Burning to Death, or Burning of the Hill

The following extract from Collinson's *Somerset*, vol. iii. p. 374., where it is quoted from the *Laws of the Miners of Mendip*, 1687, may throw some light upon the incidents referred to by J.W.H.:— "Among certain laws by which the miners were anciently regulated is the following, viz.: "'That if any man of that occupation do pick or steal any lead or ore to the value of thirteen pence halfpenny, the lord or his officer may arrest all his lead and ore, house and hearth, with all his goods, grooves, and works, and keep them as forfeit to his own use; and shall take the person that hath so offe…