CHRONICLE. 



87 



penalty to the account of those 

 foolish women of the " first dis- 

 tinction," to whom the things seiz- 

 ed belonged ; and he would under- 

 take to answer for the account be- 

 ing paid without any further ques- 

 tion. — Conviction entered accord- 

 ingly- . 



An inquest was a few days since 



held on the body of a female ser- 

 vant in the family of the Rev. Mr. 

 B. residing near Billericay, who 

 expired suddenly in the night un- 

 der the following circumstances : — 

 The family was absent from 

 home, and the deceased was left in 

 care of the house. She had re- 

 cjuested the daughter of a neigh- 

 bouring cottager to sleep with her; 

 but on the night on which she died 

 she complained of illness, and said 

 she would sleep by herself, desiring 

 the girl to sleep in an adjoining 

 room. In the course of the night, 

 the girl was disturbed by the crying 

 of a child, and called out to her 

 companion, who said it was only 

 fancy. She went to sleep again, 

 and was soon after disturbed by the 

 deceased coming into bed with her, 

 and she, at the same time, again 

 thought she heard the crying of an 

 infant. The deceased, however, 

 said it was merely the bleating of 

 sheep under the window, and that 

 she had heard it several times. She 

 desiredthe girl would go downstairs 

 and make her something warm, 

 as she felt herself extremely un- 

 well. The girl went down stairs to 

 do as she was desired, and on re- 

 turning found her companion nearly 

 expiring. She immediately calleil 

 for assistance from a neighbouring 

 cottage ; a doctor was sent for, and 

 on his arrival it was found that she 

 had delivered herself of an infant: 

 she lived but a few minutes after 



the discovery. On searching the 

 room where she slept, a dead in- 

 fant was found in a foul clothes bag, 

 and on examining it marks of vio- 

 lence were discovered on its throat. 

 It is conjectured the unhappy wo- 

 man had got out of bed whilst the 

 girl was gone down stairs, and 

 fearful of the child's discovering 

 itself by its cries had destroyed it. 

 Suspicions had been entertained of 

 her pregnancy, but she positively 

 denied it. The Jury returned a 

 verdict of Wilful Murder, as re- 

 lated to the child ; and, Died by 

 the Visitation of God, as respected 

 the woman. 



Extract of a letter from Gibral- 

 tar, dated 25th of September, 

 1814:— "The first symptoms of 

 the dreadful fever now raging here 

 were discovered on the 16l.li ult. 

 when two Italians died of it. No 

 precautions were taken until the 

 18th, when the places of public 

 worship were closed by a circular 

 order from the commander in 

 Chief, and foul bills of health issu- 

 ed. On the 23rd, these precautions 

 were dropped, the churches order- 

 ed to be opened, and clean bills of 

 health issued. Cases of the fever, 

 however, continued to occur ; and 

 on the 2nd init. finding the conta- 

 gion to spread very much, the or- 

 der was renewed for shutting the 

 churches, which, with the issuing 

 of foul bills of health, has conti- 

 nued ever since, although the com- 

 munication between the town and 

 port is still preserved. Rear-Ad- 

 miral Flemming, who had returned 

 from Cadiz on the 18th uit. left 

 this bay on the following day, and 

 has continued ever since with his 

 squadron at Algesiras, where all ves- 

 sels of war coming in repair, and con- 

 voys collect. The Spanish Com- 



