Richard Eaton received his Tryal, for Robbing a Ship lying at Deptford , and taking thence one Sea bed, with Rugs, Blankets and other Furniture, as likewise Peuter, and about sixty pounds of Raysons , being the goods of Thomas Daniel , the whole being offered to sale were stopt and he apprehended: he pleaded he bought them at Chatham, but not being able to prove it, he was found Guilty.A less charming feature, to the modern reader, is the apparent reversal of the burden of proof. Eaton seems to have been expected to prove his own innocence!
Culture Magazine
Along with their intrinsic interest, one of the enjoyable features of seventeenth-century texts is their often idiosyncratic spelling. The records of the Old Bailey relate how on 28 February 1681,
