Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/360

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. i. APRIL 29, wie. then spread to the Universities. Coryat, who visited Italy and other parts of Europe in 1608, found England completely isolated in its pronunciation of long i."—Vol. ii. p. 233.

On the other hand, Stephen Gardiner, as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, issued a famous edict, dated May 15, 1542, 'De Pronuntiatione Linguæ Græcæ et Latinæ,' by which all who recognized his authority were forbidden to assign to Greek or Latin letters "sonos ab usu publico præsentis seculi alienos." The decree is given in full by Strype, 'Ecclesiastical Memorials,' vol. i. Appendix, No. cxvi., and by C. H. Cooper, 'Annals of Cambridge,' vol. i. pp. 402, 403. It was directed against the attempts of Cheke to reform the pronunciation of Latin and, especially, Greek. (See Mullinger, 'The University of Cambridge,' part ii. pp. 54-63.)

(12 S. i. 128, 198, 238).—It seems strange that Dr. George Harley, who experimented most carefully and scientifically on pearls, should have his conclusion as easily upset as C. C. B. seems to think it has been. It is quite possible, I suppose, that the fine pearl worn by a queen might differ from those made use of in the British pharmacopœia.

(12 S. i. 169, 293).—It is not surprising that the odium attached to a penal code of atrocious severity should come to be focused upon Claverhouse, whose duty it was to administer justice according to that code in his sheriffdom. of Wigtown. I am not concerned to defend his memory here and now; but in regard to his personal responsibility for the execution by drowning of the "Wigtown Martyrs"—Margaret Maclachlan and Margaret Wilson—it is but fair to take into account, not only the circumstances of this particular case, but also the fate of a multitude of other innocent women who were tortured and executed as witches about this period, and in the same district, without the slightest protest upon the part of the public. The tragedy on Wigtown Sands in 1685 positively pales before the horror of innumerable others enacted on the shores of Solway. I shall cite but two examples.

On April 2, 1659, ten women were tried for witchcraft before two judges at Dumfries. Nine were pronounced guilty and condemned to death. The verdict on the tenth was "not proven"; nevertheless she was sentenced to be banished from the parish. Eight ministers were appointed by the Presbytery to

The victims of this inhuman law were taken to the public place of execution in Dumfries, bound to stakes, strangled, and burnt to ashes.

Again, in 1698, ten years after the glorious Revolution, Elspeth M'Ewen was charged before the kirk-session of Dairy with having "a pin in her kipplefoot" (i.e., in the end of a rafter in her house) by means whereof she could draw milk from the cows of her neighbours. She could also interfere with the supply of eggs from their poultry. One damning piece of evidence against her was that the minister's horse, which was sent to bring her up for trial, trembled when she mounted and sweated drops of blood! Poor Elspeth stood no chance after that; she was convicted as a witch and sent to prison at Kirkcudbright, where she was made to suffer such torture that she prayed to be put to death. Nothing could be simpler; she had but to confess her guilt, which she did, and forthwith the helpless woman was burnt to death, no doubt with ministers of religion "assisting."

No multitude of blacks will make one white, nor does the frequency of judicial butcheries like these palliate the hideous injustice of the doom of the "conscientious objectors" at Wigtown; but it modifies the relative iniquity thereof. Not upon Claverhouse and other officers, whose duty it was to administer the law, should the chief obloquy be laid, but upon the king who sanctioned—the ministers who devised—the Parliament that enacted—the Church that promoted—these fiendish statutes.

(12 S. i. 309).—The Admiral Haddock referred to was doubtless Admiral Nicholas Haddock, who died 1746, and was buried at Leigh, Essex. He distinguished himself at the battle of Vigo, 1702, and at Cape Passero, 1718. In 1738-41 he was protecting British commerce against the Spaniards, during which time he captured two prizes of the value of two million dollars. From this service he was invalided home. He was promoted Vice-Admiral, and at the close of his career became Admiral of the Blue; his portrait was included in the