M&D: Silk and Hemp

[Steve Maas]

Though Lord Ferrer (pp. 111-114) apparently was not actually "hang'd
... with a Rope of Silk" but with Hemp (if y'er interested see Tim Ware's 
HyperArts Web Guide for my MDMD post about this subject), a Rope of Silk was 
indeed the right of a peer, according to a December 1999 Smithsonian article 
about British aristocrats.  The Smithsonian article quotes from _Burke's 
Peerage & Baronetage_ about "Robert Crichton, 8th Lord Crichton of Sanquhar; 
b c 1568" who had a fencing master, John Turner, murdered and "was granted a 
peer's privilege of being hanged by a silk [rope]."

The same magazine's story about clocks includes a discussion of Harrison and 
his H1 through H4.  The article is disappointing though: it neglects to 
include a discussion of talking clocks.

     Steve Maas

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