r John Walsham, Bart.,
and the drawing from which the accompanying woodcut is executed was
kindly made and furnished to me by Miss Dulcy Bell, Sir John's
sister-in-law."[44]

The Leicester brank is similar to the one at Chesterfield. At the back
of the hoop is a chain about twelve inches long. It was formerly kept in
the Leicester borough gaol.

[Illustration: LEICESTER BRANK.]

In the year 1821, Judge Richardson gave orders for a brank to be
destroyed which was kept ready and most probably frequently used at the
County Hall, Nottingham. We gather from a note furnished by Mr. J.
Potter Briscoe a curious circumstance in connection with this
brank--that it was used to subdue the unruly tongues of the sterner sex,
as well as those of noisy females. James Brodie, a blind beggar who was
executed on the 15th July, 1799, for the murder of his boy-guide, in the
Nottingham Forest, was the last person punished with the brank. During
his imprisonment, prior to execution, he was so noisy that the brank
was called into requisition, to do what he refused to do himself,
namely, to hold his tongue.

[Illustration: BRANK FORMERLY IN THE POSSESSION OF MR. CARRINGTON.]

Here is a picture of a brank formerly in the possession of the late Mr.
F. A. Carrington, the well-known antiquary. It is supposed to belong to
the period of William III. Mr. Carrington could not give any history of
this curious relic of the olden time.

[Illustration: BRANK AT DODDINGTON PARK.]

At Doddington Park, Lincolnshire, a brank is preserved, and is of a
decidedly foreign appearance. It will be noticed that it bears some
resemblance to the peculiar long-snouted visor of the bascinets,
occasionally worn in the reign of Richard II. No historical particulars
are known respecting this grotesque brank.

[Illustration: BRANK IN THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM.]

In the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, a curious brank may be seen. It is
not recorded in the catalogue of the collection by whom it was
presented, or where it was previously used; it is described as "a gag
or brank, formerly used with the ducking-stool, as a punishment for
scolds." It will be noticed that a chain is attached to the front of
this brank, so that the poor unfortunate woman, in addition to being
gagged, had the mortification of being led by the nose through the
town. The gag is marked _a_, and _b_ is the aperture for the nose.

[Illustration: ENGINE OF TORTURE IN THE LUDLOW MUSEUM.]

A curious engin