100 
L 0 N 
was followed by a circumftanee, which proves that the 
firmnefsand temper of a civil magiltrate may frequently 
render the interpotkion of the military unneceffary. Fif¬ 
teen criminals were ordered for execution on the 18th of 
October, among whom was one Bofavern Penlez, a young 
man con rifted of being concerned in the aforefaid riot 
in the Strand. A refcue being apprehended in favour of 
Penlez, a party of foot-guards attended at Holborn-bars, 
to guard the prifoners to Tyburn ; but Mr. Sheriff janf- 
fen, for the dignity of the city and his office, mounted 
on horfeback, w hen the criminals were pv.c into the carts 
at Newgate ; and, having provided a fufficient guard of 
the civil power, very genteelly difmiffed the officer and 
his men at Kolborn, and conducted the malefaCtors to the 
placed execution without their affiltance. A great number 
of tailors, armed with bludgeons and cutlaffes, attended at 
the gallows, and became very clamorops, from an. appre- 
htnfion that the body of Penlez would be delivered to the 
furgeons; but, Mr. Janfl'en aifuring them it (hould not, 
they were pacified, and the criminals were executed with¬ 
out the leaf! obftrucUon- 
This year finidied with a remarkable caufe tried in the 
lord-mayor’s court, between a club of free journeymen 
painters, plaintiffs, and Mr. Row, citizen and mafter- 
painter, defendant, for employing a perfpn, not free, to 
•work for him in the city. The defendant pleaded, and 
made it appear by evidence, that, from the want of free 
journeymen of the trade, it was not poffible for the fum- 
-iner bufmefs of the city to be done without the affilfance 
of at lealt an equal number of non-freemen 5 and that no 
freeman was ever refilled, or could fometim.es be got, on 
any terms. To which the counfel for the plaintiffs replied 
with a very learned argument upon a by-law made by 
the city in the reign of queen Anne. The jury went out 
at two o’clock in the afternoon, and returned twice with¬ 
out agreeing on their verdiCt ; and being fent out again, 
and continuing a long time, the court ordered them to be 
locked up in the room, without fire, candle, or any fufte- 
nance, by an officer fworn to oblerve the fame, and to 
attend them; in which fituation they continued till fix 
o’clock next morning, when they brought in a verdiCt 
for the plaintiffs. The makers of the leveral handicraft 
trades, finding themfelves greatly aggrieved by this ver¬ 
dict, petitioned the common-council for liberty to employ 
foreigners (as nou-freemen are called), under certain refific¬ 
tions. This produced a counter-petition from the journey¬ 
men ; the conlideration of which was deferred till the 8th 
of February, when a committee of fix aldermen and ten 
commoners met to adjuft thefe dilputes. At this meet¬ 
ing, a day was appointed for hearing deputations from 
the makers and journeymen ; and, after leveral adjourn¬ 
ments, the committee repotted their opinion to the court: 
who, on the 28th of November, refolved, that the court 
of lord-mayor and aldermen be empowered to grant per- 
rr.iffion to any freeman, who could not procure a fuffi¬ 
cient number of free-journeymen, to employ foreigners, 
provided he has one apprentice, or has had one within 
twelve months before making application for the licenfe ; 
and, in cafe no court of lord-mayor and aldermen is held, 
the lord-mayor may, on any Tuelday, grant fuch licenfe, 
for a term not exceeding fix weeks. A power is, how¬ 
ever, referved to the court of lord-mayor and aldermen, 
to revoke any licenfe, though the time for which it is 
granted be not expired. 
Our obfervations upon the credulity of the public arealfo 
’applicable to the following faCt. On the 8th of February, 
S750, between twelve and one o’clock at noon, a fmart 
(hock of an earthquake was felt through the cities of 
London and Wcltminlter, and parts adjacent; and, on 
the 8th of March, between five and fix in the morning, 
the town was alarmed with another (hock, much more 
violent, and o f l onger continuance, than the firlt. Many 
people, awakened from their deep, ran terrified into the 
(treets without their clothes; a great number of chim¬ 
neys were thrown down; leveral houfes were confidera- 
D O N, 
bly damaged ; and, in Charter-Tionfe fquare, a woman 
was thrown from her bed, and her arm broke. The pa¬ 
nic of the people, in confequence of thefe'earthquakes, 
was greatly increafed by the ridiculous prediction of a 
wild enthufiaftic foldier in the life guards, who boldly 
prophefied, that, as the fecond earthquake had happened 
exaftly four weeks after the firff, there w’ould be a third 
exactly four weeks after the fecond, which would lay the 
whole cities of Londonand Weltminfter in ruins. Though 
this prognolfication appears too ridiculous to merit the 
iealt attention, yet it produced the molt altonifhing effeCt 
on the credulous and already-terrified people. A day or 
two before the expected event, multitudes of the inhabit¬ 
ants abandoned their houfes and retired into the country; 
the roads were thronged with carriages of perfons of fa- 
fliion; and the principal places within twenty miles of 
London were fo crowded, that lodgings were procured at 
a mod: extravagant price. On the evening preceding the 
dreaded 5th of April, mod of thofe wholtaid in the city 
fat up all night; fome took refuge in boats on the river, 
and the fields adjacent to the metropolis were crowded 
with people; all of whom palled the night in fearful l'uf- 
penfe, till the light of the morning put an end to their 
apprehenfions, by convincing them, that the prophecy 
they had been weak enough to credit had no other 
bafis than that of falfehood. Although the predicted 
time was now elapfed, yet the terror of the people did not 
thoroughly abate til! atter the eighth day of the month, be- 
caufe the earthquakes had happened on the eighth day of 
the two former months. When this time a!lo paffed, their 
fears vaniffied, and they returned to their relpeclive habi¬ 
tations. The fall'e prophet, who had been the indigator 
of fuel) general confufion among the people, was commit¬ 
ted to a place of confinement. 
This year, the lord-mayor, fir Samuel Pennant, fome 
of the aldermen, two of' the judges, the under-ffieriff', and 
many of the lawyers who had attended the March ltffions 
in the Old Bailey, mod of the Middlefex jury, and a con- 
fiderable number of the IpeClators, died of the gaol-dif- 
temper, caught from the prifoners. In conitquence of 
this difalter, a machine was foon after put upon the top 
of Newgate, to lupply it with frefh air, the prifon was 
well cleanfed, and every other precaution taken topreferve 
the health of the prifoners. 
On the 22d of October, 1752, a caufe was heard before 
the lord-mayor and court of aldermen, about laying open 
the port of London for bringing in foreign oats, purfuant 
to a ifatute, 1 James II. empowering that court, in April and 
October, to determine the common market-prices of mid¬ 
dling Englifii corn, by the oaths of tw'o fubdantial perfons of 
Middlefex and Surry, being neither merchants, cornfaCtors, 
mealmen, nor factors for importing corn, nor intereded in 
the corn, and each having a freehold eltateof twenty pounds, 
ora leafehold edate of fifty pounds, per annum, and by fuch 
other ways as to them (hall feem fit; and, if the dime (hall 
appear to be above fixteen (hillings a quarter, they are to 
certify the fame, with the two oaths annexed, to the com- 
miffioners of the cuftotiis, to be hung up in the cuftom- 
hoqfe. The perfons that made the application were feve- 
ra! makers of livery-dables, and inn-keepers; and their op¬ 
ponents were the cornfaCtors. After a hearing which 
lafted ten hours, it was decided for the cornfaCtors ; five al¬ 
dermen being for laying open the port, and five, with the 
lord-mayor, who threw in his calling vote, againlt it. 
A fubjeCt of an extraordinary nature occurred in the 
beginning of the year 1753. A young woman, named 
Elizabeth Canning, pretended that, on the xft of January, 
as (he was returning home at night, (he was attacked un¬ 
der Bedlam-wall by two men, who robbed her of part of 
her clothes, gagged her, and dragged her along to the 
houfe of one Wells, near Enfield Wadi, where die was 
confined in a cold damp room for a month, without any 
(iiltenance but a few (tale crufts of bread and about a gal¬ 
lon of water ; but that, having at kill made her efcape 
out of a window, die returned almoft naked to her 1110- 
5 ther a 
