Notes and Queries, Number 41, August 10, 1850 by Various
page 18 of 63 (28%)
page 18 of 63 (28%)
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of her husband in 1783, and asks whether there is any other instance of
the kind in the latter part of the last century. I cannot positively answer this Query, but I will state a circumstance that occurred to myself about the year 1788. Passing in a hackney-coach up the Old Bailey to West Smithfield, I saw the unquenched embers of a fire opposite Newgate; on my alighting I asked the coachman "What was that fire in the Old Bailey, over which the wheel of your coach passed?" "Oh, sir," he replied, "they have been burning a woman for murdering her husband." Whether he spoke the truth or not I do not know, but I received it at the time as truth, and remember the impression it made on me. It is, perhaps, as well to state that there were some fifteen to twenty persons standing around the smouldering embers at the time I passed. Senex. _India Rubber_ is now so cheap and common, that it seems worth while to make a note of the following passage in the _Monthly Review_ for Feb. 1772. It occurs at p. 71., in the article on "A familiar Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Perspective, by Joseph Priestly, LL.D. F.R.S., 8vo. 5s., boards. Johnson." "Our readers, perhaps, who employ themselves in the art of drawing, will be pleased with a transcript of the following advertisement:--'I have seen, says Dr. Priestly, a substance, excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the marks of a black lead pencil. It must, therefore, be of singular use to those who practise drawing. It is sold by Mr. Nairne, mathematical instrument-maker, opposite the Royal Exchange. He sells a cubical piece, of about half an inch, for three |
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