ulars of which the inhabitants
were informed of by letter, the moment the young gentleman had got safe
on board his ship.

THE

COCK-LANE GHOST.

About the middle of January 1762, a gentleman was sent for to the house
of one Parsons, the officiating parish clerk of St. Sepulchre's, in Cock
Lane, near West Smithfield, to be witness to the noises, and other
extraordinary circumstances, attending the supposed presence of a
spirit, that, for two years preceding, had been heard in the night, to
the great terror of the family. This knocking and scratching was always
heard under the bed where the children lay; the eldest was about twelve
years of age. To find out the cause, Mr. Parsons, the parish-clerk,
ordered the wainscot to be taken down; which was accordingly done: but
the noise, instead of ceasing, as he hoped, became more violent than
ever. The children were afterwards removed into the two-pair of stairs
room, where the same noise followed, and was frequently heard all night.

From these circumstances it was apprehended that the house was haunted;
and the other child declared, that she, some time ago, had seen the
apparition of a woman, surrounded, as it were, with a blazing light.
About two years prior to which, a publican in the neighbourhood,
bringing a pot of beer into the house, about eleven o'clock at night,
was so frightened that he let the beer fall, upon seeing on the stairs,
as he was looking up, a bright shining figure of a woman, by which he
saw through a window into the charity-school, and saw the dial in the
school. The figure passed by him, and beckoned him to follow; but he was
too much terrified to obey its directions: he ran home, and was very
sick. Soon after, Mr. Parsons himself, having occasion to go into
another room, saw the same appearance. Both these happened within the
space of an hour.

To throw some light upon this very mysterious affair, we shall begin
with the narrative of Mr. Brown, of Amen Corner, published January 23d,
1762; the substance of which is as follows--

That in 1759, one Mr. K---- employed an agent to carry a letter to a
young gentlewoman of a reputable family in Norfolk, and to bring her up
to London in a post-chaise, if she would be willing to come. That she
did come; but Mr. K----being at Greenwich, she followed him there
directly, and was received by him, after a journey of one hundred miles
performed in one day, with much tenderness. After some short stay a