sentence of decapitation was executed, in the year 1075. The beheading of thieves appears to have been a Norman punishment, and seems to have been specially applied to cases of furtum manifestum, or thieves caught in the act. In such cases the right of beheading the offenders belonged to the Earls of Chester, and was probably imported into Lancashire by the Halton branch of the Lacies, on their succeeding to the fee of Clitheroe. THE OLD APPEAL OF MURDER. AN incident in local history, says Mr Beamont, will illustrate the ancient custom in law of appeal. On the occurrence of the murder of Sir Botiler, usually named "the Bewsey Tragedy," as described in one of the Harleian MSS., we learn that Lady Butler pursued the murderers of her husband, and indicted them; but that, being married to the Lord Grey, he made her suit void. The substitution of the word appealed, for indicted, is requisite to make the passage intelligible; for a wife's second marriage, while it had no effect upon an indictment, would certainly make void her appeal against her husband's murderers. In the sense then used, an appeal did not mean a resort to a higher tribunal from the decision of a lower, in order to obtain the reversal of the judgment,— which is the ordinary acceptation of the term; but it signified a criminal prosecution by one private person against another, on account of some particular injury he has suffered, rather than for the offence against the public. In England appeals of this kind were formerly permitted in treason, murder, rape, mayhem, and arson. In robbery, mayhem, and arson, the parties injured must be the appellants. In rape, the appeal must be made either by the husband or the next of kin. In murder, the appeal is given to the wife, on account of the loss her husband; and therefore, if she marries again before or pending her appeal, the appeal is gone. But if there should be no wife, or she herself be implicated or suspected, the appeal devolves upon the next heir- male of the murdered ancestor. DOING PENANCE IN THE FYLDE. ABOUT half a century ago, says Mr Thornber, in 1837, the frail member, the victim of the seducer, did public penance within Poulton Church; and, barefoot, clothed in white, with a lighted candle in each hand, she had to pass along the aisles, a spectacle of mirth and jeering to an unfeeling crowd. Jane Breckul was the last to undergo this painful exhibition at Poulton; for the cries of this unfortunate girl, melting the hearts of the welldisposed, raised a clamour against it, which led to its discontinuance. A woman who died only last year (1836) was the last offender who performed this penance in the church of Bispham, and stood upon a stool, the remains of which, till lately, might be seen in the belfry of the ancient tower. STANG RIDING. THE practice of what is locally termed "stang riding" was practised in Lancashire some forty years ago. When a man or woman is detected in an act of unfaithfulness, a framework of two long poles is procured, across which is placed a flat board, to serve as a seat. The person who has offended is then caught by the crowd, and tied fast to the seat with cords. A procession is then formed, and the culprit is carried aloft on the shoulders of four men, attended by a crowd, who make all the discordant noises they can, on pots, pans, tea-trays, &c., as they pass along the road. On arriving at the front of any house, the procession halts, and the leader of the gang proclaims the names of the parties, with the time and place where the fault has been committed. When the real parties cannot be captured, a substitute is found, and the procession passes along as if the offenders were really present. The writer accompanied one of these processions, in the neighbourhood of Blackburn, when quite a youth; and the feud thus created was not allayed for many years. "Buck-thanging" is a Lancashire punishment still practised by school boys. The offender is taken and placed on his back; four boys then seize each an arm, or a leg, and the person is then swung as high as possible, and then allowed to fall with a heavy bump on the ground. "Stretching" is a variation of this, for there is then no throwing up, but each leg and arm are pulled different ways, in the manner of a rack, so as to produce excruciating pain. "Tossing in the Blanket," or "pack-sheeting," is still practised in the neighbourhood of Burnley. This is done when a sweetheart jilts her lover, and weds another. The forsaken one is then placed on a blanket, or sheet, and is then tossed by four persons, who hold the corners. A fine is then inflicted, which is immediately spent at the next public-house. "Back-slamming" is another of these punishments. In this case, the offender is swung against a door, or wall, by two or more persons, who hold him, face upwards, by the arms and legs, and thus turn him into a sort of battering ram. "Mischief Night" is well known, and much amusement, and occasionally anger, is caused by the practice of fastening doors, smearing the handle, stopping up chimneys, laying emblematical plants, or shrubs, at the doors, or in the windows, so as to please, or irritate, the occupants. The eve of All Fools' Day is not yet forgotten. RINGING THE PAN. Ir a couple be found courting on a Friday night, they are frequently treated to an impromptu concert. The musical instruments usually employed are the frying-pans, shovels, tongs, pokers, and, indeed, any implements which can be made to produce a sufficiently discordant noise. A pretended bellman usually precedes the procession, and at stated intervals calls out "Oh! dear a me! A. B. and C. D. (mentioning names), Un corn'd let Friday neet olooan." The writer saw this ceremony performed in the neighbourhood of Burnley twice during the year 1868. The actors term the ceremony "ringing the pan." NOTCHEL CRYING. ON Wednesday (in March 1859), there was, at Accrington, an extraordinary instance of the disgraceful practice of "notchel crying." The public bellman went round the town announcing that a certain man (an inhabitant of the town) would not, from that day forward, be answerable or accountable for any debt which his wife might contract. On the afternoon of the same day the same important functionary was employed by the wife to inform the inhabitants of Accrington that, as she was up to that day straight with her husband, she would not be answerable for any debts which he might contract; and stated, by way of additional information, that she had been allowed by him five shillings a week to find herself and him in meat and lodging; and that he was also not a very constant husband; and that if he had brought home the money which he had given to other women, he might have maintained them in very comfortable circumstances. Great crowds followed the bellman up and down during his oration. This ceremony is occasionally performed at the present time; but it is gradually giving way to the posting of small placards on the walls of the town or village where the unthrifty one resides. Not long ago a fair one retorted on her lord by a counter announcement, to the effect that as he had long been supported by her earnings, she would decline to keep him any longer, and tradesmen might beware accordingly. WIFE SELLING. It is not uncommon for wives to be sold by their husbands. There is a wide-spread popular error that this is a legal transaction, when the wife is brought into the place of sale with a halter round her neck, and when the buyer obtains a written receipt for the money he has ventured upon her. Some years ago, a case of this kind occurred near Haslingden; and, on one occasion, it was urged in a county court that the real husband was not liable for his wife's debts, since he had sold her some time before for half-a-crown. M |