The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 90_l._
_The King against Peether._--This was an information against Mr. Thomas Peether, tea and coffee dealer, charging him with having in his possession a quantity of imitation coffee (or vegetable powder) on the 25th of April last.
The case being proved by the evidence of several witnesses, the defendant was convicted in the penalty of 50_l._
_The King against Topping._--This was an information against Mr. John Lewis Topping, a dealer in tea and coffee, charging him with having thirty-seven pounds of vegetable powder in his possession. The article seized was produced to the commissioners of the Excise.
The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 50_l._
_The King against Samuel Hallett._--The defendant, Hallett, a grocer and dealer in tea and coffee, was charged with having seven pounds of imitation coffee in his possession.
Charles Henry Lord, an officer of the Excise, being sworn, stated, that he and Spencer, an officer, went, on the 28th of February last, to the shop of the defendant, and asked for an ounce of coffee, at three halfpence per ounce. He received the same, and having paid for it, left the shop. He examined the article, and found it was part coffee, and part imitation coffee, or what the defendant called vegetable powder, which is nothing more nor less than burnt pease and beans ground in a mill.
Spencer, the officer of the Excise, corroborated the above evidence, and stated, that the sham-coffee seized at the defendant's house was shown to Mr. Joseph Hubbard, grocer, and tea and coffee dealer, in High-street, in the Borough of Southwark.
Mr. Hubbard being sworn, stated, that he had examined the sham-coffee seized by the officers in the defendant's shop. The one ounce purchased by Lord, he knew to be nothing else than black pigeon's beans; there was no coffee amongst it.
The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 50_l._
_The King against Fox._--Mr. Edward Fox, grocer, and dealer in tea and coffee, was charged with having a large quantity of sham-coffee in his possession, and with selling the same for genuine coffee.
Henry Spencer, an officer of the Excise, stated, that on the 21st of February he and Lord, another officer, went to the defendant's shop and purchased an ounce of coffee, for which he paid three halfpence. They examined it, and he was satisfied it was not genuine coffee; they purchased another ounce (which he produced to the commissioners of the Excise, who examined it); they were convinced it consisted partly of coffee and beans and pease.