■'>S. VII. Mav28. '59.1 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



445 



Drowning as a Piinislinient for Women. — Ma. 

 Boys, in 2"^ S. vii. 384., throws a doubt on the 

 statement of Jamieson that " pit and gallows," in 

 the old law of Scotland, was the privilege of a 

 baron to have on his ground a pit for drowning 

 women, and a gallows for hanging men, convicted 

 of theft. There seems, however, to be no ground 

 for this doubt. Sir Walter Scott, in his Essay on 

 Border Antiquities, has the following passage : — 



" Drowning is a very old mode of panishment in Scot- 

 land; and in Galloway there were pits of great depth 

 appropriated to that punishment, still called murder- 

 holes, out of which human bones liave occasionally been 

 taken in great quantities. This points out the proper 

 interpretation of the right of pit and gallows (in law 

 Latin, fossa et furca), which has, less probably, been 

 supposed the right of imprisoning in the p.it or dungeon, 

 than that of hanging. But the meanest baron possessed 

 the right of imprisonment. The real meaning is, the 

 right of inflicting death either by hanging or drowning." 

 — Prose IFor/is, vol. vii. p. 109. 



Grimm, in his Antiquities of German Law, sa3-s 

 that drowning was peculiarly the punishment of 

 women and witches. He states that the ancient 

 custom was to intiict capital punishment on wo- 

 men, not by hanging, but by burning, drowning, 

 pr stoning. The following are two maxims of law 

 quoted by him : " Qui furabitur per coUum sus- 

 pendatur, et, si sit mu'ier, in igne comburatur ;" 

 " Den Dieb soil man henken, und die Hur ei'- 

 tninken" (D. R. A., pp. G87. 696.) This differ- 

 ence in the jnode of punishment was doubtless 

 founded upon motives of decency. L. 



Weapon- Salve (2"'' S. vii. 402.) — I am able to 

 remove Prof. I>e Mokgan's doubts, by assuring 

 him that I have now in my hand a copy of Digby's 

 treatise in French, bearing the same date (1658) 

 as the translation by White. The title runs thus :_ 



" Discours fait eu uue celfebre Assemblee, par le 

 Chevalier Digby, Chancelier de la Keine de la Grande 

 Bretagne, &c. Touchant la Gverison des Playes par la 

 Poudre de Sj'mpathic. Oii sa Composition est enseignee, 

 et plusieurs autres Merueilles de la Xature sont deue- 

 lopp&s. 



' Ficlix qui potuit rerum cognoscere cansa.'i.' — Tirg. 

 ii Paris, chez Angustin Courbe, en la petite Salle du 

 Palais, a la Palme, et Pierre Moet, Libraire Jure, proche 

 le Pont S. Michel, a ITmage S. Alexis. :mi>clviii. Avec 

 Privilege du Roy. Small Svo." 



. With reference to White's translation, of which 

 I have a copy also before me, I notice that the 

 Professor speaks of it as the second edition. 

 This probably is in deference to the mention by 

 Watt of an edition in 1644. White's title-page, 

 however, offers no evidence of any earlier edition 

 than 1658 ; and indeed it is clear from the royal 

 lice'nce, dated 21st Dec. 1657, given both in the 

 original and translation, that no prior publication 

 had appeared. The French work terminates with 

 this colophon, "Acheue d'imprimer, le 15. Fou- 

 rier, 1658." White's version may be considered 

 on the whole satisfactory, though not strictly 



literal. The passage noticed by Prof. De Mor- 

 gan (p. 300. of your present volume) for example, 

 would be more intelligible by substituting the 

 word " sequel " for " circumstances." The ori- 

 ginal is as follows : — 



" Cecy fut aussi tost raporte a Monsieur de Bouguain- 

 gan, et peu apres au Eoy; qui furent tous deux fort 

 curieux de scauoir la sultte de I'atFaire ; qui fut," &c. 



R. S. Q. 



Dr. Florence Hensey (2"^' S. vi. 244. .335.) — 

 Turning over the Public Adcertiser for July 18, 

 1781, a few days since, I came across an account 

 of this traitor ; and though late, it may be worth 

 Mr. W. B. MacCaue's knowledge. As to his birth 

 and education, it corresponds with that extract 

 from the G7-and Mag. quoted by A. B. S. It 

 gives the date of his trial June 12 (not 14), 1758. 

 And as to his subsequent career it says that Dr. 

 Hensey was reprieved on the morning appointed 

 for his execution ; afterwards he continued above 

 three years in Newgate (this does not agree with 

 the extracts from the London Magazine quoted 

 by Mr. MaoCabe), and then embarked for France 

 on obtaining a free pardon ; so that he was not 

 pardoned till after the accession of George III. 



Tee Bee. 



Pant. Prometh. (2'^'^ S. vii. 394.) — The lines 

 commencing " Him JEtna binds," are a translation 

 from Pindar's Pythean Ode, vv. 35 — 46., and refer 

 to Prometheus. This may possibly explain the 

 abbreviated reference of your correspondent on 

 the subject. 



I await an answer on my inquiry in a previous 

 number for an illustration of Shakspeare's the 

 " Parish top " from some of your antiquarian 

 readers. Francis Trench. 



Islip, near Oxford. 



Inscription at Abingdon (2'"' S. vii. 130. 226.) — 

 In the notes to Hearne's edition (1769) of Leland's 

 Itinerary, vol. vii. p. 78. this inscription is stated 

 to have been, at that date, in the hall of St. 

 Helen's Hospital at Abingdon. liearne calls it 

 the " Rebus " of Abingdon. It is printed at p. 

 83., with some variations from Ashniole's version. 

 Instead of "V." before "A. B. I. N. D. O. N,," 

 Hearne gives "r," and says, " this letter ' r ' stands 

 for 7-ebus, unless I am mistaken." " Youre foure 

 Fader, with A," is printed withoid the comma, and 

 this makes the sense more easy, as "youre foure 

 Fader with A," can only mean ^dam, whose ini- 

 tial is the letter required. " The worker of wer " 

 is printed, " The worker of we.r." And the date is 

 "xxxvi.," not 'xxvi." Hen. VI., viz. a.d. 1457, 



J. 



RollrigJd, RoUwrighi, otherwise Roivlandic right, 

 or properly Rowlanwright. — The article by A. J. 

 D. (2'"^ S. vii. 393.) on this much vexed question 

 of the etymology of this name, attracted my at- 

 tention. In old deeds it is desci'ibed as Rowlan- 



