The Road from hence to Petersfield has been and is throng’d with Coaches, Post-Chaises, Horsemen, &c. on account of the Trial. Many are oblig’d to go to Portsmouth as Evidences; but many more, as it is believed, out of Curiosity, by which means Portsmouth will receive great Benefit. The Lodgings are greatly advanced in the Price already, notwithstanding its Distance from London; but had it been at Deptford (as first given out) there would not have been many Journeymen Shoemakers, Taylors, &c. left in the City. The Curiosity and Attention of the ordinary People is so very great, that they would have left their Work on this Occasion. It is thought that the Loss of Calais in Queen Mary’s Reign, of the Brill in James the First, or of Dunkirk in that of King Charles the Second, could not make a greater (if so great) an Impression on true English Hearts, as the Loss of Minorca does at this very Time on every true Briton. So that to prevent Mobbing, and other bad Consequences, to have the Court held at this Distance was most certainly well judged.