200 THE STOEY OF THE BETTISCOMBE SKULL. 



the now famous skull. The rest is easy for the simple country 

 folk to weave, and is, at the best, a form of superstition, as I 

 have said, by no means confined to West Dorset. 



In conclusion, let me say that though I may be wrong in 

 many of my surmises and deductions I do not think that it is 

 often given to one, in trying to penetrate the uncertainty and 

 myth that surround the investigation of so many of our 

 local superstitions and pieces of folk-lore, to come across, as I 

 have, so many minor items of interest connected with an event 

 that appeals so strongly to West of England folk as the Mon- 

 mouth Rebellion. Whether I have been as successful in tracing 

 the history of the Bettiscombe skull as I have been lengthy in 

 suggesting its connection with that period of English history, 

 I must leave my readers to judge, but I am very much afraid 

 that their patience, as well as my subject, has at length been 

 exhausted. 



P.S. I append a rough pedigree of the Pinney family 

 connected with Nevis, constructed from such materials as I had 

 before me, which may be of some service to my readers. 



ADDENDUM. 



Since writing the above, I have been referred to George 

 Roberts's " Life of the Duke of Monmouth " (1844), from 

 the second volume of which I have made the following 

 ext acts relative to the subject matter of my paper 



Mr. Roberts says (p. 237) : 



" The desire to procure white labour for the plantations in the West 

 India Islands, instead of the negro slaves, was very great in this country. 

 The sugar trade flourished at the close of this reign in a remarkable degree. 

 Extreme cupidity was displayed in order to get hold of parties to send out. 

 At a time when courtiers, favourites, and soldiers were rewarded 

 by having condemned prisoners given to them as a present, the value of a 

 man for working in the plantations was soon ascertained, and great was the 

 scramble for the booty. This was the case with respect to the Monmouth 



