The word _Garrote_ being Spanish (derived probably from the French "garrotter"), and the punishment having been inflicted in a Spanish colony, it is to be presumed that we are indebted to the latter nation for the invention of it. Can any of your readers give any information as to the origin and use of this mode of punishment? HENRY H. BREEN. _Monastic Establishments in Scotland._--Will any of your correspondents be kind enough to furnish me with a list of the ancient monastic establishments of Scotland? Having communicated with many learned antiquaries, both in England and Scotland, and having failed in obtaining what I desired, I conclude that no complete list exists. Spottiswoode's list, now appended to Keith's _Catalogue of Scottish Bishops_, is very imperfect. But there are great facilities now for compiling a perfect list from such works as the publications of the Roxburgh, Bannatyne, and Maitland Clubs, Innes's _Origines Parochiales_, &c. I would like the list to be classed either according to the different counties, or by the respective orders of the religious houses, with a separate list of the _mitred houses_ that had seats in parliament. The list is wanted for publication. Perhaps the writer of "Scottish Abbeys and Cathedrals" in the _Quarterly_ may have compiled such a list. CEYREP. _Bonds of Clearwell and Redbrook._--Can you inform me where I can find the pedigree of the Bonds of Clearwell and Redbrook, in the county of Gloucester? [+] _Eliza Fenning._--Pray, what has become of the collection of documents relating to Eliza Fenning, which was formerly in the possession of Mr. Upcott? Is it true that some years after the execution of Eliza Fenning a person confessed that he had committed the offence of which she was found guilty? ONETWOTHREE. "_Character of a True Churchman._"--In 1711 a valuable essay was published anonymously, entitled _The Character of a True Churchman_, in a letter from a gentleman in the city to his friend in the country: London, printed for John Baker, at the Black Boy, in Paternoster Row, 1711. Who is the writer of it? J. Y. "_A Roaring Meg._"--What is the origin of calling any huge piece of ordnance "a roaring Meg?" Burton, in his _Anatomy of Melancholy_, says: "Musica est mentis medecina mæstæ, _a roaring meg_ against melancholy, to rear and revive the languishing soul." The earliest edition of the _Anatomy of Melancholy_ is, I believe, the Oxford one of 1624.[6] [Footnote 6: The first edition was published in 1621, 4to.--ED.] The large old-fashioned piece of artillery, called _Mons Meg_, in the castle of Edinburgh, which is so great a favourite with the Scottish common people, is said by Sir Walter Scott to have been "fabricated at Mons in Flanders, in the reign of James IV. or V. of Scotland;" that is, between A.D. 1508 and 1514 (note to _Rob Roy_, vol. ii. ch. 10.).