Note 311 — SERMON VIII.
Reading edition
A most awful instance of this sort was recorded in the Evening Post, for June 1781, in the following words:—“Last week two soldiers at Chatham laid a trifling wager which could swear most oaths. After one of them had uttered many shocking ones, he hesitated a short time, and said, ‘He could think but of one more, which should be his last;’ but was instantly struck speechless, and so remained for about three hours, when he expired. His body was, by order of his officers, made a public spectacle to the populace and soldiers, as a warning.”