of bad repute.
"It consisted," says Mr. J. Potter Briscoe, F.R.H.S., "of a hollow box,
which was sufficiently large to admit of two persons being exposed at
the same time. Through holes in the side the heads of the culprits were
placed. In fact, the Nottingham cuck-stool was similar to a pillory. The
last time this ancient instrument of punishment was brought into
requisition was in 1731, when the Mayor (Thomas Trigge) caused a female
to be placed in it for immorality, and left her to the mercy of the mob,
who ducked her so severely that her death ensued shortly afterwards. The
Mayor, in consequence, was prosecuted, and the Nottingham cuck-stool was
ordered to be destroyed." In the Nottinghamshire records are traces of
the ducking-stool at Southwell and Retford. The example of the latter
town is traced back to an unusually early period.

[Illustration: IPSWICH DUCKING-STOOL.]

The old ducking-stool of King's Lynn, Norfolk, may now be seen in the
Museum of that town. The annals of the borough contain numerous
allusions to the punishment of women. In the year 1587, it is stated
that for immoral conduct, John Wanker's wife and widow Parker were both
carted. It is recorded that, in 1754, "one Elizabeth Neivel stood in the
pillory, and that one Hannah Clark was ducked for scolding." There is
mention of a woman named Howard standing in the pillory in 1782, but no
particulars are given of her crime.

[Illustration: DUCKING-STOOL, KING'S LYNN.]

In a note written for us in 1881, by Mr. R. N. Worth, the historian of
Plymouth, we are told that in Devon and Cornwall the ducking-stool was
the usual means employed for inflicting punishment on scolding women. At
Plymouth, the ducking-stool was erected at the Barbican, a site full of
historic interest. From here Sir Walter Raleigh was conducted to his
long imprisonment, followed by death on the scaffold. It was here that
the Pilgrim Fathers bade adieu to the shores of their native land to
establish a New England across the Atlantic. As might be expected, the
old municipal accounts of Plymouth contain many curious and interesting
items bearing on the punishment of women. Mr. W. H. K. Wright, editor of
the _Western Antiquary_, tells us that as recently as the year 1808 the
last person was ducked. At Plymouth, at the present time, are preserved
two ducking-chairs, one in the Athenaeum and the other in the office of
the Borough Surveyor. Mr. Wright has kindly supplied illustrations of