he is condemned to a singular species of punishment, called "burning of the hill"; the manner of which is as follows: The criminal, with his hands and feet at liberty, is shut up in one of the little huts, which, for the purpose of keeping the ore and tools, are scattered over the hills; the hut is then surrounded with dry furze, fern, and the like, which is fired in different places at the same time, and the prisoner left to make his escape in the manner he can, by breaking open his prison, and rushing through the flames. This fiery trial is not, however, deemed to possess any of the purifying virtues of purgatory; the culprit still continues to be execrated by his former associates, and is for ever after excluded from working in the mines of Mendip Hills.—The Imperial Magazine, March, 1790.
St. Valentine and the Pigeons.
Although it has no direct reference to the county of Somerset, we think the following paragraph, which appeared under the above heading in the Daily Chronicle of February 4th, is of sufficient general interest to merit a place in our Calendar:
"There is, or was, a strange story which connects the London pigeon with St. Valentine's-day. As every believer knows, one never sees a dead donkey, so, too, every believer knows, or may be convinced, that one never sees a dead London pigeon—outside a police-court or a poulterer's shop. Yet the porters of the Middle Temple were accustomed to say, in the days of our youth, and may still do so, that they pick up dead cock pigeons sometimes on St. Valentine's morning in the gardens. Is there any tradition behind this which is not generally known?"
April 2.—Good Friday, 1920.
The following note appeared in the Daily Express of Thursday April 1st:
"Old tradition marks a number of things to be avoided on Good Friday. West Country folk hold that washing clothes on that day is a sin, and that those who do so lose their dearest within a year. To wean a child on Good Friday also is to doom it to evil fortune, and to turn a mattress is to ensure the
