456 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
standing on that pillorie, with his heid and handis lyand out at hoilis cuttit out for that end, his rycht lug was
cuttit af; and thaireftir careyit over to the toun of St Johnnestoun, quhair ane uther pillorie wes erectit, on
the quhilk the uther left lug wes cuttit af him. The caus heirof W&B this ; that he haid gevin out fah calumneis
and le@ aganes Collonell Daniell, governour of Peirth. Bot the treuth is, he was ane notorious decevar and
ane intelligencer, sumtyme for the Englisches, uther tymes for the Scottis, and decevand both of thame:
besyde mony uther prankis quhilk wer tedious to writt.”
(‘ Last of Apryle 1655.-The Marschellis man, quha weB apoynted to haif cuttit Mr Patrik Maxwell haill lug,
bot being buddit pribed] did onlie cutt a€ a pairt of his lug, was thairfoir this day brocht to the Mercat Croce
of Edinburgh, and set upone the pillarie, and thair his lug boirit for not obeying his oommissioun in that
“23 Marche 1657.-Thair wes ane Engliache sodger bund naikit to the gallous of Edinburgh, and first
scourgit, and thaireftir his lugges naillit to the gallous by the space of ane hour or thairby, and thaireftir hia
lugges cuttit out of his heid for cunzieing and forging two halff crounes. The quhich two half crounea war
festned and naillit to the gibit, quhair they remayne to this day.”
These are ody the minor punishments inflicted on offenders, The same annalist recorda hanging and
burning for more heinous crimes, with painful frequency ; proving either a period of unusual depravity, or of
unwonted strictness in searching after secret offences that am now scarcely ever heard of before our criminal
Wurt&
The mode of public pillory, by nailing the offender’s ear to the Tron, continued in use in the eighteenth
century, though it was latterly only resorted to for the punishment of graver offenders, others being simply
exposed, with a label a x e d to them publishing their infamy, On the 24th July 1700, as appears by the Acta
of Sederunt, John Corse of Corsemlin was convicted of using a vitiated bond, the same having been altered
with his knowledge, “and therefore the Lords ordain the said John to be sent to the Tolbooth of Edinburgh,
and from thence on Friday next, before eleven o’clock in the forenoon, to be taken by the hands of the common
hangman to the Tron, and there to have his ear nailed to the Tron and to stand so nailed till twelve hours
strike, and to have these words in great letters fixed on hk breast, as he goes down the street, and upon the
Tron, For his kno~ledgeof , and using a vitiate bond”
popt.”
NOSEP mcHmCt.-The following notices of a sw later date show the same process of nailing continued,
with the addition of an entirely novel means of torture, called Nose Pinching. This, we presume, must have
been effected by screwing some instrument like a hand-vice on the nose, which, in addition to the acute pain
it inflicted, must have presented 8 singularly ludicrous appearance to the by-standers, as the culprit stood
nailed to the post with his pincAw dangling from his nose, hugging &B it were the instruments of his torture.
The following notices are extracted from a “List of Precedents excerpte from the Records of Warranda to
vouch the use and exercise of the Town of Edinburgh’s Jurisdiction of SheriGhip by the Lord Provost and
Baillies.”
(‘ 29 October 1723.-The trial and process against James Stewart, alias M‘Pherson, a vagrant thief, whipt
“28 December 1726.-The trial against George Melvil, notour thief; set on the bone, and his nose
(‘ 17 October 1727.-The trial against David Allison for theft. Pillar’d, pinch’d in the nose, and sent to the
“29 Mych 1728.-The trial against Jean Spence, notour thief; pillar‘d, her lug nailed, and her nose pinched.”
.
and sent to the Correction House for life.”
pinch’d”
Correction House.”
I N D E X .
