Ten ditto fine green peas 10 10 0 Two grand epergnes, fil Three ditto asparagus led with fine pickles, and garnished round 33 12 0 6 6 0 2 12 6 It was ordered that the said report be entered in the journal of the court; and the following motion being made, was unanimously agreed to. "That the thanks of this court be, and are hereby given, to the committee appointed to conduct the entertainment of their majesties and the royal family at Guildhall, on lord mayor's day last, for their constant and spirited attention, in that service, to the honour of the crown, and the dignity of this city." The corporation, at a common council held the 18th of this month, resolved, "That a statue of his majesty should be erected in the Royal Exchange; and that portraits of him and his consort should be placed in Guildhall," where they still continue. But that the public attention should not be misemployed during this æra of pomp and festivity, an amusement of a different kind was prepared to feast public credulity; this was contrived by that strange deception, denominated THE COCK LANE GHOST. In 1759, a broker married a young lady of Norfolk, who dying in childbed, her sister came to reside with him in the 3 T 2 character character of a housekeeper. In this familiar situation they continued some time, during which they conceived an affection for each other, inconsistent with the canon law. Each of them made their will in the other's favour, and removing to town, lodged for some time in the house of one Parsons (officiating parish-clerk of St. Sepulchre's) in Cock Lane, near West Smithfield. Some difference arising between the broker and his landlord, the former suddenly left his lodging, and removed to Clerkenwell. Here the young lady died of the small-pox on the 2d of February 1760, and was buried in Clerkenwell church. Parsons now began to develope a curious scheme. An alarm was spread that his daughter, a girl about eleven years of age, was visited by a spirit, who, upon being interrogated, had declared itself the spirit of Fanny, the name of the deceased lady, that, she said, had been poisoned when ill of the small-pox. A worthy clergyman, however, who had attended the lady several times, and had administered to her the last comforts of his office, declared, that the smallpox with which she was seized was of the confluent sort, and that the gentlemen of the faculty had pronounced her irrecoverable some days before her death. On the 13th of February 1762, between ten and eleven at night, Parsons sent for a gentleman in the neighbourhood to his house, as a witness of the strange noise and extraordinary circumstances supposed to arise from this invisible agent, which he said had for two years past greatly terrified his family. The gentleman attended and found the child in bed; when several questions being put to the spirit, who was supposed to be present, by the father, they were respectively answered by an unaccountable noise like that of knocking and scratching. The gentleman not choosing to pronounce too hastily upon what appeared to him so extraordinary, left the house, and the next evening got together a number of his friends, among whom were two or three clergymen, all of of whom went to the house on a determination of satisfying themselves by sitting up during the course of the night. On their first entering the room they examined the bed, bed-cloaths, &c. and being satisfied there was not any visible appearance of deceit, the child was put into bed, which was immediately found to shake extremely by the gentleman who had placed himself at the foot. During the course of the night a prodigious number of questions were put to the supposed spirit, all of which were answered either by knocking or scratching. An affirmative was one knock, and a negative, two: and the scratching intimated displeasure. The noises appeared to proceed occasionally from the different parts of the room where the child lay; and as her presence was necessary to the production of these noises, the spirit declared it would follow her wherever she went. The circumstance of this strange visitation being reported, with many idle exaggerations, the public became so interested in it, that in all companies nothing was heard but remarks on the ghost in Cock Lane; and at this place superstition and curiosity brought a vast concourse of people of all ranks and conditions. The farce was carried on for some time much to the advantage of the projectors. The girl was actually removed to other houses, where the noises equally accompanied her; and such an impression did this strange occurrence make even on those of superior understanding, that two clergymen became the avowed patrons of this inarticulate revelation. The spirit, however, was at length decoyed into a promise that entirely destroyed its reputation. It had publicly declared, by an affirmative knock, that it would attend one of the gentlemen to the vault of St. John's church, Clerkenwell, where the body was buried, and then would give a token of its presence by a knock upon the coffin. After this promise, the company were summoned into the girl's chamber by some ladies who were near her bed, and |