| Citation |
BEP(F.737.026
12 Sep 1737:11 (109)
From the Political State for May , 1737. . . The 28th in
the evening, about six o'clock, one Mary Falston was found
hanging in an empty room in Harrow Alley in Whitechappel;
how long she had been there was not known, she had only a
piece of an old blanket wrapped about her; round her neck
she had a piece of small cord, by which she had first hang'd
herself, and which broke, but the rope with which she last
hanged herself was strong and new. In all human probability
this poor wretch laid violent hands on herself from an
apprehension of starving. It were to be wished that in so
opulent a country as this, more care were taken of the poor,
a very small part of what is squandered away in luxury,
would be sufficient to preserve the unfortunate from
starving, and we ought certainly to prefer the relief of our
poor fellow creatures to the hearing an Italian eunuch, to
the seeing obscene dances and ridiculous pantomimes, and to
the shaking a box and doce, or shuffling a pack of cards.
Such an admonition perhaps may seem not to suit the design
of a treatise like this; but 'till so crying an evil shall
be remedied, the publick out to hear of it from all hands.
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