They
accordingly suffered the punishment, the wrist being divided by a
cleaver driven through the joint by force of a mallet. The printer was
pardoned. "I remember," says the historian Camden, "being then
present, that Stubbs, when his right hand was cut off, plucked off his
hat with the left, and said, with a loud voice, 'God save the Queen!'
The multitude standing about was deeply silent, either out of horror
of this new and unwonted kind of punishment, or out of commiseration
towards the man, as being of an honest and unblamable repute, or else
out of hatred to the marriage, which most men presaged would be the
overthrow of religion."-CAMDBN'S _Annals for the Year_ 1581.
Note XXI. p. 375.--RlCHIE MONIPLIES BEHIND THE ARRAS
The practical jest of Richie Moniplies going behind the arras to get
an opportunity of teasing Heriot, was a pleasantry such as James might
be supposed to approve of. It was customary for those who knew his
humour to contrive jests of this kind for his amusement. The
celebrated Archie Armstrong, and another jester called Drummond,
mounted on other people's backs, used to charge each other like
knights in the tilt-yard, to the monarch's great amusement. The
following is an instance of the same kind, taken from Webster upon
Witchcraft. The author is speaking of the faculty called
ventriloquism.
But to make this more plain and certain, we shall add a story of a
notable impostor, or ventriloquist, from the testimony of Mr.
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