Volume 3

The Percy anecdotes / collected and edited by Reuben and Sholto Percy [pseud.].

Date:
pref. 1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Percy anecdotes / collected and edited by Reuben and Sholto Percy [pseud.]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    44/658 (page 34)
    nis lordship, convinced of the equity of the claim, began to compute the shame of a de- feat by a shoemaker, desisted from his oppo- sition notwithstanding the opinion of the crown lawyers, and re-opened the road, which is enjoyed by the public without molestation to this day. Honest Timothy died about two years after, in the 77th year of his age, and was followed to the grave by all the populace of liis native village. Mock Punishment. In the year 1787, there happened to be a dispute between the Dutch Factory and the Hottentots at the Cape of Good Hope. One of the former being up the country, was killed by a Hottentot, upon which the chief, or heads of the people, were summoned to find out the offender and bring him to the Bar of Tr.Tde, and there punish him, accord- ing to their laws, for so great a crime. This was carried into execution in the following singular manner. The Hottentots made a great fire, and brought the criminal, attended by all his friends and relations, who took their leave of him, not in sorrowful lamentations, but in feasting, dancing, and drinking. When the unfortunate criminal had been plentifully supplied with liquor till he became insensibly drunk, his friends made him dance till he was quite spent with fatigue; in that state they threw him into the fire, and concluded the horrid scene with a hideous howl which they set up immediately after the criminal was de- spatched. Some time after this, one of the Factory killed a Hottentot, upon which the great men came and demanded justice for the blood of their countryman ; but the offender happened to be one of the best accountants, and a person whom the Factory could ill spare. However, the crafty Dutchmen devised means to render satisfaction to the natives, under a colour of justice, b}' the following scheme. They appointed a day for the exe- cution of the murderer, when the Hottentots assembled in great numbers, little conscious of the trick that was to be imposed upon them. A scaffold was erected, and the criminal was brought forth, dressed in white, attended by a minister ; after praying, singing psalms, &c., the mock executioner presented him with a flaming draught, which the poor Hottentots supposed was to render an atonement for the loss of their deceased countrymen. The criminal received his potion, which was no other than a little burning brandy, with all the outward signs of horror and dread ; his hand shook, his body trembled, and his whole frame appeared in the most violent agitation ; he at last with seeming reluctance swallowed the draught, and after observing the farce of trembling, &c., for a few minutes, he fell down apparently dead, and a blanket was im- mediately thrown over him. The Hottentots then made a shout that rent the air, and re- tired perfectly pleased ; observing, ‘The Dutch have been more severe than ourselves ; for they have put fire into the criminal whereas we only put the criminal into the fire.’ Jeremy Bentham quotes this anecdote to show, that if the 'arac elfect can be produced by the appearance as by t ie reality of punish-' ment, the former ought to be preferred. But! of this it is certainly not an illustration. The ■ end of all punishment, as Mr. Bentham knows, i is less to satisfy the injured than to deter the1 evil-minded. And who will say that drinking a goblet of burnt brandy was a punishment, fitted to deter Dutchmen in future from sport- ing with the lives of the inoffensive Hottentots?] The natives were deceived, but'the colonist-, were not. Submission to the Laws. Diodorus Siculus tells us that among the Ethiopians such was the high respect paid to the mandates of justice, that it was thought even less disgraceful to suffer an ignominious death than to escape it by flight. The custom was to send a lictor to the malefactor with the sign of death, and to leave him to choose hi.-, own way of going out of the world. Diodorus mentions a case where an individual to whort the final doom had been sent, having resolved to save himself by flying out of the country, his mother suspecting his design, rather thatS permit him so to disgrace himself, fastenecS her girdle about his neck, and strangled hinfl with her own hands ! , Jew Outwitted. A Jew had ordered a French merchant i: Morocco to furnish him with a considerabh quantity of black hats, green shawls, and rec silk stockings. When the articles were read}, for delivery, the Jew refused to receive them Being brought before the emperor, who ad ministers justice himself, he denied having given him the order, and maintained that ht; did not even know the French merchant ‘ Have you any witness ?’ said the emperor to the Frenchman. ‘ No.’ ‘ So much the worsa for you ; you should have taken care to havii had witnesses; you may retire.’ The pooj merchant, completely ruined, returned homd in despair. He was, however, soon alarmed by a noise in the street : he ran to see what ij was. A numerous multitude were folIowmJ one of the emperor’s officers, who was makin J the following proclamation at all the crosl roads;—‘Every Jew, who within four-andl twenty hours after this proclamation, shall bJ found in the streets without a black beavel hat on his head, a green shawl round his neck* and red silk stockings on his legs, shall be ini* mediately seized, and conveyed to the fils* court of our palace, to be there flogged tjj death.’ The children of Israel all throngeJj to the French merchant, and before even in jl the articles were purchased at any price hjl chose to demand for them.