There is a small book, printed in black letter, containing an account of the treatment and trial of Anne Askew, which contains many curious particulars.—She was the daughter of Sir William Askew, of Kelsay, in the county of Lincoln, where she was born about 1520. She had a learned education, and while young was married to a person of the name of Kyme, much against her inclination. On account of some harsh treatment from her husband, she went to the Court of Henry the Eighth to sue for a separation, where she was greatly taken notice of by those ladies who were attached to the Reformation; in consequence of which, she was arrested, and having confessed her religious principles, was committed to Newgate. She was first racked with savage cruelty in the Tower, and then burnt in Smithfield, in 1546, in company with her tutor, and two other persons of the same faith. From her letters and other pieces in Fox and Strype, it appears she was an accomplished, as well as a pious, woman. Footnote 20: Burnet’s Reformation, vol. 1. p. 325; vol. 2. p. 382. Footnote 21: Collier’s Eccl. Hist. vol. 2. p. 591.—Murden’s State Papers, p. 9, 101. Footnote 22: Collier’s Eccl. Hist. vol. 2. p. 139.—Murden’s State Papers, p. 452. Footnote 23: Observations on Ancient Statutes, p. 496, _note_. Footnote 24: State Trials, vol. 1. p. 199. Footnote 25: Observations on Statutes, p. 495. Footnote 26: State Trials, vol. 1. p. 221. Footnote 27: Observations on Statutes, p. 92. Footnote 28: State Trials, vol. 3. p. 99. Footnote 29: The Pandects (1. xlviii. tit. xviii.) contain the sentiments of the most celebrated civilians on the subject of torture. They strictly confine it to slaves. Footnote 30: The Citizens of Athens could not be put to the rack, unless it was for high treason. The torture was used within thirty days after condemnation. There was no preparatory torture. In regard to the Romans, the third and fourth law _de Majestate_, by Julius Cæsar, shews that birth, dignity, and the military profession exempted people from the rack, except in cases of high treason.—_Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws_, vol. 1. p. 132. Footnote 31: Archadius Charisius is the oldest lawyer quoted in the Pandects to justify the universal practice of torture in all cases of treason; but this maxim of tyranny, which is admitted by Ammianus with the most respectful terror, is enforced by several laws of the successors of Constantine.—_Gibbon’s Rom. Hist._ vol. 3. p. 81. DR. JOHNSON’S CONVERSATION WITH THE LATE KING.