gervase Helwyss, a Lieutenant of the Tower, who two years after the crime was tried and sentenced for complicity in the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury, a prisoner under his charge in the Bloody Tower. The general impression might be that to be hanged in chains meant to be hanged with a chain instead of with a rope; or more generally that the prisoner before being hanged was loaded with chains. These, however, are wrong impressions. When a prisoner was sentenced to be hanged in chains, he was first hanged in the ordinary way; that is, he was driven in a cart under the gallows, the noose was placed round his neck, and when all was ready the cart was driven away, leaving the culprit hanging. When life was extinct the body was taken down, clothed in black if not already so, and tarred all over, face, head, and hands included, as a rough preservative. The body was then placed upright in a closely fitting iron cage, and thus suspended in some prominent situation in full view of all passers-by. The name and crime of the culprit were attached to the cage, so that all might take warning thereby. These cages used sometimes to hang for long periods, as much as twenty years on occasions, till the body had decayed away and the smaller bones had dropped through the bottom of the cage. Incidentally the whole deterrent effect had also departed for who cared for what had happened to an obscure criminal twenty years before. We may, however, well understand the citizens on dark nights hastening past these ghastly relics as the wind shrieked through them, and the clank of metal sounded as they banged about. Ghostly sounds they might well be called. To be beheaded was always considered even from Roman times" the more honorable death," and only those of high rank were so privileged. Beheading was introduced into England by William the Conqueror, the first Englishman thus to suffer being Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland, in 1076.1 To a stout-hearted soldier, whatever else his faults may have been, is due the abolition of the tortures in the Tower. There was a certain Lieutenant Felton, a soldier brave in action, and about to be promoted to Captain, who had served with much distinction in France, but who was by nature a fanatic. This fanaticism led him to murder" Steenie," Duke of Buckingham, against whom he had neither a professional, nor personal animosity. He merely thought him a bad man, and one to be removed from God's earth, which accordingly he proceeded with his own right hand to accomplish. This was in the days of Charles I, when Laud was Archbishop, and Keeper of the King's conscience. As was the habit of thought in those days, any murder of this description was suspected of having political or religious motives, the handiwork of a body, large or small, of conspirators. When therefore Felton was being questioned by Archbishop Laud with a view to extracting incriminating evidence against others, he stoutly maintained that the deed was a personal one, and denied that he had any confederates. The Archbishop, in accordance with the principles of the times, threatened the prisoner, and exclaimed impatiently, "You must 1 For first and last executions on Tower Hill, see p. 92. confess, or go to the rack." But Felton was not to be intimidated, and made a reply which undermined the whole structure of confessions extracted by torture. Quoth he, "If I am racked, my lord, I may happen in my agony to accuse your lordship." The Archbishop, somewhat taken aback by this bold and embarrassing utterance, went to the King and asked for orders. The King, who was even then feeling a little insecure on his hrone, replied guardedly that Felton was to be "tortured to the furthest stretch allowed by law," thereby throwing the onus of an illegal operation on the law officers of the Crown. The bench of Judges having assembled could come to but one conclusion, which was, that "torture could not be applied according to the English law." From that day forth all racks, screws, ropes, hooks, and other agents of torture were relegated to holes and passages in the Tower,1 where they gradually fell into decay, and disappeared. There remain only the few which long after were recovered, and are now exhibited as historical curiosities. Encyclopædia Britannica. XVI THE CHAPELS IN THE TOWER Four chapels or oratories-St. John's the Evangelist in the White Tower-Founded by the Conqueror-Enriched by Henry III -Knights of the Bath and their vigil-Ancient windowsMany historic scenes-Changes of religion-Dismantled as a chapel by Charles II-Used as a storehouse for recordsRestored to public worship by Queen Victoria-St. Peter ad Vincula-The Prisoners' Chapel-Original chapel built by Henry I-Present chapel by Edward I-Improved by Henry III and Henry VIII—Its tragic history-The Committee of 1876— How the bones of the mighty dead are disposed-Restoration under Queen Victoria-The brass tablet-The three LordsThe organ-Monuments-Communion plate-Register of Births, Deaths, and Marriages-Some noted personages-The bell-The Highland deserters-Their fate-Memorial windows, their need-The procession of warders-The oratory in the Wakefield Tower-Murder of Henry VI-The oratory of St. Thomas à Becket. T HERE are four chapels, or oratories, in the Tower, all very ancient, and each with an interesting history. The two principal chapels are those of St. John the Evangelist in the White Tower, and of St. Peter ad Vincula on Tower Green. The lesser chapels, or oratories, are to be found in the Wakefield Tower, and in St. Thomas' Tower. St. John's was used by the kings and their consorts, and by the great nobles and royal retinue. To St. Peter's went the soldiers and warders, and the prisoners. To which latter circumstance by some is attributed the singular name" ad vincula," that is "in chains." The smaller chapels, or oratories, were used more for private devotion by the kings and their courtiers. The chapel of St. John the Evangelist is probably |