They cited him to an higher tribunal,--the immediate judgment of God.

Their trials were so many conjurations, and the magical ceremonies of barbarity and heathenism entered into law and religion.

This supernatural method of process they called God's Dome; it is generally known by the name of _Ordeal_, which in the Saxon language signifies the Great Trial.

This trial was made either by fire or water: that by fire was principally reserved for persons of rank; that by water decided the fate of the vulgar; sometimes it was at the choice of the party.

A piece of iron, kept with a religious veneration in some monastery, which claimed this privilege as an honor, was brought forth into the church upon the day of trial; and it was there again consecrated to this awful purpose by a form of service still extant.