Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 3.djvu/632

618 Carving in wood of Gog and Magog set up after the Fire of London in Guildhall.

Fields. As little mercy was shown by the populace to sufferers of a humbler rank. If an offender was put into the pillory, it was well if he escaped with life, from the shower of brickbats and paving-stones. If he were tied to the cart's tail, the crowd pressed round him, imploring the hangman to give it the fellow well, and make him howl. Gentlemen arranged parties of pleasure to Bridewell, on court days, for the purpose of seeing the wretched women who beat hemp there whipped. A man pressed to death for refusing to plead, or burned for coining, excited less sympathy than is now felt for a galled horse, or an overdriven ox.

Players engaged in the old game of Pell Mell (from which Pall Mall derived its name) in the days of Charles II.

Fights, compared with which a boxing-match is a