Walled-up (Scott, Marmion; a tale of Flodden Field, 1808)

Text: "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;" "And he [the little horn] ... shall wear out the saints of the most High, ... and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time." Daniel 7:21,25

Quote:


Note XVII.

On those the wall was to inclose
Alive, within the tomb.
—P. 103.

   It is well known, that the religious, who broke their vows of chastity, were subjected to the same penalty as the Roman vestals in a similar case. A small niche, sufficient to inclose their bodies, was made in the massive wall of the convent; a slender pittance of food and water was deposited in it, and the awful words, Vade in Pacem, were the signal for immuring the criminal. It is not likely that, in latter times, this punishment was often resorted to; but, among the ruins of the abbey of Coldingham, were some years ago discovered the remains of a female skeleton, which, from the shape of the niche, and position of the figure, seemed to be that of an immured nun.

Scott, Walter, Sir, Marmion; a tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: Printed by J. Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, Edinburgh; and William Miller, and John Murray, London, 1808, Notes, pp. lii-liii.

Online Source: archive.org/details/marmiontaleofflo00scot

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