As the supposed spirit had before publicly promised, by an affirmative knock, that it would attend one of the gentlemen into the vault, under the church of St. John, Clerkenwell, where the body is deposited, and give a token of her presence there by a knock upon her coffin, it was therefore determined to make this trial of the existence or veracity of the supposed spirit.

While they were inquiring and deliberating, they were summoned into the girl's chamber by some ladies, who were near her bed, and who had heard knocks and scratches. When the gentlemen entered, the girl declared that she felt the spirit like a mouse upon her back; and was required to hold her hands out of bed. From that time, though the spirit was very solemnly required to manifest its existence by appearance, by impression on the hand or body of any present,by scratches, knocks, or any agency, no evidence of any preternatural power was exhibited. The spirit was then seriously ad. vertised, that the person to whom the promise was made of striking the coffin, was then about to visit the vault, and that the performance of the promise was then claimed. The company, at one, went into the church, and the gentleman to whom the promise was made, went, with one more, into the vault: the spirit was solemnly required to per form its promise; but nothing more than silence ensued. The person supposed to be accuse by the ghost Then went down, with several others, but no effect was perceived. Upon their return they examined the girl; but could draw no confession from her. Between two and three she desired, and was perVOL. V.

mitted, to go home with her father.

It is therefore the opinion of the whole assembly," That the child has some art of making, or counterfeiting, particular noises; and that there is no agency of any higher cause."

To elude the force of this conclusion, it was given out that the coffin, in which the body of the supposed ghost had been deposited, or at least the body itself, had been displaced, or removed out of the vault. Mr. K-therefore thought proper to take with him to the vault the undertaker who buried Miss F, and such other unprejudiced persons as, on inspection, might be able to prove the weak., ness of such a suggestion.

Accordingly, on February 25, in the afternoon, Mr. K-, with a clergyman, the undertaker clerk, and sexton of the parish, and two or three gentlemen, went into the vault; when the undertaker present ly knew the coffin, which was taken from under the others, and easily seen to be the same, as there was no plate or inscription; and, to satisfy further, the coffin being opened before Mr. K-, the body was found in it.

Others, in the mean time, were taking other steps to find out where the fraud, if any, lay. The girl was removed from house to house, and was said to be constantly attended with the usual noises, though bound and muffled hand and foot; and that without any motion in her lips, and when she appeared asleep. Nay, they were often said to be heard in rooms at a considerable distance from that where she lay.

At last her bed was tied up, in the manner of a hammock, about a yard and a half from the ground, and her hands and feet extended as wide as they could without injury, and fastened with fillets for two nights successively; during which no noises were heard.

The next day, being pressed to confess, and being told, that if the knockings and scratchings were not heard any more, she, her father, and mother, would be sent to Newgate; and half an hour being given her to consider, she desired she might be put to bed, to try if the noises would come: she lay in bed this night much longer than usual; but no noises. This was on a Saturday.

Sunday, being told that the approaching night only would be allowed for a trial, she concealed a board, about four inches broad, and six long, under her stays. board was used to set the kettle upon. Having got into bed, she told the gentlemen she would bring Fat six the next morning.

This

The master of the house, however, and a friend of his, being informed by the maids, that the girl had taken a board to bed with her, impatiently waited for the appointed hour, when she began to knock and scratch upon the board; remarking, however, what they themselves were convinced of, that "these noises were not like those which used to be made." She was then told, that she had taken a board to bed; and, on her denying it, she was searched, and caught in a lie.

The two gentlemen, who, with the maids, were the only persons present at this scene, sent to a third gentleman, to acquaint him that

the whole affair was detected, and to desire his immediate attendance; but he brought another along with him.

Their concurrent opinion was, that the child had been frightened into this attempt, by the threats which had been made the two preceding nights; and the master of the house also, and his friend, both declared, "That the noises the girl had made that morning, had not the least likeness to the former noises." Probably the organs with which she performed these strange noises, were not always in a proper tone for that purpose; and she imagined she might be able to supply the place of them by a piece of board.

At length Mr. K-thought proper to vindicate his character in a legal way. On the 10th of July, the father and mother of the child, one Mary Frazer, who, it seems, acted as an interpreter between the ghost and those who examined her, a clergyman, and a reputable tradesman, were tried at Guildhall, before lord Mansfield, by a special jury, and convicted of a conspiracy against the life and character of Mr. K

But the court, chusing that Mr. K-, who had been so much injured on this occasion,should receive some reparation by the punishment of the offenders, deferred giving sentence for seven or eight months, in hopes the parties might make it up in the mean time. Accordingly the clergymah and tradesman agreed to pay Mr. K-- a round sum, some say between 5 and 6001. to pur chase their pardon; and were thereupon dismissed, with a severe re primand. The father was ordered to be set in the pillory three times in

one

one month, once at the end of Cock Lane, and after that to be imprisoned two years; Elizabeth his wife, one year; and Mary Frazer, six months in Bridewell, and to be there kept to hard labour.

The father appearing to be out of his mind at the time he was first to stand in the pillory, the execution of that part of his sentence was deferred to another day, when, as well as on the other days of his standing there, the populace took so much compassion of him, that, instead of using him ill, they made a handsome collection for him.

State of the Land-carriage Fishery in London, to the end of September 1762; submitted to the public by the super intendant.

THE Superintendant of the landcarriage fish plan, in order that all ranks of people might reap the benefit thereof, did, at the commencement of this undertaking, direct certain prices for the several kinds and sizes of fish to be publicly fixed, at as moderate rates as the nature thereof admitted; at which they continued till four o'clock in the afternoon, and from that hour till seven they were reduced one-third, in order that families of middling rank might partake of this desirable food, as well as the great and opulent, and at lesser prices; and what remained after the last-mentioned hour, were further reduced to half price, for the benefit of persons of lower degree; and moreover, any surplus quantity left at the shutting up the places of sale at night (as has often been the case) were directed to be sprinkled with salt, and exposed to sale the next morning, at

two thirds less than the first price the day before, for the benefit of poor families: and if not sold by twelve at noon the second day, were then given to the prisons and workhouses, so that no part thereof might be wasted.

These methods have been hitherto continued; but the superintendant has found that this proceeding, which was calculated for general benefit, has been perverted to very opposite purposes, and greatly to the disadvantage of this undertaking; several dealers in fish having made it their practice (especially since the weather has been so cool for the fish to keep good till the next or succeeding day) to wait for the hour of half-price, and then to purchase the fish; which he is informed they sell in their shops the next day, at the same (and often at a less) price, than that affixed in the morning at the land-carriage places of sale for fish newly arrived; and by this means have had an opportunity of underselling this plan with its own fish; or, in case no fish arrived by land-carriage, to get extraordinary prices for the same; besides leav ing a door open to impositions of another kind.

For these reasons, the superintendant finds himself necessitated to make an alteration in his measures, and to direct that no fish be sold at reduced prices on the day of their arrival; and thinks it proper to give this notice to the public, lest it should be imagined that such an alteration of measures proceeds from lucrative views, which is not the case, as the fish which remains after the sale of the first day is over, will be sold the next day at proper prices, according to the state and condition thereof; and care will be [L] 2

taken

taken to distribute what remains unsold, while it is wholesome and fit for use; and which, he can with confidence assure the public, has hitherto been done; so that out of 45 tons or 917 cwt. (the quantity brought, from the commencement of this undertaking, between the 16th of May and the 30th of September last, both inclusive) there has not been one cwt. lost, and that unavoidable. Moreover, he may venture to assert, that the prices first affixed in the morning have been at least one-third, or rather one-half, less than those for which such fish were usually sold before this undertaking was set on foot; not to mention the further

39518 Pair of Soals 14190 Mackerel

867 Brill or Pearl

benefit which has accrued to the middle and lower rank of people by the reduced prices, and to the poor, by what has been given away, amounting together to 931 I. 9 s. 10d. within the above-mentioned time, as appears in the monthly account annexed.

The superintendant, conceiving it may be some satisfaction to the public to be acquainted with the state and progress of this undertaking, has taken this early opportunity to give an account of the several species of fish brought in consequence of this plan, within the time above mentioned, with the tale and weight of the same; which are as follow:

C. qrs. lbs. 684 2 14 84 3 5

32 2 4