Southwark.
P.S.--The petition from the Livery, doubtless agreed to in Common
Hall, which the king refused to receive, and which is referred to
above, is most probably the one which ÆGROTUS inquires about, and
of which the Duke complains in his dispatch of Jan. 1810. I have
not been able to see it; but if I can find it, will send you notes
of it; the mem. I have sent establishes the fact of its having
been carried.
_Reichenbach's Ghosts_ (Vol. iv., p. 5.; Vol. v., p. 89.).--If A. N.
will do me the favour to refer to my question, he will see that his
remarks do not furnish a reply. Reichenbach says, that "thousands of
ghost stories will now receive a natural explanation," from his
discovery that the decomposition of animal matter is accompanied by
light, or luminous vapour, which is visible to certain sensitive
persons. As I originally stated, "my Query is, _where to find_ the
'thousands of ghost stories' which are explained by it." I now repeat
that Query in unaffected ignorance. I have read a good many ghost
stories, British and foreign; but I know that some of the writers in "N.
& Q." are much better acquainted with German literature and
superstitions than I am; and I ask them if they can tell me where to
find _such_ stories,--that is, ghost stories explained by Reichenbach's
discovery? I do not ask for "thousands," nor even hundreds--a score or
two will be quite enough; or even a dozen, if they are good ones.