1735.—The Brank details

“Scolds had their heads inclosed [sic] in a sugarloaf-shapred cap, made of iron hooping, with a cross at the top, and a flat piece of iron projecting inwards, that was laid upon the tongue; a string was attached behind, and by that the scold was led through the streets. The Brank (Fig. 1735), as this invention was named, seems to have been in common use, with minor modificaitons of form. Trifling offences were sometimes punished by the Whirligig (Fig. 1733), a round wooden cage turning on a pivot; the culprit being enclosed, and whirled around with such velocity that extreme sickness ensued—and thus it proved in reality a pubishment highly distressing and dangerous, and therefore shamefully unsuited to the correction of slight aberrations.” (Vol II p. 119)