On November 20th, 1683, Darby was tried, and found guilty, and on February 1, 1683/4 he was brought to the Court of King's Bench to receive judgment, which, he humbly submitting himself to the Court, and begging pardon, with a promise never to commit the like offence, the Court ordered to be, That he should pay 20 marks for a fine to the king, and find securities for good behaviour for twelve months, and that till this be paid and done, he should be committed to prison.[244]
A single sheet in folio printed on both sides. A copy is preserved in the British Museum Library.
Langley Curtis, the bookseller, was prosecuted for publishing this sheet. The indictment charges that the defendant, contriving and intending to disturb the peace and common tranquillity of this kingdom, and to bring the king into the greatest hatred, contempt, and infamy with all his subjects; and to cause, incite, and procure divers differences and false rumours concerning the pretended ghost of Lord William Russell, lately attainted and executed for high treason, did, on the twelfth day of October in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of King Charles the Second, at the parish of St. Bride aforesaid, unlawfully, seditiously, and maliciously print and publish, and cause to be printed and published, a certain feigned, false, seditious, and scandalous libel of and concerning the pretended ghost aforesaid, intituled _The Night Walker of Bloomsbury_, containing these false, feigned, and scandalous sentences following, viz., _Ralph: D'ye hear the newes. Will. What newes_, &c., &c., to _Caball of bigotted Papists_. And in another part as follows,--_Will_. _In this Meremaid's attire_, &c., &c., _to quickly changed the colour of his ghostly habit_.
Upon this indictment Curtis was tried on February 14, 1683/4, found guilty, and on April 21, 1684, sentenced to stand in and upon the Pillory in Bloomsbury Market between the hours of eleven and one o'clock, with a paper on his head denoting his offence in large letters, and at the same time the libel was to be burned by the Common Hangman. He was also sentenced to pay a fine of £500, to be committed to the Marshalsea until payment, and to find security for good behaviour during life.