400 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[3»i» a. VI. 150., Nov. 1.9. '58. 



Ease " at Chester. In An Abstract of the Sufferings 

 of the People called Quahers for the Testimony of a 

 good Conscience, published in 2 vols. 8vo. in 1733, 

 the author tells us that 



" Richard Sale, for speaking to a priest in the street, at 

 Chester, on the 4th of the Uth month, 1656, was, by the 

 mayor's orders, put into Littl<: Ease, and kept there about 

 eight hours. And, on the 8th of the first month following, 

 for preaching in the streets, was kept in Little Ease afore- 

 said four hours. This poor man, being pretty corpulent, 

 could not be put into that narrow hole without much 

 violence, so that four men had much ado to thrust him 

 in, and at several times, by the crushing of him, the 

 blood gushed out of his mouth and nose. His health, by 

 this frequent barbarity, was much impaired, and his body 

 and legs swelled, so that he languished about two months 

 after this last time of his being put there, and then died 

 in the sixth month, 1657, imputing the cause of his death 

 to the cruelty of his persecutors." 



The writer, in a note, says: — 



" This Little Ease was a hole hewed out'in a rock ; the 

 breadth and cross from side to side is 17 inches, from the 

 back to the inside of the great door ; at the top, 7 inches ; 

 at the shoulders, 8 inches; and the breast, 9 J inches; 

 from the top to tlie bottom, 1 yard and a half, with a de- 

 vice to lessen the height as they are minded to torment 

 the person put in, by drawboarda which shoot over across 

 the two sides, to a yard in height, or thereabouts." 



To this account I may myself add, that this hor- 

 rible chamber of torture was situate under the old 

 Northgate Prison at Chester, which no longer dis- 

 graces the neighbourhood. But, some three or 

 ifour years ago, a drain was being constructed 

 across the site of the old prison ; and, while the 

 work was in progress, I myself saw an ancient 

 excavation in the rock, answering the description 

 given by Randle Holme and the Quaker author, 

 and which I have no doubt whatever was the 

 identical Little Ease in which George Marsh, the 

 Protestant martyr, was confined in 1555, and 

 which afterwards received the nonjuring bodies of 

 the unfortunate Quakers during the Interregnum. 



J. Hughes. 



Chester. 



I can tell your correspondent David Gam of 

 a Little Ease, which was found in the old gaol 

 at Boston in Lincolnshire, in 1635, when it was 

 repaired ; and it is again mentioned in the Corpo- 

 ration Records in 1665, when a pair of "stocks" 

 was directed to be made " for the place called 

 Little Ease in the gaol," for the punishment of pri- 

 soners convicted, whilst in prison, " on the infor- 

 mation of the gaoler, of swearing, cursing, de- 

 bauchery, drunkenness, or other misdemeanours 

 whatever." This was placing a very vague and 

 ill-defined power in the hands of the gaoler; but 

 had the power been ever so well defined, it is one 

 which he ought not to have possessed. In 1670, 

 the instruments of punishment in the gaol are 

 enumerated as being, " 10 horse locks, 4 pairs of 

 cross fetters, 2 chains, one being long, 3 pairs of 

 hand-cufTs, a pair of pothooks (?) with two rivets 



and shackles, 5 pairs of iron fetters and shackles, 

 and a brand to burn persons in the hand." To this 

 pleasant list of articles, " another burning iron " 

 was added in 1703, and, in 1722, "a pair of thumb- 

 screws." The " chamber of Little Ease, and the 

 brands and thumb-screws," are occasionally men- 

 tioned in the Annual Inventory, until 1765, after 

 which they are not alluded to. There are no me.ans 

 of knowing when they were last used. 



PiSHEY Thompson. 

 Stoke Newington. 



ETTMOLOQT OF " COCKSHUT " AND " COCKSIIOOT." 



(2"'i S. vi. 345.) 



Your correspondent Jaydee may be assured 

 that these words are not only " allied," but 

 identical. The following extracts will clearly 

 show that it is a mere variation of orthography, 

 arising probably from local pronunciation. 



The Resolute John Florio, whom there is good 

 reason for believing to have been an intimate ac- 

 quaintance of our great poet, as Lord Southamp- 

 ton was his patron, thus explains Cockshut in his 

 Worlde of Wordes, 1598 : — 



" Cane e lupo, tra cane e lupo, cock-shut or twilight, 

 as when a man cannot discerne a dog from a wolfe." 



This is repeated with slight variation in his 

 second edition in 1611, but it is remarkable that 

 the word is there Cock-shute. 



Then comes the worthy Run die Cotgrave, often 

 an excellent expositor of the meaning of Shak- 

 speare, and under the word " Chien " in his Die- 

 iio7iary, we have — 



" Entre chien et loup. In twilight or cock-shoot time 

 (when a man can hardly discern a Dog from a Wolfe.") 



Torriano, who amplified his ancestor Florio's 

 Dictionary, has the word also Cock-shoote. 



Woodcocks were commonly designated by old 

 sportsmen Cocks, and the Cockshut or Cock-net 

 was a net contrived for taking them ; a descrip- 

 tion and figure of which contrivance will be found 

 under the word "Cock-roads" in the Dictionarinm 

 liusticnm, 1704; probably copied from The Gen- 

 tlemajis Recreation. The reason why Cockshut 

 time designated Twilight is clearly there accounted 

 for thus : — 



" The nature of the Woodcock is to lie close all day 

 under some hedge, or near the roots of old trees, picking for 

 worms under dry leaves, and will not stir without being 

 disturbed ; neither does he see his way well before him in 

 the morning early ; but towards evening he takes wing 

 to go and get water, flying generally low ; and when 

 they find any thoroughfare through any wood or range 

 of trees, they use to venture through, and therefore the 

 Cock-roads ought to he made in such places, and your 

 Cock-nets planted according to the following figure." 



Then follows a description of the mode of 

 forming the Cock-road and placing the Cock-shut, 

 and a place of concealment for the fowler to watch 



