hat a sheet of paper,
stating the cause of his punishment and its extent. A young man who had
been articled to a lawyer, but who was not practising, stepped forward,
and taking the paper out, tore it into shreds, remarking it was no part
of Jim's sentence to be subjected to that additional disgrace. The act
was applauded by the onlookers. One working-man who sympathised with
him, filled and lit a tobacco pipe, and placed it in Jim's mouth; but it
was instantly removed by one of the constables, who considered it was a
most flagrant act, and one calling for prompt interference on the part
of the guardians of the law." Brigham was the last person punished in
the stocks at Beverley. The stocks, which bear the date 1789, were
movable, and fitted into sockets near the Market Cross. They are still
preserved in a chamber at St. Mary's in that town. The Minster,
Beverley, had also its stocks, which are still preserved in the roof of
that splendid edifice.

The stocks were last used at Market Drayton about sixty years ago. "It
is related," says Mr. Morris, "that some men, for imbibing too freely
and speaking unseemly language to parishioners, as they were going to
church on a Sunday morning, were, on the following day, duly charged
with the offence and fined, the alternative being confinement for four
hours in the stocks. Two of the men refused to pay the fine, and were
consequently put therein. The people flocked around them, and, while
some regaled them with an ample supply of beer, others expressed their
sympathy in a more practical way by giving them money, so that, when
released, their heads and their pockets were considerably heavier than
they had been on the previous Sunday." At Ellesmere, the stocks,
whipping-post, and pillory were a combination of engines of punishment.
The former were frequently in use for the correction of drunkards. A
regular customer, we read, was "honoured by a local poet with some
impromptu verses not unworthy of reproduction:

"'A tailor here! confined in stocks,
A prison made of wood--a--,
Weeping and wailing to get out,
But couldna' for his blood--a--

"'The pillory, it hung o'er his head,
The whipping-post so near--a--
A crowd of people round about
Did at William laugh and jeer--a--'"

"The style was," it is said, "a sarcastic imitation of 'William's'
peculiar manner of speaking when tipsy."

According to Mr. Christopher A. Markham, in his notices