Note 1831 — Chapter IX · ENGLAND AND THE NORTHERN RACES.
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Sir William Skevington, a lieutenant of the Tower, under Henry VIII., immortalized himself by reviving an old implement of torture, consisting of an iron hoop, in which the prisoner was bent, heels to hams and chest to knees, and was thus crushed together unmercifully. It obtained the nickname of Skevington’s Daughter, corrupted in time to Scavenger’s Daughter. Among other sufferers from its embraces was an unlucky Irishman, named Myagh, whose plaint, engraved on the walls of his dungeon, is still among the curiosities of the Tower:—
“Thomas Miagh, which liethe here alone, That fayne wold from hens begon: By torture straunge mi truth was tryed, Yet of my libertie denied. 1581. Thomas Myagh.” (Jardine, op. cit. pp. 15, 30).