DORSET ASSIZES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 19 



of exercising leniency was to admit the criminal to " Benefit 

 of Clergy." Above the entry of such an one in the Gaol Book 

 may be read two sentences in contracted Latin signifying 

 " Asked for a book " and " Read as a cleric," and in the 

 margin is written the word " Clergie." And this loophole 

 of escape was, if offered, open to all men and, towards the end 

 of the century, to women also. The test of reading, as appears 

 from text books on the subject, consisted in repeating, with 

 open Bible in hand, the 1st verse of the 51st Psalm, appro- 

 priately called " the neck verse," — a feat which, it would 

 seem, could easily be accomplished even by the most illiterate. 

 The names of scores of persons may be found in the Dorset 

 Gaol Books who, as was pretended, saved their lives in this 

 fashion. All were branded in the hand, the letter " M " 

 being used for murder, and " T " for theft. A gentleman 

 named John Davis, who in 1671 was found guilty of the 

 " murder " of Mr. John Dawbeny by striking him with a stone, 

 was allowed the " Benefit " and branded, but suffered no 

 other punishment. And a man, convicted of no less than 

 seven cases of sheep-stealing, was also found to be a cleric. 

 Sheep -stealing, it may be remarked in passing, was often 

 carried out on a large scale. In 1642 a thief stole as many as 

 70 sheep from the common fields of Nether Cerne, and there 

 was nothing unusual in a conviction for taking a couple of 

 score or more, — sufficient, it may be observed, to bring small 

 stockowners to ruin, — and in all likelihood the depredators 

 were frequently not discovered. In pronouncing sentences, 

 Judges were much influenced by the money value of goods 

 stolen. Two burglars, who entered a house with intent to 

 steal but got nothing, were fined 40s. each, and in a similar 

 case another burglar paid but 10s. One who broke into Sir 

 John Strode's mansion house (? at Parnham) and stole 31 

 bottles of claret was condemned to death, but respited on his 

 expressing " his desire to be transported." Culprits of 

 smaller offences, such as taking a neighbour's pigs, poultry, 

 or small personal belongings were almost invariably whipped. 

 It is a somewhat extraordinary fact that while sheep-stealing 



