tion of the new wall that is to be made upon them." Another class of persons who are now adays popular and prosperous would have come off badly in the days of good Queen Bess. Conjuring and the use of the divining rod were capital offences. The stocks, the cucking-stool, the brank, and the pillory, painful as they were in themselves, were all supplemented by the brutality of the popu lace. Cucking-stools were of two kinds: one consisted merely of a strong chair, into which the offender was securely fastened, and then exposed either at his or her own door, or in some public situation, such as the town gates, or market place, and the other con sisted of a chair affixed to the end of a plank, and balanced on a beam, and was used for ducking scolding wives in the nearest pond or stream. According to Mr. William Andrew's monograph on the subject, the cucking-stool was rarely used in the eighteenth century. From the same authority we learn that punishment by the brank, or scold's bridle, although frequently resorted to, was never sanctioned by law. This instrument wa« made in various forms, and consisted of an iron head-piece, fastened by a padlock, and attached to a chain, and was so contrived that an iron plate, in some instances gar nished with sharp spikes, effectually silenced the tongue of the person upon whom it was placed, who was then led by an officer through the streets of the town. The brank
appears to have come into use about the beginning of the seventeenth century, and there is a specimen preserved at Congleton, England, which was tried on a woman for abusing the church wardens and constables of that place, as recently as 1824. The pillory was constantly in use for vari ous offences until 1837, in which year it was finally abolished. Voluntary intention has been generally held to be a necessary attribute of criminal action; but the rule has not been universal In Athens an involuntary murderer was ban ished until he gave satisfaction to the rela tives of the deceased; and in China accidental arson is now punished by a certain number of bamboo strokes, and more or less prolonged punishment. In the Middle Ages even inani mate objects were frequently tried, convicted, and punished for certain offences. In 1865, when the Protestant Church at Rochelle was condemned to be demolished, the bell thereof was publicly whipped for having assisted heretics with its tongue. After being whipped, it was catechised, com pelled to recant, and then baptised and hung up in a Roman Catholic place of worship. Probably similar absurdities may have been perpetrated in England, for it must be re membered that only in Queen Victoria's reign was the law repealed which made a cart-wheel, a tree, or a beast, which had killed a man, forfeit to the State for the bene fit of the poor.
