18. Mary Pocock proceedingsdefend , the Wife of ( Blank ) Pocock, was indicted for wilful and corrupt Perjury, in swearing that Thomas Pepper proceedingsvictim had sold her Spirituous Liquors, in a less Quantity than two Gallons .

Mr. Wincup. On the 30th of May, the Prisoner, with one Edward Parker < no role > , an Excise Officer , came before my Lord Mayor with this Information. I don't know whether he gave it me out of his Hand, but he said he had an Information.

(The Information was read.)

'' London. Be it remembered, that on the 30th '' of May, 1738, Edward Parker < no role > , an Officer of '' his Majesty's Revenue of Excise, came before '' me Sir John Barnard < no role > , Knt. Lord Mayor of this '' City, at Grocer's-Hall, and now here exhibiteth '' an Information, and informeth, that Thomas '' Pepper, of St. Butolph, without Aldersgate, '' on the 27th of May Instant, sold to Mary Pocock < no role > , '' Geneva, in less Quantity than two Gallons, '' and in a Room not entered at the Excise Office. '' And he, the said Informant, prayeth, that the '' said Thomas Pepper < no role > may be conven'd before me, '' and shew Cause, why he should not be convicted '' of the said Offence; and, that he, '' the said Informant, may receive (if the said '' Pepper be convicted) one Moiety of Ten '' Pounds''

Mr. Wincup. I know the Prisoner; and when she and Parker brought the Information to my Lord Mayor, I asked her if she knew the Contents of the Paper? She said, Yes; and acknowledged the Name (Mary Pocock ) to be her own Hand-writing. Then she laid her Right Hand upon the Testament, and I said, you shall swear that the Contents of your Deposition, are in all Parts, just and true; and then she kiss'd the Book in the Presence of my Lord Mayor.

(The Deposition was read.)

'' Mary Pocock, of Whitechapel, maketh Oath, '' That Thomas Pepper, on the 27th of May, in a '' Room in a House, situate in the Parish of St. '' Butolph, without Aldersgate, did sell unto this '' Deponent, a Quarter of a Pint of Geneva, for '' which she paid him 3 Half-pence.

Mary Pocock.

Thomas Pepper. I never saw the Prisoner at the Bar in my Life (to my Knowledge) 'till I saw her before my Lord Mayor, she then said, she had been a Customer to me a great while, and that I knew her, but would not know her. I keep a Chandler's Shop , and she might perhaps come into the Shop, and take Notice enough of it to make her Story feasible. She swore that she came into the Shop, and bought a Half-penny Brick, and a Ha'p'orth of Cheese, and a Quarter of a Pint of Geneva; but if the dearest Friend in the World had come to me, and would have given me a Thousand Pounds, for a Quarter of a Pint of Spirituous Liquors, I had it not in my House of any Sort. On my Oath, I sold her no Spirituous Liquors at all, on the 27th of May, nor any one else. I won't pretend to swear, she might not have a Role and Cheese on that Day, for I keep a Public Shop, and it is impossible to remember every one's Face that may come in. I sell no Liquors at all, but Small-Beer, nor have I sold any since the 1st of April. 'Tis probable she might have Small-Beer with her Bread and Cheese, but I am sure I sold nothing but Small-Beer on that Day, nor on many Days before.

Elizabeth Newland < no role > . I am a Nurse, and nurs'd Mrs. Pepper of several Children; she happened to be out of Town at this Time, and I was in the House from the 11th of May, to the 25th of June. I lay in the House, and eat in the House; I took Care of the Children, and of the Shop in Mr. Pepper's Absence. The 27th of May was Saturday, and I remember I was in the Shop from Six o'Clock at Night till Twelve. Mr. Pepper was there, but it was enough for two People to serve in the Shop on Saturday Night, so I was there to attend in the Shop, if I should have have been wanted; for there was a great many People came, but not a great many together, or at a Time; One or Two came in at a Time and went out, and then others came in.

Q. Could you particularly take Notice of all that came to Mr. Pepper's Shop that Night?

Newland. There are two Counters, but they are both on the same side of the Shop. I can say, I never saw that Woman in the Shop in my Life.

Q. Did you take Notice of every one's Face that came into the Shop from 6 o'Clock to 12? And can you say that Woman was not there in that Time?

Newland. She was not, as I saw; and if she was, she could not be served with Geneva, for we had none in the House: From the 11th of May to the 25th of June, I never saw a Drop there, even for our own Drinking. During all the Time I was there, I saw nothing but Small-Beer and Strong; I never saw any Wine, either sold or fetch'd, to be drunk in the House; I never (during that Time) heard any one come in to ask for Spirituous Liquors, for every body knew he did not sell any.

Prisoner. You was not in the Shop that Night. I was there about Nine.

Newland. I was in the Shop that Night from 6 to 12.

John Ward < no role > . I lodge in Mr. Pepper's House, and have done so five Years and better. I am a Watchman at Temple-Bar, and go out upon Duty between 10 and 11 every Night. I cannot recollect this very Day, but I know, that from the Beginning of April, to this present Day, there were no Spirituous Liquors in the House. I eat, drink, and lye in the House; my Wife and Family live there; and I never saw any thing retail'd (of Liquor) but Small-Beer; no Ale nor Wine, but what was fetch'd in; may be now and then a Full-Pot of Ale or Beer; as for Wine, I never-saw any fetch'd. I have had Spirituous Liquors fetch'd in sometimes for my own drinking, but it was always from another House, for none were sold by Mr. Pepper. I never serv'd in the Shop, so cannot say who might come there, or who did not.

Samuel Wood < no role > . I am a Carpenter, and work'd in Mr. Pepper's House all the Month of April, and, I think, two or three Days in the Beginning of May. Being an Acquaintance, I breakfasted and dined with him; and, as he was a Friend, I us'd to come to Work every Morning at Six, and continue at it till Nine at Night. If in all that Time we had any Liquor better than Small-Beer, it was a Pot of Drink, sent for from the Alehouse. I never saw either Brandy, Geneva, or any Sort of Spirituous Liquors used in the House. I believe if he had any in the House, he would as soon have let me have had a little, as any one in England. I never heard any Body ask for Spirituous Liquors in the Shop, nor did I ask for any myself, because I have heard him profess he never would keep any in the House, not even for his own drinking, for fear he should be brought into a Scrape.

John Pepper < no role > . I am the Prosecutor's Father; I have lived in his House above a Twelvemonth, and sometimes I eat with him. On the 27th of May last I was in the Shop about 5 at Night, and continued there till 10, without going out at all. I sat there till I went to Bed, and I never saw this Woman come into the Shop. To my Knowledge he had not a Drop of Spirituous Liquors in the House, from the 1st of April last. He had not a Drop for ME, if I wanted it I was forced to go out and get it where I could. No Liquor was kept in the House, but Small Beer; what Strong Drink we had at any Time, we fetch'd from an Alehouse.

Joseph Holmes < no role > . I serve Mr. Pepper with Bread, and carry it to his Shop twice every Day, often three or four Times a Day. Since the first of April I never saw any Liquor in his House but Small-Beer. I never had a Cogue from that Time to this, not one Drop. On the 27th of May I was there with Bread about Eight in the Evening, and staid there about a Quarter of an Hour; then a Customer came in for a stale Half-Peck Loaf, and I went out to get a new one chang'd, and came back again, and staid till three Quarters past Eight, and saw no Geneva, nor any Spirituous Liquors at all, from about a Fortnight before the 3d of May; for Mr. Pepper was about that Time convicted in a Hundred Pound Penalty, though (as he said) he was innocent, and I endeavoured to get the Fine mitigated, and from that Time he never would have any in his House, to prevent his Trouble for the future.

Jury. Please to ask him, who serv'd in the Shop that Evening?

Holmes. Mr. Pepper himself; Mrs. Newland was backward from the Shop in the Kitchen, as she commonly was. She was not in the Shop during the Time I was there.

Newland. I was not out of the Shop a Quarter of an Hour all the Time.

Holmes. I don't remember that I saw any Body in the Shop that Night, but Mr. Pepper, and his Brother the Footman, and old Mr. Pepper.

Defence. On the 27th of May, about 9 o'Clock, I went to Mr. Pepper's Shop, as I usually did, and a young Man was with me. I call'd for a Half-penny Brick, and a Ha'p'orth of new Cheese. Mr. Pepper serv'd me; no body was in the Shop but he, then I call'd for a Quartern of Gin; he serv'd me, and I paid him 3 Half-pence for it. The young Man (Edward Hassel) was with me at the same Time. There was a Candle in the Shop; and on one Side of the Shop lies Coals, and Salt on the other. He brought the Bottle from behind the Counter, and went into a narrow Passage, between the Kitchen and the Parlour, and there he serv'd me with his own Hands, and I made Oath of it, before the Commissioners, and before my Lord Mayor. The Surveyors then gave me a Character, and said they had never found me in an Error. Mr. Pepper came to the Tap-house in Newgate, and asked me, why I could not pass by his Door? Why should I, says I? Well, says he, I'll put you into the Half-Moon, (the Pillory) and if I can't do your Business, I'll get others that shall. 'Tis a Liquor belov'd by Vagrants and common People; - I lost my Husband and Children by it. When I was before the Lord Mayor, with my Information, the young Man (Hassel) was with me, and swore he drank Part of the Liquor.

Mr. Wincup. There was an Excise-Officer with her, but he did not speak to the Fact. I don't remember that any one else was with her: No one but she was sworn. Guilty .

[Imprisonment. See summary.]

[Fine. See summary.]