that he was a slave. Church
brawlers in this reign were liable to be branded on the cheek with the
letter F, meaning a fraymaker.

Gipsies were punished with branding. At Haddington, in 1636, some
gipsies were severely dealt with, the men being condemned to be hanged,
the women drowned, with the exception of those having children, and they
were to be scourged through the burgh and burnt on their cheeks.

James Nayler, the Mad Quaker, who claimed to be the Messiah, as part of
his punishment for blasphemy, was condemned to have his tongue bored
through and his forehead branded with a hot iron with the letter B,
signifying that he was a blasphemer.[31]

Persons found guilty of petty offences and claiming benefit of clergy
were burnt on the hand. Dr. Cox gives particulars of a case occurring at
the Derbyshire Sessions in 1696. A butcher named Palmer, from
Wirksworth, had been found guilty of stealing a sheep. He claimed
benefit of clergy, which the court granted, and he read. The court gave
judgment that he be burnt in his left hand, which was executed. His
troubles did not end with the branding, for we find he had to "remaine
in Gaole till hee finde Sufficient Suretyes for his Good behaviour to
bee approved of and taken by Recoign by Mr. Justice Pole and Mr. Justice
Borrowes, and for his appearance att next Sessions, and then to abide
further Order of this Court."[32]

We reproduce from a carefully written work entitled, "In and Around
Morecambe and Its Bay," issued by Mr. T. A. J. Waddington, York, an
old-time picture of a branding scene. In the Lancaster Criminal Court is
still preserved a branding iron. "This iron," we are told, "is attached
to the back part of the dock; it consists of a long bolt with a wooden
handle at one end, and the letter M at the other. In close proximity are
two iron loops designed for securing firmly the hand of the prisoner
whilst the long piece of iron was heated red hot, so that the letter
denoting 'Malefactor' could be impressed. The brander, after doing his
fiery task, examined the hand, and on a good impression being made on
the brawny part running from the thumb, would turn to the judge and
exclaim--'A fair mark, my Lord!'"

[Illustration: "A FAIR MARK, MY LORD."]

At the Assizes held at Northampton, in 1720, before Mr. Justice Powis,
the following prisoners were adjudged to be branded:--"Silvester Green,
found guilty of sheep-stealing, burnt in the Hand. And James Corby, the
Pig