238. _Finger Pillories in Churches._--Besides some interesting
monuments, &c., to be found in the church of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, there
stands under the western gallery a _finger pillory_, or stocks to
confine the fingers only: it is fastened at its right-hand extremity
into the wall, and consists of two pieces of oak; the bottom and fixed
piece is three feet eight inches long; the width of the whole is four
and a half inches, and when closed it is five inches deep: the left-hand
extremity is supported by a leg of the same width as the top, and two
feet six inches in length; the upper piece is joined to the lower by a
hinge, and in this lower and fixed horizontal part are thirteen
perpendicular holes, varying in size; the largest are towards the right
hand: these holes are sufficiently deep to admit the finger to the
second joint, and a slight hollow is made to receive the third one,
which lies flat; there is of course a corresponding hollow in the top or
movable part, which, when shut down, incloses the whole finger.
Its use is stated to have been for the punishment of persons guilty of
mal-practices during divine service: truly, a mischievous urchin, or a
lout of a farm servant, dragged off to the stocks, must have been a
scene extremely edifying to the congregation, particularly if the
offenders were obstreperous, and had no inclination whatever to be in a
fix.
Query, Is there another known instance of stocks for the fingers alone,
and applied to similar purposes?