Probably some of the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" will share in the
surprise expressed by E.S.S.W. (Vol. ii., p. 6.), yet many persons now
living must remember when spectacles such as he alludes to were by no
means uncommon. An examination of the newspapers and other periodicals
of the latter half of the eighteenth century would supply numerous
instances in which the punishment of strangling and burning was
inflicted; as well in cases of petit treason, for the murder of a
husband, as more frequently in cases of coining, which, as the law then
stood, was one species of high treason. I had collected a pretty long
list from the _Historical Chronicle_ in the earlier volumes of the
_Gentleman's Magazine_, but thought it scarcely of sufficient importance
to merit insertion in "NOTES AND QUERIES." Perhaps, however, the
following extracts may possess some interest: one as showing the manner
in which executions of this kind were latterly performed in London, and
the other as apparently furnishing an instance of later date than that
which Mr. Ross considers the last in which this barbarous punishment was
inflicted. The first occurs in the 56th vol. of the Magazine, Part 1. P.
524., under the date of the 21st June, 1786--
"This morning, the malefactors already mentioned were all
executed according to their sentence.
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