A parallel story to this, is, that Mr. Brown, (brother- in-law to the
Lord Coningsby) discovered his being murdered to several. His phantom
appeared to his sister and her maid in Fleet-street, about the time
he was killed in Herefordshire, which was about a year since. 1693.
Sir Walter Long of Draycot, (grandfather of Sir James Long) had two
wives; the first a daughter of Sir Thomas Packington in
Worcestershire; by whom he had a son: his second wife was a daughter
of Sir John Thynne of Long-Leat; by whom he had several sons and
daughters. The second wife did use much artifice to render the son by
the first wife, (who had not much Promethean fire) odious to his
father; she would get her acquaintance to make him drunk, and then
expose him in that condition to his father; in fine, she never left
off her attempts, till she got Sir Walter to disinherit him. She laid
the scene for doing this at Bath, at the assizes, where was her
brother Sir Egrimond Thynne, an eminent serjeant at law, who drew the
writing; and his clerk was to sit up all night to engross it; as he
was writing, he perceived a shadow on the parchment, from the candle;
he looked up, and there appeared a hand, which immediately vanished;
he was startled at it, but thought it might be only his fancy, being
sleepy; so he writ on; by and by a fine white hand interposed between
the writing and the candle (he could discern it was a woman's hand)
but vanished as before; I have forgot, it appeared a third time.
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