"Joanna Southcott."
From this time her converts increased surprisingly, so that she could not furnish seals sufficient to answer all demands. The sealed papers contained a text of Scripture (not uniformly the same), promissory of beatitude hereafter, and the envelope was stamped with the seal found in the upholsterer's shop. The sealed person was forbidden to open the paper lest the charm should be destroyed.
She came to London, at the invitation of Sharp the engraver, and then she began deluding her followers that she was the destined mother of the Messiah, who would be born on October 19, 1814. Her personal appearance favoured the appearance that she was in an "interesting condition," but after her death it was found she was suffering from dropsy. Large sums of money were subscribed towards the expense of her accouchement, and a most expensive cradle was provided. The time passed by, but no Shiloh, and she died on December 29, 1814, and was buried in the churchyard attached to St. John's Chapel, St. John's Wood; her deluded followers believing for long after that she would rise again, and come among them.
There are many satirical prints respecting this impostor, but I do not care to reproduce any of them, as they are either too silly or too coarse.
INDEX.
A.
Act of Regency, vol. i., [26]