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diflant coiintr)', tlie ceremony is iiiterdifled. But if the 

 woimn declines liurnim^, tor (he is allowed the alteniiitive, 

 (he mull thenceforth hve a life of the mod rifrid aurtciity, 

 and dtvote heifelf wiiolly to a<^s of piety and mortification. 

 Uut tliou^h the alurnative he allowed, tlie Hindoo Icjriilators 

 have (l>e\vn thenfelves difpoifd to encourage widows to 

 burn tlietnfelves with their hufoind's corpft. 



Mr. C.wnphcl!, during; his Hay at Tanjorc, was a fpeftator 

 of this horrid ceremony ; performed by a young widow, 

 not more thin 16 years of a<.re. He has minutely dtfcribed 

 all the circuni'.tances attendin;' it ; for an account of which 

 we refer the reader to his " Journey over Land to India," 

 4to. 1795. 



BuasiNC aHv:, among the Romans, a punidiment m- 

 flidtd on dcfeiters, betrayers of the public councils, incen- 

 diaries, coiners, and even Chrillians : it was called cremalio. 



The J,.-ws had two ways of burning ; one called burning 

 of the bod<-, performed with wood and faggots; the other, 

 burning of the foul, combujiio aiiim.t, performed by pouring 

 Ccalding-hot had down their throat!. The prieft's daughter, 

 who couimitttd whoredom, he that lay with his own daugh- 

 ter, or grand-daughter, or his mothcrin-law, were burnt alive. 

 Phil. Tranf. N'' 2jo. Godw. Mofcs & Aaron, lib. v. 

 cap. 7. 



Burning, UJlio, in Cbcm'ijlry, is diftinguifhed from cal- 

 cining ; as the former is performed in clofe veffels, and ter- 

 minates in charring, or reducing the body to a blacknefs ; 

 whereas the latter turns them white, being performed in the 

 open air. It alfo difters from roading, toJI'w, as, in burning, 

 the fire is applied in contaft with the body; in roafting, at 

 a diftance from it. 



Burning, or Brenning, in owr Ancient Cujloms, denotes 

 an infeftious local difeafe, obtained by intercourfe with the 

 kwd women who were kept in the public ftews. Sec 

 Stews. 



Mr. William Beckett, a furgeon of great learning in this 

 branch of hillory, has left us a curious account of the hrenmng, 

 which was publilhed in a letter to Dr. James Douglals, 

 A. D. 17 18. Mr. Beckett has certainly failed in proving 

 the antiquity of lues vencra or fyphilis ; but the information 

 contained in his letter is too much to our prcfent purpofe 

 to be wholly omitted. We (hall, however, refume this in- 

 veftigation when we defcribe the origin of the venereal difeafe ; 

 intending, in the article before us, to give only an extraft 

 from Mr. Beckett's interelling letter ; viz. 



" I (hall begin with the firft degree of this difeafe, and 

 prove, from authentic evidences, it was anciently called the 

 brenning or burning ; and that this word has been fucceffivcly 

 continued for many hundreds of years, to fignify the fame 

 difeafe we now call a clap ; and that it was not difcontinued 

 till that appellation firft began to have its rife. The moft 

 likely method to accomplilh my defign, will be firlt to exa- 

 mine thofc records that relate to the (lews which were by au- 

 thority allowed to be kept on the Bank-Side in Southwark, 

 under the jurifdiftion of the bifliop of Winchefter, and which 

 were fupprefled the J7th of Hen. VIII. For it is impofiible 

 but, if there were any fuch diftemper in being at that time, 

 it muft be pretty common among thofe lewd women who 

 had a licence for entertaining their paramours, notwithlland- 

 ingany rules or orders which might be eftabhihed to prevent 

 its inereafe : but if we (hall find that there were orders cila- 

 blifhed to prevent the fpreading of fuch a difeafe, that per- 

 fons might be fecure from any contagious malady after their 

 cntertaioment at thofe houfes, (which were anciently 18 in 

 number, but in the reign of Hen. VII. reduced to 12), we 

 may then fecurely depend upon it, that it was the frequency 

 of the difeafe that put thofc who liad the authority under a 



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neccfTity of making fuch rules and orders. For the fame 

 powers, who granted a liberty for keeping open fuch lewd 

 houfes, mull find it their intereft to fecure, as much as pof- 

 fible, all perfons from receiving any injury there ; left the 

 fre<|uency of fuch misfortunes (liould deter others from fre- 

 quenting them, and fo the original defign of their inllitution 

 ceafe ; from the entire finking of the revenues. Now I find 

 that, as early as the year 1 162, divers conftitutions relating 

 to the lordfliip of Winchefter, (being alio confirmed by the 

 king), were to be kept for ever, according to the old 

 cultoms that had been time out ot mind. Among which 

 thcfe were fome, viz. I. No ftew-holdcr to take more for 

 a woman's chamber in the week than i4d. 2. Not to keep 

 open his doors upon holy day 3. 3. No fingle woman to 

 be kept againft her will, that would leave her fin. 4. No 

 fingle woman to take money to lie with any man, except 

 flic lie with him all night till the morning. 5. No ftew- 

 holder to keep any woman that hath the perilous infirmity 

 of burning. Thefe and many more orders were to be 

 ftriftly obferved, or the offenders to be fevercly punilhed. 

 Novv' we are affured, there is no other difeafe that can be 

 communicated by carnal converfation with women, but that 

 which is venereal, by reafon that only is contagious ; and it 

 is evident the burning was certainly fo : for, had it been 

 nothing elfe but fome fimple ulceration, heat, or inflammation, 

 there would have been no contagion ; and that affefting 

 only the woman, could not be communicated by any vene- 

 real congrefs, and fo not infer a neceffity of her being com- 

 prehended under the reftraining article. Thefe orders likewife 

 prove the difeafe was much more ancient than the date above 

 mentioned ; becaufe they were only a renewal of fuch as 

 had been before eftablidied time out of mind. 



" But to confirm this farther, 1 find that in the cuftody 

 of the bilhop of Winchefter, whofe palace was fituated on 

 the Bank-fide, near the ftews, was a book written upon 

 vellum, the title of which runs thus : " Here begynne the 

 ordinances, rules, and cuftoms, as well for the falvation of 

 mannes life, as for to afchew many mifchiefs and incon- 

 venients that daily be lik there for to fall out, to be right- 

 fully kept, and due execution of them to be done unto any 

 perfon within the fame." One of the articles begins thus: 

 " De his qui cuftodiunt mulieres habentes nephandam in(ir- 

 mitatem." It goes on, item, " That no llew-holder keep 

 noo woman wythin his houfe, that hath any ficknefs of 

 brenning, but that (he be put out upon the peyne of makeit 

 a fine unto the lord of a hundred (hillings." This is taken 

 from the original manufcript, which was preferved in the 

 bifhop's court, fuppofed to be written about the year 1430. 

 From thefe orders we may obferve the frequency of the 

 diftemper at that time ; which, with other inconveniences, 

 was dayly like there for to fall out : and the greatnefs of the 

 penalty, as the value of money then was, that is laid on it, 

 proves it was no trifling or infignificant thing. 



" But the bare proof of there having been anciently fuch 

 a difeafe as was called the burning, may be thought to be in- 

 fufficient, unlefs we were perfeftly affured what it was, and 

 how it was in thofe times defcribed : I (hall therefore do it 

 from an unqueftionable authority, which is that of John 

 Arden, efq. ; who was one of the furgeons to king 

 Richard II. and likewife to king Henry IV. In a curious 

 manufcript of his upon vellum, he defines it to be, a certain 

 inward heat and excoriation of the urethra ; which defcrip- 

 tion gives us a perfect idea of what we now call a clap ; for 

 frequent diflieftions of thofe who laboured under that difeafe 

 have made it evident, that their urethra is excoriated by the 

 virulency of the matter they receive from the infefted woman ; 

 and this excoriation or ulceration is not confined to the 

 2 ojliola 



