A  report  was  raised  that  Wheatley  persuaded  her  to  take  physick  to  destroy  a  child
she  was  supposed  to  be  big  with,  and  respondent  denied  that  fact.  11th  Int.  Never
declared  that  Wheatley  was  innocent  with  respect  to  her,  but  did  say  the  report  of
her  being  with  child  by  Wheatley  was  false.  15th  Int.  At  Wheatley's  request  she
sent  a  letter  to  the  Dean  of  Norwich,  complaining  of  his  believing  false  stories  of  guilt
between  Wheatley  and  her.  17th  Int.  Respondent  wrote  letters  to  Mr.  Watts  from
a  draft  drawn  by  Wheatley,  and  brought  to  her  by  Keymer,  and  she  sent  them  to
stifle  the  reports  of  guilt  between  her  and  Wheatley,  and  called  it  a  malicious  ill-
grounded  report.  18th  Int.  Respondent  wrote  a  note  from  his  draft  to  Wheatley
to  ask  pardon  for  the  false  assertion  she  had  made  of  his  guilt.  19th  Int.  Respondent
never  made  any  fond  applications  to  Wheatley  ;  he  never  gave  her  good  advice  but
when  she  was  going  to  receive  the  sacrament.
[378]  Timothy  Keymer  and  Thomas  Paul  swore  they  talked  to  Wheatley  about
his  having  debauched  Mason,  and  he  prevaricated,  but  confessed  he  had  been  guilty
of  indecencies  with  her  and  expressions  which  they  thought  amounted  to  a  confession
of  guilt.
Lydia  Bridgham  swore  that  about  Michaelmas,  1753,  Mary  Mason  expressed  great
concern  to  deponent  at  her  correspondence  with  Wheatley,  and  deponent  heard  her
charge  him  with  it  to  his  face,  and  he  did  not  deny  it,  and  deponent  expressing  sorrow
for  his  behaviour,  he  replied,  "  I  told  Polly  it  would  be  ruin  to  both  in  soul  and  body
if  we  went  on,"  and  used  other  expressions  admitting  guilt.
