The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain (novel24 txt) 📕

So young a King and so ignorant a peasant were likely to make mistakes;

and this is an instance in point. This peasant was suffering from this

law BY ANTICIPATION; the King was venting his indignation against a law

which was not yet in existence; for this hideous statute was to have

birth in this little King’s OWN REIGN. However, we know, from the

humanity of his character, that it could never have been suggested by

him.

NOTES to Chapter XXIII. Death for Trifling Larcenies.

When Connecticut and New Haven were framing their first codes, larceny

above the value of twelve pence was a capital crime in England—as it had

been since the time of Henry I.—Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull’s Blue Laws,

True and False, p. 17.

The curious old book called The English Rogue makes the limit thirteen

pence ha’penny: death being the portion of any who steal a thing ‘above

the value of thirteen pence ha’penny.’

NOTES to Chapter XXVII.

From many descriptions of larceny the law expressly took away the benefit

of clergy: to steal a horse, or a HAWK, or woollen cloth from the

weaver, was a hanging matter. So it was to kill a deer from the King’s

forest, or to export sheep from the kingdom.—Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull’s

Blue Laws, True and False, p.13.

William Prynne, a learned barrister, was sentenced (long after Edward

VI.‘s time) to lose both his ears in the pillory, to degradation from the

bar, a fine of 3,000 pounds, and imprisonment for life. Three years

afterwards he gave new offence to Laud by publishing a pamphlet against

the hierarchy. He was again prosecuted, and was sentenced to lose WHAT

REMAINED OF HIS EARS, to pay a fine of 5,000 pounds, to be BRANDED ON

BOTH HIS CHEEKS with the letters S. L. (for Seditious Libeller), and to

remain in prison for life. The severity of this sentence was equalled by

the savage rigour of its execution.—Ibid. p. 12.

NOTES to Chapter XXXIII.

Christ’s Hospital, or Bluecoat School, ‘the noblest institution in the

world.’

The ground on which the Priory of the Grey Friars stood was conferred by

Henry VIII. on the Corporation of London (who caused the institution

there of a home for poor boys and girls). Subsequently, Edward VI. caused

the old Priory to be properly repaired, and founded within it that noble

establishment called the Bluecoat School, or Christ’s Hospital, for the

EDUCATION and maintenance of orphans and the children of indigent persons

… Edward would not let him (Bishop Ridley) depart till the letter was

written (to the Lord Mayor), and then charged him to deliver it himself,

and signify his special request and commandment that no time might be

lost in proposing what was convenient, and apprising him of the

proceedings. The work was zealously undertaken, Ridley himself engaging

in it; and the result was the founding of Christ’s Hospital for the

education of poor children. (The King endowed several other charities at

the same time.) “Lord God,” said he, “I yield Thee most hearty thanks

that Thou hast given me life thus long to finish this work to the glory

of Thy name!” That innocent and most exemplary life was drawing rapidly

to its close, and in a few days he rendered up his spirit to his Creator,

praying God to defend the realm from Papistry.—J. Heneage Jesse’s

London: its Celebrated Characters and Places.

In the Great Hall hangs a large picture of King Edward VI. seated on his

throne, in a scarlet and ermined robe, holding the sceptre in his left

hand, and presenting with the other the Charter to the kneeling Lord

Mayor. By his side stands the Chancellor, holding the seals, and next to

him are other officers of state. Bishop Ridley kneels before him with

uplifted hands, as if supplicating a blessing on the event; whilst the

Aldermen, etc., with the Lord Mayor, kneel on both sides, occupying the

middle ground of the picture; and lastly, in front, are a double row of

boys on one side and girls on the other, from the master and matron down

to the boy and girl who have stepped forward from their respective rows,

and kneel with raised hands before the King.—Timbs’ Curiosities of

London, p. 98.

Christ’s Hospital, by ancient custom, possesses the privilege of

addressing the Sovereign on the occasion of his or her coming into the

City to partake of the hospitality of the Corporation of London.—Ibid.

The Dining Hall, with its lobby and organ-gallery, occupies the entire

storey, which is 187 feet long, 51 feet wide, and 47 feet high; it is lit

by nine large windows, filled with stained glass on the south side; and

is, next to Westminster Hall, the noblest room in the metropolis. Here

the boys, now about 800 in number, dine; and here are held the ‘Suppings

in Public,’ to which visitors are admitted by tickets issued by the

Treasurer and by the Governors of Christ’s Hospital. The tables are laid

with cheese in wooden bowls, beer in wooden piggins, poured from leathern

jacks, and bread brought in large baskets. The official company enter;

the Lord Mayor, or President, takes his seat in a state chair made of oak

from St. Catherine’s Church, by the Tower; a hymn is sung, accompanied by

the organ; a ‘Grecian,’ or head boy, reads the prayers from the pulpit,

silence being enforced by three drops of a wooden hammer. After prayer

the supper commences, and the visitors walk between the tables. At its

close the ‘trade-boys’ take up the baskets, bowls, jacks, piggins, and

candlesticks, and pass in procession, the bowing to the Governors being

curiously formal. This spectacle was witnessed by Queen Victoria and

Prince Albert in 1845.

Among the more eminent Bluecoat boys are Joshua Barnes, editor of

Anacreon and Euripides; Jeremiah Markland, the eminent critic,

particularly in Greek Literature; Camden, the antiquary; Bishop

Stillingfleet; Samuel Richardson, the novelist; Thomas Mitchell, the

translator of Aristophanes; Thomas Barnes, many years editor of the

London Times; Coleridge, Charles Lamb, and Leigh Hunt.

No boy is admitted before he is seven years old, or after he is nine; and

no boy can remain in the school after he is fifteen, King’s boys and

‘Grecians’ alone excepted. There are about 500 Governors, at the head of

whom are the Sovereign and the Prince of Wales. The qualification for a

Governor is payment of 500 pounds.—Ibid.

GENERAL NOTE.

One hears much about the ‘hideous Blue Laws of Connecticut,’ and is

accustomed to shudder piously when they are mentioned. There are people

in America—and even in England!—who imagine that they were a very

monument of malignity, pitilessness, and inhumanity; whereas in reality

they were about the first SWEEPING DEPARTURE FROM JUDICIAL ATROCITY which

the ‘civilised’ world had seen. This humane and kindly Blue Law Code, of

two hundred and forty years ago, stands all by itself, with ages of

bloody law on the further side of it, and a century and three-quarters of

bloody English law on THIS side of it.

There has never been a time—under the Blue Laws or any other—when above

FOURTEEN crimes were punishable by death in Connecticut. But in England,

within the memory of men who are still hale in body and mind, TWO HUNDRED

AND TWENTY-THREE crimes were punishable by death! {10} These facts are

worth knowing—and worth thinking about, too.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prince and The Pauper

by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

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