Friday 19th October 1660
Office in the morning. This morning my dining-room was finished with green serge hanging and gilt leather, which is very handsome.
This morning Hacker and Axtell were hanged and quartered, as the rest are.
This night I sat up late to make up my accounts ready against to-morrow for my Lord. I found him to be above 80l. in my debt, which is a good sight, and I bless God for it.
16 Annotations
First Reading
vincent • Link
"...This night I sat up late to make up my accounts ready against to-morrow for my Lord. I found him to be above 80l. in my debt, which is a good sight, and I bless God for it...."
it says it all: My laird the Gambler, S.P. the gamboller.
a few quotes come to mind
"Dives sum, si non reddo eis quibus debeo" Plautus Curculio, 377
an other for my Laud.
"Pecuniae imperare oportet,, non servire" Syrus, Maxims
my misquote
Money and friendship do not mix. 'Tis nice to have a better in your debt, 'tis better than the other way around n'est pas.
Eric Walla • Link
It appears Sam expects, if not payment, at least acknowledgement of the debt on the morrow. It will be interesting to see if My Lord pays him off as swiftly and conscientiously as Sam had done for him previously. This might indeed provide a sign of how badly My Lord has caught the gambling bug.
Paul Brewster • Link
Hacker and Axtell were hanged and quartered
L&M: "Of these two only Axtel's body was quartered."
Daily News: Axtel axed; Hacker Not Hacked
Paul Brewster • Link
green serge hanging and gilt leather
L&M: "The serge would be for the curtains and the gilt leather for the walls."
Pauline • Link
Brewster bruised?
"Daily News: Axtel axed; Hacker Not Hacked"
Ohhhh, please, my sensibilities!
John Skilleter • Link
Appalling Pauline!
Don't encourage the punsters!
Gary J. Bivin • Link
They say that punsters should be drawn and quoted...
bruce • Link
1660 seems late to still be hanging, drawing and quartering. Did the practise simply die out or was it specifically outlawed at a certain date, and when was the last recorded instance of its use?
Mary • Link
Hanging, drawing and quartering.
This penalty was finally abolished in 1821. The last instance of it's being carried out that I have been able to find was in 1753, when a Dr. Archibald Cameron was so executed for persistent conspiracy against the British Crown in the Reign of George II.
Alan Bedford • Link
Hanging, drawing and quartering...
appear to have gone out of practice during the Age of Enlightenment (contemporaneously with Rouseau in France, Adam Smith and Edmund Burke in the U.K.) That's probably not coincidental.
Paul Brewster • Link
Drawing
The OED has an interesting take on the meaning of the word which is at variance from the sites that we've had referenced in previous entries:
Draw, v
...
4. To drag (a criminal) at a horse's tail, or on a hurdle or the like, to the place of execution; formerly a legal punishment of high treason.
...
50. To draw out the viscera or intestines of; to disembowel (a fowl, etc. before cooking, a traitor or other criminal after hanging).
In many cases of executions it is uncertain whether this, or sense 4, is meant. The presumption is that where drawn is mentioned after hanged, the sense is as here.
Mary • Link
That death sentence.
There are a couple more gruesome details to be added here.
Firstly, the death by hanging was often a case of slow suffocation, rather than the nicely calculated swift drop, jerk and snapping of the neck that (we are told) was the more recent practice in this and other countries.
Secondly, the sentence could carry the added injuction that the miscreant be cut down 'before he be dead' and then 'his entrails plucked out and burnt before his face'. One hesitates to wonder at what point in this execution the poor devils actually died.
john lauer • Link
... or at least lost consciousness.
Second Reading
Annie B • Link
As Sam recounts his various remodels of his house, I can't help but wonder if all his hard work will survive the fire. I'm no Londoner, so perhaps the geography is clear to those of you who know the area better, but I will really be interested to hear the reports when we get there (but not looking for spoilers- just wondering aloud!). This diary really adds such a human element to the history doesn't it? I've pictured the fire plenty of times, but never have I thought of it in the terms of, what happens to all those books? And those bags of cash lying around? And even if Sam's stuff is fine, there's someone on the other side of town who has as much pride in their home who lost it all. Really makes you think!
Terry Foreman • Link
"To be hanged, drawn and quartered was from 1351 a statutory penalty in England for men convicted of high treason, although the ritual was first recorded during the reign of King Henry III (1216–1272). (Descriptve history follows) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanged,_drawn_and_q…
LKvM • Link
Daniel Axtell is one of my ancestors.