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A Reputed Changeling
The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Reputed Changeling, by Charlotte M. Yonge
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Title: A Reputed Changeling
Author: Charlotte M. Yonge
Release Date: May 26, 2004 [eBook #12449]
Language: English
Character set encoding: US-ASCII
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A REPUTED CHANGELING***
Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
A REPUTED CHANGELING, or, THREE SEVENTH YEARS TWO CENTURIES AGO
PREFACE
I do not think I have here forced the hand of history except by giving Portchester to two imaginary Rectors, and by a little injustice to her whom Princess Anne termed 'the brick-bat woman.'
The trial is not according to present rules, but precedents for its irregularities are to be found in the doings of the seventeenth century, notably in the trial of Spencer Cowper by the same Judge Hatsel, and I have done my best to represent the habits of those country gentry who were not infected by the evils of the later Stewart reigns.
There is some doubt as to the proper spelling of Portchester, but, judging by analogy, the t ought not to be omitted.
CHAPTER I
: THE EXPERIENCES OF GOODY MADGE
"Dear Madam, think me not to blame; Invisible the fairy came. Your precious babe is hence