1725 Mr. Thomas Menlove of Loppington bur. June 20.
Thos. Spencer of Burlton yeoman bur. Aug. 3.
Peter s. of Mr. Philip Vaughan bur. Dec. 11.
Mary Spencer of Burlton widow bur. Sep. 5.

Eliz. Spencer of Burlton bur, Sep. 4.

1726 Richd Gough of Noneley yeoman bur. Mar. 18.

1727 Wm. s. of Wm. Bickerton of Loppington yeoman bur, May 21. 1728 James Lloyd of Loppington yeoman bur. Mar. 22.

1729 Sarah d. of Richard Noneley of Noneley yeoman bur. Apr. 20. Mr. George Beacall of Burlton bur. April 22.

July 10.

Feb. 6.

Thomas Dicken of Loppington yeoman bur. Apr. 27.

Mr. Thomas Payne of Nonelley bur. May 22.

Margaret d. of Mr. Thos. Vaughan of the Wood & Sarah bur.

John s. of Wm. Wicherley labourer bur. Oct. 23.
Edward Kynaston of Loppington bur. Aug. 30.
Anne d. of George Wicherley yeoman bur. Nov. 7.

Richard s. of Mr. Thos. Acherley & Dorothy bur. Sep. 17.
Eleanor Gough of Bagley widow bur. Dec. 4.

Benjamin Gouldesborough of Ryebank par. Wem gent. bur.

1730 Thomas s. of Mr. Thos. Chambre of Whettall par. of Ellesmere & Elizabeth bur. April 23.

Oct. 4.

Wm. Gregory of Burlton yeoman bur. May 17.

Phebe Dickin bur. July 21.

Mary Botwood of Noneley burd. Aug 15.

Richard Nonelley of Nonelley yeoman & Mary his wife bur.

Margaret Hatchett of the Wood widow bur. Feb. 13. Mr. Thos. Kynaston of Hollywell Moor bur. Jan. 6. Sarah Walford d. of Rowland Walford bur. Feb. 18. 1731 Mr. John Wootton of Burlton bur. Mar. 27.

Eliz. Gough burd. May 1.

Henry s. of Mr. Philip Vaughan & Jane bur. Apr. 6.
Mrs. Elizabeth Chambre of Whettall par. Wem bur. Apr. 20.
Peter s. of Mr. Philip Vaughan & Jane bur. Apr. 21.

Charles Chambre of Burleton gent. bur. Apr. 22.

Ann d. of Thomas Chambre of Whettall Wem gent. & Eliz.

burd. Apr. 23.

Aun d. of William Kynaston bur. June 31.

Edward s. of Wm. Wicherley burd. June 10.

Mrs. Mary Kynaston of Hollywell Moor widow bur. July 26.

1732 John Wicherley infant bur. Apr. 18.

Thomas s. of William Kynaston bur, Nov. 16.
Arthur Noneley of Burlton bur. Mar. 14.

1733 Hugh s. of Mr. Thos. Acherley bur. Mar, 5.
1784 Roger Wycherley of Loppington pauper bur. May 6.
Ann wife of Wm. Jefferies burd. Dec. 4.

Martha Gregory unfortunately killed by the throw of a stick

burd. Feb. 20.

1785 John s. of Mr. Thos. Acherley bur. Mar. 25.

Roger Wycherley junr. pauper bur. March 29.

Richard s. of Mr. Philip Vaughan & Jane burd. June 14.
Mr. Thos. Kynaston late of Lee par. Ellesmere bur. Nov. 11.

1786 Thos. s. of Mr. Thos. Manwaring bur, Apr. 28.

Wm. Spencer of Burlton bur. July 19.

1787 Mr. Thos. Vaughan of the Wood bur, May 7.
Thomas s. of Mr. Thos. Kynaston bur. June 10.
Mary wife of Francis Lloyd bur. Aug. 11.

Martha Noneley late of Burlton widow bur. Jan 30.
Mary Wynn of the Pate wood bur. Nov. 6.

1738 William s. of Edwd. Kynaston bur. Mar, 31.
Edward s. of ditto bur. Apr. 16.

Mrs. Jane Beacall widow bur. Aug. 15.

1789 Ann Dicken of Brown Heath par. Ellesmere bur. Mar. 28. Sarah d. of Richd. Gough bur. Apr. 1.

Sarah w. of John Dicken of Brown Heath bur. Apr. 29.
Thos. s. of John Dicken of Brown Heath bur. May 13.
Richard s. of Richard Noneley of Noneley bur. Sep. 12,
Alice d. of Edward Kynaston bur. Feb. 5.

1740 William Kynaston an infant bur. June 9.

Thos. s. of Thos. Bickerton of Berwick bur. Aug. 23.
John s. of John Kynaston & Jane bur. Sep. 7.
Arthur Bolas late of Ruyton bur. Dec. 29.
Elizabeth Kynaston widow bur. Jan. 10.
1742 Ann d. of Wm. Kynaston bur. Dec. 19.
Ann d. of Wm. Jefferies burd. Sep. 25.

1748 Ann w. of Wm. Kynaston of Loppington pauper burd. May 8.
1744 John Kynaston of Whitchurch Dyer bur. Apr. 11.
Thomas Chambre of Whettall gent. bur. May 9.

1745 Wm. Bickerton of Loppington bur. June 7. 1748 John s. of Mr. Philip Vaughan bur. July 13.

1686 May 31 Collected for French Protestants 46s. 4d.

1699 May 1 Collected for the French Protestants 5s. 11d.

1704 May 14 Collected for Seamens' widows and children 8s. 41d. 1708 Collected for the Inhabitants of Ineskellin 3s. 6d.

DIRECTIONS TO BELL RINGERS IN TONG CHURCH.

In the lower chamber of the Tower of Tong Church a board is preserved, on which are painted the following directions to Bell Ringers :

If that to ring you doe come here

You must ring well with hand and eare ;
keep stroak of time and goe not out
or else you forfeit out of doubt.
Our law is soe concluded here;
For every fault a jugg of beer.

if that you ring with Spurr or Hat,
a jugg of beer must pay for that.
If that you take a rope in hand
these forfeits you must not withstand.
or if a bell you ov'rthrow

it must cost sixpence e're you goe
If in this place you sweare or curse
Sixpence you pay out with your purse;
come pay the Clerk it is his fee

for one (that swears) shall not goe free These laws are old and are not new therefore the Clerk must have his due.

Another and shorter version of these directions,

dated twenty-nine years earlier, is preserved at Culmington, Salop.

A.R.

THE OBSOLETE PUNISHMENTS OF

SHROPSHIRE.

BY S. MEESON MORRIS.

THE fact that in all ages and in every country offences. of some kind have been committed must be indisputable.

The absolute necessity for checking the increase of crime was, fortunately for the present and past generations, recognized in England at a very early period, and numerous methods of punishment, differing in many important details from those of all other civilized nations, and varying in severity according to the gravity of the particular offence, were imposed by our forefathers, upon those who, in the exercise of what has undoubtedly proved to be a very wise and farseeing discretion, they deemed it expedient to correct. With the rapid advancement of civilization and education these methods of punishment have been materially altered and modified from time to time.

The increased spirit of humanity which abolished some of these frightful and degrading customs soon extended itself to other usages equally barbarous; usages which had not even the plea of utility in their defence, as every year's experience proved them to be more and more inefficacious.

The savage lex talionis (the law of retaliation), which constituted the principle of all early criminal codes, has, theoretically at least, been gradually abandoned, and the infliction of punishment is now generally advocated as a means of deterring from the commission of crime, VOL. VIII.

L

and preventing, through the medium of example, the spread of criminality among the people. The result of this has been, that, during the present century, many of the ingenious but cruel contrivances formerly inventa, and used for the chastisement of offenders, have happily been superseded by punishments more in accordance with the inclinations and necessities of the age in which we live. Cruel punishments, as the pillory and ducking stool; and cruel sports, as cock-fighting, dog-fighting, and bull-baiting, once went hand in hand, and so closely allied do they appear to have been, that the extinction of the former proved to be the signal for the almost immediate abandonment of the latter.

A remarkable, and somewhat striking illustration of the prevalent desire to stamp out traces of barbarity in every shape and form, may be found in the amendment of the law relating to the burial of suicides, whereby the last vestige of savagery, associated with the verdict of felo de se, has been abolished, and the corpse thus permitted to be decently interred, instead of being carted through the streets, pitched into a hole where highways cross, and driven through the heart with a stake; the course which had formerly to be adopted with the bodies of these unfortunate creatures.

A number of the dangerous instruments of punishment at one time in constant employment have now fallen into disuse from their incompatibility with modern refinement. The pillory, the ducking stool, and the stocks the latter, familiar to many a person yet living, no longer occupy their accustomed prominent positions. The thrill of terror produced upon scolding women by the mere threatened application of the brank, or scold's bridle, a most effectual remedy for female loquacity, will never be repeated.

The whipping post too, the dread of many an offender, and more especially the vagrant, has mercifully been permitted to fall into desuetude, and with it the ancient custom of administering a severe flogging to persons detected in the act of soliciting alms.