es near the
house, shewing the light in different directions. His comrades would
then call all the old women about them to see it. Then, on a sudden, the
light would seem to go out, as the boy closed up the lanthorn. Then he
would run swiftly across the whole field, and shew his light again on
the other side. Now he would be up in a tree, then in the road, then
upon the middle of the heath; so that the country-people made no more
question, but that the old lady walked with a candle in her hand, and
that they saw the light of it; in a word, it passed for an apparition,
and was generally conceived as such by the neighbourhood, till the
knavery was discovered, the boys punished, and the towns-people laughed
at for their credulity.

THE

CREDULOUS PEASANTS.

No longer ago than the year 1788, when the husbandmen of Paris suffered
so severely by the devastation on the 13th of July in that year, many of
the farmers were positively so superstitious at their own created fears,
that, notwithstanding considerable sums were offered to indemnify them
for their losses, and to encourage them to carry on with spirit the
cultivation of their lands, with new seeds, new implements, &c. they
peremptorily refused, on account of a foolish report that was then
prevalent in some parts of the country where the storm happened. They
said, that two giants were seen peeping out of the clouds, and
threatening, with terrible countenances, gigantic frowns, and
high-sounding words, that they would return next year on the same
thirteenth day of July, with a greater scourge than they then felt.
Terrified either at the imagined report, or at the fancied sight of the
giants (which terror and a weak brain will often produce), many of the
unhappy sufferers abandoned their houses, and commenced beggars, rather
than return to the labours of the field: so great was their affright,
in consequence of that tremendous storm.

This story, though hardly credible, may be depended on as a fact, and
may be seen in many of the public prints of that time.

THE

NOCTURNAL DISTURBERS.

The following authentic story is related by Dr. Plot, in his Natural
History of Oxfordshire.

Soon after the murder of King Charles the First, a commission was
appointed to survey the King's house at Woodstock, with the manor, park,
woods, and other demesnes thereunto belonging; and one Collins, under a
feigned name, hired himself as Secretary to the Commissioners: