SQUID on Book 1, Chapter 1

"It was the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five. Spiritual revelations were conceded to England at that favoured period, as at this. Mrs. Southcott had recently attained her five-and-twentieth blessed birthday, of whom a prophetic private in the Life Guards had heralded the sublime appearance by announcing hat arrangements were made for the swallowing up of London and Westminster. Even the Cock-lane ghost had been laid only a round dozen of years, after rapping out its messages, as the spirits of this very last year past (supernaturally deficient in originality) rapped out theirs. Mere messages in the earthly order of events had lately come to the English Crown and People, from a congress of British subjects in America: which, strange to relate, have proved more important to the human race than any communications yet received through any of the chickens of the Cock-lane brood. " Book I, Ch. 1, p.1

This quote helps you further explore the details about the setting. An example of this would be where it talks about how the Cock-lane brood and Mrs. Southcott both recently acquired their 25 years of age. With this passage we also know that this story takes place in the year of 1775. This quote also shows that maybe the characters in this story believe in superstition due to the "Cock-lane ghost". The messages that the Cock-lane ghost delivered who was gone for around 12 years didn't seem as important as the ones from the British people who lived in America that were considered more earthly.