00:00:00:05 - 00:00:03:01 Kit is not afraid as he is tied to the whipping post at 00:00:03:01 - 00:00:05:09 at the Standard on Cheapside. 00:00:05:09 - 00:00:09:11 “For stealing, the cut purse is to be whipped until bloody”. 00:00:10:00 - 00:00:13:00 The sheriff calls over the assembled watchers. 00:00:13:20 - 00:00:17:20 Kits audience is a smaller crowd than usual, unsurprising 00:00:17:20 - 00:00:21:14 given the slow and steady spread of plague out from around Fleet Prison. 00:00:21:17 - 00:00:24:17 Not five minutes from the city walls, 00:00:24:17 - 00:00:26:17 the watching crowd is reduced to bored 00:00:26:17 - 00:00:29:01 fish wives, a few pious looking types, 00:00:29:01 - 00:00:31:08 and the dog catcher paused with his stick 00:00:31:08 - 00:00:33:05 and a hoop of rope over his shoulder. 00:00:34:01 - 00:00:35:14 Kit wonders if the sheriff pays him 00:00:35:14 - 00:00:37:06 per dog caught or dog killed. 00:00:38:04 - 00:00:39:12 He could kill a dog. 00:00:39:12 - 00:00:41:06 Surely it cannot be hard. 00:00:41:06 - 00:00:44:06 The first lash lands. It tingles. 00:00:44:15 - 00:00:46:16 He knows from the force that pushes his face 00:00:46:16 - 00:00:49:13 against the bloodstained post that he should scream. 00:00:49:13 - 00:00:50:04 So he does. 00:00:51:20 - 00:00:53:06 “One”. 00:00:53:06 - 00:00:56:06 The sheriff’s satisfied voice calls over the crowd. 00:00:56:22 - 00:00:58:14 The meagre crowd cheer. 00:00:58:14 - 00:01:00:10 Because why would they not? 00:01:00:10 - 00:01:03:17 If he saw some freighter or a jarkman tied to the post or pilloried 00:01:03:21 - 00:01:05:06 he would cheer just as much 00:01:05:06 - 00:01:08:06 and call them fools for being caught in their snatching and forging. 00:01:08:23 - 00:01:11:05 There is not a spell or prayer in all of Christendom 00:01:11:05 - 00:01:13:06 that can take the crime out of criminals, 00:01:13:06 - 00:01:15:18 and he has been thieving since he was a sprout. 00:01:15:18 - 00:01:18:00 So he yells when the lashes come. 00:01:18:00 - 00:01:20:09 He remembers how Ned Alleyn screamed as Faustus 00:01:20:09 - 00:01:23:09 was dragged down to hell, and gives it his best. 00:01:23:14 - 00:01:26:14 He makes a good enough show of it by his reckoning. 00:01:27:13 - 00:01:28:18 “A cut purse!” 00:01:28:18 - 00:01:31:18 someone shouts, “Skin him alive!” 00:01:32:24 - 00:01:35:14 The sheriff seems to take that to heart. 00:01:35:14 - 00:01:39:10 The pressure of blows across his naked back jolts his forehead into the post. 00:01:39:18 - 00:01:42:18 Again. Again, again. 00:01:42:20 - 00:01:46:01 What makes other men piss themselves he just finds tedious. 00:01:46:07 - 00:01:49:05 So to amuse himself, Kit considers how he can 00:01:49:05 - 00:01:52:01 give the best performance of pain. 00:01:52:15 - 00:01:54:13 Most people, by this point in the process, 00:01:54:13 - 00:01:57:08 are less lusty of voice and give more whimpers. 00:01:57:16 - 00:01:59:24 So he tries a bit of that. 00:01:59:24 - 00:02:01:18 It is nothing to cry, really. 00:02:01:18 - 00:02:04:18 Just stare into the sun until the eyes are a little blind. 00:02:05:24 - 00:02:09:11 At nearly 21 years old, he cannot grow a beard. 00:02:09:22 - 00:02:12:11 And whilst it is certainly an annoyance, it is good 00:02:12:11 - 00:02:15:13 at times like these, when he can squeeze out a few tears 00:02:15:13 - 00:02:18:13 With his young face, people might go easy on him. 00:02:18:22 - 00:02:21:14 He ignores the thump of his head against the post, 00:02:21:14 - 00:02:24:14 and wonders what pie he might get Mariner to buy for him afterwards. 00:02:24:18 - 00:02:27:18 If she has managed to filch a few purses during his performance, 00:02:28:19 - 00:02:31:18 or maybe Twentyman will take them to The Mermaid for a pint, 00:02:31:18 - 00:02:33:14 if he is hidden in the back. 00:02:33:14 - 00:02:36:16 Lads who take the brand for their master, they get pints. 00:02:37:10 - 00:02:38:14 “Have pity!” 00:02:39:15 - 00:02:41:21 Someone cries. 00:02:41:21 - 00:02:44:23 The lashes pause, the watchers are quieter now. 00:02:45:17 - 00:02:48:20 He realizes that for a while the only sound he has heard 00:02:48:20 - 00:02:52:07 is the wet, gasping exertion from the round bellied sheriff. 00:02:52:22 - 00:02:54:01 “Let the lad down!”