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OLD MANSIONS.


We are in the habit of passing by our old stone manor houses without
knowing that they were important village fortresses, and substitutes for
castles. That this is the fact is beyond all doubt, for Margaret Paston,
writing to Sir John, says, "Ry't w'chipful hwsbond, I recomawnd to zw
and prey zw to gete some crosse bowis and wydses (windlasses to strain
cross-bows,) and quarrels (arrows with square heads) for zr howsis her
ben low, yat yer may non man schet owt wt no long bowe." From hence we
learn that the service of the long bow was connected with elevation in
the building.

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LEGAL CRUSHING TO DEATH.


At the assizes in Sussex, August, 1735, a man who pretended to be dumb
and lame, was indicted for a barbarous murder and robbery. He had been
taken up upon suspicion, several spots of blood, and part of the
property being found upon him. When he was brought to the bar, he would
not speak or plead, though often urged to it, and the sentence to be
inflicted on such as stand mute, read to him, in vain. Four or five
persons in the court, swore that they had heard him speak, and the boy
who was his accomplice, and apprehended, was there to be a witness