HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 53 



ordinary case, at length discovered the cheat ; and the wretched 

 woman completed their lahours by a formal and unequivocal con- 

 fession of her guilt before Thomas Lister, Esq. one of the Magis- 

 trates for this county.* 



Needwood Forest. This ancient forest, or chace, is the most 

 beautiful part of the honour of Tutbury, and is situated in the 

 northern extremity of the hundred of Offlow, and in the four parishes 

 of Tutbury, Hanbury, Tatenhill, and Yoxall. It was formerly 

 resorted to by the ancient nobility, whose principal diversion was 

 the chace. Camden says, " between the rivers Dove, Trent, and 

 Blithe, Needwood, a spacious forest and full of parks, extends it- 

 self, in which the neighbouring nobility eagerly pursue the cheerful 

 sport of hunting. f 



* The following account of this imposture, derived from unquestionable 

 authority, is copied from the Staffordshire Gazette of May 11, 1813 : 



" This unparalleled delusion, which has matle so much noise, has been 

 pursued but too successfully for nearly six years. The persevering subtilty 

 tvith which this woman has carried on her imposture, is without example, and 

 baffled all attempts to detect her, and but for the unconquerable scepticism of 

 some of the faculty (particularly Dr. Henderson) her case would have been 

 handed down to posterity, as an indubitable instance of a human being living 

 without receiving the least sustenance. The watch, which had been publicly 

 advertised, commenced on Wednesday the 21st ult. and was strictly carried on 

 until Friday the 30th, a period of nine days, during all which time, these gen- 

 tlemen verity, that she had not received any nourishment. She, however, gra- 

 dually grew feebler, her pulse was almost imperceptible, and she at length be- 

 came so ill, as on the latter named day to induce the gentlemen to suspend the 

 watch. At this time she begged to h-ve her mouth moistened with a wetted 

 cloth, and her desire was complied with by applying to her lips a cloth dipped 

 in vinegar and water ; this was done several times, and the gentleman who 

 administered it, declared he perceived her to swallow, although she even then 

 strenuously denied it. The physician attending upon her, at the same time, 

 gave it as his opinion that she could not survive an hour; and yet, at this period, 

 with the immediate prospect of eternity before her, she, by her own desire, took 

 an oath, drawn up in the strongest and clearest terms, that for more than four 

 years past, she had not taken sustenance of any description ! Her daughter 

 was now admitted to see her, and she in a short time, very much revived. 



" From the weighing machine, upon which she was placed during the watch, 

 it appeared that she had lost daily nearly 14 ounces in weight. Nothing now 

 remained to convince every one of her imposition but her own confession of her 

 guilt- -and this last proof she voluntarily made before a Magistrate. After this 

 confession, she took milk, in the presence of several of the gentlemen, and now 

 seems fast recovering."* 



* See the Rev. Legh Richmond's " S-atement of Facts, &c." 



r Needwood Forest formed a portion of the Duchy of Lancaster, and after 

 the accession of Henry the Fourth it belonged to the Crown for centuries. 



