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Minor Queries with Answers.
_Branks, or Gossips' Bridles._--Walton Church contains one of those strange
instruments with which our ancestors used to punish those dames who were
too free with the use of their tongues. They were called hanks [branks], or
gossips' bridles, and were intended to inclose the head, being fastened
behind by a padlock, and having attached to it a small piece of iron which
literally "held the tongue." Thus accoutred, the unhappy culprit was
marched through the village till she gave unequivocal signs of repentance
and humiliation. Can any one give some account of this curious instrument?