Henry VIII, is preserved in the Meyrick collection, and others, of at least as early a period occur in Scotland. In some examples, the plate, or knife, was evidently intended simply to press down the tongue and keep it quiet, while others are sharp at the end, for cutting; and others again, are covered with little spikes, which would lacerate the mouth in all directions. One, called the " Witches Bridle," formerly at Forfar, is one of the most savagely cruel things which could well be invented. In the place of the plate or gag, is a kind of spur rowel, with three sharply pointed spikes; when placed in the mouth the up per spike pierced the roof of the mouth, the lower one the palate, while the other bored
be seen to be almost identical in form with some of the English examples.
the tongue. Added to this is a chain, by which the constable could twitch or pull the bridle at pleasure(!) and thus add to the excruciating pain which his victim must be enduring. The accompanying engraving exhibits this diabolical instrument which is dated 1 66 1, and is described as the bridle by which condemned witches were led to execution. There are several examples existing in Scotland, — and indeed the instrument is said to be of Scotch origin, and to have gradu ally made its way over the border into our own kingdom, where it seems to have been gladly adopted, — but we shall only give one other illustration, that of Edinburgh. This brank was found in 1848, behind the oak paneling in the ancient house of the Earls of Moray in the Canongate. It will
exists, and is shown in the accompanying woodcut. It has a chain about a foot long attached to the back of the hoop. At Newcastle-on-Tyne, a very good ex ample is still preserved which has very fre quently been referred to. One of the most singular allusions to it is in " Gardiner's En gland's Grievance Discovered, in Relation to the Coal Trade," printed in 1655, in which among many equally curious passages, oc curs the following : —
At Leicester, a very good example, of the same construction as the Chesterfield one,
"John Willis of Ipswich, upon his oath said, that he, this Deponent, was in Newcastle six months ago, and there he saw one Ann Bidlestone drove through the streets by an officer of the same corporation, holding a rope in his hand, the other end fastened to an engine called the Branks, which is like a Crown, it being of iron, which was musled over the head and face, with a
