Ecclesiastick Was beat with fist instead of a stick. The St. James's Evening Post of January 1728 mentions a nameless oddity, who kept open house in his _own way_ during the holidays at a Tavern near St. James's-market: "He treats all the company that comes, provided they appear fit for a gentleman to keep company with; pays his reckoning twice a day, and thinks no expence too great that their eating and drinking can put him to. He never quits his room, or changes his linen. The house has already received some hundreds of pounds from him, and is likely to receive many more, if his constitution can but do its duty. He proposes to hold it for three months; and it is said, this is not the first time he has done so." Abraham Simmonds, a tobacconist, who retired to enjoy a handsome independence at Lewisham, died in 1728. His widow and executrix found, to her utter dismay, upon opening his will, that he had directed his body to be buried in his own orchard, wrapped in a blanket, without any of the usual religious ceremonies; and that his favourite dog after his natural decease should be deposited in the same grave. The lady seems to have been a sagacious wife, and a good hand at a quibble. She strictly complied with the eccentric wishes of Mr. Simmonds; but, as that gentleman neglected to say his body must _remain_ in the Orchard, she had it conveyed into a handsome coffin, and thence to the church-yard, where the Parish Priest performed the burial rites. Orator Henley, who is said to have restored the antient eloquence of the pulpit, was frequently mentioned in the Newspapers _circa_ 1724 as appointed to preach Charity Sermons. He appears however in 1726 to have entered into the true spirit of eccentricity, and frequently advertised in the following style: