W. R.
[We believe the last case of burning for witchcraft was at Bury St. Edmunds in 1664, tried by Sir Matthew Hale, although some accounts state that the victims, Amy Duny and Rose Callender, were executed. In the same year Alice Hudson was burnt at York for having received 10s. at a time from his Satanic majesty. The last case of burning in Scotland was in Sutherland, A.D. 1722: the judge was Captain David Ross, of Little Dean. At Glarus, in Ireland, a servant girl was burnt so late as 1786. The last authenticated instance of the swimming ordeal occurred in 1785, and is quoted by Mr. Sternberg from a Northampton Mercury of that year:—"A poor woman named Sarah Bradshaw, of Mears Ashby, who was accused of being a witch, in order to prove her innocence, submitted to the ignominy of being dipped, when she immediately sunk to the bottom of the pond, which was deemed to be an incontestable proof that she was no witch!">[
The Small City Companies.—Where does the fullest information appear respecting their early condition, &c.? Herbert's work only occasionally refers to them, and I am aware of many incidental notices of them in Histories of London, &c.; but it does not amount to much, and I should be glad to know if there is no fuller account of them. The companies of Pewterers or Bakers, for example.
B.
[Beside the incidental notices to be found in Stow, Maitland, and Seymour, our correspondent must consult the Harleian MSS.; and if he will turn to the Index volume at p. 294., he will find references to the following companies:—Bakers', Drapers', Painters', Stainers', Pinners', Scriveners', Skinners', Wax-chandlers', Wharfingers', Weavers', and other miscellaneous notes relating to the city of London generally.]
Rousseau and Boileau.—Are there any full and complete English translations of Rousseau's Confessions and Boileau's Satires?
Alledius.
[The following translations have been published:—The Confessions of J. J. Rousseau, in two Parts, London, 12mo., five vols., 1790; Boileau's Satires, 8vo., 1808: see also his Works made English by Mr. Ozell and others, two vols. 8vo., London, 1711-12, and three vols. 8vo., London, 1714.]
Bishop Kennett's MS. Diary.—Where is Bishop Kennett's MS. Diary, from which his often-cited description of Dean Swift is taken, to be found?
Sir Walter Scott (Swift's Works, vol. xvi. p. 76.) says "it was formerly in the possession of Lord Lansdowne, and is now in the British Museum." I have never been able to find it.