urchwardens, and assembled inhabitants."

[Illustration: BRANK AT STOCKPORT.]

In Cheshire, at the present time, there are traces of thirteen branks,
and at Stockport is the most brutal example of the English branks. "It
will be observed," says the local historian, Dr. Henry Heginbotham,
J.P., "that the special characteristic of this brank is the peculiar
construction of the tongue-plate or gag. It is about two inches long,
having at the end, as may be seen in the engraving, a ball, into which
is inserted a number of sharp iron pins, three on the upper surface,
three on the lower, and two pointing backwards. These could not fail to
pin the tongue, and effectually silence the noisiest brawler. At the
fore part of the collar, there is an iron chain, with a leathern thong
attached, by which the offender was led for public gaze through the
market-place." It was formerly on market days exhibited in front of the
house of the person who had charge of it, as a warning to scolding or
swearing women. Dr. Heginbotham states that: "There is no evidence of
its having been actually used for many years, but there is testimony to
the fact, that within the last forty years the brank was brought to a
termagant market woman, who was effectually silenced by its threatened
application."

We are indebted to Mr. Alfred Burton for a drawing of the Macclesfield
brank. Dr. Brushfield describes this as "a respectable-looking brank."
He tells us that "the gag is plain, and the end of it is turned down;
there is only one band which passes over the head, and is hinged to the
hoops; a temporary joint exists at the upper part, and ample provision
is made for readily adjusting it to any description of head. The chain
still remains attached to the hoop. About the year 1858, Mr. Swinnerton
informed Dr. Brushfield that he had never seen it used, but that at the
petty sessions it had often been produced _in terrorem_, to stay the
volubility of a woman's tongue; and that a threat by a magistrate to
order its appliance had always proved sufficient to abate the garrulity
of the most determined scold."

[Illustration: BRANK AT MACCLESFIELD.]

Towards the close of the first quarter of the present century, the brank
was last used at Altrincham. A virago, who caused her neighbours great
trouble, was frequently cautioned in vain respecting her conduct, and as
a last resource she was condemned to walk through the town wearing the
brank. She refused to move, an