DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70302#0086
68
ACCOUNT OF THE COCK LANE GHOST.
eluded by the canon law from marrying, they thought
it, in foro conscientice, no crime to indulge their mutual
passion. They cohabited together as man and wife, and
mutually made their wills in favour of each other, by
which agreement the young lady would have been a con-
siderable gainer had she survived.
After her arrival from the country, they resided a
short time at Greenwich ; Mr. Kempe then took lodg-
ings in London, near the Mansion House. While at
the latter place, Mr. Parsons the officiating clerk of St.
Sepulchre’s, observing one morning at early prayers, a
genteel couple standing in the aisle, shewed them into a
pew. Being afterwards thanked for his civility by the
gentleman, who asked him if he could inform him of a
lodging in the neighbourhood ; Parsons offered his own
house, which was accepted.
Soon after their removal to the house of Mr. Parsons
in Cock Lane, near Smithfield, Mr. Kempe went into
the country, and the lady, who went by the name of
Miss Fanny, took Mr. Parsons’ daughter, a child eleven
years old, to sleep with her. About this time Miss Fanny
one morning complained to the family, that they had
both been greatly disturbed in the night by violent noises.
Mrs. Parsons was at a loss to account for this, but at length
recollected that an industrious shoemaker lived in the
neighbourhood, and concluded that he was the cause of
the disturbance.
Not long afterwards, on a Sunday night, Miss Fanny
getting out of bed, called out to Mrs. Parsons : “ Pray
does your shoemaker work so hard on Sunday nights
too ?” to which being answered in the negative, she de-
sired Mrs. Parsons to come into the chamber, and be
herself a witness to the truth of the assertion. Several
persons were now invited to assist, and among the rest
the Rev. Mr. Linden; but he excused himself, and on
the
ACCOUNT OF THE COCK LANE GHOST.
eluded by the canon law from marrying, they thought
it, in foro conscientice, no crime to indulge their mutual
passion. They cohabited together as man and wife, and
mutually made their wills in favour of each other, by
which agreement the young lady would have been a con-
siderable gainer had she survived.
After her arrival from the country, they resided a
short time at Greenwich ; Mr. Kempe then took lodg-
ings in London, near the Mansion House. While at
the latter place, Mr. Parsons the officiating clerk of St.
Sepulchre’s, observing one morning at early prayers, a
genteel couple standing in the aisle, shewed them into a
pew. Being afterwards thanked for his civility by the
gentleman, who asked him if he could inform him of a
lodging in the neighbourhood ; Parsons offered his own
house, which was accepted.
Soon after their removal to the house of Mr. Parsons
in Cock Lane, near Smithfield, Mr. Kempe went into
the country, and the lady, who went by the name of
Miss Fanny, took Mr. Parsons’ daughter, a child eleven
years old, to sleep with her. About this time Miss Fanny
one morning complained to the family, that they had
both been greatly disturbed in the night by violent noises.
Mrs. Parsons was at a loss to account for this, but at length
recollected that an industrious shoemaker lived in the
neighbourhood, and concluded that he was the cause of
the disturbance.
Not long afterwards, on a Sunday night, Miss Fanny
getting out of bed, called out to Mrs. Parsons : “ Pray
does your shoemaker work so hard on Sunday nights
too ?” to which being answered in the negative, she de-
sired Mrs. Parsons to come into the chamber, and be
herself a witness to the truth of the assertion. Several
persons were now invited to assist, and among the rest
the Rev. Mr. Linden; but he excused himself, and on
the