 imaginable.

On seeing the gallows, the Provost asked Boyer whether he thought them
strong enough to sustain the weight of a stout man. "Aye," replied the
Mayor; "doubtless they be so."

"Well, then," said the Provost, "get up speedily, for they are
prepared for you."

"I hope," exclaimed the astonished and disconcerted Mayor, "that you
mean not what you speak."

"In very faith," said Sir Anthony Kingston, "there is no remedy, for
you have been a busy rebel."

And so, without trial or defence, he was hanged before his own door by
the man who had just dined at his table.

Sir John Hayward, who relates this incident, tells also the story of a
miller who resided near Bodmin. This man had been a "busy rebel," and
fearing the wrath of the Provost-Marshal, he told a "sturdy, tall
fellow, his servant," that he had occasion to go from home, and that
if any one should inquire for the miller, the fellow should affirm
that he was the man, and that he had been so for three years. The
Provost came to the mill and inquired for the miller, and the servant
at once presented himself as such. The Provost inquired how long he
had kept the mill. "These three years," answered the servant.

"String him up on the nearest tree!" ordered Sir Anthony.

The fellow then cried out that he was not the miller, but the miller's
man. "Nay, sir," said the Provost, "I will take thee at thy word; and if
thou beest the miller, thou art a busy knave; if thou beest not, thou
art a false lying knave; whatsoever thou art, thou shalt be hanged."
When others told him that the man was in reality only the miller's
servant, the Provost replied, "Could he ever have done his master a
better service than to hang in his stead?" and so he was despatched.

Hals says: "Mayow, of Cleoyan, in S. Columb Major, was hanged at a
tavern signpost in that town, of whom tradition says his crime was not
capital; and therefore his wife was advised by her friends to hasten
to the town after the Marshal and his men, who had him in custody, and
beg for his life, which accordingl