Legacy Matters

"Fancy a drink, Sir Thomas"

In the time of King Henry IV who, after deposing Richard II, spent much of his reign putting  down rebellions.  One of them involved was Sir Thomas Blount. 

Only six men, including Sir Thomas Blount, received the full traitor's death of being drawn, hanged, disembowelled, and forced to watch their own entrails burned before being beheaded and quartered. Blount's execution resulted in one of the greatest displays of wit in the face of adversity ever recorded. As he was sitting down watching his extracted entrails being burned in front of him, he was asked if he would like a drink. 'No, for I do not know where I should put it', he replied.

via Samizdata