AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 199 



There is in the possession of Miss J. B. Cranch a corner 

 of the ill-fated lady's apron, which was secured by a man 

 (doubtless one of the wreckers), and given on the evening 

 following the wreck to her grandmother, who preserved it 

 as a relic of the sad fate of its unfortunate wearer. The 

 fragment is a beautiful specimen of finely embroidered 

 muslin. The account goes on to say that "the celebrated 

 Edmund Burke came down at that time, fearing some 

 relatives or friends of his whom he expected from abroad 

 might be on board the wrecked vessel. He stayed some 

 days at Bowringsleigh House." 



After receiving this deplorable history, we had its truth 

 confirmed by a gentleman to whom application had been 

 made on the subject. He says "The tradition here is that 

 the vessel was called the Chantiloupe. The old man who 

 seemed to know most about it said, 'the lady ivas a-mur- 

 dered, he believed — 'cause the doctors said so, for the blood 

 that was about the fingers and the ears proved it. All hands 

 were lost except one man. Jan Whiddon's father's dog 

 found this here lady buried in the sand : he scratched up 

 the hand. 'Twas never found out who murdered her ; but 

 one thing was knoiv'd — which was this — that when the 

 wreck was about to take place, this here lady had put on 

 her best clothes, and all her jewels, in order that if she 

 was drownded, she might be buried decent. However, (he 

 added) all who were concerned in it, or supposed to be, 

 came to a bad end.' I have looked in the register (of 

 Thurlestone church) but can find no entry of about 1772 

 respecting the burial, but I hear she was buried here, and 

 then exhumed and taken to London, and that her name was 

 Burke, or Birt, or some name like it." 



It would appear from the book entitled "A dreadful 



