103 
L O N 
flagrant impudence that ever was played upon the curio- 
flty and credulity of the Londoners. It was carried on 
at the houfe of one Parfons, clerk of the parifh of St. Se¬ 
pulchre, and refident in Cock-lane, Smitlifield. His 
daughter, a girl of ten years of age, being tutored for the 
purpofe, pretended to be yifited by the fpirit of a young 
woman who had formerly lived in the houfe, and had died 
about a year and a half before this period. This woman, 
who went by the name of Fanny, had lived with a Mr. 
Kent, a broker, who had been the htriband of her filter, 
and would willingly have taken Fanny to wife; but, this 
union being forbidden by the canon-law, the parties agreed 
to difpenfe with the ceremonies of the church, and lived 
together, until, to the great grief of her lover, file died 
of the fmall-pox. Kent, it feems, had incurred the re- 
fentment of Parfons by prefling him for the payment of 
fome money he had lent him : and this is fuppofed to have 
been the foiirce of this diabolical contrivance. His daugh¬ 
ter, who had been a favourite of Fanny’s, pretended to 
fee her fpirit; (he was feized with apparent fits and trem¬ 
blings; ftrange noifes of knocking, fcratching, whifper- 
ing, fluttering, &c. were heard in the prefence of the girl; 
and a woman, who lived in the houfe, and was an ac¬ 
complice in the fcheme, pretended to explain thefe dif¬ 
ferent noifes; all of which tended to (how that (he had 
been poifoned by her admirer. The circumftances of this 
ftrange vifitation being reported, with many idle exagge¬ 
rations, Interefted the public to fuch a degree, that no¬ 
thing was talked of in all aflemblies, from the higheft to 
the lowed, but the Cock lane ghofl ; to which there was a 
continual flux and reflux of people of all ranks; even 
fome of the dignitaries of the church lent a countenance 
to the fraud, by joining in the fuperflitious throng who 
daily flocked to hear it. To fuch a height did this filly 
infatuation at length arrive, that all the fuggeflions of 
reafon proved ineffectual to (top it; the moll glaring in- 
confiftencies were reconciled in i’upport of the fupernatural 
vifitation, while the unfortunate object of it w’as univer- 
fally detefted as an infamous murderer; who, having rob¬ 
bed a poor girl ot her innocence, and become fatiated with 
her perfon, had configned her to an untimely end. In vain 
he publifhed the affidavits of the phyfician and apothe¬ 
cary who attended her in her laft illnefs ; in vain he availed 
himfelf of the teftimony of thofe who were with her in 
her laft moments, and law the tender parting between her 
and the man whom her fpirit was now fuppofed to im¬ 
peach. The more pains he took in his own juffification, 
the more deeply were the people imprefled with the con¬ 
viction of his guilt. Under this dreadful perfecution, he 
had recourfe to the protection of the law, by commencing 
a fuit againft the father of the child, an ecclefialtic who 
had been very inltrumental in promoting the impofture, 
and fotne others who had been more or lets active in ruin¬ 
ing his reputation and fortune. They were indicted for 
a confpiracy, and tried before lord-chief-juftice Mansfield, 
who relifted an attempt that was made to prove that the 
vifitation was fupernatural: he treated fuch a fuppofition 
with the contempt it deferved, and pronounced the whole 
"to be an infamous impolture, contrived and carried on to 
effeCl the ruin of an innocent perfon; and the jury before 
whom it was tried convicted all the parties of the confpi¬ 
racy. Parfons was condemned to (land in the pillory three 
times in one‘month, and to be imprifoned for two years; 
his wife was imprifoned for one year; the woman who 
aCted as interpreter was committed to Bridewell, to be 
kept to hard labour for fix months ; and the clergyman 
and another perfon who had been aCtive in the tranfaftion 
were dil'milfed wuth a fevere reprimand, after having com- 
promifed the affair with the profecutor, to whom they paid 
a confiderable fum of money, as a reparation for the injury 
he had fuflained. 
On the 5th of July came on at Guildhall, a caufe which 
had been long depending between the city and the diflen- 
ters, concerning the eligibility and obligation of the lat¬ 
ter to ferve the office of fheriff; when, after feveral learned 
DON: 
pleadings, the judges gsve their opinion, that di fie titers 
were not obliged to ferve that office. This determination 
was afterwards confirmed by the houfe of lords. 
On the 27th of September, it appeared, that, by the rains 
which fell for fome days paft, a high tide in the river 
Thames, and a ftrong gale of wind at north, the rivers 
within twenty miles of London were fo raifed, that the 
like had never been known in the .memory of man ; and 
the damage that was fullained, more efpecially on the ri¬ 
ver Lea, was almoft incredible. In le(s than five hours, 
the water rofe twelve feet in perpendicular height. About 
Stratford, Weft Ham, Plailtow, Waltham-abbey, and along 
the marfhes, they were very fatal to the inhabitants. Molt 
of their cattle in the fields were carried off; likewife flacks 
of hay and wood, with the lofs of the hogs that were in 
their lties and yards, together with all tlie horfes that were 
in the (tables. In fome parts of Stratford, the flood 
reached the chamber-windows, and the face of the waters 
was covered with the bodies of the beads that periftted- 
From the nearelt computation that could be made, not 
lefs than five thoufand hogs perifbed in this flood, toge¬ 
ther with all the horfes and other cattle that were in the 
meadows, whofe numbers were very confiderable. The 
flood extended itfelf over all the caufeways, and feveral 
people were loft in the high roads: a woman and horfe, 
and a gentleman in a poft-chaife, with the horfes and poll- 
boy, all perifhed in the water; and three of the paflengers 
in the Bury machine; with two of the horfes, were alfo 
drowned. The china-works, beyond Bow-bridge, were 
overflowed in fuch a manner, that the current ruflied 
through the great arch like the tide through the arches 
of Tondon-bridge. The calico-grounds, in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Bow and Stratford, were overflowed, and; 
great quantities of linen carried off. The houfes, from 
Bow-bridge to Stratford, were under water ; and the inha¬ 
bitants were compelled to take refuge by getting out of 
their windows. 
The negotiations for peace, which had been fome time 
in hand, having been brought to an iifue, the fecretary 
of ftate fent, on the Sth of November, to inform the lord- 
mayor, that the preliminaries of pacification were figned 
on the 3d inltant; in confequence of which, a cefl'ation 
of arms was proclaimed at London on the 1 ft of Decem¬ 
ber ; and, on the zzd of March, j 763, the definitive treaty, 
which had been figned at Paris, on the loth of February, 
was proclaimed at the ufual places in London ; but fo 
difiatisfied w'ere the citizens with the terms of it, that 
the common-council could not be prevailed on to addrefs; 
and that which was obtained from the aldermen, was car¬ 
ried up by eight of that body, with a locum tenens at 
their head. For the contents of this treaty, fee the arti¬ 
cle England, vol. vi, p. 735. 
Ever confpicuous in deeds of charity, and ready to help 
the dillrefied, the city offered her protection, in the month 
of Augulf, 1764., to about fix hundred Palatines, and 
other German proteftants, who were landed at the port 
of London in the greatefl diltrefs. They had been in¬ 
duced to quit their own country, by a German officer, on. 
a promife of fettlemeuts in America, with, as he (fated, 
the concurrence of the Britifh court. This promife he 
was unable to perform ; and, as it afterwards appeared, 
no authority had been given to him to make any fuch 
agreement. On the arrival of thefe poor deluded people, 
they found themfelves in a ftrange country, without 
money or friends. Some who had the means of paying 
for their paffage were permitted to land ; but fuch as had 
not were kept on-board the (flips; and both were in 3 
ltarving condition. In this deplorable ftate they experi¬ 
enced the benevolence of Britons ; their cafe being made 
known to the public by the Rev. Mr. Wachfel, minifter 
of the German Lutheran church in Ayliffe-ltreer, a fub- 
fcription was inftantly opened for their relief; food, 
clothing, and medical afliltance, for their immediate ne- 
ceflities, were fupplied by the inhabitants of the neigh¬ 
bourhood in which they were; tents, for their reception, 
were. 
