Echoes of Old LancashireAxon, William E. A. (William Edward Armytage)
History
Echoes of Old Lancashire
Axon, William E. A. (William Edward Armytage)
Lancashire (England) -- History
The next relic is _The Lancashire Journal_, published by John Berry, at
the Dial, in Manchester, Monday, July 30th, 1739. No. 57. The first or
leading article sets forth the intention of the managers to “introduce”
the journals “with a short Essay, Letter, or Discourse, on some useful
Subject, Art or Science,” if they can do it without leaving out any
“material Paragraph of News.” After a column of foreign affairs, we
have an account from “Exon” of one William Wood, who was in the County
Ward for £700 at the suit of the King. After having made his
chamber-mates drunk, he fastened a rope to the window, lowered himself
down near thirty feet, and then by the aid of a scaling-ladder got into
a field and so away. “Last Wednesday a Gentlewoman, aged 87, who lives
in Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, was married at St. George’s Chapel,
near Hyde Park Corner, to a young Gentleman of 23. The Bride was with
difficulty led into the Chapel, and was so much fatigued with standing
till the ceremony was over, that the Minute they were out of the Chapel
they were obliged to go into a Tavern to get something to revive her
exhausted spirits.” Then we learn that at the Old Bailey twenty-seven
prisoners were tried, of whom two were sentenced to be hanged, and
thirteen to be transported, whilst twelve were acquitted. Some more
paragraphs of the same nature show how ineffectual were the sanguinary
laws which condemned men to death for slight offences. In one of these
figures “Francis Trumbles the Quaker, who was to be hung for robbing
Mr. Brow on the highway.” “Last week died in Water Lane, Fleet Street,
one Anne Deacon, an elderly woman, who used to ask Alms at Church Doors
and elsewhere, in whose rooms after her death were found 100 guineas,
£35 in silver, and a bond of £150 on a considerable tradesman.” There
is a good deal more of foreign news, and the number terminates with
_two_ advertisements, one only being local, which offers an
apothecary’s shop, near the Exchange, “to be Sold or Lett. * * Enquire,
for further particulars of Mrs. Margaret Dickenson, at the Turk’s Head,
in Manchester.” No. 61, August 27th, 1739, opens with a dissertation on
the figure of the earth, followed by an account of one of the Dublin
Incorporated Society’s English Protestant Working Schools, then some
foreign news, of which our forefathers would appear to have been very
fond. This number is almost entirely filled with paragraphs relating to
our differences with Spain, diplomatic and martial. We have also news
of the siege of Belgrade, and “that the Grand Vizer has ordered a vast
quantity of scaling-ladders to be made, which looks as if he intended
to take Belgrade by storm.” From Cork we have the news that Matthew
Buckinger died there August 24th. Buckinger was born without hands or
feet, and his performances in penmanship were certainly wonderful under
the circumstances. “The King has ordered the two Hazard tables at
Kensington to be suppressed.” Two advertisements conclude this
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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