The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-02-20 00:00:00

A TALE OF A YANKEE" LANDLORD,

(Front the Monthly Magazine.)
It was one winter evening that I stopped to pass the night at
a little village in the state of Massachusetts, where a tidy inn,
kept by Colonel Solomon Shagbark, offering good entertainment
fur man and horse, had tempted me to suspend my wayfaring.
''f was a cool evening, and I sat luxuriating over a blazing wood
are, big enough to roast an ox, while a knot of countrymen were
convoked in the bar-room, guessing, questioning, calculating--
drinking cider, and telling stories. I was particularly amused
by the noise of one of these junketers, who kept up a continued
Chorus of laughter thronghout all the variations of their har-
mony. He WdS a tall fellow, of wide mouth and India-rubber
lungs, and sent forth every five minutes such a stentorian peal,
that a nervous man would have given both his ears to have been
an hundred miles off.
" Moderation ! moderation!" cried one of the talkers; " say
nothing. but laugh, and do that slily."
" Ha ! ha ! ha 1 ha 1 ha !" continued the laugher.
" Have a care how you stretch your jaws," cried another ;
" remember poor. Peter Goff !"
" Especially such a night as this," rejoined-the first speaker,
" fur it your face should happen to freeze just as it is now—"
" The man with his mouth open," said the laugher. " Ha !
Ila ! ha ! ha !—l've heard the story. Ha! ha ! ha ! ha !"
" Come now," replied another, " a man that won't believe
anything old. Uncle Josh used to say—"
, • Pooh ! old Uncle Josh never looked through a"millstone
but once, and then he peeped in at the hole."
" The story may be true, and it may not," said a third speak-
er; " but if you kiad heard what the deacon toli me--"
" Ay, ay!" returned the laugher, " the deacon could always
see more moons in the shade than anybody else. Ha ! ha !
ha! ha !—the man with his mouth open !" amid he roared ready
to split.
I continued to listen, but could gather nothing more distinct
of the subject in debate. The talk soon turned into another
Channel; the man with the lungs continued to laugh, but it was
evidently subdued into something like a chuckle. Doubtless he
had a lurking fear that the story was true.
" Landlord—Colonel," said 1, as mine host of the Washing-
ton's Head stepped into the room ; " it is a cold night. let us
have something warm, and I must get von to tell me a story."
" A cold night
_,you say, squire ?''(aYankee always calls you
"squire"—who dares say the Yankees are not civil ?) " A
6al sit night, rather—that is, not so warm; hot if you want to
know what cold weatheri9, just stay here till the last of January,
and you'll see a cold snap that will make you hum !"
' " Why; colonel, I have no curiosity in the matter of a cold
snap, hut I should like much to hear something of what they
have been talking yonder—the man with his mouth open !"
" Ahem !" said the colonel, with a sly sort of look, 'we have
some good gapers here in. the neighbourhood. Now, there is
Tom Take-a bite, he has got a mouth like an atligntor; but as
to the real, genuine man with his mouth open—'tis only now
and then one can get a peep at him."
After some little coquetry ou the part of the landlord, to en-
banes the value of his narrative, I prevailed on him to sit down

by the fire, and begin, but it was iu the most approved fashion ,
of story-telling, by a round affirmation of the truth of it :
" 'Twits a strange affair that part of it about his mouth," he
commenced; " many is the time I have laughed to think of it,
though, to be sure, 'tis no laughing matter fur a man to have his
mouth open, and not be able to shut it. But it is just as true as
I sit here. Soule folks make more of it in telling the story, but
it's founded on fact, aspeople say that write novels and such like.
Well, this Peter Gaff, you see, was an odd chap, one of the odd-
est of all flesh ; he would read his Bible upside downwards, just
to be different from other folks. We paint our houses white,
and Pater painted his house black, with red borders to the win-
dows—ha ! ha ! such a sight !—it looked for all the world like
a nigger with sore eyes! But it's all of another colour now,
because Jerry Jones, one of Peter's creditors, who took pos-
session the time that Peter went off in the fog, had it new painted,
out of a neighbourly kindness to the deacon, for the deacon's
wife used to have a regular fit of the hypochondriacs every time
she went by ; but the old woman never liked Peter, because he
was so much given to laughing. What's that to you!' Peter•
used to say, 'l've a genius for it; every man has a genius for
something, and I have a genius fur laughing !' Sure enough
so he had, if a body might judge by his looks, for he bad a mouth
big enough to take in half a cheese; butit was the ruin of Peter.
Let all men take care of their mouths—but that is neither here
nor thOte. Peter got into a sort of baddish way—he worked
less and drank more. We gave him nothing but good advice,
the deacon and I, hoping, that he would lay it to heart. We
talked to him in a fatherly way like; so did everybody else.—
Pooh ! what did he care Kir it; 'twas just like throwing apples.
into a bag without a bottom. Peter went on neglecting his
farm; 'twould have made any man's heart grieve to see what a
fine piece of land there was all going to destruction, and all for
want of a good take-heed. As for Peter, be used to pass whole
days idling and frolicking, and turniug up jack, and laughing
as loud as ever. Everybody swore be would come to no good,
because his conearn was all wearing out and there was nu money
coining in. But the snore his affairs went to ruin the louder
Peter laughed ! There was no knowing what possessed the
creature to laugh so much. His mouth, as I told you, was as
wide as an oven, and when he set up a haw ! haw! it was like
the roar of a buffalo. The deacon and all of them took a great
scandal at it, and quoted scripture, prophesying that Peter would
come to a4norsel of bread. But Peter said he hoped he should
never come to worse, and then went on laughing and getting in
debt till he had got through his cash and mortgaged his whole
estate, so that it was as clear as preaching he must go to the
dogs. Finally, the deacon undertook to give him a desperate
sort of a lecture by way of a last trial; so he called upon him
one Saturday evening—' Peter,' says he, you are little better
than one of the wicked.'—' Have you any abjection ?' says
Peter. Ah, Peter,' says the deacon, 'if you don't give over
laughing, Old Nick will make you grin on the other side of
your mouth.!—' Laugh and be fat,' says Peter. ' Not of a
Saturday night,' says the deacon. 'Mac Old Nick scratch my
jaws,' says Peter, • but I am going to a frolic to-night, and
laugh a good stick if I laugh my everlasting one.' The deacon
went away quite scared to see Peter so hardened, as he said, for
the creature was determined to have it out; and it happened
that very night."
" What happened ?"
" Peter's catastrophe. It was a terrible cold night, and they
sat over a rousing fire, drinking hot punch, and flip, and san-
garee, and what not, and laughing, and singing, and roaring,
and making such a halliballoo.—Hark ! isn't that my wife ?"
" What ?"

" That voice I here calling ? No—never mind—it's only the
deacon's pig got stuck in the gateway.—Well, they went on
drinking and making a tantarra that disturbed the whole neigh-
bourhood. I wish,' says Peter, 'that the deacon was here to
hear as.' Ha ! ha ! h.a! hal. ha i—hickur ! hick ! hick !
The clock struck midnight just at that moment!—!lick ! hick !
hick ! went Peter ; and what do you think ? he was in the midst
of one of his most uproarious laughs, and had stretched his jaws
wider. than, he was ever known to do before ; and when he had
laughed a regular peal that lasted a quarter of an hour, he tried
to shut his mouth but could not ! Strange enough, you'll say;
but that is the fact. Hick ! hick ! hick ! he went on. ' That's
a long laugh,' said the other fellows. Hick! hick! hick !'
says Peter. Finally, he stood stilt gaping as wide as a barn-
door. Shut your mouth,' said they. But, Lord! he could not
shut it to save him from going to the Old Harry ! And how it
happened—whether he had stretched his jaw-bones out of joint,
and gut them off the hinges; or whether it was a sort of witch-
craft and judgment upon him, I don't pretend to say ; but there
he stood stiff as starch. Peter's companions thought him be-
witched, so they took to their heels and ran off, frightened out
of their wits. Peter was in a sad pickle; he tried to call for
help, but how the dogs can a man speak without the mesa his
jaws ? Well, after trying. a long while, and finding he made no
more noise than a mouse in a cheese, lie gave it up for bad
coffee. What could he do for himself? Nothing—so he
mounted his horse, and set, out to go for Dr. Drvbones. It was
one o'clock in the morning when he got to his louse. Now the
doctor was a mighty fretful, touchy, worrisome sort of a man, a
good deal troubled with the hypo, and nervous complaints. He
had got into a strange way about that time, ima,giniug that
somebody was going to eat him up alive. He could not abide
any one with a large mouth, and whenever he saw Peter he used
to feel a special fit of the horrors; so you may suppose it must
have been a pretty considerable shock to his nerves, when in
the dead of the night he was roused out of bed by a thundering
knock at Up door, and going down with a light to behold Peter
with his big mouth stretched wide open to devour him. Mercy
on us ! he jumped back about a rod and a half, and then, in his
desperation, catching up a broomstick, he went at hint with such
a mangling that he was glad to save himself at full gallop, and
got off with an open mouth and a shirt full of sore bones! Well,
his only course now was to make for the next town, where there
was another doctor; so away he went, though it was a good
distance. By and by the moon went down, and it was pitch
dark. He lust his way, and wandered hither and thither with-
atnt, meeting a living soul. There was nobody abroad, and the
only house he saw was inhabited by an old woman who was
always afraid of seeing ghosts; and when Peter tried to get ad-
mission,' the old woman was so frightened that she called
murder! thieves! hobgoblins! and Peter, fearing he should be
shut in the-head for a robber or wizard, made his retreat as quick
mite could."

" With his mouth open all the time ?"
" Certainly.—So the story goes, and no doubt of the fact, fur
the night was so cold that It must have been hard work to move
a man's jaws any way. Uncle Josh remembers the time; he
eras iii the iirmy that season, and many was the morning in camp
that he could not get up for two hours after he was awake, be-
cause his old queue had froze fast to the ground !
" Well, Peter went on, but could not tell which way he was
going. It was dark as pitch, as I said before, and he had got
into a lonely part of the country • there waskno fence to the road,
and he soon found himself rambling over the fields, scaring the
owls, and frightening himself with the expectation of breaking
his neck ornong the ups and downs that gave him a jolt and a
bounce every ten steps. After lie had well battered the shins
of his horse across the ditches and stone walls, he found hithself
upon the river. It was frozen pretty hard ' but presently he
came to an air-hole, and souse ! he tumbled in ! After floun-
dering about some time, he was lucky enough to pick himself
put, horse and all : indeed 'twas -the horse that saved him, ac-
cording to the best authorities. Peter an./ his horse got upon
dry land again—which of them swallowed the most water during
the accident I'll not say, as I was not there to see, but 1 rather
think it was Peter. Well, they got upon dry laud, as I said;
but they were neither dry nor thirsty, you may suppose. It
was terrible cold, as I said before, and Peter would have froze
to death if he had not been as tough as a pine-knot. But uncle
Josh always said there was no killing him. Peterand bis horse
were soaking wet, and so in- less than half an hour be found
every rag of clothes about him as hard as horn—in short, he
had frozen to the horse's back, and could not move a limb, any
inure than if he had been hewed out of a block of stone!—
There he sat as stiff as a poker.—The horse gallopped on. So
the story goes,—and it stands to reason.—On he galloped up
hill, and dowa hill, hither and thither, over field and over pas-
ture, through the bogs and the swamps, and the woods, and
among all sorts of scarecrow places, for Peter could not move
an arm to turn him to the right or to the left. In short, he
made a regular circumbendibus all round Robin Hood's barn."
"Pray, colonel,—l beg pardon for interrupting you,—but
how- are all these particulars known ?"
The colonel paused at this question, and looked a little
puzzled. He scratched his head and gave two or three hems.
"I can't exactly say, but they rest on good authority ; there's
Giles Godkins will take his oath on the biblebook, that he spied
him about four o'clock the Sunday morning as he got up to
fodder his cattle; Peter was going at a full canter down Break-
neck bill into Dead-man's hollow. Giles hollooed after him,
but he kept cantering on till he was out of sight in the darkness.
Giles did not know what to make of it. thinking it might be the
witch of Endor on a broomstick, or the ghost of old Sagamore
Saul, the Indian marauder, astride of a black bear. However,
some days afterward the whole story came out, and Giles found
that he had seen Peter Goff."
" And what became of Peter the next morning?"
" You shall hear. All night long, as I said, he wastramping
about, snuffing the gentle gale that blew just then from the
north-west about sixteen degrees below nothing. Many a man
rememberstriat cold snap. the deacon in particular, for he kept
a grocery store there, and his whole stock of rum and brandy
froze as hard as rock Dundee. But that was easily accounted
for.
"Well, it blew as I tell you, pretty considerably keen; and
Peter was cool enough for comfort. He was right glad when
he saw the day break, so that he could find the road again; and
just after, sunrise he got into Firetown.
" Now Peter's horse stopped at the tavern, for that is a horse's
trick. -whether his rider wants to atop or not ; but Peter of course
could not get off ; by-and-by somebody came out—now it hap-.
pened thatthis was old Crusty, that used to keep the Punch
Bowl.—Tim, as the devil would have it—for certainly nobody
but the devil ever could contrive to twist up such a snarl of ac-
cidents—Tim, I say, had just caught a terrible cold, which made
him so hoarse that he could not utter a voice louder than a
whisper, end, moreover, lie was so stiff in the neck with the
rheumatism, that he could not turn his head the hundredth part
of an inch. Well, Tim came to the door, and you may think
he was pretty considerably surprised at the-sight of Peter; for
Peter, you may depend, made a horrible hobgoblin appearance
by broad daylight. However, Tim was not a man to be fright-
ened, for he had been in the old French wars, and, besides that,
he was inspector-general of our brigade of militia, so that, you
know, he was used to all sorts of scarecrow sights. Tim stared,
without saying a word—for why, he was not able to speak.—
Peter neither spoke nor stirred, for the same reason. Tim
looked at Peter, and Peter looked at Tim!

"There was little tale-telling lost between them, I promise
you, for both were as dumb as haddocks. Tim waited for Peter
to speak, and Peter waited for Tim to do the same. Tim won-
dered why Peter did. not dismount, but Peter sat as stiff as ever.
Tim wondered that Peter did not move, and Peter wondered
ditto at Tim---so they took it out in staring. After a long
while.catne out•Sitnou Stumpar, the stable-boy; but here was
another crook in the lot. Simon stuttered, like a cat a-chok-
ing, so that he was little better off than 'rim, I'm blessed if
they did not find it awkward enough. Simon was struck all of
aheap when he saw the two figures throwing silent looks at one
another, like the compliments between the cow and the hay-
stack. limas a long time before he found the useof his tongue,
but by-and-by he stammered out, `Wha—wha—wha—wha—
' wha4-wha—wha—t's the ma—ma—ma—ma—mat—mat—mat-
ter?' And what said they? why—just. nothing at all. Then
Simon began to stare at Peter, and says he, `But—but--but—
but—who are you ?' Peter gave a sort of a wink-like, but could
not move his jiws. 'But—but—but—but—who the de—de—
de—de—de—devil areyou ?' says Simon; but Peter sod no-
thing in reply. Whatever he thought is nothing at all to the
purpose. Peter sat stiff, Tim stared, and Simon stuttered but'
in the end, finding that Peter kept up such a horrible gaping,
Simon concluded he was making mouths at him, so, catching
up a stick of wood, he let drive at him such a lick, that' if it had
ha him 'twould have smashed in his front teeth, I guess.—
Peter's horse took a start, and away he went.
" Well, Peter was off, as I said, and gallopped a pretty con-
siderable pace along the road. It was Sunday, you know :
by-and-by the bells rung, and he found the people were going
to meeting. The first man he met was Billy Dough-head, the
new parson, who was to preach his first sermon that day. Billy
had been sent to study divinity, because his friends found he
was.good for nothing else, and they were sure he would make a
capital preacher ! They say he was a little sort of bashful at
the thought! of mounting the pulpit, and made a first trial by
going into the garden' and preaching to the cabbage-heirdi
But as Billy was plodding along, mighty solemn and minister-
like, he lifted up his eyes, and behold! Peter came thundering
along the road, all a-gape as before, Bills was thrown into a

horrible consternation' not being particularly powerful in the
nerves. He took him fur one of Belzebub's light dragoons, on
a scout up and down after stray sinners. He dropped his ser-
mon, took to !light, and scampered off as fait as his legs could
carry him, without once looking back. The people collected
at the meeting-house; the bell kept tolling and tolling, but no-
body came to preach. In short, Billy got home to his grand-
mother, and has never been seen in these parts since. Peter
put the parson to flight, but that was no fault of his, for it was
not yet warm enough to thaw him off; so he kept on. It was
not long before he was spied by old Solomon Screech, the
tything-inan. • Aha!' says Sol, • a fellow travelling Sunday!
I'll put a stop to his peregrination ; so out he sallied to inter-
cept him, and sung out to Peter as he drew near, " Soho!
Soho 1 you wicked sinner how dare you travel on the Sab-
bath ? Stop! stop! or I arrest you in the name of the common-
wealth !'

" Peter would have been glad to stop, but he had no voice in
that matter,—for why ? His voice was dead within him. 'Stop!
stop! says old Sol, but finding Peter had no design of stopping,
and Sol being in a sort of bank-like as he passed, he made a
catch at him, but it was like .eatchmg at a post; so to save him-
self from being dragged he sprang up behind Peter. At this'
the horse got to be in a sort of antic and furious way by this
time, and drove a-head like a whirlwind, so that Sol, in the
room of stopping him, found himself carried away.' But he was
determined not to give up; so he kept fast hold, astride of the
.animal, behind Peter.

"Peter's long hair;for, he had lost his hat in the river, stuck
,out with frozen locks on all sides. Old Sol was crook-backed
and hump-shouldered, so that both of them together, flying
along at full speed, might have been taken for the great beast
in the Revelations, with seven heads and ten horns. As you
may suppose, the dialogue that passed between them during
the journey was all on one side, like the handle of a jug. Old
Sul kept calling out Stop ! stop ! why don't you stop ? I'm a
tything man—l'm an elder of the church ! I'll fine ye! I'll
imprison ye !' and all that sort of talk; but whisht on the old
horse gallopped faster than ever, and Peter never said a word.
Old Sol began to wonder a little, but presently he grew some-
what scared, for the horse got to be right-down furious, and
pulled a-head as if bewitched. 'Stop, stop,' said Sol, ' let me
get off ! stop! stop, and I'll let you go !'—but not a straw did
the old horse care for all that. On they drove like a stream
o' chalk, and old Sol was frightened out of his wits. Bv-and-by
they came to Artichoke Bridge, and it happened the bridge
was a little out of repair, some of the timber and planks being
rotten. So as they were going thundering over it at a furious
pace, the bridge gave way, and down they went. Old Sol ex-
pected to be drowned in the mar, so he kept hold of Peter to
save himself; and as to Peter, he stuck fast to the horse of
course ;so in the upshot they all three got safe.to land. Well,
off they set again, for Sol had not time to dismount, the horse
was so antic ; and it was not long before he found himself froze
as stiff as Peter, and all three of them were stuck as hard toge-
ther as the bricks in that chimney."
Whether 1 looked a little incredulous at this part of the story
I. do not know, but the landlord seemed to think so, for he
continued:—

" Pooh I I never heard any one object to that, because the
first part being true, the rest follows of course; it. stands to
reason. Away they went, frightening every body on the road.
Peter in front, with his horrible wide mouth yawning like the
bottomless pit, and old Sol behind, screaming and roaring like
mad. I'fags! 'twas a sight to see. I can seem to imagine the
whole bunch of them right before my eyes—there they go !
Peter, Sol, and old Fire-the-Faggot, all in a- bunch ! There
they go full chisel; hurrah! `The colonel here became highly
animated.] Peter gaping ; old Sol roaring; the old horse kick-
ing up his heels and making the gravel fly ; the people staring
and running away frightened. On they drive through Dog-
town! and Grab-all! and Pigwocket ! and Ivlunkifunk !
" Egad, Colonel, your neighbours had some odd names."
"That's neither *here nor there—on they went—on they
went—hurrah !—hurrah I—through thick and thin, like a streak
of lightning, that asks leave of nobody.
"On they went—further and further. I see them going,
rushing past like a mill-stream. But stop, my story is nearly
at an end now," said the colonel, pausing a moment to take
breath, and wiping away the perspiration from his forehead,
—for the excitement of the story had got him quite into a
blowze—" It's pretty near an end, for Peter never came back !"
"Never came back ! and what became of his companion, the
tytbing-man ?"
"Oh, as for that old Sol, there is no knowing how-long he
stuck to him ; but as the weather happened to moderate a little
while afterwards, a shower of rain came on, so most probably
he thawed off."
" Dead or alive ?"
" Something between them both ; for he was picked up on
the road in a sort of bamboozlement of the mental facultieslike.
Indeed he never got the better of it; for he has been a little
cracked ever since." _ _ _

" But was nothing more beard of Peter ?"
" Not very direct; some say he's wandering now in the
Alleghano mountains, though a great &env people are positive
they have seen him on dark nights flitting here and there, try-
ing to shut his moUtb. Several times they have spoken to him,
but be never made answer, and that is natural. There are many
opinions about it to this day; and to tell the truth, squire
have many times had a distant glimmering of something like
suspicion as to the mystery and witchcraft of the affair; for you
must be informed that Peter left a good many debts behind him ;
and old Commodore Keelson said that he was struck with a
lock-jaw very appropov, as he calls it, just in the nick of time,
as one may say; for he would have been taken up for debt had
he staid till Monday. In fact, I have been told there is a man
still living in New Hampshire State that has a strong resem-
blance to Peter. Old Commodore Keelson always maintained
it was quite a natural occurrence, and that Peter cleared out to
escape the land-sharks."
" But you say his ghost still walks—rides I mean ?"

"Aye; so many &fellow thinks of a dark night, after telling
stories of the 'Man with his Mouth open.' But the commodore
says that can be nothing but the flying Dutchman with his land-
tacks abroad, and he has seen that himself."

COMMISSION OF LUNACY ON LADY E. FILMIER

A commission de lunatico inquirendo was held on Saturday
last at the Yorkshire Stingo, Lis.on-grove, before Commission-
ers Whitmarsh, Blunt, and Winslow, to inquire into the lunacy
of Dame Esther Filiner, of Alpha-road.
Thomas A. Stone, of Clifford-street, surgeon, was the first
witness examined.—Had known her about 15 months. At that
time she was perfectly sane, and so continued up to last July.
In September he was called in to see her; found her in a state
of great excitement, walking up and down the room, accusing
herself of the grossest crimes, and declaring she was the greatest
wretch that had ever existed. Two nights after was much
worse, and hardly to be controlled. This took place at the
Bath Hotel. Dr. Monro was called in, and. they both saw her
together about the 20th of September. She was then much in
the same state, and in consequence of the great noise she made
is was deemed proper to remove her to the Alpha-road, where
she has remained ever since. Has since seen her frequently,
the last time on Tuesday last. She continued in much the
same state, requiring at times, when very violent, two persons
to hold her. She said she was dying of pres Sure on the chest;
that she had no bowels; was merely an empty shell; had no
brain; nothing could destroy her; she must live to the end of
the world; had been the cause of the death of her late husband;
Thousands were starving on her account; she must be buried
in a cave, or else put in a coffin and placed in the vault at East
Sutton Church (Sir John Filmer, her husband, was rector of
East Sutton; he died on the 15th of July last.) She is capable
of speaking on various subjects for a short time, but, on the de-
lusions being again alluded to, soon relapses again into her
former state. Is of opinion she is a lunatic, without lucid in-
tervals. Her age is under forty, and she enjoys pretty good
health.
Dr. Monro examined.—First saw Lady Filmer on the 24th
of September last, at the Bath Hotel; found her in a very
desponding state, incapable of turning her mind from the idea
of her extreme wickedness. Confirmed the evidence of Mr.
Stone as regarded her state of mind, and added that she once
stated to him that if her throat were to be cut from ear to ear
she could not die—nothing )could destroy her. She lamented
that the conservative cause must suffer from her wickedness ;
she expects to meet the gentlemen assembled here to-day for
the purpose of obtaining their permission to bury herself alive
in the vault of East Sutton church. He pronounced her a lu-
natic without lucid intervals. It was a most decided straight-
forward case, there could be but one opinion about it, and he re-
commended the jury to see the lady at once.
Lady Filmer was then conducted into the room, and took her
seat near the chief commissioner. She was dressed in deep
mourning; her countenance is pleasing and expressive, and be-
trays no symptoms of her malady. Her manner of addressing
the commissioner was particularly earnest. She began by
stating that she was positively the wickedest woman in the
world—positively, oh! yes indeed', positively so. It was now ab-
solutely necessary to inter her. She hall already destroyed
seven straitwaistcoats. " I have a very extraordinary re-
quest to make; it will appear a very extraordinary one to you,
gentlemen, no doubt, but it must be granted, it must indeed;
I am convinced I shall never die ; and I must not be keptabove
ground any longer; I hope you will consent to my being buried
alive. lam not human; I ain a million times worse than the
devil himself." On the chief-cominissiouer gently remonstrat-
ing with her, and saying that there was a Supreme Being who
would pity and pardon her sins, she interrupted him hastily by
saying, Oh, no—oh, no, impossible ! I have lived without
God in the world; I have been very wicked,- I was blessed far
more than I deserved; my husband was the best of men, and I
destroyed him."
In answer to an inquiry about her property, she" said it was
all gone, she had foolishly expended it; the £3OaXlO was still in
the bank, but she had inure than that. and spent it all; gave it
to poor people; had eight pensioners, at Is per week only, it
was true. She concluded with these words:---" All I earnestly
solicit is that I may be interred; I am a mere shell; it is so, in-
deed, and you know it is so, (appealing to her attendants.) I
have no heart, no bowels, nothing but lights; that is my only
request ; it is absolutely necessary, it roust be done. When
will you let me know ? Do not delay it beyond Monday. It is
absolutely necessary, and when that is done Sir Edward Filmer
will settle everything; but I must be buried, it must be done."
This was spoken with so much earnestness of manner, and iv
such an impressive tone of voice, that it excited the greatest
sympathy in all present; seveial were deeply affected, and it
was not until the chief-commissioner assured her that the gen-
tlemen present would take her request into immediate consider-
ation that she could be prevailed upon to retire. The scene
altogether was of the most interesting but melancholy descrip-
tion. ti
Verdict—" Lunacy, without lucid intervals from the 23d of
September, 183-1."